The Great Recovery part 2 - After Cancer treatment what next?

[TopOfTheCliff]

You may have finished treatment for cancer, be NED or in remission, or it’s just a lull between storms. You don’t want to dwell on the past but look forward to the future. You know you need to eat well, get fitter and pick up the strands of life again. This is the thread for you with fellow travellers. Join us!

There is the General Cancer thread for those in active treatment:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/general_health/4969445-cancer-support-thread-92-christmas-happy-hour-at-the-patience-inn-7pm-tonight?page=10&reply=132553156

And there is the Stage IV thread for those whose treatment is ongoing:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/life_limiting_illness/stage-iv-cancer-incurable-roll-up-roll-up-this-thread-is-for-you?reply=132555664

Oh wow @TopOfTheCliff its never dull chez vous is it? So glad you got the bike back!

So glad you got it back! Champion nurse detective, especially spotting a classic bike. I bet the scrote found out he couldn't ride it 😂

2 A level exams down this week, 1 to go and cancer checks tomorrow.

Good luck tomorrow Penguinsa - will be thinking about you. Horrible things to have to go through, fingers crossed all is okay.

Thanks Sierra and good luck for yours too. I've been pretty calm but it is unnerving to know your world could suddenly be turned apart tomorrow though just glad DD is nearly through A levels and also does not know. Though will be great if its all clear, not sure if they will know that tomorrow. My diet has largely been paused for a week, have been doing the calories fine but the sugar hmm but at this stage its whatever gets me through. Also watching lots of Race Around the World.

Thinking of you tomorrow @Penguinsa It’s such a stressful time

Another one thinking of you @Penguinsa

Thanks Dotty and TheSandwich Don't think I will get a lot of sleep tonight but at least its early at 9am (though traffic will be meh to get there) but I will watch more Race Across The World. At least can catch up on sleep after hopefully depending on news. The other breast cannot feel anything so not expecting anything wrong there, its the 2 lumps by the scar from mastectomy that are concerning but may have always been there - I wonder if its losing weight that's made it dimple in, hope so.

We will all be thinking of you today @Penguinsa . It’s got to be okay!
I have had the weirdest day! The new Hearing aids are very high tech and clever. I can listen to music, podcasts or radio through them, it’s like a voice in my head! Also I can answer the phone and hear the caller through them. It’s all rather exhausting! The world is rather loud suddenly.
DH went for his follow up and the nurse showed him gruesome pictures of his face op which was huge! He has healed well but the doctor wasn’t there, nobody knew if he needs radiotherapy and there doesn’t seem to be any more follow up. He missed a max fax clinic appointment too, because nobody told him about it. I’d forgotten what hard work being a patient is! At least he is free from the hospital until they remember him.
To celebrate I have organised our Canada trip to visit his DD for her and my birthdays in August. We are going cycling in Quebec, then crossing the Rockies in a campervan to get to Vancouver. Once that bit is confirmed I will think of some birthday treats. I must be recovering as I went into full on travel agent mode!
I also had a good hard physio session today. I was stepping on and off a block with a mop handle for support. Fun but hard to do. I realised I can now shower without feeling like I might fall and break myself, and am fully fit for housework and gardening again. It’s so blooming slow but I am getting there. Decluttering is ongoing.

Thinking of you @Penguinsa hope it goes well.

@TopOfTheCliff Your Canada trip sounds fantastic!

Hello everyone I have been absent for a while. Physically I’m doing well but not so great emotionally. Lots of crying over nothing. Maybe the oophorectomy has had an impact despite surgeon saying it wouldn’t? I booked an appointment with my GP for a mental health plan but forgot that DS had exams this week and I’d promised to drive him as it’s much quicker than public transport. So cancelled the apt. I have an appointment at the liver clinic next week then my 3-mthly cancer check the following week so I’ve decided to postpone the GP appointment til after then in case I really have something to be upset over.

DS had a big stress over his maths exam and refused to go so I had to cart him off to the GP for a medical certificate. And DD after being so focused on her study earlier this year has gone a bit mad with socialising recently so words have been had and she’s sulking. Final exams are in Oct/Nov here so still time to get back on track. Fortunately DH seems ok!

That feeling that everything can change in an instant @Penguinsa is weird, I feel like that about mine in a week (also early, 8.45 so not time to get 2 hours behind like last time I went to gynaecology!) Plus I can't get excited about my holiday in two weeks because I've got the appointment first.

@Remaker I guess it depends where you were in your menopause but I'd expect the oophorectomy to affect you. And also the shock to your body of surgery in general. Sometimes I wonder what planet some of these consultants live on. Sounds like other things are challenging too, that can't be helping.

Thanks @SummerCycling for the comments about the job. I definitely wouldn't be wearing evening dress to be trekking around villages! No idea how often it would be, maybe once a week on average. I don't really make use of evenings though, I avoid the gym because it's busy (other than swim club) and I don't do anything else. Should hear whether I'm shortlisted in the next day or two.

Working at home today with a little trip out this morning to see the Red Arrows fly over! Alexa has just said we might have showers, I'm fed up of the crappy weather!

@SierraSapphire I am about 3 years post menopause hence the gynaecologist felt confident my ovaries had shut up shop a while ago. But I guess everyone is different. I think it’s probably a combination of post cancer stress, daily living stress and maybe some hormonal stuff as well. Anyway the kids have kept me on my toes this week so that’s distracted me a bit!

Good luck with the job application!

