Never Stop
Lying awake at 4 am squeezing Grant’s hand praying for the pain to stop, waiting for the pain killers to work. This is the side of cancer we often do not see or want to think about. It is these moments that make us question everything, cause while that pain is not permanent while it […]
Darkness
In the darkness always look for the light, remember one cannot exist without the other. My cancer journey has been long, October marked 2 years since my diagnosis. It is tiring and takes its toll, but I am grateful for every day I have. As my GP reminds me, I have already beaten the odds, […]
It’s the little things that count
Do small things really matter?Can a small act make a big difference? These are questions we face and hear about all the time and the reality is it’s really all about perception. For some people they feel they have only made a difference if 100s of people are affected, whereas others feel happy that just […]
Hope Shines Bright
Hope can be a deceptive companion as it distracts us from facing reality, however I still prefer looking through the lens of hope as it is far more comforting than the lens of fear or despair. My 6-week observation is over, the PET Scan results are in. There is no explaining how one prepares for […]
Filling up My Cup
It has been 19 months since my Triple Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer diagnosis, and I have been receiving chemotherapy infusions for 17 of those months. On Friday 12 May 2023, I finished my last infusion of GenCarbo chemotherapy, making the total number of received chemo infusions 42. Thankfully, we put a port in after infusion […]
It is OK to be you
Shew life, the world, getting up every day is tough, and I am not only talking about myself I am talking about for everyone.All around us friends, family, colleagues, our community’s people are struggling. In a lot of ways, it is no surprise; we still recovering from COVID, war and violence is all around, loadshedding, […]
Resets & New Beginnings
I am not big into New Year’s resolutions, but I do like the reset a new year brings. The opportunity to reflect, take stock, appreciate the good things of the previous year and let go of the bad. “Januworry” as it has become known is interesting, as while it is a long, busy month for […]
The Hope Train
For those that may not know October is the month of Breast Cancer Awareness. Thanks to the wonderful initiative of www.diaryofashleigh.com to raise awareness for Breast Cancer, if you live in Johannesburg (or my neighbourhood) you may even have noticed many trees or gates decorated in pink. As a Cancer Survivor, I love seeing this […]
Scanxiety the struggle is real
When I was first diagnosed with Cancer part of the process was having copious scans, from mammograms to sonar, x-rays, CT scans, Nuclear Bone scan and MRI’s, I feel I have done it all. I thankfully am intrigued and in awe of what technology can do, so whilst the process was tiring, the fear of […]
Chemotherapy a journey of surprises
My chemotherapy treatment started on the 6th of December 2021, it will consist of 6 courses, each course is 4 weeks long. The first 3 weeks of a course I will do intravenous chemotherapy once a week and take the trial drug in tablet form twice a day for four days after my chemo session. […]
Beauty Comes from Within…Rocking Being Bald
From the moment you know your Cancer treatment involves chemotherapy the question of whether you will lose your hair arises. It is quite funny as there are so many questions around having chemo that need to be asked and discussed, but being human, I can honestly say the first one that comes to mind is […]
Chemotherapy
The necessary evil Chemotherapy, this word I believe is sometimes scarier than the word Cancer. Through a book, a movie, or the experience of having watched someone you know battle Cancer, very often the journey is attached to an unpleasant chemotherapy experience. Knowing my first step to beating Cancer would be chemotherapy was to say […]
