Ali K and Amica on This Morning

[Flamenco]

Missed it but will try to view on player. I think about Amica often and wonder how she is getting on. Good luck with the chemo, Amica and I hope it blasts the evil little cells to kingdom come. While on the subject, as some of you know from my other postings, I too have breast cancer that has spread to my bones and am fighting it all the way. Yes, October is for an awareness of primary breast cancer but those of us with secondaries are trying to 'promote' the cases where it spreads and make people more aware. It's not a happy, jolly message but very important as even the medics can sometimes just write us off as there is no cure once it has gone this far - it is a case of managing the disease for as long as possible.

Thanks for allowing me my time on the soapbox.

Keep on fighting this bitch of a disease and thank you for your post. I'm certainly far more aware about checking myself after my best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer in April. She had a grade 2 tumour removed from her breast, along with all her lymph nodes as 14 of them had cancer cells. She's had her 5th session of chemo, 1 more to go and then a month off before radiotherapy starts. She's in her mid forties, single parent with 2 children at school. Its a bitch of a disease all right. Fortunately she's had a couple of MRI's and it doesn't appear to have gone secondary anywhere, and fingers crossed it stays that way. Its also the practical and financial consequences that are tough. She will not be able to drive when having radiotherapy, and has to go every day for it for 6 weeks. She's struggling financially due to reduced income and can't afford taxi's to and from the hospital and public transport is not an ideal alternative. There should be specific non-means tested benefits available to cover the additional (and often hidden) costs of treatment for cancer. She's been told she's unlikely to get DLA as she can dress and wash herself etc, and does not need someone to care for her - although she really needs someone to come and help with housework on a regular basis, as she's not able to do it. I help her with housework where I can, but really she needs help on a regular basis and can't afford to pay anyone to clean her house. Shameful really. Wish the government did a heck of a lot more to help cancer patients.

 

[BurlyBeaR]

Hard to know what to say when we hear about forum members facing up to such challenges. Puts a lot of things into perspective doesn't it?

 

[YORKO]

Hard to know what to say when we hear about forum members facing up to such challenges. Puts a lot of things into perspective doesn't it?

Cant argue with that one, makes you stop and think that trivialities that seem like the end of the world really dont count for much. All the best to anyone who is coping with illness

xx

 

[caretodiffer]

Keep on fighting this bitch of a disease and thank you for your post. I'm certainly far more aware about checking myself after my best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer in April. She had a grade 2 tumour removed from her breast, along with all her lymph nodes as 14 of them had cancer cells. She's had her 5th session of chemo, 1 more to go and then a month off before radiotherapy starts. She's in her mid forties, single parent with 2 children at school. Its a bitch of a disease all right. Fortunately she's had a couple of MRI's and it doesn't appear to have gone secondary anywhere, and fingers crossed it stays that way. Its also the practical and financial consequences that are tough. She will not be able to drive when having radiotherapy, and has to go every day for it for 6 weeks. She's struggling financially due to reduced income and can't afford taxi's to and from the hospital and public transport is not an ideal alternative. There should be specific non-means tested benefits available to cover the additional (and often hidden) costs of treatment for cancer. She's been told she's unlikely to get DLA as she can dress and wash herself etc, and does not need someone to care for her - although she really needs someone to come and help with housework on a regular basis, as she's not able to do it. I help her with housework where I can, but really she needs help on a regular basis and can't afford to pay anyone to clean her house. Shameful really. Wish the government did a heck of a lot more to help cancer patients.

Flamenco, sorry to hear about your friend:sad: Please ask her to contact the Macmillan nurses, I am not saying they will definitely help, but they might be able to help. When my friend (sadly she is no longer with us) was ill, she was greatly helped by them. My friend Gill, had non-Hodgin's Lymphoma the first time, then she had a relapse after 6 yrs:sad: She said Macmillan nurses were very helpful.
I am surprised that your friend has not been supported by the Breast Cancer support Group either!! I would strongly advise her to get in touch with the support group as soon as possible. I am sure they can organise with transport and with picking up the children etc.

