About Me

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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..

Friday 28 May 2010

Struggling a bit now.......

DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR GRAPHIC DETAILS OF MY SYMPTOMS ....

Since my appointment on Tuesday I seem to have gone 'downhill' somewhat. Not mentally really more physically really.

Tuesday evening I developed a pain in my left buttock muscle that travelled all down my leg to behind my knee, best way to describe it would be a nagging neuralgia type of ache and my bum was seriously sore - as usual...

Wednesday muddled through by taking painkillers then developed severe thrush, splitting headache, pain at the base of my spine that is just so uncomfortable it hurts to even move, upset stomach, still got symptoms of the sinus infection as well despite taking the antibiotics (which were responsible for the thrush outbreak), slight urine infection and damn fed up.....

Thursday am felt slightly better in general - most things back under control with painkillers, canisten cream and pro-biotica tablets. Rab took Dj to school so I just relaxed at home and did the minimum all day.
During the late evening I felt like I had trapped wind in my stomach - which is quite painful at the best of times and even worse when you know you really want to 'fart' but at the same time don't want to because it makes your bum feel more sore....mind you, I should probably make the most of 'farting' right now being as how I soon won't be able to once my bums gone :-))
....... No Dj, the bag probably WON'T explode, I've checked - but it will sound like an Icelandic hot steam gezer apparently...! :-)

Then late last night I finally did manage a really good expulsion of 'wind' in the loo, only to find I'm now farting out clumps of blood.


Now that's a real pain because since the biopsy I've noticed that there was hardly any bleeding - so am thinking that is what was causing the extra pain at the site of the tumour which is just below the base of the spine.
Anyway, rang one of the Colorectal nurses today just for advice really and she said it IS normal for a build up of blood to suddenly expel itself like that but if I have severe heavy bleeding I have to contact them straight away.
I reassured her that today it is minimal again - but I will keep an eye on it over the next few days.

So today I feel tired, grumpy, uncomfortable and I'm going to sleep whilst Dj's at school.

On a lighter note I did manage to make a brilliant dessert on Wednesday which proved popular with everyone. I've named it 'Greek Lemon Crunch' - there's nothing particularly Greek about it except I made it with the lemons from Manolis' lemon tree in Rodos.
Dad brought them back with him after visiting Sarah and Manolis ealier this month. I'm sure it was the Greek lemons that made this soooo nice.
Here, have a piece.....I saved you one slice (sorry, the rest is history now) :-)

5 comments:

  1. The Greek Lemon Crunch looks lovely. Its a gr8 idea that you make yourself tasty treats to encourage yourself to eat well. If you haven't already found this link(as I know you are a top detective) Have a look at this booklet on eating hints before, during and after treatment. Might even make you feel hungry again:)
    http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/eatinghints
    love you lots xxxxxxxxx

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  2. Hiya, i've actually tried licking the computer screen it looks soooooo good....! Sounds like the worst couple of days for a while, keep resting and get Rab to do everything for you now, you don't gain brownie points for being a martyr! Don't worry about getting the other bits for Dj's trip, Leanne is going to take him on Thursday to get a few more pairs for joggers and i'll sort his trainers. Luv ya loads xxxxxx

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  3. I've heard an Icelandic hot steam geyser and, believe me, you don't want to be standing next to one of them when they blow!!

    Kidding!

    Glad you're getting some high calorie stuff into yourself. Get fat. I dare you!!

    Love you. More than chocolate. xx

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  4. Hiya love sorry to hear you are having a rough time at the moment , your Greek lemon crunch looks lovely , glad you found a good use for the lemons, i should have bought more over,keep your chin up love , you know we are here for you any time you need us , love you lots

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  5. Does it make you feel better that I know how you feel and had almost exactly the same issues - probably not, this is you it is happening too and whilst I can say 'I really do know how you feel' that doesn't lessen any of the pain.... A lot of the times at work before I had my op I would stand in meetings and people thought I was dead weird...the pain seemed to suddenly get much worse once it was diagnosed and I was told that my mind had identified the pain source, accepted it and was more aware...all I know is it bloody hurt and I had to be close, real close to the toilet!

    T x

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