A quick "me" overview before the fun begins

Ok, so I'm yet another 20-something and I think I have something to say. I'm friendly, try to be funny, excellent (ha, there's me being funny), bright and bubbly, I love to dance the night away, a good drink never hurt anyone (although I once knew a boy whose uncle was an alcoholic, the drink got him in the end - he was run over by a brewery lorry!), I'm not afraid to eat chocolate, I don't think I have any hidden talents (that figures, if I did know about them they wouldn't be hidden), I'm a girl and love it, I can be serious if I have to, I'm shy yet confident (I'm a little odd) and my name is Jen.

I have loads of secrets

It all went wrong when I was 3 (yes, quite a while ago), well this is when the bad stuff started I guess. I can't really remember that far back so I can't be 100% sure. My parents had a lot of worries when it came to me.

Age 3 - Meningitis
Age 4 - Convulsions
Age 4 - Appendicitis
Age 5 - Peritonitis (did I spell that right?)
Age 12 - Cancer
Age 14 - This is the proper beginning and we'll get around to that later - it's a cracker!

Yep, there you have it, I have a very involved medical history and my hospital notes are contained in the hospitals "too fat to file" section! Sounds abusive to me! Now, you may be wondering "what the hell has this got to do with secrets"...well, it's a bit complicated to say the very least. I blame my parents, but I don't blame them in the sense that I hold a grudge, I blame them in that it's their fault but it's also not the end of the world - it's not like it's hurt me really.

When I was growing up my parents were very preoccupied with my sister (let's just call her Sister), she's about 18 months older than me and has a severe case of ADHD. Let's just say that because I was on the back burner I learnt to cope by sorting my problems myself and not bothering anyone else with them...this is where the secrets begin.

My first secret was that scary "C" word (cancer, not the other bad one). I'll bring you in half way through the story as the beginning is slow and boring. About 3 weeks after an operation to remove a "lump" (queried as a cyst) from my collarbone I was sat in a history lesson (at my all girls school) when the big cheese herself, the head mistress, came and collected me! Possibly the scariest moment of my life! How to instill fear and fright - send the head of the school to collect you! Anyway, I wasn't told what was happening or anything, I was just taken to the front of the school and collected by the surgeon who had removed said lump - this was semi-normal as he was a friend of my parents. I was taken directly to a specialist hospital where my (distraught) parents were waiting, turns out it wasn't a cyst - enter Ewings Sarcoma (PNET).

Again, cut to more interesting bit. Right, well this is where it all really begins. After being dragged out of my history lesson, mid afternoon on a Thursday, it wasn't until 2 weeks later that I was released from hospital and back at school. I don't know why I decided this, well I do but that'll come later, but I decided that I didn't want to tell anyone what was going on. My parents informed the school of my decision and so there was like a quilt of silence over the topic of discussion. The teachers were all told not to discuss what was happening amongst themselves and they were to tell my friends that they shouldn't ask what was happening and that's exactly what happened.....

....so, there was the start of my secret keeping. If you keep reading you'll find out that I did eventually tell my friends (Jen - age 17 and drunk!).

OMG, I totally just realised how depressing this all sounds. My blog is definitely, I repeat DEFINITELY, not going to be all woe is me and my life is so rubbish, but I think the start of the secret keeper was as above and if you didn't know how it began you might think the large amount of secrets within me are completely ridiculous or maybe even made up. Anyway, I hope you keep reading, they get raunchy and my friends are complete (lovable) disasters so there'll definitely be something to entertain you cool and crazy people!

Keep in touch,

jen xx