My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer

Candy ~ I have lidocaine ointment. I use it wherever I need relief. Ask about that form. It comes in a tube. It has helped me many times. I’ve even let family members use it for pulled muscles etc. they said it helped. So just a thought instead of patches. They fall off easy.

Booboo, Sooooo glad the walks have been good for you and your mood. (Mara, you are an inspiration to us all.). Also hoping palliative care is helpful to you. Your MO sounds responsive, although she missed your first palliative care inquiry.

Mae, I agree with everyone else that your views are gorgeous. Good for the soul to see hills and valleys with your own eyes. Hoping your upcoming report is good.

Candy, Have you ever tried Voltaren? It’s advertised on tv now, (cream) but used to be prescription only. I have family members that swear by it for muscle aches and soreness, but DH has not had luck with it on his knee pain. Maybe something else to try.

Mel, You have such a kindness and understanding about you. I’m so glad something made you start this thread. You’ve been through a lot and never hesitate to help through good and bad.

We have a string of 60s and sunny days coming here, maybe for a lot of us? I’m grabbing these mild days and trying to enjoy them. I hope everyone is doing ok.

Mae, WOOHOO! I am so happy for you. I am hobbling around doing a happy dance for you. Enjoy that glass of wine.

Lynne

Woohoo Mae!!!!!!!

Mel and Rosie- I will try the patches and see if they work. If so, then ask for ointment versus patch. And I have thought about Voltaren. My low back pain is associated with bone on bone-- no disc left in L5S1. Ortho doc said I need a fusion surgery if I didn't have cancer. So I wonder if topical stuff will work on such deep pain--- only way to know is to try. Also, my shoulder is a bad rotator cuff (I think). So some of my pain is mechanical. So will topicals work?? I need to try. Then I will know, and can say I tried. I have the patches, need to order the Voltaren next Walmart online shopping trip.

Question--- does the lidocaine patches make you numb?

Boo- You are in my prayers. Are you bone only?

thank you very much Rosie..... how sweet.

Lidocaine ointment is thicker and helped me with pain in my spine. It's worth a try even for some relief. 5% lidocaine.

good news Mae!!!

So happy to hear your news Mae!

And Laurie, glad you're getting a break. Hope you keep on feeling better.

I'm in a holding pattern until Nov 10 when I will learn more about the sbrt trial. Tomorrow is regular taxol, then the following week one more atezo + taxol on the trial and then I officially come off this Roche trial. Still waiting to hear about scheduling my lung biopsy. I keep trying to work through "if ____, then _____" charts but I don't have enough data so I'm just obsessing about too many possibilities for next treatment steps. I hate cancer even more than normal atm

I've been physically and emotionally more tired but still walking 30 min twice daily and doing some stretch/strength exercise too.

My parents are coming for an outdoor socially distanced visit on Saturday. It's my mom's birthday. They're bringing vegan donuts - yum 😊

Hugs

Candy, I don’t know if Voltaren will do anything for your back pain. I think it’s more for muscle related pain, which is probably why it doesn’t help knee pain for my DH. It might be worth asking a pharmacist what he or she thinks might help in terms of over the counter products. I bet you could even do it by phone if you wanted to. Sorry you have so much back and shoulder pain to deal with. I have a bad shoulder that acts up at night, especially when I try to sleep on that side. It makes for a rough night.

Mae, Yippeeee!!

Runor, I hope your mammo was ok, i think it was this week? And hope you’ll break the chain of crappy news with them

just FYI, voltaren (generic is diclofenac) is a topical NSAID and has been shown to work on osteoarthritis pain. I think it does depen on how bad the joint pain is - if you have no cartilage and it's bone on bone, then stronger meds will be needed.

oh & diclofenac comes in different strengths so if the OTC version is not working & you have drug insurance, consider asking for a rx for the stronger version.

Wonderful news, Mae

Mae, YOU GO GIRL! Seriously happy for you.

I am just going to take this time to verbalize my thoughts. Hope you don't mind.

I was sitting by my open living room window today. Neighborhood was quiet--everyone busy or at work. There was a gentle breeze and some leaves slowly falling to the ground. And I got to thinking and wishing.

I want to be normal again. I want to be busy working a job. Deadlines. Co-workers and office gossip. My mind and body busy. I want to spend my days off work doing housework, shopping, yard work, bill paying, etc. I want the extra money to be able to plan projects around the house---not live on a fixed SSD income. I want to attend church on Sundays again. I want to go out with friends to a local restaurant or shopping. I want to plan get-togethers for the Holiday season.

I want to go to the doctor YEARLY ONLY for yearly checkup and routine blood work. I don't want medical crap to be my whole life anymore. The blood work, the scans, the meds, the side effects, the "next" treatments, the progression.

As I watch the leaves slowly fall to the ground, I want my old life back. I want what others have and take for granted.

I do not want cancer anymore.

Oh Candy,

I so relate. I guess that’s why I told my MO that I may stop treatment. We fight this battle between must-have treatment to stay alive (and all of the crap that goes with it) or stop treatment and die. Wow. What a choice.

I am not sure what you used to do for work, but I’m wondering if you could go back part-time? Not even sure if you’d want to, but at least you wouldn’t be alone all of the time.

COVID really screwed everything up. I think if it hadn’t happened, we could learn to enjoy some parts of our lives. But we fear every outing...every person, even our family members. So I am right there with you girl. I’m praying for all of us, hoping that God will answer my prayers and send a vaccine soon. Hang in there.

Thank you ladies. Just needed to get that off my chest.

I have wondered about occupying my time with something. But I do not know what. This Covid complicates things. Heard report that there are 9,000+ new cases TODAY--LAST 24 HOURS-- in our State. So volunteering activities--- food pantry, church, etc-- is out. Too unsafe. No Boo I cannot return to my job/career, even part time. Then I think if I did have some kind of part time job, I don't think I could handle that. The doc appts, the fatigue that just hits. Cannot have responsibilities and have to alter them for an appt or stop work due to fatigue hitting. Too unpredictable. What boss or company would tolerate that.

And, as I posted, it is everything. The appts, scans, side effects. The knowledge that the cancer is there and will progress at some time. The loss of innocence. If I had a job, all that would still be there.

Mara- It would be nice to do something for some extra funds. But I don't know what, if anything, is available here. Glad you have your surveys, etc to give you some extra money.

Boo- I back you 100% in your decision to stop treatment. I do not judge you. I am just not there yet. I am on first line treatment. Lots of choices for my future. Well, not LOTS, but you know what I mean. If I may ask, how do you feel about stopping treatment? I mean, how long would one have after stopping treatment? Will it hurt? Will one get really sick before the end? Sorry to bring it up, but I think it takes guts to say 'No More'.

So glad we can talk this way here. Real.

We hear you candy. I too miss the office gossip, my work husband and I ruled that place, lol. Good and hard working but we also had friends in high places and enjoyed being untouchable, I don’t miss the stress though, not one bit.

As for Covid, yeah, my bucketlist is beyond stalled. So many plans cancelled or postponed but I am tying to be creative with new, localish travels and adventures. Making the best of it is all we’ve got.