The Great Recovery part 4

[TopOfTheCliff]

Time for a new thread. Welcome aboard!

You may have finished active treatment for cancer, be in remission or NED. You want to look forward not dwell on the past. You know you ought to be eating well, exercising more and picking up the threads of your old life. Join us and share the ups and downs of recovery. We understand!
Here are some resources we found helpful:
The Mountain Lion
https://www.cancerpal.co.uk/post/what-it-s-really-like-to-receive-a-cancer-diagnosis
Peter Harvey on Psychology of recovery:
https://workingwithcancer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/After-the-treatment-finishes-then-what.pdf
Resources from Penny Brohn:
https://pennybrohn.org.uk/our-approach/resources/
Breast Cancer Now Moving Forward:
https://breastcancernow.org/information-support/support-you/moving-forward
Get your Oomph Back with Carolyn Garritt
http://www.oomph.london/home.html
Charity providing treats for cancer patients:
https://somethingtolookforwardto.org.uk/
Exercise is good for you:
https://www.webmd.com/cancer/features/exercise-cancer-patients
Any more suggestions? Post them below
There is also a thread for those suspected to have cancer, or newly diagnosed and facing treatment, and also a thread for those with Stage IV cancer who want to talk to others in the same boat.

Thanks Sierra Hope you get to go on a nice holiday in May.

Just gardening with DH after work last night, well I was clearing some of the garden shed things and cleaning it as DS seems to be rearranging things in there like he wants to use it and I cleaned the outside of the chicken's painted house and they seemed very happy about that, coming to watch me and chatting to themselves then bringing another chicken to watch.

Enjoy your holiday LittleCaf

Nice to have a bank holiday weekend this weekend. Not sure what we will do in it yet.

its always a worry that once they start moving appointments things won’t line up @MissMarplesNiece Hopefully two weeks would be enough 🤞

Saw my oncologist yesterday, he said that hormone therapy would make a 2% ish difference to my 10 year survival rate. I’ve decided to give it another shot, the kids are still young and I’d kick myself if I had a reaccurence and hadn’t given it a go. He suggested I switch to zoladex & exemstane - so if I give it 1 - 2 months and have lots of migraines (which was the issue with tamoxifen) then he would support me stopping. It was a very sensible conversation.

They can’t do anything about radiotherapy delay, was super apologetic though.

Anyway off on hols now. Going to forget about it for a week!

@SierraSapphire you’ve made some excellent points about trying to keep people working. Being socially isolated doesn’t help with any kind of illness and feeling like you are still contributing is very important for self esteem.
I’m sorry you’ve had issues with your treatment and that you get it resolved.
Your exercise is an amazing achievement - Im still walking and doing aqua. Yoga is on a break.

As is typical in life things come in threes, but this time it has I hope been three good things, the new job, my surgery date has come through for the 30th of this month and then I got a major surprise from my insurance and will be getting a payout which can either be taken out of my pension or left in there.

This is a tricky one - if I take it out I will pay tax. So it’s probably better off where it is. But that implies that I believe I will get to 60 or whatever the age is. The other thing I could do would be to move it into an early retirement account and use it to get a small income from. I will mull it over - I’m just highly surprised as they didn’t award me IPP but a TPD payment as I’m not well enough to return to full time education again. Either way I was in shock when I finally opened the letter - I’d left it on the side because it’s usually bad news… 😀🥳

@Littlecaf sounds like you’ve got a plan in place and can now move forward. Every little helps I reckon.

@BatshitCrazyWoman Welcome! I love your name! That’s what I still feel like some days.

We’ve just rewatched Line of Duty - so Hastings is providing inspiration with his Irish sayings - my grandmother was very very Irish so I feel I am allowed!

Easter is another one of those holidays where I really miss my family.

Even my Dad said on the phone that the most important thing is having fun and time with people you love. He spent 50 years being a workaholic. He’s 80 this year.

I’m going to focus on trying to be stable for a while after this hopefully last surgery. Get some experience in this new role and then think about mid term/ long term plans later. I’ve gone from thinking that there may be no real future to maybe there will be. Almost the same as most people I suppose.

I love the domestic detail of each of our lives. It’s so nice that many of us are dealing with normal ups and downs. To those that are dealing with medical crap - better days will come. All we can do is keep going!

Happy Easter - wishing you all chocolate and sunshine!

@Remaker how’s your job going? Settling in well?

I’m doing some writing at the mo - some short stories for the library I volunteer with - we are having a writing competition.

@Littlecaf that sounds like a well thought out plan. I found exemestane much easier to take than anastrozole. I’ve done four and a half years now! Hope it goes well.
@FairyWren7 it is lovely to hear you upbeat and positive after all the tribulations. “Trying to be stable” is such a nice low key goal to have after surviving such intolerable treatment. I feel the same just enjoying running my home and garden and seeing my family and enjoying my hobbies. I have actually finished tidying and sprucing up the top floor of my house before my visitors come. I’ve got a day to finish the ground floor, and we are not even going to talk about the basement! But it is all genuine progress in the right direction. Looking forward to chocolate and spring flowers but sadly no sunshine here just rain.

