Some people wonder why I talk about my cancer experience so much. The simple reason is that it saves lives.

Back in June 2015 I contacted a friend of mine to see if she could teach my 17 year old to drive. I had met Donna earlier that year at a brass band contest (yes brass bands again) and I told her I would be in touch later in the year.

Anyway when I phoned she told me that she was no longer teaching and in fact was about to undergo a double mastectomy. Rather than going into the details she then directed me to her blog – Just Get Rid

Of course I knew people, usually friends of friends, who had had breast cancer. Indeed I remember speaking to a colleague at work not long before this about a funeral she was going to for a friend who sadly died of breast cancer. These things always happed to someone else right?

Donna’s blog struck a chord with me though and something in the back of my mind started to nag. Then of course you wonder whether you are being a hypochondriac. The lump on my head was just some sort of cyst. Maybe the flu I had earlier in the year was a different strain to the one I had a vaccine for. My itchy mole on my left breast was a figment of my imagination.  The weird lumps in my armpit were just weird lumps – yes I was aware of them then.

These things whizzed round in my head – and I did nothing about it – I was an ostrich

This last week I have had headaches and dizziness. Again you get the “I’m just being a hypochondriac”  thoughts – recovering from my late night last week, too much sun, etc

Is my new normal to worry about every little thing. How do you know which little thing to worry about and which to ignore? Do you go to the doctors to be dismissed and then possible not return when there really is an issue. Do you go to the doctors and go through the worry of tests and results or do you bury you head in the sand and wait to see how you feel next week? (and I am feeling fine now!)

I am being an ostrich for the time being.