Fat belly? No. Ovarian Cancer belly (pt 2)

[TwitterQueen1]

The story of my ovarian cancer discovery is here

This is such an important health issue - there's a reason why OC is called the 'silent killer'. I really want more women to be aware of what few symptoms there are (I wasn't).

This is my story. I hope it's a long one.

I am so pleased for you

That’s brilliant news , so pleased and relieved for you x

Yay TQ, so pleased to see this, big relief. X

This is great news. I'm so pleased for you.

My 60th birthday is August 11th. My celebration plan was always to do dude ranching under the starry Montana or Wyoming stars. I've always loved the west US with its wide-open spaces and sense of freedom.

I had a short break in Iceland before I was dx and did a long horse ride there, though that wasn't particularly enjoyable as they were quite rigid about only riding Iceland style. I'm simply a novice by the way - gentle hacking only.

It was going to be a marker. The start of a brand new life, new opportunities, new openings, new beginnings. Hey ho.

I need to say I'm not despondent or miserable or unhappy! I am very fortunate in my life. Triggered by a 35-year old on the cancer support thread who died today.

TQ sorry you won't be able to celebrate your birthday in the way you'd dreamed of - how fab that would have been. Are you thinking about what you might be able to do instead? I understand August may seem like a long way off, and you don't know what might be happening then. Hopefully you'll have sailed through the SRS!

Was purple really only 35? That's appalling. I turned 65 at the beginning of May, and I know that whatever happens now, I have been very fortunate.

Have some in advance to see you through the treatment x

I am sorry about Purple, TQ, especially so soon after Leslie.

You are right to embrace life and take it with open arms. You might not be able to be a Marlboro girl for this birthday but keep the dream alive and go there in your mind during the radiotherapy in the next months. Make it a celebration plan for your 61st or 62nd and meanwhile why not consider a horse riding weekend - if compatible with current treatment of course - on the other side of the channel in Normandie. Cheese will certainly be present at every meal, except breakfast of course (cheese at breakfast is barbaric ) .

Maybe your daughters could join you in this weekend. New openings and new beginnings happen every single morning, TQ, you don't new a cowboy hat for that.

for you, sorry couldn't find a roquefort emoji

What nice words lilies. TQ, you are certainly more than entitled to feel wistful and blue about your personal dream being scotched - hopefully just for now, not for ever. The closing off of opportunities and the imposition of limitations is yet another way in which cancer is an arsehole to deal with. So I think lilies has a good idea in dreaming up something smaller that would be achievable. It’s all about controlling what we can control isn’t it? I hope you can come up with something that would still stir your soul. Sorry about the ranching though .

Here’s an annoyingly heart suggestion from a thoroughly annoying poster

Have you ever considered side saddle? They’re near as dammit impossible to fall off (unless the girth snaps or the horse falls over. And the Side Saddle Association says it works with Riding for the Disabled - which sounds a million miles from riding wild and sleeping under the skies, but might be a way to find a sweet tempered friendly horse to go hacking on

Ahhh TQ, so from the heart. Hope you can do something lovely this year even if it is a gentle ride in the UK. What about a lovely ride on a beach? That would be fab, then a wonderful cheese and wine picnic?

I'd take you out on mine but he's a bit of a sod at the moment!

I'm sorry to read of Purple and I understand it's so soon after another dear lacie. Both too young. Cancer is a bloody bastard.

I've just read both your threads Twitter, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us all over such a long period of time.

I have brca2 and you've definitely inspired me to take the ovarian bit more seriously, it's always manifested as breast cancer in my family so I really don't know much about OC, so thank you for doing your bit in raising awareness.

Btw the best pizza I ate in my life was Roquefort and pineapple, in a ranch town in Argentina actually, so I recommend that!

Yes - Purple was a really special Lacy. I-Vampire mentioned the thread where she made her first appearance, worried about irregular bleeding, and last night I read through it. (No 59) Right from the beginning, when she hadn't even been diagnosed, she was posting to support others further down the path.

