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Cancer SUCKS

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  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Gentle hugs from over here too, Ross.

    @Aravis - excellent news! <yipee>
  • @Rossweise

    Hope you slept okay last night as well. Sorry to hear that your pain killing medication has bad side effects. Is this what you were saying elsewhere about morphine and bad dreams?

    Take care, and all my good wishes from here ((((Hugs))))
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    Don't be abstemious with pain relief - just depletes one's resources. I learned that with an Orthopedic Experience.

    Yes, my meds are sorted now thanks
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    I'm taking gabapentin. I just checked the side effects, and was distressed to see that they include edema, which is most annoying. (At least it helps to cover up the pain and stabbing feelings.) Maybe I should just throw in the towel and take the hydrocodone that has somehow filled up most of a shelf in my medicine cabinet.

    Thank you for your good wishes. They help!

  • @Rossweisse
    I've just googled hydrocodone, and can understand why it might be something taken as a last resort. Not sure how common the side effects are - but hope they aren't too burdensome for you ((((Hugs....))))
  • TwilightTwilight Shipmate
    More hugs from me. All drugs have side effects and all side effects suck.
  • Indeed they do. Mine give me muscle weakness and constant tiredness, but that's a smallish price to pay for (a) being warm and upright, and (b) free of seizures.

    {{Rossweisse}}

    Hope you manage to catch up with - and keep - a better sleep pattern.
  • PatdysPatdys Shipmate
    Yep, Yep and yep.
    Don't get too fussed about the lists of side effects. And do talk to your doctors.
    And don't get too hung up on weak drugs and strong drugs. It is about the right dose of the right drug at the right time. And adapting over time. And do talk to your doctors.

    Like all things in life, it is about finding the right balance and adjusting as things change.
    All helped with G+C.*

    *gin and cursing.
    Please note, I will continue to apply G+C regularly on the behalf of all. It is a public service I am happy to provide.
  • Patdys wrote: »
    Yep, Yep and yep.
    It is about the right dose of the right drug at the right time. And adapting over time. And do talk to your doctors.

    Like all things in life, it is about finding the right balance and adjusting as things change.
    Patdys wrote: »
    Yep, Yep and yep.
    Don't get too fussed about the lists of side effects. And do talk to your doctors.
    And don't get too hung up on weak drugs and strong drugs. It is about the right dose of the right drug at the right time. And adapting over time. And do talk to your doctors.

    Like all things in life, it is about finding the right balance and adjusting as things change.
    All helped with G+C.*

    *gin and cursing.
    Please note, I will continue to apply G+C regularly on the behalf of all. It is a public service I am happy to provide.

    Getting the balance right is the hard part, but you don't always have the time when you are deep into the chemical warfare regime - it can get seriously scary very quickly. After I was fired, so to speak, by the oncologist for having a toxic reaction to his weapons, we went home via our local micro brewery, and that has been my medication of choice ever since. Praying, cursing, and carefully calibrated boozing, seem to be a quite satisfactory prescription when the medication fails.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Good red wine (no cabernet, please) remains my drug of choice, but sometimes it just isn't enough.

    Thank you for the hugs! I fear I'm just going to have to Deal With It for the foreseeable future. It is definitely tedious.

  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    edited June 2019
    Getting painful peripheral neuropathy now - feet legs hands.
    Tedious is precisely the word!
    But it's controllable by OTC analgesics in the meantime. Took a while to realise it was that and not just plantar fasciitis/policeman's foot and to get the timing right but got it sorted now. Do a bit of stretching and rolling too.

    I take my drugs in the evening so I sleep through the worst anyway
  • @Galilit Ouch to the neuropathy - I really hated it last year, and it was blessedly brief.

    So sorry to hear it's still so tough - but my daughter is told that she has to manage her pain by taking pain meds sooner rather than later, because not taking it she has worse problems #teamRossweisse
  • @ Rossweise - sounds like you keep an open mind to whatever does you good. BTW I googled cabernet and it sounded rather wonderful (I don't drink). What's wrong with it?

    Galilet - sorry to hear about the peripheral neuropathy, & hope the otc medications make a reasonable improvement.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    Oh no worries - was a prob getting to the self-diagnosis. I have had P.N. 3 times (and for years) on end - but never this bad. Used to be just tingles not ongoing pain.
    Anyway - On the Road now
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    {{{@Galilit}}}
    ...BTW I googled cabernet and it sounded rather wonderful (I don't drink). What's wrong with it? ...
    It tends to be too tannic for my tastes. (I have tried a very expensive Cab that was quite good, but it costs more than even my Major Celebration Indulgence budget will allow.) I prefer a nice Pinot Noir, Côtes du Rhône, or Malbec.

