For me, breast cancer treatment is a five-stage race. First, you lay down on a slab and get rid of the troublesome cancer. Stage one, tick (if we ignore the fact I have to get a little cosmetic adjustment at some point in the future). Next, you get to store some babies in the freezer. Stage two, tick. With fertility over, your veins get a high dose of body-killing (or life-saving) chemo drugs. Stage three, tick. Once your body has started to recover, you get a blast of high-energy radiation. Stage four, tick. Then, if you’re still standing, you say goodbye to daily hospital visits and hello to daily doses of oestrogen-blocking pills. The finish line is currently scheduled for some time in 2019, and I have no plans to go back in training after that! After that, the only races I’ll be tackling will be charitable ones!

Tomorrow is the end of stage two. That makes it a special day (one refreshing checkpoint in this epic race). With the end of stage three planned for mid-August, it will be a while before I once again feel like I am one stage closer to the home straight. Chemo is a long stretch and I know I’ll need all my energy just to get to the end.

I have to say, sitting here with a bloated stomach that makes me wants to live in the toilet, tomorrow cannot come soon enough. I certainly don’t think a body corset, tummy scar and enlarged egg-stuffed ovaries – combined with a functioning bladder and stomach – belong together. I feel like someone is bouncing on my stomach and there isn’t enough skin to go around. Starting to find the idea of a needle in my ovaries rather attractive.

What did I feel like after completing stage one? First, there was pain. Then, there was immense relief. I’d like to say I was dancing around my hospital bed. But, let’s face it, I could barely stand. How do I think I will feel if we are lucky enough to pop some embryos in a freezer bag? First, I will be happy that the baby back-up plan is in place. Then, relief that I can walk from the living room to the kitchen without needing a wee. (I also quite like the idea of a fridge that isn’t full of syringes and vials.) Neither of these sound like great moments of celebration or markers in history. But, when there is life at stake, you’ve just got to be happy you registered for the right race and are running in the right direction.

Cancer checkpoints don’t come along very often. When they do, whether you’re on morphine or Merlot, you’ve got to grab them, get the most out of them and use the happiness (or relief) they bring to take you forward into the next stage. I may be more likely to be raising a mug of tea than a glass of wine at the moment (last night aside), but I am determined to make sure each one of these stages does not go by unnoticed (I think a lot of people design a sign to mark their last chemo session, so that’s on the to-do list for stage three). You may lose a few consultants and nurses along the way, but that doesn’t mean there are any less people rooting for you to succeed. There are just a few less appointments to attend, a few less needles and a few less worries to occupy your fact-filled mind.

This is a race I will complete – and there will be a big smile waiting for me at the finish line (and probably one of the many bottles of engagement champagne currently gathering dust in the cupboard). I am not going for a personal best and there won’t be a medal at the end of it, but there will be life. I hope you’ll be there to cheer me home.