That is good. Same here.
I am like you with hot water bottle’s, they are a comfort.
So glad that you were able to go out. you.
How about a mobility scooter Ffosse, then you could tootle about all over the place!
My chemo is causing problems with my feet and when they get warm in the night they start to itch. I’ve tried all kinds of ointments but the only way I seem to be able to stop the itching is to fill a hot water bottle with cold water and put it between my feet! It not nice but I then stand a chance of getting back to sleep!
It’s amazing the range of side-effects people get from chemo.
I’d wondered about those - I am a bit young, though, I think. Where would be the best place to get one?
I’d love a scooter but don’t really have a means of storing it as there are stairs leading up to my house.
Dreamy you MUST claim PIP.
You will then be able to get a scooter on the mobility scheme.
People of all ages use them. You will be able to have a ring bolt to secure it outside. My BIL did this.
Although I’m self-employed, I think my health conditions may make me eligible for PIP. I will look into this. But I doubt I’d be able to secure the scooter outside, and it would be too big for the stair.
Maybe time to think of moving to easily accessible accommodation?
No! I’ve been here eleven years and don’t want to move. As it is, I think I’d be too ill to move anywhere anyway.
Ffosse, you have been through so much in the last weeks and your exhaustion seems normal for the trauma your body has endured. You seem to be navigating your challenges with determination and more strength than I am sure that some of us could have managed. I understand your desire to stay put; I’d feel exactly the same way.
Val J, I follow this thread to keep up with you too, and I hope that you have resolved the itching problems. Have you talked to your doctors about taking a low dose of an antihistamine during your itchiest periods? My friend was able to manage her itching in that way when she had chemo.
Val makes an such a good point about living with cancer. So many people are living years and even decades after a difficult prognosis - the trick is how to convince one’s brain not to let it go so you can get back to living during and after treatment.
Peace to you both.
Hi
Ffosse and others with Cancer.
You have my utmost admiration, you really do.
I am not sure that I could cope, in fact I am pretty sure that I would go to pieces.
I am no shrinking violet, I am well used to threats and can deal with them.
I have no fear whatsoever of an ISIS Thug with a Machete, a mugger with a knife, down they go and sod them.
I am absolutely terrified by Cancer.
They way you and Twink deal with it is an inspiration.
You are both much stronger and braver than I am.
Do you have a Mobility shop near you Ffosse? I have looked at the scooters on line and they come in all sizes and not as expensive as I thought. Maybe on the ground floor of your premises there could be somewhere you could store your scooter, of course you need somewhere to charge the battery too.
Surfermom, thank you for your kind comments and antihistamine is something I hadn’t thought of, I will investigate further. Six weeks ago they took skin scrapings from my feet but apparently it can take up to eight weeks to get the test results. In the meantime it’s driving me crazy!!
Swimmy, the day I was told I had cancer, I will never forget, hubby and I were devastated, we’d been together over 50 years and neither of us could envisage a life alone. I wondered how long I had to live but neither of us wanted to know the answer to that question. That was around six months ago and I’ve been having chemotherapy since and feeling fairly good much of the time.
We have learned to live with cancer but we have to organise our lives around hospital appointments but when we can we go out, take short breaks, and enjoy life.
The first time I had cancer in 2016 I was not really surprised when told. I seemed to breeze through the chemo with few side-effects, also. But that was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma - a curable cancer and I believed it was cured when I went into remission.
Fast forward to 2018 and it was only when I couldn’t dress myself properly that I knew something was wrong. My arms would bearly reach to chest height and my hands were in agony - this was diagnosed as Carpal Tunnal’s syndrome. It was only through the speed of getting an MRI that they could see a crescent shaped tumour at the top, inside my spine which had been pressing on my nerves causing the Carpals. This, by biopsy, they realised was non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma - incurable and much worse.
I must admit I was a bit terrified when they told me it was incurable but treatable. This necessitated 2 stays in hospital so far and I was much better leaving hospital the first time than the second. But it’s onwards as always. My chemo sessions are much tougher on me now and I often have very little energy. I can’t get out to the same shops and places that I used to. I have a few friends who visit and I make much more use of the telephone. In hospital, my sister again visited me…and we had been estranged since 1995 'til 2016 so I have her in my life when I need it.
So the future is more frightening, but I take it a day at a time and one thing is very important to me: I now realise my limits because of this illness; there are some things I just can’t do and I must accept this. All the pills and the chemo, the MRI and CT scans, the appointments with doctors and consultants, every trip to the hospital - none of them are nice but they are trying to save my life and for that I am very grateful.
I spoil myself a bit with taxis (there’s no way round getting them) and I used to be very frugal but you might have seen my watch thread today - I still want to live a little. I’m only 51 and I could have months or years left but I try not to count.
Ffosse new cancer treatments are often being found. You can’t be sure that they will find one to help your cancer, but on the other hand, you can’t be sure they won’t.:!:
My oncologist didn’t expect to cure my cancer, but I have been clear for the last six and a half years, and he believes that my determination to beat it is what helped me achieve this.
The treatments will make you feel tired and slow you down, but you adjust to not being not able to do what you did. I bet there are plenty of people on this forum, who haven’t had cancer, that will tell you even they can’t do what they used to.
I am sure you will have good days and bad days, but please try to enjoy the good days, because being happy definitely makes you stronger to fight the bad days.
We will all depart this life one day, but I strongly believe that a positive approach, to fighting your illness, does delay that departure.
Thanks, Twink55 - that’s heartfelt and reassuring.
I’ve put on weight, too, not too much but I’d like to shed a few pounds. I believe this is due to the steroids, that and not being able to get much exercise.
Whilst having Chemo the steroids and and lack of exercise do put a few pounds on, but you would be surprised to see how much weight you can easily lose when you are up to a bit more activity and you can reduce your regular meals by just a few calories.