My 10-year-old son has recently been to pioneer week where he goes to his new secondary school for a week to experience life there. He was asked to write about someone who inspires them. He just told me that he wrote about me and how well I dealt with my operation and chemotherapy afterwards.
He doesn’t talk much about what we went through but when he does he surprises me how much it really affected him. He was only eight. Be brave, everyone, no matter what stage you are at with this dreadful disease.
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My waist kept expanding over a period of seven months
I was working as a daybaker and would come home and fall asleep on the sofa soon after I got home. I was exhausted and, despite exercising regularly and when my mother asked me if I was pregnant I began to feel unsettled. I also experienced some back pain that felt like my muscles were torn apart (like Velcro).
I felt uneasy, something was wrong but I couldn’t pin anything down
I had just had blood tests for my quickly approaching 40th but nothing had reared its head. Was I drinking too many coke zeros, at one a day? Time to give them up. Was I lactose intolerant, coeliacs? Nothing like self-diagnosis!
My stomach looked really distended
When we got home from a family holiday and I looked at the photos, my stomach looked really distended. After noticing this, it just seemed to get worse and felt quite hard. I went to see the Doctor and he said I probably had wind or had just put on weight.
My wife Susmita Roy also diagnosed pseudomyxoma peritonei low grade. Earlier doctor told benign after surgery and removal of reproductive organs. Wait and watch, doing ct & marker tests on recurring go for cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC. She undergone this on 16 March 2018, now after ICU going to Room for next few days before discharge, looking for post-surgery treatment, care to get over recovery and complete cure. Jayant Roy Mumbai India, advice awaited.
We have no idea about how extensive the impact felt by families (& friends) is, especially for the young, when a close member has endured this MOAS operation. It must be so traumatic for them too. Being brave ..and resilient is hard. Your son is justifiably proud of you & how wonderful that he does open up to you – this is an important message to all who are going through this terrible experience.