Hi June, I'm really sorry about your diagnosis.  It is a shock.  It is terrible news and it throws your world out of balance completely.  The worst part is our fear for our families and how this effects our parter and children.     However, you have to find balance and hope.  I looked for survival stories and good research on the tumour.  This helped.  Staying strong and being as physically fit as you can be to prepare for surgery is important.  Try an olive leaf tablet every day as this will boost your immune system which is compromised right now.  Lots of juices and smoothies.  Marinate ginger cut up and soaked with boiling water.   Use the cooled liquid the next day and sip it often.  It will restore your emotional balance and also has other wondrous effects.  (Look it up).  Look for happiness right now.  Find things that make you happy.  When I looked for happiness during the pre surgery days, the only thing that could make me happier was another dog.  As I already had two dogs, there was nothing I needed to make me happier.  I had it all as you probably do as well.  Enjoy what you have and be happy about it.     ACC is not a death sentence.  Yes, it is terrifying.  The scary fact about the tumour is that it will come back.  There is no if.  It may not come back for 15 years.  Hopefully the surgery this time will give you clear margins at biopsy.  That would be a great outcome for you and it is possible.  My surgeon told me he thinks he got me a "cure" as the margins were clear.  I'm not sure I believe that but some days I tell myself that.  Maybe he's right.  I was T2M0N0 so that is a great outcome.     I'm about 5 weeks post radiotherapy.  My mouth is dry, dry, dry, no taste buds, no appetite and the mouth feels stiff and very uncomfortable.  I am hoping that this improves as it is easy to go without eating at all and that's not good but i'm finding it harder and harder to force myself to eat.  I have to drink constantly or suck on a lolly to keep my mouth manageable.  Mouth washes that are for dry mouths are good too.  It's not painful so there's nothing I can take to make it feel better.     If you are going to Epworth hospital I'm sure you have excellent professionals looking after you.  I could recommend my surgeon and the Alfred Hospital but there in Dandenong and Prahran.  Ask the questions at the Epworth.  Do they think you would be better off at the Peter MacCallum?  It's hard to know but whoever you have - you need to feel confident in their skills, experience and ability.  That will help greatly when it is time to give yourself over to them for the surgery.  I was scared silly about the surgery until I kept telling myself that these people - this team - surgeons, plastic surgeons, anaesthetists - were absolutely the best team I could ask for and that I could trust them to give me the best outcome which they did.   Good luck.  It's a glib saying.  I wish you strength, courage and positivity to get through what lays ahead.  Lt me know if you would like to stay in contact and I'll email you my mobile number.     ... View more

Thank you guys.   Yes.  Best thread ever!  You're exactly right Claire and I will try to think of low energy that way.  My body protecting me.  I have learned to stop saying Good whenever anyone asks me how I am.  I've learned that I have to be a bit more forthright in future.  I did think at one point in the day that my mouth felt better but then remembered I'd eaten two ice creams to  ease the burning.  Perhaps not quit better yet but am more positive that it will get better.     I drove to the kindergarten in pouring rain and howling wind.  Rugged up but cold.  The child was not at kindergarten and I felt embarrassed to not know that.  I messaged her mother and her father called me.  Their cry for help last week was a one of and did not mean that they wanted me to go back to picking her up full time again.  I was quite relieved and happy to not have that put back on me right now.     Claire you did not go Wa-Waa!  Definitely.  I have been quite firm about not having a child for a week while her parents go on holidays to QLD.  I have agreed to have their dogs but a child is just too much right now. I'm trying to convince her parents to just take her with them.   It's still a little in the air but I will just have to hold firm.  Having a visitor to stay next week absolutely frightens me.  I am completely boring.  Have been nowhere and seen no one.  Have been hibernating full time.  I really don't know what to do with a person.  This  is even scarier than a school child!      The knitting has been therapeutic so the people who need a scarf will be doing me a favour.  I did cook a massive batch of spaghetti bolognese.  Had a little for lunch and it was scrumptious but a bit of it stuck on the way down and that was the end of it.  Perhaps a little too adventurous still.  Anyway, have frozen 4 meals of it as I have no idea what to cook for my visitor next week.  It was exhausting and luckily my husband did the dishes when he arrived home.   I might just make soup tomorrow because I have to start eating again.     I am hopeful things improve soon.  My neck has totally and finally healed so that is really good.  Small steps every day, I hope.  Thank you.  Your responses made me teary, smile and laugh.  Always good.         ... View more

