Obese but with pretty normal legs / arms etc but very fat, enormous belly ***Ovarian cancer diagnosis - title edited by MNHQ at OP's request***

[TwitterQueen1]

Hi
I'd be glad of any advice or personal experiences here. I am around 4 stone overweight, so definitely obese. Most of it is on my stomach though, which now looks like I'm 11 months pregnant with triplets. I'm in my 50s so this is not a possibility. It's very painful and I am short of breath when I walk etc.

I've put on a lot of weight in a short period - 10lbs in 2 months.

Six months ago I was bodyboarding in the sea, walking every day and doing an exercise class every week. Now it's a struggle to do anything.

I'm having bloods done on Friday but any ideas / comments? Am I just unlucky to pile it all on in one place?

How are you feeling today? xx

Glad your treatment has started. One ticked off the list!

Hope you're not feeling too awful today

Overheard - DD2 in the kitchen "Mum seems quite giddy today."

I still feel punch drunk this morning . So much better than feeling sick or ill but it's a bit weird I must admit. I'm repeating myself, forgetting words, but feeling good. A huge element of relief too I think, knowing that I've got drugs inside me that are working to kill the cancer.

I've got the shakes so using my mouse is somewhat tricky! I've just bought a new 'comfort' one that hopefully will make it easier - I'm still working full time so need to be careful about what I write.

Anyone got any recommendations for bandanas / scarves? Hair will start to go pretty soon I'm told.

MissMill thanks for the positive story - always good to hear.
Disastrouslee I am indeed fucking that bastard cancer in the ass.

@TwitterQueen1, have a looks at the link I sent you, lots of ideas for wigs, make up etc (you may lose your eyebrows, eyelashes etc).

Twitter make sure you have a good supply of tissues handy ! Because when your nose hair comes out everytime you look down your nose will drip like a tap .
Also get yourself some coconut oil / proper nail oil etc and rub it around your nails (and toe nails) frequently .

Sorry , no help with scarves . I did buy lots of cheap bandana type ones to tie 'Alice band ' style to disguise the thinning towards the end of my chemo .(cold capped)

When they kick in , I hope the aches n pains arn't too bad .

Hi TQ1,
How are you this morning?
When my DH was having chemo hued to say he felt jetlagged immediately afterwards, he was then okay for a couple of days and it hit him about days 3-5 when he just slept.
Of course there are lots of different chemo treatments, and different people react differently to the identical drugs.
I hope you are okay and the drugs are fucking your cancer.
Love & hugs x

Just delurking to wish you all the best and that the treatment is successful

Glad it's finally underway TQ, wishing you all the very best

Hi all
I'm struggling with my breathing today. I think the chemo effects are manageable - obviously it's very early days so I'm not sure or confident yet.

But my lung is bad again. I was relieved when they drained it but the fluid is obviously working its way back again and it's this that I find most debilitating. I did manage to cut the grass this am (it's not a big lawn) but I have to keep stopping. There is so much I want / need to do but just can't because I can't breath properly.

I don't have the official confirmation that the cancer is there but the nurse hedged around the issue when I asked on Wednesday, which I take to mean she wanted to wait until the consultant can tell me. I said that I was expecting the cancer to be confirmed as having spread to the lung and she said yes, they were too.

So now I'm worrying more about this. I'm trying not to Google but from what I have read it's not good.

Sending you some love and hugs TQ1.

I've read your posts and didn't want to read and run.

It's awful you're going through this shit. I really hope the treatment works.

I know people mean well but they can get on your tits at times. Hopefully you can cope with them.

Hello TwitterQueen1

I'm posting as an ex-cancer patient (stage 3 bowel cancer) with one small piece of advice about a supplement that might help slightly with the side-effects of your chemo. It's called milk thistle - also supposed to help with hangovers. To my knowledge there has only been one study, done on children getting chemo for leukemia. The patients who took milk-thistle were slightly better at tolerating their chemo. It is supposed to offer some protection to the healthy cells but will not protect the cancer cells from the chemo. It's considered a very safe supplement and isn't expensive, so I hope you don't mind me posting on your thread to mention it.

I remember that feeling of elation after the first cycle of chemo. Feeling yess, go me, I've done a round of chemo and here I am feeling kind of weird but still getting on with stuff.

Very best of luck with your treatment.

Just nipping in to see how you're getting on as not seen you on the cancer thread recently. I'm glad the chemo side effects are manageable so far, but sorry that you're struggling with breathlessness. I hope that improves soon

Delurking to send you much love. I know, unfortunately, rather more about this disease than I would like - my mother had it; I also work as a health journalist and if I can be of any help (I'm good at researching stuff!) please PM me.

Bastard bastard cancer. I hate it.

Well done for cutting the grass, I hope you've been able to sit outside and have a cup of tea/gin & tonic looking at the results of your labour. I'm sorry that it has taken so much out of you and am thinking of you as I sit with the door open. .

Well done at keeping going, but please get some rest too, get friends/kids to do as much as possible to give you a break. If that's too frustrating maybe you can write a list of jobs that you can either delegate or do when you're feeling up to it?

Very much hoping the cancer has not spread as far as you fear - when do you next see the consultant? Will they keep draining your lung etc of fluid until the chemo kicks in to shrink everything?

Hi Leslie
I hope you are you OK. I haven't been on Lacies lately because it all seems a bit 'technical' to me at the moment, if that makes sense. I'm struggling to come to terms with how the cancer is affecting me and mine and I can't cope with what others are having to go through just yet.

The bravery on there is amazing. Yours included. I'm not brave yet. I'm still crying.

Morning TQ1, I'm not surprised you are crying, you have been on an a total roller coaster for the last couple of months.
How is your breathing this morning?
Don't try to do too much, but if you want to do certain things just pace yourself.
Love & hugs x

I completely understand. None of us are brave though! It's just a case of getting through it because there's no other choice. You don't need to be brave. It's all utterly shit and you can cry or swear or scream as much as you need to. It will get a bit easier as you get used to it, and hopefully the treatment will start to ease your symptoms soon :)

Hello Chasing. Hope you're OK today. I doubled up the pillows and turned onto my 'bad lung' side and actually that seemed to help - I slept well after that.
Leslie you're right - none of us are brave really - we just have no choice. I hate it when people say I'm brave.

I think you're allowed a few tears, TwitterQueen! Just less than two months ago, almost to the day, (27th February) you started a post saying that you had eaten too many pies, or words to that effect, and you couldn't quite work out how you were so fat and how you were so out of breath, given that you used to be so active just a few weeks before.

Now, you have been faced with the news that there is a very good reason that you were so 'fat' and it was nothing to do with the pies. That is a very short time frame to come to terms with such life-changing news and to deal with it, start treatment, etc. You haven't really had any processing time, even if it has felt like a very long time.

Be kind to yourself and let yourself be real about this. It's not the time to be brave for other people. It's the time to be however you are, and for other people to support you.

Glad to hear you slept well.

I also hate the "you are so brave / coping so well / doing amazingly" (although my situation is different as it was my DH who was ill not me). I'm not brave, at all, and I don't think I'm coping that well. I'm just keeping going.

lougle has said what I was thinking, but much more eloquently!