Cancer support thread # 75 - come on in!

[Bloodybridget]

This is the new thread for anyone at any stage of cancer, from noticing a possibly warning sign, through tests and scans, diagnosis, treatment and beyond. Come on in for advice, sympathy and support.
The last thread is here.

If you've been on a previous thread, please come and say hello and introduce yourself!

If you are a relative or friend of someone with cancer and looking for support, there are other threads on this topic - this one is for cancer patients ourselves.

@Bloodybridget fantastic news that so far things are going well, I will keep my fingers crossed for you 🤞🏻

I had a call from my GP Surgery this morning at 0950, to say they have secured me an appointment for Wed morning, yes two days time!!! Fuck knows what they have said to get me an appointment so quickly, but I am relieved to be getting the ball rolling.

Will keep this brief. Day +6. Today they inserted a feeding tube.

@Bloodybridget sending you speedy recovery thoughts

Good to hear, BloodyBridget!

Otter, I wish there was something I could say to help. I hope you have a peaceful night x

@BitOfFun how are you doing? I hope the treatment kicks in. Thinking of you so much! Cancer IS a bloody scary (and shitty) place to be.

@Bloodybridget yay for successful op today. Hope you get discharged tomorrow as planned.

@InOtterNews hallelujah! 😄 I hope that every day you are getting a bit better and are closer to coming back home. I mean, I know it won’t be for a while yet, but still, you are moving forward. Hang on in there.

I had my ultrasound (and my 4th and final dose of horrid EC) a week ago. The tumour has shrunk by 1/4, as expected. Next week I move onto my first 3 doses of dotexacel and carboplatin. Last one should be on 16 Nov. Can’t bloody wait. Chemo has been the shittiest ballache ever! (not envy) I have never felt so ill and awful in my whole life. They expect dotexacel/carboplatin combo will shrink the tumour by another 1/4, which would mean the tumour would be shrunk by 1/2 by mid-November (those were my surgeon’s predictions at the start). Then surgery sometime in Dec. I don’t even care if it gets done at Christmas as this year’s Christmas will be a write-off (Covid’n’stuff) anyway.

Wishing lots of strength to everyone for this week.

Hello all! Just popping in to thank people for good wishes, I had the op this morning as scheduled and so far, not to tempt fate, all has gone very well! Even daring to hope I might be discharged tomorrow. Staff are great. I'm in my third room .
.
Am v dozy so won't try responding to others, but hope you're all doing ok.

Oh sorry for posting twice, I don't know what happened there! @Queenie8 glad to hear you have an appointment very soon. Sounds like someone kicked ass!
@balkanscot good news that the tumour is shrinking as predicted, even though the treatment is being so foul.

@InOtterNews did you know you'd be getting a feeding tube? I assume because your mouth and throat are too sore to enable you to eat? I make it about two weeks you've been in now, so hopefully you're nearly half way through - and that's definitely not meant to sound like "cheer up "!
This night is the slowest in history. Dozing ten minutes at a time. Quite a lot of pain, they say it's the drain that causes most of it, so I'm hoping for great relief once it's out. Analgesics do help. Also I'm itching like mad under the cannula tapes and dressings!
Sending love and good wishes all round, v much thinking of @BitOfFun too.

@BitOfFun hope that infection has packed its bags and gone and that your treatment can start asap now

Good thoughts to all and most especially those in hospital @Bloodybridget and @InOtterNews xxx

@Queenie8 I know it's daunting but very pleased you have an appointment soon.

@balkanscot that sounds really good re tumour shrinkage. I am due my 3rd EC on Thursday (of 4) and then another set of scans within a week or two. Worried at the back of my mind that there won't have been any improvement (or worse!) but am back to reminding myself that knowledge is power! I haven't been given much info on what impact to expect, only that as the cancer is ER+ it is not the type that is most likely to radically shrink. In fact the most important thing will be what goes on with my lymph nodes as my whole breast has to be removed regardless.

@ElaineMarieBenes thanks for that info, I'm going to ask about it at my oncology appointment today and see what the doc thinks.

So much of my hair has fallen out that I'm thinking of getting the rest shaved off now. Hoping to discover I have a reasonably shaped head

@KentishMama hope the chemo side effects are receding a bit for you now, been thinking of you x

Hi @Lubballoo, thank you. I'm feeling better in myself generally, but we're not getting on top of the crazy heartburn and esophagitis just yet. So that's getting me down a bit as it's very painful. I've been told to give one of the meds till Thursday to see if it kicks in... So I'm waiting. Urgh.

@balkanscot great news re shrinkage!

@bloodybridget I hope your pain becomes more manageable. When do the drains come out?

@InOtterNews I was not sure if the feeding tube was planned either, so apologies I don't know if that's good or not? How are you feeling in yourself?

Sending love to you all.

I'm fairly confident that the drain will come out today, and I can go home! But honestly, this stay has been so much better than any previous, I wouldn't be too devastated if I had to stay another night. Lovely, quiet fellow patients, nice staff!

V glad to hear this, @Bloodybridget. Keyhole makes open surgery look mediaeval. Wish I'd been able to have it. I'd have been out in 3 days instead of 8. And the less said about my ward mates the better. It was a madhouse, like living in a documentary.

