Kaz’s story

Imagine going to sleep talking with the anaesthesiologist about your new house in Las Vegas that you were moving to in 2 weeks’ time with your new husband of 6 months (and three cats) to be woken up and told they had found cancer. Welcome to my story! Nov 30th 2024 changed my life.

Rewind 5 days. I went to my GP, aka life saver, to get my last paperwork of meds for US customs and immigration. In it she said I got your routine blood test back and we need to chat. My iron was LOW, like low low as well as my haemoglobin.

We discussed any changes in me, ‘was I fatigued (as I really should have been)?’ I skip the pill so no period concerns and then she asked ‘do you get any bleeding when you do a poo?’ Not really I said, like sometimes but not often. This would change the course of my life and SAVE my life. She said ‘I am not letting you go the USA until you have a colonoscopy, young people are getting bowel cancer at an alarming rate and we need to have an answer now’. Fast forward 5 days to my diagnosis.

The next few weeks were, well, tough to say the least. I had to get my husband home. He quit his new job in Vegas on day 1, moved out of our new rental (good-bye deposit) and made plans to turn all our belongings around when they arrived via boat a few weeks later. We had to move house here in Brisbane as the lease had been cancelled ahead of the move and prepare me for a 9.5hr surgery. We had NOTHING! Brisbane was all packed up, literally, in boxes. I had sold my successful business and car and the cats were in the middle of crate training for their flight. They say there is never a good time for a diagnosis, and I really popped the cherry on top of that!

My diagnoses turned out to be Stage 4. Operable and treatable. I had a 9.5hr surgery on the 12th Dec 2024 to remove the primary cancer in my lower rectum (50/50 chance of needing a stoma), nodes around it that were all lit up in my PET scan and a liver resection for a small spot. It was a massive success. Not only did I not need a stoma. Two days after surgery I was told I was cancer free and that all the margins were clear. Only one of the 22 nodes taken was cancerous. I had 6 weeks to get ready for 12 rounds of clean-up chemo.

My diagnosis was at a really hard time of the year, being Christmas, and organisations having limited staff. My mental health was truly suffering after surgery. I think this is an area that needs some attention as without my tribe I am not sure I would have made it.

To make chemo life easier a lot of us have a portacath put in and this is what I did on the 12th Jan 2025. I started round 1 or 12 of FOLFOX on 20th Jan 2025 and just had round 4 yesterday (Mon 3rd March, at the time of writing this).

Chemo is a day at a time thing. You need to be present and not trying to look ahead. I am an organised human, so I literally tick each day off on the calendar before going to bed!

It’s about finding glimmers. Small joys that spark your day. Nice mug or cup to drink out of. Cuddling a fur kid. Picking a flower or buying some for the house. Having fav outfits that are comfy and soothing for you. My list could go on.

I am LUCKY. My GP saved my life. My surgeons gave me my life back. My oncologist is preparing to kick me out the door to the life I was planning to lead.

I was already a kick ass young woman but I legit can wear the badge now.

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My one piece of advice:

You need a good GP. Full stop.

This is my message now on social media or when I have done a Ask me Anything on Reddit. Your GP is there to:

1: Hear you

2: Believe you

3: Advocate for you

4: Get things done

If your GP is not doing this, you need to find a new one.