    The lymphedema is getting worse; in addition to the painful swelling, it now includes terrible itching and needle-like stabbing pains almost all of the time. I did take a hydrocodone last night, so that I could sleep through it, and had a major dizzy spell this morning. There has to be something out there that will help with this nonsense, though. I shall keep researching and bugging my docs so they earn their keep.

  • Prayers for all going through the valley of its shadow

    Please pray for L, a friend who was told of her breast cancer diagnosis this morning. It has clearly come as a shock.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    <votive> For L.
  • PatdysPatdys Shipmate
    Ongoing caring, joining the rest of this community.
    I wish there were less names on this thread.
  • caroline444caroline444 Shipmate
    edited June 2019
    Prayers and hugs for Galilet.

    Ross- thank you for the explanation. I like the idea of a Major Celebration Indulgence budget! And yes, too "tannic" sounds unpleasant.

    I'm so sorry that the lymphedema is worsening, and I deeply wish you well in finding something that will improve the situation. Prayers and hugs.....

    ThunderBunk - Prayers too for your friend L. I hope they have caught your friend's breast cancer reasonably early....
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    Cab Sav ( as we kiwi's call it) is a very uneven wine, I find ...

    GIN on the other hand ...

    We are in this awful 4 weeks of the year when the lemons are over and the limes are not yet ripe ... luckily (Proverbs 31:10-31 Woman of Valour that I am) I have frozen cubes of lemon and lime juice ...
  • Good thinking with the frozen cubes!
  • DormouseDormouse Shipmate
    I don't post much, but you are all in my prayers.
    I'm struggling a bit with side effects from the hormonetherapy, but it's nothing compared to what you guys are going through. This is really bastardcancer isn't it?
  • Dormouse wrote: »
    I don't post much, but you are all in my prayers.
    I'm struggling a bit with side effects from the hormonetherapy, but it's nothing compared to what you guys are going through. This is really bastardcancer isn't it?

    Some of us need to remember that cancer isn't the only horrible disease, not by a long shot, and sometimes we need to be gently reminded of it. So thank you for the reminder and the prayers, which are coming your way too.
  • Prayers for all going through the valley of its shadow

    Please pray for L, a friend who was told of her breast cancer diagnosis this morning. It has clearly come as a shock.
    I joined the Macmillan forum a while back - I don't know if it will be of use to your friend L. I catch up every now and again on the one thread I sort of follow, but there are plenty of different questions about various breast cancers there.

  • Thank you @SusanDoris. I'll mention this if I can find an appropriate moment.....
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Some of us need to remember that cancer isn't the only horrible disease, not by a long shot...
    Of course not, but Dormouse is on her difficult hormone therapy because of cancer. Unfortunately, there are more than enough horrible diseases to go around.


  • Rossweisse wrote: »
    Some of us need to remember that cancer isn't the only horrible disease, not by a long shot...
    Of course not, but Dormouse is on her difficult hormone therapy because of cancer. Unfortunately, there are more than enough horrible diseases to go around.


    Ach... I didn't get that... sorry. But some of us - me, for example - can sometimes make too much of cancer and its side effects, and overlook how hard it is for others.
  • idjidj Shipmate Posts: 28
    edited June 2019
    I was on Gabapentin for years for nerve damage due to a spinal fracture and still had to take the morphine with the cancer. I found that I wasn't getting as much value from the Gabapentin when I started with the opiates so I weaned off it. Now I'm Gabapentin-free as the morphine helps the cancer pain AND the neuropathic pain, at least in my case. It has also allowed me to do more things as the combination of it, the opiates and the treatment for my osteoporosis all combine to make me horribly fatigued. Now I'm less tired and have better days. I still have to sleep more than others I know but I don't feel that every bit of energy is sucked out of me anymore.

    {{Rossweisse}}

    Hoping and praying for good things for you, and for all those suffering from this myriad of diseases called cancer!
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    I'm not keen on gabapentin. It just doesn't do much for me.

    (((idj)))
  • AmosAmos Shipmate
    ((((Ross)))) ((((Galilit))) ((((Dormouse)))) Oh, God, and all the other beloved shipmates.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Thank you, dear ((((Amos)))).
  • Just lost my closest friend to cancer aged just 50. You bet it sucks.
  • So sorry Phantom, it does indeed suck, for both those who have it and those who love them.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Sorry to hear of your friend, PFF - 50 is indeed too young. One of D's colleagues has just lost her husband (aged 69) to cancer - there's no right age, is there?

    Sod it. :cry:
  • It really strikes home when it's a close friend, and perhaps especially if they have been battling with something for a while. May he or she rest in peace.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    The first person I knew who died of cancer was a dear friend who died at age 40 of breast cancer, leaving a hapless husband and two little boys, all of whom needed her desperately.

