I am 76, married for 51 years, 3 grown children, 3 grandchildren. My family is everything to me.

Back in February my husband had trouble swallowing and after trips to the doctor, endoscopy discovered an oesophageal cancer. We have been through chemo, and towards the end of May I had some rectal bleeding, which the doctor brushed off and told me to buy senokot. I did a Fit test and the result came back at 140 which is really high, but gp ignored it. By the end of June , I was feeling rubbish, the constipation never seemed to go away and the bloating and nausea were something else, so I did an e-consult. Within 5 minutes the duty gp called and asked if I knew the results of the colonoscopy yet. I hadn't  had one. By the next day I was on the Cancer Pathway. Everything has happened so fast since then.

Mid August hubby was admitted for oesophagectomy  which went well apart from a hiccup 6 days in resulting in 2nd op. By this time I had had a sigmoidoscopy. Wholeheartedly was in hospital I had a colonography. Two weeks later I had a call saying they had found something very worrying. A ct scan an of my chest was taken, then came the colonoscopy which revealed a very large polyp turning cancerous. A surgeon's appointment was made for last Friday. He said surgery would be sometime before the end of the month. Monday a phone call came with 3 pre-op appointments and an operation date next Monday. At the same time hubby is due to start 4 more rounds of preventative chemo. I can't thank the NHS enough for giving me the chance of leading a normal life again. Just hope my husband is as lucky.

Sorry for the long post, I don't  have many people who I can talk to knowing they understand cancer and how it can affect your life.