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Had results today from biopsy on tonsil and now know its cancer, its all been really quick what with scans and hospital visits so not really had time to think about it now it's just starting to sink in but I'm pretty positive, I'm told its spread to a lymph node has anyone else had this 

HiAli

I am sorry to hear your diagnosis, but the first thing I would say is there is always hope. Al my friend here has the same and is currently undergoing all the treatment. He is having a six week course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy over most of the week meaning daily trips. The first thing they have to do is make sure you have no teeth that will get corroded by treatment so need removing first,. They then measure you for the mask this apparently is quite comfortable. They then arrrange the neginnings of the treatment. It will not be easy so you will need a good support system around you - family, macmillans, friends especially when you have down days. Some people loose taste buds during treatment some can find swallowing hard but if you look back on our talks there are mouth exeercises to do. 

Find all the exciting food things you love that are highly flacoured and stock up you will need to keep your weight up and need things that are exciting to make you smile. 

good luck i am here is you want to talk. 

stay strong x

what a day thought you might like a laugh! 

Decided to paint spray the chimney iam now working on and had obtained a fire proof black aerosol to use so when i had sat down i felt like trying it out! 

for the next hour or so we had to sit outside with doors and windows open as it stank the place out totally strong fumes i just breathed in lol and can still taste in the back of my mouth lol. so shivering (as it is now getting dark and cold) we are pacing outside looking like two idiots because i had sprayed the chimney black!! 

Next Tesco arrive with the delivery thats great no problme i unpack and put everything away and we finally sit down to watch the television. I finally get up to a winging dog who doesnt understand why i have not gone to bed yet and walk into a kitchen disaster! a lovely fresh white loaf for the ubby lies half eaten on the floor still in its wrapper i hasten to add with bits and pieces spread daintly over the place - mummy we have rats i am told hmm i said they dont come in the house - this time i know it is not the mini mafia but Pedro the thief!!! he has finally sheepedly come to bed and curled up with full tum for a snooze! 

night all x

Hi Alli :happy:

The chemo does sadly affect your appetite and mood, but you will find the strength and positivity.  Some days you have to dig deeper than others.  And some days you just don't feel like digging at all and that's ok.  Some days it will feel like it will never end, but it will and it does.   You will get through this and you will come out he other end a stonger person.

On the really down days I would watch things that make me smile and laugh even if I didn't feel like smiling or laughing.  I would also rest or sleep as much as I could, sleeping would make the day go faster plus the body is going through so much right now it needs all the rest and sleep it can get.  In the beginning I would fight the sleep as it felt wrong at 2 in the afternoon to be snoozing.  Your body does most of its fighting and fixing when asleep, so I soon allowed myself to listen to my body and sleep whenever it wanted, no matter the timme of day.  

Also I expect you have been told to drink plenty of water.  I was up to 3ltrs a day and still am.  Definitely made a difference.  Dehydration can make you feel down too.

You will no doubt get lots of advice, but we are all different and you have to do what ever works for you.  Just remember that we are all here for you.

Be Strong, on the wobbly days we will be strong for you.

Al x

Hi Elona :happy:

Sounds like you have been having a busy time of it, black chimney, mini mafia, half eaten loaf of bread :laugh:

Its been raining so much here we've had no chance to get out into the garden, though we have notice another couple of eaten plugs Grrrr!  We did manage to get a bargain from Facebook Market Place...  We wanted bubble insulation for the shed conversion, I had priced it at £167 to do all the walls and the roof.  Found a 50m roll on FB for £40 a couple of miles down the road!  I do like a bargain.  Now we just need a decent week or two of weather so we can take everything out of the shed and start actual work on it.

I repotted the herbs, but they are still inside.  The plan is to keep some inside and the rest to go outside, again just waiting on the weather.  Its at times like this I do miss living on the south coast of England.

Not eating as much as I should, lost over a kilo in the last week.  Not enjoying food at all, eating because I have to rather than wanting to.  Spoke to dieticians yesterday and she told me to purchase full fat milk to drink, a pint a day.  Seems like my tatse buds have taken a break from getting better.  Going out for a meal with two of my daughters on Saturday, goodness knows what I am going to order.

Off to see my oncologist today.  Before treatment I had a lump on the back of my head which I thought was just a fatty lump.  Strangly it disappeared during chemo and radio, but now it has started growing back.  There was amusingly a lot of interest in it during treatment.  They now want to check it out as neither chemo nor radio should have had any effect on it.

Stay Strong

Al'

Hi Sam

I never got to ring the bell.  There was one at chemo and one outside radio, I didn't do my last chemo and I was hospitalised with nutropenic sepsis two days before the end of my radio.  So I am so glad that you rang it so hard :happy:

So good to learn that you are coming out of the other end, I think that you had a much rougher journey than me through the treatment.  Hopefully your post recovery will be much smoother.  I removed my Ng last Thursday, like you I had to be bolt upright with it, and lost over a kilo already, not that I mind too much as I could still do with losing a few pounds :laugh:  Told by dietician yesterday to drink a pint of full fat milk a day for the protein.  

