Cancer support thread #72 - come in, we're here for you

[Bloodybridget]

Welcome to the new support thread for anyone who has cancer, at whatever stage of treatment, is worried about symptoms, or is waiting for tests or results.

This is the place to worry, moan, ask questions, share experiences and good and bad news, and celebrate milestones!

If you've got a loved one with cancer then your best place for support is probably on the Life-Limiting Illness board.

Our previous thread is here

Current members, please do introduce yourselves

Skap my best day was the day after chemo too, loads of energy but a big red face! I also had the dulled taste buds which took a little while to come back after treatment ended.

I love that blue hat! I would certainly have bought that if I had seen it. Like you I bought loads before chemo, scarfy ones, turbany ones, pull on ones. The only one I ever worse was the baggy grey pull on one I wore to go home after treatment while my hair was still damp and full of conditioner from the cold capping. Still better to have them ready just in case though.

Skap

Thank you so much for that, I will await delivery of the newly ordered one, and then buy some of those for back up.

And before I even hit send I have ordered a Lishy.

Reader, I rang. These checks have not found anything. I still have ovary located pain but will try something else?!. Love and strength to everyone.

@NaomiFromMilkShake

My daughter painted me this

I thought of making this hat

sybil

And now you know, well done for calling.

Trumpton

Love the hat.

Sybil Great news. I hope they will find a way to stop the pain quickly. So pleased for you

Trumpton I love the hat. What great imagination some people have😆

@sybilshade I’m so glad! Well done you for biting the bullet and finding out. I hope they can sort the pain out soon.

@Trumpton I love both your daughter’s work of art and the hat! Do you have a pattern for it? I could really wind DP up threatening to make one of those...

Hat pattern HERE . I think .
If not it’s on Ravellry.

Seriously Trumpton - your daughter needs to start production on those plaques (definitely current mood) x

Toofaroutallmylife
It’s fab isn’t it .
It’s what I said to her way back in July when I was first diagnosed !
I stand by those words !

@sybilshade so glad to get your update, hope the pain gets sorted very soon.
Trumpton that hat is brilliant! And your DD's plaque is great too!

I woke from a dream this morning where my hair had gone in a few hours from inch long, pale, fine and sparse to a shoulder length bob with fringe in a rather unattractive shade of brown!

I woke up at 4.00 this morning with a spectacular nosebleed and a cracking headache.

This appears to be down to the injections I am having in my stomach for the white blood cells.

I really thought this time was going to be easier, than the last time which was weekly chemo and daily radio over a six week period, at this moment it is neck and neck.

Oh @NaomiFromMilkShake that’s horrible . Sending you a gentle hug .
I am deep into kitchen stuff . Defrosted freezer , threw away much unidentifiable containers .
Made “ get ahead gravy “ now onto sausage and walnut stuffing and veggie version to be cooked in loaf tins .
Picc line in on Wednesday and chemo starts on Friday .
We always host Christmas Day as it’s my birthday .

Need to concentrate today on getting fluids down, because there is a certain part of my body not working at all.

Sorry to moan.

Naomi Is your nose ok now? Have you rung the helpline about the nosebleed? I'm having daily nosebleeds but not spectacular so they are not interested unconcerned. Have they given you laxatives? Are you trying to do too much, you need to lay down and just concentrate on keeping yourself comfortable.

@Trumpton I have a massive chest freezer in the garage and another in the kitchen. I filled both to the brim with batch cooking and ready meals before I started. In actual fact I've been lucky with nausea and have managed to cook most days. I always hosted Christmas - for 20+ years until a couple of years ago when I wasn't well. It was really my turn to do it this year but my sister M&S is going to do it. I have no idea about DH's family as they haven't bothered to get in touch since treatment started. I usually host them on Boxing Day, I thought about just buying in all the food, the DC would help, but I can't face a houseful of people even if I didn't cook. Good luck for Wednesday.

You aren’t moaning . It’s a miserable time !

Ow, Naomi you're absolutely entitled to a moan. Hope you're feeling a bit better now.
Gosh Trumpton you certainly are getting ahead!

