Hi Albundy    I'm back in hospital. Cycle 2 and 3 Capecitabine are my problem. I don't get a metallic taste. Water just tastes off so I am struggling with fluid intake, but then my gut just stops absorbing it. It's been 6 days since my Oxaliplatin so those side effects are setting already, but 3rd cycle was a tough infusion.   Hang in there buddy. You've hit the hump.   Take care.     ... View more

Hi Fergie, thank you for your message and that's such great news about your 5 year mark!  Yes it's not always a death sentence thankfully, even those at first being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer it felt that way. Good luck to you also, keep well now and into the future, Marg. ... View more

Hello Nicole Absolutely explode away! You deserve it. Wow what a load you are carrying. You seem to be doing so well with your load and your strength in your ability to cope is feeding that as I see it but we are all vessels and at some stage a vessel can become empty. Hence I do hope that at some point you are doing some things that nurture you. It is really important for you to take that time for yourself if you want to maintain your strong self. I feel for you.  My partner has stage 4 rectal cancer and we dont know from kne week to the next if he will be around much longer. He has fought it for 5 and half years and is still going. It metastisized to the lymph and liver and he has had so many chemo doses that he has been in hospital twice now with UTI's which really knocked him about. Yeh, as you say Nicole, it sucks. Good on you for 'exploding' Ha! We all need to do that when under such emotional strain.  Glassfull ... View more

Hi Shane, wishing you all the very best for the 7weeks of treatment,  will be following your Vblog. My husband (a fellow Aussi) was diagnised with a stage 1 HPV related base of tongue cancer in june this year and he is currently completing this 7 weeks of chemo and radiation, has 1.5 weeks to go. We live in New York. His biggest issue currently is mucosis and a comlete loss of appetite, getting calories into him is a struggle. But mucosis is a hard thing to cope with, keeps him awake at nights as he constantly needs to clear his throat and the amount of phlegm produced by his throat is massive, like a factory down there. We are trying all sorts of things - salty gargles, Mucinex, humidifyer etc. So far not much is helping. Thanks, M ... View more

Hi Jerry   He looks every ounce a buddy; and a family member. Looks like you've got an SG sitting there in the background.   Thanks for posting the photo. How have you been going?    I've been suffering chemo blues lately. It's a drag. I try not to complain about a drug that could be saving my life, but it gives me a lot to complain about. On the other hand, it silences my own motivation to  complain.   Take care. Keep posting. Tell me about your guitar.   Cheers   Phil ... View more

This experience is like walking into another dimension for you hey? Usually you have the, I guess comfort and stability of seeing through your eyes as a nurse and at other people's journeys. But now you have been flung into this enormous abyss where there isn't anywhere it seems to get a foot hold.  Well I hope these forums help you grasp that hold.  The hospital will have a psychologist on board to help your husband. If you check in with them they will help you or find a colleague who can. The team here at the Cancer Council have also put us in touch with a local counselor who we are about to start seeing. In our case though it is about managing the family dynamic; the behaviour prior to diagnosis which hasn't changed which puts enormous strain on us. You will know that nurses are a wonderful source of care and knowledge and this is where you will find much...from the oncology nurses. My daughter in law is one. She has been amazing for my stepson, her brother in law. Her team has been awesome in helping us all through his anxiety and although he really pushed their buttons by referring to Dr Google as the expert they were great.    Please make a point of checking in with us as you progress through this please 🙂 ... View more

I'm sorry for your loss. I can tell you I know exactly how you felt. I didn't want anyone hugging me because I was afraid I would break down. I shed enough tears when o was alone but I had to remain strong.  I wanted to run when someone would approach me. I could not lose it until I was ready. It is also one of the things we are able to control since we couldn't control the cancer. Please don't let it haunt you anymore, cancer has robbed us enough. You felt what you felt and you are allowed to feel what you want or need to feel. After losing my parents I felt like an orphan even though I'm an adult, this is also normal. Grief lasts a lifetime because grief is a testament of the love we feel. ... View more

Hi tina80,   Congratulations on getting so far in both beating cancer and in recovering from the effects of chemo. It is quite an achievement to get through the surgery and the chemo. I am surprised that if you had stomach pains and blood in your stool for sometime, that they didn't do a colonscopy a lot sooner. But I'm no doctor.   I was 40  (I just looked it up - almost 2 years ago!) when I was diagnosed with bowel cancer, and had a total colectomy and 12 cycles (6 months) of chemo. My last month of chemo involved some nasty side effects. Most of the feeling has come back to my fingers (most, not all) and I have about 70% of the feeling in my feet. Oh well. One of the things that has been proven to help with neuropathy in your feet, is walking and running. This really does help.   Yes, the fatigue is still there. Glad I'm not the only one here with it still. I was beginning to wonder...   As for the bowel habits, in my experience I've find that I had to play around with a few variables. Eating different foods and different amounts of fibre in the food. Timing when you eat Training your bowel I found that some foods are processed at different speeds in my bowel and I'll need to go to the toilet quite quickly. Work out what these are and avoid them if you need to sit on the train or attend a work meeting. For example, I love weetbix. However, they are "in and out". WIthin 20 minutes of eating them, I'm on the loo.   Work out what foods are processed at different speeds, and then if you have a meeting in an hour, avoid foods that are going to be processed quickly OR eat them well before your meeting starts. This way you can try and time and plan your toilet breaks/stops.   Let me conflude by saying that I believe in you. I believe that you can strive for more improvements. I think you will find improvements by exercising where and how you can. This might be just be by walking. Also try some meditation and doing things that you enjoy.   Let me know if you have further questions. -sch     ... View more

Hi StayPositive, Let me think back (briefly) to my diagnoses and the rational I went through and see if that helps, because we're similar enough.   I was diagnosed following a colonoscopy and was referred to a specialist surgeon. The original diagnosis was that the cancer was caught early, and that I may not even have to have chemo. They would see after surgery.   After my surgery, they found the tumour had made it through the wall of the large bowel and was nudging up against 1 or 2 lymph nodes, but they were unsure if it had made it into the lymph node.   Prior to my surgery my surgeon had presented me with a number of options for treatment. Keep my large bowel and CT scan every 3 months for 2 years. He acknowledged that statistically if the cancer was going to come back, it would come back in the same place. Remove the large bowel and regular CT scan. Remove the large bowel and chemotherapy for 6 months (12 cycles) after I had recovered from surgery. Like yourself, this was only a 2% drop in risk. Because I was young (OK - I'm calling 40 young) when diagnosed with bowel cancer and because I have lynch syndrome (HNPCC) I elected to take a reasonably aggressive stance because the chances of it coming back were high. 2% drop in the risk of cancer, given my circuimstances seem pretty damn good to me, because my of age and situation and because the risk of the cancer coming back in 5 or 10 years time was quite high.   I hope this helps you.   -sch               ... View more