About Me

My photo
I'm Carole, living in London, happily married and mum to two amazing boys.I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Rectal Cancer in April 2010. Surgery took place in November 2010 and I now have a permanent colostomy...Spinal mets were then diagnosed in October 2011...In January 2012 I was told of further spread to the hip area (multiple lesions)..My life expectancy is now 6-9 months. Walk alongside me on the last part of my experience with this..

Thursday 26 August 2010

Nice day just chatting.......

Today I did nothing much except chat :-)

Got up late(ish) , around 10.30am. This seems to be the new habit for me now....can't sleep at night but once I get to around 5am I can then sleep undisturbed until around 10am without waking at all - weird eh.

Anyway, got my self sorted out - shower and a bit of slap on the face, gel in the hair and off we go....:-)
Went off to meet up with Hazel to catch up on all the news at her end and also fill her in with what's been happening with me - various hospital appts, Dj school journey, starting secondary school - just catch up stuff really.

Popped into work to meet her and also saw Oliver and Tony, which was lovely as not seen either of them for ages now.
I miss the routine of seeing certain people on certain days when I'm at work...

Hazel and I then went over to her place and sat chatting until around 4pm. It was really lovely to catch up properly and have time to find out all the news - rather than popping in and just getting the tail end of stuff.
Had a lovely relaxing afternoon and felt like I'd done something 'normal' afterwards :-)
Hazel's been so supportive to me since I've been off sick, regular texts reminding me that I CAN sort this out, talking to me back in April when I was in pieces about the 'bag' news, she's remembered every important hospital date and has either text or phoned me to say 'thinking of you and it's all going to be OK'.....
I can't tell people how much difference that makes, I'm so lucky to have the huge support network of family, friends and cyber friends all around me.

Today on the Cancer forum I read a post from someone that said 'had a bowel op, cancer came back in liver, my mates don't want to talk about cancer, wife passed away 8 yrs ago, I feel so alone' and I felt so so sad when I read that.
Cancer is a bastard disease but I've always have someone to share that news with, always had someone to rant to, cry to, laugh with - this man didn't and I just feel so sad for him :-(
So if you know someone living alone who's struggling with any long term illness and they seem to want to stop and chat that day - please just take 5 minutes out of your day and listen - maybe that way no-one will have to feel alone like that man did today.

Also had the chance to see pictures of Hazel's sisters recent wedding - which was lovely. Everyone looked so happy - wedding pictures are always nice because you can literally 'feel' the happiness from both the happy couple but also from the guests.

Then when I arrived home Rab told me James was coming around 7.30pm (bringing Dj back because they've had him for a few days now) and he was going to eat with us - so Rab decides he's going to cook for James so off we go to Sainsburys to buy yet more stuff that we don't really need :-)

Whilst we're there I see Jac and we have a catch up chat about what's been going on....

Then, 5 minutes later and still in Sainsburys, I bump into Sophie from work with her mum and have another chat.....

Then James comes round and we have a chat.....also Eddie my neighbour popped up and - guess what? ....YES! we had a chat....

Like I said, I had a nice day just chatting - and not all about cancer for a change ....

I think they actually say that on one of the Cancer Research UK ads 'Today wasn't all about cancer'....
(Except for the man who felt so alone today ... today his day WAS all about cancer ......)


6 comments:

  1. Glad you had a nice day, its always good to talk.
    I once met a lady on the main street who looked really confused so I stopped and asked her if she was okay. She broke down crying and although she was a stranger I hugged her whilst she rambled through her troubles. When I eventually got to work, I cried to.

    Life is so precious so spending a day "just chatting" with friends is wonderful.
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree Sis...chatting can be just great. Some people just don't have anyone to chat to, that's really sad - no-one to listen to their worries.

    I think, in the midst of our busy lives, we all need to make time for other people, even total strangers.
    A small sacrifice to you can be a huge reward to another.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi sis i emailed a couple of private hospitals about the pet scan and there getting back to me in 48 hours with some info you WILL HAVE THE SCAN ILL MAKE SURE OF THAT DONT LISTEN TO THE NURSE all is ok this end [out of all this you have made me feel the need to take a look at people and listen when they need to its makes me relise i have no problems and to make time for pepole

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Bruv,
    I've not heard from the hospital yet but as they say no news is good news :-) I think if I'm getting it I'll hear by end of next week - If I'm not getting it I think I'll hear from nurse at original hospital.
    Doing this privately isn't really going to be an option because of cost...but I'll look into it once you've got the info. Thanks for doing that Eddie :-)

    As for making time for people, we all need to. We all have busy lives and are charging around like headless chickens at times but there's always someone out there who has NO-ONE to listen. That's just so wrong :-(

    Catch up soon Bruv, but don't worry about me, all is well at the moment...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Carole, remember me Barbara, the other badly behaved restuarant manager from TVC (the first being Louise of course!!)
    Louise shared your news with me sometime ago, and you've been on my mind a lot. I was so happy when she gave me the blog address to contact you. I can't fully imagine this journey you've been forced to take, but I can perhaps imagine some of it. Not sure if Louise told you, I was diagnosed with breast cancer almost two years ago. I have ridden that hellish roller coaster, and am able to say it does stop eventually. Will it start again? Who knows, Inshallah not, but who knows. I know exactly what you mean about not letting it be all about the cancer, having days when we can kick its butt out the door for a while are so important, eh? It can be like an uninvited house guest who then goes on to dominate the dinner conversation and refuse to let anyone else speak, if we dont tell it to 'shut up and let me live my life' occasionally.
    Like you, I was blessed with incredible love and support from all quarters, sometimes even from people I'd never met, they just heard and sent cards. It's for sure what carried me through, many a time I was reduced to tears I was just so moved by their compassion, generosity and support. Truly humbling. Anyway, this was supposed to be just a comment, I just want you to know I'm thinking of you, wishing you every good thing possible. I always was inspired by your strength of character, if anyone can beat this it's "Carole from the office" . Take care, much love
    Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  6. Barbara!!! :-)))
    Soooo lovely to hear from you. Lou's kept me up to speed with what's been going on in your life over the years. Amazing how old the children are now - time just simply flies by eh...

    I did know about your breast cancer, again Lou kept me informed - I sincerely hope that you have reached the end of your roller coaster ride.

    It's so lovely to hear from you again after all these years. I'd like to say cancer has done nothing good for me, but then at times like this I realise that it has :-)
    Like you say the sudden contact, cards, thoughts mean so much and you see human nature in a completely different way - so although it's bad it's sometimes good (I hope that makes some sense)
    Keep in touch Barbara xxxxx

    ReplyDelete