CANCER SUPPORT THREAD 60! Here we are again... join us if you have any sort of cancer (or if you're waiting for cancer test results)

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Welcome everyone to a shiny new thread :)

It's a club nobody wants to join, but if you need us, you are more than welcome. If you're waiting to find out if you have cancer or not then pull up a chair. We hope you won't need to be here long, but we are here as long as you need us. And if you do have cancer then this is the place for you. Swear, rant, scream, laugh, cry... someone will have at least an inkling of what you're going through!

We only have one rule, which is do not Google. Though perhaps we should update that to please Google responsibly as few can resist completely!

I hope this thread will be a source of support for all who need it

Our previous thread can be found here

pepper you are in the same situation as me then, the letrozole won't be effective if your ovaries have woken up again. Zoladex or surgery are the only options. At the moment I have an appt with the oncologist on 20 Feb when he comes back from his three weeks away. If he agrees to write to bupa to say I'm not tolerating the zoladex then they might agree to me having the surgery privately. If he won't or bupa still refuse I'm still on the NHS list at my local hospital to have it done in April, hopefully but that could be put back. I also want to know why he's suddenly telling the private gynaecologist that I could remain on zoladex when he's been pushing me down the surgery route. Bloody annoying.

I'm getting hot flushes again which had finished on the anastrazole. I'm also getting horrible joint pain again. I feel like I've been through the menopause three times now, I've had enough. My breast nurse us being less than helpful now, she's never seen this before and seems terrified of saying the wrong thing.

Hello to everyone else. I hope surgery, rads and new diagnoses have gone to plan.

This popped up on my Facebook this morning. Not sure if it might be useful for anyone. It's about how to talk to children about cancer.

Belatedly wishing you the most delicious birthday freddie and pepper!
Furry I hope you've been dealing all right with your anxiety, which is of course completely understandable; I would guess everyone on this thread can sympathise to some degree. For a quick fix in the moment, when you may be starting to feel panicky, do you know the 4-7-8 breathing technique? www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/simple-4-7-8-breathing-trick-can-induce-sleep-in-60-seconds/ Not with the aim of falling asleep, necessarily! but can help you calm down sometimes. It's my favourite for certain moments in the waiting room etc.
Penguins the Torquay holiday sounds wonderful! My daughter loves penguins too, so I'd love to hear how it goes for you. Wishing you sunshine, but even if the weather isn't lovely the time away with your children will be.
mrsrhodg you sound about at the limit of your patience with this whole process, and who could blame you. Hoping your oncologist will give you that letter and the go-ahead for private surgery soon. Menopause just once is more than enough!
Leslie I hope your cough and breathlessness have improved.
Wishing everyone here a good day.

Hello again all - surgery seems to have gone well yesterday afternoon. I made the hospital discharge me last night so that I could sleep at home in my own bed. :) I am surprised by how sore I am (lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy) and wonder if it was the same for others who have had the same surgery, as I tend to be fairly pain tolerant. Maybe I am just being ridiculous, since it's been less than 24 hours.

genie I hope you are more comfortable soon. Excellent news that you got home yesterday though :) when will you get the biopsy results?

My cough/breathlessness is a bit better, thank you :) just need to wait it out!

Thank you Genie You should take your daughter there if its not too far and she likes penguins. Its called Living Coasts in Torquay and we went down there for the day in December, its only small but its lovely with penguins wandering round on the beach, go really close to you, daughter got pecked! and it all overlooks the sea. You can also prebook a penguin feeding experience. www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186259-d324086-Reviews-Living_Coasts-Torquay_English_Riviera_Devon_England.html has good pics of it. There's a massive teddy bear shop in Taunton called World of Bears we stopped at on the way and DS spent all his Xmas money on a 3 foot fluffy toy penguin. Seems to be quite a bit round the area, there's a pool with wave machine /slide, tourist train, Agatha Christie house Greenway isn't far and can get to it on a wooden boat or steam train etc. Glad your op went well and hope pain improves soon.

Leslie Hope your cough / breathlessness gets better and make sure you take it easy. Furry Sorry to hear you are so anxious, good bleeding has stopped take care. Hope everyone else is doing OK.

Hi genie, I'm sure it felt better to be in your own bed last night. It's very early days in terms of soreness. The snb scar is well known to be more uncomfortable than the breast scar and will take longer to feel better. I felt like I had a brick in my armpit for a while, it's all flooding back now. My advice at this stage is to do the stretching exercises religiously, it will make such a difference. I bought some wireless bras a couple of days after coming home in a larger size and wore them even at night to make everything feel secure. I would have recommended that before you went for surgery but you were seen so quickly. I managed quite well by alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen for the first few days then was able to come off everything. You will feel fragile for a while and be very protective of your chest area but it should quickly feel better.

Have you got a date to go back for results? Just allow yourself to be looked after for the next few days, look after your scars and sleep when you need to, the anaesthetic takes a while to recover from.

Putting thank you for your kind wishes and the link to the breathing technique. I'm going to try it tonight. Hope your pain is reducing and that you're feeling better. Penguins thanks for your kind wishes too. I don't live far from Torquay but have never been to Living Coasts! I've had a better day but come home tonight to a letter from the hospital with the words "tests to exclude a cancer diagnosis". As you can imagine I feel sick leave over again. Sending love to everyone.

Penguins I'm very glad you told me about this place; thank you for the link! My penguin-loving daughter and I agree that it looks fantastic. We love visiting the penguins at ZSL but Living Coasts looks as if it is on a whole different, larger scale.
mrsrhodg thank you for the tips. A friend who had a mastectomy a few years ago did tell me to give up my underwires for the time being , so I'm in much more comfortable soft bras now! I've done my stretches twice today and I'm already feeling much better than I did earlier. But it's good to know that it's all to be expected - I was looking anxiously at my bandages wondering if everything was as it should be. "Brick under the arm" just about describes it.
Leslie I go back in next Wednesday. I am glad you are feeling a little better, and I hope you've been able to rest a bit today.

