Hi all,
I don't know if telling my story can help anyone but me, but I'll share it in hopes it might help even just one person.
I was diagnosed with bowel cancer aged 24, 15 years ago. I've had numerous bowel obstructions since then, mostly involving a brief stay in hospital, with one lot of emergency surgery and a month in hospital nearly four years ago. I also have daily uncomfortable loose motions, often very inconvenient and unpredictable. Nonetheless, I count myself lucky that my GP, oncologist and surgeon won the fight against Fred (I named my tumour to help me direct my rage against it), as I'm still alive, bagless (like a Dyson) and my issues could be so much worse. I've been blessed where so many families have lost loved ones. I've tried the low residue diet several times often for years at a time but that didn't seem to help. I'm still a bit cautious (I don't eat whole grains, brown rice, nuts, seeds, citrus fruits etc) but without the balance of nutrients from whole fruit and veg I just felt constantly drained and depressed all the time. I've had other things happen that would explain the depression I've also suffered with but I do wonder if my poorly bowel contributes to the depression (I think I read that a proportion of the serotonin we need is produced in the bowel?! Also that inflammatory bowel disease has been linked with depression. Certainly my bowel seems inflamed a lot of the time. I've tried several SSRIs, as well as talking therapies and have made good progress with my mental health. I've felt fairly contented with my life for a year or so now, settled into co-parenting my youngest son with his Mum whom I'm still friends with despite us having divorced a couple of years ago. So while it's been a challenging journey, I'm always conscious that it could have been so much worse. I have wonderful parents and a few good friends to thank for much of that, and my two wonderful sons of course. My story is, above all, one of hope, and victories over adversity. I hope someone else can take heart from it.
Simon
Hi Simon270 and a very warm welcome to the online community
Thank you for sharing your cancer story with us and I'm sure others following will find it very helpful.
The online community is divided up into different support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join the bowel cancer group which is a great place to ask questions, share experiences and give and receive support.
To join just click on the link I've created and then choose 'click to join' or 'join' (depending on the device you're using) on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'. To save typing all this out again just copy and paste it into a new post in the bowel cancer group.
You could also copy and paste this post into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
If you have any difficulty navigating the community just drop me a reply and I'll be pleased to help.
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