I had a feeding tube, Otter. It kept getting kinked in the middle of the night and setting off an alarm. Hope yours is better-behaved.

@BitOfFun
Hope you've seen the back of the pneumonia and they've managed to sort out your pain meds and get you comfortable. How are the family coping?

Best wishes to everyone else, as always.

I’m still feeling fairly ordinary but wanted to send good wishes to you all. I’m just taking it easy, feeling slightly better day by day, and have lined up a smallish piece of work due Monday. As the client says, my health is the most important thing, but my mental health is important too and I’m going to get bored really quickly given that I’ve already been off work for more than a month. So a few mini challenges when I can handle it seem like a very good idea.

Feeding tube wasn't part of the plan. The mucositis is so bad that I've got blood clots in my throat so I'm vomiting blood daily. It also means I can't take any meds so they can use feeding tube alongside my Hickman line to deliver those to me.

My temperature stubbornly refuses to budge. Average over the last 24 hours is 39.4°c.

Oh and on cue, my hair started to fall out today.

Yes @Bloodybridget I've been here 2 weeks now. So 2/3 done in my head. My body isn't so sure

Oh Otter , that sounds just horrendous, I'm so sorry! Sending gentle hugs .

@InOtterNews how very horrible. Just think, when you're through this, you'll look back and think, wow, what I coped with! Massive sympathy and virtual hugs ((()))

Oh and I am home btw!

Some good news, Bridget, that must feel a relief!

DH and my lovely mum have been busy today planting up and painting the side return so it looks all pretty and holiday-like through the French doors opposite my bed. It’s gorgeous, and such a difference from the junk space it’s always been!

@BitOfFun how lovely, it looks amazing! I love the flamingos too!

@LucyWarlowsRightHand so glad you've started treatment and aren't feeling too bad. I'm working a bit this week too, hoping it's mutually beneficial to me and to work.

@gillmoregirl I hope everything went really really well with your surgery yesterday and that recovery is speedy. I keep meaning to say, I love your username. Episodes of Gillmore Girls are what gets me through chemo! My 10 year old loves it too!

I had some possibly positive news yesterday. Oncologist agreed with me that tumor feels a bit smaller (also softer she thinks) and neither of us can feel a swollen lymph node any more. So maybe that's the chemo doing its job, though I almost can't let myself hope that yet. Will have scans next week. I was so bruised after all the biopsies that I wonder if it isn't just the bruising going down. I guess it's definitely a plus that nothing feels bigger anyway!

Hi @Gilmoregirl I hope everything went well yesterday x

@gillmoregirl - I'd missed the fact that your surgery was yesterday. Hope everything went well, and that you get home soon. Do you have a date @Lizdeflores? I saw your posts about stomas above, and agree. If you'd told me last Christmas that I would now have a stoma, I would have been horrified, but actually it really is ok. Yes, sometimes it farts or suddenly fills giving me a blown-up-belly look, with no warning, but generally it behaves. I have had to ditch jeans, as mine just doesn't seem to like waistbands, but winter dresses + stoma is a good excuse to buy some new clothes. And now I'm in a routine with it, it really doesn't take up much time or thought or energy. It'll be ok. But do get some big comfy support knickers! Really helpful, especially at first.

So glad you're home too @Bloodybridget. And stick in their @InOtterNews. It sounds so hard, thinking of you and sending healing thoughts your way. You're getting there.

I also love your flamingos @BitOfFun. I did try a bit of a garden clear yesterday, but I am not the keenest of gardeners and it is conveniently wet and cold today - another day! How is recovery from the pneumonia going? Do you know when your treatment might start?

Great news re shrinking tumours @Lubballoo and @balkanscot. Hope everyone else is plodding along.

@BitOfFun your side return looks fab, quite Mediterranean and romantic!
Sending good wishes to @gillmoregirl and thumbs up to @Lubballoo re tumour, and congratulations to @Lucywarlowsrighthand on feeling able to do some work.
Waving cheerfully at everyone else!

I've finished my antibiotics for the pneumonia now, and feel great. Treatment starts in one week!

That's excellent news, @BitOfFun! I guess feeling great might not go on once you start the new treatment, but I do hope it persists until then!

Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing as well as possible under the circumstances?

I had my ENT appointment today, it's a mixed bag and I'm all over the place! Good news is that the consultant suspects that it's 5-10% chance it's cancerous, bad news is that the nodule has to come out along with half the thyroid. I have two weeks to decide to have the surgery or sit tight and wait 3 months and rescan.

I have spoken with my GP - who is great, and he said why wait? It's not going to disappear, it's not going to get better, but it can get worse. Why not have the surgery, get it over and done with whilst it's straightforward? I hadn't thought of it in that perspective......

Delurking to say to Queenie that had the exact same thing. I decided not to wait because I thought I would just get more anxious about it. I had the op a couple of weeks later and it turned out to be benign. I had a 3 night stay in hospital only because my drain was still draining. One or two nights more common. I got very headaches for a few days afterwards and my GP said it was to do with how they put your head during surgery. I recovered really quickly with no adverse problems. Wishing you luck with your decision.

Relurks