A year ago, I wouldn’t believe what was in store for me. I have been a vegetarian since I was 11, I am only just in my forties, fit, active, and I don’t drink or smoke. I never thought bowel cancer was coming my way, but it did, and I was lucky to have found it in time and am now a year down the line.

I have a love / hate relationship with my stoma – and that’s ok! It’s there, it saved my life, I don’t fully hate it but I sometimes struggle to be grateful for it too. I haven’t named my stoma either, though I know many people do. It just doesn’t feel right for me and that’s the important thing, being true to you and your feelings and not feeling pressured to behave or act a certain way. If you don’t want to name it, you don’t have to.

Also embrace the little wins! I LOVE being able to use my RADAR key and the disabled shower in my local gym – they are so much better (it has a on/off tap and not a timed push button 😊)!!

I’m currently having a series of colonoscopies to remove polyps from the part of the bowel above the tumour where the doctor hadn’t been able to get to before. This happens through the stoma. The hardest part of this is managing the bowel prep solution. The actual camera through my stoma is far easier than the ‘other entrance’.

Right now, I have been given a date for a stoma reversal but I’m actually really nervous about it. Will it go OK? How will my bowel ‘behave’ afterwards? It feels like its taken a long time to get normality and some level of fitness back after the chemo and operation and I don’t want to lose this again. I felt really confident with my stoma and know what to expect and can manage the little challenges. The unknown of a reversal and adapting to something new or there being issues is something I need to weigh up. Plus, am I ready to give up those better showers at the gym?

Regardless of when my reversal is, what I do want to do though is continue to do is find others who have gone through similar to me and encourage us all to speak up and normalise it. Bowel Cancer happens (literally s*** happens!) and I want those who are going or have gone through it to know they’re not alone.

Summa