July 4, 2020 will forever be a momentous date in my life. It was a day that would change my life forever: the day I found out I had cancer.
Rewinding a bit — I had spent around 4 weeks prior to my diagnosis suffering from severe constipation and stomach pains. After two visits to the doctor (and a few healthy rounds of laxatives) I still found myself constipated and uncomfortable. Following an intense 36-hour period of no sleep and 8 days of no bowel movement, I shipped myself off to urgent care. It was here that my adventure began: facing cancer in a world restricted by COVID-19.
A CT scan confirmed my suspicions. A mass was found in my sigmoid colon, and just like that I found myself in a hospital bed. There were many emotions and thoughts running through my mind, but I knew that a cool head would get me through. I dug deep and awaited my prognosis.
The next day, after a host of scans and being subjected to multiple probes, I was given a stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis. What fun, I thought to myself, not exactly what a 28-year-old man was expecting to hear. For the record, it had first started growing from the age of 12. Crazy to think it had been inside me all this time.
Action stations were called and I underwent surgery to remove this dastardly tumor. My procedure was a success — they removed a tumor the size of a golf ball, 15 cancerous lymph nodes and a few inches of colon. I am left with some very trendy battle scars as a reminder. The next 5 days were spent recovering in hospital before I was released on Friday, July 10. What a wild 6 days life had thrown at me!
I spent the next two months letting my body heal. A lot of small walks, reflection and giving my friends and family regular updates. Once this was over, it was time to embark on the next stage of treatment: the dreaded chemotherapy. I underwent 12 rounds in 6 months, and it could not have finished sooner. It was awful — living in a cycle of feeling rotten and then just when you feel back to your usual self, WHAM, back on the drugs you go. Thankfully I knew where the finish line was so I kept my head down and cracked on. I counted the days until March 2020 — chemo, round 12 — the light at the end of the tunnel. What a day that was, to be done with the most taxing part of the process to date.
And now, here we are. Life in remission is relatively normal except for the routine colonoscopy, scans and blood tests. A small price to pay in my eyes. With the bulk of the cancer treatment now over it feels like time to really get on with life once more and make up for the time I have missed.
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