when someone tells you you’ve got something that is quite aggressive in you you sit back and you think “well whatever you’ve got, give it to me I don’t care what it is, just give it to me”
my desk at work like my old friend even my mundane, boring Monday to Friday public servant life is mine and it’s worth defending and it’s worth fighting for you know?
my sister-in-law made me these she knew that I would need them so right at the very start she said, “just put these away. when you’re ready.”
life goes on like the circle of life he’s just born, hasn’t got a care in the world he doesn’t know what’s going on... just like, “don’t worry about it” it’s just what happens just the circle of life
a lot of people don’t know what a PICC line looks like when they see that, it brings home that maybe I’m not as well as I look
a day in the life walking the mile
sometimes it’s just the little things that make you feel good whether it’s polishing your shoes or going to get a haircut... it just makes me feel better might seem simple but they make you feel good
well most people would be amazed by a woman driving that rig for a start, but the fact that I’ve got cancer and I’m driving that, they’d be amazed
happiest place on earth
I will always be apprehensive because, you know, one day it might come back I’ve been dealing with this for over ten years... one day it might come back
#fightcancer
dressings had to be changed today some things one should keep to themselves, I guess scary scar
peace
asking for help is probably the hardest thing I guess, reality hits there’s stuff I can do, there’s stuff I can’t do so you do a bit of work stop recover a bit of work recover
cancer is a bugger two steps forward one step backwards fingers crossed
if you are sick and especially if you’ve got a terminal illness, some people do not know what to say or what to do “what should I say? what should I do?”
I’ve spent a lot of time in one of those the MRI machine is the one thing that tells the doctors what’s happening in my brain, otherwise they can’t tell
clear skies above
the fact that you managed to clean the house is something... that’s where I find it hard that I can’t do what I used to
left behind
it becomes one of the obstacles in life although it’s a small obstacle it is one of them
another hospital tag
ever since I was diagnosed with cancer I thought about it and thought about it and thought, “okay, if I die or when I die, he will have no one to talk to” so in the end I said, “okay, look, you can have a dog… so he is one of the things that help
#roadtorecovery
I have a priority to live as long as I can for my family
I think that it’s important, in my situation, just to keep enjoying life
just this simple little barbeque shed and a bit of a fence, you don’t need anything else you’ve got that, you’ve got your friends you sit around just the food, the get together you’ve got it made, haven’t you?
keep in contact with your mates just because you’re feeling crook or you might be having a bad day, they might be having a worse day
it doesn’t matter what’s wrong with you whether you’re in a bad mood or whatever the old dog will still wag his tail and love you
I don’t like the thing when people say everything happens for a reason bad things happen they do there’s no reason for it things just happen and they’re not always good and your resilience comes from taking the good with the bad
I put my faith and trust in God for this journey for myself and future generations
things aren’t going right
this is not about me cancer is just something that happens to have hit me
it’s nice to talk to other people who understand and have the same thing and hear their stories as well we’re all the same
getting up, going to the hospital, coming home and going to bed sometimes you just want to break that up
I love my roses I have roses and lavender in the garden the guy next door is a beekeeper and so the bees are there every day I love nature if you’ve got animals around you, no matter what they are, birds and the environment, you’re at peace because y
I went and saw my orthopaedic specialist who was going to do a knee replacement and had a chest x-ray in preparation low and behold there was a nasty little surprise I actually had lung cancer that was a bit of a shock I said to that doctor, “bloody
down the front there’s a few old trees that are riddled with rot that’s like a form of cancer too, isn’t it?
this is the effect chemo had on me all the skin on my fingers was peeling the nails all cracked it was a bit hard to take
that was the Thursday two weeks ago he used that word “cured” very pointedly I think he was trying to really enforce to me, “you’re better take it”
the quiet
I don’t look like myself I don’t think I look like that inside I feel much fitter and healthier this woman here looks tired, old, and sick and I don’t really feel like that I may look like it, but I don’t feel like it
aside from treatment side effects, the only way I know I have cancer is what I am told I do not have any symptoms probably the hardest aspect of living with cancer is actually accepting that I have cancer I find it difficult to accept it
we are playing a waiting game
I’ve still got my health and my ability to walk the dog that’s what reminded me how lucky I am still to have my health, even though we’ve gone through this how lucky I am to still have my health
a great meeting place we have, more or less, built all this so when the family comes they can all have fun we have our barbecues and we bond and everybody always comes cancer stays away from that
one of the many nurses there they care for you 110% it’s not unpleasant going to the hospital because the staff are so pleasant they make the horrible pleasant, you might say
in many ways not thinking about cancer is half of my aim trying to just feel normal again