Hi Everyone.
I am new to this community on line, having received help from Macmillan nurses in the past and now retired, I have a little more time to take a look back at my life. I have been tremendously lucky when I have read some of your stories on this site and I am very grateful to all the people that have helped me to survive and reach my '60 odd' years of age. I am a diagnosed Lynch Syndrome sufferer (if you can call it a suffering), I have had Bowel Cancer, Prostate Cancer and more recently two separate lots of aggressive skin cancer in lockdown. I have been extremely fortunate that the bowel cancer and skin cancers have been able to be treated by surgery, ok I have to admit that the surgery in itself has left me with problems, but, I am still here to complain about it. The Prostate Cancer is something I will have to live with but I'm ok with that.
My Lynch syndrome is known to be connected to 13 or more different types of cancer and there are only about 9,000 diagnosed cases in the UK, but thought to be more like 175,000 undiagnosed cases.
I have every respect for the Nurses, Doctors and Consultants who work in the Cancer area of medicine, it's not easy telling someone that they have Cancer on a daily basis, as those of us that have been diagnosed and the people that have cared for us at home or work can testify to, because your whole world just falls apart, no matter how many times you get a diagnosis (by that I mean that any diagnosis of Cancer has you wondering - what next.....).
I now practice in Clinical Hypnotherapy and have found self hypnosis a great comfort in maintaining a grip on things and being able to relax or find a good sleep when I really need it. I have lived with cancer for over 30 years and do not make that statement lightly, I have seen friends and colleagues not pull through which saddened me greatly. I suppose what I have learned over the years is that help is always there if you need or want it, don't push people away - especially family and friends - they are suffering too in their own way.
Anyway, that's a potted history of my path through the jungle of cancer, stay safe and be good.
Hypno.
Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community
I'm sorry to read how much you've been through since diagnosed with Lynch syndrome.
As the online community is divided up into different support groups I'm going to recommend a few that you might be interested in joining so that you can ask questions and share your experiences with other who have had the same type of cancers. The are the bowel cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer and melanoma groups. You didn't say what type of skin cancer you had so I've provided links to both groups so you can choose the appropriate one.
You might also like to join the life after cancer group which is for cancer survivors and people who have finished treatment. It is a space to discuss things like the physical and emotional after effects of cancer, returning to work, or trying to move on with your life.
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'.
It would be great if you could pop something about your diagnoses and treatment so far into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. 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"
