Cancer Support Thread #71 - here to help if you’re dealing with cancer in any shape or form, come in and say hello.

[Brassica]

Hi again everyone and welcome to the 71st new thread for cancer support.

All those who are currently being treated, have been treated in the past, have worries and concerns and/or are having tests are very welcome to pull up a chair and chat, vent, rant, pour hearts out, share milestones and anything else! We are a very friendly and all-too experienced bunch on here and there are no questions too small or silly to ask.

Our previous thread is here .

Anyone with any type of cancer (female or male) 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 your best place for support is probably on the Life-Limiting Illness board.

Please can I invite current members to reintroduce yourselves below for latest situations and stories so far.

Thank you. Cancer was strongly suspected after a sigmoidoscopy and surgery was done with me being told it was necessary for onward treatment. Biopsies were also done during surgery which just came back yesterday. It's all been within the last 4 weeks and feels very shocking.

Hi porolli. Just wanted to send some support. I had a shock diagnosis of Inflammatory Breast Cancer in March, it is a complete headfuck coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis so take all the support you can get and be kind to yourself. Ranting is fine on here!

Redspook - glad there is now a plan. Working my way through my treatment plan is what keeps me sane (that and a weekend in the Hunter Valley drinking far more red wine than my oncologist would approve of prior to my last Chemo session on Tuesday 😁).

My thoughts are with you and your girls as always TQ

Hi to everyone else x

Morning all, and thoughts continuing to be with TQ and her girls. I do hope they have managed to get her somewhere more comfortable.

Welcome to porolli, very sorry to hear about your whirlwind diagnosis which must be incredibly hard to take in. Do you have people you can offload to irl as well?

Notcool, hello to you too and I’m sorry to see that you’ve already got some prior experience of getting through this. I hope your lump turns out to be nothing of concern. When is your scan do you know?

Emperor, just wondering if you got your PET results yet or when your lung biopsy is going to be? How are you feeling?

Hello keepcalm, don’t worry about keeping track on here. How are things with you? Remind me, are you in active treatment?

Day 5 after pax/carb for me and although I’ve been feeling ok I did get tired yesterday and get the feeling I won’t be moving much today. I went along to sports day on Friday and had a short outing yesterday in the heat which I think tired me out more than expected. Food still tastes shit as well which is sucking the joy out of life. Tomorrow is our day at Wimbledon so I am determined to get there no matter what! I do have a bit of a sore throat/snotty nose too but no temperature luckily.

Hope everyone is having a chance to relax and enjoy some sunshine - feels as if it’s got to be good for the soul doesn’t it.

It's my birthday on Wednesday....a big one with a zero... and my daughter has just warned me that she's full of a cold so we probably won't be able to meet up as planned in case I get it.

It's a small thing really and obviously just one of those things but I'm so disappointed and have had a full on sob about it, to myself, not with her. She's on her way back from a week's holiday with a friend. I was originally planning to join her for a few days and spend my birthday on hols with her having a lovely time in the sun but obvs that got cancelled when diagnosis happened.

Feeling sorry for myself at the moment and I'll be glad when the effing birthday has been and gone to be honest. I am sick of putting a brave face on things.

Brassica Enjoy Wimbledon tomorrow.

WTF99 Putting a brave face on all the time takes a lot of energy. Not surprising that you are disappointed. On top of everything else that is the last thing that you needed.

Sorry to hear that WTF, it's shit. I hope you feel better about it when the day's over.
porolli, do you know what will happen next and when? The uncertainty affected me quite badly and l couldn't eat - you have the surgery to recover from as well. Are you managing to eat and sleep?
Have a great day at Wimbledon brassica, I've never been and am envious.

Hope you have an amazing day Brassica
*
WTF* I'm not surprised you are feeling miserable, I struggle with watching life going on around me and being aware of what I should be doing but can't now. Can you nominate a future date for belated birthday celebrations so you can have something to look forward to? We will make you virtual cake 😊

Just seen clips of Kylie at Glastonbury.

Thoughts with Lacies past and present

I'm sorry WTF, that must be really upsetting.

