C-list : Chemotherapy, clinics and colostomy bags: how i survived colon cancer

Machine generated contents note: PART ONE -- 1. The Race for Life -- or where it all began -- 2. At the doctor's -- 3. Getting through the days before it all kicked off -- 4.D-Day -- or should I say C-Day? -- 5. Telling the children -- 6. The op -- 7. My treatment plan -- 8. Another op ... -- PART TWO -- 9. Chemo time -- 10. Coping with chemo depression -- 11. Brain food -- 12. More chemo adventures -- 13. Approaching the end of chemo -- 14. What a difference a year makes! -- PART THREE -- 15. The new normal -- 16. Bits and pieces. A cancer survivor's guide to dealing with the treatments, emotions and new normal that comes after a shocking diagnosis.Bowel cancer, despite being the UK's second biggest cancer killer, still receives a shockingly low level of awareness. This book aims to redress this by telling the story of a mother of two who embarked on a crash course dealing with advanced bowel cancer at the age of 45. Having absolutely no preparation, her lists help her gain control over what fast becomes an even more chaotic and unpredictable life. Her diagnosis presents a wake-up call to what's important in life, and insists that daft and often funny things can still happen to people living with cancer. This is a memoir packed full of useful advice for making the best of your sudden situation – from learning how to deal with your new menagerie of medics to how to avoid all the usual cancer faux pas! As someone who describes herself as habitually “not doing today what I can put off till tomorrow”, Rachel shares with you all the lists you need to cope with gaining back some control from the chaos. This is the ultimate reader-friendly guide on how to deal with operation after operation, the reality of chemotherapy and, when that's over, how to function on a daily basis with your ‘new normal'. But most importantly, it's a record of how Rachel taught her children resilience, her number one challenge in life. A cancer survivor's guide to dealing with the treatments, emotions and new normal that comes after a shocking diagnosis. Bowel cancer, despite being the UKs second biggest cancer killer, still receives a shockingly low level of awareness. This book aims to redress this by telling the story of a mother of two who embarked on a crash course dealing with advanced bowel cancer at the age of 45. Having absolutely no preparation, her lists help her gain control over what fast becomes an even more chaotic and unpredictable life. Her diagnosis presents a wake-up call to whats important in life, and insists that daft and often funny things can still happen to people living with cancer. This is a memoir packed full of useful advice for making the best of your sudden situation from learning how to deal with your new menagerie of medics to how to avoid all the usual cancer faux pas! As someone who describes herself as habitually not doing today what I can put off till tomorrow, Rachel shares with you all the lists you need to cope with gaining back some control from the chaos. This is the ultimate reader-friendly guide on how to deal with operation after operation, the reality of chemotherapy and, when thats over, how to function on a daily basis with your new normal. But most importantly, its a record of how Rachel taught her children resilience, her number one challenge in life. When facing with advanced cancer, the first thing this author did was look for other books from long time survivors of stage 4 bowel cancer to give her something to hold on to. Finding none, she wrote her own. With a wicked, taboo-breaking sense of humour and a gift for practicality, she shares her experiences and the lists she made to gain some control over what quickly became an unpredictable life. Both funny and poignant, she vividly describes the absurd situations she finds herself in from a brutally flippant surgeon to dating after cancer. Most of all this book is a gift for anyone looking for hope is a desperate situation. The C List - Colons, Clinics, Chemo and (Quite a Lot of) Cake: How I Survived Bowel Cancer Colon cancer is the second-biggest cancer killer in the US, but there is still a shockinging low level of public awareness about it. Rachel offers you all the nuggets of information she picked up from hundreds of sources along the way, including questions you should ask your surgeon, the best treats while on chemo, things to look out for in a blood test, and how not to react when someone tells you they have cancer. --Back cover