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

Hmph Kangaroo Dundee isn't on iplayer anymore, but there's clips here and it's probably on YouTube. Brolga, the kangaroo man, is just so tender and kind. Excellent if your faith in humanity needs restoring!

I hope he likes the otters :) I must admit reading your posts I am a little jealous as you clearly have a lovely relationship.

I am finally home after a minor delay with one of the infusions. I'm ravenous from the steroids and have just had a cheese-based snack while I wait for my dinner. Hopefully it'll be ready soon before I have to raid the fridge again

I hope everyone is having a good evening

mrsrhod how did it go today?

Thanks very much Leslie DS was very happy to see the clips. Hope you are feeling OK.

Hope the checks went well Mrsrhod and your blood pressure is down.

Predicting heavy snow on Sunday again. Got a message from a friend asking if I want to meet for lunch today, think she forgot my operation I liked the way the nurse told me I mustn't swim in the next 48 hours. Who swims straight after an op under a general

penguins you haven't started your post-op swimming regime yet?! Slacking off, are we?!

I'll start my 200 lengths each morning tomorrow, I have to admit I have been slacking Leslie 😂

You are very welcome to come too, don't let chemo stop you. I will bring DS but he only swims pretending he's a dog so doggy paddle going woof woof and needs cuddles and pretend bones at the end of each length, normally he does about 40. He also prefers it if you pretend to be a dog too, I have to be Mummy Woofie, not embarrassing at all. 😳 His sister is Woofette.

that's fantastic.

I do actually swim, though I haven't been for a while. My oncologist gave me a portacath rather than a PICC line so that I can swim.

I had to buy a new swimsuit though as my previous one kept inflating in the jacuzzi like one of those disaster boob jobs you see in Take a Break type magazines and I wear those rubber socks so that I don't get foot infections. It's quite an attractive combination, as I'm sure you can imagine. I expect woofing would only add to my appeal.

I shall call myself the Woofster.

DS will be very happy to have the Woofster joining us.

When I asked on Tripadviser about taking him to the Great Barrier Reef they recommended I go to our local pool in our snorkel gear for practice. If we all go in snorkel gear pretending we are dogs I am sure we won't get any strange looks at all 😂.

I've only had the inflatable top thing with a bikini but unfortunately a whole boat of people were looking in my direction and cheered. 😳 Thankfully I didn't know any of them. Also quite embarrassing was being in the pool with Woofie aged 10 cuddling me and then I saw one of the Mums in DSs year watching us, she just thought it was very amusing.

Hi
Been lurking a lot and just checking in to wave hello, apologies for not name checking. I finished my rads earlier this week with barely a skin reaction, so clearly I will be jumping in the pool with the Lacies in a fortnight . The tumours have shrunk down a fair bit. They no longer can be seen poking above my collarbone but are still palpable. I still have some neuropathy in my hand. I get a 6 week treatment break now for the rads to finish working. Hopefully during this time they can fit a port ready for chemo in late April.

Love to you all.

Glad to hear you've finished your rads Mysillydog and will be joining our swimming team. I was going to say you need to choose your dog swimming name but Mysillydog is perfect anyway. 😉

Mysillydog I'm glad the tumours have shrunk, but sorry you still have some neuropathy. Hopefully that'll imrpove over the six weeks. Did you have a port before? I love mine. Though personally I'd recommend asking for a chest one rather than arm if you get the choice. Mine is in my arm and it moves a lot more and is a bit harder to access than the chest ones. Also the arm ones are less common so some of the nurses are not that confident using it (they're also smaller so require a smaller needle etc).

penguins loving the image of the whole Woof family in snorkelling gear! Much more exciting than anyone I ever see at my local pool

penguins your son sounds absolutely fantastic. and my whole family loved the otter video...sooooooooo cute. My husband always laughs at me but I believe there are some 'good' animals....otters, penguins, elephants and giraffes are my main ones!
leslie so pleased you seem your usual chirpy self once more....is the pain much better now?
mysillydog so pleased rads are all completed and things seem to be shrinking..that's great news.
Hello to everyone else and hope all is as good as possible...it's sunny in london which i find immensely cheering...though bound to change..
Oh and was it dolly talking about insurance? After my all clear I have booked a trip to vietnam with my boys...yippeeeee. Insurewith was nearly £200 cheaper than the mainstream one I looked at....

This swim team sounds lots of fun! I'm in!

After my exciting MRI news on Tuesday, got the call yesterday to say no chemo this week as I'm neutropenic, which is a trifle boring (though does explain why I'm quite so tired!). Then got told off by my GP for waiting in the waiting room with the sick people today when I was seeing him about my thyroid! Also my oncologist told me it was platelets that would be a problem but not neutrophils/wbc! But he also said he didn't want to reduce my dose so not to tell him about side effects so...

Sunny here in Milton Keynes Freddie but snow due at the weekend. Got my shades on for now though.

Hope you are feeling OK today Leslie, nothing like a morning swim and snorkel to get you refreshed after chemo / surgery - It's great to know that the Woofies will have a LittleGreyCat to chase tomorrow. Very brave of you LittleGreyCat, we are nice woofies just a bit over-excitable. DS loves our cat.

