Help Please VERY important - CANCER DX

I just wanted to drop in and say to all those who have suffrered from cancer what an amazing story of strength each of you portray. I was an oncology nurse for 5 years and loved it! You may think it would be the most depressing place to work, but nothing could be further from the truth. The patients and all the care givers were positive and up beat. Amazing women are what each of you are. Missy, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Through God ALL things are possible. Peace, Melinda

Kaye--Good to see you. Glad to hear that your treatments are going well.

Missy--I just wanted to wish you the best. There are several people on OH who have undergone treatment for cancer post wls. There is one lady I remember from the old days--Belinda was her name. She did well with the treatments--she stops by now and again--hopefully she will see this and respond. Good luck to you.

I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer between Christmas and New Years. I had surgery in early January and I just finished six sessions of chemo. I'm still taking a study drug called Avastin. I did really well with the chemo -- just keep making them change the nausea meds until you get one that works. The Emend really worked for me. I did find that I lost weight after each chemo. At one point I was almost 20 pounds under goal, but I'm back to a normal weight. It revs up your metabolism. Unfortunately that was short lived. I too took Neulasta to keep my white blood count up, but my red counts stayed pretty good with my vitamins. The only difference I found with WLS was with the cat scans that I need every few months. Since the dye goes through us faster, they had to speed things up between drinking the liquid and taking the pictures. The chemo seemed to absorb just the same. Do make sure that you eat enough protein. I had trouble with low blood sugar that was aggravated by the chemo. My WLS surgeon said that should settle down after chemo. So far so good. A couple times my sugars were 44 to 50 AFTER BREAKFAST! He said I was lucky I didn't pass out. I know that I did much better with the surgery and chemo after having lost 145 pounds than I would have done at nearly 300 pounds. My prayers and a great big ((((((HUG)))))) goes out to you. I know all the prayers are what keeps me going. My best advice is to let people help you. That was hard for me, but I know it makes them feel better and it helps you as well. Feel free to e-mail me directly if you just want someone to talk to. I know it's a very scary time. P.S. Kaye -- I'm glad to see you're doing well. I think about you a lot! Joni

Thank you all for your kind words. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 8-1/2 years ago; had double mastectomies; 5 years of Tamoxifen/Arimidex; and oncology follow-ups with tumor markers, CT scans, etc., every three months. WHO would have thought I would have metastasis at this late date, certainly not I. So, this is a second time around for me. I was concerned about the absorption and tolerance of the chemo on a "pouch", but I see many of you have done okay. Thank you all for the good wishes, and congratulations on all my "CA" sisters/brothers who are N.E.D. (no evidence of disease). I was proud to be N.E.D. for 8-1/2 years; so now I am going through treatment to get there again. Thank you all again for the good info. Missy.

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation. Please keep us posted. You are in my thoughts. Vickie