Furry thinking of you and fingers crossed that you will have good news. Try not to focus on the words they are using right now and know that the tests are just about trying to figure out how best to help you.

Hello. First post here. I feel a bit of a fraud asking to join, as I don't have a diagnosis, but having read this thread I can see how amazingly you all support one another, and I think I need a bit of a hand hold.

After some months of lots of low key but gradually worsening gynae symptoms I saw my GP last week. I got some bloods done on Tues, and got a call today at work to say that bloods are back, and following this I need an urgent scan to investigate the possibility of ovarian cancer.

I have already broken the cardinal rule of Do Not Google. Obviously wishing I hadn't. I am a proper, stressy hypochondriac so am internally terrified, but trying not to be.

TheTurn, so sorry to hear this. It's bloody terrifying isn't it. I'm waiting for an appointment myself with gynae symptoms. Hopefully all will be well and they are being over cautious. Hand holding freely given.

Turn sorry to hear this. I'm OC, dx last year, now on 2nd line chemo. Ask me anything you want.

genie fingers crossed for Wednesday

TheTurnofTheScrew you're not a fraud at all. We happily welcome anyone awaiting cancer tests :) hopefully we can send you on your way with good news. Do you have a date for the scan yet?

Hugs to anyone who needs them

Twitter did you have chemo today? I hope it went smoothly if so :)

thank you both. It's just nice to know people understand the sheer, blind panic. Twitter I am sure I will have lots of questions soon, but feel a bit rabbit-in-headlights after the phone call at work. My poor manager was in my office about something unrelated just a few minutes later, and I think I may have over-shared slightly in my panic, so am also feeling like a bit of a dick.

Actually, I do have a question. When I have the scan, am I likely to get any kind of indication then and there? I've been thinking about whether I want DH to come with me, but we both juggle work around primary aged DC, so if there will be no news to share I'm fine to go it alone.

both = all!

Turn what type of scan are you having? If an ultrasound they sometimes talk through it as they go. But if it's a CT scan or similar then you won't get the results for a few days.

Turn, I came to this board before I had an official diagnosis too (had had a mammogram that the consultant was pretty sure showed BC, but I was still awaiting biopsy results). The women here are amazing and strong as well as knowledgeable. I don't know anything about OC, but you are right about not googling. We can't help it, most of us do it at some point, but as a BC survivor friend put it very succinctly, "stay the f--- off the internet!" A lot of info out there is outdated or just plain wrong. You are much more likely to find good advice here. Sending hugs.

Elise are you out there? I've been wondering/worrying about you.

Turn They probably won't be able to tell you much at the ultrasound and they won't give you a diagnosis because more tests would be needed to confirm what is wrong. I was told I had a 'large lump' and that I had excess fluid too. If you can, it might be helpful for you to take someone. I was very much like a rabbit in the headlights at this stage too.

Leslie yes, chemo yesterday. Went very smoothly - cannula went in at the 1st attempt and no issues at all. How are you? And Nicky how did yours go yesterday?

Hi everyone. TurnoftheScrew - sorry you're here, but welcome. I'm an OC patient too, 3 years in. You're welcome to message me anytime. Try not to panic and not to Google. The time between the call about the blood test and the scans/consultant appt seems like an age, but regardless of the diagnosis, you will feel a lot better when you definitively know what you have (if anything) and what you can do about it. I didn't get any feedback from ultrasound (I had a bit too much fluid on my abdomen to get a good view of anything) nor during the CT. I saw a gynae surgeon with my results very soon after and he explained it all including treatment plans. A big hand hold to you.

Glad chemo went ok yesterday TQ - mine was fine too. Have jiggled anti-sickness meds a bit so will see how this cycle pans out. I'm feeling fine and full of steroid today, so trying to get stuff done while the sun shines!! Leslie thanks for good wishes - glad you are feeling a bit less wheezy and lung-y. Good luck to Furry and Genie for test results - hope you're not too uncomfortable Genie, after your biopsy. Happy belated birthdays to freddie and pepper and hope everyone has a good half-term next week. Jealous about the penguins! xx

Genie Hope it goes well next Wednesday. Living Coasts is only small, maybe an hour to do the place, but its lovely to see the penguins on the beach, the seals were so happy too really chatting away, we are by London too and its quite different feel to London zoo. Its probably as good as it gets for penguins in the UK, seen them on the beach in Cape Town too, but that's not so easy to get to as Torquay! We are a bit animal obsessed. I have booked our summer holiday to Australia so we can cuddle koalas so just praying there's no cancer diagnosis before which would stuff that up. Furry Do you have someone that can go with you? I think the fact they've said exclude is positive and that they are expecting to exclude it. Mine are expecting to exclude but then say but it could be cancer at stage 4 but you aren't dead so it probably isn't. Turn Sorry you are here and hope you get the all clear. My first ultrasound I was told all is fine, second one she said nothing and asked me about other symptoms and spent ages measuring things, that was the gynae one, that one they did find 3 things but varies with the person doing as well. If you don't want to be told anything I am sure if you say they won't say anything. I prefer to know as I am with 3 hospitals now and they don't communicate and lose things and always ask me what results are. I always take my husband but I am not very brave and am prone to worry.

Hope things go as well as they can for everyone else.

I'm glad it went well Twitter :) I hope there are no side effects

nicky enjoy your steroid energy and fingers crossed for the antisickness meds working better this time

Elisebev how did you get on yesterday?

Happy Friday everyone. I hope you have some sunshine :)