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Liver surgery number two!
A routine MRI of my liver on 11th October revealed a 30 x 11 mm lesion (still small) on the remaining anterior (outside) part of my right liver lobe. My previous surgery removed 60% of the right lobe and 10% of the left, as well as my gall bladder. My bloods also 11th showed CEA markers at 3.1, < 2.5 ng/ml being normal. This news has obviously come as a huge shock albeit I was not entirely surprised because stage 4 metastatic cells lay dormant and can often wake up. I am just happy it isn’t on the ‘fresh’ liver! That is why we raise awareness about symptoms and a…
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Dawn’s colon cancer story
To think about when my story began, I guess it would have to be New Year’s Eve 2000. I went to a New Year’s Eve party in Connecticut (where I’m from) with my mother and step-father. That night my mom wasn’t feeling well. When I look back at the pictures, I can see that she did not look healthy. After the holiday, Mom saw her primary care physician who treated her for bronchitis and pneumonia. Early February came and her condition did not improve so they sent her to the hospital for x-rays and scans. It turned out that she had small cell lung cancer. Mom hated doctors and was…
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Understanding ‘mets’
When we talk about cancer, we use stages to determine where the cancer cells have traveled. When I was first told that I had cancer, the doctor said I had a tumour in my bowel and the cancer had traveled to my liver and maybe my lung (can’t remember which one now and it hadn’t, thank goodness) so bascially my cancer had mestastasized, quite simply put, it had spread from the primary source (my bowel/colon) through lymphatic nodes and to other organs. So, when people with cancer talk about mets (also known as lesions) or in my case liver mets, they are saying a form of tumour in another organ.…
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Benj’s story
‘Benjamin Anthony Millard, our son, Abigail and Stephanie’s brother, was a husband, stepdad, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend. We all loved him…we all love him. Where do you start a loved one’s cancer story, when the story was so short and the outcome was so poor, but that was Benj’s journey with cancer. So the start, as with every one, is the day Benj discovered he had cancer, and the end came less than eight months later when he lost his life to bowel cancer. Pre-diagnosis So rewind a little, pre-diagnosis, and meet Benj. He was 6’ 2”, he ate healthily and well, he went to the gym every day,…
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What do I eat?
What are we supposed to eat after cancer? I reckon this is has to be one of the most asked questions by anyone that has had cancer. A question, I have been asked a lot. Even after diagnosis, I was thinking about my diet because it was colon cancer. This can apply to anyone to be honest, we all would like to know more about which foods will keep us fit and healthy. I have thought long and hard about how to blog about food as it is a very conflicted area when it comes to cancer, in fact, this is my third edit. So, I have decided to walk…
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Immu ‘no’ therapy!
My oncologist, Adam Nosworthy recommended that after I had full recovered from my infection (post liver resection) I would do six sessions of immunotherapy (over three months) as a preventative of recurrence and I agreed to it. I started immunotherapy (Vectibix) on the 4th January at my oncology clinic (where I had my chemo) and I went in there positive that this was the last chapter and that it would be an easy one. I had IV steroids to start via my Portacath and then my immunotherapy was administered on a drip that took maybe one hour. I felt fine and left the clinic smiling. The steroids were my biggest…
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Nobody Said It Would Be Easy
Following the birth of her eldest daughter in 2013, Laura Stephenson gave birth to twin girls on April 25th 2017. There was huge excitement among all the family, her mother, her two sisters, in-laws and of course myself, her dad. Two identical girls that arrived amidst lots of questions:- Are there twins in the family , how do you feed two at the same time, do they both sleep at the same time, will Mum and Dad get any more sleep, the need for a twin pram, can we fit 3 car seats in the back of the car. Lots of questions all based around the twins. In the middle…
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Molly’s story
My name is Molly. I am now 40 years old. When I was 29 years old and pregnant with my third child I was diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer. Here is my story. In August of 2008, I ate a bigger dinner and had extreme stomach pain. My dad is a doctor and after this happened several times, I went to the ER because the pain was so bad. They performed an ultrasound and told me that I probably had a ruptured cyst. I went home and the pain continued but only if I ate a big meal. I found out I was pregnant that fall. During the beginning…
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My mum’s story
My mum, Charlie, jumped on a plane to South Africa as soon as she heard the news of my cancer. We picked her up on the 19th August 2019 from O. R. Tambo airport then went and had lunch. It was so lovely to have mum over here and for her to finally see some of South Africa, despite the fact we had a major operation looming. I had my operation on 22nd August and she was by my side every step of the way. It doesn’t matter how old you are, having your mum there is priceless. After a week in hospital, I came home and we were able…
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The day my life changed direction
Like with so many things in my life, I had planned to release my blog earlier but life doesn’t always work out the way you want. Distinct lack of confidence also contributed to my lack of writing. Today though, I am stronger. I am wiser . I am braver. I am ready to share my story. How did I arrive at this point? The short answer is, I got cancer. I had relocated to South Africa at the end of July 2019 after spending two years in the U. K. studying a post grad and training to be a Primary Teacher. Not long after arriving, on the 8th August 2019,…
