Are you caring for a loved one?

If so, you're not alone.

According to Carers Australia, there are approximately 2.7 million unpaid carers in Australia.

Carers perform a range of services, including helping patients with medications, driving them to medical appointments, preparing meals, managing financial and insurance matters and providing emotional and spiritual support.

After completing bowel cancer treatment, your focus may shift to returning to work.

Give yourself enough time to recover from your bowel cancer surgery and/or treatment and don’t feel pressured into returning to work before you are ready.

Many patients describe a change in their worldview after having faced bowel cancer, resulting in their priorities shifting, especially in relation to their career goals and their definition of success.

Others express hesitation about returning to work due to fears of recurrence, a decreased sense of self-efficacy, and general anxiety related to re-integrating after being away.

With these challenges in mind, it may be hard to see the positive side of returning to work.  

A new year offers the opportunity to say goodbye to the past and look forward to something new.

This might involve giving something up (like a bad habit) or engaging in something different (such as an exercise program).

But patients and loved ones affected by bowel cancer often see the arrival of a new year in a different way and make resolutions that reflect that.

It’s not so long ago I went to the GP and told her about a few concerns I had and the symptoms that I was experiencing, which my GP considered not to be a big deal. The GP thought it was possibly haemorrhoids.

I decided that I could allow myself to be more relieved, seeing as I had expressed my concerns but the GP had predominantly dismissed it being anything serious…. after all.