CANCER SUPPORT THREAD 65 - for anyone with cancer or waiting for cancer tests (pets welcome!)

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Good morning everyone,

Welcome to the new thread, and the club that nobody wants to join. Our previous thread is here.

Anyone with any type of cancer is welcome. And we will hold your hand if you're waiting to find out whether or not you have cancer at all.

If you've got a loved one with cancer then you can get support here.

Please feel free to reintroduce yourself so we don't all have to remember from the previous thread!

BitOfFun I bet that gets a few raised eyebrows!

I had a really lovely glittery notebook for mine, but I seem to have lost it somewhere

KeepCalm like Namechange says, you're building up your strength. It sounds like you need the distraction, and that's perfectly alright :)

Minnie I hope you have a good book. From what most people have said, all the waiting around is the worst part of radiotherapy!

purple is your breathing getting any better? I don't know why stairs are such a bugger. I did ten minute on my exercise bike earlier. I'm hoping I can build up my stamina and maybe my breathing will get easier!

Omg bitoffun I have to have that notebook! Where did you get it from?!

Bitoffun that's brilliant 

Keepcalm I bought myself a kindle once I started treatment, it's the most useful thing I've bought so far and helps pass the time when you're sat around waiting for hours

Leslie well done on 10 minutes! I used to have a cross trainer but only really used it to hang clothes on  walking around too much or upstairs makes my heart race and I get all dizzy and out of breath. Being lazy and doing no exercise probably isn't helping things either so I'm going to try and make an effort to push myself a bit more

purple luckily I don't really get dizzy. I just start coughing and occasionally vomit thankfully that is happening less often though. After reading a thread on here I have been trying "salt therapy". I'm not sure it's making any difference, but I will report back when I've tried it for longer in case it helps. There's no evidence, but I'm quite desperate I'm seeing my asthma nurse tomorrow too so hopefully she will have some magic cures...

Thanks for the tip Leslie. I'm reading Great Expectations, so will take that.

A lovely friend has sent me supportive badges to stick on to my hospital gown.

10 minutes is great.

What have you been reading Keepcalm?

addlebrained, it was a gift, so I'm not sure, but I reckon google would throw up a few interesting results

Love the book BitOfFun - good luck with the treatment

Trying to will myself to do some exercise today. I have decided to quit work on basis that the next year is going to be bad and I’ll have depleted energy so whatever energy I have I’ll give to my DDs. It still hasn’t sunk in that I may not be here to see them through school/university etc - cancer is such a bitch

@purpleunicorns I love my kindle. All DC have one too. We're a family of bookworms 

@Minniemountain I read a man called Ove, two bubblegum nonsense book and have just finished the trilogy 'A discovery of witches'. Not my usual fare but try to read 'ahead' of DD1 to make sure stuff is suitable. And then have to remind myself she is 15!!

Am about to start a paperback DH brought so I can leave it in the hotel 'library' as a pay it forward kinda thing and then I have the Tom Hanks for the flight home.

@Simmi1 that's a huge decision I keep having the same thoughts but I can't just 'quit' so need to give it some more time. The staff are too important to me so whatever happens needs to be done with their welfare in mind.

Hey keepcalm I think my situation is a bit different - I actually only started this job a couple of months ago as something to do really. Not my ideal job and I haven’t been in it long. Although my direct manager was lovely there was a pretty unpleasant character I had to work for so all in all not a huge loss. I’m also a big sleeper generally so with chemo and young children and a job something had to give and for me it’s the job. I think your work situation is a world apart and you should absolutely keep going

@WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo and @Namechangeforthiscancershit thank you ladies. I am known for being too harsh on myself and cannot help worrying that am missing an opportunity to see this beautiful Greek island. For once DH put himself as the named driver on the hire car and he doesn't like driving abroad (which would make you all laugh if you knew his profession) so we haven't been away from the complex much. It's normally me that drives when we're abroad and I love exploring so I haven't wanted to push him and he's determined I've to 'relax'

I'll admit am a tad stir crazy. I don't do 'relaxing' very well hence the books to delve into .....

@BitOfFun cracking stationery! My staff bought me a brand new one from TKMaxx that just says 'The Boss' across the front. Seems a shame to use if for this but it might just remind this cancer shit who's in charge here

@Simmi1 In that case you absolutely must bin that shit without hesitation! No need for that nonsense on top of everything else

Oh heck. Hi all. Sorry to see you here and be here but need to get it out. DH is having a colonoscopy tonight. He had one in 2014 and, bang, 6cm tumour in bowel. Had surgery and chemo. All good since then with no sign of recurrence/secondaries. Have had DD2 since. Kids 3 and 7. Two weeks ago the symptoms came back. He's only 42. Am petrified for him, me and the kids but at work...

