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The day is almost here!

11/7/2015

7 Comments

 
12th July is a date that has a big significance for me.  It was on 12th July 2010 that I finished my treatment for womb cancer; treatment that had included a hysterectomy, followed by 4 sessions of chemotherapy and then 27 sessions of external radiotherapy.
It had all started on 23rd Dec 2009 when I got a phone call telling me that the results of a recent MRI scan (which had been to determine the number and size of fibroids ) had shown that I had womb cancer, stage 1 grade 2,
I had my hysterectomy on 25th January 2010 and was told after the operation they were 99.9% sure that they had got it all and I would need no further treatment – seems they were wrong. When the pathology results came back I was told I needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

12th July 2015 has been on my mind since Xmas last year when I hit the first of my 5 year milestones – 5 years since diagnosis; 5 years since my hysterectomy; since starting chemo; starting radiotherapy.
12th July will be the day that marks my 5 years since it ended. But unlike most cancer patients who go out and celebrate and maybe even crack open a bottle of bubbly, I won’t be doing that.
I’m not going to hear those words “Congratulations, you’re cancer free” or whatever it is they say to cancer patients!!  You see, since my treatment ended, I’ve had no follow up oncology appointments, other than one quick one 4 weeks after treatment ended.   
Apparently my Oncologist deemed that I didn’t require any appointments as he was confident that the cancer was gone.  Once I got over the initial shock of not being called to follow ups I actually accepted it as it meant I wasn’t constantly worrying about the next appointment like so many of the women I know who are part of the WCSUK private chat group.

However, with the date fast approaching I’m not sure how I feel. How will I mark the date? Just let it pass and try and forget about it? What is there to celebrate anyway? It’s not like I have a good quality of life to enjoy – cancer, or more precisely the treatment for cancer, has ruined my life.  The long term side effects as a result of the treatment mean that my quality of life is virtually zero.
The aftercare I have received, both physical and psychological , has been virtually non-existent. The only support I have had has been from my wonderful Macmillan nurse who has been my rock throughout this journey. Sadly, she left the area last June and since then I have had nothing.

Sadly, aftercare for many cancer patients is lacking, and this needs to change. Letting cancer patients walk out of the door when their treatment ends and basically forgetting about them is not fair and it’s not right.  It seems that patients in rural or isolated areas suffer more than most and there needs to be much more done to help them. Having to travel long distances to appointments only makes an already difficult situation much worse.

So, tomorrow when 12th July finally arrives what am I going to do? I have no idea yet – but I do know that the date deserves to be marked in some way to justify everything that I have been through in the past 5 years.

xx Kaz xx

7 Comments

Never too young to get womb cancer!

3/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Those of you that have been following WCSUK for some time will know just how passionate I am about raising awareness of womb cancer. I had never heard of it when I was diagnosed 5 ½ years ago and sadly not much has changed. I still hear from women on a regular basis who have been diagnosed and know nothing about womb cancer and had never heard of it.
What’s even more disheartening is the number  of younger women who are coming to us saying that they were told by their GP time and time again that they were too young to have womb cancer despite having had many months if not years of unusual heavy bleeding.  

You would like to think that when a women goes repeatedly to her GP with heavy bleeding that has lasted many weeks, if not months, that they take measures to rule cancer out in the first instance but sadly many don’t and when you have a GP who is
the Cancer Research UK Clinical Lead for Cancer saying that “It would not be too surprising that there will be occasional cases where the diagnosis will be delayed” then you have to stop and start asking questions.


According to the recently published report from National Cancer Intelligence Network between 2010 and 2013 6491 women died as a result of womb cancer, that’s just in England. That is women who were Mothers, Daughters, Wives, Aunts, Nieces and Grandmothers.
Now we know that if womb cancer is caught early then the outcome is usually very good. But if the woman has had to endure several visits to her GP before she even gets referred for tests then the chances of the cancer being caught early drop significantly.


We try very hard to spread the word about womb cancer to women of all ages and empower them with the knowledge but what’s the point if they are then going to their GP and having their fears dismissed or being told they are too young.
A few weeks ago  I was contacted by a young lady who was diagnosed at 20 years old and I know of several other women in their 20s and early 30’s who have been diagnosed. I also know of several women in their mid 40’s who were told they were “too young” to have womb cancer.


We desperately need more awareness about this cancer yet there appears to be little chance of a national awareness campaign in the near future.  Just how many more women are going to die as a result of womb cancer before something is done?
Why are the lives of women who die from womb cancer not valued as much as those who die from other female cancers? I believe it’s due in part to the perception that women who get womb cancer are somehow to blame for bringing it upon themselves.
Time and again whenever there is something in the news about womb cancer (which is not very often it has to be said) the focus is always on obesity as being the cause of womb cancer. Yes, it is a contributory factor in around 40% of cases according to CRUK but there are many women who were anything but obese when they were diagnosed.  It is also still seen as something that only post-menopausal women get so the image persists of womb cancer being something that only old, fat women get.


WCSUK aims to break that stereotype and we will continue to do all we can to raise much needed awareness.
How do we do this? I don’t know, but for the sake of all women who may be diagnosed with womb cancer in the future, we need to find a way to do it.

xx Kaz xx 

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    Blog posts about life with womb cancer; by me and other womb cancer fighters and survivors. Plus occasional guest blog posts on relevant subjects.

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