Hey captain Aussie    Thanks for getting back. Geez this last few weeks have been crazy! They took out both my tonsils and tumour. Now tomorrow, I am having a course of radiation therapy as a precautionary. I don’t have to do chemo now as the tumour has been removed.  I feel a lot more positive than I did.  I don’t smoke I am a total fitness freak so this was all a shock to me everyone.  Thanks again  Lizzy    ... View more

Hi Captain Australia Thanks for sharing You sound like you have a great wife and kids. Start with that and end with that as needs be I don't think it has hardened you as such. NB: discuss with wife lol I think that any cancer diagnosis allows you to see clearer, live clearer and certainly love clearer as you really focus on what is important and throw away the petty and draining You do what is needed and right for you to do so As always tell those around you you love them and invite them in they are stronger than you think donna x ... View more

I'm very sorry for your situation, dealing with any one given challenge can feel insurmountable, but when you have multiple difficulties coming at you from different directions ...   ... I wish you strength and courage.  Good luck with everything. ... View more

There is actually one place in WA called Xantippe according to Google... I've never heard of it, that's for sure!   Z is for Zeehan (Tas).   Time to restart! ... View more

Blood is always bloody scary (sorry), but not always bloody serious.   Through my cancer treatment, I was often coughing up a (sometimes scary) amount of blood.   You get this atavistic reaction like .. something broken inside me .. my body eating itself ... but in my case, my airways were aggravated by an excess of phlegm .. caused by both inflammation and a lack of saliva to push it through my body in the normal way .. so I was coughing a lot .. and the coughing abraded some minor blood vessels .. next thing you know I'm spewing into the sink and seeing blood threaded through it.   In that case, really scary, but not serious.   When the blood is bright red, apparently you shouldn't be too worried, because its fresh and somewhere near the expellation point .. example bright red blood on your toilet paper more often means haemmorhoids than stomach or bowel cancer ... but where the blood is darker, that apparently should be more of a concern, like a malignancy inside you. ... View more

Chef T, mate, I hope you're still with us - and if you are, I'd also urge you to push for clinical immunotherapy trials. These days drugs like Interferon are keeping people with blood cancer alive indefinitely, which was back years ago pretty-much a death sentence.  My half-brother's father (no idea what word applies to that relationship, stepfather twice removed or something, heh) has a very similar cancer outlook to you, and was given <6 months to live, put into a palliative care facility.   Now, on some immunotherapy drug, he is still alive (and this is at least 2 years later - in the intervening time I was diagnosed, treated and limping along for a year after).  His tumours have not vanished but have shrunk by about 80% and they're cautiously using words like remission instead of palliative.   Just in case your doctor has given you "I'm sorry there's nothing we can do", even if your remaining life is measured in weeks and months, you sound like a FIGHTER and one thing I'd do is fight the system making sure that if there is an unexpected treatment path, or even new experimental treatments, you're on the list.   If it's a side-track, I'm sorry, I'm just remarking in case it's something that nobody else has mentioned and might be useful.  Good luck with your fight, as you say, make sure your last breath is exhaled from a body and mind that still has hope and love and strength intact.  All the best. ... View more

Hey there Thanks guys for taking the time - I really sympathise with you & understand your situation.  For me, I'm coming up to my 1 year anniversary (of finishing treatment), and doing pretty-much great. Interestingly, after you beat the cancer, almost half of the patient population get some kind of depression (even up to clinical levels), it's kind of a "what now?" effect .. for a nerd analogy, you're like Frodo after the long and horrible journey to throw the ring into Mount Doom .. after such suffering, after saving the world, you've lost so much, you look around, nothing feels or tastes the same .. so yeah .. I'm officially calling it "The Frodo Effect" (trademark pending, if you intend to use that in future you owe me fifty cents.  Not the rapper Fiddy Cent, but fifty cents of Australian currency). Me personally, I've felt VULNERABLE to depression a few times, but managed my way around it, so actually doing pretty good.  I think that after you win the initial fight you still have to deal with the whole recurrence-risk issue, and when you realise that is still hanging over your head, you continue carrying a (lesser) burden of anxiety and distress. It's good to step back.  Coming here and re-reading what I wrote a while ago, about a struggle that I finished almost a year ago (Christmas Eve is my anniversary), it actually widens my perspective again. As James Brown said .. I FEEL GOOD ... so thanks for that.   It's not your suffering that makes me feel better !  It's that my own suffering is profoundly reduced and I love my family and I'm living an (almost) normal life a year after cancer.   You can too.  Good luck with your fight.   ... View more

