The Great Cancer Recovery part 5

[Topofthecliffs]

Amazingly we have now filled four threads and are ready to start again. How time flies when you are being purposeful! Come and join in.

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 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, and you are welcome on any or all of these)

@Littlecaf

So true about some people stepping up and some not when you have cancer. It reveals more clearly than ever who your real friends are doesn't it. Same with family members. At least since the awful cancer treatments I have the confidence to set stronger boundaries.

@SummerCycling yes doesn’t it. I didn’t need them to step up in a big way, just show a little interest. Everyone else has been fantastic.

I’ve signed up to a moving on course through Breast Cancer Now. I hadn’t done it before as I’ve always had some sort of scan hanging over my head so couldn’t really move on!

@Tarkan welcome. I’m so sorry you’re here. We mainly just chat about life post cancer - not sure if there are other threads that might help while you’re going through the main treatment bit, but do get your slippers out and make a cuppa. We’re here all week!

Sorry you have been diagnosed with cancer @Tarkan

Hope the hysteroscopies show nothing of concern @PaperbackWrighter and @BatshitCrazyWoman I've had 2 pre cancer and both just fibroids.

Glad you had a good time @Littlecaf Yes you certainly learn a lot about friendships with cancer and some people surprise you in good and bad ways. I had one like that. I am still in touch but arms length. I think she was just very afraid of cancer so distanced herself as if I had it, she could get it.

Thanks @SummerCycling Yes they are very fluffy as is the cat who has a new trick of swinging himself from the back of DHs trousers, all 8kgs.

Upstairs bathroom is almost sorted. Tap refund came through. I've sanded and varnished worktop so its fine again and plumber coming to put in new tap we got tomorrow. New tap is a bit lower so we can have shelf I got before put up which DH really wants. Also turned over mattress and its so much better.

@Littlecaf and @PaperbackWrighter jyst popping in quickly to say I’ve been on AIs and zoladex from the start, 3 years now and it’s been fine for me. I get stiff but exercise helps. I’ve recently switched to the 3 monthly version of zoladex which is now licensed for women. Much less restrictive. I’m on holiday in Australia, 1 week into a 3 week trip. It’s been great so far. It’s 25 years since I was here, so much water under the bridge.

Wow Australia @dotty2 Have a wonderful time. I would love to be there. Went there in 2018 and had a great time. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

@Littlecaf I know what you mean, I have an old, (not so) v close friend who was conspicuous by her absence a lot of the time through cancer. Been close since we were 14. And like @MrsSPengiuns keeps her friend, I keep mine at arm's length. Good for you signing up for Moving Forward. Also, your weekend sounded great.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis @Tarkan - Mumsnet is a great place to find comfort and support. I hear you on the health anxiety - that can be a struggle but there can also be a sense of the medical team putting everything together for you and giving you a structure to follow that some people can find of comfort at times.

Thanks @dotty2 that's really helpful. I was thinking the monthly injection might be a bit difficult to manage sometimes around holidays etc - 3 months sounds much better. Which AI do you take? I'm glad you're having a fab holiday in Oz - enjoy the next 2 weeks!

Me again, like a stuck record about norethisterone (synthetic progesterone)!

So the oncologist has okayed it for a few days prior to hysteroscopy next Wednesday (to make sure period doesn't come). I didn't speak to her, message was relayed through BC nurse who said she'd stressed only a few days, nothing more. GP has prescribed it after assuring me OK too (however he didn't realise you could have PR receptivity as well as ER in breast cancer, so...🙄)

However, I don't feel happy about it. Not one bit. And am worried that it'll cause me anxiety after the event. There's little data about short-term use, just an assumption it should be OK it seems. That's all right, until it's your body. Has anyone here who's had HR+ BC ever taken any progesterone product post-cancer?

That sounds stressful. I can’t help with the progesterone dilemma but my AI is letrozole. Thanks for the holiday wishes. I find it hard to relax in general but I’m trying my best!

