Community Connection: Ovarian Cancer Canada is looking for volunteers! Could you help?
OVdialogue – consider joining our team in the role of Peer Support Volunteer. Over a few hours each week, you would be part of a team that helps connect people, support conversations and are thought leaders for OVdialogue. This is your opportunity to give back to those who have/continue to support you through the tough times, share your unique experiences, and help celebrate successes. For more details of what this entails, please reach out to @Mfallis (mfallis@ovariancanada.org).
OVdialogue – consider joining our team in the role of Peer Support Volunteer. Over a few hours each week, you would be part of a team that helps connect people, support conversations and are thought leaders for OVdialogue. This is your opportunity to give back to those who have/continue to support you through the tough times, share your unique experiences, and help celebrate successes. For more details of what this entails, please reach out to @Mfallis (mfallis@ovariancanada.org).
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I will also say, these poems have inspired me to go back to reading poems again.
Thank you ladies.
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Good afternoon everyone. I just read through the previous posts from today. You all inspire me so much. I have my second round of chemo on the 27th. Overall I am feeling really good right now but my hair is falling out by the handful! Hey, it’s just hair it will grow back, right? I have been spending time with good friends and good food this week. @Hooodith I love that poem, it’s so powerful. @Taita I’m glad you are feeling good today! Nausea is the WORST!! Ugh! @Strongwoman I hope your results are positive. @GloHo I am new to all this stuff can you please explain what you mean by “rechallenging scenarios”?1
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@JoanEG
To try a drug(s) again that you had before even though that drug had to be discontinued. Discontinuation of a drug could be for several reasons - resistance, adverse reaction, didn’t work.In my case, carbo/Paclitaxel worked…but when the course was finished (after 11 cycles) and I went on maintenance treatment, the cancer recurred in less than 6 months - at which point I was deemed to be platinum-resistant. They do not usually offer another opportunity to try that drug(s) again. So to hear that @Taita may have broken thru that roadblock is very interesting.Hope that answers your question. If not, let me know.If anyone has anything else to add…please do.Has anyone out there had an opportunity to rechallenge a drug(s)? Very interested in hearing about it if you’d like to share.1 -
@Strongwoman
I agree re weight up = good, down = bad. I have never had a weight down issue, so was cause for concern when my weight started going down. As you know, my weight has been fluctuating. Sometimes up, sometimes down so, for the time being, I have decided that this is the new norm for me.0 -
@GloHo Thank you for your comment and input on that statement. I have been up in weight since my surgery and subsequent treatments, which I accepted as my new norm. These past few months, it started trekking downwards. For the first time or two, I could rationalize it. After that, I couldn't not see it, and when the receptionist at the Oncology Dept came over and said "you've been flagged". I knew then it was more concerning. Today I am back up in weight but in my head I am attributing it to being taken care of while at my parents. Of course we splurged and ate stuff we normally wouldn't and it was all fun! We will see what the next few visits bring.
Interesting isn't it, how we process it and what we accept as our new norm post surgery.0 -
I am so glad you, my teal sisters, liked that poem. It was one of Winston Churchill’s favourites and he quoted it in a speech in Feb 1941, when things looked bleak for European democracy. Of course, in December the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour and the Americans joined the allies and turned the tide. You could say that the Japanese were already planning that, and we just couldn’t see it, like the smoke obscuring the victory on the battlefield. And like those cancer cells dying off in the far corners of our bodies.We are having days of cold, sunny weather here on the wet coast. I am making Xmas card lists. Himself is putting my fave CDs on my I pad and this weekend I will write cards while listening to wassails and traditional winter songs. I will also be going to a tea party at my friend’s house, with four other friends. Then its back to chemo on Monday. Blech! I hope everyone has a great weekend. I intend to.2
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@Hooodith I am hoping to finish making my Christmas cards this weekend then get them addressed and mailed off next week. I am also back to chemo on Monday, blech. I shall certainly make the most of the weekend. I am going to the Deck The Halls craft fair at the Cowichan Exhibition grounds tomorrow with my sister and sister-in-law. 😊1
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@JoanEG. I lost all my hair and people gave me wigs. One was pink, but I only wore it in the garden. My fave was the white bob, it seemed to make my eyes bluer. But now,I have my own curly brownish-grey hair. Never had curly hair before. I wash it and mousse it and it looks great! But I missed my white bob. It was-too short once my own hair grew back. Now I have ordered a curly whitish-grey wig, but its taking a long time to arrive from China. I love wigs, I wishI had discovered them decades ago.1
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@JoanEG I wrote a piece called "just hair" check it out of you want.
Here is what I donned this weekend whole decorating the tree
My Mom told me that white hair doesn't suit me. Like I will have control of what might come in. LOL
So, are wigs as hot as the chat out there? @Hooodith weigh in as well. Curious as there are both sides of the coins out there. I also agree that there are some amazing wigs out there. So well done these days. Fun too like you could be an alter ego if you wanted to!
We have the tree up now. So nice to look at. @Hooodith you have me inspired to check out some traditional wassails to see what they sound like.
Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend!3 -
@Strongwoman I love your hat and I will definitely check out “Just Hair”. I haven’t made a decision about a wig yet so I would love to hear the pro/cons!0
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@Strongwoman I just read “just hair”. Oh boy you hit it on the head. I am having such mixed emotions about it. My hair is so thin now I am keeping my head covered because it looks so awful and it stops my clothes from being covered in hair. I will be getting my hairdresser to shave the rest off sometime this week.As much as I want “rock” the look I won’t make a decision until I look in the mirror and see it all gone.1
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@Strongwoman. Listen to The Watersons, their CD “ Frost and Fire”. We don’t decorate until December, and we don’t take it down until 12th Night.I am recovering from the three hour tea party yesterday. It was a great time, we discussed so many topics. Plus we had a clothes swap.I will try to put a wig pic up.2
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@JoanEG. There is a great wig shop in Nanaimo. They are so nice. Also, if you would like to borrow one of my wigs, I have a lovely brown human hair bob. It is very flattering. My friend gave it to me as her husband didn’t like it so she just wore toques. But if you were going somewhere posh, this would look good on you. I could mail it to you if you like.As I said, I love wigs, but I was a performer and a Morris dancer and like dressing up and pretending to be someone else.2
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@Hooodith Thank You! I am definitely going to check it out.
That sounds like a delightful tea. Discussion, tea AND clothing swap! I never would have thought of that. Yes, socializing can be fatiguing but it is oh so much fun at the time.
Rest and recover.
My cousin was to come tomorrow for a visit and we are postponing for now as thr e Weather Network is stating "white out conditions" for tomorrow. Seems early for that and on the other hand it does not. Does keep us talking about it.0 -
I finally made contact with @mjmck21 husband to find out how she was doing. I am sad to say that we've lost another one of our Teal sisters. Mary Jane McKitterick died on November 7th, 2023.This is her obituary:
https://www.fco-cfo.coop/en/death-notices/mary-jane-mckitterick-251447/
Her husband, Matt, has said that "anyone else from the forum are more than welcome to come on January 13. It was delayed because her younger brother had surgery the week after she passed, I wanted him to be able to recover. Maybe let me know if so, then I can plan the food etc."
Although I communicated online several times with Mary Jane, I only had the pleasure of meeting her one time in person for a 4 hour chat lying in the shade of a tree on Britannia Beach this past summer. We traded stories, commiserated, exchanged tips on coping with symptoms and most important of all laughed a lot. I found her to be a very personable and dynamic person and I'm not at all surprised by the arc of her life outlined in her obituary.
Julie4 -
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@Hooodith So interesting! I had to look up "Morris Dancer" as I didn't know what you were referring too. I had no idea. Is it dissimilar to Highland Dancing in some ways or many ways?
You are a woman of many hidden little nuggets....a little one here and a little one there. I am learning so much.3 -
@jmbarrhaven Thank you for letting us know and for providing the link to @mjmck21 Obituary. Wow! She was an extraordinary woman who dedicated, explored and enriched so many lives in many parts of the world and those at home. She was an integral part of this group and will be missed. I am thankful She is at rest with no pain and went the way she wished. Condolences to the entire family.
You (@jmbarrhaven) will miss and grieve her as well. Kindly let us know if we can support you in any way.
Take care of you and be kind to yourself.
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@Strongwoman. Morris Dancing is English. There are three types, Cotswold, Border, and Northwest. The side we had on Gabe was Border Morris. My husband was the teacher as he had danced with the Vancouver Morris Men for fourteen years. He was also a musician ( melodion) and I played the whistles. It is a worldwide phenomenon, in the English speaking world. Loads of sides in England, none in Scotland, Lol. The music is also traditional English tunes. It is a lot of fun, because nobody takes themselves too terribly seriously and if they did I would avoid them. It was like a big family. We kept all the English traditions, and sang the seasonal songs. On Gabriola we did the Maypole at the Spring Fair. There are Morris sides in Ontario, definitely in Toronto, but none in Quebec. There are about five in BC. Lots all down the US west coast too. Did I say it is lots of fun?2
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So interesting. I wonder if any of my family participated years ago or recently. Ancestry has most of my family coming from England. Thank you for informing me. I know I would have liked it and sought it out earlier had I known. Sounds like so much fun!0
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@Hooodith thanks for the offer. I’m afraid a brown wig would shock the daylights out of everyone who knows me. My hair has been pure white for 25 years! I will check out the wig shop in Nanaimo for sure! Also, you definitely lead an interesting life. As a music/dance lover you are living the dream! 😍
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@Strongwoman. What place in England did your family come from? I notice that both you and your sister have pronounced chins, and they look very much like my biological son’s, and his son and daughter’s as well. These chins can be seen in my relatives on my mother’s side of the family, which is from Norwich, Norfolk, and who can be traced back 300 years to the Flemish weavers who came to the UK to escape religious persecution. The Huguenots.1
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@JoanEG I think its in the mall that Shoppers Drug Mart is in.the owner is very patient and very sweet. But I found my friends loved my white hair and I have always had straight brownish red hair. It isn’t any more, its brownish grey and curly. Why not be brave? I have found that this disease has changed me in lots of ways and I am embracing them now. I am not the person I was in Feb 2022. And I think I prefer the new me.Unfortunately both our musical groups folded because the leading light in each died of cancer in 2021, a few months before I was diagnosed. So I don’t dance, sing or play at this time. I tend to burst into tears when I try as they were beloved friends of mine and I miss them soooo much. Our fiddler keeps asking us to get together and play, and I loved playing Irish jigs and reels with him on my whistles, so I may do that in the New Year.0
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@jmbarrhaven, thank you so much for sharing the sad news about @mjmck21. I have been thinking about her and hoping she was doing better. Thanks again for reaching out to her family and sharing the same with us. Her obituary confirms what I have always thought of her - a very courageous and compassionate human being and teal sister. May she rest in peace. 🥲1
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I never met or spoke with her but I'm sad this disease took her life. May she rest in peace. I pray for the day when science encounters the Eureka moment and ovarian cancer becomes a mere inconvenience rather than a life altering experience.3
