Border Lines

Cancer is popular

Look, I know cancer’s everywhere and it can get a bit dull reading about it. But, trust me, having cancer really sucks. In this bowel cancer awareness month, take a moment to check out the symptoms of bowel cancer here (it’s the fourth most common cancer after lung, breast and prostate). Share the details of the symptoms as widely as you can. And, if you can spare five more minutes, take a read of the rest of this post.

April is bowel cancer awareness month. But how do we get people to engage with the information they really need to know?

My blogposts about my experience of bowel cancer are some of the most popular posts I’ve written. Actually, scrub the ‘some’, they are the most widely read posts on this blog. This one, published just after Alan Rickman and David Bowie died in January 2016, achieved more views than any other post I’ve written.

Yep, cancer is popular.

But finding the story of someone’s experience of cancer compelling is not the same as engaging with the signs and symptoms of that cancer. And, besides, knowledge of the symptoms does not necessarily translate into action. I know because it didn’t for me.

I knew that blood in your poo wasn’t great. But, when I had a bleed from my bottom, it happened just once and, although it was a bit shocking, I assumed it was a haemorrhoid (pile). When it happened again a year later I thought: ‘Oh, that happened before and everything was fine!’

Why was I seemingly so disengaged from my own well-being?

Well, I don’t think I was.

I checked the symptoms of bowel cancer on several sites and was actually reassured:

• I hadn’t lost weight inexplicably
• I didn’t think I was abnormally tired
• I wasn’t particularly bloated
• I didn’t have a painful tummy
• I was a bit prone to upset tummies but I kind of always have been

When the upset tummies became more insistent, I did go to see the GP (actually it was an Ed Byrne joke that made me decide to go to the doc – you can read about that here). She did not think there was anything to worry about. The internal exam (finger up the bottom) showed nothing untoward. The doctor sent me for a precautionary endoscopy (a camera inserted into your back passage). She did not fast-track me, although – fortunately for me – I was seen very quickly.

And that’s it.

If I’d gone to the GP when I had that first bleed, maybe I’d have caught the cancer at Stage 1. Maybe. Nine out of ten people survive five years or more after treatment at Stage 1 bowel cancer. As it is, I was Stage 3. But, as my surgeon said, it’s important to deal with ‘what is’ and not ‘what ifs’. I count myself lucky. I had (and have) no secondaries. I am cancer-free and back to full fitness. It is good to be alive.

The more we are able to talk about cancer openly and freely; the more we are able to highlight our stories frankly and honestly; the more we are able to engage with people beyond our own friend and family circles: the more lives will be saved.

Here’s the link to the marvellous Bowel Cancer UK site again. Take a look at the symptoms and share away.

It’s good to be alive. A pic of me and my lovely family to prove it.

I’m aware of bowel cancer. Obvs. But I don’t fit the profile, do I?

It’s bowel cancer awareness month. The thing about awareness is that it doesn’t necessarily equate to action. And it’s action as well as awareness that Bowel Cancer UK are focusing on this month.

Bowel cancer is treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early. The problem is that going to the doctor can feel like a faff for symptoms easy to attribute to other things…For example:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, a tummy upset, piles, just your metabolism, busy life – we’re all a bit knackered, right?

Perhaps you check out the symptoms on a website. It may say something like ‘Most people with these symptoms (see below) do not have bowel cancer’. It will continue that you should still get checked out by your GP – but maybe you don’t really fit the profile of someone with bowel cancer…

You’re fit (ish) – or maybe you’re even very fit; you eat a balanced (ish) diet – maybe you’re a vegetarian or a vegan; maybe you’re young – 30s or younger, say. Maybe you like a few glasses of wine or beer or maybe not. But you are certainly not the classic profile of someone with bowel cancer.

So, what is the classic profile of someone with bowel cancer?

It’s a 35-year-old deputy head teacher who’s a bit of a fitness freak and a vegetarian… you can read more about her (you may have seen her on Breakfast TV yesterday, 1 April 2017) here

It’s a pharmacist in his early 50s who walks his dogs and is training to be a hypnotherapist – find out more about him here

It’s a 40-year-old teetotal knitting and sewing vegan who’s studying for a doctorate who blogs here

It’s a 39-year-old beautician who, as far as I’m aware (and you’re probably relieved to know), does not blog!

And it’s me. A 53-year-old woman (when diagnosed) who walks marathons and enjoys a madly busy life.

Here I am with my beautiful London daughter, good to go for the 2012 Edinburgh Moonwalk.

I am eternally grateful for trained medical professionals who do not find my body embarrassing, revolting or unapproachable. They just want me to be well.

If you are in the slightest bit worried about stuff to do with your bowel, don’t hang about: go to the doctor. Doctors are not embarrassed about putting a finger in your rectum to check you out, they do not find it an inconvenience to refer you for a colonoscopy, send you for blood tests, or get you to do poo sticks (not pooh sticks, that’s something else entirely!). And that’s another thing, if you are of an age where you receive the testing kit in the post (screening is for over-60s in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, over-50s in Scotland: yes, I know, not one of my friends listed above is over 60!), don’t put it to one side for later. Do it. Now.

Here is a list of possible symptoms you might experience:

• Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
• A change in bowel habit lasting three weeks or more
• Unexplained weight loss
• Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
• A pain or lump in your tummy

Find out more at Bowel Cancer UK