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.

Glad your scan was normal @demivolte I found as time goes on I got more and more at ease with cancer to the point now at 3 years post end of treatment I often forget I had cancer.

Monday just got less busy as the hospital appointment got cancelled and moved to mid October. I am happy Monday got cancelled as the bathroom plus keyworker plus hospital was a bit much and I am 50/50 on doing DIEP2 as happy already with results. Monday might just be final day of bathroom work depending on if radiator arrives in time (I thought it was coming today but they said next Thursday but now hospital cancelled have renegotiated for Monday). We also have to paint parts of it and put up a few small things. I have spent some of yesterday and today cleaning / tidying / sorting things from it - there was a lot of dust. Have cleaned it but hope we aren't getting a further layer on Monday. I think not as think it was from tiles. I am loving how it looks or will look.

Hope you get all clear @Littlecaf

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

@Littlecaf sorry about your dehumanising scan. Fingers crossed for speedy and normal results.
@MrsPengiuins it sounds like the bathroom saga is almost over. Your DS certainly triggered a major revamp from the sound of it. Hopefully the new improved version will stay unflooded.

I got back from France on Friday absolutely shattered with aching muscles but very happy. On the last evening we (me and girlfriends) had some sparkling Saumur to celebrate how well we had kept up with our menfolk. Even with loaded touring bikes we got up the hills. The only downside was the annoyance that the Cake Friend caused constantly telling us off. She treated us like naughty children, hounded us to be early for everything and tried to ban alcohol! BUT she also couldn’t manage her navigation device, kept getting lost and was very slow. It is clearer to us all that she is ill but with no self awareness. I decided to keep an exclusion zone and not get within 5m of her which helped a lot. Her DH is also now aware of the problem, poor man, and is seeking help for her. I hate to think how she will be in a year or two. Even with all the scars and nerve damage I would rather have had cancer than face a neurodegenerative disease.
I had my DS and his bride-to-be visiting yesterday and we taught her to play conkers which was hilarious if somewhat bruising! Now hunkering down for a storm and planning some indoor activities. It’s not quite cold enough for the central heating yet. I quite like autumn with soup and stews and log fires.
It is so nice to be well and free of hospital visits! Long May it last!

Glad you had a nice time in France @TopOfTheCliff

Our old bathroom was about 30 years old (though in almost perfect but dated condition when we got it about 8 years ago so it was time to have it redone anyway. It has been redesigned to double as a paddling pool if needed. 😂It looks so much better or rather it will when its finished. For now all the essentials are in but the saga is not over yet - we have had a message from the builder today saying he's ill so may or may not be in tomorrow. I have negotiated for the final 2 items to arrive tomorrow. Only the bath survived from the old bathroom, everything else is new. Couple of cupboards added which is useful.

I have painted more of the bathroom walls tonight and hoovered the rest of the dust from the builders up.

We have booked a spa day for Wednesday which should be nice. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I have turned a heater on here for Floof who likes it tropical and I said to him are you are a happy boy and he trilled yes. He uses it for his tail, all 42cms of it. Did some gardening as well.

I hope you can all see the photo of our new puppy - comes home in 3 ish weeks - we went to see him again last week and had some nice cuddles. So cute. The kids are v excited.

He's lovely @Littlecaf hope he brings you all lots of joy.

Thank you for the puppy photo! So lovely. May he bring you much joy.

A quiet weekend here, getting DD1 ready to go back to uni. In the end there wasn’t room for us both in the car, so DH took her. It’s usually me does the chauffeur duties but it’s good for them to spend time together. She can be a bit disparaging about his competence, which isn’t fair. And I got an unexpected free afternoon and read on the sofa after my gardening got rained off. Felt a bit guilty but only a bit.

Swimming this morning and passed 4000 lengths so far this year. So more than 100km (though put like that it doesn’t seem like much…)

He’s a cutie huh? Looking forward to him coming home.

