Hi Ash,

I just want to say hello, and tell you a little story that might be of some comfort to you.

More than ten years ago my little circle of friends was devastated by the news one of us had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer - the so called silent killer.  She had surgery, followed by chemotherapy which she tolerated really well and was soon her old self.  A couple of years ago she was found to have cancer on her bowel, for this she was given chemo that she struggled with a bit as her hands and feet were sore but that soon passed and now, she is still as fit and active as she ever was and runs rings around the rest of the group teaching keep fit!!

Another true story, my sister had a cancerous tumour in her stomach that we knew nothing about until it burst!!! Luckily her son was at home and got her to A&E immediately. She had surgery and chemo, which also hurt her hands and feet but not terribly so, then when she had a scan as part of her follow up she was found to have a meningioma, which is a tumour on the outside of the brain, at least that's what I understand. She had that removed, had her follow up sessions as you do, and a year or so later for her sixtieth birthday she did a sky dive!!! That was more than  ten years ago as she will be 70 in the coming year.

 The moral of both these stories is that each one of these women is sickeningly positive and cheerful and forward looking and the reason for me telling you about them is so you realise that a diagnosis is not a death sentence these days.

Good luck for the results, hang in there and try not to freak out too much. The whole system for dealing with cancer seems like an express train at the beginning so try not to worry too much about the timing of the meeting with the consultant, better sooner than later.

Christine x