§ Journey
When your body sounds the alarm.
The first 30 days after a diagnosis. What to do, what to ask, what to stop reading on the internet. How to read a pathology report without spiralling. How to push for a second opinion without seeming difficult. What income protection and TPD super actually cover when you can't work. How to tell your kids without scaring them, and how to handle the conversation about mortality you've been avoiding your whole adult life.
Begin →Sleep, food, who you tell, what you don't Google. The first two days when nothing is decided yet and everything feels permanent.
Labs, imaging, what the words mean. The five questions to ask the GP that turn a confusing PDF into a plan.
How to choose, how to push, when to wait, when to escalate. The Australian system in plain English.
Partner, kids by age, parents, work, mates. What each needs to know and what's better left unsaid for now.
Sick leave, income protection, TPD inside super, the Australian safety net. What kicks in, when, and how to claim without being fobbed off.
Training, food, alcohol, sleep through treatment. What to keep, what to drop, what gets harder before it gets easier.
Fear, identity, mortality. The conversations you haven't had with anyone, including yourself. How to have them without dramatising or burying them.