Hi Madass   I recommend going to a GP and tell them you are concerned about cancer and ask for a colonoscopy. If they don't send you, demand it or find another GP. The sooner you catch cancer, the less treatment you'll need.   I was under the impression that blood tests will detect bowel cancer and I'd been getting regular blood tests for several years to keep it in check. As it turns out, if you detect in your blood, it's no longer just bowel cancer. Colonoscopies don't hurt and are life saving.   A number of cancers will slip through blood tests including anal cancer. Check your dignity at the door and do what you must. Timing really matters.   I hope you've already had a check up and it was good news. Don't be afraid to come back to this site and share your experience, even if it is a positive outcome. People here like happy ending stories too.   All the best   Phil ... View more

There are some strange thoughts out there. I once had a woman tell me that if I spent some time in nature, hugging trees & foraging for my food, that it would cure my cancer!  That & having some guru gaze at me through a computer screen.    Whilst I do believe in eating well & I love nature I don’t believe that people should go around saying it’s going to cure you.  At the end of the day, I think if you’re going to use alternative therapies it should be done in conjunction with recognised treatments & with the supervision of your oncologist.  ... View more

It’s a question I’ve often contemplated.   i was diagnosed with Stage 3B melanoma in Sept. 2016 and had a full inguinal removal in Dec. 2016.i was fortunate enough to qualify for a Targeted Gene Therapy trial 5rough the Melanoma Institute of Australia in Sydney and I have been told I’m ‘cancer free’.  My first 3 month check up following the finish of my treatment is coming up in a week’s time and I’m terrified. Despite feeling fine physically, it’s like having a monkey on my back when I think about my health and the possibility of it returning. Luckily, I keep my self active and don’t dwell on the negative thoughts but I can’t help wondering how I navigate the next few days before my tests and oncologist appointment.   ... View more

Hi @Lynx There's also an organisation in Queensland who will probably have some answers for you and can offer really good support - here's a link to their website:   https://melanomapatients.org.au/ @Gab_CCNSW   ... View more

Numbers, numbers, numbers. I can't even get corroborating printouts of my test results. Saw them online at an appointment, asked later for the nurse to print me out a copy, different numbers. They stuffed up my treatment several treatments ago and dod not administer side effect drugs and I was sick as a dog. I started out with a good frame of mind. The cancer centre was a haven for hope. Now I feel so different. I have to watch and question everything they do. Some of the nurses are not so competent with some procedures and I dread the time I have those nurses again and have to tell them to get a different nurse because I won't let them perform the procedure. I've lost faith and trust in them. I have had a problem with smells in the centre and I have told them every week it is making me nauseous.  They just shrug it off. Finally I figured out it was the antiseptic. Seems after being on my skin, or in contact with bandages, the smell becomes intolerable for me. When I do the extended pump treatment it makes me nauseous all the time. Now the smell of the clinic itself is making me nauseous. It's like there is never any fresh air in there. I try to sleep through the treatment to make it through, but I don't want to/can't eat while I am there and it is a long treatment, all day. I read posts where people say their CA19-9 readings and I can't relate. My numbers seem so different. I see the promise of the immunotherapy trials and hear about some responding so well. How can I get into this treatment? Are the doctors even looking into other options for me? I don't think so. They must be swamped with the number of patients they handle. The doctors say I am doing very well. But do I believe them? Not really. The numbers don't suggest that to me. I'm just confused. I want to know how much time I have left. I have things I need to do. But I am too fatigued to get much done. When or do I quit chemo so I can feel more normal to get stuff done?  Most of what I know is from my own research. Why not have a room at the centre where someone helps patients with that kind of stuff? Our time is valuable and each of us as well as loved ones spend tons of time reaearching. I'm stopping here. There is so much more. Sometimes I wish I hadn't gone to the emergency room with a pain in my abdomen thinking I had appendicitis. My last 5 months would have been normal. Not full of confusion, trying to protect the only 3 people I have told and my privacy. Worrying every day that my husband will break down and tell someone else in this nastily gossipy community. He's already said too much. Thanks for the rant time. Didn't really help but.  ... View more

Dear Gab. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I have received your private message thank you. I like your suggestion to think of the word hopeful rather than the word positive. Positive is such a loaded word and carries with it such a weight of expectations that you'll always be up that you should never be down (and when you are you feel guilty) whereas hopeful is gentler and more realistic. You're right about the different responses of family members. My sister and her husband are a tight knit support group of 2. No negatives ever seen there. Same with my brother. My dad worries but he draws strength from my sister. Whereas as I am the one with the anxiety disorder I'm the one who is constantly worrying, imagining the worst and feeling guilty for letting the side down. Always being told I have to be "up" for my sister no negative vibes allowed. I will continue to use the services of my psychiatrist treating my disorder to develop hopeful strategies for coping myself and therefore being better placed to be there for my sister. Thanks again ... View more