Hi guys,   Hope you're all feeling a little better today.  Horrible rain and cold today (Thursday).  I have an olive tree too in the garden but no olives as yet.  Just bought a small star anise tree and for some reason, that makes me incredibly happy.     I have been a misery guts lately.  On Monday my husband said to me - You got dressed today?  Well done.  Ha ha!  I hadn't realised how miserable I've been until then.  My mouth feels like - I don't know what.  Something horrible, alien, hot, uncomfortable.  Surgeon said last Friday that he was surprised I was still feeling the after effects of Radiotherapy.  I spiralled down then because I thought - if this is how it will always be - I don't want it.  Luckily, on Monday I looked up after effects and they can last for 6-8 weeks so less miserable now.  I have had to make a pact with myself to drink 2 of the chocolate nutritional drinks every day as that's about all I'm having.  I just can't eat and have no interest in food at all.  Hard to have any energy right now.     Today I'm going to start cooking for the first time in forever as I have a friend coming to stay from QLD and my sister is coming also from QLD in November.  I need to lift myself up by my bootstraps and get on with things.  I'm finding it hard to say no to people to have their children, pick up, drop off, feed and entertain.  I have to keep saying no as my children all think that I'm over it all and back happy and healthy.  That's a little bit far from the truth but I am doing one big drive and pick up of a kindergarten aged child once a week and am finding just that, really daunting.     Sorry.  All sounds a bit bleak and I should be really grateful just to have survived.  I want to do more than survive though.  I want to bounce back and feel like myself again and that's just not happening right now.   Hope you all have a great day and I know I'm going to work hard today to start feeling more "normal" again.   P.S. I have knitted 5 scarves, in the middle of 1 and 1 more to go.  I don't need any scarves but wanted to use up left over wool.  All my anxiety are knitted into the scarves and I'll give them to new homes next year.  It soothes me to have my hands busy.   ... View more

There are actually two really good books.  Healing foods I've used for many years and the second one is great for extra boosted nutrition during treatment.  Hope they help you.   ... View more

Hi DF,   I'm really sorry that this has happened to you.  Must be terribly painful and difficult to heal.  I advise everyone to get onto olive leaf tablet daily.  It will help your immune system fight the battle of your life.  Lots of juices.  Especially watermelon juice to cleanse the toxins out of your body.  Radiation builds up so you need to be vigilant.  Ginger chopped up.  Pour boiling water over to and let it marinate overnight.  Strain and use as your drinking water.     Will help to balance out all your emotions, great body help and good for preventing nausea and vomiting.    Make lots of soups as you will need excellent nutrition even when you have no appetite or taste buds.  I will post a picture of a great book for you when I can.   I wish you great success in getting through this.  Let us know how you are going as it helps to talk to people who are on the same journey as you.  Good luck. x         ... View more

Good morning et all!   I'm really sorry for those feeling terrible.  It's a long weekend in Victoria.  I love it.  Extra time for families to be together.  I went to the climate change demonstration with my grand child the week before last.  Was a little more tiring than I thought it would be.  I've had a big week with grandchildren on school holidays too.  Yesterday I went to the Prahran market and was thoroughly tired afterwards.  A good tired.  Rested and recovered well.  Every day is a bit better.  Bought artichokes to make soup which should be wonderfully healing and today am making the Jamie Oliver vegetable shepherd's pie.  I think my taste buds are just coming back slowly.  Sense of smell is better too.     I don't know what to say about chemically induced menopause.  It must be so hard on top of everything else.  When I went through menopause naturally, I realised how much women are affected by their hormones.  From 12-14 onwards (sometimes earlier) to 40's and 50's.  Jut know that once you are through it, you will take a huge breath and sigh out sheer relief.  It's over and done.  Thank goodness.  Life now becomes steady and "normal" with no great highs and lows from hormones.     I am really enjoying my garden right now and it's looking good.  The cherry, peach, crab apple, mandarine, lemon and lime trees are all blossoming beautifully.  In the last two years of my mother's life, she went blind from cataracts and was too frail for surgery.  I stopped buying her flowers because she could not see them anymore.  To help with the sadness of seeing her each week, I went to a nursery on the way home.  The money I would normally spend on flowers, I spent on plants and bulbs.  I'd tell my mother each week what I had planted and how things were going.  I planted lots and lots of clematis and we built big frames in front of the side fence.  We're going to entwine the plants into each other when  they're big enough and have almost every colour, to make a wall of colour for spring and summer.  Whenever I see all the bulbs - daffodils, crocus, etc., I am happy that my garden is a small legacy from my mother.  Sometimes it is the small things that bring us the greatest happiness.     I hope that every day you can all find some happiness even in the smallest way.  Especially through music and dance, love and friendship, trials and tribulations.  We're here.  It will get better and every day we have to make it better, somehow.  Have a lovely Sunday and may the sun shine on you and yours. x ... View more

Hi MM,   Forgot to say that I'm in Victoria so don't know any specialists in Sydney but am sure there are plenty of them. ... View more

