Hi ladies.This might seem daft but it has been on my mind for quite some time.I was chatting to my daughter this morning and we were talking about something that happened last year and I said when I was sick. Then I said I wasn't really sick.So I was just wondering how do you lovely ladies refer to yourself after you had the operation but went through chemo and radiation.Hugs to you allJan xx

@onemargie, what a disappointment, I always thought that bright red stuff was red wine, they were giving us.I'm starting a new chemo tomorrow but dont know what colour it will be. Maybe just a white wine. Lol. Please excuse my humour.

I just said when I'd had cancer. Wasn't physically sick, or indeed much limited in what I could do so saying I was sick just confused people. Had cancer, always past tense. It pays to advertise.

I didn't have vomiting or nausea during chemo, but was hospitalised twice for neutropenia and a PE and pneunomia. Even then I didn't feel "sick", just in pain - which still exists from my axillary clearance scar. I still have 2 rads to go and herceptin till September. I equate being sick with something like the flu. Even with severe diarrhoea during neutropenia I still saw it as a side effect. I don't know what I will say if anyone asks as I think of it as having an operation and then preventative treatment. I might just say I had an op and treatment. I'm not in denial ... I don't think! It just feels as though I had stuff 'done to me' that wasn't particularly pleasant, with a few stuff ups thrown in for good measure. My lumpectomy was last June and I think I said elsewhere that I recall women saying that during birth, it was awful, but later on they started to forget the pain. I feel like I am already forgetting what I know was a horrible interlude. I don't call it my 'journey', no offense to those who do. I just imagine a journey as something nice! During the whole thing, I would say that I suffered most miserably and psychologically with immediate family members. That was the most sickening part of the experience. I found out very late in the piece that if you are having problems in this area, you need to get help asap from a counsellor or social worker, and your good friends. You may have to take time out from negative family dynamic however you can. I live with extended family so had to keep myself fairly isolated from them, not engage in any conflict, put myself first and even give up or give in to things that were not worth fighting for because of the emotional backlash. I think in retrospect your self care psychologically is paramount...people probably cause more pain than the disease. Thank God we have sites like this and other kind people out there and good friends.xxx

Hey there Janny, I just called it chemo, and called my at home solitary confinement. When I lost my hair, I called it low maintenance. Have to keep your sense of humour.And remember, there are no silly questions here, just support, advice and fellowship.Cuddles, Trace

Lol it's funny how we all react differently to different phrases. I wonder if it is our age groups or experiences or who knows what? I think for me it seems a 'New Age' sort of term (but that's just me) and I hear it a lot from my sister who has all sorts of journeys involving things metaphysical...gongs, bowls, chanting etc. But if she's happy and it doesn't involve human sacrifices, each to their own! I'd like a journey through Europe, personally. I'm glad it's not called 'your ordeal' though! "How's your ordeal going?" doesn't sound great. I'm quite interested in the words we use to try and describe how we deal with cancer. It seems to have it's own vocab that's been built around a word that people don't want to hear out loud ... 'the Big C' is slowly being rephrased. A friend responded to my diagnosis with "well it's not a death sentence anymore" and I really hadn't thought of death yet so I was unhappy with that response. I guess it's hard for people to know what to say but I would rather "I'm sorry to hear that" or "oh sh5t! what can I do?" 'Survivor" is another tricky one for me personally but only because of family connections to Hitler's death camps. But something like surviving that is so far away from our own daily individual battles that it's apples and oranges. I think we are all surviving on a daily basis sometimes. And to throw in some C&W, "Some days are diamonds, some days are stone." Last rad tomorrow!

This might seem silly. | BCNA Online Network

51 Replies

Lozang
Member
8 years ago
Yep, I never felt 'sick'. I usually say "when I had cancer treatment".
primek
Member
8 years ago
I too referred to my time having cancer treatment.
Brenda5
Member
8 years ago
I consider myself lucky I didn't die as a result of treatment. All the things that could have happened, like heart troubles, pneumonia, infections didn't happen although during chemo I felt sometimes like I was dying but I survived!
wendy_h67
Member
8 years ago
@onemargie, what a disappointment, I always thought that bright red stuff was red wine, they were giving us.I'm starting a new chemo tomorrow but dont know what colour it will be. Maybe just a white wine. Lol. Please excuse my humour.
onemargie
Member
8 years ago
I always say. When I was crook etc and I would tell everyone I was heading to the “juice bar” as the AC I had was bright red and looked like raspberry cordial! Or I refer to chemo as being fried on the inside! Margie x
Afraser
Member
8 years ago
I just said when I'd had cancer. Wasn't physically sick, or indeed much limited in what I could do so saying I was sick just confused people. Had cancer, always past tense. It pays to advertise.
kezmusc
Member
8 years ago
Agree @Zoffiel.. Couldn't even tell I had cancer, weird huh? Felt fine until it started being treated! i just says "last year while I was being nuked"LOL
Zoffiel
Member
8 years ago
I just refer to the two times I've had cancer as being sick. Bizarrely, the cancer itself was virtually symptom free. The treatment was OK in 2006 but a miserable experience in 2017. So, sick. It's easier.
Sister
Member
8 years ago
I've only started chemo but I've called it the bad time/sick time during chemo as I wasn't really here until Day 8.
kmakm
Member
8 years ago
Hi @Janny54. Not silly at all as I have wrestled with this a bit too. I'm not yet three months into this experience, and am not sure if I've settled on this, but mostly I gesture to my chest and say treatment. Haven't given much thought to it, but expect I will at some point...

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