Cancer Survivors Network

Me too. I had Stage 3, surgery + chemo for 6 months. I did not have radiotherapy. I had severe gut problems with small frequent bowel movements (ultimately very painful indeed) Pins-and-needles in hands and heels, mucousitis quite bad, loss of memory or rather loss of peripheral concentration, peeling of skin on hands and feet. It was all fairly miserable. chemo is finished now one year ago. Most problems have gone. However I still have peeled hands, pins and needles in fingers and heels at times (depending on position), easy fatigueability, irregular bouts of bowel frequency with no obvious cause. My memory/concentration is almost normal again, in fact better than before I got ill. I'm happy to settle for minor problems. When I was feeling really low and ill and had problems with imodium etc., I found that using the computer was a great help - made the time pass and I could save resting and sleeping for night-time. (The bathroom/toilet was next door to my small study.) When nothing helped I found that two tablets of paracetamol with codeine and one measure of Irish Whisky ( or even two) cured almost every problem from pain to diarrhoea etc. I dare say that American Whisky would work just as well! I should not be advising this as codeine can be addictive and so can whisky. However, it certainly worked for me when I was really in need. I think I'll patent this approach. So, Wildcat, I think your problems are common enough and will settle in time and are not dangerous. Perhaps sufferers should talk about their difficulties and how they managed to cope with or cure them. There are things which help which are not in the medical literature but are known to patients and sometimes around the nursing end of cancer centres. It would maybe make life more bearable for people when ill or having trouble with chemo side-effects. Anybody got any miracle cures for the minor problems? This is a good forum to let the rest of us know. Best wishes and blessings to us all.
V.C.