you could get them to colour you in with highlighters, whiteboard markers and different coloured tippex. photos? ... View more

you could get them to colour you in with highlighters, whiteboard markers and different coloured tippex. photos? ... View more

I agree entirely and if you kept moving south you'd praise CCV as well, as I do every time I log on here. I find that when I discover something that works for me I let it influence me in a subtle way. I do not want to talk about it, I want to feel it influencing me. The period in time before that happens is usually full of talk, angst, mouthing off and questions. But when I find something that covers all of that like a warm blanket I notice I stop venting and really enjoy the experience of having something working for me. This site is like that for me. I keep coming back looking for engagement like this. It's healthy. H ... View more

Hi Rachel I had ten months off work between April 07 and February 08. Returning to work was a big thing for me as it had come to represent my capacity to live with cancer. All the time I was off work I fretted about the future so actually making it back there became evidence of me actually having a future. That was OK for a while. I have only last week resigned from work as I have other health issues that have come up since those days and I have come to a position that places less emphasis on participation in social/society/workplace things. These days I'd much rather be at home reading, writing and blogging than going to work, so it has been possible to give it up. Not that I didn't resit doing that, because I did resist it quite strongly. And not that I can afford to, becaue I can't! I would say there is no model for you here. Just like everyone reacts differently to diagnosis and treatment, people will react differently to returning to work. One question: for you is it about 'going back' to work or about 'going forward' to work? Your answer to that question might provide you with much better information than someone else's experience. H ... View more

Well said Sailor. As John Diamaond and Pamela Bone have both said, they are alternative because they don't work. If they worked, they would be mainstreamed and not be called alternative any more. And lack of clinical trials gets used as evidence of success, would you believe. For example, because chemo did not work for the friend of a friend I heard about, that means that apricot pips cure cancer. H ... View more

Hi Allicat I'm pretty much doing the same thing as you and it has been going on for a few years now. The adjustments to be made post treatment are pretty extensive and I've realised that lots of them are not to do with recovering from treatment at all. Other parts of life are affected whislt treatment is going on and eventually they stop providing the 'holding pattern'. Things like intimate relationships, work, dreams and family all require attention on their own terms. By that I mean they either fit in with what you need to do from now on or they don't. The very idea of 'going back to work' is a misnomer in a way. Rather it is a question of 'do I want to work in the future' and if so then plan for that here and now and for the future, not as a 'going back'. I have felt nervous about the workplaces expectations for four years and it is only just now coming to a point of resolution for me - and them. I thought I would metion that as a supprotive thing for you at the moment. This is not going to go away, believe me, so back your judgment and go with how you actually feel about it all. For example, the not setting your alarm thing is possibly an indicator that you need to let your body determine what you are able to do, not outside expectations. Therefore, the question is "Does a rigorous work routine fit in with what i need to be dong at the moment". The answer sounds like "No" for you. That's how it was for me for two, maybe three years. Even so, I am finding more and more that the expectations I have had re all of that have been placed on myself by none other than - me! The anxiety and nervousness has pretty much been self-inflicted. This is being said from a bit more of a retrospective point of view than you have available to you at the moment, I know. I just noticed that you are thinking about the same things I have been mulling over for a long long time so I thought I would mention where I am at with those things. For what they're worth. And you have surgery and recovery to come. Throw the bloody alarm clock away! H ... View more

I find that if I give something I get a lot more back later on. H ... View more

MacaRina The first thing I knew about multiple myeloma was a realisation that I would have to correct people who thought I had melanoma. I am 56, 52 when diagnosed, and I was told I was relatively young to have the condition. So, early thirties does seem relatively young to me. The second thing I knew about MM was that it can weaken bones, as I fractured ribs very soon after diagnosis - no I wasn't doing the "MacaRina" - I was loading the dishwasher. No more macarina for him, I'm afraid, unless he's had a scan showing all clear. I had actually been told not to do any housework but I didn't listen. Theree's plenty I can say, fur sure. Send me a private message or ask here. I am happy either way. H ... View more

you are not alone ... View more

It had never occurred to me to search for specialists. I simply took the advice of my GP for the first referral and from there all the way down the line (and, believe, it has become a long line) I did the same thing. I do not think I have had a dud. What is most impressive is that they are all readily communicating with each other, ie. paying staff to type up and send out post-consultation letters to everyone else on my team, which is now quite a good starting line up and includes an oncologist, nephrologist, urologist, physician and a professor or two. I am sure it has not been like that for everyone. But I do not think would ever have shopped around. I would not have known what to ask. I might read the article you linked to find out more about that. H ... View more