Hi all,
I'm 31 yrs old and I recently went to my local GP with an itchy bottom and a slight increase in the amount I was having bowel movements. That GP saved my life by giving me a referral for a colonoscopy, at the time I thought it was a little overkill and had expected him to just tell me to do something with my diet, stay off the beers for a while and maybe eat a salad or two haha.
I went for the colonoscopy a couple of weeks later and to my and all the doctors surprise I was told I had a large tumour in my sigmoid colon that was completely obstructing my colon. I was sent for urgent scans, bloods and had an appointment with a surgeon that afternoon. The following 2 weeks were full of drs appointment, blood test and scans (CT, MRI, PET and CT Colonograpgy) but by far the hardest part for me during that period was telling my friends and family the news. It was just hard for me verbalise and say those words to my loved ones, "Hi, ummm just letting you know I have cancer".
The results from the scans found two lesions in my liver and I later found out my lymph nodes have also been effected, hence the stage IV diagnosis.
Fast forward to today and I am out of hospital recovering from my first surgery that removed a section of my colon. The procedure went well and my recovery was faster than expected, I only had to spend 6 nights in hospital rather than the 7-10 nights I was told to expect. I was also lucky enough to avoid a temporary stomo which I had nearly come to terms with having, so that was a nice surprise.
I am now waiting on a plan from multiple drs on how to proceed with treatment for the cancer in the liver and lymph nodes. I believe they would like to perform another surgery in 4 weeks time (gives me time to recover from this procedure) to tackle the liver lesions. I would the recovery for an additional 4 weeks after that and then start a 6 month course (12 x 2 week cycles) of chemotherapy.
There's a challenging road ahead however I consider myself lucky compared to some. I have a wonderful support base, amazing doctors, understanding workplace and consider myself quite mentally strong.
If you're still here, I appreciate you listening to my story so far and I'd love to hear how you dealt with your cancer diagnosis.
#wgmi
