I struggle with people thinking that because I’m now clear of (cervical) cancer that everything is back to normal. I still suffer with side effects from treatment (chemo, radiotherapy and brachytherapy and surgery related to sepsis) and fact that I developed sepsis during my treatment journey and was very ill for several weeks as a result. It sometimes feels like people won’t believe that I am far from back to normal despite receiving my diagnosis in June ‘23 and being declared ‘clear’ in May ‘24. I Still get severe abdominal pain and nausea which at last is going to be investigated with scan and endoscopy and struggle in accepting that this journey has been/is so long and don’t feel that anyone managed my expectations as to what ‘recovery’ looks like.
I am not ungrateful about what the NHS has done for me - most of the people I’ve encountered have been wonderful but I am struggling with how best to approach the future going forward.
