PMP Reoccurance

Hi....I am a Christie Manchester patient. My GP prescribed Sertraline (it's an SSRI) ...I have found it has really helped me, lifted my mood, and has helped me cope.  I have a recurrence (Dec 2023) and have been having chemo since then.

If you are in the UK, you may want to join the Pseudomyxoma Survivor private FB support group

Hi. I’m on propranolol twice a day. I really don’t want to go back down the route of antidepressants. It took me years to get off them but understand it may be my only option right now.

hows your chemo going? I’m getting cycle 6 on Monday and I’m fed up already.  

Hi there

I am on FOLFIRI and had my 54th cycle. Am doing ok, have got a regular 'new normal' and make the best of my good days and roll with the bad ones (usually fatigue).

Sertraline is an SSRI.....it's not addictive and is not like the old fashioned antidepressants. It was my GP who prescribed Sertraline as our post operative 'mood' can be a bit like PTSD.  They have really helped me keep a 'normal' mood.

I’m on folfox. I know it’s my new normal but I don’t want it to be.  
I was at a coffee morning at my chemo unit and had someone tell me because I’ve had Reoccurance, I have a maximum of 12 months to live. It’s really screwed with my head

Excuse my french....Bllks! 

First of all FOLFOX is a beast so good for you doing that many cycles!

I have a recurrence around my small bowel.....I had my 54th cycle of FOLFIRI today....and according to my Oncologist, disease is stable.

Please join the Pseudomyxoma Survivor FB group......it's a really positive group with lots of great survivor stories.....

I have joined the group. Thank you.

Thank you for listening today. I really appreciate it 

Great.  I will look out for you.   

Hi Halle and TGIOM,

I've had a similar experience to yourself. Appendix was removed in December, goblet cell adenocarcinoma found and told in February and then i just had omentum/ovary removal surgery, and chemo wash in May. I have to go back to The Christie in Manchester, in December for a recurrence check. It is the mental load of it all that i find makes you snappy, etc. I was a total nightmare after my surgery went fully into fight instead of flight haha. And you have been through so much and other people around you just can't relate or understand what you're experiencing. It's so hard. 

I hope you are coping well with everything. My HRT has helped a lot with the moods, get docs to review yours every 3 months to ensure doses are correct and check testosterone levels too. I went veggie for a while thinking it would aid digestion but i was so weak after surgery and needed the protein to stabilise my hormones so have gone back to eating meat. Sadly, as an animal lover that has really helped. Trying to prioritise whats best for myself these days. 

I have therapy fortnightly, check with your hospital to see if they offer a free service, as many do. Without the usual long nhs waitlist. 

Did they give any explanation as to why you have 12 months? Where did it spread to that has made it so untreatable? I'm terrified of the future. Of recurrence. I just have to hope I'm clear and stay that way. 

I haven’t actually been told I only have 12 months by my oncologist. It was the wife of another patient who has PMP. 

my last scan showed reoccurrence on the small bowel. I’ve had 6 rounds of chemo since and have another scan tomorrow. I am terrified of the results.

i think it was the wife of this other patient that made me so snappy. She got into my head and I just went a bit crazy. I’ve managed to sort my head out since and I’m back to my normal self now.

the mental load of this diagnosis is unbelievable. People have no idea how bad it is. I really hope your remain clear and have no reoccurrence 

Totally understandable why that messed with your head. 

My initial doctor at Leighton hospital had the nerve to ask me why i was so upset after he told me i had cancer and then for some reason thought it was necessary to write it in my referral letter that i had been crying when i was told. What a tit! 

People can be really thoughtless. And when you're already traumatised, it can take one small thing to send you a dark place. 

I am trying to remain positive especially around my daughter, she's only six and doesn't really understand what's happening. Hopefully she wont have to.

I'm sending good thoughts into the universe for both of us to get good news. 

Let's kick the fuck out of cancer! I'm with you.