I’ve been thinking…
I;ve lost lots of weight.
I have lovely smooth legs and don’t have to worry above shaving under my arms.
I’ve saved a fortune on hair products and hairdressing bills.
I have a great excuse when housework isn’t done.
I don’t feel guity when sitting reading a those old books I haven’t read for ages.
OH has to mow the lawn.
my teenage daughters have even made dinner occassionally.
AND “the lump” IS getting smaller.
well…with all this positive thoughts , I might just get through my next course of Chemo…tommorrow…
I hope these help others too
Luv Ali XX
so glad to hear that someone can make a potentially awful time so positive - and it is wonderful to hear that your lump is getting smaller so obviously doing it’s job, too!!!
Hi Ali
It’s lovely to read your thoughts, my chemo is behind me now but I dont think I will ever forget the harshness of it and I occasionally get flash backs to that awful time that can actually make me cry. They normally happen when I am in the car on my own or the smell of the bubble bath or soap I used during that time will transport me straight back to pink pyjamas and a bald head, so your positive thoughts are certainly a help and i hope others will share in your wish to highlight them and not feel the need to rain on your parade.
May your lump continue to reduce and your treatment continue to work to see you past this hateful time.
AJxxx
So is this the latest version of the pros of cancer? Great to anyone finding something positive (Perhaps its a joke…I love a good chemo joke) about chemotherapy but quite honestly I don’t.
Bitter, twisted old thing that I am I’ve lost count of the number of chemos I’ve had…is it 20 or 30? On bad days I can’t move from my bed, and my concentration is shot to pieces. My bloods are wrecked, my body exhausted and the cancer is still here. I know I am very lucky to have got off with fewer side effects than many of my freinds…never vomiting, never hospitalised, but please I feel so cross hearing about ‘positive’ thoughts on chemo…they don’t help me one iota.
Oh dear…and now I’ll be told I’m raining on someone’s nice cancer parade.
Jane
Ali,
I’m just about to start chemo and have been trying to remain upbeat.There’s nothing wrong with being positive even when ther’es a lot of crap to deal with.My friend recently said she loved my cup’s half full approach to life.I told her that actually it’s an overflowing,but slightly dented D cup. Positive thinking does actually make a difference with any illness.I nursed many years ago and could always tell which patients were going to suffer.Usually the real miseryguts! Unfortunately, cancer isn’t the only awful thing most folk have to deal with,but we don’t have to moan all the time! It doesn’t help.
I hope that I still feel the same when I get to the end of all this.
Tricia
Hi Tricia
I am sure you will be positive during chemo because ou are positive in life. You are bang on when you say that being positive is good for you. Ok, I accept, it is hard work to be bright and breezy all the time, regardless of whether you have cancer or not, but there are people who will moan and complain whatever the situation I have just been to see a dear friend of mine who lost her husband in a plane crash 18 months ago. Clearly, she is suffering, but she still sees the positive side of life and makes the most of it. She is trying to rebuild her life by taking a deep breath and moving on. She was a joy to be with, much more upbeat than some of my moaning friends who have never had anything go wrong with them (yet). This doesn’t mean she doesnt mourn for her dead husband any more than some of the other wives who apparently constantly moan about the injustice of it all and are keeping themselves from enjoying their lives by being so negativ and alienate all who come into contact with them. If having chemo keeps you alive longer than without it, surely that must a significant positive? Keep up the positive stories, girls because I for one need to hear them.
Oh dear
I’'m sorry if my words upset people. I dread the morning of Chemo knowing I’m going to feel sick & ill for at least the next week and if I didn’t think of some thing positive I’d never get to the hospital. I just though others might appriciate some encouragement.
Ali
Here here to anything positive!
Well done.
Denio x
Hi Alison
I don’t think your post will have upset many people; they will have seen it as someone trying to make the best of a bad situation which is all that any of us can do. And hopefully it may provide some encouragement for those about to start chemo. We all know it is a horrible experience but, remembering what I went through, I can certainly relate to some of your “positives”!
