sandramj
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S E QUEENSLAND SUPPORT GROUPS
If YOU live in SE Qld from Northern NSW to Mackay I have compiled a list of face to face support groups. I started local support group on the Gold Coast back in 2019 and we now have 630 members - We opened our support group to include Ovarian due to the BRCA gene then gradually to ALL cancers for women on the Gold Coast. We have Local leaders in each postcode/suburb and TYPE Leaders for each cancer so there are a lot of events and we have even got FREE exercise classes now three times a week at Palm Beach, Coomera & Southport. Also aqua classes ($5) but have a great support TRIBE where we BUDDY newcomers to the group and have ladies sewing and making PORT/Seatbelt cushions, bags for BFF Ponchos we deliver to ladies having mastectomies, and have hospital visit fairies who visit our lovelies in hospital and take one of CARE PACKS with ear plugs, sleep masks, hand sanitiser, tissues, hand fan, cool towel, chemical free deodorant, cleanser, and other toiletries and skincare, stress ball for exercise arms after breast surgery, non-slip socks, a journal and pen and mandala colouring KIT, hand crocheted Worry Worm and other items when donated. We also have a lot of WIGS & Headwear we loan to our members, and handy items like wheelie walkers, shower chair, wheelchair etc. We will have our website working by Wednesday https://wcsgc.au and will have our interactive LIVE calendar working then too.AirXpanders in lieu of saline
Hi ladies, I started an online and face to face support group in 2019 after my journey with IDC Stage 2 in 2017. I had a lumpectomy and found one node with caner and another with changing cells. I had radiation x 30, no chemo due to heart lung problems and been on hormone blockers for 5.5 years, For the ladies in our group UI wanted to ask who had used the AirXpanders and what their findings were. It sounds a godsend to me - Doing your own at home and not having to traipse to hospital every week to have filled - waiting for hours and doctors and nurses time. Surely these are the way of the future ?? And surely the remotes could be used again by sanitary recycling. Can you please let me know the cost, the time involved, the success or not. By the way her is the public page for our group - you like this page and ask to join the PRIVATE GROUP and you mush answer the 3 questions. If questions don't prompt please email us on womenscancersupport@icloud.com. We are now a fully accredited support group by Cancer Council Qld & Nsw and on their database for women phoning in for support. https://www.facebook.com/Womens-Cancer-Support-GC-438332736899429/. We have 600 women in our group and have regular coffee, meetups, lunches, educational events, art, craft and have smaller group chats in each post code of the GC and have smaller groups of the other types of cancer also - eg brain, bowel, lung etc as a woman who was BRCA1 had a hysterectomy and then when she had her mastectomy she was introduced to us by another member who suggested she should able to join as she had to "have her boobs off too". So we decided to open up the group to ALL cancer in women. If you live on the Gold Coast we'd love you to join our tribe.BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUPS IN QUEENSLAND & Northern NSW
for the ladies living in Queensland I started a group on the Gold Coast in June 2019 and have drafted a File of local and more distant B C Support groups particularly in SE Qld. Since Covid-19 a number of groups have ceased meeting but most still do so. Please check though this list (and please remember I drafted this list (in my spare time lol) so its not necessaritly 100% accurate. We have 268 members in our Gold Coast group called "Womens Cancer Support GC Group" since June 2019 and all are undergoing some form of treatment at present. We had 15 ladies join in four days last week so Breast Cancer is NOT reducing by y numbers. I highly recommend you contact the group in your area and if there isn;t one start one. Its easy just set up a facebook page and then pop a post on here and the other two bigger BC facebook pages that have 2.5k members and leave it as aonline goup if so or do like we;ve done have meetups and various events for your own group and advertise the other appropriate events in your area that might suit the lovelies in your group. We are very fortunate here on the GC whilst we have NOT ONE McGrath Nurse we have three charities who do pamper days for ladies, we have the Look Good Feel Better Program online while offline during COVID-19, we have access to beautiful ponchos made by another charity to gift to our lovelies who have double mastectomies, and a library of wigs, caps, hats,scarves and various headwear for the lovelies when needed during chemo. We have done a lot of work to support the ladies and on our PRIVATE GROUP page we have lots of files fo information, including lists of questions suggested to ask your breast surgeon at initial appt then after surgery and questions for Oncologist, radiation oncologist etc. And our most import document is called NEWBIES. Where we list what we consider the initial info they need:- Show them the Questions files, tell them what we have in our library, inform the ladies of what is available to them in form of outside support (financial, wigs, pamper days, events) discounts and arrangements we have made with private radiation business to pay no gap, about the free buses, where to donate their hair BEFORE they have the first does of chemo, the offer of a poncho made of baby fleece for them to wear afger DX so the drains bandages etc can be checked with no fuss and they feel comfy warm and snuggly, etc etc. I guess if you start a support group in YOUR area just provice ehat you're comfortable with and sometimes others offer to help - Wr've got 6 admin for the page so that when people ask to join we are pretty able to approve