Trying to make sense of all that was happening was made easier by scribbling down notes as it happened, everything from where I was, who treated me, how I was treated and of course what I wore. The latter being most important to me at the time having stepped out of the dreamy world of fashion and straight into a cancer nightmare.
A few weeks after surgery whilst recovering at home I decided to type up my notes which is when I discovered Blogger. It was ideal as I could continue to update as I wrote, I hadn't anticipated then that my personal story be would read by so many others, mainly of course patients and carers going through similar experiences.
In less than 2 weeks it'll be 3 years since I first began scratching down notes and although the book is filed away, I still take it out from time to time. The reason for this is that my cancer journey is still ongoing and I keep appointments dates etc in there. Most of what I write goes straight into this blog which has now seen well over 12,000 views and received lots of feedback.
It's due to the feedback that I finally made the decision to put the blog into print, I have been working on this for only a few weeks but it's starting to come together. As well as my own story I am drawing on the experience of others to help fill in some gaps. My last blog post was addressing many of the questions I still have relating to kidney cancer treatment and aftercare. Hearing how other patients and carers have dealt with the disease and the differences in cancer treatments across the UK has been extremely useful research.
If you or someone you know have a similar experience with kidney cancer I'd love to hear from you as it's been a great source of help being able to share what has happened. Kidney cancer may still be an unfashionable cancer, I'd certainly not heard of it before my own. However, awareness is vital as statistics are increasing year on year.
I still have a long way to go with my book project but I thought World Book Day would be a perfect date to let you know this latest development.
