@jaygo That’s exactly what I needed to hear this morning! Time for a very cheap & cheerful collection of fabulous bright wigs for the festival-you’re so right! It’s Green Man in beautiful Wales.
& spot on the packaging has changed but we are even more incredible inside after this & non-comprising-truly putting myself first for the first time ever. Now if I could just get out of bed!!
I’d say you’re doing a pretty great job of being strong & positive & my goodness the lifts you give others-that’s a bright powerful light inside of you Jaygo xx
@jaygo It sells out in seconds so have to hope it’s a good lineup as they only release that after! I love Mogwai & Wilco & Tricky so those are my excited for ones & then hopefully find some new to me while there! We’ll def be doing the northern soul tent! X
Good afternoon all, I’m feeling fairly chipper today and I’m happy to say @whataloadof that is due in no small part to having done a wonderful Vicky Fox yoga class today! thank you so much for recommending! I felt so good for it, and also a bit emotional (in a good way) towards the end of the class she did a little singing/chanting which i usually dont care much for but she was so serene and had such a beautiful voice , and i found myself in (happy) tears! I also cried at the end of the lovely LGBF workshop I did a couple of weeks ago, so I guess that’s just how I am at the moment when nice things happen!!
@tessie86 Im not sure if im getting any fluffy new hair growth yet or it’s just the old hair that was shaved to a no 2 that’s growing a bit longer and going fluffy. I suspect the latter. You’re a good few weeks ahead of me, though. Great to hear you’re managing to walk further and concentrate more. Every little positive change is something to focus on.
@whataloadof I think I also need to have another shave probably, to even things out and hopefully help me spot any new growth as it appears? I’m HOPEFULLY off to a music festival too, in July. Possible that it might have to be mad wigs, silly hats or a lot of sun cream on my bald head, depending on weather!! Either way we will build ourselves back up and we are makign a start with good food and good yoga! And remember you have only just finished your chemo and its very much still in your body for the next few weeks, but i’m sure after that you really will start to feel things improving. Be gentle with yourself. Good news fro both you and dog that the walks will be getting longer soon!!
@Jaygo yes we are glorious indeed, despite the packaging, i love that! And like you i go though phases of thinking I don’t care what i look like ouside and f… you to anyone who might look at me funny, and then swinging back to a bit of self pity. I think that’s natural, and we do know the strong self is always there, even if she has to have a little tiem out sometimes! and yes good point about not having to fuss about hair care when camping!
@whataloadof Green man , fab, not been to that one but always sounds good. I’m off to WOMAD, which i do most years.
@nib32 Such a big hug to you! That’s made my day knowing I have contributed to helping you find a lovely practice/a release/an hour for you to shift your energy-Vicky is very kind in her practice (& extremely knowledgeable & never preachy) reminding us to only be kind to ourselves throughout which is a wonderful brain reset for the me who used to do ashtanga yoga & think perfection in a posture was the goal. That’s now the absolute furthest thing from my mind! Just showing up is something I’m happy with now. Hopefully see your face on there soon! & I love when simple things release tears-there goes the pain-it’s good for us I’m certain of it.
My final pegfilgrastim earlier so that’s probably me going a bit funny for the next few days! I did wake up with the strangest pains either side of my spine that almost felt like I had been winded so the nab-pax was not wasting any time this FINAL round-as long as it knows it has to leave on time & not hang around it’ll be ok!
Here’s to recovery & wild hair at festivals this summer & I absolutely love your words to Tessie- “every little positive change is something to focus on” such a beautiful sentiment that I’m going to keep repeating to myself in the coming days/weeks/months xx
Me too @tessie86 I am 6 weeks post chemo and I am still shaving it because the front is really patchy. I miss my hair. I am just putting some photos on my company website and seeing how much hair I had……. And my hair is white! I dyed it every 4 weeks before.
I am still waiting for radiotherapy and so feel like I can’t book too much in.
I have been for my Dexa scan today, my weight gain since last 2 cycles is shocking! Is anyone else struggling to get the weight off?
@daisylou1 yes to the weight gain. I’m actually struggling more with that psychologically than I am any other aspect of this whole cancer debacle. I’ve put on about 5kg since November. I haven’t helped myself, a daily diet comprising mainly. of cheese and chocolate never made the top ten success foods on the WeightWatchers (other diet clubs are available) plan.
Now, I’ve zeroed in on this because there has been a question burning in my head for some weeks now. This week’s NICE announcement that Wegovy is to be prescribed to support heart attack and stroke prevention made me prick my ears up. The pathway I’m on makes my heart particularly vulnerable. In addition, I’ve read a few bits of data that suggest weight loss jabs can protect against certain cancers and help with longevity in general…though I must caveat that with the fact that I haven’t checked the validity of the data on that.
But, given the NICE guideline announcements, I’m planning to have a chat with my oncologist to see what she thinks about it. I’m guessing I will know the answer, and I think that will involve a lot of ‘poff poff’ in the sentence, but ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’ is my motto.
Just curious if anyone else has had any thoughts about this? I’m struggling to exercise properly due to an increasingly worsening disc bulge problem in my back or else I’d have been on this from day one to prevent weight gain.
