Blogging can be a great way to journal your experiences and share with others. Why not create your own cancer journey blog, or have a read of other blogs created by our members?
Unsure how to get started? Take a look at our help pages on blogs.
I’ve just added my comments to a discussion thread and was praising the effectiveness of Mindfulness. It made me realise how far I’ve come with this and how it really has helped me navigate a wobble in my treatment. Without it, I would have been sailing in the storm, floundering around as the wind whipped up towering waves to crash onto the deck drowning me in my own tears and self pity.
That’s not to say I’ve been calmly watching from a distance, bathed in sunshine and happiness....
Thursday 12th January,
The last chemo session on Tuesday went well, my consultant no2 popped in and said hello while I was plugged in and said that she'd received the information from the hospital and consultant no1 where I go for scans and plans and that she was extremely pleased with the results, and that the shrinkage results justifies pumping the chemotherapy into me. I couldn't agree more, but am a little more concerned about the second half of chemo as it's a different type, what if it stops...
I WISH I COULD STILL DO THIS...
In my strive to have a routine, and steps that will help my daily routine, I self-examined.
In my self-examination this week I've noticed my right shoulder and shoulder plat (surgery side) have been tender/painful like for ever now (was ignoring it) and I cannot lift it like the left arm...in fact, I have to be very careful with the whole arm. ''Arm at Risk'' stuff... So getting dress is often a challenge.
That small practical problem on my right...
I have long extolled the benefits of a PICC line when receiving chemotherapy and given the choice I would always opt for one over cannulas.
However.
When my chemo stopped in early December I assumed, wrongly, that the PICC line would be removed. My oncologist thought it should stay in ‘just in case’. It wasn’t removed which meant that it still had to be flushed and redressed on a weekly basis.
The first week I was told that the district nurse would call ’sometime during the day...
A bit of background - I've got terminal cancer, since my bowel cancer decided to move into the lymph nodes around my aorta. Chemo isn't going to be a short term thing for me, but ongoing until it stops working. So life has to keep going around it!
I've been on treatment since March last yer (2016) and I've realized that my fitness levels have dropped even lower than they were before - which wasn't great even then! But I want to help my treatment and my body as much as I can, so...
Monday 9th January 2017
Well after the euphoria of yesterday, today I came crashing down, to be fair I knew that nothing could match yesterday, but I didn't realise how fragile my emotions are.
I got up feeling positive, took my temperature, that's always an stress, but it was fine. I phoned my daughter to see how she and the baby were and then the district nurse to check I was on the list for the blood test, she confirmed I was and said she would see me this morning. Then I ordered...
Hello. I am almost 69, born with Spina Bifida, had a mastectomy in 1994 and was told in the most insensitive manner in October that I might have lung cancer. Turns out I have. It is in both lungs, so no surgery, isn't terminal, can't be cured so I am lined up for palliative chemo, starting on 18th Jan, to say nothing of a lengthy kidney test tomorrow and a Chemo Talk next week. I was fine over Christmas but now I don't really want to have Chemo as it is only delaying the inevitable and I seem to...
Sunday 8th January,
Today I became a nana, what a day! Everything people said is true, I have fallen in love with this little boy and I haven't even met him yet. I have had photos, videos, FaceTime phone calls on and off all day, at first it was hard seeing him and not being able to touch him or smell him, but after a while I just couldn't get enough.
I was so worried because when I had my daughters I had terrible births, haemorrhaging and many problems, so it's been a stressful time...
As an ex-infant teacher, I know that if you focus on misbehaviour, the other children tend to join in because that is what gets your attention. When we were all sitting as a group, I had 3 stages for dealing with misbehaviour: 1) Compliment the children behaving well. That had the effect of pulling all the other children into line and often stopped the misbehaviour, 2) If needed, a support staff member would sit by the child and encourage them quietly, or sometimes just to be with them was enough...
My hair has been slowly drifting out during my 5 sessions of chemo (last one tomorrow, hopefully). Rather than having it shaved, i had it cut very short after the first round and have been watching it become thinner until now i need to stand with the light above or in front of me as if it is behind me, I look as if I have a halo around a bald head. While some continues to fall, some has started growing, so I have a tufty patch on the top of my head which stands up on end and began to keel over, resembling...
