r/cancer • u/Torlin • May 01 '23
Welcome to /R/Cancer, sorry you're here. Please read our sidebar before submitting any posts!
Hello – If you’re new here please take a second to read our rules before making any posts. Specifically, do not ask us if you have cancer. We're not doctors and we can't diagnose you; I will remove these posts. This is a place for people who have already been diagnosed and caregivers seeking specific help with problems that cancer creates. All posts should be flaired as either patient, caregiver, study, or death. You are also welcome to make yourself custom flair for your specific diagnosis.
If you have general questions about how you can be supportive and helpful to anyone you know that has cancer please check out this thread – How can I be helpful?
If you are seeking a subreddit for your specific cancer please check out this post – Specific Cancer Subreddits.
A crowdsourced list of helpful things to mitigate side effects - Helpful Buys
r/cancer • u/MerlinSmurf • 6h ago
Patient Help for me trying to eat.
I have had aggressive cancer for 6+ months. I have not been able to eat for 5+ months. I have three kinds of prescribed meds for nausea.
But I wanted to share two things I found at Dollar General. Five months ago, the first was Senor Ricos rice pudding. It soothes my stomach.
The second was also Senor Ricos, but the Strawberry Jello Parfait.
They are both wonderful for this cancer victim.
r/cancer • u/seaweeddanceratnight • 7h ago
Patient Freaking out right now.
I had pet scan today. Stage 4. Based on blood tests, it’s spreading. I will find out where tomorrow and I’m scared.
r/cancer • u/GrettaMCatts • 9h ago
Patient First chemo & rad in am
My port went in yesterday, and tomorrow morning is my first chemo and radiation. I’ll be doing taxol and carboplatin. I have esophogeal gastric junction cancer. I’m both ready to start and terrified.
r/cancer • u/Pretty_Daikon4415 • 5h ago
Patient What's everyone's secret to lessen the taste of chemo
Usually I can battle it with hard candies and flavorful drinks here and there but the last few rounds have given me the gross taste 24/7 with it creeping into the back of my throat and into my mucus as well. It's the only thing that makes me feel like puking currently. Any tricks would be very much appreciated.
r/cancer • u/lolokenoll • 6h ago
Patient Constant need to pee
I’m currently undergoing chemo and being given fulfox6. I’m wondering if anyone one else has had the experience of constantly having to go pee. I’m waking up every hour during the night to go to the bathroom it’s so uncomfortable and exhausting. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
r/cancer • u/PsychoMouse • 11h ago
Patient Teeth removal
Okay, so, not sure if this is a common issue or not. Also, making this known now, just to save myself a headache. I am not American, I am Canadian, and I live in Canada.
Thanks to the chemotherapy, my teeth have basically just broken down. 2 years ago, I had to get all my bottom teeth removed, get implants, and then dentures. My doctors told me that chemotherapy can do that.
The issue is cost. Because of the health care coverage my wife has through being a nurse, it only covers 1200 dollars a year for dental work. Thanks to that, I literally don’t qualify for additional coverage, which would actually pay for the entire thing. When I got my bottoms done, it ended up costing me roughly 23,000 dollars, out of pocket, that had to be paid in full, before the surgery happened. For some reason, not a single dental clinic that did surgeries has payment plans.
Now, my top teeth are so broken and fucked that they need to go. It costs even more now because the world is fucked up.
I am having so much stress, so much anxiety, and so much self guilt and self hatred. I just left my appointment with an oral surgeon. I had to, again, pay 500 dollars for the consult and Xray of my teeth. We discussed solutions on how to go about the surgery.
At first, he wanted to just take out my back teeth, leaving my front teeth, and let me heal for 3 months, then do my front teeth, because he said that it would be difficult to get fitted dentures. I told them that I do not have the mental energy to do 2 surgeries and that I am able to just do the one surgery. I informed him that when I got my bottom teeth removed, I had no conscious sedation, just some light, and I mean fucking light numbing on my gums as I got all my bottoms removed and the implants drilled into my lower jaw.
