New Diagnosis questions

Hi there Knight,

My hair stood on end reading your post as my tumour was also diagnosed just five days prior to my birthday.....the 27th of March!! Mine was last year though, I was 59 at the time and literally in the best shape of my life.

I'm sitting here writing this 14 months later having gone through 8 rounds of FLOT chemotherapy (four pre and four post surgery). My advice? By all means get as fit as possible as this will help enormously with coping with the side effects of the chemo (which can be brutal btw) it will also aid recovery from the operation which again is a biggie.

Prioritise fitness over weight because any extra pounds soon disappear either during chemo (loss of taste and appetite) or after the operation (much reduced ability to eat and more loss of hunger) and made worse by post op chemo. I was around 14-15st before all this mullarkey and am now hovering around 10-10.5st.

If you have anything you want to ask just do as there will be someone who's been there and bought the t-shirt! Wishing you all the very best on your journey. Btw I'm loving your username, very Pythonesque!

Anthony 

Hi there. BBob has pretty much summed everything up. We are here to support you on your journey. You are at the worst stage awaiting diagnosis and from then on your treatment route which can vary from case to case. Try and keep fit and eat as best you can to maintain your weight. Effects of chemo and radiotherapy on individuals vary enormously as does the treatment. Your diagnosis does seem to be a little slow so I would suggest being a bit proactive with the hospital rather than waiting for them to contact you  but then again I am a bit on the pushy side with such things. Come back to us when you have more information and those who have trod the same route will be able to advise better. Hope all goes well. 

Hi Knight

I am a bit behind you in the timescale, having been told my diagnosis just over a week ago, so still awaiting/ undergoing whatever tests they suggest, had a PET-CT Scan this week. 

I can't comment on the pain side of things but when I spoke with the Team yesterday they were unhappy with weight loss and stressed to me (as they do at every contact) do my best to maintain weight and muscle mass. To this end they are asking my GP to give me Fortisip drinks and that I do my best to eat more protein and calories.

Exercise wise I have been told to do as much exercise as I can without exhausting myself- to increase my daily steps from 10,000 per day by 500-1000 steps a day until I reach 20,000 steps and to do as much gardening, as I want. I understand we all have different circumstances so I'm not suggesting this approach should be yours but it might help to ask about what exercise you could do and if there are any diet suggestions they may have.

Good luck and sometimes it helps to give them a ring and ask questions.