Thanks for thinking of me @FairyWren7! I haven’t been on MN as much recently as the website is freezing on my phone so I can only use the app which I don’t find very user friendly.

The job is great! I really love it. Early days but it might end up being my favourite job I’ve ever had. The only challenge is the previous editor had got a bit complacent and just let the same people contribute month after month and now they’ve become a bit entitled to be published in every issue. And some of the fiction writers aren’t very good! I need to find some fresh talent without upsetting too many people. I wish you lived closer I would publish you!

I’ve been battling a sinus infection for two weeks but hoping I’ve finally got past it.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

@Remaker Having a job you love makes such a big difference to life so its really good to hear how much you're enjoying it.

@Remaker that sounds great! I loved working in publishing.
I really need to finish my story for the writing comp. I’ve just finished watching a film where a writers daughter locks him in a tower because he has writers block!

@FairyWren7 wasn’t that I capture the Castle by Dodie Smith? One of my favourite books as a child. I’ve got my book launch in two weeks. I’m a bit embarrassed about it all really but will step up and do the publicity for the publisher.

Tentatively waving. I’ve had hormone driven bc, IDC and DCIS with clear nodes. I had to have three ops, ending in a mastectomy/ reconstruction last Sept as they couldn’t get clear margins. Since then I’ve had 16 chemos (final one six weeks ago) and have just started letrozole.

I agree, whilst I’m coming out the other side logistically, I’m nowhere near how / who I was beforehand. Steady as we go.

Welcome @dancingwhilstfacingthemusic to the other side and this lovely thread. It never feels like before but in time you find a new normal. I had cancer treatment in 2021/22 with diep reconstruction only in Sept 24 and just have Tamoxifen and life is great again now and barely think about cancer.

Hope everyone is having a good bank holiday weekend. Just did gardening with DH for 3 and 1/4 hours today, nice spring weather here, and so nice to have light until 8pm. Lovely to see all the spring flowers out and a little robin followed me round, very impressed with my work as he could access worms more easily. Garden is looking good now. DD is home from university until 22nd then take her back to Oxford. I have been working from home and just have to end of month to go. I am the same Fairywren about not planning too far into the future now, that generally works for keeping me happy and carefree but I do need to think about what next. Luckily don't have to work though stock market has been shocking but also feel in a new period now diep is done and had this amazing job. I feel too young to be retired but can't be bothered with commuting into London, been there, done that, loved it when younger but don't want to go back to that.

Glad job is great Remaker

Glad everything is falling into place for you Fairywren

Well done on book launch Top

Not sure what we will do next 3 days, DH wants to take his classic car out so will do that maybe to a botanic gardens and then maybe a day somewhere like Kew and go up the pagoda. I searched child free Easter activities on Google and AI told me to go on a pub crawl. 😂

@dancingwhilstfacingthemusic welcome. The first thing to do when you finish treatment is absolutely nothing! We all felt a bit adrift at first, and it takes time to sink in that you are really done with visits to the chemo or radiotherapy unit. There is no right or wrong way to recover but if you read some of the links at the top of the thread you will get some ideas. Most of us have taken up some exercise routine or other, but I have learned to be gentle on myself and not push too hard too soon.
Having said that this morning I went out with my cycle club and trashed myself on a really hard ride! I have been lying about drinking coffee and groaning since.
I hope you all had a happy Easter weekend. I spent the first half with the youngsters celebrating my DS birthday, and the second half with DM91 who is on fine form and walked a very long way on Sunday!
I’m not planning too much ahead, but we have a holiday coming up in two weeks which should be fun. I must dig out some summer clothing and think about some upkeep before showing off my bare legs.

Thankyou. I’ve given myself 2-3 months from last chemo and then will start a very phased return to work. I have my own business and really could do with earning some money - I’ll be going at about 1/3 the amount of work from “before” as I have things to do and people to see outside of work.

DH and I have booked a couple of breaks that we can take at our own pace, give us some space away from home to recoup.

Today has been a good day with a couple
of decent walks on the flat. I must put my sports bra and prosthesis on next time though as it hurts my reconstructed boob to walk with a “normal” bra and prosthesis. I’ve had clearance from my BCN to exercise and to ease my way in.

Thanks for flagging the links. I’ll take time to read them.

Have you looked into the Moving Forward courses @dancingwhilstfacingthemusic ? I've signed up for one in June. I'm hoping meeting others who are in this weird headspace will help

This weekend I went to the cinema for the first time since my diagnosis. It was fabulous - I love the cinema. It was so good to be back there!