One thing that struck me was her regret at not having kept up with her smear tests. Kicking herself for it, of course. Sometimes people post on here about not wanting to go, or putting it off. You even get posters discouraging them. Is this a thing now? To play down the importance of a life-saving test? And others who disapprove of HPV vaccinations for teenagers. I don't know if Purple's cancer was HPV-related - but most of cervical cancer cases are, and most of us, men and women, carry the virus.

Really, why wouldn't you do anything to avoid dying so young, like Purple, and after the most horrendous and undignified suffering in the last months?

She always played it down, but living with stents and then double nephrostomies, not to mention the fistula, must have been dreadful to endure.

It's shocking how much the take-up for cervical screening has declined since the peak after Jade Goodie's death. I'll certainly do whatever I can to support awareness and shut down nay-sayers from now on. This is a preventable cancer.

RIP Purple.

TQ - so glad you're able to have the stereotactic radio-surgery. By all accounts, it sounds far gentler in terms of side-effects.

I have a thing about the American West, too. One of the highlights of my life was a solo, hop-on-hop-off Greyhound Bus trip from Chicago to half-way across Montana before I had to turn round to start the return journey, via Wyoming, to catch my plane in Boston.

But it's the same stars, wherever you are, more or less. I agree with pps. Start planning now for a glamping experience with your dds. A shepherd's hut somewhere without light pollution in the UK? Plan it together. You gotta have hope.

Hope this doesn't offend. I'm a Pollyanna by nature. Drives my family mad. But whatever gets you through the night.

Whacka thank you so much for reading. I hadn't realised it was the same gene for some time.
But seriously, pineapple? It's a no from me

Not offended Thymeout.

Today's win is that I have been allowed to go down from 8 steroids to 7! And with the help of the usual sleeping tablet I managed 6 whole hours sleep by staying up late talking to DD!

Aside from the practice nurse from my surgery thinking I had breast cancer, not ovarian, and that I was going to have a picc line for chemo inserted, she was super helpful. NOT.

She had no idea I'm having brain RT tomorrow and was wondering why I'm worried about potential seizures. Not impressed.

Sending good thoughts your way for tomorrow TQ.

Good luck for tomorrow TQ, hope it goes as well as can be and not too gruelling.

Good luck for tomorrow TQ

Tomorrow is already here in Australia, so TQ, if you don't mind, and because you like French cheese, allow me to wish you luck the French way, by saying merde!

(I know it means shit, but that comes from centuries ago, when having a lot of "merde" outside a theatre would mean the show had been successful as lots of carriages would be waiting outside)

Wishing you well for tomorrow, TQ.

Thank you everyone. I can't tell you how much it means to me. I thought I was Ok. I'm the strong, independent, single lone mother marvellous coper of everything under the sun. But now actually I'm just a weeping willow of weakness.

I'm a lurker since your first thread and an admirer of your positivity. Good luck for tomorrow, I'll be thinking of you.

TQ you are amazing. Absolutely everyone would likely had a wobble or emotional moment at times like this. We are all rooting for you.

Oh TQ, let me hold you hand virtually in this moment. You have every right to be weepy and weak. It doesn't make you less strong or less independent. You are a human being with emotions and fears, and yes you are that incredible, strong willed rock that stands tall in front of the adversities this hideous cancer throws at you, but you don't have to be strong all the time.
The definition of brave is not to be fearless, but to face the fear. You are not in any bit less you because you let your emotions come out. Not doing it would be denial not strength .

Nobody can stay unaffected by cancer and its treatment, the rollercoaster of emotions, the toll on the body and mind, the twists and turns.

So weep as much as you want and need. We are here to hand you the tissues.

@TwitterQueen1 I've been reading your threads from the start and am delurking to say out of all the users on this website, you are one of the STRONGEST.

You're not weak, this is a situation that few people would manage and be prepared for without a tear in their eye.

Weak? Good grief, hen you are ANYTHING but.

for you