Blogs - Page 319

My name is Nadine, I have the pleasure of working at Cancer Council NSW as the Community Network Coordinator and will try and be on here from time to time! Send me a message if you like!

Well I have reached my 3 year mark, 3 years since I had the dreaded RAI and was locked away from the world for 4 days. 3 years since I was forced to stay away from my husband and baby for 1 month…and what have I done! The truth is I have no idea. It really just feels like yesterday the memory seared clearly in my mind and it struck me I have to now move forward, but how? What does that mean exactly? Its not like someone wrote a manual or a10 point system. If they did it mine would look something like this: 1. Get diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 28 when my first baby is 2 months old.

Fortunately I have had a good urologist and the most important feature has been our TRUST with one another. The start of our relationship was established on the basis that I placed my situation in his hands. The response I received was as exepcted it bacame like a personal relationship. There was no need to look for 2nd or 3rd opinions, which so many sufferers look for, which can be identified as the stress factor of wanting to know and what are the side effects.

The Cancer Council and 16 young adults affected by cancer are about to embark on a 2 day training course in Sydney this weekend to learn advocacy skills so they can get active in their local cancer community and address some major issues that they know exist. I did this training 2 and a half years ago and it blew me away! It was this training that actually got me engage with the cancer council and enthused to have a voice and stand up to the inequalities and inadequacies of cancer related issues.

What a statement, and that coming from an oncologist! 2004 was not a particularly remarkable year. Two thirds of the way through I sacked my surgeon, retained my radiation oncologist and found myself in the hands of a medical oncologist. Somewhat of a surfeit of oncologists that year – nothing remarkable about that.

I have a photo on the wall of the little room where I like to sit these days - reading, writing and surfing – that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck every time I look at it. It’s not a medical x-ray or an ultra sound or a CT scan or any one of a hundred of those damned things I’ve looked at in the past couple of years. It’s nothing like that at all.