CANCER SUPPORT THREAD 58 - New thread, new year, but the lacies are still here! Please join us if you have any sort of cancer, or are waiting for test results

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Happy New Year! may 2017 bring health and happiness to us all

Welcome to oldies and to newbies. If you've just been diagnosed then this is the place for you. And if you're waiting for test results then please pull up a chair. We will hold your hand while you wait, and hopefully we will be able to send you on your way soon enough. If it isn't the news you hope for then we will be here for you.

Our previous thread is here

Following on from royalmama's suggestion (see, you're not just famous for typos!) I have compiled some of the excellent advice from the previous thread and I will post it below. I've divided it into sections to make it a bit more manageable. Please give me ideas on how to make it better for the next thread! :)

Soooooo pleased to hear this news Royal

Chewing, hope the chemo is kind to you.

Amber, how are you?

royal that's fantastic news and so great to get someone prepared to make a sensible judgement. Is it all over now? I hope so. It is hard to know how to feel when you have worked yourself up for bad news only to discover it's all ok. It's not the great relief you might expect, more that was a close shave and maybe another time it won't be so good. It takes time to get on an even keel again.

chewing I do hope you're not suffering bad SEs.

Hello to everyone else.

Can I join you ladies? I am 64, the mother of 19 yr old triplets! Had them in 98 by ivf after the sudden death of my only child Matthew in June 1994, he was 14. I miss him :( Last summer I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after being fast tracked for a large cyst. In Aug I had a total hysterectomy plus appendix removed, diagnosis was ovarian cancer stage 1c2 as the cyst ruptured literally as they took me into theatre. The tumour was removed intact and all other histology, ct and mri showed no cancer anywhere else so I have been very lucky. Had to have chemo to "mop up" and have my final one of six tomorrow, carboplatin only so no hair loss. Will have a ct on the 6th Feb and result on the 27th. All been a whirlwind of fear and hope! My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2008, it had already spread to his liver. He went through lots of chemo and lots of liver surgery and eventually went on a trial in 2011...........miraculously he has been all clear in remission ever since, so I just wanted to give hope to any stage 4 ladies, never give up! Then 2 years ago he was diagnosed with Parkinsons................what next we continually ask ourselves! Good luck to you all on here with your own journey, try to stay positive, more and more of us are living with this illness even though we many not be cured. Love to all. x

Oh bum. I wrote a long post and managed to lose it

Hi triplets lovely to see you again. Good luck with your last chemo today I'm really sorry about your son Matthew. Your family has certainly had more than your fair share of difficulties. How is your husband's Parkinson's at the moment? I'm glad his cancer treatment was successful. Are your triplets all living at home at the moment?

royal I meant to ask yesterday if that was the last of the extra tests. I hope so!

Hi mrsrhod and Fresta how are you?

pepper good luck today! I hope the children are polite and enthusiastic

Argy Woolly Hugs are brilliant. It started with a group of MNers making a blanket for someone who was bereaved, I think, or going through a hard time anyway. Then it has gradually grown from there. The blanket for chewing is from the new Candy's Hugs project for people with cancer (I think chewing is getting the first ever one!) but they have lots of projects - blankets for children in hospital, for refugees etc.

chewing I hope you had a good night's sleep and that you don't feel too rough today

I hope everyone has a good day. I don't want to jinx it, but think my gut might finally be calming down, just in time for Thursday's chemo!

Hello lacies and thank you for your kind words.
I suppose this is the end of the follow up tests for now, though my oncologist did recommend I see a gynaecologist for a check up which is standard for women who have taken Tamoxifen, but there is no urgency. I have yet to do that.
mrs you pretty much summed up how I feel!
leslie i hope your digestive system is behaving!
triplets welcome and so sorry you had to join us. I am sure you will find much support here.
chewing i hope the side effects are minimal and that you are comfortable as can be.
Waving to everybody else.

