Hi ladies

I just want to wish you all a Happy and as Healthy a New Year as possible - bring on 2012.

Its good to drop in and see what others are up to - scan and more treatment (fingers crossed!) in January for me.

Best wishes

Sue x

Hello everybody, may I join you and introduce myself?  I opened a new thread on this subject the other day in the "introduce yourself" section, but I really wanted to get onto this site.  I  am 67 yo and live in Essex, UK and have recently been diagnosed as having tumours on both ovaries, plus some areas on the omentum and outer bowel.  However, my hospital MDT  wants to ascertain whether my ovaries are the primary site or secondary to breast ca I had 15 years ago before planning my treatment, so I've just had a biopsy and await results on 22nd Feb.  I found your site about a month ago and was both heartened by all your posts, and at the same time scared - not of the treatment particularly but the outcome.  Some days I feel that I won't get through this, other days I think "No, you won't get me, you (expletive deleted!)"

The last post on your site was 28th Dec, I have been checking, so I hope you are all getting along OK

Best wishes, Hazel. X

Hi, Eileen,

Now see what you've done - made me neurotic!

Seriously though, I know you meant what you said and I take it as a compliment really, thanks!  

Maybe Dot and I are alike because we are the same age, the two old ladies on here (as opposed to stuck in the lavatory, though sometimes I am).

Wish you luck for the weekend, that will take you halfway, won't it?

Lots of love,

Hazel xxx

Hazel,

You are not only lovely but funny as well. I think having you in the group is a breath of fresh air ( I really do )  I would like to say to anyone who is thinking of joining us then please do as it brightens up our days hearing from different people from all walks of life.

I have to leave my bed today for the hospital and as you know I stay over tonight. I will post tomor at some point.

Oh I booked a week in Dorset week starting 26th May it looks lovely and the owner sent me a really nice e-mail today to confirm he had received the deposit. I had told him that hopefully I would be ok by then and that I was having treatment. He wished me well and said he knows only to well the long hard rd I have tp travel. So fingers crossed I will eventually get my holiday..

Love to everyone.

Eileen xxxx

Dear Eileen,

Thank you!

Great news re the holiday, something nice to look forward to, pleased you decided to book it. 

Hang on in there for next few days!

H xxx

John, thought you might be interested to see my new photos (awaiting moderation) on my profile page - me in my new £14.99 wig which I bought today.  It's much better than the expensive one I sent back,  I just have to get used to the slightly lighter colour (with no grey in!).  I couldn't believe the price, might go and get another one.

Love to you both,

Hazel xxx

Hi All

It went fine yesterday, drove myself so was only gone for around 3 hours. The only problem I had was the contrast, shall we say it rather upset my already fragile tummy!!! anyway seems to have settled now (fingers crossed!)

Eileen - glad you booked the holiday it will give you something to look forward to which, as you have such a hard time with chemo, I suspect you need!

really tired today and have achieved absolutely nothing (yet again!)

Keep fighting folks!

Jackie xx

John,

Hope you and Mary are doing OK.

Don't know where your last message has disappeared to, but it ain't on the site yet, though your name was flagged up as last entry.  Very odd!

Hazel xxx

Hi Hazel,

Wow! I am very impressed with your new wig, it really suits you and dare I say makes you look a little younger, where did you get it so cheap? Eileen is right, you do bring some good contributions to the forum and some much needed humour. I don't know what you saw flagged, I hadn't posted again since yesterday morning, probably a glitch.

Eileen, so glad you have booked a break. It's good to have things to look forward to and helps to get away even if it's just a change of scenery.

Jackie, glad you felt well enough and got yourself to the hospital ok, saved a lot of hanging around waiting, we all know what that's like.

Mary had another good day yesterday, she drove herself out and bought some pansies and daffs, so I had some little jobs to do when I got home from work

They have brought forward her Portacath procedure, she is now having it done next wednesday morning then will start her 2nd cycle of Gem/Carbo in the afternoon. Pre-assessment on Tuesday.

Best wishes,

John

x

Hello, Jackie,

Glad you had a better day than anticipated with the CT appointment, apart from the contrast stuff!   Hope your stomach is a bit better as well - have a good rest for a while, why not?!

I have managed to do my back garden today - mowed grass and generally tidied up, and feel quite pleased with myself!  I left the front, didn't want to push my luck too far, though I feel pretty well at the moment.  Maybe tomorrow if weather not too bad.

Love as ever,  Hazel xxx

Hello, John,

Thanks for your vote of confidence - had another today from my next door neighbours while I was gardening -  they said the wig looked nice and that they wouldn't say anything if they thought otherwise.  So all that has bucked me up!

I bought it in a shop in the Vicarage Fields arcade in Barking, not far from me - it's really a shop aimed at black girls - they do love their wigs and hairpieces -  but there were a few lighter coloured styles to choose from as well.  I still can't believe my luck with the price!

