Cancer support thread 91 - don’t borrow tomorrow’s worries

[LemonDrizzle10]

New thread

PS when I wrote 'finished with treatment' in my penultimate post I didn't include the oestrogen blockers that ER+ patients are prescribed for usually 5-10 years after the treatment has finished. Sorry! Thought I should add this. Those are things like Tamoxifen etc.

One of my pet hates is the celebrities who get early breast cancer, have a lumpectomy and radiation and are all finished within six weeks then go on to blog and make documentaries about their trauma. Us long haulers are far too unwell to piss about making documentaries. My documentary would be so grumpy it wouldn’t be entertainment. I wouldn’t have lovely hair and makeup and I wouldn’t be smiling and radiating positivity. What is the point of them? It seems to almost trivialise cancer in an attempt to reduce the fear.

Still grounded with norovirus or whatever it is.

TOP

It took six months between me first going to the GP and getting my hysterectomy for endometrial cancer. First they gave me a blood test for ovarian cancer (normal), then they referred me for a scan, then my scan wasn't done properly and I had to go back again, then once the scan had been done, I was referred under the two week wait rule for a biopsy, then it was another two weeks til the diagnosis, then it was eight weeks to the hysterectomy though I was originally told four. I think with irregular bleeding, I should've just been referred straightaway for a scan rather than doing the blood test as that's not even a symptom of ovarian cancer, Christmas was in the way of that as well, and then the hysterectomy was affected by all the bank holidays in the spring, including an extra one for the queen. Maybe if it had all happened quicker it wouldn't have spread

Still in the waiting room of doom thanks for asking @topofthecliff. I rang on Thursday, they couldn't give me a time frame...
Those new here and newly diagnosed, I'm so sorry 😞.
Regulars here, I hope things are going well x

Hi all. I’ve got myself really worked up. I had my second c section back in January, she is still breastfed. At night I get horrendous back pain, I’ve put this down to breastfeeding, co sleeping, previous spinal surgery and having the c sections.

Now I’m currently waiting for a colonoscopy due to a positive FIT test, it’s only now dawned on me that the pain at night could be something underlying and connected ?! Does anyone have any advise please? I’m absolutely terrified. Thank you

It could be @MrsMCtobe but it's much more likely to be one of those other things that you mention, though it's horrible when you have one of those sudden thoughts that you then can't rationalise away. There are lots of reasons for a positive FIT, and most people who are tested don't have cancer. Why did you have the FIT? Were there other symptoms? The waiting for results is absolutely one of the worst bits of this whole process.

Thank you so much. I had the FIT due to loose stools and mucus but that has eased now although I’m going more regular and sometimes have the urge that I need to go quickly, but it’s not as bad as it was a few weeks ago.

Everything will have shifted around in there @MrsMCtobe - it's much more likely to be connected to birth than cancer, but obviously there's no guarantees and it's difficult not to worry unless you've got the actual final results. Just try to distract yourself, some of us use meditation apps to cope (I like Insight Timer at the moment) - good luck 💐

@Blinky06 , hoping for good news for you. But if not, maybe it might help to know lots of us have teenagers. I was diagnosed with BC last August when my kids were at the start of their a level and GCSE years. I was horrified at the thought of the impact it would have one them. But we all survived. I think it helped I was a lot less I’ll than I thought I’d be with chemo so things were a lot more ‘normal’ than you might expect.

@TopOfTheCliff so sorry about the norovirus. Maybe todays the day the documentary makers should call?

Thank you so much

Teenagers can be really variable, in my case the teenage self-obsession (she's lovely really!) helped and she barely seemed bothered at all @Blinky06 - other people have said that to me too - and other than a few weeks off for the hysterectomy and all the appointments around chemo things weren't really very disrupted. She just said she "knew" I'd be okay (which is what I said) and thinks of me as fairly indestructible! Others don't take it so well and obviously you need to think about what's going on under the surface, but it definitely didn't turn out with her as I'd expected.

Thank you @dotty2 xx

Ha ! There was 48 hours of washing up and a pile of filthy laundry waiting for the cameras but with the help of my faithful cleaning lady we have overcome it. I had coffee and a chocolate brownie for breakfast so am now zinging with sugar and caffeine based energy which feels great. I actually do feel slightly better today but will stay off yoga and committees in case I am still infectious.
I might throw caution to the winds and go and visit my allotment today.
I came up with a cunning plan to get my mammogram done before Christmas. As I am having my hip replaced in early January I won’t be able to attend for a mammogram until mid February which is 3 months late for cancer no 1. So let’s just sneak it in before Christmas and get it out of the way? I’ll try that out on my oncologist when I see her.

Sending strength and patience to all those waiting and waiting and waiting. It’s hell and we know it.
Top

Uff, I did not expect to be floored by a bloody cold! Not just me though - several colleagues and both girls also have/have had it bad. Well, I say cold, I had diarrhea last night too 🙄 so decided staying home and sleeping was priority for today.

I've had a call from the cardiac nurse wanting to book to come and see me...this was at noon ish. I'm reasonably certain I said they needed to ring after 2:30pm as I'd usually be at work. & I'm 100% certain no-one told me they'd want to come here! Why the NHS doesn't communicate anything properly within its own departments, or to patients, is beyond me entirely!

@SummerCycling thank you for sharing your experience & "hearing" my rants last week. I do appreciate it greatly.

@Blinky06 my teens have both handled things very differently. Dd1 has been my chief cheerleader & chucked herself into being my supervisor. She's also got a fab support network around her as she told her friends as soon as we told them & her friends have been brill. At one point, I had a gaggle of teenage girls offering to buzz cut their hair for prom & teach me to stick false lashes.

Dd2's barely told anyone but has requested some counselling, through school & is my "mini mum", handing out meds & making sure I don't have a temp.

@TopOfTheCliff hope you're still feeling chipper!

Had scary MRI. They were very kind

Now to wait and hope there's no nasty metastasis in my brain
And that there is a brain

Glad to see they were kind @Tilllly ! The thought of the MRI machine scares me silly.

It's a very unpleasant experience but if you tell them, they do put some things into place
I had a tiny dose of diazepam also - not sure if it helped

Hoping for the best for you @Tilly.

Sorry to those of you who have been feeling ill with various bugs.

I must be weird @Tilllly because after being apprehensive I actually enjoyed my MRI brain. There were two jolly technicians who offered crap classical music or crap pop. I chose crap classical and it delivered 😅 I went suddenly deaf in one ear so they were checking for mets but it was probably just a chemo effect. For a while my left ear was a semitone flat but it has recovered! Fingers crossed for you

I am definitely recovering from a. Capecitabine and b. Norovirus. I found myself giving the microwave a thorough clean and bleaching the compost bucket. Last week I could not have cared less about them. Sadly my trip to the allotment revealed a mass of weeds. But at least I got there and back! Progress. Hooray.
Sending strength to all
Top x

Weird @Top?
Weird?
You're insane!!! 🤣

I find MRIs really relaxing and usually go to sleep in them. Do I win the weird award?!

We can share it @TwigTheWonderKid

Next stop is a CT scan of my pelvis for my hip replacement. I like those. The whirly doughnut is cool.

Thank you @TopOfTheCliff that's kind of you.

🤣🤣🤣🤣
Bonkers, the pair of you!!

Don't you find it claustrophobic?

I also don't mind MRIs, other than the one time I listened to music and ended up trapped with Miley Cyrus. I think of the noise as techno and relive the 90s.