Connecting those with beards to those who want to stroke beards. Bristlr is the world's greatest dating site for people into beards; those with beards, and those.
Table of contents
- WA Police beard ban to be lifted, but under strict conditions
- Me, My Beard and Why - Decembeard Australia
- Here are the rules:
- Search form
- Bristlr Is a Dating Service for Bearded Men and People Who Love Them
Click here to visit Ross' online fundraising page, and to make a donation towards his Decembeard efforts. As a triathlete competing in Ironman events consisting 2. In June I competed in an event in Cairns and felt more than normally fatigued, but still managed to finish.
WA Police beard ban to be lifted, but under strict conditions
During the next few months I was passing blood and living in denial. I entered a shorter race in Yarrawonga and completed it, but was in all sorts of trouble. So, I made an appointment with my GP. This being the start of my loss of self-esteem, I was referred for a sigmoidoscopy three days later. I returned to the GP a few days later for the results.
He informed my wife and I that the tumor was cancer. We left in shock, unable to comprehend what was to unfold.
- Forget The Tree, You Can Now Deck Your Beard With Fairy Lights;
- design dating website.
- Screenshots.
- Forget The Tree, You Can Now Deck Your Beard With Fairy Lights;
It felt like a death sentence. My GP had recommended a surgeon, and he was my next port of call two days later. Both our heads were spinning as we talked to him and he went through the process step by step. At this consultation he took us through all the pros and cons. He said I was at the top of a roller coaster and in for a ride into the unknown. Three weeks later I was admitted to hospital where I met the stoma nurse. It was then, when she marked my abdomen for the bag, the reality hit.
That night before surgery my wife and I were both in a place of fear and closeness, not knowing if this was the end.
Me, My Beard and Why - Decembeard Australia
That was the day my life changed forever. I was an Ironman, now with bags, tubes and everything else. How was I to go forward. There were so many things that happened through those few months, and I lost my dignity in the process. After leaving hospital I was having trouble with the psychological side of things. My wife contacted cancer support nurses and the buddy up service, which helped talking with people who had been through it all.
I also went to a cancer talk group where everyone was going through cancer of some form. I learned to live with my stoma and bag for the next three months. Not letting it stop me, I got to a stage where I was back training with the support of friends. I even started swimming with my bag at a public swimming pool, using a full triathlon suit to conceal the bag. I started back to work on a part time basis, until fit enough to go full time. My transition back to work was made easier with the support of my company and the people I worked with.
Then came next part of the journey. After three months I was back in hospital to be joined up again and say goodbye to my bag. I spent another ten days in hospital recovering from the surgery. This is when I found out that although the tumor had been removed, a part of my body had also gone. My body would never function the same again, after a week of constant visits to the toilet my frustration took over. I rang my surgeon and asked for my bag back, I had learnt to manage to a point I had some quality of life. He assured me it would improve over time and my body would learn to overcome the change to its structure.
I again returned to work full time only wanting to get my life back to where I left off. But I was given another role with greater expectations; this combined with constant need to visit the toilet took its toll. I ended up having a breakdown and had to take more time off. When I returned I was given another role where I felt like a nomad. I had no real spot to fill and was just a floater. I was still dealing with the way my body was now functioning.
There were nights where I soiled the bed and other accident, all taking its toll. I had never thought of retiring from work. I enjoyed being part of it through the good and bad times, but an opportunity came to look at retirement as an alternative. I have had a cancer removed but in doing so part of my functioning body has been removed. I will never be the same. I still live every day with a constant reminder and in the back of my mind is the constant thought of another cancer.
Some are better than others, and they are days to savor. I was age 39, married with three early teen boys and a new born baby boy.
Here are the rules:
I had just started a new exciting role in Sydney. The first few weeks, I was extremely tired, and my stomach felt off every time I arrived at work. My commute was an hour and a half drive in the early morning, so I put it down to the change in routine. As the weeks went on, I kept getting to work and thinking I needed to go to the toilet, but nothing would happen. My wife convinced me to go to my GP and see if he might be able to give me something to help my stomach and my fatigue.
After an examination of my stomach and hearing my symptoms, he said to me, something seems odd, we should check it out just to be sure, so he sent me to a specialist to undergo a colonoscopy. While on the waiting list for the colonoscopy, I decided the travel was too much and I applied for a new job closer to home. The day I accepted my offer was the day before my colonoscopy.
So, here I was, 40 years old, never been under anaesthetic and more worried about that, than that they would actually find something.
Search form
I woke from the anaesthetic and my doctor brought my wife in. Still unsuspecting of anything, he told me straight. There is a golf ball size cancer about 7cm into your bowel.
I went and had my tests and scans done, booked back into the specialist for the next day and rang my new job to tell them what had happened. Incredibly, they were so understanding and supportive and were happy to still take me on even though they knew what I had in front of me. Three weeks later, I start radiation and chemotherapy for a solid 5 weeks. Radiation Monday to Friday along with four tablets morning and night.
Two weeks in, I start my new job. Leaving work and going straight to radiation each day. Six weeks later, I go in for my first ever surgery, an ultralow anterior resection. I wake after the operation with tubes everywhere, a big scar down my stomach and an ileostomy bag attached to my right abdomen. I started full chemotherapy for six months about a month after surgery.
I returned to work at the same time. Two months after the chemotherapy finished, I had the second surgery to reconnect my bowel and remove the ileostomy bag.
I'm now six months with no bag. My stomach is still readjusting to different foods, but I am alive, healthy and able to run around with my boys, which is the highlight of everyday. At 58 years of age I had suffered from Colitis for at least 25 years, but I had been relatively healthy without any medication for about the last 10 years. However, one morning while going to the toilet I noticed a smell that reminded me of the time I was suffering from Colitis.
Bristlr Is a Dating Service for Bearded Men and People Who Love Them
A week later I had my colonoscopy and I woke up in the recovery room with the specialist waiting by my side. He told me I had colon cancer. To cut a long story short I had chemo, radiotherapy and surgery and I now have a permanent colonoscopy bag. My point is if you have any symptoms that appear at that end- get it checked.
I was pretty reluctant to do the test but came out a winner big time. I was diagnosed with very early bowel cancer. The colonoscopy told the full story followed by keyhole surgery and chemotherapy. My daughter was doing her PhD based on the benefits of exercise and associated endorphins in surviving cancer. I had been a competitive archer and medalled at National and State events since but ramped up my archery to help me get through the physical and mental aspects of my treatment.
My archery was so focussed that I improved to the next level and represented Australia at a World Championship overseas a very short time after completing chemotherapy.