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

[LemonDrizzle10]

New thread

@Tilllly Your dancing evening sounds great!! 😃💃

@TwigTheWonderKid What a truly enormous Christmas tree! You must have needed a tall ladder to decorate it 😂🎄

Sorry to hear about your experience in A&E. They really need a separate section for cancer patients and other immune suppressed people. When I was living abroad (EU country) I went to A&E there twice, once for myself and once with a colleague. Both times we were allocated a private room and seen within a short time. AFAIK they put all A&E arrivals into an individual private room, which is ideal seeing as it could involve all variety of infectious disease etc not to mention privacy. I hope they get your BP under control soon xxx

It was, but I am pretty shattered now
Worth it though

When I was in the ED last weekend, they put me in a positive pressure room
I've not heard of it before, but the doctor said it meant that no air from outside, flowed into the room, and this therefore protected me from infection

Give her the risk that come with Chemotherapy and other immunocompromised patients, I wonder if all ED have them?

On my way to a Christmas dinner now. Energy flowing back thankfully!!
Below is the Blueberry biker

@TopOfTheCliff you are an inspiration. It is now my goal to post a picture of me back on my bike later this year. Mine's an e-bike but it is very hilly where I live.

At the moment I'm just pleased to be able to sit and yesterday I shuffled to the toilet and had a much needed shower with help from a HCA - first time I've ever needed help to wash so it was a bit sobering.

My daughter put up my Xmas 🎄!
It's crazily huge!

Love your coloured lights @Zoopet

@Zoopet I love it! It's so full and colourful.

Hi everyone
Have been a bit quiet on here as we got married last Sunday so the high of the wedding was carrying me through but I'm struggling massively with the blues over the last couple of days!
I think it's that it went so quick, it was the most perfect day we could have asked for and now it's over I can't go back and live it again because I didn't take it all in properly.
It was lovely that most people there had no idea about my diagnosis either. So I felt "normal".
But now it feels like everything is piling up on me. I've got my op booked 2nd Jan but my breast and armpit is painful most of the time- bringing up the same boring worries anxieties.
I'm trying to think about who I want to tell and how to tell them. The children are excited for Christmas and I just want to slump. Feeling the guilt of not "making the most of every moment" blah blah. ILs have gone abroad until after my op and although I'm wishing them a lovely time I'm worried and upset for me and DH as they are a massive source of support (they booked it months before we found out). And washing machine has broken today.

Oh @youdontneedtopoo congratulations on your nuptials and commiserations on everything else.

It's such an emotional time. There's only so much you can consciously process, I think, and big life events make it even harder. Totally understand the going from "normal" to the "omg I've got cancer" slap in the face. It will get easier once your op is out of the way.

If you have a good inner circle of friends I would tell tell. They will be good support.

It's fabulous

@youdontneedtopoo

Squeeeee
Congratulations
👰

Have you got something for the pain? You need to get on top of that, because it will wear you out and then you can't face anything else

Oramorph?

OWWWWWW

I think I've pulled a muscle in my waist, from coughing
Now it hurts more when I cough!

Bugger

Hello…just dropping in. I confess I haven’t been keeping up with the thread but sending hugs to those in the middle of treatment.

Its coming up to the one year point of this shit show for me…I refuse to call it an anniversary! Still off work, still weak as a kitten but slowly building strength up.

@lucysmam i was thinking of you and wondering how you are getting on being back at work? I’m a primary school teacher and the thought of being in control of a class all day seems like the biggest mountain to climb. How do you coping as they aren’t quiet work places where you can pop off for 10 mins to recuperate?

And sleep!!! I’m now on anastrozole and I can cope with everything but the insomnia. I get to sleep ok but I’m awake at 3! I’m going to see my gp but @TopOfTheCliff can you recommend what I should ask for please…something to help with the sleep issues and mood please. I hate the thought of taking another pill but until I can get myself awake and not feeling like a zombie in the day, then I’m stuck!

I’m glad your sons ok and that he’s going from strength to strength.

My eldest son who’s in his 40’s had a bad turn before going on a flight last week. It started with a sore arm and ended up with crippling pain and headache. He was at traffic lights opposite a hospital so drove in and a few hours later he was having an artery unblocked. He had the luckiest of escapes as his BP was 220 over something but more than that he was just about to do an 9 hour flight and if it happened in the air he’d be dead.