Hi leslie I'm ok thanks, health wise at least. I've got a couple more months until the next round of check ups and a probable change of meds. Looking forward to DH getting home in a couple of days. We had a shitty Sunday because our hideous and deranged neighbour threatened DD and her BF because of his car was briefly parked outside neighbours house. So bad we considered calling the police but I've never ever dealt with them and we decided it could just escalate the problems we have with him. We are seriously considering moving. He's an accountant and his wife a dr, she is as abusive as him. It's stress I don't need.

leslie I'm glad you're feeling a bit more normal, I hope your next session doesn't cause chaos again.

Hi triplets, that's a terrible list of experiences. Obviously I hope you get good results from your scan and recover fully to concentrate on your husband and triplets.

I last posted here about a year ago.
I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in April 2015. I had chemo, double mx and then 5 weeks of rads. Have been on Zoladex for 12 months now and am fed up with it.

Is anyone else on zoladex?

I remember a few of you: hi! :)

Hi hotchoc. I have no experience of it but it's been suggested to me as an option. What's the problem with it?

Thank you for the warm welcome. Felt strange walking out of the unit today, all the nurses saying they hoped never to see me in there again! Sort of feel lost, on my own now........does that make sense? My big fear is scan results, used to dread every one of my husbands, I would sit there a wreck and he would calmly read the paper and tell me its going to be alright! Thank you LeslieKnope, I have one son still at home, his brother is in the Army based in Germany and his sister is at Uni in Chichester. Its their birthday this Frid and this will be the fist time I haven't seen my dd feels strange and sad! Here is a pic of them at 4 weeks old!

triplets they are utterly beautiful! lots of people describe feeling like that after treatment. I was quite closely supervised by my surgical team even after my initial treatment and I think that helped. Otherwise you're just suddenly adrift after your life having been revolving around medical appointments and chemo side effects for months. Happy birthday to your children for Friday. It's lovely you've still got one at home. Are you going to do anything special?

hotchoc no experience but I'm sorry you're having problems with it how are you otherwise?

mrsrhod ugh, your neighbours sound dreadful! Sorry that it is adding to your stress how has DH's trip been?

royal good luck with the gynae check up

I hope everyone has a good day today. I had my blood taken yesterday and should get a call today to say whether I can have chemo tomorrow. Fingers crossed! :)

That was a lot of whoops

Lalie hope you have your chemo today! Bst of luck.
Triplets what a picture! It was hard enough for me having my not twin DS one at a time
mrs what a nightmare bunch of neighbours you have! No wonder you want to get out! Such a shame though to have to consuder such drastic measures, but yes you are absolutely right about eradicating stress.

Hi all,
chewing a well deserved woolly hug, I hope the SE from chemo aren't too bad
mrs neighbours like that cause so much stress I feel for you.
leslie hope your chemo goes ahead as planned
pepper I hope your presentation went well and the kids behaved. In my experience as a teacher they are normally better at listening to people from the real world!!
triplets what a lot you have been through, very inspiring to hear you have coped through it all.
Waves to everyone

I'm still in hospital but hoping to get discharged today. Yay!! I'm feeling so much better, that it's highlighted how awful I felt when I was admitted.
I'm hoping my chemo next week won't be postponed due to this episode, although they are currently happy with where my blood count is.
I just want my duvet, my bed and a great big cuddle from my DD!!

I had the most lovely delivery this morning. I've been sent a Candy's Hug blanket too! it is so beautiful and cosy. They must have already had my address from me sending Woolly Hugs squares so it was a complete surprise.

Halfbaked I hope you can go home today. I'm glad you're feeling better. I bet your DD can't wait to see you either :) fingers crossed your chemo will go ahead as planned

Hi all.
The SE's don't seem too bad so far (touch wood). I hope you are all doing ok today.
Leslie I have just received my Candy's Hug blanket - it is beautiful
I have the second one so you must have the first . Well deserved for all the effort you put in to these threads. Hope chemo goes well tomorrow.
mrsrhod sorry you have such horrible neighbours
Waves to all

Halfbaked, I hope that you are home with your duvet and DD now?