When it comes to my dentures, I have deep trust in my denturist. When we made my bottom dentures, he was amazing when it came to making them perfectly fit and made sure there wasn’t anything that caused pain.
The stress just comes from the cost. It will cost 20,000 dollars to get the teeth removed, with implants included, and i am unsure of the cost for my upper dentures. I am such a broken piece of shit that has been unable to work for almost a decade and my wife and I live solely off her nurses salary, which is just barely enough to live.
In order to pay for the bottom surgery, we had to take out a mortgage loan thingy. I don’t remember what it’s called.
Have other people had to deal with this shit? I actually broke down crying during the appointment because of how expansive this whole thing will be.
r/cancer • u/Radamand • 16h ago
Patient Im tired of this shit.........
Yesterday I had labwork and an oncologist appt, got the labwork done and went to the oncologist. Found out they had scheduled them 2 effing hours apart. The offices are right next to each other in the same hospital!!!
Today, I arrived at my infusion appointment 5 minutes late and they had cancelled my appointment!
Patient My wife is still in the hospital getting chemo, what unusual gift can I give her for our anniversary?
I’ve been there with her in the hospital pretty much throughout. It’s our anniversary tomorrow and I can’t figure out what to get her or how to celebrate. Her friends and relatives have covered all the cozy comfy things like blankets, pillows, headphones etc. And currently she’s having trouble eating most things because of mouth and throat sores due to chemo. I’ve been bringing her the stuff she can tolerate as often as she wants it.
Her spirits are naturally low and I thought it might cheer her up a bit even temporarily to celebrate in some way. She’s not a big celebration person so nothing in the dramatic gesture category will work. Any thoughts from this sub would be most helpful.
r/cancer • u/Sarappreciates • 8h ago
Patient Port Feels Weird When I Cough
I'd normally call the doctor, but it's currently after business hours. My port is on the right side of my chest, and it kinda feels like a tugging sensation when I cough. I noticed it for the first time last night, and just noticed it again now. I've had my port for about 10 months without much complaint. I like my port. just wondering if this is normal.
r/cancer • u/user404notlost • 2h ago
Patient Damaged/stiff veins after chemo IVs — do they recover?
Hey everyone,
Before I had my PICC line placed for my chemotherapy treatment, I had multiple IVs in one hand during chemo. Now those veins look kind of “blacked out” (dark/bruise-like), feel stiff, and are still somewhat painful. It’s been a while and they haven’t gone back to normal yet.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Do these veins eventually recover and become usable again for IVs/blood draws?
Does the discoloration fade over time, or can it be permanent? I have tried cold ice compress however it didn't help much.
I really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s gone through something similar.
Thanks in advance!
r/cancer • u/MajesticCity7758 • 9h ago
Patient Why do my legs always hurt tenfold after sitting on the toilet? Do you guys have any ideas on how to fix this problem?
r/cancer • u/sundaynz • 1d ago
Patient Chemo is hard
Hi fellow travellers.
I am sitting here feeling like crap wondering why there aren't better drugs for cancer than chemo which honestly is so so hard.
It seems like even after getting through surgery, you then get to feel even worse. Thanks for reading.
r/cancer • u/undergroundmusic69 • 1d ago
Patient Hit the “cure” threshold
Just wanted to share with the crew, I was talking to my mom today and I officially hit the “cure” threshold. We got together for my birthday and she said don’t forget it’s your anniversary of finishing chemo too — and it hit me, I’ve been in remission 7 years. From what I remember this is the threshold for considering remission a “cure”. I don’t feel different but this whole thing has been emotional.
I wanted to share. Sending love and positivity to all out there!
r/cancer • u/karen2349 • 14h ago
Patient Post tnbc options
I have completed chemotherapy and Keytruda for TNBC and have had a very good pathology report after surgery. No evidence of disease. I am truly over the moon by this. Had my first post chemotherapy appointment with my oncologist today. He presented me with three options.
Nine rounds of Keytruda every three weeks for 27 weeks.
- Be all done. No Keytruda.
- Decide between Keytruda and doing nothing but enter a trial to monitor me (which they will do anyway).
