08/12/2023
I have been so remiss posting on here with any updates about my health and I'm sorry. It's been weird, I couldn't bring myself to share for a while as felt too good to be true and also vague - as always, my news is a mixed bag!! So here's a long update, although this is a little taster...
- Normal blood tests
- Normal bowel
- Weird liver
- Deficiencies
- Diabetes
- Colds and coughs
- And finally... shingle bells, shingle bells, shingle all the way!!!
So I finished chemo at the end of Aug / beginning of Sept. I once again hoped I'd just bounce back but of course thats not how it works! Come the end of october I had my bowel cancer blood levels tested and was told (for the first time since this started back in 22) that my blood levels were finally in the normal range!
No doubt that it was amazing news but I struggled to feel happy / relieved about it as I felt it was just too good to be true. And I felt a bit lost - cancer had consumed me for so long that it felt strange thinking / saying that I was cancer free. I was a bag of lots of complicated feelings whilst also thinking I should feel great that this journey might be coming to an end.
Also as much as this news felt strange, I also felt equally demented about how cancer had consumed my life for 20 months and was desperate for it to just go away. I really really needed a break from it!!
So the blood tests were only a part of the whole picture, I also needed scans which came in Novemeber. I had CT and MRIs in view of the little blip that had shown on my last liver scan (? the remains of a heamatoma / scarring from the resection). I got these results this week and I am bloody thrilled to say my bowel is clear!!!!!!!!! (My hope is that the more good news I get, the more confident I get with my body and it not mal-functioning again).
However my little liver continues to be awkward. The area of hematoma/ scarring has improved, but there is another little area of strageness now. So Im awaiting for the Mcr Specialists to take a look and I hope I get some news next week! At the moment I am not really thinking about this as it could be nothing. But thats easier to said than done - the day before my results and on the day its very hard to concentrate!!
So fingers crossed its good news next week and I can finally say I kicked cancers butt!! Though inkeeping with my realistic attitude, I am very high risk of it returning - but every day and week cancer free improves the chances of this! (I'm not focusing on the numbers / averages for the 5 year survival rate as 10-14% are pretty rotten, and I am more than a number).
I have managed to start doing a bit of work again and have been really enjoying that! My energy levels returned a bit but then dropped as I am deficient in a few things so taking extra medications for that now. And I am also diabetic as there is link to bowel and liver cancer / disease and diabetes!! But I also had 43 good years of cakes and sweet treats too so Im sure thats not helped! So I've now lost all my vices (no alcohol AND no sugar), and eating very carefully whilst I learn about my blood sugars, so at least that will help my general health. Who'd have thought that diabetes would actually be a welcome break from cancer and give me a new obsession!!! (Silver linings and all that!)
This week's s**tshow is a bad cold, chest infection and (to complete my triple threat) SHINGLES AGAIN!!!!
Although a lot of this sounds crappy I am doing ok most days (if a bit rough and itchy) and I have my lovely and freaking awesome family and friends around me!!! I am so looking forward to Christmas however my physical health is at the time and hope for a slightly better 2024 - you can have a couple of rotten years and still thrive!
Whatever is going on in your lives - I wish you all the best and hope some meaning and hope can be found in any chaos you might have going on!!