within minutes. And I can only say how heart warming it is to hear the ladies chatting onlne and arranging to meetup for coffee etc. Im thinking of starting a BUDDY system where the lovelies who have been with us since June can BUDDY with a newbie for a couple of months and maybe meetup or chat on the phone or message and SHOW them around the facebook page and ensure they get the most of the information BEFORE they need to. I think this BUDDY system would be good for both ladies as its a form for the original members to GIVE BACK and the new ladies are guided gently by one person through the start of their journey with the back of the whole group as support. Wow his has been a long post but IMPORTANT in my mind. Imagine if you were given a buddy within hours of your diagnosis and they guided you through and became like a SPONSOR in AA. Then in turn others buddy another and so on and the newbie a year later is buddying a newbie - It would be a circle that would atutonatically reinvent itself each time a new member joined, one of the ladies who;ve been members for a while offers to BUDDY them. "Imagine". <3.Re: Femara/Letrazole
Hi @sickgirl. I run a support group on the Gold Coast for women with breast cancer (& some ovarian ) our group on Facebook is Breast & ALL Women’s Cancer Care Team GC. If you want to join you can like the public page, then ask to join the PRIVATE GROUP & answer 2 questions - we have 23+ members all currently undergoing surgery, chemo, Rads &/or other treatments. We have coffee meetups And regular events at mid GC, northern end & soon in Tweed heads. We’ve had Prof of oncology Dietetics & Nutrition, Exercise physiologist, life coach, lymphodema specialist, yoga, Pilates & mindfulness professional, E.F.T. (Tapping) practitioner and a lady showing us how to make home made non chemical soap, lip balm, sunscreen, laundry detergent, etc. Link to public page. https://www.facebook.com/Breast-ALL-Womens-Cancer-Care-Team-GC-438332736899429/ Please message me on 0421549977 as I volunteer for a few places and DONT get notifications from email or messenger until night mostly. Hope we can support you in some way. The lovelies in our group are amazing. From 30-82. Hugs. Sandra.Pamper Days on the Gold Coast for 2020
Hi ladies - There are a few pamper type days on the Gold Coast and please feel welcome to come along to any of these and share with your friends who may also have bc. Here is the link to the LOTUS FREE pamper days in NERANG & COOLANGATTA. - Nerang Bicentennial Community Centre. Pamper Days. 1st Monday in month excepting public holidays. 9-30am till 12-30pm. LINL: https://www.facebook.com/lotuslivingorganically/ another link for a PRINCESS FOR A DAY PAMPER DAY on the Gold Coast. Date: First Wednesday of every month Time: 9:30am – 12:00pm Location: 4 Greenwich Court, Robina 4226. Cost: Free of charge (bookings are necessary) Ph to book 07 5593 3262 LINK: https://newlifecare.nu/our-services/princess-for-a-day/Support Groups for S E Queenslanders
Hello ladies, it been a very busy six months since I started a support page and group for Gold Coast ladies back in June and to date we have 181 ladies as members with 99% of the lovelies currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer (3 with ovarian cancer). We have had lots of events locally and coffee meetups and recently have networked with other support groups in S E Queensland with the view to having more opportunities for ladies to attend various meetings, events and sharing more information between groups and members on a wider scale. Sharing, caring and feeling a sense that you are not alone are so important. Ive found sharing info on a local scale has been fabulous as we can talk about specific hospitals, surgeons, nurses, treatments etc and when we meet up ladies have been able to compare not only the care but show and tell which ha been amazing. Im hoping that by networking these lovelies can go to different areas and days and times the suits them and meet more ladies on the same journey, and we can eat have more participants for the events we hold. Last year we had some amazing events, we had an EFT practitioner do a session on Tapping. Out of 20 ladies 18 said their pain levels had dropped from 8 to 4 and from 7 to 3. We had a session with an exercise physiologist who took us through some easy exercise we could do at home with no gym membership or equipment to buy. The major point I learnt from that was that by marching/heavily as poss 10 mins twice a day we can not only stop osteoporosis but reverse any damage of bone thinning. We had a professor from the Bond Uni come along and talk to us about nutrition as she teaches and specialises in oncology nutrition and dietetics. She has given us a wonderful opportunity to have a personalised program for $97 for the year. The six months has been a fabulous ride for me and for the ladies continually post how grateful they are for the page, group each other and the meetups and events. So we'll keep going into 2020. I will post below the list I have just drafted of local support groups for women with cancer on the Gold Coast and Brisbane and would be rapt if you know of any others if you can please advise me - the more the merrier. As a group we went to the BCNA conference (those who were well enough) and I found the information amazing, as did the ladies who attended. We have a lot to be grateful for with our current journey through breast cancer and I look forward to bringing together more "warriors' to join these groups and to continue on the support into the future. Thanks for this site as it was my starting point on my journey back in April 2017. So far so good, Im very well and very grateful to be so well and be able to bring together these ladies to support one another - it is very rewarding seeing them laughing a d talking openly about their hopes, fears & private stuff etc. Some have formed life lasting friendships already. Heartwarming.