So sorry about your diagnosis MM.  It is an absolute curve ball.  To be diagnosed within a year is really good and T1 is an excellent result.  You've already gone through the surgery which must have been rough.  I found the radiotherapy ok but daunting to have 30 sessions and attending every day.  I am 2/52 post radiotherapy and feeling good.  Everyone warned me that the worst was to come in the few weeks after radiotherapy.  It hasn't been too bad.  Mouth seems a bit stiffer and uncomfortable this week.  My neck is healing but it has taken longer than I thought for the radiation burn to work its way through the skin.  Almost there though.  PET scan is good to make sure you have no metastases which you probably won't seeing you were diagnosed in a reasonable time frame.     I thought I was fit and healthy  and doing most of the right things.  Just retired.  It's a bit of a slap in the face to be diagnosed and makes you question everything.  I have no appetite at the moment and no taste buds.  I'm completely disinterested in food and am happy about it as I don't have to second guess everything.  I wonder if this is how my mouth and jaw will always feel now.  If it is -  Yikes!  I don't like it at all.     Things will slowly work out.  Patience is not a virtue I actually possess but hopefully you are good at it.  There are good stories out there about this diagnosis and quite a bit of information.  Keep googling but only use reputable sites.  There's lots of good advice in the endometrial cancer thread.  Might help you.     I wish you success, good fortune and luck throughout the course.  Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.   ... View more

Another essay for you!! ... View more

Hi Phil,   A long, scary and quite overwhelming journey ahead of you.  I'm amazed that so many people go to their appointment every day.  It takes great courage.  It's definitely not for the feint hearted.  I saw young and much older patients waiting for radiation.  Some were very, very sick and had already probably had chemotherapy.  Some were hospitalised as the treatment was too much for their bodies.  I always went to appointments earlier than I needed to as my husband was anxious to get me there and get to work.  It was good as they'd often fit me in quickly as I was a quick and able patient.     There's a ramp that goes downward toward the main hospital that you travel on to get out.   My husband would sit on a chair at the bottom of the ramp and wait for me sometimes.  Once, he wanted me to sit next to him and read something in the paper.  HELL NO!!  I was on a trajectory to get out of the hospital and there was no way I could sit for a minute.  The nurses told me that if the skin on my neck broke I would have to come and see them to have it dressed.  HELL NO!!  Hell would have to freeze over before I did that.     I have never been so grateful, in my whole life, that something was over.    As you know. finished treatment last Wednesday. Thursday, the radiation burn travelled further along my neck and Friday too.  A good weekend.  Monday would be my new normal and it just wasn't.  It was the same sort of thing.   Cream on neck, swilling horrible stuff in my mouth to help it heal and eating almost northing as no appetite and no taste buds.  I did buy petrol for the first time in 9 weeks.  Bit of a bonus money saving program but one I wished I hadn't had.     Today, I've had a pretty good back to normal.  I actually went to a big shopping centre nearby and bought fruit, vegetables and baking stuff.  Parked my car miles away from where I needed to be and like my normal self, managed to lug all the shopping bags back to the car without stopping.  Made me realise I am much stronger than I thought right now.  I think normal means doing small tasks that allow you to trust your body again.  It's similar to a betrayal by my body but I can't break up with it.  We need to move on and trust that every day will get easier.     Normal will also mean just enjoying the smallest of things.  Dogs curled up, sleeping around you while you type away to your C friends.  Rain on the roof, bit of snow is good too but we didn't get any.  Relationships and friendships are really important too.  Food is not a help right now and I certainly hope I can get through the next few months without eating much.  I am almost sick of chicken broth. Almost.  Have found a baked potato in its skin and baked beans in sauce help to make it go down.  Not something I would have eaten before.  I cannot look at a boiled egg ever again.  Icecream tastes like nothing.  Can't eat any more jelly.     I do have one good thing to share with you.  My father had many of his fingers blown off dismantling a bomb at the end of WW11.  (That's not the good thing).   It was difficult for him to eat with a knife and fork.  He mainly ate with a fork or spoon.   My mum cut everyone's meat up really finely, always.  There are a couple of Dutch dishes that really worked well for this.  One is a big pot of potatoes, carrots and one oinion - boiled to very soft.  Bacon fried in a frypan with butter but you have to take it to the almost crunchy state.  You then pour the bacon, butter and bacon fat into your drained potatoes and carrots.  Mash together.  We used to have Rookwurst with it but over the years the taste of it has scaled right down to nothingness so we don't buy it anymore.   If I make it, I usually make t-bone steaks or eye fillet to have with it.  You would not believe how good that onion with the potato and carrots taste.  My parents ate that all through the year, possibly weekly.  (They never adjusted their diets to Australian conditions).  I'd make it once possibly in winter and my children loved it.  Another variation is swapping carrots for endive.  It is now one of my grandchildren's favourite meals.  When my eldest son moved into his own house with his wife, the first dish they cooked was endive and potatoes and invited us over for dinner.  Very sweet!   The reason I'm telling you this is that I made a big pot of the carrots and potatoes.  It was divine.  For someone who had not been able to eat anything very substantial, it was excellent and I felt full.  No meat with it but I didn't need it.  This dish is even better fried up the next day for lunch.  I would have had heaps but some of the grandchildren were very hungry after school and polished it off.   It's called Hutspot.  Do try it in winter.  It will warm you up and stick to your ribs.     I hope normal comes to you soon Phil.  You'll get there and I am glad Gen is going with you to make sure you get there.       ... View more