Just a quick hello!

Hi

I totally agree. I've got my first appointment next Friday so looking forward to having a plan!

Hope all goes well for you.

Welcome to the Online Community and it’s great that you are finding your way round the Community.

A few links that you may find useful:

You may find our various Macmillan Support Line Services on 0808 808 00 00 to be very helpful covering Emotional Support and Practical Information. Clinical Information and Financial Support and Work Guidance mostly open 8.00 to 8.00 but check the link.

We also have our ‘Ask an Expert’section where you can post questions to our mostly Volunteer Experts but please allow a few days to get a reply.

We also have our Online Information and Support Section where you will find some great pages covering the cancer diagnosis, treatment and information pages covering most types of cancers.

All the best.

Hiya, 

Mine is Thursday so hopefully by next weekend we will both have the fighting gloves on and be ready for round 1.  

Hope your prep is coming on ok ready for your appointment, it's hard knowing what to ask!

Thank you!  I am going to my local Macmillan centre next week as have a couple of appointment there.  Thanks to you and all the volunteers for your support.

Hi Katie

May I add my welcome to the online community and to wish you well at your appointment next week, and you are correct in saying the waiting game is rough but the appointment will soon be with you but in the meantime can I ask you to be careful where you research we have found that many people refer to Dr Google at times like this only to find that the information is misleading or out of date whereas by asking questions in any of the groups you've joined will see you getting answers from real people who have been in your shoes at one time and are at different stages of their treatment. No matter which group you ask your question you can be sure of a very friendly welcome and loads of help, advice and support from the members who will be willing to share with you their experiences.

Out motto is there is no such thing as silly question only the one never asked. If you have a question rolling around in your head ask it share it with the members who will eagerly give you the answer.

I have just posted this to another member and I thought it might be of interest to you 

questions to ask at an oncology appointment

Keep in touch this big family you have joined, we all want to know how you are getting on as you progress in this journey.

If you can have someone with you at the appointment to be a second pair of ears they can jot down the answers to the questions you've  asked and can be referred to when you get home, you'll no doubt get a lot of information and it's difficult to remember everything that has been said and be prepared to stop the doctor at anytime you don't understand something and ask for it to be explained in a different way. 

Good luck at your appointment.

Ian

Hi from me,

Was diagnosed with stomach cancer on Wednesday 15th, 42 years old, fitter than most, healthy etc, was the last thing I expected.  Had a CT scan on Friday...waiting now until my hospital appt on Thursday afternoon to know how good/bad, what the treatment plan is going to be etc.  Bricking it  :-/

Hi  and welcome to the Online Community, although I am so sorry to see the circumstance that brought you here and so sorry to hear your diagnosis.

This is a hard time for you and all of the family but talking with people who are on the same journey will help a lot.

My cancer journey was rather different but I see you have found the link to our Stomach cancer Forum. This is the best place to connect with people who understand the journey you are on. You can ask the folks questions about treatments, what to expect.

Just go to the group and at this point go to the right on the group home page and select how you want to receive email notifications when someone answers your posts. If in the future you don’t want to receive notifications just switch off the email notifications tab.

You can look through all the discussions in the forum by hitting the ‘Discussions’ tab. But the BEST WAY to get support is to go to the 'Start a Discussion' tab just under the main group name. Set up your own Discussion and Introduce yourself to the group - you could just copy an paste what you have in this first post.

If you want to reply to a post go to the bottom of the post and hit the ‘Reply’ tab in the blue box.

You may find our various Macmillan Support Line Services on 0808 808 00 00 to be very helpful covering Emotional Support and Practical Information. Clinical Information and Financial Support and Work Guidance mostly open 8.00 to 8.00 but check the link.

We also have our ‘Ask an Expert’section where you can post questions to our mostly Volunteer Experts but please allow 2 working days to get a reply.

We also have our Online Information and Support Section where you will find some great pages covering the cancer diagnosis, treatment and information pages covering most types of cancers.

Talking to people face to face can help a lot so check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support Groups in your area or a Maggie’s Centre as these folks are amazing.

It is worth putting some information in your profile. This really helps others when answering. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself.

To do this click on YOUR username, look to the left and select 'Edit Profile'. Put as much or as little in your profile and you can amend it at any time - REMEMBER hit the big green SAVE before you leave the page. If you're not sure what to write you can take a look at any members profiles by clicking on their username.

All the best.

Yes roll on next weekend when we will have some of our answers!

I got a phone call today from my auntie who advised me to deep clean my house and make it almost clinical for when chemo starts! Not that my house is a cesspit lol....and advised to not let anyone touch me for a week after! It sounds so scary.....have you heard of this?

I know that immune systems can be weakened from chemo...but I have a 6 year old who I cant bear the thought of not getting to hug! Going to put this in the chemo group as well! See what others recommend!