Hi everyone,
My name is Bruno and I am a retired fire-fighter. I was diagnosed in December of 2005 with appendiceal cancer. This rare cancer is considered and treated as a colon cancer. Since my diagnosis, I had part of my large intestine removed; experienced a near fatal pulmonary embolism; and acquired c-diff!
In June 2006, the doctor had to remove some of my abdominal muscle when another tumor was found during the repair work on 4 hernias. Since then, I have also been diagnosed with a rare cancer call PMP - pseudomyxoma pertonei. This is very common for appendix cancer survivors.
After 2 year of waiting, I received the debulking surgery necessary to treat my PMP. I endured 21 hours on the surgical table where I lost my right testicle, spleen, gall bladder and part of my liver. I had to spend 80 days in the hospital recuperating, but Iwas lucky to leave the hospital without the infamous colostomy bag.
The most difficult thing so far about the cancer has been that I had to retire from the Forces and lost my dream job as a fire fighter. I am still doing fire prevention work, but it is not the same. I guess I should count myself lucky to be still breathing.
One thing that I learned over these last 4 years, battling with cancer, is that there is always someone with a worst cancer. There are so many, it is hard to keep your spirits up. I lost so many friends, but I did make some wonderful new friendships.
Anyway, thank you for reading my story.
Bruno