You really can

Say the word Cancer to me. Honest you can.

It is very difficult I have to admit for people to say the words and I think we have to understand that and some people have already said that they don't like the word, it stigmatises you and it paints unwanted pictures in their minds. Also for some people suffering from it they don't want anyone to know. Fair enough.

A lot of people know that in about 5 or 6 weeks I go back in for the tests to see how the treatment has worked. Tonight, I saw a number of people who I am not going to see again until May. All are wishing me well with the "next step", "the tests", "the visit", the treatment". A friend of mine said to one, "it is Cancer and you can use the word". I think perhaps that was unfair because a lot of people do have trouble with those words and I don't mind but I really prefer the word to describe what I have to be used.

However, I have said that before and it was just so marked that I still feel like a fraud as I don't look ill or anything on the outside at all. In fact, as I've said before, I look better now than I did 5 years ago. That is my opinion by the way.

So just an observation that friends and people you know as colleagues and friends of friends don't treat you different, they all wish you well but they don't want to say the word and I think that is in case they upset you. It is a shame that I had to get Cancer to understand that I could have talked to some people I knew who had cancer and talked openly about it. I wish I had but the politically correct etiquette of the world probably means you'd be taken before the Court of Human Rights if you uttered the word even beneath your breath!