Exposing Oncology

Part 8 was the last time that I told you about Sheila, who this is all about really, so here’s how things have gone for her and I since then. At the end of Part 8, Sheila was still recovering from 6 months of chemotherapy and we were dealing with the sadness of her mother’s death and were looking towards her ileostomy reversal. We held Sheila’s mum’s funeral on a fine spring day towards the end of April, at a lovely crematorium, surrounded by countryside. It couldn’t have been nicer (if these things can be nice!) and all arranged by Sheila. She did a good job. At the beginning of May, her ileostomy was reversed; something we were both looking forward to and at the same time, not looking forward to. We knew her bowel would have to learn how to cope on its own and her bottom would have to be trained again. We also knew about the potential to become a victim of LARS (Low Anterior Resection Syndrome), which can leave a person with a very badly behaved bowel and bottom for