Went to my oncology appointment earlier - no scan results back yet but he said they weren’t expecting to find anything sinister and my blood test was normal. He did recommend zoledronic acid but there was no need to rush - after Christmas to start. Apparently flu like side effects are to be expected for a couple of days after the infusion. Up to me if I go for it or not. As is continuing with hormone therapy which is currently going fine.

On one hand I’m in the best place I can be and feel lucky that BC has so many options and therapies, and on the other totally sick and bored of this cancer rubbish. From now on my aim is to put it in the background of my life. I hope one day it’ll be a side note to my 40s “oh yeah and I had breast cancer ages ago….”

@Littlecaf I know how you feel, this is not how I expected my 40s to be! I guess it will just take a bit of time until it feels more in the past.

The puppy looks adorable.

@dotty2 100km is very far!

@dotty2 well done! 100k is far, don’t do yourself down. Keep it going! I think I should start tracking mine. I always forgot how many lengths I’ve swan after 10 mins! Useless!

@Littlecaf what a gorgeous pup. And hurrah for the thoughts ahead of “I had bc once”. I hope I can get there too, this anastrozole is seizing me up.

congrats on the swim. I swim for half an hour 4 times a week to help with the aches and for fitness. I’ve not thought to measure the distance- I should put my Apple Watch on for it. I’m hoping for some bone conducting earphones for my birthday - I hope a much better one this year, as last year I had just been discharged from hospital after my mastectomy.

I am also hoping having had cancer will eventually recede into something that put a bit of a blight on my 50th birthday celebrations. It’s a good thought.

I aim to swim about 40 lengths, 3 or 4 times a week but doing the maths makes me realise I have done less than I think. I am old school and writing it down in a notebook. Not that it’s a competition but I bet you’ve done more than me @dancingwhilstfacingthemusic

The pool I use is only 14m, so I can pretend I’m a swim superstar when I tell my dh that I did 50 lengths 🤣

Ahhh @Littlecaf what a gorgeous pup 😍 I have Zometa (zoledronic acid). Have had one so far, next one is next month. I felt dreadful the day after the first one, but fine after that. Apparently the first one is the worst for side effects (but I've made sure to leave my diary empty for the two days following the next one!).

I'm still weight training at home, am really enjoying it, and feel a lot stronger. And loads of walking as well. Have my penultimate Herceptin injection tomorrow...

I’m glad I had four years of Zometa. My skinny friends are all starting to break bones and get spinal problems from osteoporosis so it is nice to think I’m a bit protected from that.
The first one was the only one that I had a bad reaction to. The rest were minor in comparison.
Yesterday I tried a new weights class and it was amazing! I felt very powerful afterwards! I’ve signed up for a course 🥳
On Thursday I’m going to ride 100 miles with friends. I’m a bit nervous but we will get round eventually. I am just loving the slimmer fitter me!

@BatshitCrazyWoman @TopOfTheCliff thanks for the Zometa info - helpful, I think I’ll do it, just because it’s on offer but it just winds me up that it’s more of dealing with this rubbish.

I just read that 1km swimming is like 5km runnning. I’ve never been a runner but I did “couch to 5k” after my first was born and could do 5km in about 40-45 mins at a steady pace, that got me out of breath and made me feel like I’d done some exercise. That’s about how much time I spend in a pool two or three times a week at a steady pace - so I figured that I do the swimming equivalent of 3 x 5k runs a week, which is I suppose is about the standard recommended amount of exercise.

That’s interesting on the swim stuff @Littlecaf my joints are too painful to run now I’m on anastrazole but I’ll keep up with swimming and walking (& weights).
I have my second zol soon. I’d originally been prescribed it for three years but the nurse doing it said I was down for five. As long as my bones are protected. I took my monthly megadose of vit d and calcium today.

Im off to Paris to meet a mate who works out there. I’m embracing the travel now I can. It will also distract me from my mastectomy anniversary on Sat. A year already. We can move on and we will.