    I am sorry to hear about your friend, @Phantom_Flan_Flinger. There is really no good age.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    I've been trying to deal with this all day, and I'm not doing very well: This morning I was informed by an OT that lymphedema is (a) incurable and (b) progressive. I had hoped to get over it by doing All The Right Things, but it seems it can only be mitigated somewhat.

    Between that and (painful) neuropathy, I'm having a lot of difficulty. I've tried to be cheerful (well, snarky) about the cancer all along, but if one more well-meaning but less-than-knowledgeable person tells me, "You'll be a lot better off if you're positive!" I may scream. And if I do, I will use my opera voice.

  • Oh, I'm so sorry Ross. What horribly depressing news.

    Feel free to scream in your opera voice as much as you want to. ((((Hugs)))), ((((Hugs)))) ((((Hugs....))))
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    {{{Ross}}}
  • LothlorienLothlorien Glory
    edited June 2019
    A family member had double mastectomy and full reconstruction. Then another lump removed from under arm. She developed lymphoedema on that arm which lasted a couple of years and then disappeared. She has had more returns but no more swelling. That was between 15-20 ago and she has been ok since then. More lumps but no more swelling.
  • Please use your opera voice. People who say rude things deserve it (well, the volume at least, not the quality!).

    Does the doctor agree with this so-cheerful description the OT gave you? I've known therapists to overstate their opinions before.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    So sorry to read this, Rossweisse. Go for those ear-splitting arias.
  • Please use your opera voice. People who say rude things deserve it (well, the volume at least, not the quality!).

    Does the doctor agree with this so-cheerful description the OT gave you? I've known therapists to overstate their opinions before.

    If the lymph nodes are damaged by disease or missing because of surgery, then the bastard lymphoedema is here to stay, as there's no way to pump the lymphatic fluid out of the limb. Massage helps a bit, but you can't do it all day and every day. Compression stockings and sleeves help people who are able to use them, but there's no cure. Intensive swearing is helpful, but I haven't worked my way up to operatic screaming yet - good for Rossweisse! As someone pointed out earlier, it comes down to praying and cursing.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    Oh dear!

    Lymphodema was my fear back in 1996. Had a few incidences (after lifting things) but it went away after 10 days. I imagined it returning a few times and had to talk very sternly to myself and use a tape measure. The mother of a friend does some massage machine thing at 4 am every day (she wakes up, straps on a band and goes back to sleep and it is her routine even though it was a bit annoying at the beginning - IIRC she was ill around the same time as me but in the US). Perhaps to ask about that ...

    I agree - I believe that by the time you get to Stage IV, mets, etc the keeping mentally positive thing is pointless medically. I mean you are at the End of the Road and nothing (except straight medicine) affects your actual disease. "People" can be most annoying and I took a VOW not to be so polite This Time Around when people suggested Silly Things or made stupid comments. It (the VOW) has helped a lot because I don't waste energy or hold things in ...
  • Dear Cancer,

    Get the fuck out of my Dad right now or so fucking help me I will find a way to incarnate the very concept of you into sentient flesh and then spend the rest of my life torturing the ever-living shit out of it.

    Your call.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Please use your opera voice. People who say rude things deserve it (well, the volume at least, not the quality!).
    I would never scream. But I might well sing fff.
    Does the doctor agree with this so-cheerful description the OT gave you? I've known therapists to overstate their opinions before.
    This one was printed on a poster in the treatment room. I asked about it, and was informed (more or less) that it was A True Saying, and Worthy of All to Be Believed.
    Galilit wrote: »
    Oh dear! ... I agree - I believe that by the time you get to Stage IV, mets, etc the keeping mentally positive thing is pointless medically. I mean you are at the End of the Road and nothing (except straight medicine) affects your actual disease. ...
    I vow to remain snarky until the end. (And I will try not to post when I'm feeling low. My apologies!)


  • Please post when you are feeling low. It will give me licence to do the same. ((((Ross))))
  • Sucky sucky sucky suck suck suck. Yes, post when you are low. (That way I know when to come bother you...)
  • PatdysPatdys Shipmate
    edited June 2019
    Ross, post whenever the hell you want.
    Like all on this thread we have signed up to listen to the good, the bad and the frustrating.

    I just reread my first post from March 18 on this thread.

    Just a quick post to say cancer still sucks. Some of us read this thread to pray and curse the injustice.
    I believe God gives a shit.
    So do we.


    If anything, my observation is that we care even more.
    My thanks to all who share on this thread.
    My prayers for all.
  • Not sure about God, or where s/he comes into the equation. It's hard to credit that s/he created The Big C, but there yer go...

    Either way, GIN and Cursing (and/or Singing fortissimo) remains a Good Idea.
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