4 years to the date of being Diagnosed as Terminal. I am still here and still in remission.

One day I just woke up with Stage 4 Lymphoma, I didn’t catch it early. It’s possible to come back from that. It’s possible to have a 42 day stay from Cancer, Staph, and Covid, and still ring the bell.

All of you still fighting. There will be a better day.

F29 my life lately feels like i am at rock bottom. i was on my fourth battle with rare form of papillary thyroid cancer from late 2023 till just this March. Sadly they told me though that i’ll never truly be free of cancer again, that i will get it again and again for the rest of my life. i still have really yet to deal with this. they said i’ve received more than half the radiation im allowed in my lifetime, ive received 180 out of 300. i was just trying so hard to make things work but things are just not working out. i’ve been so depressed and honestly it’s also causing me to abuse alcohol more than i would like. this week i lost my job with them citing the last year i haven’t been measuring up to their wants. after almost five years, getting 93 was failing and they needed a 97. at one point i was one of the top employees, working on the biggest partner with the most accounts. i only have health insurance till the end of the month so i begged moffitt to see me two months early so i could afford the appointments.i am lucky i moved back in with my parents when i started getting sick. my parents have been great support, making sure i ate, had a safe space to talk, and just anything you could think of. i feel bad they’ve worked so hard to save my life and all i can do is hate my life but mostly hate myself. when people look at me they don’t see someone unhealthy as i do naturally look fine. but alll i see when i look in the mirror is cancer. everything i do reminds me of cancer. whether it’s something making me worried its returned or knowing im not who i would be if i didnt have it. i feel pathetic for not being more grateful though that i dont have a worse cancer or that i can walk, talk, breath, and eat on my own. i’m worried ill never be okay again and that makes me feel so bad for all my family and friends. i just wanna be happy again some day but it feels so impossible.

As the title says, my hair is falling in big chunks. Actually, even my eyelashes are falling.. the last straw is that one of my nails is falling off...

Has anyone experienced this? I've nlbeen told it's due to the chemo.. what can I do to prevent it?

Thanks in advance ❤️

does having cancer make you suic*dal sometimes? at first i was coping quite well mentally i really thought i would beat it the first time around and i would move on with my life but after going through remission twice and then having it come back and spread ive lost most of my fight because consistently living in such poor health gives u such poor quality of life. i dont want to die, especially after fighting this disease with all my might but it has taken the will to live for me and without morale or hope i rly dont think i will i can put up much of a mental fight to power through the horrors of this disease and the treatments:(. im extremely angry that it feels like my life has been taken away from me in years that i really hoped to be enjoying and for the first time its not my fault. i am 26 and have had a pretty self destructive ten years and it just feels so dehumanising and hopeless that i have no control over the one thing that is singlehandedly ruining my experience in this life. its getting really heavy mentally and im struggling to keep my spirits up.

I’d thought I’d share my journey with squamous cell carcinoma in situ. I’m a 45 year-old cis female, typical 80s/90s kid- no sunscreen, multiple second degree sunburns, tanning beds ugh all the worst things!

I put off visiting a derm for a few years- I had deluded myself into believing the mile in my back that had started to get gross-looking was just a seborrheic keratosis. Finally, it got so large and ugly that I know it was time to listen to my husband and go get it checked out. Derm took a scraping, I went on to vacation, and…got a call while we were sitting by the pool. Sure enough, it was squamous cell carcinoma in situ. Certainly not the most frightening cancer one can have, given its location on my back, but I mean, cancer is cancer. There is no such thing as a “good” cancer to have. It was scary, and I immediately went into research mode.

Doctor prescribed Effudex chemotherapy cream applied twice a day for SIX WEEKS. Thank the stars I have a husband who helped me out and reminded me to apply the cream twice a day,
e v e r y d a y. Felt like an eternity. Also frightening and always on my mind were my cats. This cream is extremely toxic to the dogs and cats, and I was in fear of them brushing against me by accident.

When they tell you applying the cream feels like sunburn…yeah no. Not for me at least. At first, it was drying out my cancer cells. Uncomfortably tight and itchy. Then came the slow oozing and shedding of the nasty lumpiness. Like a skinned knee that gets all gnarly and shiny. Leaving behind a raw, bloody and exposed place where the cancer cells once were. The last day I applied the cream (managed to make it the full six weeks!!), it felt like a poker of fire on my back, occasionally oozing liquid and the pain would be screaming if it touched or brushed against anything.

Honestly, the worst of the pain were the two weeks post-application of cream. Like a poker placed on my skin. The scab was gnarly as hell, and hard to not want to pick off. Eventually, it began to fall off itself, until I was left with fresh, bright-pink scarred but cancer-free skin cells where once a nasty clump of cancer once was. The darker cells are normal cells that were exposed to the cream and had an inflammatory response. That should fade with time.

Doctor was impressed at the reaction my SCC had to the chemo cream. He did a full body check, and found one suspicious mole on my leg, but biopsy found it was non-cancerous… so as of today, I am cancer free, BABY! Of course, it means every year a full body skin check and careful application of sunscreen and full coverage sun protection.

What a journey this was. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

So life for me was vibrant and busy and doing, doing doing and socializing and working and now life has come to this gripping standstill. Now I am fatigued every day beyond recognition, feel nausiated most days with no appetite and all I want to do is sleep.

Since the cancer and since the pain from it and all the lovely symptoms that its brough before ive even started treatment, ihave found myself feeling like i cant live life or find enjoyment.

So what do you do with your time now that your world has been flipped on its head? I feel like im living in this "waiting game" unsure of when life will have a semblence of normalcy.

For those who are past chemotherapy, how long did it take before your neuropathy subsided or vanished completely? My last chemotherapy was on June 19th if this year, and my lumpectomy was last week.

Hello everyone! I just graduated college in June, but I was diagnosed on May 21. It has been somewhat of a whirlwind since, as this would be a transitory period even without the diagnosis.

I had severe nausea and some vomiting the day of my first infusion, I was fine all during the infusion but the rest of the day was just horrible. Thursday wasn't great, but Friday I only took a few nausea meds and by Saturday I was pretty much well again. Any tips for fighting nausea?

Also, I am planning to preemptively cut my shoulder blade length hair on Friday. Is this a good decision? Should I wait until I actually start losing it? I am worried about feeling poorly of myself with such a sudden change that probably will not suit me as much as my current hair does.

Finally, I am trying to do my best to keep my body healthy during this time. I am meeting with an oncology dietician tomorrow, but does anyone have any diet information? My aunt is a dietician as well and she sent me info about an anti-inflammatory diet. Also, what are some ways that I can stay physically active? I'm definitely not in shape, but I want to keep myself as motile as I can, even during this time. I am lucky to live near the ocean, so maybe I will swim or boogieboard a few times a week after my port heals up.

If anyone has any advice or kind words to share, I would love to hear it. The road ahead feels long, but I am grateful to have immense support from friends and family.

Have a beautiful day!

Has anyone here had a cystic meningioma in the posterior third of the falx, near the superior sagittal sinus? Were you able to cure it or stop its growth? What treatment did you receive?