8 Years Ago Today
My oral cancer story began.
Welcome To Denyse Whelan Writes Here.
8 Years Ago today.
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After around a year of "things not being right inside my mouth" & a lot of anxiety about it, I was driven by B to my dentist @renwickdental & had all of the upper bridge of teeth removed.
A five week gap where my gums became worse..smelly & painful would ensue before showing my then GP & the dentist & urgent CT scans & biopsy were ordered on 12 May 2017
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All seemed "ok" with results on Monday 15th but no..... more news on Wed 17 May 2017 was that there was squamous cell carcinoma found.
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Within 24 hours (big shock to my system but I had an answer) I was being told by my HNC surgeon & team what the process would entail to remove my cancer.
It was a 7 week wait for surgery. I will share more another time. Here’s what my mouth looked like the night before it was ALL removed! Every part of my upper mouth!
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The memories of that day I will share closer to it but I now understand the trauma started here & I am only just acknowledging that now since my GP diagnosed me.
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Warning! Get symptoms checked if they don't go away! @hncanceraus is the place to start if you are unsure. All head and neck cancers & possible symptoms are listed. 💙💚
I’m now recovering from emotional exhaustion from a number of significant events of trauma my doctor diagnosed. It’s been eye opening to me that I really had not ever grieved about this huge loss of parts of me & more. I wrote about it in January 2025.
It’s now something I know I need to acknowledge & share. And it’s likely I will write more here too.
Have you ever had something major happen in your life and much later realised it was a trauma like event or experience?
I hope this post has not been too distressing to my readers.
Thank you for reading.
Denyse x
I hate to 'heart' this because I detest cancer and hate what it put you through. I am so glad you are on the other side of this horrible ordeal and can now share your experience to help others and hopefully to help you deal with all the emotions of that difficult time.
Hi Denyse, I reckon you are courageous and resilient. This would have been an enormous trauma in your life. Trauma can get deep within our souls and live there. I'm glad you are finding gentle ways to try and lessen the impact of your distress. Did the medical team mention about the emotional and mental trauma you could experience, or did they focus on the physical aspects? Liz