I thought the ovaries did produce a small amount of oestrogen after menopause, and/or testosterone that's converted to oestrogen - a quick Google seems to suggest so too @Remaker - and there are physical and cognitive effects of having them removed. I think I've posted this before, but when I was researching options I found research that indicated that consultants underestimated symptoms of cancer treatment by 50%. Mine certainly did.

@isaxx hope that you can get your mind off of the worry and still enjoy your hols.

@Penguinsa Sandringham looks lovely.

Also loving the picture of @TopOfTheCliff and also the red arrows!

I’ve been deeply buried under the biggest pile of marking, the new spec for the VCE course over here in Australia is crazy. It’s basically meant 75x 1,000 word essays for year 11 and about 45 for year 12 plus extra practice exams. It’s nearly broken me. Each essay takes about 30 minutes to mark closely, the new rubrics are horrid with the criteria spread out in a very illogical way. It is to use an Australian term an utter ‘shit show!’

I went part-time for a reason! Yesterday we had a paid extra day to moderate but it’s still crazy. As it’s a new spec we got very paranoid about our marking being in tolerance and correct but yesterday has shown it’s fine.

More positively I went to a writers talk on Saturday and me the author and am now working on getting an editor for my novel! Also going to do some community work in that space.

Still have sinus infection - that’s 5 lots of antibiotics and it’s still there. Could it be caused by diet? Like someone’s child on this thread I’m mainly living on soup and cheese toasties at the moment!

Sorry I’ve not been about as much. I’ll keep checking in :)

@Remaker Ive had everything removed but am still very up and down emotionally - I still have endo in there and that can produce its own oestrogen. Another reason why my weight needs to come down. Think extra weight does the same? (Not sure if this is accurate).

Yes @FairyWren7 - fat cells produce oestrogen. There's a link between weight and endometrial cancer. It's the only time I've been called "nice and slim" when I was diagnosed, even though I was right on the boundary of normal and overweight! Are you sure there's an actual infection in your sinuses, I wonder whether it's a bit like you're urinary tract symptoms that you can get sensitivity or possibly even allergies in the case of sinuses without being an infection there. If you've had five lots of antibiotics, it might indicate it's something else.

Ugh it’s impossible to balance all these risk factors! One of my friends is all in on the benefits of HRT but I don’t think that science is settled either. Ultimately I decided to follow the geneticists’ advice and have the surgery and eliminate the cancer risks. I’ll have to deal with the other issues as they arise.

I’m sorry to hear you’re embroiled in a shit show @FairyWren7 . One of the crazy things about Australia is our stupid state based education system. My kids are doing HSC which is different to VCE. Such a waste of resources to have all these different systems! And a big yuck to the sinus infection that wont budge! Have you had a swab taken? DD once had an ear infection that wouldn’t shift and when we got it swabbed it was fungal rather than bacterial. One day of anti fungal drops cleared it up completely.

@FairyWren7 I am sorry for your mental load. I was reminded that back last summer I went to hear a lovely Australian writer called Dionne Lister talk about self publishing on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She writes witchy Cosy Mysteries which are full of murders and magic. I read them all. Look her up, she makes a good living without a publisher ( but was a book editor herself before writing full time). We follow each other on FB now.
Good news today. Despite DH sabotaging me with carrot cake and cheesecake yesterday I am still losing weight. It must be the increased activity which I was hoping would shift the lard.
I am off to visit a friend who had a fracture dislocation of her ankle like mine. Also visiting my grand doggie who has been spayed and needs company at lunchtime. Then an exercise class this evening. It’s a full time job being a pensioner!
@Remaker I am sorry you are going through a low patch. All I can say is “All things pass” and you will rise again. Sending hugs.

@remaker @SierraSapphire yes I’m getting to that point. It did go for a while but came back last week when I was feeling very low etc.

If it doesn’t shift over the long weekend I’m going back to the Dr and will demand a swab.

My body definitely seems to have an inflammatory cycle that was like my menstrual cycle (with the endo I used to have awful pain/bloating/always felt like I was getting flu/migraines etc) so I think it’s still that.

I wonder if I have something else going on…I’m thinking I might be getting arthritis in my hands. (Mum has that/Gran had diabetes).

I’m a bloody hypochondriac nowadays!

It’s 8.30pm and I’m in bed with the dog! He turns 5 tomorrow and in the absence of kids he’s our baby. I’ll stick a puppy picture on - he was and is so cute! Attempts at getting another little schnauzer friend have failed, we’ve just got a new rug and puppies are 2,500$ so a firm no from husband :(

Thought I had an oncologist appointment today but luckily rang you check - apparently not. So as it was a half day I walked the dog and lay on the sofa and read my book. Bliss! But tomorrow will be a markathon!

@TopOfTheCliff I’ll look that writer up. It’s annoying that I had all that time off with cancer and put my energies into the Community Development diploma rather than the novel. But I wasn’t in the right headspace. I am now though! I want to sail off into the sunset or a European city, Seville would be nice and get on with it!

Bertie a few weeks old!

Thanks so much everyone for the good wishes. Will catch up later but got given the all clear on both sides today, phew. 1 more A level tomorrow then only 2 left.

Hope you get the all clear too Sierra and can enjoy your holiday.

Your trip to Canada sounds amazing Top

Lovely dog Fairywren

Thanks Summer

Sorry your DS struggled with his exams Remaker Hope he can get some support.

They said mine of reconstruction side was scar tissue and dimpling was caused by weight loss and ultrasound confirmed scar tissue. Other side first mammo since 2021 and all clear, impressed to be told same day.

Was just thinking about you @Penguinsa - that's great news!

Brilliant news @Penguinsa so pleased for you