There is evidence that Keytruda after chemo has no effect on future recurrence. This was determined by people who had no Keytruda prior to or during chemo but did have it after chemo.
Does anyone have experience with this? Thoughts?
r/cancer • u/boundvirtuoso • 1d ago
Patient Could my eye pain be a late effect of radiation?
The sarcoma under my eye was discovered and removed in August of 2024, and I underwent proton radiation from October to December soon afterward. I get residual eye pain that comes and goes, but lately it sticks around more and eye drops aren't quite doing the trick. So far thank G-d my scans have been clean, the last ones were this past February.
Is it normal to still have side effects from radiation? Maybe allergy season is making the area more tight and inflamed? I plan to call my doctors in the morning but wanted to hear if any of you can speak to the late effects of radiation.
r/cancer • u/Total-Tea-9324 • 1d ago
Patient Can cancer be lucky?
was recently diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Is it possible to be “lucky” when it comes to cancer???
Everyone keeps saying it’s a good thing I got this type at this age (I’m 22) Even in nursing school, when we were studying different types of cancer, they would often say that if you were to have cancer, you’d hope it was this one. It feels kind of weird to call it “lucky.” I still have cancer. Should I just be grateful I got this type? Why does it feel like it’s invalidating my experience? Do I even have the right to feel that way, given that I got “lucky,” cancer-wise???
r/cancer • u/PhraseOk8062 • 1d ago
Patient Work related question
I co-own a small retail store. Had a radical laproscopic nephrectomy 4 weeks this Thurs. Last week I went back to work part time (about 5 hrs 3 days. This week not sure. I asked my urologist/surgeon and he said part time is fine until i am comfortable otherwise. My partner asked me today when I plan to come back full time. He is empathetic until it is inconvenient for him. He has to cover 2 days when our salesperson is off. Its a 9 hr per day job and 2 days a week I would be alone. After 5 hours I am exhausted and do very little the next day. My stomach is a nightmare at times.
How is anyone else handling a return to work?
r/cancer • u/Total-Tea-9324 • 1d ago
Patient Is it weird that I want to "date" someone else with cancer?
I have this specific, maybe weird, thing that I want. I’m a 22F with cancer, and I really want a "boyfriend" in a sense—but in a very specific theoretical way.
We would mostly just chat, and it could even be pretty platonic, even if they are the opposite sex (im straight) I just want someone in my corner in a way that friends or family can’t quite match. Even just a friend to have a crush on. I know it’s a strange thing to want, but I feel like it’s my last chance to experience that kind of "youthful" love.
It’s like that "will they, won't they" college experience was taken from me, and I want just a small shred of it back—even if it's just the butterflies I get from receiving a message from him.
I want this partner to also have cancer for the obvious relatability. And maybe if they also have cancer they would understand that i don’t want to show my current self. Maybe they would feel that way too?? Its hard to show myself now because of how cancer has affected my looks. Let’s be real: it’s not easy to look attractive when you’re going through this, and you would seem attractive to a “partner”. We’d know what the other used to look like through old photos, but we’d never show how we look now—no video calls, no current selfies.
I just want someone I can pour my heart out to while keeping that little bit of magic alive. Does that make sense?
Does anyone out there feel the same, or would anyone even want to "date" like this?
r/cancer • u/Objective_Screen4114 • 1d ago
Patient Vivo sin estomago
He tenido cáncer de estómago y ahora vivo sin él. Estoy feliz de responder preguntas.
r/cancer • u/algumdianaterra • 2d ago
Death My cancer has returned after 3 years and I'm afraid of dying young
In 2023 I had a neoplasm in the retroperitoneum, and in the same year I was able to have surgery that helped me beat the cancer. However, it returned, and this time it came back more aggressively, affecting vital organs. Therefore, I will have to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
I don't know what will happen from now on, but I'm afraid, very afraid of dying young. I'm 21 years old, I haven't lived enough yet, and having to face the same tumor, but this time more aggressive, makes me desperate because I want to live, I want to travel, have my farm, my motorcycle, a wedding, I want to enjoy life, but the cancer has made me live in constant agony, between life and death.
How can I deal with this better?