Let’s bet this shit !!!

Mom (72) got diagnosed with Stage 2 Cervical Cancer in 2023. Fortunately, insurance covered all her treatments. She underwent 6 cycles of chemo, 28 days of radiation therapy, and 4 sessions of brachytherapy. All of these were done in 4 months.

BTW, she already had Type 2 Diabetes before this and the chemo meds made her blood sugar levels way above her usual high levels. She's cancer free for a year now but diabetes doctor told us the hard truth that the chemo meds did destroy her nerves. She will not walk ever again.

She's devastated and we're heartbroken. Sometimes, I ask my husband what would've happened if we only opted for a less aggressive treatment plan for her. Will she be in a better state right now?

I’m high risk of getting cancer (have lynch syndrome), already had colon cancer when I was 26. I keep telling myself I won’t drink but I always slip up a few times a year. I was REALLY good about it this past year until a few months ago.

I know alcohol is carcinogenic and increases your risk. But if I decide to drink socially and to just wind down (let’s say 3-4 times a month) am I screwing myself over? This past year has been extremely hard and stressful for me and my family so I think about drinking to take the edge off. I can’t help it anymore

I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was 20 and had one conversation about freezing my sperm... and no conversations after that. The urgency was on treatment, so it's no one's fault, but it would have been a nice thread to pull at.

For the next 15 years, I had (at times, crippling) health anxiety, and if I'm honest, I lost years of enjoyment sitting in fear of what "might" come back or happen in the future.

After finding out I'd be having a daughter (which was a serious surprise after the treatment I had), I was terrified my health anxiety would a). get worse and b). get in the way of me enjoying parenthood.

Weirdly, being a Dad has significantly REDUCED my health anxiety!!!

Maybe it's because I'm just too busy to get lost in my own thoughts. Maybe it helped rewire my brain to focus more on someone else, which lessened the spotlight I've shone internally. I have no idea - but I'm thankful for it.

Has anyone else noticed their health anxiety change before vs. after becoming a parent?

I'd love to hear other survivors' perspectives to get a sense of what might be ahead.

DPD stands for Dihydropyrimidine Dehydrogenase, an enzyme in your body that helps break down the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and related medicines (such as capecitabine and tegafur).

🔹 Some people are born with a DPD deficiency (partial or complete). If you have this deficiency, your body can’t process these drugs properly, which can cause severe, even life-threatening side effects from chemo.

🔹 The DPD test is usually done before starting chemotherapy with 5-FU or capecitabine to see if you’re at risk.

There are two main types of tests: 1. Genetic testing (DPYD gene test): Looks for mutations in the gene responsible for making the DPD enzyme. 2. Enzyme activity test (functional): Measures how active the DPD enzyme is in your blood.

👉 In short: A DPD test helps doctors figure out whether it’s safe for you to get certain chemo drugs, or if the dose needs to be reduced/changed.

I wanna talk about this but am not quite ready to tell my friends about it, but the cancer is back. Well, I don’t know if I would say “back” considering it’s a different type of cancer. But I have cancer again.

Had Rhabdomyosarcoma when I was 3, located in my nose. I’m 26 now, and had a routine eye exam done back in May. The scans they did showed something weird on the back of my right eye, they referred to a specialist, who referred me to another specialist, which is where I spent my day today and found out I have Melanoma on my eye.

I was NOT anticipating this at all. Im not experiencing any negative symptoms. Good news is the prognosis looks good. No chemotherapy, just radiotherapy. Will likely fuck up my right eye’s vision but not horrifically. The treatment has a 98% success rate.

When they told me I felt like I was dreaming. I couldn’t understand most of what the Doctor was saying as she did the dictation but I did understand “blah blah blah Melanoma blah blah blah.”

Anyway, I just want to vent because i’m annoyed that this is the rest of my life. Not this cancer or this treatment in particular, but the being scared of it coming back. Even when i’m done with this treatment and it’s likely successful, I get to have follow-up appointments and scans every month where I get to be scared as fuck that it’s back. I didn’t really experience that fear the first time around because I was so young and just didn’t really get it. But now I do and it’s way scarier lol.

Hello. Mom was prescribed Cisplatin, Gemzar, and Ketruda for her Stage 4 gallbladder. Anyone have experience with any of these? How bad are the side effects? Signed, scared Daughter.

Hi All, I have previously discussed about my mom’s condition on this forum and received emotional support and crucial information related to the cancer and treatment. I realised she is not alone in this journey and that there are many battling the same.

Current scenario: My mom has completed her 6 cycles of Chemotherapy (Carbo+Platin) and is taking Targated Therapy (Bevacizumab) in every 21 days interval she as is MSI-Low and Her2 (-)ve. CA125 dropped from 1214 to 15. We have also done Germline BRACA and HRD testing for her. And she came out as BRACA-/HRD+

Next line of treatment as per doctor: 1. Hold Bevacizumab for sometime 2. Take Olaparib (PARP Inhibitor) 3. Perform FAPI PET CT ( Earlier PET CTs were FDG) 4. Perform biopsies from distant organs to where the cancer has spread. (She was diagnosed with stage 4 metastasis with spread to Omentum, Peritoneal, Mediastinal, and Supraclavicular lymph nodes). Earlier biopsy sample was collected only from lower abdomen. 5. If the biopsies from distant organs are (-)ve -> Complete uterus and fallopian tubes removal via surgery 6. If the biopsies from distant organs are (+)ve -> PIPAC surgery

If suggest if this approach is correct and if anyone here is has experienced anything similar? Will this increase the number of years for her?

