Thanks for the new thread Top.
I had a hysterectomy for what I was told was stage 1A grade 1 endometrial cancer, six months after I first went to the GP, with a number of delays at stages of the process. Originally told I just need a hysterectomy, but when the pathology came back, I was told it had unexpectedly been found and so it was stage 3a ("we don't see this often"). I wasn't happy with the treatment recommendations as I felt that they were not following the updated guidelines so I went to the Royal Marsden for a second opinion, who told me that my hospital had missed things on the scan including a spot of ovarian cancer (but that I was right about the treatment guidelines if my original diagnosis had been correct). I had chemotherapy but turned down radiotherapy (for the reasons above). I'm now two years after my hysterectomy, a year and a half after chemo, I had a scare last year and another biopsy but it turned out to be granulation tissue on my scar. Quite a lot of things have gone wrong in my treatment, and I probably do feel quite traumatised by it all. I've just been referred to a new consultant for follow-up though, I met her once and she is also a professor, so I'm hoping to have a better relationship with her..
I ate quite healthily before, but I eat much more healthily now and do a lot of exercise, I've recently taken up tennis again and I swim and do yoga and various gym classes. My biggest change though is doing more things for myself, I had been prioritising my DPs, I had no risk factors for cancer and I feel that the effect of stress on my immune system from being a carer and trying to run my own business and look after DD contributed to cancer. I have learnt to say no more and have been on many trips and started to go to concerts again. Being a reluctant carer for my DM because she continues to refuse to get any other care is still a big issue though that makes me miserable.
I had been self-employed but that was also making me miserable and anxious for various reasons, and I am hopefully starting a new job in the next month. My DD is a student nurse, and I'm incredibly proud of her, so that's one area of life that has gone really well!
Resources I've used:
I did have the six weeks counselling from Macmillan but as it is very short and online I didn't really find this useful.
I had coaching through working with cancer, but I think because of all the stuff going on with my DM I wasn't really in the right place to benefit from this, though I would recommend it. They also do workshops, although these weren't really appropriate for me because of being self-employed, the coaching was pretty easy to access though, and again I'd recommend - workingwithcancer.co.uk
The most useful support I've had has been through Able Futures, which is work related not specifically cancer, but it's a call once every month for nine months, and although it is supposed to be about work it is kind of been more general than that really - able-futures.co.uk
Then two places I get information about things like food and supplements that are all fully researched are www.canceractive.com and www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/diagnosis-treatment/symptom-management/integrative-medicine/herbs
Although the advice is often don't google, I am a researcher and I probably read over 100 medical journal papers about my cancers through Google scholar, and this is what led me to realise that what they were recommending for me was not optimal. There is much less research for endometrial cancer than there is for breast cancer, just because of the numbers, and I realised that I was a statistical outlier and what are quite broad categories. All that reading helped me to piece together a much more sophisticated understanding of what was going on, and I am happy with the decisions that I made.
I've used Insight Timer and Aura for visualisations, particularly yoga Nidra, at times.