Hi, I know that we are not on our own on this site. I have read through some very sad cases on the community chat forum and I’m hoping that we can benefit from other people who are going through this nightmare.
My wife was diagnosed with primary breast cancer 10 years ago. On the very day of her receiving her 5 year all clear, she developed secondary bone cancer. After a 14 hour life saving surgery, we have been lucky enough to have survived a further 5 years. I feel that we have been blessed to have been given this length of time.. Last August we were dealt a further blow that the disease had spread to her liver.. This has obviously devastated the whole family. We have had further radiotherapy sessions, CT scans, MRI & Bone scans. There has been a huge change to our lives as I’m sure everybody who has suffered from this dreadful disease. Chemotherapy, has resulted in weight loss, zero appetite and the current side effect is water retention. The water retention is a huge one for her to deal with at the moment. Please may I ask if anybody else has been through this side effect. It has resulted in her not being able to walk without me by her side as she has no control or strength because of the amount of water retention. Our oncologist has no answer to why this has developed to the extent that it has. It could possibly be to do with her liver function ? Has anybody else on the forum come across this kind of side effect ? If so, I would be so grateful if I could receive some positive feed back that might help us to deal with this situation we find ourselves in.
Thanks for reading my War & Peace experience and god bless everyone who might be going through this life changing nightmare xxxx
Hi and welcome to the Online Community although I am so sorry to hear about the journey you and your wife has been on, this is such a hard time for all the family but I do hope you posting in our various groups will provide you lots of support and comfort here on the Online Community.
My cancer journey was rather different from your wife but I did suffer badly with water retention a few times. This always happened when I was an inpatient so I was put on an IV drug for an hour and honestly, if peeing was an Olympic Sport Scotland would have a Gold Medalist. By the end of one night I had 15 bed pans laying on the floor in a row (everything was being monitored so they would take them away in the morning and record the contents)
I do hope a way forward can be found.
The New to Community is like our reception desk where we can signpost you to our various support groups and services and see you have already posted in a few places and when it comes to the specific practical challenges of supporting someone on their cancer journey you may benefit from joining our supportive Carers only group where you will connect with others supporting family and friends
If you'd like to connect in with a group, you need to join the group. First click on the Green link I have created above. Then once the page opens click on the black banner that says [click to join] at the bottom, or the [Join] button under "Group tools."
You can then introduce yourself by putting up a ‘new post’ by clicking in the box near the top right with + New (Computers) or + (Mobile Devices). You will then see a dropdown menu so hit ‘Start a Discussion in New here, say hello’ and you are ready to go.
You could copy and paste the text from this your first post. You can also search through existing ‘Discussions’ and click [reply] if you want to put up a comment.
The Macmillan Support Line is open 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00 or via web chat. This service provides cancer information, emotional support, benefits and financial guidance or just a listening ear.
To find information covering diagnosis, treatments and pages covering most types of cancers check our Online Information and Support Section.
Talking to people face to face can indeed help a lot but during these strange times it’s not that available but do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area has opened up. Do also check out for a local Maggie's Centre in your area.
Always around if you need further help in navigating the community.
All the very best.