Thanks for welcoming me to the group. I'm all over the place emotionally and just hate hate hate having a colostomy bag. At the moment I cry every time I have to change it. I've not been eating well since surgery, partly loss of appetite and partly being scared of what will happen with the bag.
Also I'm really embarrassed that it's anal cancer...part of me wants to own it and try not to be ashamed, it's just another part of the body etc but it also feels very humiliating and that saying bowel cancer would be more acceptable (even though it's a completely different type)

I started a post yesterday and lost it. WTF I am so sorry about your messed up birthday plans, that is crap. Will you be able to see other people on Wednesday, friends or family? We'll all be raising a glass to you!
Porolli and Notcool, welcome and sorry to see you here! redspook, that's a hell of a treatment plan, you must be reeling, but hopefully it will be very effective. SnowsinWater, quite impressive that you were able to enjoy a drink or several! And here's to your final chemo session tomorrow - I'll think of you while I have my first!
Good to see a few posts from the fabulous TQ, hanging on in there.
I had a pre-emptive number two hair clip on Friday which I'm quite happy with - don't feel too self-conscious!

Greetings and good wishes to everyone here.

Maybe your DD will be past the sneezing/snotty phase by Weds WTF? There is a little bit of time for that and for you to still celebrate together. I hope you can do something that makes you feel special on a special birthday. But it is obviously disappointing on top of already having cancelled the original plan to be abroad.

Porolli, I completely get what you’re saying and I’m sure I would feel the same. There are some body parts and cancers that feel more ‘socially acceptable’ to mention and no doubt many people don’t even know there’s such a thing as anal cancer . It must be very hard for you. I guess you could call it bowel cancer for those who aren’t close to you just to give it a name and general idea of treatment, no need to give everyone the full chapter and verse if it distresses you. But of course it is just another body part like a lung or a bladder, maybe in time you’ll get to be more comfortable with naming it. One person who’s very impressively open on the subject of cancer is bowelbabe (Deborah James) - she’s done podcasts and articles and is on Instagram etc. She’s done a lot to de-stigmatise bowel cancer I think. Be gentle with yourself while you’re dealing with these early days because you have a hell of a lot to adjust to, crying all the time is totally fair enough.

I’ve woken up with a bit of a persistent cough and to be honest am probably not quite up to Wimbledon but will be going! I am also supposed to have chemo tomorrow so that’ll be interesting as to whether I’m well enough, I suspect my bloods will be off. If you’re watching later, we’re on centre court and you’ll probably be able to tell who I am from the coughing

Thanks for being kind and understanding all I know you 'get it', which helps.

I'm on my phone so name checking is a challenge. Gonna get on the laptop later and post a bit more.

Oh porolli, that's so much to get your head around. I understand the embarrassment factor - I have gynae cancer and although it's not the same as your situation at all I would find it easier to talk about if it were somewhere else.
I am keeping my diagnosis secret at the moment, but I appreciate that you may not be able to do that as your family and friends will know about the surgery.
I am taking the view that it's no one's business and am fiercely guarding my privacy. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it up however.
Who needs to know what type of cancer you have? You may be able to manage it by putting all those except the people very close to you on an information diet.
Are you getting any support with adjusting to the colostomy? Have you had any diet advice? I have started to eat a bit better now, I need to be as strong as possible for my treatment.
to you and to the amazing TQ

I got a letter through for the DWP for my PIP home assessment. Read loads of horror stories about the assessor not listening and basically lying. Should I be concerned....

Just popping in to say - it's my birthday 😔

Happy birthday borntobeamum

Happy birthday Born! I've got a delicious coffee and walnut cake, have a slice!

Happy birthday born! Hope you’ve had a lovely day and been thoroughly spoiled!

Thank you 💐💐💐
I've had a lovely day - we went to Scarborough and had chips and curry sauce sat in the sun, followed by delicious ice cream at The Harbour Bar. I've been going there since I was tiny so it felt quite fitting x x

Happy Birthday born. Glad you have had a lovely day

Happy birthday born

Happy birthday born! Xx
Just made it!

Happy birthday born 💐** Glad you had a lovely day.

How was Wimbledon Brassica? Hope you lasted a reasonable time 😊

I am at the hospital having my last round of Chemo so I am very happy about that. 1 hour down, 2 to go (though the infusion always seems to run slow at the end). Everyone is lovely here but I really do hope I never have to see any of them again!

Oops, serious bold text fail, sorry.

Ooh yes Snows, hope you're out of there for good now!