There is a very important message for everybody in this Facebook memory post from 2020. I hope you do not mind me sharing this!
On the 3rd of June 2020, with just a cautionary CT scan to take one month later, I had been told by the consultant that all my tests showed I did not have any form of cancer. In the Covid-19 lockdown, a widower, being isolated from my friends and family, without realising it, I was in a very dark place and slowly giving up on life.
The moment I got the all-clear was probably the biggest life-changing experience in my life. Well into my 60s, everything became clear as I started the next chapter in my life as a single unit, an individual. I even changed my profession, and although I have since moved on, I am still working a few days a month in the healthcare sector.
Now for the original post from 2020:
Well, I think I can safely put the worries about my physical health to bed for a while after my tests over the past few weeks. It certainly has made me realise that I have to learn how to move on as a single unit and try to make the most of the rest of my life. My visit to the Urology unit yesterday was quite scary and a learning curve. There were seven of us, six men and one woman sitting about three metres apart wearing masks, all of us in deep thought. You could hear a pin drop, the silence only broken as we were called in to see the consultant or the treatment room for our tests. The facts are, we were all there because we had the symptoms of bladder cancer or kidney disease. I am one of the lucky ones, as all my results were negative, but I wonder how many of the other six were as lucky as I was. Cancer is evil; it does not distinguish between men or women, and it cares not about your age or lifestyle. It destroys the body and slowly takes your life. It destroys the minds of not only the sufferer but also their loved ones.
My final test of five yesterday was a flexible cystoscopy, a camera passed down the urethra into my bladder, everything looked good and as I got off of the table the Urologist patted me on the back and said, "Congratulations, now go and enjoy your life", At this junction in my life the timing was perfect, and I think I will take her advice.
The Haematuria has been put down to a strain during excessive exercise. If you are fortunate enough to live into your mature years, you can liken your life to a book. You may have many chapters written; they are there to learn from and reminisce on. But as one chapter ends, you must turn the page, which is a blank page and start to live the next chapter. Hopefully, I can now pick up my life's pen and slowly start to write my next chapter.
So, to you all. Please do not bury your head in the sand and ignore possible symptoms of serious illness; they will not go away, and they will play on your mind and slowly destroy your quality of life.