That's great you have a trip to Vietnam Freddie, should be amazing. I have a friend from Vietnam and last year she told me she wanted to go back all summer to Vietnam but without her husband as he's miserable and asked me how could she phrase this politely. I have to get insurance but need to wait until I've got half a day free to phone them to declare conditions you or your husband are being investigated for

Hope you manage to get your chemo sorted LittleGreyCat

A little sunny here but predicted to snow tomorrow. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

It was sunny here (Home Counties) earlier and I even ate my lunch outside, but now it's hailing.

freddie yes the pain is much better thank you. We went for a little outing to a local NT property earlier so I'm a bit uncomfortable now as I haven't really moved much for weeks! Enjoy your sunshine if you still have it :)

LittleGreyCat sorry about the chemo delay and all the mixed messages I hope your levels improve for next week

penguins was it you who recommended the Secret life of koalas on Netflix? Thank you if so. Might've been another animal-loving friend otherwise. I've been watching that today. It's very soothing and doesn't require much brainpower. And I've got Secret life of wombats lined up next

Not me Leslie but I've just spent an hour watching that so thanks Leslie I told DS and he said how long is it and I said an hour and he said you know I can't pay attention for a whole hour. I'm sure he would for koalas though. I liked the way it said the three laziest animals in the world are the panda, the sloth and the koala - that's his three favourite animals - could add myself to the list at present. Glad you got out to a NT property - DS has put a ban on those as they are "old people's boring sightseeing". Did manage to get to Greenway at half term though. Enjoy the secret life of wombats.

Hope everyone is OK today. Light dusting of snow here.

Feeling sick today, pain isn't too bad though, got a cough and a bit wheezy, hmpf. DD grumpy but now gone off to gymnastics, hoping she will reappear in a better mood.

penguins not meaning to be alarmist, but it might be worth getting the cough/wheezing checked out. Do you have asthma? Either way, GA can increase risk of chest infection. I was advised to do five big coughs an hour after my last op to keep my lungs clear, but obviously my lungs are quite a mess (asthma, mets, pulmonary embolism) so not sure that's appropriate advice for everyone, and probably not when you've already got a cough. That was all rather rambly. I hope you feel better soon and I'm glad you enjoyed the koalas! Sorry it's too long for DS, but I love his self awareness/honesty did you see the news about the baby polar bear cub? It's only a short video clip!

Waving to everyone. I hope nobody is badly affected by the snow. It's not settling here at the moment but I've cancelled my plans and I'll stay indoors for today! Stay cosy everyone

mrsrhod I hope you're OK

Just running in to say that I hope you don't find the Secret life of Wombats too dull Leslie
We don't get up to much

Thanks Leslie I've just phoned 111 though doctor there thought my symptoms are OK but said to phone the hospital. I don't have asthma but only developed cough after surgery though DH also now has a cough so think its just a cough / cold, no sign of chest infection and doctor thought as I am not coughing blood its OK. DD just being shouting at me for being ill, argh, I would love to be well. Suspect someone is tired.

I did see the polar bear cub, he's so cute, I thought of you when I saw it. I think DS may watch the secret life programmes as he heard me watching the kangaroo one and was giggling apart from when they used 157 kilometres which made him growl. He hates the numbers 157 and 159 but worships 158 . Koalas are apparently lazier than wombats, so don't worry wombat, you aren't the laziest animal. 😉

wombat I was to learn about your special bum bones! I thoroughly enjoyed it to be honest. I wanted something boring relaxing :)

penguins sorry about DD tiredness and probably worried about you, which can easily manifest as anger! It sounds like you're all having a bit of a rough time so I hope you all feel better soon. Good that the doctor isn't worried, so hopefully just a normal cough, but be gentle with yourself. How does DS decide which numbers he likes? I'm glad the kangaroo one is good. That'll be next for me after wombats. When I had chemo the first time round I just watched my Planet Earth boxset over and over again. It's quite soothing and also nice to have reminders of all the beauty out there when you're feeling shit.

Thanks Leslie I love watching the animals and holiday videos and going into fantasy land. 😃 DS loves 158, first numbers he loved where square and cubed numbers then logarithms. He used to go round asking all the Mums what the cube of 158 was then coming back to me and telling me he couldn't believe how stupid the Mums are. Not quite sure what is was about 158 but we have had quite a few years of the worship of the number, dancing round shops if its on the receipt and him getting hyper every time the clock has 158 in it. We found a train station with a 158 sign and had to photograph it to get him away.

Ah he's a clever boy :) I love numbers too. Though I don't particularly have any favourites.

Fantasy land is a great place to visit when feeling rough!

I hope everyone is having a good Saturday

I love numbers too. Did your degree have maths in? The anaesthetist was quizzing me on my degree whilst putting me under as his daughter is at the same university, remember stopping half way through a sentence. 😂

Got half a grin out of DD when I offered to buy her another top so hopefully improving, she's happily playing with her brother at least. Feeling pretty rubbish but will continue watching the secret life of series. Hope you are feeling OK and everyone is having as good a weekend as they can.

Not enough. I snuck in some mathsy modules from other courses, but it was all a bit too geography-based for me. Not that it really matters now as I'll never make any use of it!

I was working in energy statistics when I had my first surgery and the anaesthetist kept asking me investment advice

What degree did you do? (no pressure to say if it's too revealing!) I like a chatty anaesthetist who tries to distract you. It always makes me feel reassured if they're happy to talk about nonsense rather than fussing with machines etc.

Enjoy your secret lives and hopefully you'll feel much better soon. I'm glad DD is feeling a little friendlier :)