That’s great that you’re half way to being done ! It definitely is a emotional experience that could be mentally challenging . It’s good that nothing popped up in your recent scans and the tumor is already responding, your doing great! I’m getting pretty nervous right now too, I have my first scan post treatment in a month November 7th to see if my treatment worked and if I’m cancer free. It definitely is a emotional roller coaster and the feelings you feel , your not alone . Many of people felt the same way including myself, I know it’s hard not to think about it but try to hold on to the good news you got and keep pushing forward, before you know it you’ll be done with your treatment:-)
Rissag so sweet of you responsing to me whilst going through your own battle. Means a lot to me ❤️ Thank you
Hey lovely,
i found myself in a difficult place mentally about half way through, I think the treatment is much more mental than I gave it credit to. You can do this, you’re such an amazing woman and I know you will find the strength to get through those fears.
Its brilliant that your scans are showing such positive results. All you can really do like the rest of us is have faith that the treatment is working, stay positive as best you can and live your best life.
I hope that things get better for you mentally, stay focused on the end, soon you’ll be so close to finishing and it feels good!
Much love,
emma xxx
Chemo 4 in the pocket. My blood was excellent according Tommy oncoligist, she was quite pleased with my overal reaction to treatment, I’ve had little to no side effects yet, no stomach problems or diaroea ( spelling?) so far.
Not really fatigue yet either so thats really Nice. Fysically i would say this treatment is completely doable. Mentally however I am struggling big time, so scared of my treatment not working and other big what ifs. My oncologist said I wish I could take that away from you since there is no reason to be this concerned.
I do have Some pain in my leg, not severe but a niggling pain radiating from my bum muscle towards my knee, it’s like a sciatic pain, wich off course scares the hell out of me. I’ve mentioned it to my oncolist and radio doctor and they don’t seen the least bit concerned.
I’ll see if I can do a bit more stretching and walking cause i’ve been spending way too much time on my butt doing nothing but read here
Oh that’s great news! When is your last day? Did u get the hang of how much water u needed for your bladder for radiation? That’s good to hear you’re doing good with treatment!
How are you doing Rissag, are you feeling better after all your treatment?
Yes I am , occasionally my bladder still gets irritated but then I just skip a day or two from using the dilators then it settles down. I think it might of been from my surgery before treatment though,they did a cystoscopy and a bladder biopsy when they did my lymph node removal surgery.so sometimes it feels like my urethra gets sensitive. I just get nervous sometimes for my scan coming up and some days I get a little sad at my loss of fertility and the thought of not having children.im also having the menopause symptoms, really bad hot flashes at night and vaginal dryness . But my doctors said they wanted to give my body a little break before they put me on hormone replacements or doing any testing for menopause.i think I need to hurry up and get on the hormones though the hot flashes are driving me nuts. And the mood swings, one day I’m fine and the next day I’m crying like a baby lol , so I need to get these hormones under control.
Chemo five done and 21 radio blasts done.
No burning bits. No bowl issues. No nausea. i’ve asked the team if this means my treatment is not working. Which is not the case, how you cope has nothing to do with the Outcome. Even my blood is really well, platelets were even risen compared to last week and my hemoglobine was at 9.1 ( 5,8 when I started treatment)
my oncologiste was really pleased with the overal Numbers. She was really optimistic and that helped me
a bit since I’ve had a terrible time mentally. So scared of not making it, worrieng about spread or reccurrences ( after Reading Some terribly sad stories here in my search for ned stories)
The mental battle is the biggest fight I’ve ever fought.
And off course now I am completely bricking brachy, this next monday is my first found of 1-2, and next week I get another 2 spread over 26 hours. Ive been Reading Some reports and it seems that brachy adds a 12% to the overal survival rates, way too much to skip because of my fears. So I need to woman up and take it like a girl.
