May, (the name she requested I use when I got my book going)knew that she was fighting a losing battle when she first came to see me at my clinic. We became closer and closer in our relationship with each other and she was able to express her feelings openly and honestly with herself and with me. This led her to forming her own opinions about what she wanted in her course of treatments and how she wanted to manage her treatments and her life. She was always so strong and knew the path that she was following.She had a caring support system from her husband and her family but she often felt she couldn't openly express her wishes, for fear of hurting or upsetting one of the family members...so I was the rubber ball in her life!She always knew that I was going to write a little about her in my book one day and she asked me to use her "other" name for that purpose.Here is May's story as she told it to me....
" I first noticed changing bowel movements,intermittent diarrhoea and an ongoing bloated feeling.Whatever I did or whatever medication I took, never relieved that bloatedness.This is when I first started thinking that I may have cancer of the colon.After consulting with my doctor, I went into hospital and had a colonoscopy and they found nothing! They couldn't find it.There after, I had a laporoscopy as the symptoms never seemed to ease and they found it in the ovaries.The oncologist consulted with the surgeon and they had a huge argument as the surgeon wanted to remove my ovaries immediately and the oncologist felt we needed to start chemotherapy first.It was at this stage that the surgeon told me I had six months to live.............I was devastated!"
"The oncologist got his way, I had three months of chemo, then radium and later had my ovaries removed."
This was the start of a three year battle against cancer for May and the cancer won in the end.She had intermittent chemo over this time but during her last year, she decided enough was enough.
May started looking at alternate methods and options available to her to improve her quality of life as she was so tired of feeling ill all the time,having no energy, battling with her speech and having no constructive thought process which used to drive her dilly!All she wanted was some quiet and wellness again.
During MAys journey, her family were incredibly supportive and understanding and went along with her to support groups and talks. Her dear husband spent hours on the internet, importing teas and potions for her to try. He so desperately wanted to find one thing that made her feel better again.Her favourite story which she told endlessly and which we used to giggle merthlessly about was some tea or potion that her hubby had ordered from oversease for her. She didn't want to hurt his feelings so used to pretend every day that she had drunk it.But, in fact, spent every day dumping it unceremoniously in the plant near her! And the plant lived. She got such great joy over this little ritual every day!
In MAys last year, her bloating got progressively worse and her tumour count rose substantially.She toyed with having chemo again for a short while and then opted out.Her short term memory kept failing her and her speech got increasingly worse.
May was laid to rest in the April of 2002 and is sadly missed by all who were priveleged to have known her, she was a wonderful woman, who had so much to give, a real angel on earth.
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