“Four Women, Same Cancer, Four Journeys”

When most folks think of “Cancer” the most important aspect seems to be whether the patient survived or succumbed to the disease. They may also inquire about treatments; radiotherapy versus chemotherapy, or possibly some crazy new clinical trial. I must admit, until I went through my own crazy rollercoaster ride that is the cancer journey, I really didn’t pay all that much attention to what cancer patients actually experience during that ride.



A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending a fun evening at a local pub with 3 incredible women. All four of us are in our 50’s, living in and around Ottawa and all four of us are colorectal cancer survivors. This is where the similarity ends. It was while I sat there sipping my designer beer, involved in multiple conversations around the table that I realized just how differently each of us experienced the same cancer.

There’s Lynn, diagnosed 5 years ago with Stage IV, our ‘senior survivor’ who has lived through a total blockage of her bowel followed by a liver and bowel resection (at the same time!). We are all jealous of how she breezed through treatment often bragging how she was able to drink wine while still on treatment. From my own chemo experience, the thought of drinking wine just made my stomach churn.

Then there is Trish, originally diagnosed at Stage II, endured chemo and radiation treatments which almost killed her, only to discover abdominal metastases months later. She was deemed incurable by local doctors only offering palliative systemic chemo. Trish, a bulldog of a fighter was not prepared to accept that diagnosis and as a result made it a full time job to read up on her condition. Her research identified HIPEC (Heated Intraperitoneal Chemo) as a possible course to follow. A lot of hard work to establish her qualification for this treatment with the collaboration of her local oncologist led to her subsequent admission for treatment out of province. While she is not out of the woods yet, and she is in much pain from the onslaught of treatments she has had to endure over the past two years, she is, at this moment cancer free.

Julie is the ‘newbie’ of this group. A stage III survivor, she has the added challenge of being a diabetic. I cannot imagine the amount of balancing that must have taken place in trying to deal with a lifelong chronic disease and cancer treatments at the same time. Julie hung in there and did her treatments like a pro, with an added ‘bonus’ of losing most of her gorgeous curly hair. (Complete hair loss is not usual for standard Colorectal Cancer chemo treatments). For colorectal patients the colonoscopy is part of our screening arsenal. While a safe and relatively simple procedure for most, it can be challenging for those who have undergone a surgical resection. This is because when a colon is resected following removal of the tumour and the damaged/diseased sections, it doesn’t always heal in a textbook manner. Adhesions, scar tissue, strictures and bowel looping are unfortunately quite common. This has become Julie’s latest battle; one that I hope I can help her with as unfortunately I have personal experience.