About anniem

MyheroCoolSpy

That's the only thing we can do while chasing for our lives. Always do something that would make you happy and learn to appreciate little things.

ph1966

I've been in remission from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for the last ten monhs. I work in child care and it has been challenging to deal with the physical part of my job. Emotionally I find it very rewarding, that's what keeps me coming back. I'm enjoying being part of a dynamic team and I like working with the other girls. My specialist told me the neuropathy in my feet will eventually subside so I deal with the stiffness and tingling in my feet. The stiffness in my right leg is mostly from falling twice during my chemo treatment and my leg is still not quite right but the doctor said that will also get better. I'm nowhere near 100% but I feel lucky to get another shot at life and to get back to the job I didn't get a chance to enjoy when I was diagnosed in October last year. I work on a permanent part time basis for the moment and have asked that I do no more than 4 shifts a week until I am better. It's also great for my family to have me back after all those health problems, I have two children in their late teens and their lives were turned upside down when I got sick. All in all I am happy and look forward to the future, I still fear the lymphoma coming back but I try not to focus on it as it will detract from the quality of my life now that I am trying to get on with things.

anniem

Hey what did you think was the burning question after tonights session? Lots of questions around fatigue, gaps in resume, how to talk to work colleagues and disclosure..anything else we should talk about tonight?

Jules2

Hi Annie I very much hear and relate to what you are saying about returning to work and feeling valued. Everyone, whether they be a carer or patient needs to be valued for who they are rather than their current experience that they are going through. When I returned to work somehow slowly but surely I ceased to be a cancer patient for periods of my day. It is important to be able to feel that way! I think that you would have done the best job you could at the time. All of us can look back with hindsite and yet we are not born with that. Tis a wonderful thing for future experiences - just not totally helpful for current situations. So I would take the conflict away and actually start being nice to yourself. I am quite sure you wouldn't treat someone else as harshly as you are treating yourself. :) People do have expectations and pre conditioned thoughts as to how one should be in any given situation. Sad but true and I am glad to claim to break the mold on occasions. An interesting convo, Annie and thank you for bringing it to the table!! Julie

anniem

Hi everyone, Re introducing myself to you all after a quiet period online. Im Annie Miller and Manager of the Cancer Survivorship Unit at Cancer Council NSW. Put simply our unit is here for you to "Help Life get Better" and if we cant directly assist you we can certainly try to link you up to the relevant services and provide you with as much information and support as we can. Yes we are in NSW but we can still help navigate through the country and beyond plus the more we can all share online the less isolated you may feel. With my personal "hat" on, I have had 6.5 years very hands on experience as a carer and being on the "other" side of the consulting desk certainly was a good inspiration for me to do the work I do. There were many dark lonely exhausting times but one thing I did find worked for me was to blog online between midnight and 4am which gave me great solace. Looking forward to much more activity online and working behind the scenes to get things happening on our website and certainly with the team, building the Young Adults 18 - 45 work in to day to day activity. If you are a young adult, check out the latest conversation following on from our workshops over the last month and join in, even if you didnt attend. There are lots of wonderful people to chat to and we can catch you up with tip and strategies that were shared http://www.cancerconnections.com.au/content/sht-cancer-dumps Be back soon and if there is anything we can assist you with or you want to chat about, put it out there Cheers Annie

Meiron

It was so lovely catching up with you all on Saturday and to see how well you're doing. A big well done for all your efforts in using the techniques and hope that the GP mindset is starting to creep into your awareness :) It is so wonderful to see (when we look for it) how many opportunities there are to feel grateful and that even the seemingly insignificant events can have great impact. Ben, what a great video clip. Thanks so much for sharing. Kirsten, well done for taking on the 21 day challenge! Awesome! I thought I would share this great quote with you. "Sometimes you're not given what you want because something better is planned for you instead." I wish you a happy and peaceful week. Meiron

jules_jp

Hi Traveller, How are you? Well done on making it this far and getting through treatment. I've posted separately on the young BC section about friendship and survivorship. It would be lovely if your friends called or invited you to lunch or coffee etc wouldn't it - I mean how hard could that be? Treat you the same as before cancer (except that you may not be able to go out and party all day/night like you used to)- YET! What helped me (besides time) was work out what makes me happy, do the things I enjoy doing and be around people who understand cancer etc. In the process I made new friends and quality of life is much richer and meaningful. I managed to retain only a few friends (usually by email) from my life before cancer.

stevec

I just found an online cancer terminology dictionary: http://www.cancer.gov/dictionary Its got a definition for just about everything. Here's the definition for survivor: survivor (ser-VY-ver) "One who remains alive and continues to function during and after overcoming a serious hardship or life-threatening disease. In cancer, a person is considered to be a survivor from the time of diagnosis until the end of life."

margro

Hi Jenny, Way to go...9yrs!!I was told I wouldn't last 6wks and in Sept it will be 3yrs! Aren't dogs the best thing ever invented?I walk my 2 babies every morning on the beach(off leash beach)and no matter how lousy I feel when I get up,that is one thing I know will make me feel better. Like you,I lost a lot of weight very quickly(14ks in 2wks and I was only 55k to start with)and because of the scar from surgery etc,I had a lot of body image issues.Walking everyday has helped with toning and that is an added bonus. Keep up the good work

margro

thank you

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