We’re still trying to understand how a pilot can have very tough yearly medicals and end up having a medical emergency like this one.

Tam, I didn’t want to bundle you in with the boys and I hope you’re feeling a bit better. Do you have anyone to lean on? Or what would happen if you just to hell with it I’m not being the strong one for now? It can be really liberating and somehow everything still ends up ok. 🌹

I love the picture Top. It reminds me of Scarborough where a Gull the size of a Golden Eagle swooped down at me and plucked my sunglasses off the top of my head. And I’m desperate for a bike but I’d be taking my life in my hands here if I got one.

I love your tree. We also go in for a huge one and my style of decorating is - just bung it on.

@StrawberryJellyBelly Gosh - that’s really scary. I’m glad he went straight to hospital as men often don’t - so glad he got seen quickly. I hope he’s doing OK now.
Thanks for your kind thoughts - yes I have stepped away from work and am not holding everyone together any more. Just trying to look after myself a bit more. I have really supportive friends, which is good. I’m feeling a bit more positive than last week as I’ve listened to my body and stopped.

@Whattodotomorrow I'm, thankfully, a TA rather than teacher so less "in the spotlight" but there are times when I've been left with the majority of class. Thankfully they respond well to the techniques we use anyway & it's honestly been ok.

I do sometimes manage to slip away for a quiet breather, & have the advantage of my 1:1 being more at ease in nursery so can pop in there where it's quieter & fave colleague will watch him for ten. My breakfast club colleague literally won't let me do anything more than open the door & eat my own breakfast.

It's honestly been alright, my colleagues are much more concerned & careful with me than I've been tbh 🤣

That said, I'm knackered at the mo - I think it's just the run up to Christmas though. 2 projects to finish for other people, Nativity costumes quite literally falling apart at the seams needing repairs, fitting in my own stuff, meetings at work re my 1:1, and sorting our own Christmas, as well as appointments inconveniently scheduled 🙄, it's just loads to squeeze in for anyone at this time of year.

@Whattodotomorrow you might get a small number of zopiclone or similar which are sleeping pills but they are only for short term/ occasional use. You will probably get a talk on sleep hygiene (no alcohol/ caffeine/ blue light in the evenings, do yoga breathing/hot bath etc). You could try a natural sleep aid like Calms or a sedative antihistamine. I find paracetamol and hot milk works well for me at 2am. Other options would be an old fashioned antidepressant/ nerve painkiller called amitriptyline which I used for two years for nerve pain and general angst but seem to have weaned off recently which is great. It made my mouth dry and made me (more) dopey. If you are also anxious or depressed a small dose of mirtazepine would help both problems. There isn’t just one answer and it’s worth experimenting to see what helps.

@StrawberryJellyBelly yikes! That was a close call. Was it a cardiac artery or a neck/brain one? Scary stuff

All well here. Managed a 25 mile ebike ride and a yoga class and a committee meeting! Energy is good. Progress being made!

@StrawberryJellyBelly yikes! That was a close call. Was it a cardiac artery or a neck/brain one? Scary stuff

All well here. Managed a 25 mile ebike ride and a yoga class and a committee meeting! Energy is good. Progress being made!

Hi Top, thank you for asking. It was cardiac. And I’m pretty sure if it happened in the air when it happened the outcome would have been a very different story.

A few years ago when I was in Italy me and my friends son hired the e-bikes in the hotel and we went from one village to the other along designated cycle paths for miles. It was one of the best days of my life and I’ll never forget it. We went so far we had to get the train back to our starting point and even that was unforgettable it was so much fun. It was in the Bolzano region and everything was geared up for the perfect outdoor life. I loved it.

Your day sounded full on. 🙌

@TopOfTheCliff
I'm exhausted just reading about your exercise 🤣

@StrawberryJellyBelly
Terrifying
How is he now? Will there be further treatment or has this resolved the issue?

And how are you? They're still your baby, at 4 or 40!

@Tilllly it is so nice to finally be feeling like me again, albeit on reduced energy still. I always get told by everybody that I am Doing Too Much but that is my normal. Now just need to lose the lard before I get my new hip in January. I’ve got about six weeks to prepare myself.

@TopOfTheCliff I keep being told not to do too much too. "go-go-go" is my default setting & I find it hard to step back 🤷‍♀️