Crack open the wine... it's CANCER SUPPORT THREAD 61!

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Some of us have been here a while and others have only just joined. If you're lurking, feel free to say hello. We are quite friendly really.

You are welcome to join us, whatever sort of cancer you have, or if you're waiting for tests to find out whether you have cancer or not (we hope not!)

Our previous thread is here. Do check it out if you're new as there's lots of useful information in the first few posts.

Best wishes to everyone who finds themselves here

wombat good that it's harmless, but your reaction is quite normal. You were dealing with all the anxiety beforehand about what it would be, and that doesn't always magically disappear when it turns out to be good news. And you've still got further results to come, so that probably adds to it all. No need to apologise. This is the place for pity parties or whatever else you need to do to cope

TQ how self-centred! Not surprised you're pissed off

Tayto I'm glad you're mostly feeling more comfortable I hope you can go home soon

Happy Saturday everyone

Morning everyone.

Nicky and TQ I am at comments you've endured. Congratulations to both of you on your respective cancerversaries.
Tayto I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Hope you're home as soon as possible.
wombat I think the vino sounds entirely medicinal.
Leslie I hope you're still up and about, and that the pump is still keeping things manageable.

I had my MRI yesterday morning. The radiographer advised it will be a fortnight for the results to get back to the gynae-oncologist, which is the standard turnaround time. I am choosing to be cautiously optimistic about this - when I had my ultrasound I was advised that the report would be prioritised urgently, which was obviously not very reassuring. So I now need to put it all to the back of my mind for the next couple of weeks .

Just popping on to say hello to all. Leslie, I hope you are doing well and that the meds are working their magic. Tayto I am very sorry to hear it. Hope they will let you go home soon. Nicky and Twitter, happy (!!!) cancerversary. Turn at least now you have your MRI behind you; fingers crossed. Wombat I think everyone here understands your response! My own emotions have been all over the place since my diagnosis. Wishing you all a good - if rainy where you are too - day.

Turn fingers crossed for your results

I'm hopefully switching from the syringe driver to oral medication either today or tomorrow. Just waiting for the nurse to arrive and confirm the plan :)

Have a great day lacies

hello everyone....
twitter your sister sounds a little um...self centred. My sister, who I usually get on incredibly well with, nearly ended up under the patio when I was diagnosed. We've both always had lumpy breasts and one or the other of us was constantly off to have them looked at. when I was diagnosed she insisted she knew exactly how I felt as she'd been through much of the same tests etc....er no she didn't as it's hearing the words 'cancer' that is the complete head fuck! Hope your daughter's appointment is ok
tayto how are you? hope the blockage is sorting itself out
wombat I loathe the expression roller coaster of emotions...but cancer really is...up, down, euphoria, panic....and um wine is often the answer frankly!
leslie fingers firmly crossed you can get rid of the driver and remain as pain free as possible
As far as I know all my stories are true......today it's a woman who makes £4k a month from her balloon fetish....lordy lord!!
Mrs R is your blood pressure behaving better...I've got everything crossed for you that they can sort it out and you can have this operation
nicky "I idont' know how hard chemo is but the weight loss suits you"...unbelievable...as are the rest that you and TQ put up with...blimey. HOpe the draining goes well
turn hope MRI results are ok....waiting is always a bugger...
I've got my yearly mammogram etc tomorrow..first time since diagnosis...can't pretend i'm hugely looking forward to it, but think/hope they do everything on the day...eeeeeeek!
love to all...

Turn good luck with the MRI results and Freddie with the mammogram. Leslie I hope the switch happened and went well.

Thanks for the words of support everyone. I am still in hospital and still have the Ng tube in - although I might get it out tomorrow touch wood and then can progress to getting home again. Feeling very sorry for myself. Didn't sleep last night as bloody IV pump alarms kept going off. Tube really sore in throat (I have no pain elsewhere luckily). Plus turns out I was 'colonised' by MRSA during my last hospital stay - not serious really and I suppose it does mean I get my own room but just an extra straw. Just wish they could put me to sleep until I am better. Think they might frown on wine Freddie but that would definitely help too! (shame I am still nil by mouth).

