Cancer support thread #73 - come in, we're here for you.

[Trumpton]

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 smile

@chinateapot wishing you and your DD everything good in 2020.

naomi
You have every right to feel grumpy! strep throat is vile. Good shout on the abx.
Hope they kick in soon
Well..another optician viewed my scan with me. He said urgent referral is normal.
2 areas of concern. Just got to wait now...

Thank you very much x
bridget SO many bugs about this year! Sorry you are feeling rough xx

I'm taking a pp advice and trying to keep busy!
I'm also trying to stay off Google....
I've sorted out the dc coats that are now too small.
Going to clean the conservatory soon.
I've also prepared some photos for scanning for a funeral service as dh lost an uncle on 27th December:(
Not the most pleasant job but needed to be done.

china so happy to hear that!

@Flyingarcher thanks so much for that. Practical advice really helps. Cleaning and decluttering as I type so thanks pp for that idea.
@NaomiFromMilkShake I hope you fell better soon. That's rough!
@Bloodybridget thanks hand holds always welcome.
@stinkyeddie anything to keep busy...clearing out wardrobes at the moment, started with my 5 and 6 year olds. Nothing can make me head into the pit that is my 16 year old sons lol. Got to do planning for return to school as well!
@chinateapot love to you and your daughter
X

@Bloodybridget shame about the dire rear spoiling your visits. You only want to be at home when that strikes. Do you still have supplies of loperamide from chemo?

@iVampire lets hope it was a one off for you.

@NaomiFromMilkShake you really have had your share of bugs. When is your next chemo? Hope it's not affected. I was threatened with cancellation when I was on ABs though it went ahead in the end.

@Hippiechick162 yours is a breast appointment Monday IIRC? I decorated two bedrooms during 2ww. But I don't have small children at home. Anything that wears you out and keeps you busy is good.
@Stinkyeddie I echo what iVampire said about google. So easy to say but I didn't google until I had a diagnosis. Then I was advised to stick to UK websites like macmillan and a specialist breast site. I did that at first but once I got the full diagnosis I got carried away googling.

I had my surgery before chemo bridget. So just radiotherapy for three weeks sometime soon and Herceptin injections every three weeks until September.

@Skap I never got loperamide. I seem to be ok now anyway. Sorry I got mixed up re your treatment, my spreadsheet is clearly unreliable!
Has anyone here got travel insurance recently? I just used MoneySavingExpert to try and get a quote for a year's multi trip, Europe only, for myself and DP, they couldn't come up with anything. DP is 72 with no pre-existing conditions, I'm 65, said I didn't have any cancer left, no more treatment planned. I'm a bit shocked! There seems to be a company that specialises in insuring cancer patients so I can try them.

Ok just tried on the specialist cancer insurer's website, looks like it's impossible to get multi trip insurance. Bah! We're hoping to have several holidays this year, I really don't want to fork out for cover every time.

Bloodybridget - I have used Nowicantravel to get a single trip policy.

There is a board on the Macmillan forum which specifically deals with travel insurance (the moderators pop on after every post to make it clear they’re member suggestions not a Macmillan recommendation, which always amuses me!)

Also BloodyBridget, although a lot of the posts mention Insurancewith, I found they wouldn’t cover you if you’ve had treatment / investigation in the 8 weeks before you put the cover in place

Travel insurance has been a pain for me in the last couple of years. My pre-existing conditions before cancer made it expensive. I paid £400+ for an annual policy for DH and I last year before I was diagnosed.
I have seen lots of recommendations on the breast cancer FB forum but I think I've read that annual policies are tricky. I will post some links that I have bookmarked. I'm determined to get some holidays booked once radiotherapy is over so have been looking at these.

www.globaltravelinsurance.co.uk/

www.getgoinginsurance.co.uk/

www.medicaltravelcompared.co.uk/

www.goodtogoinsurance.com/travel-insurance-pre-existing-medical-conditions

www.citybond.co.uk/

www.holidayextras.co.uk/travel-insurance/medical-conditions/senior.html

www.bupa.co.uk/travel-insurance

Can I join? No cancer but tumours, op and radiotherapy.

Useful Travel Insurance blurb, Skap. We currently have an annual family multi-trip policy, which was purchased before cancer reared its head, but I'm expecting next year we will have trouble renewing.

Thanks also for the earlier explanations about steroids. It would appear that steroids are not the only cause of putting weight on during cancer treatment - I seem to be following the "fuck it, I've got cancer, pass the biscuits" diet, and have put on several pounds since diagnosis. Low carbing a distant memory right now.....

Anyhow, had my first rads session today! Pretty quick and uneventful, although it appears I must have lain crooked for my CT scan, because I now have to lie crooked for treatment so the tattoos line up. I also belatedly realised I could really do with a small/light dressing gown, so I don't have to lug my massive towelling one out of the bedroom every day; have done a swift M&S order. My appointment sheet ran to two sides of A4, mostly at lunchtimes, but I have 45 minutes of bladder-filling beforehand, so can do that at work before I leave; hospital is about 25 minutes away.

