Unexpected Health Issue

rebelrun · February 10, 2022, 1:02am

Great news!

Shelbie · February 10, 2022, 2:51am

That’s great news!

willagrey · February 10, 2022, 4:46am

Such great news! Thanks for the update!

Leah · February 10, 2022, 7:45am

That’s great news! I’m so happy for you, Dee!

Hilda_with_Clicker · February 10, 2022, 8:22am

Wonderful!

imagine · February 10, 2022, 11:46am

Fantastic news Dee.

indiza · February 10, 2022, 3:29pm

Amazing news!!

rainee · February 10, 2022, 5:32pm

Fantastic news! I hope your recovery is speedy!

Joe · February 10, 2022, 11:12pm

Great news Dee

dreadnought · February 11, 2022, 12:46pm

Get well soon, stay safe

ivycreekfarm · February 18, 2022, 4:49pm

What a scary time! I’m so glad they caught it early and were able to remove it all.

Dee · February 22, 2022, 5:02am

An Update:

Had my appt with an Oncologist today. She told me because the dna of the tumor they removed made me high risk for cancer to return, I needed to do Chemotherapy, so I will be having Chemo every other week for 6 months and after that Radiation every week for three months (I’m going to glow in the dark LOL).

There is a whole bunch of stuff I have to have done before they start chemo (cardiologist to make sure my heart is good enough to take the chemo). I need to have blood test before each chemo appt (I’m going to start craving blood the way they are taking it from me. 10 tubes at each appt). Full body CT scan and a stent put in for the chemo.

I really don’t know how active I’m going to be in FF, I’ll try to keep things updated for the races and breeding mares lol,

To be completely honest, I’m scared as hell right now.

imagine · February 22, 2022, 6:00am

It must be a very scary time Dee. Sending you my best wishes and I hope the treatment goes well for you. Keep us posted as and when you feel up to it.

Hilda_with_Clicker · February 22, 2022, 7:08am

So I’m studying psychology on youtube lately which sounds super silly I know, but actually I discovered a completely different approach to psychology which I wasn’t thinking about in that way before.
I’m aware that there’s a lot of impostors all over the internets, but I found a few reliable resources too. One of them is MedCircle, and of all the great specialists they invite, Dr. Judy is one of my favourites.
Here she talks about “acceptance and commitment therapy”:

which is basically about accepting your negative feelings (fear, anxiety, pain) and doing what you have to do anyway (a side note: most professionals have much more simple and basic advices than the impostors who are more often trying to make it complicated and hard to understand).

It’s not that it will help you right away, but simply thinking about things differently can already shift your perception. Like she says: you are not your thoughts. You can create a distance between what you experience and the “you” which is observing it.
I think they also have resources specifically for cancer patients.

Being here in FF has helped me through some hard times, as it’s such a structured little world and I know what I have to do here, and it’s something I’ve been doing before the problems came in, and I will probably continue after, so it was really calming sometimes. But I also abandoned FF for a few months last year, having to deal with life (and that’s when I discovered all the psychology resources too).

I hope it all goes well and you have good news for us soon!

Leah · February 22, 2022, 8:03am

I’m sorry to hear that Dee. It sounds like you are in great hands - I hope working on preventing it from returning so diligently instead of waiting and seeing gives you some peace of mind. I hope it all goes well!

Firefly · February 22, 2022, 1:38pm

Wishing you the best in your treatment and recovery. Can’t do too much on this end, but if you need help with anything FF-related, let us know!

Dee · April 11, 2022, 8:23pm

Well I started my Chemo session on the 6th @12pm. I was there for nearly 5 hours. I got home a little after 5pm and went straight to sleep after taking insulin I woke up and felt like I could eat a little and get online for a few minutes.
When I got there I was in a full blown panic attack, so they had to give me about 10 min to relax and then my vitals came back down to normal and they could start the session. The rest of the day went well.
I had to go back on the 7th to get a shot, then in 2 weeks rinse and repeat for a total of six months.

So the schedule Starts on Mondays with blood work, then Tuesday to see the oncologist to see how my blood work turns out. Wednesday for Chemo & Thursday for the shot.

I have been fatigued since then and feel a little better today. Ironic it all starts over next Monday.

Hilda_with_Clicker · April 11, 2022, 8:24pm

Good to hear from you!

Shanthi · April 11, 2022, 9:37pm

I hope your body adjusts and it gets easier going forward.

Dee · April 25, 2022, 4:31pm

Well, yesterday was very rough. It started out being a good day. For the first time since my Wednesday’s Chemo session, I did not have a headache and actually felt like I could eat again. I made a very nice Sunday dinner of BBQed Beef Short Ribs, BBQed beans (my own special recipe) and Don (husband) made Mac Salad, it all turned out good and I was able to eat without feeling sick. Then afterwards as I was brushing my hair (I could sit on it), my hair started coming out by the handful. Before I went to sleep 85% of my hair had come out!

I sat and cried most of the night. I knew this was going to happen but did not think it would happen so soon or so fast. Today, Don is going to give me a buzz cut. Not sure how I feel about that yet, but it will be better than having it come out in clumps.

I really hope you guys & gals don’t mind my updates.

Dee