Also there is a notion among my family members that SURGERY will increase the rate of cancer spread and might lead to the END sooner than expected. Is this true?

Last week, I dropped my firstborn son off at college.

There are moments in life that feel like full circles this was one of them. Eighteen years ago, I was told I had peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer, when I was just five months postpartum. Back then, the future felt so uncertain. Would I see my baby grow up? Would I get to be here for milestones like this?

And here I am. A mama cancer survivor, standing in a college dorm room hugging my son tight, while three other little (not so little anymore) siblings remind me that life didn’t just give me a second chance it multiplied my blessings.

I cried like a baby in the car afterward. Because it’s bittersweet. Because it’s beautiful. Because it’s proof that God still writes stories of thriving, even when the doctors said the odds were against me.

To every parent sending a child off, and to every survivor wondering what the future holds: take it from me you may not know how the story will unfold, but you can still hold on to hope. One day you’ll look back and realize you lived into the very moments you once prayed for.

Last week, I dropped my firstborn son off at college.

There are moments in life that feel like full circles this was one of them. Eighteen years ago, I was told I had peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer, when I was just five months postpartum. Back then, the future felt so uncertain. Would I see my baby grow up? Would I get to be here for milestones like this?

And here I am. A mama cancer survivor, standing in a college dorm room hugging my son tight, while three other little (not so little anymore) siblings remind me that life didn’t just give me a second chance it multiplied my blessings.

I cried like a baby in the car afterward. Because it’s bittersweet. Because it’s beautiful. Because it’s proof that God still writes stories of thriving, even when the doctors said the odds were against me.

To every parent sending a child off, and to every survivor wondering what the future holds: take it from me you may not know how the story will unfold, but you can still hold on to hope. One day you’ll look back and realize you lived into the very moments you once prayed for.

Hi all, I don’t think I’ve ever posted here, but I’m unsure. I’m 32 living In Scotland, I had stage 3B hodgkins in my early twenties. I was very lucky with treatment, I took well to it and was done and clear in six months of treatment. What wasn’t done and clear was the psychological damage. I was lucky enough to be placed in a teenage cancer trust ward as the cut off age was 21. I got the best treatment and least hospital feeling ward, but I was surrounded by children and teenagers much younger, and much sicker than I. 4 of the kids I met there during my treatment died, one of which I was witness to, and actively shepherded the kids away from his room as the nurses tried everything they could to keep him with us. I was an outgoing and social person before, I’ve realised now that I’m autistic, but I feel very changed and my life has become a haze. My concept of time is completely lost, and have a serious drink problem(functioning alcoholic). My memory is completely fucked, but there is music I listened to during my treatment that triggers me to no end and everything comes flooding back. I don’t feel like I have friends anymore, and would love to speak to someone who at least understands something or relates. Love you all. Best.

I've been diagnosed with PNET on June 7th at 42 with a wife and 2 year old son in Bangkok, Thailand. It's been an emotional rollercoaster for myself and my family, starting with an initial diagnosis of PDAC, thinking I only had less than a year to live, to finding-out it's Neuroendocrine tumors and learning I'd potentially have 3-5 years.

I've gone through 2 rounds of chemo and one round of targeted PRRT treatment, a targeted nuclear therapy, because my cancer cells have the right receptors to be treated using Lutetium. Have also done a round of RFA to remove tumors on my pancreas that was largely successful in removing primary tumors. This has all happened in a couple months, so things have been moving very quickly.

UPDATED Aug 21st

Just yesterday Aug 20th I got my labs run and we saw improvement in liver function and cancer markers.

Liver function numbers mostly improved • ALP: 322 -> 170 • GGT: 813 -> 603 • AST: 53 -> 68

Improvement in Tumor marker numbers and CEA • CA 19-9: 2,384 -> 743.8 • CEA, Blood: 11.1 -> 7.4

Overall, I'm responding well to treatments. Next steps are to schedule the next PET-CT scan, in preparation for the next PRRT treatment. I'll also be getting another SSA shot today.

My oncologist basically thinks that we should stay the course with PRRT + SSAs until we hit a plateau before adding any new treatment to limit toxicity to the liver.

I've documented every step, not just the treatments, but the emotions, the wins, and the hard moments. If you're going through something similar, you're not alone. I'm sharing my daily journey on a YouTube channel so that others can benefit from my story and gain any insights from my experience.

If you'd like to follow along, you can view or subscribe at:

www.youtube.com/@MyFightWithCancer

I'm a stage 4 cancer survivor who has suffered with both severe anxiety and depression since I was young. Ever since I have been in remission, both my anxiety and depression have been much deeper. Have any of you other survivors experienced something like this? Any tips on what to do? I'm in therapy, but it's very slow going.

Gretchen Hentsch-Cowles has, read her story online. Pretty unbelievable story. Please feel free to share your stories with ovarian cancer, if you have any.

Dad (57M) just got diagnosed with S4 crc in the rectosigmoidal junction with limited spread to lymph nodes (2) and few liver mets (didn't get a number). Doctors suggested chemo only for the liver mets and radiation if needed while the main focus is to remove the colon tumor (T1 or maybe T2 - no invasion if surrounding tissues).

I know his prognosis is quite good (if there is even a "good") compared to other S4s and doctors are confident about getting NED at least first treatment.

However, I cannot stop spiraling and Im hoping for some encouragement.