I seemed to have pressed the button - and so I need to create a new blog post. I have spent a little time this week checking in on websites and updating others and found the Ranchlife website looking a little forlorn and forgotten, which means I haven't been updating on my journey. I suppose that is a good thing, nothing to report, life back to normal, and to some degree this is true, but it's that new normal that I am still struggling to accept. First things first, for those that are interested, a little health update. It seems to have been a long time, it is in fact nearly 10 months since th ..read more

It's 8 months since my last chemotherapy session, just over a year since I had surgery and what seems like forever ago that we were told the news "You have Ovarian Cancer". 8 months - WOW .. there were times when I didn't think I would make 8 weeks from diagnosis, but I'm still here and still moving forward. 8 months of people saying "that's great, you are all better, now you can get back to normal".... 8 months of learning how hard the journey back to normal is. "No Evidence of Disease" - It's over then - oh no, it's not over, it is far from over, the journey and the struggle is only just beg ..read more

I'm Caroline (Caro to those that know me , or unless you are using my Sunday name for a very good reason ) I am 50 years old, and, I have just been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. I am a dog photographer and live in a log cabin on the edge of the South Yorkshire Moors with my partner Andrew. Those that follow Ranchlife will already know all this but for those that don't you can catch up with previous Ranchlife blogs here. Why am I writing this ? My mum, Annie, taught us that words are super powerful - they are incredibly cathartic, they guide us through troubled times and allow us to share and ..read more

We had a conversation about Andrew feeding the birds before we moved. It's lovely to have the finches, robins, and blackbirds, along with a couple of wandering pheasants, regularly feeding at the bird table. This morning, however, we became Starling Central - someone let slip that Andrews is feeding the birds again. The noise was deafening, but it is, however, a spectacle to behold. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6a9bde_e2f971f9622c4125ad2a7d2b194ba794/1080p/mp4/file.mp4 this is only half the pack ..read more

Andrew loves a bath - he would disappear with a glass of wine and quietly contemplate nothing until the water (and the dinner) was cold. When we did the Pro's and Con's list, the only real Con was that the Cabin doesn't have a bath. "Oh it will be fine" I said. "Showers are good for your circulation" I said. "Think of all that time you will save" I said. and to be fair to Andrew, he went with it. And he rarely moans. There is the odd suggestion of how nice a tin bath on the veranda would be, but until he finds a suitable method of filling and emptying it, that doesn't involve me and a bucket ..read more

Au Revoir, farewell, auf wiedersehen - GOOD RIDDANCE !!! And that, as they way is that. And most will try hard to forget 2020, but she had one last Sunrise for us at the cabin ... I was stood getting breakfast ready for the dogs, when I caught a glimpse of a slit in the sky. By the time I had found the camera, changed the battery and then realised I didn't have a memory card in the camera (anyone would be scared if I said I was a photographer ☺️) ... the slit had become a slash across the horizon. This is the view from the veranda, and a view that I have decided to capture through all the seas ..read more

Today's phone call with the hospital : Consultant : "Shall we start with the results from your latest CT scan ? " Caro : Swallows hard ... "OK" Consultant : "The scan is very reassuring, there is NO CANCER PRESENT". xxx ..read more

Cancer changes you. And now I'm sat looking at a blank page and a blinking cursor. Cancer changes you - well that's a fairly obvious statement, it changes you mentally and it changes you physically - and if you read "cancer blogs" online they try and prepare you for the obvious, the big ones, hair loss, sore skin etc. The hair loss, for me, was easier to deal with than the subtle changes that snuck up on me without me really realising or thinking. I covered the loss of my hair in an earlier blog post, but it goes beyond your hair falling out and needing to ask a loved one to "shave it off" - w ..read more

.... and I'm feeling better than I have for a while. Lots has been going on so thought it was time for an update. The first operation date was set for 28th Oct. and was then shifted to 4th November, this then got cancelled and we were left without a date but just knowing it would be before the end of November. We then got a call to say they had a cancellation and I could go in on the 2nd November - so this is what I did, and I'm now in bed at home with a very large line of staples up my tummy but through the op and out the other side and on the road to recovery. A long road, 6 weeks + of bein ..read more

This is a quick update, I should have written the "next installment" whilst I was having Chemo number 5 on Monday - but I didn't - I didn't write it and I didn't have chemo. I had an appointment with one of the fabulous doctors of the chemo team last Thursday and by the time I left change was afoot. I have been really struggling with mouth ulcers, not the small spiteful ones that ping but 8 massive 20p size hideously revolting ones that take nearly two weeks to come and go. No eating, no sleeping and no talking. Nothing has helped and we have tried all sorts, so when the last batch hadn't clea ..read more