Sorry to hear that resipsa. How worrying for you both. I hope that there is an innocent explanation for his symptoms. There is a thread for those supporting partners/other relatives with cancer and similar conditions here, which you might find helpful. All the best

Hi @resipsa
so sorry to hear about your DH. It must be very worrying for all of you. I think you might find this thread more helpful though. It's for those who are supporting relatives and friends with potentially life-limiting diseases.

All of us on here have cancer ourselves so we look at things from a different perspective. Wishing you and your DH all the best .

Minnie the badges sound fab

Simmi that sounds like a very good decision :)

Good morning everyone. I hope you slept well.

Leslie I've just been reading up on salt therapy and it sounds effective, do you go to the sessions or can you do it from home?

Simmi I've been on the sick for about 4 months now, I'm going to have to hand my notice in soon. If you dont enjoy your job and don't need the money then I wouldn't think twice about quitting. Looking after yourself is much more important at the minute

Addle Amazon sell Bitoffuns notebook. I might get myself one just to see everyones faces when I take it to chemo 

That notebook is amazing!

I am off to google salt therapy now...

purple I already had a Himalayan salt lamp, but I thought it was just decorative to be honest. Now I'm using it as much as possible. I also bought a salt inhaler, but I'm not really sure about it.

I'm wondering about getting a breathing trainer thing - it's like resistance training for your lungs. I'm going to ask the nurse about them later :)

Sorry everyone - should've read opening post properly! Thanks for the redirection.

I wish you all all the best. Trite but true.

Morning all. Just a quick question for those who’ve had chemo. I’m in hospital again this week having herceptin tomorrow and then chemo on Wednesday. So far I’ve had the chemo through a vein in my right hand. After the second round I started to notice a kind of muscular type pain in my right arm. It’s not near the vein where the chemo has gone in. It’s more near my elbow but on the inside of my arm. At first I put it down to attempting some yoga with lots of leaning on my arms but it’s not got better!

I will mention it at the hospital tomorrow before they administer anything else but just wondered whether anyone had had anything similar?

I know the side effects sheet said to look out for pain along the vein but it’s not really in that area and so far I’ve had no pain when the chemo is administered.

Morning everyone,

Well done ivampire & fingers crossed you can get a place for the London marathon next year.

My cross trainer has also had spells of being a glorified clothes horse purple

Simmi I would definitely take time out from work if you can to look after yourself. I have been off since I was diagnosed because of the risk of infection. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get back to it after my op either due to lifting etc, but am trying not to worry too much until I am feeling more myself. I get 6 months at full pay, so have a bit of breathing space.

I hope everyone is feeling as good as possible. Well done pandora on the SW loss. Can they give you anything to stop the dizziness? It sounds very debilitating.

My 3rd round of docetaxel has knocked me for six. After the 2nd lot was relatively ok, I was caught out by the side effects this time. I spent yesterday in bed apart from bathroom trips and have been sick a fair bit too, so feeling crampy & rubbish. I have meds, so should be ok soon enough. My eldest was really upset to go to school today as she didn't want to leave me. I feel bad as I thought I had put as brave a face on as possible, but it hasn't fooled her.

My breast cancer book arrived yesterday, I managed to just read the bit about the most likely type of breast cancer to recur. Mine ticks most of the boxes annoyingly. It made me feel quite down, even though my sensible head says to not overthink it, deal with getting rid of this lot and then get as healthy as possible to avoid recurrence as much as possible. I think having a day of being ill didn't help my positive thinking too much.

Good luck with your asthma nurse today lesley I hope you get some more info regarding the salt therapy.

Waves & hello to everyone

noodles - my bc also ticks all the boxes of likely to recur which made me really sad but I was then told the book was out of date and it’s no longer the case. Eg was HER2+ one? Apparently herceptin completely turned things around for HER2+ disease and now it’s not so bad. I’m also trying to get healthy and not overthink but not easy

I’m also HER2+ from memory of reading the consultant’s letter. I haven’t looked into my diagnosis too closely and am resolutely not googling although sometimes I’m tempted to. I’m also having docetaxel this week. Dreading the side effects. I haven’t been sick so far.

The chemo nurse freaked me out at my first chemo as she said a few years ago my diagnosis would have been “frightening” but then she did go on to say that survival rates have improved dramatically over the last 5 or so years. My consultant’s letter does mention “small chance of recurrence” if that’s any help.

I have also told that my diagnosis would have frightening a few years ago mrstraveller. I’m still pretty frightened to be honest. I’ve been told 30% chance of recurrence - I’m not sure if this is specific to me or it’s a general statistic for bc.

Hi Simm

I know it is frightening. All our diagnoses are individual although broadly we might have the same type as someone else. The Doctor I saw was kind of saying this to me last time that someone else’s diagnosis will not be the same as mine