Hi Rayb

just been through this had FLOT april and may operation in june  its a long journey but stick witk it.

It may all sound a bit frightening at first i would recommend you read up on your treatment the FLOT is bearable and the operation is not really a worry although it is a major operation i will say that at no point in my journey have i really suffered any major pain and i am 90  percent recovered as of today if i can offer you any help or advice please contact me as it is always good to hear from someone who has been through this procedure recently , our NHS will take care of you by far the best care you can get ,trust me.

do you know what a plo is in an operation? 

would be grateful if you have any idea

sorry to hear about your diagnosis x

Morning all, 

Wow,been a busy flurry- I've only been up to the big smoke for 2 days!

Millie- yaaay , loads of big hand clapping emoji's- All extremely good. Cavery plate , brilliant. I have always had the 'kids' plate, always enough for me, him, well.........

BFG- toast with lashings is one of husband favourites too. He is 'learning ' that he can only get away with one slice and in the morning as it is fairly what we now term as ' claggy' (: We had a 'middle eastern' spread last night. Tagines, humous, etc etc- brilliant, virtually no carbs/clagg mega protein. 
 

Insurance- We have been away this summer and yes it does cost more , About £200, we got it through the company we went with massive company beginning with T (ui), BUT, insurance we have always had, even when backpacking was always about stuff that happened while we were away, not stuff we already had, like they would never cover his 'thyroid' stuff or my back probs!  All we ever wanted really was medical treatment if some emergency happened and a flight home. Insurance never covers you for everything, there will always be catches. With the best will in the world insurance has always been about NOT paying out. I suppose ultimately it is about the 'life is to short' thing. We are about to book for America next year and we know the basic will cost us, and we also know that , given American health care it will cost us if anything happens, but we'd prefer to go. There are insurance services that deal with cancer patients. I think we found them on the McMillan site.

Hope everyone else is plodding along, husbands op is scheduled for 'this month' we shall see!

Rachel- sorry- I know nothing about stents etc, but I sure feel for you xx

Also we decided, back in the summer in 'celebration' of treatment 'success' , to get some tatts! Now booked for 16 th dec- a year to the day of op. A dragonfly for me and the raven (stranglers) for him- yay

keeping the faith - most of the time (:

Hilts

Hi Hilts,

Thank you (big smiley face). Re insurance I'm not sure I was clear lol. We, like you, have always had insurance and expect to pay more. However I wondered if anyone covers the cancer? As you rightly say it's about the emergency stuff. Our current policy will cover everything for me medically and everything for Kev apart from the cancer. So if we were going away for a length of time we may need to consider covering the cancer?? fingers crossed it's been got rid off now!!!! Have you been 'stateside' before? Not sure where you are heading but if you want any tips just private message me (not entirely sure how you do this?).

'tatts' sound like a milestone thumbs up emoji! 
Taking the cards down was a big one for us lol.

Keep us posted about the op. There was a question from someone re a cough on another thread so I pointed her/him in this direction. 

Redski - 2 to go. You are doing great - I can't say I totally understand as it's not me but I know it's not easy. Keep your eyes on the finishing line and a pint and carvery!

Keeping the faith 

Milly
 

Hi Millie, 

TBH, the way understand it -insurance - In our cases it has been 'dealt' with, so they don't have it at this time, but they will add it to the premium anyway as the 'risk' cost, risk of what I don't know, they never specify ! I think if disease was still present, it would be different and policy would cover  some aspects but I doubt all, but there again I'm sure  they will cover anything for a price!  Also , I think if a cancer issue crops up on holiday, most likely to come back and get it sorted as it is rarely that acute. I would be inclined not to bother the insurance and just get flights back. I suppose what we are talking about is acute post operative complications, maybe like exploding guts LOL, but that is one of those might never happen things. My Nan went to Hawaii at 90, she got a quote for about £5g!!!! In the end she went with a very basic, essential package for about £800, knowing full well that she would get ripped off either way and left us instruction to cremate her there if needed and put in suitcase !!!!! LOL. My mum was not impressed (:

My neighbour went to the US about 20 yrs ago and has an absolute massive nosebleed on landing, cost him about $ 1,000 up front, insurance wouldn't pay out as he had a 'cardiac condition'- never mentioned relevance, didn't have to 'prove' they were related etc.Just pretty much got away with saying nope, for him a total waste of insurance.

We had trouble with a 'critical illness' payout for this ! They were trying every trick in the book, not to payout, questioning everything and trying to relate past conditions to 'possibly' being relevant to the occurrence of OC!!!! Took them 4 months to make up their minds!

What I'm saying I guess is that we'll be ripped off whatever we chose(:

keep the faith

Hilts

Thanks Milly,  very kind words. We are away in benidorm for a day and night (all 4 of us) trying to relax before the big day.

Again thanks for the encouragement. 

Lee

Great news that you've got the Big Day booked in Lee.

Hope you guys are having a great time in Benidorm !

Hi Redski, 

Yes nice to take your minds off things for a day- we live 45 mins away from Benidorm so often drive up for the day. If you or anyone else on this rollercoaster journey is ever end up on the Costa Blanca,  please message me and we can meet for a coffee or a cold beer:happy:

Lee 

Sounds good Lee, thank you !

Hi Lee,

Thanks Lee - cold beer - lovely, We went away the week before my husbands op as it had just opened up here to be able to go self catering. So glad we did! Hope the appointment with the surgeon goes well on Wednesday and the date for the operation is pretty quick. 

Yesterday my husband went to see his team, managed Wayne Rooney - so lots going on, for the first time since March 2020! Lifelong fan and a big milestone for him. 

