7 sleeps

3 minute read time.

Ok, so HI to shivasmum who is doing RT , and HI to Mandy who is coping with crazy mum, and HI to LM and Tim and Hils who are all having/waiting for dates/ops and tests! Anyone else I have forgotten?? Probably, as my brain is mostly mush, partly due to chemo, partly due to acrrying around far too many thought processes :D

Well, here we are. 7 sleeps before SCT.
As long as they have a bed for me when I call them at 9 am on the 13th ;)

Half of me wants it over with, to crack on, the other half wants it to not happen haha!!

I am a whirlwind of emotions and different headspaces right now. One minute calm, collected, accepting that this SCT WILL ake me better and to bring it on. The next minute i am panicking about my kids and all the Waht-If's surge through my brain and then I have to pinch myself and remind myself that 8 months ago I had a bombshell told to me but nothing has stopped me getting better slowly and this will jolly well continue!

I noticed that my diary entries were getting a little more sombre than at the beginning, not always doom adn gloom, just maybe more reflective sometimes? And then I see new arrivals on the MAcmillan website and read their first few entires and comments and I recognise myself! I was that slightly naive person, bravely laughing at all the shitty stuff being told to me! Yes, I AM still laughing at cancer and kicking its arse still, bt with the experiences that I have encountered, I think the humour becomes more gallows and the dark days rattle more loudly in your head when they make their unwelcome appearance!

I notice that sometimes I feel very protective and worried about my children and friends and family, and sometimes I feel resentful, or irritated etc.

And although I do not want my kids to know how crap I feel and how difficult it is being SO tired all the time, some days, if they are playing up or being stressy, I feel like telling them to shut up because I need no stress to feel better and how dare they they stress over pathetic issues etc... but of course I can't say that because to them they are important issues and it's not my place to give them guilt! ;)

And although I do not want to be fussed over and asked how i am every 5 minutes, if someone DOESN'T  ask me or I don't hear from a friend for a while, I feel quite put out! But I do not wanted to be treated differently, that is what I said at the beginning of all this. Yet that is not QUITE true I now realise. Well, nearly not true... see how tricky this gets ?! haha! ;)
I want to be treated the same, but with a bit of extra attention, but only when I am in the mood for that. Fucking hell, it's quite a balancing act for both me and those around me I am sure!!

It's natural I guess... all this being on swings and roundabouts and a roller coaster too.
Do I sound selfish? Or weird? Or like a normal person coping with a shitty disease that fucks with all our heads?!

My relationships with everyone have shifed too. Not massively, just subtle little changes, and whether they have been made by me, or them, or us both, I don't know. Not conscious changes either. And perhaps, it's just me and my head noticing things differently? My perceptions have obviously altered and so I suppose that influences how I interect or how I think we're interacting??

Maybe I need to stop thinking so much :D

Big LOve to all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hi lovely Ems

    I am so with you in all that you are going through, and I can relate to all that you are saying. I was fortunate enough to have a hubby around to share the burden as regards the kids, and as they are a little older they talk to each other a lot (and still do!) about their parents, and were able to support each other. The times when your girls are being girls is probably also their way of dealing with shitty cancer...tough on you as well as all the other crap.

    The humour does get very gallows (just thought it was my family!) and the 'what ifs' will continue for a long time after, and I wish someone had told me that at the time, because I hated myself, and actually wondered whether it was a good thing that I had survived. IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!

    As for the shift in relationships...I was with my sister at the weekend, and we were talking about our parents. Both are supportive, and still active, and put on us rarely. K said to me that I am very abrupt with Mum these days. I can hear it in my voice when we speak on the phone, but somehow can't stop myself. I know that it goes back to the "trying not to worry the parents" and playing down when I was having a rough time, so only giving minimum information, but several years of that and its very difficult to change. I did make a point of sending an email with some photos to her this morning.

    So yes, you are not losing your marbles, you have had to become selfish (putting yourself first), and you will come through this, and you and your girls will have changed because of it.

    Try not to stress, and to make the most of these few days with the family before you go in. Spoil yourself, and take care. Its a hard road ahead but worth climbing, and I look forward to hearing that you are safely home. Just remember that you will be extremely exhausted for weeks, or even months, but it WILL get better.

    My love and HUGE hugs for you and your family (and all the spoons i can muster)

    Louise xxxxxx

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember
    Hi there normal person coping with shitty disease Yup! That's me too and probably everyone on here. I have the same thing of wanting no sympathy but a bit at the same time but when I get it, I don't like it. Awkward sods eh? It is scary and huge and all that and the run up is the scary bit but once you get in there you'll be in the zone and be fine. It's the nerves beforehand that are the worse I reckon. On my phone so a bit hard to type just wanted to say yes you are normal and it's big and scary and we are here to hold your hand and send you hugs and good vibes and giggles and cwtches. Love you xxxxxx
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    "I want to be treated the same, but with a bit of extra attention, but only when I am in the mood for that." - have you turned into a cat, missus?

    Love you.

    xxx

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Ems, my beloved is always asking me how I am in an anxious, nervy way that is so annoying and it really pisses me off at times, I could scream! I only have to clear my throat & he seems to think I'm terminal!

    BUT if he didn't ask, I'd think he was a callous barsteward!

    So there you have it: Human Nature at its contradictory best/worst/ whatever. Nothing wrong with you there, Ems, it's just that when things get stressful everything you normally wouldn't bother to analyse suddenly needs to be looked at through a subjective microscope, as if it all has to be labelled and thus controlled - because everything else is so beyond our control.

    Life, eh!

    Much hove and many lugs,

    Annie

    xxx

  • Hello Ems or as LM said normal person coping with a PF awful disease.when you think about it 8months may at times seem a long time but really it is such a short time my diagnosis was 8months ago too and in that time so much has happened so I can understand why your head spins.knowing your children will be looked after is on the one hand very reassuring but not being able to be there physically tends to drive your mind bonkers with what if this or that happens and then the thing that comes with being a parent the very large guilt club that we become experts at beating ourselves up with.Many of us have used humour and our boots to good effect where cancer is concerned but because we laugh doesn't make us stupid all of us have our days/weeks when our thoughts plague us and humour turns dark ,we get scared and worries plague our minds.The feelings about family and friends I think echo with many here as you say I know I ranted about people being over protective and just wanting them to treat me as they used to before I became The One With Cancer. Just wanting to be normal my resentment did boil over on one occasion so much so I lost my chance of nomination as mother of the year I snapped at my daughter for something I felt was trivial but really it was important to her and after I could have cut my tongue out and boiled my head in oil.i of course apologised but since cancer it has changed my perspective and I am having to be more careful of what I say.my experience of swings,roundabouts and roller coasters is you can feel your flying but then hear your mum saying be careful you'll fall and hurt yourself the other spins you till your dizzy the world goes out of focus and sometimes feeling nauseas and finally the other with its highs and lows scared lose my stomach but also excillerated when the ride is over and feeling right chuffed with myself for overcoming the fear and getting on it.which pretty much describes my trot along the cancer road.I'm not sure this will make sense to anyone I hope there is a bed for you and you know we will all be with you the biggest of hugs Cruton xxxx