Susan and I travel the Cancer Journey
The reason for writing this story is to give inspiration to those who are going through their own Cancer Journey and to take away the helpless feeling loved ones experience during a Cancer experience.

Our Journey starts in 1997. You will notice I say our Cancer Journey because Cancer affects all of the immediate family. Oh! It may be in a different way but the affect can be just as traumatic as if you were the one with cancer. In fact many people say it is worse being the partner of someone with cancer because, at times, you feel so helpless.

Part of this story may show you how you can control events rather than events control you.

On to the Journey.
Susan and I had been naughty and not followed our usual exercise routine for sometime. When we eventually resumed walking it was a bit of a struggle. I should explain at this point that our then home in Barnet was at the bottom of a long steep hill; it was uphill in most directions. For Susan it was more of a struggle than it should have been, her heart was pounding and her legs were feeling like lead. I suffer with heart problems so I know exactly how that makes you feel. However Susan insisted it was just the lack of exercise.

Well we struggled on over the next few weeks, during which time we booked a trip to New Zealand and Australia. Just before we went on " Our holiday of a lifetime" we sold our house and had to move in a hurry. Marvellous isn't it we had been tying to sell our house for a year. As soon as we book our holiday we get a buyer who wants to move in a hurry. We rented a bungalow in Norwich, England and continued planning our holiday.

On January 16th we arrived in Sydney for a three-day stay. It was fantastic; we loved the city after the said three days, we made our way to Timaru in New Zealand and had good time except. Susan was having difficulties with her energy levels and the Doctors there decided to give her an iron injection. The reason they gave her Iron was because in the past Susan had been Anaemic. The injection had little or no effect as far as we could see.

We toured South Island and had a good time except Susan was not well enough to swim with the Dolphins. We eventually found ourselves at Hamner Springs, where we had a private cubicle and bathed in the mineral waters. This had a massive effect on Susan she was violently sick and stayed in bed the whole of the next day. By then she had recovered enough for us to continue our journey.

We were supposed to visit Christchurch the day before we were due to fly out but the weather was so bad we cancelled the trip. As soon as we did the weather improved but there you go some things are just not meant to be.

We decided we would continue with our plan to see Susans brother in Adelaide. A few days after arriving in Adelaide Susan felt worse and could not walk very far. Her legs were like lead weights and she was not enjoying herself. We rushed her to the Doctor, he sent her to hospital. There a Doctor diagnosed an under active thyroid. Susan was also experiencing digestive problems which the Doctors decided would best be investigated back in the UK.

The Investigation (Cancer 2)