I was taking Mounjaro before my diagnosis and had to stop due to surgery. Now my chemo is over, I spoke with my Oncologist about starting again due to the chemo weight gain and was told no. I am going to be taking Abemaciclib, Zoladex and Tamoxifen so she said there isn’t enough evidence of how they could react together given the side effects of the Abemaciclib. It’s worth a conversation depending on what/treatment plan is. It’d be interesting to know what different Oncologists say x
@cornwall1234 I’m genuinely sorry that you’ve had to stop the Mourjano. I have managed to keep my weight in check for a decade after gaining a lot in menopause. I managed to get it right down in my 50s. To have that reversed again has been soul destroying. I think my oncologist will also err on extreme caution so I’m not expecting any great revelations from her. I’m going to be on Kadcyla so I expect the response will be the same for me.
So I will have to try and conquer it again on my own, but with the added frustration of my back I’m just scared to death that I won’t achieve it. My pea brain thinks a little booster from a weight loss jab would help me get back on track, but I I guess it doesn’t work like that.
I will ask the question though and I will report back if I hear anything of use.
I feel I only ever check in from hospital need to catch up on all your news.
I came home after what I thought would be last chemo complication hospitalisation, had the 10 days oral vancomycin as before. Still felt not right a few days following, starting thinking things more normal last weekend.
On Wednesday I started pooping pinkish mucus (service station on the way to a funeral, fun times) and it went down from there on Thursday. Not full diarrhea but unpleasant and weird goings on. Rang advice line on Thursday. No temp, so could wait at home until a side room available… ended up coming in yesterday (Friday) morning. The doctor I saw was going to discharge me if it wasn’t for the sheer frequency of needing the loo. I wasn’t entirely sure he took the possibility c.diff seriously as it’s not diarrhoea as such… but today’s doctor I found much more helpful and he does think it likely c.diff or a complication arising… he mentioned colitis and also what Docetaxel can do to your gut as complication as well….
So I will likely have a CT scan on my abdomen to check I am not developing anything scary like toxic colon (which is v serious). They will chat to microbiology re advice once results are back in case I am now resistant to vancomycin… and if I need a colonoscopy
I could already feel things were likely to head in that direction.
So all a bit miserable. But I am focusing on the relief aspect of being taken seriously, I would much rather everything is thoroughly checked than being sent home prematurely and be worried something damaging was going on inside me
Owing to the need for more time to plan my radiotherapy treatment after a second scan, my start date has shifted from 8th to 13th which probably is just as well.
Eeshk!
Wil try and read back and catch up with you all in due course! Just wrecked!!
Oh these beastly chemicals , all the horrible things they do to us. Have to just believe it’s all worth it. Sending lots of love, you seem to be having such a horrid time of it @Kara . I’m so glad they are taking it seriously now though, and that you will get all the scans you need.
I dropped ( cheap) sunglasses in a nasty looking loo in an Italian state school once , and although I fished them out for the sake of the plumbing, I opted to leave them in the bin rather than take them home with me…..
Wishing you all the best, and please don’t feel under pressure to read everything here!
@Kara I’m so sorry you’re having to go through all this again, have you completed all your chemo now? I’m glad they believed you, it’s the absolute worst when you’re sent away frightened that they’ve missed something, really hope it turns out to be something that’s easily treated.
@nib32 so sorry to hear about your partner, I hope you get some more positive news soon. I had the pet scan Thursday lunchtime but with the bank holiday I suspect results could take quite a while.
@Jaygo what have you found helpful in the past? I’ve found both Lighter Life and intermittent fasting helpful but I’d be scared to try the injections as I’ve read of a few cases of people reacting badly. I’ve got a couple of friends and a sister in law who seem ok with it though. I agree that the oncologist is likely to be concerned about it clashing with your next chemo but that won’t be forever. I’m not looking forward to doing another 6 months of whatever I get, kadcycla doesn’t sound like fun but it’s supposed to be so effective that I’ve read there’s potentially the possibility that it could even cure early stage 4.
@zebramoon thank you my ZZ top woman. Yeah I’m probably not going to go there on the weight loss drug thing and if I’m honest I feel a bit superficial being so worried about weight when living is so much more important.
Oh today has been a snotty, snivelly day. We’ve all had them, we will all have more of them. I just feel exhausted from crying today. I’m just tired. Tired of it all. Today is a bad day. x
Sorry it’s been a horrible day, agree we’ve all had them and probably have a few more to face. I’m spending a lot of time in bed still even a month after surgery and exhausted a lot of the time but feeling more peaceful now. It must be so frustrating wanting to get yourself stronger but being held up with your bad back on top of everything else. Are you sleeping ok?
@zebramoon yes I’m sleeping lots, several sleeps a day of 3-4 hours, but I’m still sleeping semi upright on my back. I’m feeling close to being able to sleep on my back though. x
Hi @Kara great to hear from you !! I start my radiotherapy next Wednesday. I’ve been chatting on October chemo thread as it was so quiet here, and wanted advice from those who’d already started rads, but happy to return here! I’m still exhausted from chemo so I imagine rads will whack me out even more!
need to catch up on all your news.