First major hospital visit coming up.

Hi Fergus welcome to the forum. I usually hang out in another forum on this site  but saw your post and wanted to let you know that someone is nearly alwys around to chat and there is also the Macmillan Line open 8am-8pm 7 days per week 08088080000  and they also have Macmillan Buddies that they can speak to you about and direct you to this service to get you paired up with a buddy and it means that you  wouldnt be on your own. 

Best Wishes for  now. 

Hi Fergus, sorry you're having to join this club- lovely though everyone is! It's a bit of a bombshell, isn't ti? And tough you've just got the cats at home to talk about it with. I've got no partner either and I've also just been diagnosed. I don't have cats, so I've indulged in over enthusiastic pruning in my garden. We all talk about anything here, really. There's scary days and positive days for us all and we all cope in our own ways. (or in my case at least, not at all!). The macmillan nurses you can phone are lovely and can be a great support so make sure you have their number. Best of luck with your journey and keep reading the forum x

Thanks for your kind words. Just an update after this morning. It seems this thing is pretty small and doesn't appear to have any friends in there so I have decided to call it Rishi. It will have to come out at some point fairly soon, but they want to do a bunch of tests to make sure I'm up to having surgery and check there's nothing else hiding there or there abouts.

So, start of a rather unpleasant journey, but the likely outcome is looking hopeful.

I'll tell you what's really odd, and this will sound perverse. Before I got this diagnosis I was pretty much drifting aimlessly through retirement and was in danger of building a model railway - I have suffered from depression for years so remove the structure of a job (though that was pretty vague too) i was doing a lot of staring at the walls. But the diagnosis seems to have given me some energy - not sure how long that will last but I'm actually moving about a bit more, I feel a little weeding coming on and I feel like joining in a bit more - how odd :O)

Hi Fergus

You have proper made me laugh calling your cancer Rishi   I hope all goes well for you and you get rid of your cancer soon. Please let us know what happens x

hahaha! That did make me laugh! Thoughts of model railways reminded me of a brief mental dalliance with decoupage or macrame. I feel I have been saved by more pressing matters. i too have a Rishi. Small, solitary, uninvited and soon to be ousted. Can't blinking wait and now my thoughts are turning to Cambodia and Vietnam. I never was that dextrous anyway

Hi Fergus 

I've got lots of friends and family but you know what? This forum is my sanctuary, everyone here is in the same position and we all understand what the rest of us are going through which is something that none of my friends and family can.

Best Wishes to you

Anthony 

Hi Fergus welcome to the group! Sorry I am a little late in my welcome, I have been away and am just catching up with a few posts now.

Great to hear that “Rushi” is small and can hopefully be removed very soon. It is also good to hear that you are feeling more motivated at the moment, keeping your energy levels up is really important on the road to recovery.  You may find that this journey comes with a whole load of different emotions, which can change from day to day, so embrace the good days, and if you do get a low, know that tomorrow can always be better. 

Let us know how the tests go, and what the treatment plan is.