Enjoy your break away.

Keeping the faith

Milly

Hi Hilts,

Apologies for asking again lol! Just to be clear did T (ui) £200 extra premium cover the OC? We are looking at a holiday to Tenerife - same company. As I said we do have insurance so both covered for everything apart from OC. 
 

keeping the faith 

Milly

Hello everyone.

This thread is turning into a huge fountain of experience/advice for everyone, as I have said before its great to be able to share feelings/worries and just be able to see you’re not the only one on this OC boat of ours it`s a bumpy rollercoaster ride for most but this place has been a great help.

I have been missing in action since the end of July, just trying to get on an even keel and move on with our family life.

A lot has happened since I last posted, we have half dismantled and rebuilt our conservatory to install a hot tub, bit of a mission to say the least, but as ive been told we bloody deserve it lol.

Regarding my heath I have been managing to eat my normal diet but in smaller amounts, but I can tell when my NEW stomach tells me I have reached my limit. Only one thing worrying me since my treatment around a month post op was a pain in my right upper rib cage and after a recent CT scan I have Gallstones lovely...NOT! Surgery may not happen because of the surgery already performed, could be too dangerous. Will update you all in the New Year when I have my next check up.

After 6 months of recouperating at home I decided it was time to go back to work, although on light duties. Time to get on with life or so I thought, only to be hit with another huge blow this time it was my rock, the wife. She has been diagnosed with breast cancer, caught early thank god and has just undergone a lumpectomy hopefully they have it all and no future operations needed. So still dealing with the big C.

Hopefully more people will come across this site and join the OC ride with us.

Keeping it real.

Ray

Hello everyone.

This thread is turning into a huge fountain of experience/advice for everyone, as I have said before its great to be able to share feelings/worries and just be able to see you’re not the only one on this OC boat of ours it`s a bumpy rollercoaster ride for most but this place has been a great help.

I have been missing in action since the end of July, just trying to get on an even keel and move on with our family life.

A lot has happened since I last posted, we have half dismantled and rebuilt our conservatory to install a hot tub, bit of a mission to say the least, but as ive been told we bloody deserve it lol.

Regarding my heath I have been managing to eat my normal diet but in smaller amounts, but I can tell when my NEW stomach tells me I have reached my limit. Only one thing worrying me since my treatment around a month post op was a pain in my right upper rib cage and after a recent CT scan I have Gallstones lovely...NOT! Surgery may not happen because of the surgery already performed, could be too dangerous. Will update you all in the New Year when I have my next check up.

After 6 months of recouperating at home I decided it was time to go back to work, although on light duties. Time to get on with life or so I thought, only to be hit with another huge blow this time it was my rock, the wife. She has been diagnosed with breast cancer, caught early thank god and has just undergone a lumpectomy hopefully they have it all and no future operations needed. So still dealing with the big C.

Hopefully more people will come across this site and join the OC ride with us.

Keeping it real.

Ray

Hi Ray

Great to hear from you again, the RayB forum has missed you.

I know that you and I were fairly close timing wise on our respective ops and follow up flot cycles, but my wife had a lumpectomy for a breast tumour too a couple of weeks ago. She has been told that should be it and they don't want to see her for another year.  But how spooky is that?

I have no gallstones though :-), but do share the diet routine and  am acutely aware of what happens if you don't listen to your new stomach. 

You will love the new hottub , it's proven to be very therapeutic.

Oh - and we finally told my family that we finally got hitched over a year ago.

Keeping the faith real!

Cheers

Bfg

Hi Ray!

So good to hear from you as we've all missed you! Good the hear that you are generally doing well and I hope your gallstones settle down and they can sort you. Sorry to hear about your wife, good job it's been caught early. It's just not right!! What a coincidence with Bfg.  You are all so strong. 
As you will know from the thread my husbands Rollercoaster got even more twisting but he recently had the good news that CT scan was clear and everything seems as good as it can be so everything crossed.

I understand why you needed to 'get some normality back' but thank you so much for posting as we've all been concerned for you and missed you. 

keeping the faith despite some serious reality

Milly 

RayB, that's so great to hear from you, yes the thread you started has been so helpful.   I'm so sorry to hear your wife is going through cancer as well as [@bfg]‍ 's wife.   After all you've been through news like that hits like a ton of bricks.

The hot tub in the conservatory sounds lovely!   That's one thing you have I'm jealous about!
thanks for writing and updating us.

Sally

OMG- RayB - big clapping emojis x 1000, 

You are back and okay- you have been missed xx Seeing your post really made me smile today .Great to see you've done some good stuff, I won't mention the hot tub to my husband ! Give him ideas! Sorry to hear about your wife's ( and BFG's) troubles. What is it with cancer at the mo!!! It seems to be bloody breeding. 4 people in our road also recently diagnosed with some type or another!!
Ah- gallstones- now that is something I am an 'expert' on LOL. mine was whipped out 2018! Mind you according to my GP, it was IBS for 6 years grrrrrrr, until I asked for a scan and , not just a 'bag of grit' a huge bag of marbles! Surgeon said post op that it was 'rancid' and years in the making LOL, nice description (:  no 'IBS'since had it out - funny that!
We are pretty good- husband waiting for Haitus hernia repair, as bowel has gone wandering upwards and causing a cough, which he's had since a few days post op, but otherwise all quiet. He is back at work and doing good- although did have his flu jab on Saturday and feels whipped ):

Keep smashing it and keep the faith y'all

Hilts

Hi RayB

we wondered what had happened to you ? good to hear you are still with us , take it easy.

Regards

Douglas