World Cancer Day – reminder of personal experience

World Cancer Day has prompted me to think about my experience of cancer. This is not something I would normally bring up in business conversations. Partly because I don’t want it to be a defining quality about me, nor to live in problems. But all our experiences contribute to our voice and how we understand others and I am not rejecting the experience at all.

Awareness days and months are dedicated to a specific problem and often driven by charities. Awareness days can be a very useful prompt for your blog, social media and newsletters.

Cancer – the reality was different from how I imagined.

Cancer is viewed as the ultimate health problem,. As a demon that swoops down from on high, is lethal and has to be fought in a “battle”. Personally I don’t think this is a helpful approach.

Looking back over my experience of cancer a few years ago there were lots of ways in which I was surprised by the experience. Up close it felt different from what I had expected. I have recorded some of my thoughts as bullet points

I was not surprised when told I had cancer. Not that I had any notiiceable symptoms but I had seen what was happening on the colonoscopy screen. And it looked too red.

There were more treatment choices in the NHS than I imagined. I could choose which hospital I could go to – I moved to be near my children, to a new-built London hospital.

Surgery was cleverer than I imagined: I had no idea that parts of my colon could be cut out and rejoined without any problems

Cancer cells themselves are not the problem: We all have cancer cells in our body. Lots of them. When we are healthy a process called autophagy destroys them.

You do have choices: Your lifestyle and nutrition and health and happiness is a big factor.

Emotional attitude helps recovery: purpose and resilience can even succeed if medical solutions have failed.

Chemotherapy was much more debilitating than I imagined: Despite being encouraged by doctors that I would cope with chemotherapy, it was more difficult than I had imagined. Many days just passed in complete torpor. My skin was very sensitive to touch.

There are many different approaches to cancer treatment: from stem cell replacement, to more “miracle” treatments to medicines that basically are based on mustard gas which was used to gas the enemy in the first world war.

Vein walls tend to become weaker during treatment so having a PICC line – a direct entry into veins was a good idea over the period. Although the process of putting it in was a bit strange. My daughter came and talked to me and she saw – and I felt strange – when at one point it went into the wrong place.

My treatment was on a two week cycle, and the different medications and hospital attendances took up nearly all my time. There was the day of the infusion in hospital, followed by followed on days revved up on steroids. Then back to the hopsital for pump removal. I felt better on the day when I went back for the next round.

Having to go to A and E and have periods in hospital was not uncommon. I was on a trial and had to record my temperature and if it went too high I was meant to report it, and then get urgent access to A and E. This happened a number of times both in an ambulance, and also being taken there by family.

Dexamethasone – the steroids I was given for two days after the infusion has been mentioned as useful to use for Covid patients.

MacMillan support was wonderful: I got a “buddy” through the Macmillan charity who came to see me every other week. This was a fantastic boost.

The biggest surprise about my cancer treatment

The biggest surprise was that even if my body was weak I felt strong emotionally and spiritually.

I read a book which encouraged you to join a book club when treatment was over but advised that you wouldn’t be able to read a book every month. That was like a challenge and I found I did have the energy and interest to read and think. The whole experience was fairly intense and very different from my previous life, but it was always interesting.

Despite the excellent medical care I had a renewed sense that we are each responsible for our own health.

I count my blessings that I am still alive and well! World Cancer Day is an opportunity to take note and remember.