All the best with your chemo tomorrow.
Love
Gwyn
Hi Ali,
Please do not feel that you have to apologise for your positive thoughts and comments.
I am like you and have to think about the positives of chemo to get me there, we all know that the side effects are awful, but hey the chemo is given for a reason…i just think to myself that the side effects will pass and that each time i have chemo that it is one chemo session less to go.
Love Deb xx
Oh what a miseryguts I am…now I know why I am suffering…nothing to do with the cancer or the chemo…its all my own fault. I must do better and adopt a better frame of mind…grrrh…
seriously though…we are all different…and some of us find calls to think positive…whether from those who don’t have cancer or those who do…irritating and superficial. Living with cancer and its treatments is complex and multi dimensional…and for some of us it is also endless. None of which is to say that those of us who dislike thinking positive simplicities don’t laugh, enjoy the sunshine and have our good days.
I hope your chemo goes as well as it can Ali…do wonder how you actually manage to lose weight?!
Jane
I remember black moments when I couldn’t imagine how it would be possible to be positive, and positive days when I couldn’t recall why I had felt so black. Experiencing both is the reality of cancer, and I would always give a huge cheer to anybody who can raise a positive thought which may lift the spirits of somebody else, while hoping I could feel unlimited sympathy for somebody who is down!
Sarah
Hi Alison
All I can say is congratulations to you on finding some upsides. I have my last chemo (hopefully) this coming wednesday - weight loss is one of my plus sides too - other than that I can’t honestly think of any more. But I admire you being able to see it from that viewpoint.
Jane - I am aware from previous posts of yours what you have had to face etc and I have always thought how considered and well thought out your posts are - but I’m afraid on this occasion I am saddened to see you belittling someone else’s viewpoint on what they are facing - though I see you have edited it slightly now. We are all different in how we approach things and if someone is able to see some ‘upsides’ to chemo - then good luck to them - I don’t think they need knocking for it.
Magz
Jane
When I first joined this forum, I had much respect for your posts as you always seem to have researched your subject matter carefully before putting across your point of view. However, I too find the constant knocking back of someone who thinks in a different way to you inappropriate and it is unkind to suggest that being positive in the manner of these threads is superficial and irritating. I fail to see why you feel so strongly about this - do you believe that by making light of a terrible situation is somehow dumbing down cancer or as you once said glamourising it? I would be sincerely interested to know why you feel this way. I believe in the freedom of speech whole heartedly, and for that reason have resisted in saying anything personally to you but when so many who write on these forums are so fragile and vulnerable and may take your comments to heart, it is not fair to keeping putting them down in this manner.
Well said Cathy! I completely agree with what you said. I went to see my surgeon on Wednesday and asked her what she thought of ‘being positive’. She said, that, whilst there is no hard evidence, the people who are positive tend to do better. Good enough for me.
Julie x
I try my hardest to be positive for my own well being and those around me who care and it is nice to see others doing the same.
Mary
x
I was chatting to my slightly deaf hubby about the BC site earlier on and rabbitting on about keeping positive etc when he asked me what happy dolphins have got to do with anything.I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about,but eventually realised he’d misheard me talking about endorphins.I will now go for chemo thinking about happy dolphins hunting out the cancer cells.It’s such a stupid vision that I know I won’t be able to suppress it when I’m having treatment and will have a quiet giggle to myself.Like I’m not mad enough already!
Tricia
LOL Tricia. You will always think of Flipper and his mates bouncing your cancerous cells away from you whenever you have treatment. What nice imagery is that!!!
Tricia
We dont want quiet giggling we want LOUD GIGGLING and there isn’t an animal on the planet with a bigger smile than a dolphin.
kudos to all who are in such hell yet strive to find something positive about the situation.
sometimes this is being portrayed as being a wimpish pollyanna’s without brains
but actually it takes far more intellect to seek out a good out of a bad situation
I am now half way through AC chemo; it has not been fun
God only knows what is in store for me
so for today, I choose to be positive as well.
Emily
xxx