Am currently hydrating with the last of the Christmas mulled wine.

@Toofaroutallmylife and @Skap thanks for insurance advice and info.
@CointreauVersial good luck with rads treatment, hope you get through it without too much in the way of side effects. Combining that regime with work seems heroic to me, there was someone else on here a few months ago who was doing that but have forgotten who. Biscuits! I've been eating for England when I've felt like it, so much so that I need to rein it in a bit now!
@LittleMissnotLittleMrs you are very welcome here, do you want to say a bit more?

@ Cointreau
I never wore a dressing gown just pulled my trousers down to my pubic bone. Also had to have an empty bladder not a full one. I too was manipulated to be crooked on that very hard bed but was not given an explanation.. How many will you be having? I had 33 sessions but they only took 6 minutes and the strength was 66gy.

My High Risk Assessment was quick and involved just a bit of a chat so now waiting for the result and yet another appt date for the op.
For women my bladder cancer is the 14th most occurring one and also a frequently recurring cancer so the cystoscopies under GA to take biopsies will be ongoing for some years. Immune Therapy was also mentioned for the 2nd cancer depending on what is found when I eventually have these biopsies .

I am of the age now that I always wear elasticated waist trousers.. Very useful for Rads.

Last Filigrastim last night, I have bones aching that I didn't know I possessed, will stay in bed all day, get up long enough to let the cleaner change my bed and hopefully sleep all day.

I also have the omni present sore strep throat, and at the moment that comes with too much saliva, a thick lip(don't ask me why but it shows up as symptom) oh and the inability to get anything in my mouth other than via a straw or a teaspoon.

@CointreauVersial I also seem to be on that diet . And my main worry at the moment is putting on wait (past history of eating disorder). But I can’t even go down the path of I need to be healthy and nourish my body to be strong for treatment cause all I’m allowed to eat is crap. I can eat white bread, pasta, potato with no skin, chicken, rice. No veg, no fruit no red meat etc etc it is sooo boring and I’m really struggle with it mentally.

Second chemo at 2pm today. I don’t want to goooo - sound like a stroppy teenager.

Interesting about the travel insurance and thanks for the links we have a few trips in the second half of this year.

@NaomiFromMilkShake sorry you are struggling. Strep throat sounds dreadful hope you are on the mend soon and can get some good sleep in today.

At the unit waiting for bloods to be taken . Back at 3 for chemo . But have niggling bladder pain and think I might have urinary infection . Have held it down by drinking loads and trying to flush it but we will see . Weird week as Saturday , Sunday and Monday were hard and I bounced back Tuesday , Wednesday and even managed decorations away and stripped tree yesterday xx

Naomi and Trumpton. Making you battle with infections on top of treatment is a nasty little trick to play. Naomi I hope your throat clears up quickly and Trumpton I hope your bloods are OK and you can get this treatment out of the way.

I am also in the middle of packing away Christmas decorations. Just the tree to go now and that is today's task. Somehow it always seems a much harder job to pack them all away than to put them up in the first place. I nearly didn't bother with decorations this year but I know that if I hadn't it would have worried my DC who would have been wondering if things were more serious than I had told them.

I know I will be exhausted by the time it is all finished. Bridget I don't know who it was you were thinking of but I did work throughout chemo and around Rads. Not full time but free lance whenever I could fit it in. At the time I was glad to have something to focus on other than cancer and treatments but looking back I am not sure that it was such a good idea. My stamina is shot to pieces and it takes me much longer to bounce back from even mild activity. I do wonder whether it would not have taken such a toll if I hadn't worked at the same time. I suppose you always wonder if doing things differently would have been better!

Hi all,
Glad to hear that you can start ticking off the rads now Cointreau. I had 25 sessions of radiotherapy and wore the same two pairs of yoga pants each time (just pushing them down). When I was finished both pairs went straight into the next charity bag .
Re working through treatment, I carried on during the first two weeks of combined chemoradiation but had to give in at that point (no option). At the start I think that my wish to carry on working was a form of denial combined with a desire to keep life as normal as possible. It didn't work.
Hope you start to feel better soon Naomi.

meercat The impact certainly drags on doesn't it.

@Squiffy01 and @CointreauVersial my weight gain is a surprise to me. I never normally put on weight and never watch what I eat. My weight has varied very little in 40 years. I don't think I've eaten much more, however I have eaten sweet stuff for three months of chemo instead of my usual savoury and I guess that, together with total inactivity, has made me gain weight.

@Trumpton I always get bladder pain on treatment day. I put it down to the nasty stuff working it's way through, obviously that's not the cause if you have it before the treatment. Lots of water and hot water bottle. Hope it doesn't stop your chemo.

@NaomiFromMilkShake

I have been manically busy for two days now today back to wobbly legs and weariness.