Thanks @dotty2 and I know exactly what you mean about finding it hard to relax in general and on holiday. I hope you have many moments where the relaxation takes you over!

Hello from Southern Italy! I’m having a lovely time with my DC and little DGS eating delicious food, sightseeing, cycling and chilling. I am almost relaxed after half the week. Still judging myself for being slow up the hills 🙄

@PaperbackWrighter I would suggest the tiny risk posed by a few days of norethisterone is outweighed by the benefit of getting your hysteroscopy done in a timely way. But only you know whether that tiny risk is tolerable.

@MrsSPengiuns good news about your tap. I have noticed that some public toilets have a little shelf for mobile phones now. I am musing on fitting some in my guest rooms where we have some redundant rawl plug holes in the tiles. Win win!

@PaperbackWrighter not sure what to advise you - it seems like such a short amount of time but I do understand the anxiety behind the decision. For an odd - perhaps not quite the same - comparison, my oncologist said I could have a months break from exemestane whenever I wanted and that would be safe - therefore maybe a couple of days on progesterone would probably be ok? I must admit every now and then I stick the middle finger up at my tablet for a day - makes me feel in control.

Thanks @Littlecaf I know what you mean about sticking your finger up!

That's a helpful comparison - the only thing is I'm currently off tamoxifen (with zoladex & AI potential way forward post procedure). So I feel slightly like eek no endocrine treatment currently then add progesterone into the mix.

I have until Sunday morning to make up my mind!

Thanks @Topofthecliffs - your southern Italian sojourn sounds wonderful. And lovely to spend time out there with DC and DGS. The weather here in UK today has made me think of holidays - Sicily is not far away on my horizon once I get all this sorted.

I know realistically the risk is tiny and will need to give this some serious thought about how tolerable the risk is to me. Aaagh, hate to make these medical decisions. Appreciate having you guys to run it past though!

Southern Italy sounds lovely @Topofthecliffs

I would go with what oncologist thinks @PaperbackWrighter and normally if they won't commit I ask if it were you what choice would you make.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Just a quiet one here putting up shelf and toilet roll holder in bathroom and 3 hours gardening and DH made tarte tatin with double cream, lovely but not great for calories. Investigating getting a new shed for DS but will require planning and listed buildings consent so won't be quick. In talks with a couple of companies.

@Topofthecliffs Italy sounds fab! Enjoy! Which part?

welcome @Tarkan this group has been a great source of info for me and a comfort whilst dealing with treatment.

I have my oncologist yearly check up tomorrow. Having bloods done was weird - it was almost like chemo Wednesdays in the sense that I just didn’t want to eat all day. The usual game of weird veins occurred but they got what they needed.

I really hope everything is ok. I’ve been feeling very tired but that’s not out of the ordinary. Still I feel anxious about it. Normal in the circumstances. Some of us get hayfever in the autumn here and there are a couple of other menopausal/post menopausal woman at work who are similar.

I made a fab whole orange cake for work - gluten free which went down well. Got a new ninja food processor - best orange cake I’ve ever tasted. I will share pic.

Work have said I can travel back to the UK in the summer. Flights are expensive and lots of delays etc. Work also never clear on how much time I can have - I’m only p/t anyway…I’m hoping three or four weeks to make it worthwhile. However I’ve decided I want to keep the job and just continue tutoring on the side. It’s a decent balance. Teaching always creeps into your time. Tutoring I do my prep. Set up times and generally come home feeling like it’s going well. I’ve had loads of enquiries from recommendations of last year’s students parents.

Making some friends at work too. So I think things are gradually improving for me.

Husband will consider a house move too - decided I want something newer, less garden, easier to clean.

Zolodex was a treatment I had prior to a hysterectomy I had significant gynae issues. For me it did improve things a bit.

One thing I am thinking is that the immunotherapy drug they had me on was great for suppressing inflammation etc. I’d be interested to see if it can be used for other long term health conditions.