Hi freddie thanks for asking. I was hospitalised last night with the blood pressure. It was crazily high. I can sympathise with Taytotots about lack of sleep and noise. That ward was like a circus with alarms going off, snoring, coughing, doctors doing bed calls at 4am, beds being moved around. The staff were brilliant but my goodness it was mad. I'm tucked up at home with new meds which should sort me out by the Thursday pre op. Good luck with the mammo, always scary. Mine is next month, the day after my 30th wedding anniversary. At least it's not the day before. Night all.

Mrs rhod glad you got out and hope the meds work well for you. I got them to give me a hopefully horse strength sleeping tablet tonight so fingers crossed I get more rest. Think it may be kicking in now .

Hi everyone, sorry for the radio silence lately. It was my sister's hen do at the weekend so all the last minute prep and the weekend itself has kept me rather busy!
Glad you're feeling better and stronger Leslie. Sorry you're not doing well tayto.
Hope people have had a good Monday. MRI results for me tomorrow so keeping things crossed for no regrowth/new tumours hiding away in my head!

Hi Leslie have they switched you over yet? Hope you're doing OK and they can reschedule the chemo too.

MrsRhod any updates on the op? Have the managed to control your BP?

Tayto I hope you're more comfortable and they'll be able to take the tube out.

Greycat good luck for the MRI tests today. Keeping everything crossed for you.

I'm doing pretty well - may have to return DD2 to Notts today as the lecturers' strike may be over.

Hi TQ, I'm hoping the op will go ahead still next Tuesday. I've got new bp meds to take in a minute. I'm going to try not to check my readings today but I have a gp appt tomorrow morning then the pre op on Thursday. I'm worried it won't be low enough by then, I'm wonder about asking the gp for some sort of de-stressing medication, those who have had something to calm them, what does it do to you?

tayto did you get some sleep?

leslie how are you feeling today?

littlegrey best wishes for today, I hope you get good news

mrsrhod sorry you ended up in hospital. That must've been worrying. Fingers crossed the new medication gets it under control quickly

Tayto sorry you're still struggling. I hope the sleeping tablet helped and that you can get the NG tube removed today :)

LittleGreyCat I hope you enjoyed the hen do. Fingers crossed for you for tomorrow

I had the driver removed yesterday and I'm now on slow release morphine capsules instead. I have some pain this morning but I'm hoping it'll ease up once I've got used to the tablets. If they don't work I can hopefully try patches instead. I hated the driver so much so I really want to avoid having it reattached! At least I had a proper shower today and washed my hair

I hope everyone has a good day

mrsrhod really sorry to hear about all the issues with your BP; any updates? How quickly do they expect the new meds to start working?
leslie glad to hear you are detached from the driver and have had a shower; I hope the tablets will work for you.
freddie hope all went smoothly today! I've been thinking of you.
TwitterQueen did you have to return your daughter to uni today?
LittleGreyCat sending good thoughts about your MRI results tomorrow.
Hugs to you all. Finished seventh rads session today, so by tomorrow afternoon I will be more than halfway through.

Penguins I hope your procedure today went well and that you're now resting comfortably

genie how are you finding the rads? Nearly halfway - yay :)

genie you're a darling to ask...ALL CLEAR...yippeee...was surprised by quite how jittery I was!! Your rads ok??
Waves to everyone...

Ooh you got the results today freddie? That's fantastic news my friend has been waiting over a month for her results :(

YAY YAY YAY freddie!! I hope you are celebrating tonight! So happy for you.

Evening all, I've been reading but am rubbish a remembering as I type
So, mrsrhod I have literally everything crossed for you that your bp calms down and your pre op is ok. I had my 2nd zoladex yesterday which triggers dreadful flushes and no sleep last night, but it should calm down across the month. Have they stopped yours now?
leslie as ever, hope you are feeling perkier
wombat wine is almost mandatory (if allowed) in my opinion
littlegrey best wishes for results.
Congratulations on cancerversaries
Hope everyone has a peaceful night x

That's so lovely of you to remember Leslie when you have so much going on yourself, I think you must be the world's nicest person.