I see Mary has started to get itchy fingers re. the gardening, but she beat me to it - she did some last week didn't she?  Afraid I was a bit incapacitated!  I will have to get a few plants soon as well for pots and hanging basket.

Hope you have another nice weekend, is it really a week since you said you were going to the ball?

Love to you both,

Hazel xxx

Hi Hazel,

So pleased to hear you are feeling good at the moment and got some gardening done, hope it lasts. Yes, Mary does like her garden too and she was out again today pottering. I'm not into gardening myself but I do like to see the garden looking nice, and I don't mind doing the donkey work to help her. Yes she did make a start last Sunday and got me mowing the lawn and strimming etc. We went out for a steak meal tonight, just trying to take advantage when Mary feels well enough to do stuff.

Did you have your treatment yesterday? I thought you went on Thursdays or was it your week off? Is it Carbo/Taxol you're having?

Mary has started taking her anti-sickness tabs (Metoclopramide) three times a day, It's difficult to tell if it's this that is making her feel better as it's all subjective, maybe it's just the chemo doing it's work (there's one almighty battle going on I guess).

Hope the rest of the ladies are doing ok,

Best wishes to everyone,

John

x

Hi Hazel,

So pleased to hear you are feeling good at the moment and got some gardening done, hope it lasts. Yes, Mary does like her garden too and she was out again today pottering. I'm not into gardening myself but I do like to see the garden looking nice, and I don't mind doing the donkey work to help her. Yes she did make a start last Sunday and got me mowing the lawn and strimming etc. We went out for a steak meal tonight, just trying to take advantage when Mary feels well enough to do stuff.

Did you have your treatment yesterday? I thought you went on Thursdays or was it your week off? Is it Carbo/Taxol you're having?

Mary has started taking her anti-sickness tabs (Metoclopramide) three times a day, It's difficult to tell if it's this that is making her feel better as it's all subjective, maybe it's just the chemo doing it's work (there's one almighty battle going on I guess).

Hope the rest of the ladies are doing ok,

Best wishes to everyone,

John

x

Hi John,

No, no chemo this week, thank goodness, I am on the basic three weekly treatment of TaxolCarbo at the moment, as it's my first time for ovarian ca - next one is on 29th.  I think they start almost everyone off with that one, as far as I can gather from reading all the stories on here. The plan is 3 chemos at three weekly intervals, then CT, then if tumours have shrunk enough a hysterectomy, then 3 more chemos every three weeks again to "mop up".  I couldn't have the hysterectomy first unfortunately (got that to look forward to) as my tumours are attached to the bowel as well and I would probably have needed a colostomy - not that that would have bothered me, as an ex-auxiliary nurse I've seen and dealt with a few of those in my time - but the decision was made to do it this way.  I'm hoping it does all go to plan, but we all know what Robbie Burns said about plans!

Hope Mary enjoyed pottering in the garden - it's very therapeutic, you know - I find that while I'm gardening I'm not thinking about anything else, just concentrating on what I'm doing.  I've always thought that, but even more so now.  (It was a bit nippy today, but the old "syrup" kept me warm!)

Love to both,

Hazel xxx

Hi Hazel,

Re chemo, I guess Mary was different to everyone else. She had her surgery first followed by weekly Taxol/Carbo with no weeks off, it was a regimen that was trialled in Japan with good results, and she did respond well to the treatment although it left her with some neuropathy in her toes which has still not gone. That is why her onc has opted not to give her any more Taxol  http://cancerchat.cancerresearchuk.org/message/31764#31764

Mary agrees with you about gardening being very therapeutic, she loves her garden and it does take her mind off of other things. I personally love to listen to music and that does the the same for me.

Sue, good to hear that you are starting to feel a bit better. Mary has noticed a big difference by taking the anti-sickness tablets as prescribed whether or not she feels nauseous. Like Hazel, she was wondering if she was ever going to feel better. Mary has had five good days in a row now and had a lovely mother's day at home with our family, our daughter cooked the roast dinner (with a little guidance from Dad).

Eileen, Sounds like you're starting to feel a bit better too. Just out of interest, do you take your anti-sickness tablets whether or not you feel nauseous? Mary's nurse recommended some different tabs (instead of Domperidone) which also help to keep things moving in the bowel. They are called Metoclopramide, and she is convinced they have made a big difference.

Dot, what are you like?! Just when you were doing so well you start having another problem. Hope that the antibiotics sort it out for you. Mary was very lucky with her vertical op scar, she thought it would look horrendous and was really worried about that. But it healed really nicely and is hardly noticeable now.

Sharon, I hope you had a good day today too and are feeling ok, I know you must be anxious having such a long wait for your scan results.

Best wishes to everyone,

John

x