A couple months ago, I mentioned that I was healing from an unexpected surgery. I wasn’t quite ready to share my story because, well to be honest, I was terrified and then I moved into a place of total denial.
Back in July, I was diagnosed with an early stage of colon cancer. By the Grace of God and a gentle nudge from my big brother, I went in for a colonoscopy. When I woke up from my screening my doctor said, “I don’t know how you have looking out for you upstairs but had you not come in, you wouldn’t have made it to 45.” Uhh, talk about a punch in the gut (no pun intended).
I had surgery on August 20th to remove the malignant tumor as well as my transverse colon (approximately 2 feet of my colon). When my final pathology came back, we caught the cancer so early that it had not spread to any other organs and there was no lymph node involvement! I am completely cancer free and I do not have to do any chemo or radiation, PRAISE THE LORD!!!!
I was scared y’all. Remember that denial mentioned earlier? Instead of researching how to live without part of my colon, listening to my body or even sharing with family and friends what was going, I just tried to act like none of this happened.
But, the mind and body are amazing things and they will let you know if something isn’t right. I started losing my hair in November. I just assumed it was stress (I’ve had a couple life changes on top of a cancer diagnosis in the past 6-7 months) but as it kept falling out I decided to speak to my doctor and get some lab work done. My doctor said its pretty common to lose your hair around 3 months after a major surgery (especially when you have part of an organ removed). In addition, my bloodwork show that I was extremely deficient in ferritin (stored up iron in the body) and Vitamin D and both can lead to rapid hair loss. And, bottom line, I wasn’t taking care of myself the way I needed to. I’m grateful my body is healing and nudging me to be more tuned in.
So, I ended up cutting my hair short. If I lose it all, I’m ok with that too. #listentothenudges
Comments