Just a quick message to thank you all for your kindness and thoughtful replies last week when my GP raised the alarm about ovarian cancer. My CA125 came back all clear. I feel very lucky. Wishing you all the very best x

Skap

I couldn't do any less if I tried, I have been in bed since Friday, apart from an hour or so in the evening watching TV with DH (and even then I am clock watching to go back to bed. ) I have some laxatives and will take some this evening, for now I need to get some fluids down.

Two hours until the DNurse arrives again and we start this all over again, ah well this will be three of five, so hopefully I will feel better by the middle of the week.

Oh and last night I had a mouthful of wine and it tasted weird, so guess that is over now for the time being.

@Ralphiesaurus fantastic news, so pleased for you!
Naomi it is crap when you can't enjoy a glass of wine! I'm still waiting for it to taste ok.

@Ralphiesaurus what excellent news to start the week! Very pleased for you and hope you get the constipation sorted quickly now.

@NaomiFromMilkShake, I recognise a lot of those symptoms from my experience - we probably all can. It is trite to say but listen to your body and if you need to be in bed, that's fine. There are days when you feel completely pinned down by a lead weight and couldn't do anything else even if the mind was willing - it's miserable but they won't last forever and you will get an energy bounce again at some point. The nosebleeds are apparently the result of capillary walls thinning. I had some nosebleeds that went on and on, but for me they weren't a constant problem so I hope yours will be at worst intermittent. Also hope it didn't wreck your bedsheets! Drinking fluids can be tricky, hope you can find something that tastes OK and not too metallic/meh, and that it gets things moving again. I found sharp lemon squash was about the best thing but had to swear off milky drinks. I also tried Bovril which was OK sometimes but sometimes revolting...

We have all had a good old moan on here at various times; it's what the thread is for as sometimes even our families sympathise but can't empathise, whereas we all can. So don't worry if you feel any of your posts are 'me me me' or 'woe is me' as you're going through a shit experience.

I'm impressed by your organisation Trumpton. I also love a good clear out. It's very good for the soul. I've got a mountain of post I have to go through today, not much fun and the risk of finding something I should have dealt with urgently weeks ago... I also need to come up with some Xmas ideas for people who are all behaving as if Christmas is 3 days away rather than 5 weeks away and chivvying me to say what I want. (Ungrateful, moi?!) We are going to hit the shops on Thursday to knock a lot of our own present buying on the head.

Skap that sounds pretty appalling of your DH's family. Is there a history of not getting along/being gits? I hope you get enough support from friends and your own family for this not to matter!

Hope everyone had a good weekend, and that @fudgesmummy is feeling better, maybe even back at home again now. I'm seeing my radio oncologist tomorrow to find out the date for radiotherapy (I hope). If nothing else it will be nice to have something to tell people about when it's starting/when it should end as that seems to be the main question I get at the moment. People are mad on ticking off the treatment on our behalf aren't they.

Good luck to anyone having treatment, scans or getting results this week.

Morning! Utterly glorious day here today with wall to wall sunshine.

This afternoon I have rads 11 of 15 and herceptin 6 of 18....at 2 different hospitals so a bit of driving around the county for me today. At least the roads aren't flooded like last week!

I am a 'ticker off'..... as evidenced above! Ive done it all the way through, and i dont really mind when people say things like that. Some of my closest and most trusted supporters have said this kind of thing. It feels encouraging to me.
I find it helpful to see the progession of my treatment and to see that Im getting to the end of the active interventions, though i suspect that the physical and emotional impact of all of this will last far beyond the numbers.
I'm wondering what others don't like about the 'counting down' approach?

I was supposed to me at a meditation session this morning but it's been postponed to Wednesday so I'm now gonna do some mindful house tidying lol.

Have a good day everyone with good recovery and tolerable side effects

Appointment for cardiogram now arrived for Friday 09.30 . Chemo starts at 12.30 so a bit of hanging around .
Picc line goes in Wednesday .
I slept all night last night and currently snuggled up in bed with 3 year old grand daughter . She is mostly kicking me in the ribs !