Hope everyone is going ok. Love the silkies pics, gardening updates. Need some more cat pictures. I might share a cake pic and a dog pic!
Bertie had his haircut! I also discovered he likes orange!

@ShouldIstayorgogogo I was in Puglia which is delightful. Very traditional, and in some ancient towns we cycled through the cafe staff didn’t even speak English. Our orders came out a bit oddly sometimes. I would like to go back and explore further in future. Highly recommended! Lots of nice beaches, lovely food and sunshine.
The holiday was great, I haven’t spent that long with my DC in ten years. DD was very appreciative and let me play DG to DGS while she went running or swimming with DSiL. The little one was hilarious and he was learning new tricks every day rolling over and transferring objects and trying eating melon.
I am now home catching up on plant watering and planning to “Italian” up my garden. My house is basically a Florentine villa so it will look good with some hot weather plants even if they die in winter 😂 I can probably find a hardy Olive tree too.

@ShouldIstayorgogogo I totally understand the weirdness of going in to the clinic. It’s a form of PTSD I think. Your cake looks great. I once made a Nigella one which involved boiling up clementines and adding cocoa. That was gluten free too and delicious. I must look the recipe up again!

Nice to be back, but I wish it wasn’t so cold and windy here.

@ShouldIstayorgogogo Hope the check up went fine. Lovely cake and dog pictures.

Glad you had a great holiday @Topofthecliffs

Cat picture sitting on the bath mat which has become his cat mat, he loves playing games under it. Just discussing and researching sheds again today and lovely cleaner came for a couple of hours. Just realised its a Bank Holiday weekend though the weather forecast is meh. Its lovely at the moment though forecast often changes.

Bloods all good. Very glad. That’s three years now. The oncologist has suggested screening when I turn 50 - just to keep an eye on everything. Pancreatic can pop up with BRAC Apparently and that’s one I would want to catch very early. Fingers crossed I'm being over cautious…but as ‘the one in a million’ patient I think I will go with that.

Yes the cake was whole oranges - loosely Nigella’s recipe. No gluten - almond meal and gluten free flour. I always change recipes and though it called for 6 eggs I went with 4 and it was still really moist with the oranges. Batter was bitter tasting but it tasted lovely when cooked!

Hope everyone has a good weekend! :)

Fairy Wren

Great news bloods are clear @ShouldIstayorgogogo

Hope everyone has a nice Bank Holiday weekend, nice to have the extra day. DH and I were just doing gardening for 3 hours - the lawn is growing well and has rooted. We got rid of the pallet cut up and the rest of the turf, cleared some leaves, changed the chickens coop and cleared from around the concrete base which we need for a new shed. Awaiting quotes for a shed / summerhouse. Just having pancakes.

Not sure what will do the rest of weekend, weather is a bit meh, weather was lovely today. Might do more gardening on Monday. Have booked a few things for later in the year.

@ShouldIstayorgogogo Your orange cake looked incredible; what I would give for a slice of that with a cup of tea right now! So pleased your bloods are all good too. Yay! Bertie looks a different dog with his hair cut - handsome both versions! Thanks for sharing about the Zolodex, am going to find out all about it as suspect will be on my horizon.

@Topofthecliffs oooh Puglia, we were undecided whether to book for there or Sicily, and have just been looking at pics colleague sent me of her lovely Puglian holiday, returning yday. And from what you've said and her pics, I'm now wondering whether to switch. How wonderful that your house is a Florentine villa (I wish you could share pics but could be a little identifying!).

@MrsSPengiuns Your weekend sounds very productive in the garden and shed/summerhouse is exciting - what sort of style are you going for? I had one done a year and a half ago and am so glad I did, even though the timing was awful (during radiotherapy).

Well I’m recovering from my hysteroscopy this BH weekend. In the end I didn’t take the norethisterone - I just didn’t feel I’d had a proper conversation with anyone about it; everything felt like hearsay between gynae and oncology. As it turned out, my period arrived 24 hours after anyway. This time I didn’t end up in A&E, which feels like a win! And as I’ve been off tamoxifen for three weeks, it does look like that was the culprit for the heavy bleeding. Now just waiting for biopsy results and then back to the oncologist.