 

[Snarly]

Flamenco - what a good friend you are! Thank you for giving us an insight into the struggles she has. It's an outrage that the help, financial and physical, isn't FastTracked; I think awarded DLA should be-a-given! I was told by a lawyer that DLA applications are only reviewed when an application's been refused and s/he has chosen to appeal. Until the Appeal stage, the paperwork's not looked at. She also advised making an initial claim and another new claim 8 weeks later, so you have multiple claims in the system. If you just have the one application which carries on for a year and is refused, you have lost all that potential revenue, she said. (((hugs))) to your friend and you, Flamenco. And anyone else in this struggle. x Snarly

 

[Flamenco]

Flamenco - what a good friend you are! Thank you for giving us an insight into the struggles she has. It's an outrage that the help, financial and physical, isn't FastTracked; I think awarded DLA should be-a-given! I was told by a lawyer that DLA applications are only reviewed when an application's been refused and s/he has chosen to appeal. Until the Appeal stage, the paperwork's not looked at. She also advised making an initial claim and another new claim 8 weeks later, so you have multiple claims in the system. If you just have the one application which carries on for a year and is refused, you have lost all that potential revenue, she said. (((hugs))) to your friend and you, Flamenco. And anyone else in this struggle. x Snarly

Thanks Snarly for the DLA advice. I will pass this on. Thanks to caretodiffer too, I will suggest to my friend that she gets in touch with her local breast cancer support group as well as MacMillan. I have suggested to her that she applies for DLA nonetheless and either myself or a welfare adviser from MacMillan or Breast Cancer Care will be able to help complete it. Snarly, I know exactly what your lawyer friend means. I got DLA for my daughter but only after getting a review and my MP writing to the DWP for an explanation for their refusal. It's a constant battle though and if you are ill, the last thing you feel up to is a fight with the DWP. As you say, it should be just automatic. Thanks for the advice


Sent from my new Apple iPad 32GB WiFi White using Tapatalk

 

[taylorsgirl]

Just wanted to say that the Citizens Advice Bureau can also help with the paperwork. Despite the fact that I am used to filling in forms (tax returns etc) I found their assistance invaluable when I applied on behalf of my O/H. It made the process a little easier and we wished we had applied as soon as he was diagnosed rather than waiting. Best wishes to all affected by this.

 

[janie]

one more thing flamenco - many gp surgeries have "friends of the surgery" - car owners who are happy to take patients to hospital appointments. also has she enquired about hospital transport? also it might be worth contacting the red cross

http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Health-and-social-care/Health-and-social-care-in-the-UK

i think help is out there - it needs to be co-ordinated a bit more though!

 

[Marina]

There was a health programme on channel 4 tonight that showed an experiment with cancer cells in a lab. They took fresh turmeric root, crashed it, diluted with a bit of water and put it in a dish with cancer cells. After some weeks (I think it was two weeks) cancer cells stopped growing and in fact started to die off. In the control dish cells were still growing.They showed both on screen so it was quite impressive.
My thinking, it wont hurt trying to get some fresh turmeric root, juice with apples to taste (preferably Granny Smith - they are sweet but sugar not fully developed therefore it is safe for cancer sufferers, some anti-cancer diets don't allow any sugar in diet). I hope this information is useful to someone.
Love to all who is fighting this terrible decease x

 

[janie]

There was a health programme on channel 4 tonight that showed an experiment with cancer cells in a lab. They took fresh turmeric root, crashed it, diluted with a bit of water and put it in a dish with cancer cells. After some weeks (I think it was two weeks) cancer cells stopped growing and in fact started to die off. In the control dish cells were still growing.They showed both on screen so it was quite impressive.
My thinking, it wont hurt trying to get some fresh turmeric root, juice with apples to taste (preferably Granny Smith - they are sweet but sugar not fully developed therefore it is safe for cancer sufferers, some anti-cancer diets don't allow any sugar in diet). I hope this information is useful to someone.
Love to all who is fighting this terrible decease x

turmeric is a known anti-cancer agent i think. and curcumin. there is far lower incidence of cancer in high curry - eating countries apparently for this reason.

 

[caretodiffer]

My other half has been adding turmeric in almost everything he cooks, since reading about its goodness a couple of years ago. It is best bought as fresh as possible, in Asian countries, they actually use the roots.
The South Indian women have been using freshly ground turmeric paste on their face to compact pimples (maybe they have been using it as correcting agent as well without realising, a very, very, very long before YBF thought of yellow powder :happy: )

 

[Laura L'occitane Earle]

Love and good wishes to Lizgregs and Amica, and to all who are coping with illness. Please take each day as it comes and really look after yourselves. I truelly think we need to be kinder to ourselves xx.