Patrice Mabins

Story: I gave birth to my daughter December 10. My pregnancy went well; no detected problems. My daughter was born six weeks before my due date; she was only 5 lbs. but otherwise healthy. I had a healthy delivery; we went home two days later. December 30, I was in so much pain that I couldn’t take care of her; I couldn’t move. My stomach hurt so bad; I realized I hadn’t had a bowel movement in about a week. I eventually went to the ER for the pain. From there they did CT scans and saw “some blockage” in my colon. The next day, I had a colonoscopy. Laying there on the table after the colonoscopy I cried my heart out because the worst was confirmed without anyone using any words. I was afraid of death; afraid of leaving my son; afraid of leaving my newborn daughter. On the third day, I learned it was colon cancer, and I had surgery to have it removed. After recovering from the surgery, I learned I had stage IV colon cancer.

Advice: It’s better to know than not know. Cancer untreated leads to death. But before death, there are horrible symptoms that plague us; yet we ignore. It’s scary navigating days and days and days of fear of the "what if" when the symptoms are present.
Looking back I wish I had the courage to go get checked out at the first signs that something was wrong.

Staying off Google! Get information from your doctor and support groups. Go to therapy during or after treatment. Allow yourself time and space to actually process your diagnosis.

Keep fighting the fight. Even almost eight years later; almost four years after my last recurrence, it’s still scary to get those annual CT scans and go to oncology appointments. Look at those appointments as the victory they are… I’m here at this appointment today because last year cancer did not win. I did!