Glad you love your shed / summerhouse @PaperbackWrighter DS loves our garden shed but it's on its last legs so been looking round for one suitable for him so needs to be fairly sturdy and he would love electrics in there. I have been talking to a couple of companies and have a preferred company, they are quoting next week for an oak framed garden office which looks like a little house (DS loves little houses) and they custom build. It's got wooden floor inside, electrics, oak beams and insulated. What we are undecided so far is what roof, you can have thatch like our house, clay tiles, cedar shingles, sedum or wildflowers if flat. We have ruled out sedum and wildflowers as don't want a flat roof and concerned with DS it could end up muddy as he loves mud. The other roofs are apex and much nicer, cedar shingles is cheapest. Thatch is prettiest but not sure how much extra that is. Clay tiles last longer but cedar shingles last a reasonable length of time.

Just been gardening with DH again for a couple of hours and I did about 4 metres around the house, it's the only part we get large weeds in. Now cleared and silkies were so happy they were singing and one was cuddly. I am not even sure they are weeds, one I looked up is green alkanet which seems to be borderline plant / weed and isn't too bad but spreads, the bees loved it but it does take over. Then there's an absolutely massive plant with huge leaves, got rid of that too. Not sure what it is. DH was weeding some of rest of garden but they are tiny weeds and easy to control. Lawn is looking great and lots of flowers out.

Sicily is lovely especially Taormina. I was less keen on Palermo but think we stayed in wrong bit. I loved the stuffed swordfish kebabs in Sicily. I love all of Italy, it's my favourite European country.

Have booked spa for Thursday evening. I think tomorrow DH will be doing his classic car, it's getting towards weather for it.

Hope you get all clear soon @PaperbackWrighter

Well done @PaperbackWrighter for navigating the system and getting away without the norethisterone. We will all rejoice when the results come back normal.

I’ve had a crazy busy week since I got back from my lovely holiday with family. Garden and allotment and house tidy, boats sorted, racing happened and I went to a hilarious Open Mic night. Now I am packing for the next trip which is an all inclusive week in Majorca with a sports club. I’m not feeling very sporty so am going to insist it is a holiday and I am chilling. I have some nice clothes to wear and it should be a bit warmer out there, although the food won't be as nice as Italy.
We have a fab new Italian deli in town now. I have already spent a lot in there. The cannoli are delicious!
Today I helped sort out something for a young family where the DF died suddenly in his forties. We are all shocked and pitching in to help them. It is very sad and makes me so grateful I am recovering and cancer free. Never take health for granted it is so precious!

Enjoy Majorca @Topofthecliffs An Italian deli sounds wonderful Top. Years ago had a lovely one by work. Though I would need to keep very active if had one by us. The hotel we had in La Gomera had the loveliest creamy pastas.

We have the thatched company coming round to quote next week for a little thatched outbuilding to replace our shed once we have planning and lbc. Spa Thursday evening then this weekend will be back in the garden to ensure everything is clear around the shed for measuring. Council collection this week to get rid of excess turf and pallet which have already put in sacks.

I am happy to be home from Spain, although the sunshine was wonderful. I have cycled up a lot of hills and swum in the sea which was pleasantly warm. While I was away I had a call from the hospital offering me a bone density scan today, two hours after arriving at the airport. Happily all went well and I made it in good time. The radiographer was a lovely man from Nigeria who showed me all the X-rays and thanks to my preventative treatment with IV Fosamax I have better bone density than I did before treatment 🥳That’s a good cancer bonus!
I’m feeling quite fit and motivated to lose a bit of weight before my DS gets married in August.
How are you all doing?

Glad you had a lovely time @Topofthecliffs and excellent news about your bone density.

I'm currently in hospital after my hysteroscopy, will be going home in an hour or so 🤞🏻