6 weeks to PET Scan is quick, I have to wait 4 months from the end of treatment which leaves me 3 months from now...  Yet another waiting game, although ENT did say that visually it looks like it has at least retreated.  My tonsil and lymph nodes have definitely gone down.

I hope you mucus buggers off soon, it is an absolute pain.

Here is to our recovery, may it be sooner rather than later.

Be Strong

Al

Afternoon

AL hope the oncologist trip is ok and the lump nothing to worry about. You have been through enough. Sorry about the taste buds thats a pain on Saturday go for the sickliest and sweetest thing on the menu lol that will prevent loss of pounds. I could do with loosing your kilo!! 

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather these last couple of days it has been lovely and so nice to have the energy to get into the garden. Hubby came and sat out with me whilst i weeded some of the veggie patch. The sweetcorn and butternut squash are now planted in the garden. Celeriac are still too small and yakons have not arrived yet. 

Got through 6 more bags of compost to help raise some beds. Unfortunatley this mnice day was slightly tarred by reversing into the corner of the skip when i got home yikes!! broke the light cover thats all thankfully. Scellotape emergency fix. typically skip was removed half an hour later!!! 

Forcast is for us to have some rain tomorrow so if thas the case will do some more of the chimney breast but after last nights fiaasco will not bother with a second coat even though it looks like it should have one. 

Al what a bargain you cannot beat a bargain especially one on your doorstep! the shed conversion will be great once you start it. Sounds also like you will have loads of herbs to use too. I used to have a herb garden in my old house and loved it but sage was a *** it attracted all sorts of midges on summer evenings and i used to get bitten a lot so they are limited here! 

Alli hope alls going well and you are over your wobble. take care we are here for you. 

Sam hope the recovery is going ok

keep smiling x

Afternoon

Well today has been eventful decided lovely would do a little more weeding then phone rings could I go on BBC Essex radio and answer some questions on cat microchipping and cat behviour. Not until 2pm (turned out 2.15pm) and only lasted 5 minutes lol so morning spent topping up knowledge - not needed lol.

Topping up pond after mending a patch last night and getting pond sealant all over my fingers - what a mess!!!! i remember the time we had a patch that was sticky not now have to cut a circle and use this most horrendous black sealant took half an hour to get fingers clean!11 then computer didnt recognise them to touch sign in as i had rubbed the top layer off!! hoping it has worked or everyone will hear me whereever you are!! 

no sign of mini mafia as yet we are hopeful that they have relocated although hubby thinks he saw grandpa yesterday having got himself lost going home and ended up here. 

Ended up in bed yesterday at 4pm lol shattered and fell asleep so funny woke up and wondered if it was today and then realised it was only 2 hours later. probably end up doing that tonight going early. too much excitement!! 

hope you are all ok and doing well. 

keep smiling 

x

Afternoon,

a rainy day today but has had a few dry spots so time to get compost on garden and plant my plugs all done except the begonias. The garden is now beginning to look good and iam pleased i have had the energy to do it. my coca cola smelling geraniums, hybrid foxglove and others all in. 

watching more ghost wars getting quite suspenseful. Pedro and cats have joined me but they are not that fussed lol just a warm bod to lie next too. 

Undercoat is on the chimney breast so tomorrow can paint it then when i can put the new tiles on. I love it when a plan gets together. 

Hoping you are all well and doing ok. 

keep smiling x

Hi Elona :happy:

The trip to oncology went well.  They're not sure what the lump on my head is, they're not too worried about it at this time.  They think that maybe the steroids that I took during treatment may have shrunk it.  They're not going to take any chances though.  The plan is that they're either going to scan it at my next PET Scan, or they're going to send me to a dermatologist, or both.  They're going to discuss it at their next meeting.

Turns out the reason my taste buds and throat have taken a bit of a u-turn is because I have oral thrush again.  This has coated my tongue and throat.  I only had it a few weeks ago, but apparently it is common to have it multiple times post treatment.  So more mouth washes and meds, plus I have to brush my tongue with Bi Carb.

I also found out why my good tonsil was removed.  Although the risk was low of the cancer spreading to my other tonsil the risk was still high enough to warrent removing it.  This is because had the good tonsil shown signs of cancer post treatment the human body would not handle the 6 week treatment being repeated.  Which would have made the cancer hard to remove with any success.   All makes sense now :happy:

I will keep that in mind with the Sage, I too am an insects favourite meal.  Perhaps I will plant all the sage outside next to the citronella candles :laugh:  I should have shares in citronella.  Does the pond not attract the midges too?  Horse Flies are my worst, after being bitten by them I look like Freddie Krueger from Elm Street!

