Cancer Support Thread 92 - Christmas Happy Hour at the Patience Inn 7pm tonight 🎄

[LemonDrizzle10]

Old thread nearly full!

Aw, love the furry nursing staff 😊

I think that's one of the more annoying things @KentishMama , knowing exactly how an appointment is going to go (and tbh, they probably do too) but still having to either show your face or be available for a phone call 🙄

I've just been for my Goserellin injection & was able to cancel surplus appointment! Makes a change to have one less.

Called into the pub for one on the way home - nice and peaceful with no-one else about!

@KentishMama
Cute
But not as cute as Buttons 😛

@SewingBees you there? How're you feeling this morning?

@lucysmam I don't know if I've mentioned this before - but I do my own Zoladex/ Gosereline injections. The practice nurse taught me (by observing me do it for two consecutive months), and now I don't need that appointment any more at all. Just in case you want to ditch one more appointment... (I know the needle is big, but I used to just quietly chant to myself, "It's much smaller than it looks" before stabbing....)

@KentishMama I knew someone had mentioned it before, wasn't sure who though. I have other meds I collect at the same time so not sure if I'd be able to do that - I'll enquire though - it'd be much easier & quicker to nip into the chemist round the corner for everything (even though they're super slow!).

Hi all, thanks for your messages of support. I woke up this morning determined to get something useful done and have just come back from Costco with a new TV (our other one has been kaput for several weeks). I don't know if hobbling from the car to the shop in the rain counts as getting some fresh air though!

Not sure I feel any better mentally, but I am determined to fill my days with useful activities and also to try and make the most of my daughter's school holiday. But first job is setting up the new TV and installing Disney+ and then vegetating. I'm absolutely knackered!

Here are my two mutts. The little one is barely out of puppyhood and an absolute nightmare, the giant one is as soppy as they come but getting old and hobbly (I can relate).

@SewingBees gorgeous mutts.
I don't know what I would have done without mine. He has spent chemo looking at me with nose on thigh with those big eyes( when not creating generalised havoc!) , pure love

Omfg I am sure the NHS as a whole is bloody deaf & considers patients to have their mind reading skills well honed!

Dental appointment has just come through, presumably for the tooth out but doesn't actually say it's for that so will need to find out if it is or it's just their clinic 🤷‍♀️

Booked for...1:35pm. Even though I specifically asked the dentist to request late afternoon so I could still go to work first 🙄

It needs to change anyway - they've booked the 24th - day before dd1's birthday & we have a table booked for the 26th at her favourite restaurant. I'm not imagining food is going to appeal much after having a tooth out 🤔 or assembling a birthday cake.

Are you jinxed @lucysmam ?!

I seem to be lately @Tilllly 🤣

Either that or no-one actually bloody listens 🤷‍♀️ & why they don't include vital info like "this is the appointment where we'll take out the tooth" is beyond me - I need to know so I can stop taking the Abemaciclib for a week before, 2 weeks after, and squeeze in having bloods done at some point before too.

A quick phone call to make these appointments would be so much easier are you free then...?
Yes/no
Ok how about then?
That day yes, needs to be later though...
Ok, how about that time?
Yep, spot on

The only one that's gone like that was the initial dental appointment where I flung available dates at the receptionist while we had a pleasant chat & she worked out which one I could slot into.

Now I have three to call and change, and to ring the cardiac nurse to tell her oncology are fine with her taking bloods for them instead of me making several trips to the same place over several days. Thank goodness for included minutes in phone contracts...I've never used it so bloody much!

You need a PA

Ooh, now, there's a thought...🤔🤣

I had a lovely quiet Xmas. Im all packed and ready for Edinburgh tomorrow for afew nights. My house is still upside down and Ive apologised to the new cat sitter. She must thing im a scruffy mare. I have Occy health on the 4th with their consultant and work are expecting me back on 5he 15th. Can you beleive they said I can go back without seeing occy health? I dont think so! I cant see myself back on the ward but thats not my problem.

@EachandEveryone will your meeting with OH be in person?