My physio has given me an exercise programme which I'm doing twice a week along with lots of walking (I live on a hill, so it's all uphill on the way home ...) I lost a huge amount of weight and muscle so I'm working on getting fitter.

@BatshitCrazyWoman I’ve expressed interest in it but wonder if I’m ready yet. I feel I need some “cancer-free” time before I tackle it. I have heard what a great course it is from friends.

I get that @dancingwhilstfacingthemusic I'm hoping the fact that it's in June, so a couple of months after my active treatment finished, is enough time.

@BatshitCrazyWoman I’ll need to deal with it at some point and totally get what you mean about the headspace. It feels like a dam holding stuff back and I’m not ready to open the gates yet.

Hoping your programme is going well. I did a couple of longer walks yesterday and then couldn’t sleep due to joint pain. It’s great eh? I’m still avoiding painkillers as the chemo has irritated my liver and I’m under a liver consultant. This too (liver) will sort itself, I hope, although it seems that the joint pain is a longer-term issue.

@BatshitCrazyWoman its great when you start to make steps forward. Mine over the last couple of weeks has been that if we went anywhere in the car I just wanted quiet. Any loud music or podcasts just used to make me miserable. But now I’m well enough and happy enough to sing along with the music.

@TopOfTheCliff very exciting you are getting a book published.

I finished writing a short story and poem which I’ve submitted for a writing comp at the library I’ve been doing volunteering with. They are both about the UK. I’m channeling my homesickness into writing and actually I’m feeling ok on that front.

We’re doing a drive trip through South Australia at the moment seeing a few new places.

Surgery next week. I really hope that it ends up not looking too bad - I’m having a reconstruction. But decided against the diep. I have enough scars and I wanted a shorter recovery time.

Then it will be recovery and a serious attempt at dieting. I’ve been exercising but the food situation over Easter got crazy - but delicious!

I’m even considering trying a diet drug. One of my UK friends is having a go with success.

I just can’t do enough cardio to burn it off yet as I’m still having physio on my leg - seperate issue. Either way I can’t do more than about 5k walks without pain. Swimming is also an issue but I’m doing loads of aqua - and I’m going to have to have a break for recovery. So it’s going to have to be healthy eating.

The sunset was lovely tonight!

What a beautiful picture @fairywren7, I hope surgery goes well.

It was decided at my recent visit to the breast clinic that I should have an MRI scan as my tissue is very dense. I realise I'm lucky to be given this as I know it isn't always offered, but am not particularly enjoying waiting for results.

Welcome to the new joiners. I agree that you definitely need a decent bit of time at the end of treatment to start to process what has happened.

I listened to an interesting Breast Cancer Now podcast recently with a journalist Rosamund Dean. She talked about how to exercise when you don't really like exercise, and also about how she only realised after the end of treatment how serious her cancer had been. I could relate to quite a lot of it - I knew so little about cancer when I was diagnosed that I didn't really understand what was happening. Anyway, I appreciate it's a bit breast cancer specific and this thread is not just about breast cancer, but it did raise some interesting points about life after treatment.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Beautiful picture @FairyWren7 😍 My hobby is singing, and I've not done any since diagnosis. I'm keen now to get back to it. I probably need my cardiovascular 'strength' back a bit more, but my singing teacher is kind, and won't mind random breaths! Might have to wait a bit for choir.

That is lovely @FairyWren7 how wonderful!

@BatshitCrazyWoman what sort of singing do you enjoy? Round here it’s either the Rock Choir style or the church choir. I was rejected by the church choir at school so haven’t a lot of confidence about my voice.

I have been tackling weeds today, up at the PILs house before we put it up for sale, and on my allotment where I have an asparagus crisis. I dug up all mine and planted potatoes instead and forgot I had ordered new plants. Now I have nowhere to plant them so am madly digging a new bed. It is extraordinarily exhausting so I can only do an hour then come home to recover. Tomorrow I hope to get it finished and filled with manure and the new roots can go in and I can relax, in between helping DH run a bike event.

One milestone I have reached today is worthy of a celebration. My smart scales have finally decided I have rebuilt enough muscle to be in the normal range. Hooray! I’ve lost 2 stone and have another 7lb to go but it has cheered me up that the exercise and plant eating is working! I just wish my energy levels would hold up for all the things I want to do in the day.
This recovery business is not a quick fix! You have to be very patient and accept the slow pace.

I got chatted up this evening 😱 Went out with my friend to the pub and a very drunk guy said I was beautiful. My hair is in a kind of hybrid bob/mullet/bowl cut but woo hoo, I finally feel attractive again 🤣🤣🤣

@PollyCreo A milestone. Of sorts. Take the win 🤔 i think…

post treatment hair has its challenges. I was told I looked ‘incredible’ when all I could see was my dead mother in her last days

I look at images of me then and actually I did look kind of amazing

Take the win!