Glad to hear you had the driver removed though I did see some cute quoll bags and some bags with quolls in. How are you feeling now? Hope things are improving. DS's old headmaster sent a message about the quokka, that is seriously cute.

I have just got back and it went well. Went in and they told me there was a 50-50 chance of it working and if it failed they would do another op in a few months but it worked, yay. Was super drowsy after so they gave me oxygen and took me to an overnight room, I am NHS in a private hospital and it was posh there, lovely bed, own toiletries, flat screen TV, tea in a tea pot with biscuits and a choice of sandwiches and breads. They said I could stay longer if I wanted and it was quite like a hotel so bit tempting but kids were home alone (11 and 12) and DH apparently overruled me and had told them it was fine for them to cook pancakes from a recipe. Thankfully house isn't burnt down and they had fun. Complete blank in memory as under general, I was watching videos of rock wallabies on Magnetic Island with DS just before going and woke up to images of rock wallabies. Next appointment 2 months, not sure when I get biopsy results but are expecting it clear so not concerned. Think DD has been worrying, keeps asking me about how often people die in operations.

Love to everyone else, and so sorry to hear some of you have been so ill.

Too tired for a proper post hanging spent the evening sorting teething baby and poorly toddler, but MRI was clear. No current tumours!

Glad to hear it came back clear LittleGreyCat

Just remembered after the general I was feeling sick and the nurse said don't be sick now it would be really dangerous as both your canulas have failed and you've got fluid build up. Thankfully not sick but wasn't aware it was optional. Then had another very elegant injection in the bum and a third canula.

You even get a pink and white striped bag like one you would get for sweets for the urine sample and its not the NHS cardboard ones but plastic, its fancy there as my DS would say. Though not sure giving someone a sandwich with coleslaw in is sensible when they are nauseous.

How lovely to read good news on here

Greycat tiredness aside, you must be feeling so relieved and probably very emotional too. So pleased for you!

Penguins what luxury. I had to go private for my hysterectomy and got nothing except a private room. No sweets, treats or even a chocolate run. The nurses were-over stretched and those in the recovery room just ignored me

Freddie yay! more celebrations. I hope you can enjoy and relax.

Genie I'm off to Notts today. I think DD has realised it's a bit boring at home.. I haven't had radiotherapy - hope you're coping OK.

Leslie I hope the meds have kicked in now and that you can remain separated from the driver!

I had one a few years back and was pretty much left to own devices though this time I had nurses constantly which was lovely though one spent about an hour blowing hot air on me then deciding she had made me too hot and blowing cold air then she decided I was too cold and back to hot air. It was very sweet of her but I just wanted a stable temperature and sleep. I was their only patient for quite a while.

Hope your DD is doing OK now. Had cat howling all last night, she had missed cuddles and I needed attention. No sleep for me. 2 swollen veins but other than that relatively unscathed. DH was moaning he didn't get to eat all day yesterday, apparently he did this in sympathy for me, really silly.

H genie and pepper and thank you for asking. I've just been to see the gp and he said it's unlikely the private hospital will operate next week. My bp has come down but the lower number is still over 100 which would be ok for the NHS surgeons as they have access to emergency departments but surgeons working privately don't have that back up and require levels below 95. He's told me to call the hospital and I've had to leave a message so just waiting now. I can't believe it's come to this, I'm pretty deflated and I'm going to have to cancel the surgeon for a second time.

pepper yes some hot flushes did come back on the zoladex but five months on they're not too troublesome. I get a couple in the night, not sweaty just hot and the occasional one in the day and pretty much every evening I get one at 10pm! Hot drinks or eating are usually the cause in the day but hey, I need to eat. Not sure if they've made my sleep worse, it's not great anyway. The worst thing for me has been terrible pain in my legs and feet and it would appear disastrous effects on my blood pressure which I wasn't warned about. It was averaging 225/130 at the weekend. The gp was surprised they had let me out. I'd advise you to keep an eye on yours, I was well into stroke and heart attack territory.

I'd recommend anyone being put onto anastrazole or zoladex and probably others to monitor their blood pressure. It says in the drug details online that bp should be checked prior to and during treatment but mine has never been taken.