Fuck cancer

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

It can fuck off to the far side of fuck and fuck off a bit more. My mum died on 29th Dec, 15 days after being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. By the time we found out about it, it had spread to her lung, her ribs and her spine and they told her she could have up to 2 years, she was pretty upbeat about it and staying positive. On Christmas Day they told us it had spread to her skull and was starting to creep into her brain.

What really makes me angry though is that she was in/out of hospital ALL YEAR with chest pains related to her heart condition they said was costochondritis (muscle pain). When we look back through her hospital notes from over the year it's now glaringly obvious to us that she was actually suffering with the symptoms of her secondary breast cancer, and not one single HCP picked up on it until December when she ended up at a different hospital and they took one look at her and immediately knew it wasn't heart related.

Urgh. Fuck cancer.

@hothotheatbag Yes both heavy smokers from early teens, my dad still here but will die from his copd due to heavy smoking.
I am so angry they didn't know the dangers when younger
I hope your dh stops, there are effective drugs you can get now
Very few escape an early death

My sincere condolences to those who have lost/are losing loved ones.

But there are relatively good news stories too. Im one of them.

I woke up one morning with a vague ache in my shoulder and a tingling in my little finger. Long story short, I waited for a drop in appointment the same day. Doctor couldn't find anything skeletal wrong, but shipped me off to get a chest x-ray "just in case". It was lung cancer, caught very early.

And here I am, 14 years later, cancer free, as far as I know.

Whether I'd be as lucky today, given the perilous condition of NHS, who knows?

Similar here, my mother had various stomach problems over the last couple of years but no-one wanted to investigate as she is over 90. Just told her that it was likely to be diverticulitis. Finally reached crisis point last summer when she was in great pain and constantly vomiting, turned out to be inoperable bowel cancer. Probably wouldn’t have made a great difference to prognosis but would have known what we were dealing with. As it is, every extra day is a bonus and she has reached a good age.
Condolences OP and everyone else affected by cancer, hopefully a cure or more effective treatment will be found soon.

@Disturbia81 thank you so much, it was so sudden, completely devastating and this is always the worst time of year. She was so young and didn't even smoke 😢

I found my mother dead in bed, in my very early teens, when she was in her 40s. She died of a type of leukaemia. We didn’t even know she had cancer. She was just ill with flu like symptoms from a week before she died. She was a specialist cancer nurse too, though a different type of cancer.

honestly I don’t particularly think about it or her much, even at the time. I’ve never actually thought fuck cancer. Possibly because we weren’t even aware of it, so it wasn’t like a whole big treatment thing and the run up to the death. It just happened. I know it is fuck cancer. But I’ve never really connected to it really, for my situation.

So many heartbreaking stories just on this thread 😔

I guess I'm feeling extra sad today because it's my mums birthday on Wednesday and every single shop is advertising it (she LOVED having a V. Day birthday). Usually I'd have gone to the shops today to buy the ingredients for her birthday cake, and tomorrow would normally be spent baking and decorating a V. Day themed cake. I even bought a heart shaped cake tin several years ago just for her birthday cakes!

This year is going to be absolutely shit. Every anniversary, family event, birthday, Easter and Christmas will be the first one without her. I miss her tremendously.

I’m truly sorry you’re going through this, the pain is indescribable losing your mum ❤️

I'm so sorry OP, I can't imagine how tough that is. I'm really close with my Mum (and her bday is actually tomorrow) and the thought of losing her terrifies me.

Do you have family? Could you still make a cake to share with them or would it be too upsetting? x

My thoughts are with you OP. I lost one of my closest friends in July. I last saw him the last week of May, he had been progressively getting iller with a cough and lack of energy. The doctor just said it was a chest infection to him but I knew in the pit of my stomach it sounded like lung cancer. 2 weeks after I saw him he had a stroke and he stayed in hospital till he passed.

im still not over it really, the speed he went, leaving his kids behind and that awful feeling of guilt that I should have said I suspected it was lung cancer. I know it wouldn’t have made a difference but maybe he would have sought better care from his GP. He was 49 and life feels very unfair at the moment.

Lost my lovely big sister to it seven years ago. Miss her so so much.

Lost my DH coming up for 3 years, only 55, diagnosed Nov, died June.
Why with the likely billions raised for cancer research charities are we not better at this yet??