Thursday 25 September 2014

Clinimed O2 walk

So as some of you may remember from an earlier post I have written some blogs and articles for my stoma bag supplier Clinimed/Securicare.

Well Im biased as they have been not only supportive but their service is a life saver! You know sometimes I even forget I am dealing with a company as it feels like an extended family or like some of the dealings with the charities, anyway I digress.
I was contacted and asked if I would like to take part in a walk across the O2 to raise some awareness and some donations for Bowel Cancer.

Well how could I say no? I'll also be honest it has been on my to do bucket list since I heard you could do it

As always the Clinmed team were great. As I have started to realize when a group of strangers get together to do something.... different a nervous excitement takes over as you all move outside of your comfort zones.

Actually, perhaps that's it? It's this addictive nervousness that you get before you do something for the first time that keeps me looking for my next fix! It doesn't have to be a race or OCR.

 

Anyway, as we arrived I realised just how high the O2 actually is! Plus what you don't realise is the  walkway is actually wobbles!. It's not a solid floor it bounces and flexes. That and it is steep! Im not too great with heights luckily the walkway is only 20ft or so away from the top of the dome, so while you going up it doesn't feel that high. That is unless you look back.

  

I also learned about allot of O2 statistics.  It wasn't simply constructed, some elements are actuially very well designed. ;)
  • Top Of Dome is 50m high!
  • Its twelve 100 m-high yellow support towers represent each month of the year or each hour of the clock face, representing the role played by Greenwich Mean Time
  • In plan view it is circular, 365 m (one metre for each day in a standard year) in diameter
Clever right!

  


If you ever get the chance to experience this I HIGHLY recommend it!






Once again my journey over the last 18months has presented me with so many unique opportunities, meeting so many inspirational people, how can I stop now?

The real question I ask myself is...What do I do next!

awareness revisited

So when I started this blog my hope was my story, my journey, my battle and ultimately my ramblings would help. Help someone that may be starting their own journey.

Cancer is a word thrown around in the media and our daily lives far too often.

My fear is we have become desensitised its actually meaning.

As I have often said Cancer does not equal the end. But that doesnt mean we dont owe it respect, the attention it deserves. Awareness of symptoms and early diagnosis does saves lives.

Im resharing some more 'clinical' details about what bowel cancer symptons are.
I hope you find them useful.

So...where to start. I guess the best way is to start breaking down what bowel cancer is. Break it down into bitesize pieces.
The large bowel is a long tube of muscular tissue, about 120cm (4 feet) long that sits in the lower part of the abdomen. It runs in a loop from the appendix on the lower right hand side in your pelvis (near your hip bone) up and across the abdomen at the waist line and then down into the pelvis again on the left hand side, before it curves backward towards the back passage (rectum) and anus.

The large bowel mainly acts as a storage area and collects the liquid waste food from the upper part of your digestive system (stomach and small bowel). It gradually reabsorbs the water, turning this waste material into formed poo (faeces) as it moves further along the bowel towards the rectum.
At some time in our lives most of us will
experience problems with our bowels and the process of getting rid of these waste materials. Tummy upsets and bleeding
from the bottom are both very common
symptoms associated with many minor
problems that are easily treated, or settle down again on their own.



Most bowel cancers start as innocent growths – called polyps – on the wall of the bowel. Polyps are like smallspots or cherries on stalks and most do not produce symptoms. Polyps are more common as we get older and most polyps are not pre-cancerous. One type of polyp called an adenoma can, however, become cancerous (malignant). If left undetected, the cancer cells will multiply to form a tumour in the bowel, causing pain, bleeding and other symptoms. If untreated, the tumour can grow into the wall of the bowel or back passage.

Within this group of adenoma-related bowel cancers, there are one or two rare types of disease which do not seem to behave in quite the same way as these slow growing polyps. These uncommon types of bowel cancers develop and spread much more quickly, and seem to affect much younger people.


A polyp Iarge bowel


A tumor in the large bowel



 

Sunday 14 September 2014

Life is starting to get VERY busy!

I'm going to have to say a bit behind with my blogging...so much has happened over the last 6 weeks I am struggling to keep up!!!
But a few days away on business in a hotel shoukd mean I can finish the 6 or so blogs I hve half started! ;)
In the interimn...I apologise for the cheesy clip show....but when I look back at the last 12 months. ..WOW Ive done alot!!
Check out this vid from a new App Ive been playing with :)







Monday 8 September 2014

Happy Blogiversary!!!

Ill be honest life has been hectic, health had a bit of a blip, bit of a gap in training, work has been a bit stressful, and to be honest this manifested in my emotional armor being really tested.

I do my best to stay positive, to think of all the positives in my life, but sometimes, for no apparent reason this is THE hardest thing to do!

Depression/stress whatever you decide to call it in my experience it has many levels.  It feels like a darkness washes over you.  Like you are at the bottom of a hole looking up at the light and everyone else going about their normal lives.  Although you have been there before, in the then and now there is nothing you can do.  It tests your resolve, your personal relationships with family and friends, your working professionalism.  Ultimately your willingness to keep fighting the good fight.


I suppose in some ways I've created allot of my own pressures.  I don't want to be a recluse and sit in the corner rocking but similarly work, life stress the pressure of this journey I am on cannot be ignored.  No matter how much I try!

Perhaps over the last few months I have taken on a little more than I could handle, forgot I don't wear a cape and my pants over my trousers ;)



On a more positive note I have just noticed a few days ago was the anniversary of this very blog!  Who would've thought that when I started that things would've developed as far as they have.  That my ramblings would've opened so many doors, allowed me to meet so many cool people.  Allow me to be an officially published blogger, and a part of a wider Ostomy community!  This all became very clear when  at a recent OCR event having so many people stop me....just to say hi!

WOW!!! Now if that's not enough to give anyone a motivational kick in the arse what is.


HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!!