I’m three and a bit years out from my hysterectomy and I do sometimes feel like I never had cancer. I do get reminded around check up time (now 6 and nearly 4 weeks since my blood test and scan respectively, still no news, I figure they would have to be really disorganised to have found something and not told me, which I wouldn’t put it past them, but hopefully all is fine). I’m lucky though, because both of my cancers tend to recur quite quickly, so the risk after three years isn’t nothing, but it is way lower than it was in the early years. And somehow I think because I’ve already had two, I won’t get another because I’ve already had more than my fair share . I know it’s probably the opposite, but the mental gymnastics work for me!

I did half an hour of weights yesterday and 2 1/2 hours of tennis, and today I’m having to come down the stairs very slowly!

Sorry to hear that you still haven't had the results @SierraSapphire but I think you are right that no news is good news. Still, waiting is no fun.

That's interesting about swimming, I don't do it very often but always find it tiring when I do.

I'm concerned about osteoporosis as menopause pre age 45 is a risk factor. I haven't had any information/guidance about that, have been taking vitamin D and trying to eat plenty of calcium but I'm not sure if that's enough- it feels a bit like guesswork.

Good luck for Thursday @TopOfTheCliff

Enjoy Paris @dancingwhilstfacingthemusic

@SierraSapphire I like your magical thinking, I do the same with my double cancer diagnosis. I am also walking a bit gingerly after my weights session on Monday and a circuits session this morning. Hopefully I haven't impaired my endurance cycling muscles.
I just went to see a financial advisor to work out what to do about my pension. I opened an NHS pensions letter on my return on Friday that seems to say they screwed up my pension calculations five years ago and now they want £££££ back from me in unpaid tax. Happily the advisor reckons as they screwed up they will have to give evidence and I can contest it and argue that as it is their mistake they must give me time to repay if indeed I need to. Still a pain and very unsettling!
When I claimed the pension I wasn't sure whether I was going to die sooner so I took the maximum tax free lump sum. It may be better to get a bigger annual pension if I am going to live longer, backdated to when I retired.

Sorry to hear this about the tax on pension@TopOfTheCliff - that is really annoying when you were given wrong info. Sounds like you have a sensible FA who gave good advice. Hope it hasn't taken the shine off your cycling trip, which sounded fab! Good luck for Thursday too.

Hope you get your results soon @SierraSapphire - agree no news is good news but how infuriating to have to wait all that time.

Have just booked my covid and flu jabs via NHS website, after GP surgery knew nothing about either. Said I wasn't listed as eligible for flu this year (I was invited last year) and they're not involved with covid (was invited to that via my app autumn and spring). As per govt guidance, I'm not sure whether I'm eligible tho surely I couldn't have booked if I wasn't (had to key in nhs no). I didn't have chemo and my radiotherapy was 11 months ago now. Can anyone shine any light on the eligibility criteria which seem as clear as mud (I'm 51)?

Hi guys
Just catching up.
Glad to hear that everyone is doing OK and the puppy is gorgeous!
Quick question re neuropathy.
I'm still struggling with it.
Currently on 700mg x3 daily but it's not making any difference.
Would physiotherapy help?
T.I.A.

Just had a lovely spa day with DH. I keep a minutes exercised total which I update and find it useful to check have done 3 to 5 hours a week. So far this year have done an average of 342 minutes per week so exceeding it. I do feel so much better for it.

Neuropathy Zoopet can vary, some goes at end of treatment, some a bit later, some can be permanent. My feet are fairly normal, my hands have a bit of tingling and half my face tingles, mine would describe as mildly annoying but got used to it. I do have decreased pain with it so that can be good. Hope you can find a way to reduce yours.

We have painted the bathroom and DH spent yesterday in France.

@Zoopet sorry to hear about your neuropathy. My oncologist said that acupuncture can help with it, although I didn't end up trying it.

Thank you both.
Have tried acupuncture before but will give it another go.
Am1 year post treatment.
Suspect it may be permanent but still glad I had the treatment.

@Zoopet sorry about neuropathy too - I have it in my left hand and sometimes get tingling in feet - BCN said to try acupuncture but also can take 2 years to go (or permanent). I find moving helps - walking/swimming etc. it seems to be worse if I’m cold.