Mrsrhod and Whatwould, it makes my moods go all over the place: I am anxious, can flip out easily, very tired, headaches most days, and now palpitations. My life revolves around trying to have a routine, rest and stay calm. I am being a burden to my DH and kids. Not like the calm and content person I used to be. I found cancer treatments much easier to cope with than this.

Triplets, what you are feeling is very common. I am so grateful for my life and 'bonus time', but we all change from the experience. And not feeling looked after by the medical profession can feel a bit scary.

chewing and leslie (matriarch of our lacies), congrats on your hugs, you both deserve them immensely. Still no biopsy result for me. Three weeks tomorrow. Hate the waiting.
At least with the BC they told me then and there.
Hope everyone is having a lovely Burns' night.

hotchoc that sounds really difficult. I hope they can find an alternative for you I'm sure you're not a burden though! I hope you can find some calm and contentment soon

chewing yes, I do. When it first arrived I thought they'd accidentally sent me yours! I'm glad your side effects are OK so far

Sorry weebarra cross-posted. That's such a long wait. Have they given you any idea of when you will hear? Happy Burns' night. Are you having haggis?

I'm so pleased that Leslie and Chewing have the Candy's Hugs. I saw the photos of them on the Woolly Hugs FB site and they are so pretty.

I think I would like to learn how to knit or crochet. I feel bad that I can't donate blood but I would like to do something for others. I received some Knitted Knockers last week, and they are really comfortable and made as a gift from one woman to another.

Love and hugs to everyone.

I learnt to knit during chemo - only squares though, for a couple of people here who got hugs!
They said about two weeks, but you know the NHS! I think I'll give it another week and chase it up.

Hot choc - I was on tamoxifen then moved on to the exemestane as my onc thought it better for me as I was post menopausal after my ovary removal. Do you know why you're on zoladex?

Evening all, my presentations went well thank goodness, though there is no way I could teach teenagers! When engaged they were fine and polite, when I went to help a small group the rest just started chatting or messing around. I confiscated 6 bottles cos they were bottle flipping and one pair of scissors! Though that's across 90+ children. Respect to everyone who teaches I was exhausted when I got home.
halfbaked I do hope you're safely home
leslie and chewing enjoy your woolly hugs
hotchoc have they suggested an oophorectomy? I spent 6 months on tamoxifen but they want me on letrozole for my BC because it was lobular. The last test showed some odd hormone results so I've spent a month on letrozole to get a proper reading and I have some blood tests next week to check. If the hormones are still off I stay on letrozole but they've suggested zoladex or an oophorectomy. I'm tempted by the oophorectomy to be honest just to get it over and done with, the change from tamoxifen to letrozole has kick started all the hideous hot flushes again.
weebarra have they said why the results take so much longer?
mysilly I always wish I could be creative like that too, but I suspect my skills lie elsewhere! Generally when I fix the kids clothes they look marginally worse than they did before. The memorable occasion I sewed DS1's detachable hood to the back of his coat when I sewed in the name label springs to mind

Giid morning lacies.
weebarra waiting is always horrible! Hope they contact you soon with good news.
Leslie, congrats ! Well deserved too.
chewing glad the SEs are not bad.
Wishing you all as good a day as possible.

leslie well in the words of the song 'it never rains in southern California', it pours, that sums up the week DH has had. Flash floods and raging seas in the beach resort he's been staying at. I should feel sorry for him shouldn't I? He'll be home tonight. I hope you're snuggling in your woolly hug, well deserved. You too chewing how are you doing today?

wee waiting is the worst, you're very patient giving them another week.

hotchoc that sounds really miserable. Maybe time to investigate other options.

Love and gentle hugs to everyone else.