Hey, I'm sorry this reply is a month late - but if you're still checking here ...   The P16 cancers are very responsive to radiation .. your survival rate increases by 20% above the natural data for your type of cancer .. but the radiation is tough.  I had 35 weeks, and at the end, my neck was so stiff I couldnt turn it .. I could no longer drive.  The burns were quite sore and had to have a dressing reapplied daily.   For Brisbane (assuming your treatment is at the RBWH), my advice on parking - don't pay for it, I have three tips:   1) if it's a long or overnight appointment, drive along Herston Road, just past the hospital .. you'll see on that street there are constant marked parking spaces .. BUT .. just down the hill past the golf course on the right hand side (driving away from the hospital) you'll see a stretch of road where it's unlimited street parking.  It's little known and most people don't use it (assuming with all the marked parking around that it's unlawful, I guess) .. but they're actually completely legit spots to park .. there's a row of street long enough for maybe 10 cars .. and I *never* had a problem finding a park there .. and it's just a short walk up the hill to the hospital.   2) If your parking is for more than 2 hours but not overnight, just before the above-mentioned spaces is a golf course.  Before you enter the course, immediately after turning onto the access road, is an open grassy area where you will see that staff park their cars.  You can park there too .. they don't really monitor it or care .. but if you get a notice on your windshield, someone's onto you, so refrain from that point forward.   3) If you just have a radiation appointment, there are HEAPS of 2 hour free parking places in the suburban housing immediately west of & behind the hospital.  If you're coming along Herston Road, you just turn right and go up the hill between the hospital & the university and you'll see a bunch of back streets with free parking for up to 2 hours.  You can theoretically park much longer, they seldom check & enforce the area but be aware you could get a ticket.   If you take those tips, you could then find a place almost anywhere in Brisbane.  There are places that have room & board near the hospital .. a lot of student population, so it's either students or sickies who utilise it .. but no doubt it's quite expensive to stay there over a typical 35 rad treatments (7 weeks).  I'd look for a short-term rental somewhere further north, a little bit out of the city, and drive or commute every day.   (If you choose to commute, ignore the parking tips and just make sure the place is on a bus line.  Trains .. the nearest stop to the RBWH is Fortitude Valley .. its about 5 minutes walk from the hospital .. but some days you might not feel up for the walk). ... View more

Bravesthuman I really feel for you as at your most critical time when you need someone that someone isn't there to help, join your local cancer support group and you have the use of a physcologist as well at your local cancer clinic. When first diagnosed with bladder cancer a year ago my family showed their colours and where by my side and have been throughout, a couple of so called friends have dropped off but true friends are still there. Hold your head up and fight this set back as that's what it is and you will get back on track again, cancer is the worst thing to have but don't let it beat you. Love & Best Wishes Paul   ... View more

Hi Nikki,   I feel your pain.. although I don't have kids (cancer took this from me) , leaving my partner, family and friends behind hurts like nothing else.... Even though our minds are like rollercoasters, I constanlty focus on the fact that there will be something at the right time that can change our diagnosis... alot of clinical trials out there... constantly ask, seek, query... there are miracles out there! Also making lasting memories that your kids, family and firends will keep forever.   I"m not sure what your schedule is with the kids, but I found that meditation really helps... clears out the thoughts.. I find 5-10mins a day or even every 2-3 days can make a huge difference. I find doing it before bed helps me fall asleep faster. 'Smiiley minds' is a great app for this!     As hard as it is, don't stop fighting, chin up and be determined to beat this once and for all. ... View more