#060 When the Trauma Keeps Coming with Janice

This week, The Now What Pod sits down to chat with @anotherstrongwidow, Janice Bell. Janice’s husband was diagnosed with cancer when she was pregnant with their third child. The following 6 months would be harrowing, as Janice cared for three children under four years old, and her ailing husband. Six months after his diagnosis, her husband died. Then, Janice herself began to experience unusual symptoms, and would have to fight to prove that she was not just an anxious widowed new mother, but that her symptoms were very real, and very serious. 

 

Topics Discussed:

Grief 
Life as a young widow
Caring for a sick spouse
Finding a Family Doctor in Canada
Cervical Cancer Symptoms
Being diagnosed with cancer
Women’s Health
Gaslighting by medical professionals
Health Anxiety

 

Resources:

What is Cervical Cancer?

https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/cervical/what-is-cervical-cancer

The Now What Pod Episode Quotes: 

“There’s no Guidebook for all of these feelings” 

 

About Janice
Life throws curve balls constantly; that’s what living is – learning how to dodge them. It’s ok, I had the ultimate dodgeball partner, and we had been accomplishing challenges of all sizes seamlessly together for over thirteen years.

In February of 2019, I was thirty-five weeks pregnant with our third child when we got the ultimate curveball of all – cancer.

Chris died in August of 2019. I struggle with his loss, but also the trauma of cancer itself and what I went through during his diagnosed period.

Eighteen months after my husband Chris died, I received my cancer diagnosis of an advanced cervical tumour. I fought to be listened to, was turned away from the hospital, and was seen as a newly widowed young mother with health anxiety.

This is my story as I move forward, rediscover who I am, and rebuild my life from (almost) scratch. If I can help someone else feel less alone and close my wounds a little bit, then I have accomplished what I’ve set out to do.

IG: @anotherstrongwidow

Website: anotherstrongwidow.com

 

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