Hello everybody, I'm a lady newbie on this site and I joined because of my recent experience with my partner's prostate cancer.
The first thing that I would like to say is that I wish I had discovered this site and this community about nine months ago.
However,I didn't discover it until today and so, maybe I can help give the support to others that I lacked so badly in my own experience.
Also, life has many twists and turns and we can't be entirely sure when we may need support again.
I would also like to share some of the feelings that have been bottled up for the last year, as I feel I have maybe found an outlet for them and that people here will understand them.
So, my story:
In June 2014, at a late stage in life, I finally met 'the one'. I won't say 'the man of my dreams' because we are all too mature to be that romantic and maybe the events experienced by those on this website have knocked the romance out of us. Suffice it to say, that I began a relationship with a wonderful guy with so many good sides to his character that I thought all my Christmases had come at once. Summer 2014 was my best ever.
We had something of a whirlwind courtship, with lots of trips and weekends away and I moved in with him a year ago.
He is strong, and brave, and optimistic, and gave me encouragement and support with the M.A that I began in September'14.
However, right from the beginning, I felt that something was wrong with his health. Due to my own ignorance, I thought the signs pointed to diabetes, seven or so months into the relationship, I persuaded him to go for the health checks that men over 60 should get.
Eight months into the relationship, and their was the suspicion of prostate cancer, along with its symptoms and all the tests.
So, as I said, I could have really used this site in 2015.
In June 2015, my partner was diagnosed with prostate cancer. And the summer of 2015 was the worst in my life. It sounds stupid to say this after only being with someone a year. Especially when people on this site are facing fears for someone they've been together with half a lifetime. But you have to understand the joy of being given the chance to build a relationship at a later age.