Colonoscopy A Must......
by Sheryn Deall
(Western Australia)
Hi
My name is Sheryn Deall and I was diagnosed with colon cancer when I was 40 years of age. It all started with me getting appendicitis which was removed. But I never healed, the skin closed and abscesses kept forming, so under the knife I would go again to have the abscess removed. That was in February 2004.
My surgeon "god bless his soul" kept insisting on me having a colonoscopy, but me being stubborn told him that if he fixed the "hole in my side I would have one". When I was still unwell and losing weight by August I gave in and had a colonoscopy.
After the procedure the surgeon came and saw me and told me he had found the problem and it was cancer.
I was devastated.
Colon cancer was only for old people....young people did not get it surely...My dad had just finished his treatment for the same disease.
Four days later I was in our local hospital being prepared for surgery. I had a resection (hemicolectomy I think it was called) and the surgeon confirmed that the cancer had perforated the bowel wall.
Things weren't looking to good. Anyhow someone was looking after me because my lymph nodes and other organs were clear of cancerous cells.
Anyway, I had 6 cycles of chemo, that was quite horrendous. I was the one person in 5 that lost my hair and had a lot of other side effects that were not common.
But today 5 years on I am still here, being a mother to my three wonderful teenagers and a wife to my loving husband, working full time with troubled teens, and loving life. I have oncology checkups yearly and YES I have a colonoscopy every 2 years. Because of my family history my children will have to be checked at the age of 30, I will ensure they do this.
So please, please if you have any signs or family history of bowel cancer, get checked ASAP. I was stupid, but lucky.
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