to not understand why we aren't talking about this - young mother with bowel cancer [title edited by MNHQ]

[PoohBearsHole]

I've searched, but found nothing here but I can't believe with this blog post going semi viral there isn't a conversation about it!
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/charlotte-kitley/bowel-cancer-charlotte-kitley_b_5836238.htmlCharley
please read it, with tissues at the ready! please share it with friends and loved ones.
It made me take a little, ok huge step back on a bad day.

Sat in bath sobbing....
Really resonates as my lovely mum recently diagnosed stage 4 (no symptoms at all until she became ill this year and took tgem ages to diagnose). I know she has read the post-can't imagine how she must have felt reading it. She is young and has so much to live for.....just trying to stay positive

I have ulcerative colitis along with various other shitty autoimmune problems and so I am at high risk for bowel cancer. Scares the shit out of me, frankly (and absolutely no pun intended in the slightest). My grandad died of lung cancer (despite not being a smoker), my paternal grandma died of cancer of the kidney, my mum had cervical cancer (but had a hysterectomy and was fine after that) and in the last two years DH's dad and my best friend's mum both died of pancreatic cancer. Last Christmas they found pre-cancerous cells during my smear and I spent the entire festive period crying buckets of tears whilst I waited for the results following my LLETZ and colposcopy procedures. It's a terrifying thought having to leave your family behind.

frownyface if you want to PM and chat, I'm more than happy to. My poor sister is also currently undergoing investigations for IBD and arthritis but they are still unsure as to what it is, 90% sure it's Crohn's but still no firm diagnosis!

this has been all over facebook lately, very sad and touching story

Thank you for reading it, hugs to all going through this at the moment. I will (as I'm sure others will) point her DH in this direction to show him the support.

I know fb has some shitty qualities, but on this occasion I truly believe it has helped to get the message out there.

Her DH has set up a fund, I'm not going to link to it unless requested to BUT is you wanted to google charlottes star of hope fund you can see how they are getting on :)

Spooky - I can honestly say it's in the past. I go for whole days without thinking of it! (That might not sound very long but it really is progress!) ;-) I am now going to be extremely cheesy but cancer has made me a better, stronger person and forced me to stop being a hermit/wallflower and get out there and live. I changed my job, emigrated, found a new man and we got married earlier this year! I told him my scar was a shark bite when he first saw it!

To all who are worried - as Spooky says, it IS very curable even with mets. By coincidence DH is an oncologist who treats lower GI cancers and prostate. Compared to some of his bowel patients (the youngest of whom is in their teens and terminal) I have had a charmed life and feel like the jammiest dodger in the packet.

Spooky - I am happy to chat further if you want to send me a PM. One thing I would advise is make sure you get the genetic investigations done when your treatment ends. Genetic testing takes years and as a result I am on a completely different follow-up regime to the one they originally recommended.

Will stop thread hijacking now -sorry ladies! And yes cancer is a motherfucker!

you aren't hijacking :) I wanted to open up discussion and knowledge in this area, I've learnt shed loads more. that was the point :)
and I love your post about how you have changed you direction in life and started to LIVE again, something that the original post was all about.

hijacking would be discussing making Christmas puddings ;)

Ha! I've tried to pass mine off as a shark bite too YoungGirl! I can totally relate to what you have said about becoming a better, stronger person. I feel like that too and am so keen to live life to the absolute full when this is over. And not to chicken out of doing things that scare me, which I do a lot! (Driving lessons, here I come! Best stay clear of the roads if you live in the Edinburgh area!) Sounds like you have had a lot of adventures since! I will definitely PM you probably after the weekend as hosting a Macmillan Coffee morning tomorrow which seems to have grown arms and legs! It's going to be a busy day!

It's definitely important to go to your GP if you suffer a change in bowel movements that lasts 6 weeks. Then be insistent with him/her and demand a colonoscopy. A single tumour in the bowel/rectum is considered curable these days with surgery. Early diagnosis is key. More and more under 40s are getting bowel cancer so age should be part of the GP's excuse for fobbing you off.

Stage 4 advanced BC with mets to liver or lung still treatable, possibly curable if surgery is option and successful. Chemotherapy is often first course of action to shrink tumours in liver or lung especially if tumours are large or numerous. Then there's various radioactive therapies if surgery not an option. Macmillan publish excellent booklet for stage 4 and Cancer Research UK has terrific page on treatment paths when surgery no longer option for liver/lung mets.

Be your own advocate: be firm with your GP; educate yourself on all your treatment options once diagnosed and staged.

*shouldn't be part of the GP's excuse
Sorry.