A call from local radio eh...  From this moment onwards you will now be known as the cat lady :laugh:  My cats aren't chipped, they're completely broken!

'My coca cola smelling geraniums?'  Please do tell me about these.

Hope you have a fab weekend :happy:

You too 'Keep Smiling'

Al'

Hi Alli :happy:

Just a short one to let you know that we are all thinking about you.

Stay Strong

Al' x

Afternoon,

Hope everyone is ok.

Al glad the oncologist is ok with lump on head but hope it gets sorted at next treatment. Ingteresting about the tonsil removal. If that had been the case i would have had to have two operations because they had not toally diagnosed mine at the tonsilectomy stage. 

Not a pretty sight Freddie Krueger! the pond has a few midges but because it is a koi pond with no plants it is not too bad. 

Geraniums can be flavoured with several scents. You crush a leaf inbetween your fingers and then smell it. The coca cola one really does smell of coca cola and the apple one really smells of apple. There i another flavour but it was not very good, not sure if there are other flavours or not, may have to look it up. 

Cleaning a bit today to get the house looking at least a little respectable for our friends tomorrow. Dropped hubby at Asda for a walk around and get a few things. He quite enjoyed it. I sat in car doing a suduko, not brilliant at them but can do medium ones. It kept me occupied and i was not going to go inside. 

Now finishing the ghost wars, turning sci fi now aliens as ghosts. Meat loaf does play a good part though am impressed. Huge fan of his songs. 

Finally have Pedro also lying next to me at last he is quiet for a time has been very demanding today wineing a lot for attention and balll throwing. little *** decided to lie full out last night on bed leaving me very little room!! as it is i have a small square to sit with knees up resting this on them to write lol. 

We had a blue *** fly into our carport i took a little while to fly out but it was really pretty love seeing the birds. Was surprised when hubby didnt know many bird breeds. will have to educate him. awaiting pigeon feeding time. 

Alli and Sam hope your ok. x

keep smiling x

Afternoon,

Hope everyone is ok.

Al glad the oncologist is ok with lump on head but hope it gets sorted at next treatment. Ingteresting about the tonsil removal. If that had been the case i would have had to have two operations because they had not toally diagnosed mine at the tonsilectomy stage. 

Not a pretty sight Freddie Krueger! the pond has a few midges but because it is a koi pond with no plants it is not too bad. 

Geraniums can be flavoured with several scents. You crush a leaf inbetween your fingers and then smell it. The coca cola one really does smell of coca cola and the apple one really smells of apple. There i another flavour but it was not very good, not sure if there are other flavours or not, may have to look it up. 

Cleaning a bit today to get the house looking at least a little respectable for our friends tomorrow. Dropped hubby at Asda for a walk around and get a few things. He quite enjoyed it. I sat in car doing a suduko, not brilliant at them but can do medium ones. It kept me occupied and i was not going to go inside. 

Now finishing the ghost wars, turning sci fi now aliens as ghosts. Meat loaf does play a good part though am impressed. Huge fan of his songs. 

Finally have Pedro also lying next to me at last he is quiet for a time has been very demanding today wineing a lot for attention and balll throwing. little *** decided to lie full out last night on bed leaving me very little room!! as it is i have a small square to sit with knees up resting this on them to write lol. 

We had a blue *** fly into our carport i took a little while to fly out but it was really pretty love seeing the birds. Was surprised when hubby didnt know many bird breeds. will have to educate him. awaiting pigeon feeding time. 

Alli and Sam hope your ok. x

keep smiling x

Afternoon, 

had a great morning with friends consequently i am shattered now and voice has nearly gone. shall fall asleep this afternoon probably. They brought me a metal hedgehog to go in the garden but it is so cute might keep it indoors. Sounds like work has not changed one bit! shame really. 

Diet out the window this morning so all day - they brought cake and crisps and tea!! so hubby and i will treat ourselves to having chinese for tea. good job as i have no energy for cooking. 

Finishing watching ghost wars also still holding my interest which is good, often series dont do that or have some boring episodes but this is good. 

Hubby says he thinks the mini mafia are sneaking about again and that this morning they were clearing up the mobile restaurant out in the carport. They obviously did not do that too quietly because Pedro was showing interest. The restaurant must have been smelling good because people had come from all around to participate in the menus and i was told they were quite reasonably priced. Cleaning up was a little more chaotic they had left a couple of wrappers around so hubby is going to tell them to be a bit more careful. 

When my friends looked around the garden they made a few comments about the good life, it does sound strange when i say over there is the veggies, sweetcorn, butternut squash, celeraic, there is the apple, pear, plum trees then there are blueberries, blackcurrnat, saskatoons, the summer truffle and walnut tree!!! i could be as nutty as they were lol. 

anyway have good days hope things are not too bad,. 

keep smiling x