On the blinking phone which is really annoying me they must be getting paid a fair old whack.

im trying to weigh up if it’s worth getting ill health pension but realistically Im on my own I will just end up spending it on living. The better one is the 2nd one which would pay me my pension up to the age of 68 but which you have to be not fit to work and with a cancer that probably won’t be cured. I mean living with cancer is the same thing isn’t it? I’ve already paid up into the 1994 pension and people are telling me it needs to come out asap as if anything happens no one in my family will see it.

I long to take 96 and return part time but it depends if they want me I suppose.

anyway I am on the train 1st class and I intend to have a free Xmas cocktail cone 2pm. Hope you all have a great new year xx

You landed in Edinburgh ok @EachandEveryone ?
Doing Hogmanay?

Yes thank you. Thought that this was a nice touch in a pub.

Love that pub menu @EachandEveryone! It's so easy, really, isn't it?

I'm feeling annoyed by everything today, which I think is a sign I'm a bit better. My thigh hurts awfully where they took a muscle graft to repair the leak, and the scar is the ugliest, gnarliest thing you can imagine. Surely they could have spent five minutes on sewing that up better... My nose and sinuses are super uncomfortable. The scar on my belly (fat graft...) itches. I've got an annoying cough left over from the scary chest infection - just tickly, but all day long. And I don't understand why just getting up and walking to the bathroom sends my heart rate to 140 each time. Etc etc. Basically, I'm having an impatient day and can't imagine being (a) patient for another month or two....

Yes, that's a lovely touch

Oh @KentishMama, you've definitely seen your arse today, haven't you?!! I'm sorry, it's awful when you feel like that

Drinking jelly whilst it's still quite hot might help

And the scar won't be as bad as it looks now
Have you got some bio oil?

Overcome up with that awful pain between my ribs again bottom of my sternum and I can feel a very tender lump there . Could it be from lugging my cases around Edinburgh or something more, I’m off out to get some painkillers then I’m off back to bed. I’m not very good going away I never sleep properly.

Been awake all night. Can't sleep. Worried about everything. Breast cancer (hopefully it's gone after surgery and radiotherapy), moving (got to sell the house after almost 25 years and repay the bank and share equity with ex-partner) leg pain due to needing a hip replacement, son refusing to see me (again) and old worn out dog (15 yrs old and very unsteady on her feet) and deaf and almost blind cat (16 yrs old). And 4 stone to lose due to "comfort eating ". Roll on 2024!

Sorry to hear you are both suffering in different ways.

@1Strawberrycat hopefully things are looking a bit brighter this morning.

@EachandEveryone . Could your pain possibly be reflux/indigestion?

Could be but there’s a lump there that’s sore you know like being poked between your ribs. I’ve taken ibuprofen and had breakfast. I’m going to try and sleep
it off.

@EachandEveryone don’t forget the GP trainee’s favourite - the xiphoid process. It’s a bony lump in the notch at the bottom of the sternum and often people come in convinced they have a tumour there. Hopefully that is what you can feel.
@1Strawberrycat sorry it all seems overwhelming. Can you break the tasks down into bite size chunks and just tackle one small thing at a time? It does seem daunting. How long till you can get the hip fixed? I’ve got four weeks to go now and I am nervous.
I’m having a lovely time cleaning my house while it is empty. Family coming later for NYE games. I’m going to feed them all my favourite food as I have to cook it all! They can make their own beds up too.

Happy New Year to all of us. We survived 2023!

Bit of advice please... My best friend, her husband and my godchildren are currently driving from Scotland to London to spend NYE and NYD with us ,( 2 nights, 1 day effectively)

BF was unwell before Christmas. COVID test negative but coldy, achy kind of thing which took a while to shake.

She's messaged me on their journey to say her husband is feeling a bit like he has a cold and what should they do.

I don't know what to do. They've come such an long way to see us and obviously we were all looking forward to it. But I don't want to put myself at risk of catching something. They are going to o pick up a Covid test and do that.

Any words of wisdom? What do you think @TopOfTheCliff ?