The Story So Far

I feel like I’ve been away for months, though in fact it’s not been a month, not yet … but there’s been a really good reason for my absence. My health.

To summarise, as a lot of you already know, the OH and I went on holiday to Montreal for a short week away to play tourist there and see the sights. Especially two places I’ve wanted to go for ages, the Bio Dome and the Botanical Gardens. Both of which I did manage to get to see.

Unfortunately, the week didn’t unfold how we had hoped or planned for—we’d booked tickets for certain attractions, a couple of which we had to miss. The upshot, I had been feeling off the weekend before Montreal. But still, we went on the Sunday, traveled in style by train no less. But, that evening I had dizzy spells and terrible, and I mean terrible cramps in both legs.

The thing is, we got off an air-con train and stepped out into 42+ degrees, and both dressed for the cool of the train, so were sweating like the proverbial pig in a blanket. We put my episode down to dehydration and the awful heat. Things didn’t improve and, by Wednesday afternoon I was in a near state of collapse.

Of course the OH didn’t wait a minute more and called for an ambulance. The upshot, I was suffering from acute anaemia and my sodium levels were dangerously low. These two things signalled a red flag to the ER doctor who order a whole battery of tests, including me staying overnight and talk of iron transfusions. They gave me a CT scan Thursday and, that’s when a gastro specialist was called in.

I was scheduled for a colonoscopy and and endoscopy Friday afternoon because the doctor had seen something he didn’t like on my x-rays and subsequent CT scan.

Sure enough, confirmation was made late Friday afternoon, he told me he had discovered a small growth on my lower colon. I have cancer. Operable at this stage with possible follow up treatment. But, operable nonetheless.

If I hadn’t have gone to Montreal, if I hadn’t been seen by this gastro specialist who squeezed me in, my future may have been very bleak indeed. As it turns out, I am looking at what happened with the view I was gifted a silver lining, and my cancer has been found in the very early stages.

It took a further several days to stabilise me in the hospital, plus 3 iron infusions, in which time I got to know the nurses by name.

I’ve been home a while now trying to process all what’s happened and continues to happen what with visits to see various doctors and specialists while waiting for surgery.

All in all, I’ve been the luckiest person I know right now and know what comes next is no walk in the park, but still, I choose to look at this from a positive side of the fence and try to remain focused and positive on getting through this one day at a time.

I hope to share part of my journey with you and hope to that I don’t bore the hell out of you talking about catheters, blood-work, and red cell counts or just how many damn pills I take for breakfast (note: a lot!)

Now, I wonder if I can persuade the surgeon to take a photo of the slice of colon they’re about to chop out of me? No? Okay, maybe not …