That’s absolutely great news,you’re almost finished! You will have no problem with the brachytherapy, you got this! Yeah the mental thing could be a struggle sometimes, i remember I would read a couple good Ned stories but then I would read a sad story, and it would seem like I never read the good ones and I would panic and stress. Screenshot and save the good ones, so u can go back and look at them and try to forget about the sad ones, I know it’s hard. I’m so glad you’re doing so good, before you know it,it will be over :-)
First brachy up tomorow and man I am brickin’ it. So scared for both the treatment itself as for the mri scan results, what if the treatment hasn’t worked, what if the tumor spread instead of shrunk. I am so scared :( and on top of it all I had Some light pink-brown discharge this morning. I hope its the tumor breaking down
It’s most likely the tumor breaking down.try not to be scared, I know it’s hard but you’re almost done. You can do this ! I hope everything goes smooth for you tomorrow, try not to worry:-)
First brachy done! Feeling absolutely drained but it wasn’t as bad as I Made it up to be.
I got wheeled in first thing in the morning for an mri and since I’ve had a panick attack a few weeks ago . The teamtMade it possible for me to go in feet first and one of the team menners sat by my head to comfort me during the scan.
after the scan was done I was given an epidural which went fine. I chose to stay awake during the whole procedure and the rods were placed, didn’t feel a thing and it took about 15 minutes.
after that I had to have another mri scan and when that was done the radiologist came in to tell me that my tumor has been reduced by 97% and the lymph nodes they thought were suspicious also shrank ( they didn’t show up on pet scan)
They then brought me to my suite and I had to wait for a few hours so they could do their calculating. Around 14.30 I was brought back to the radio-ward and again.. an mri. Then they hooked me up this little cart like machine and i got my first Zapp which took about 5 minutes.
when it was done I was brought back to my room for my overnight stay. At this time my epidural had worn out but they gave me a morphine pump with a clicker just in case.
I never used it, paracetamol was enough to cover the pain and discomfort. Most discomfort came from my bowl ( gas). I didn’t sleep very well but the nurses did their best to Make me comfortable ( turning me on my side)
rhis morning I was wheeled down again and the whole mri thing was repeated. Got zapped a second time and was offered a sedative for removal but I was scared of beeing put under so I had the device removed without pain reliëf which was completely do-able. Unconfortable but not really Painful.
then I was brought back to my room, had Some tea and toast and took a hot shower and then went Home.
Now three externals, one chemo and one brachy left and i hope that Will be the end of this nightmare forever
Yay you did it! The second one will be a breeze now. I think the whole brachytherapy thing just sounds scary, so people just naturally get nervous and scared but it really isn’t as bad as we build it up to be. So glad everything went well for you ,before you know it treatment will just be a memory. I don’t really care for mri’s either, pet scans aren’t so bad for me ,but I don’t like the mri.
How are you feeling Izzy?
hi
so sweet of you for asking. Not having a good day. My treatment is almost over and that feels so scary. I have no idea how to live normal again.
How are you coping?
I think now that I’ve had a break from the hospitals it’s getting easier.when my treatment first ended I had follow ups in the first two months which felt like I didn’t have a break and that was stressful , but this month has just been a break and I enjoyed it.i feel like with time it has gotten easier, almost feels like a bad dream, I have my post treatment scan in a couple of weeks and just get nervous but I’ll be glad it will be over with.
Hello Izzy!
Sorry I have arrived quite so late to this party, but Wow! You are doing brilliantly! It's been great to read how your fear has receded over the last few weeks and even better to read how much smaller your tumour is! You might just be this year's pin-up girl ;-)
Yeah, after daily trips to the hospital over 5 or 6 weeks it does feel very strange to be at home with no medical staff to talk to, and that is something that is rarely mentioned. Try to make sure you have friends around to distract you from moments of paranoia. If you have energy to go out and meet friends at cafes then that is great, but if you are tired from all the treatment then ask your friends to come and visit you at home. It's important that you don't have too much time all by yourself straight after you have had such a hectic lifestyle. Be kind to yourself.
Be lucky :-)
Tivoli
Thank you so much Tivoli, not just for giving me a heads up but giving hope to all the ladies here. Your postings are so uplifting and comforting, so thank you ❤️
You're very welcome! For several years I was in this forum for a few hours every day, I am here far less frequently now, but I know what an important resource this is and I try to help as many people as I can while I am here. I hope that one day you will do the same :-)
Be lucky :-)
Tivoli
Live from the hospital bed. Tumor down from 1,4cc last week to 0,4 cc before my first brachy this morning , lymph nodes no longer showing up on mri
