Back skiing!

[ShazD]

Hi All,

Managed to get back on the slopes 5 months after diagnosis,surgery and 6 cycles of chemo for 3 c. A bit tired as still on the avastin and my chemo finished only a week and a half ago but I made it. Managed a whole day today although the legs are burning a bit now. Loads of snow and visibility was poor this morning but I managed some very long blues and mogully reds so I am very pleased. That is my amazing husband Lawrence on the right and my lovely stepson Mark who have been absolute rocks throughout everything.

[Katmal-UK]

Oh wow that's amazing! Go girl!!

[Irisisme]

I feel so uplifted to hear that you made the ski trip 😃😃😃

[Lyndy]

Wheeee! All strength to you ShazD xx

[Alifit]

Fantastic Shaz - I had a fantastic time and skied every day, although not for too long. We’re home now - it went so quickly and we had a lovely day in Turin too.

Best wishes, go you, Ali x

[Seasun36-uk]

What a great, happy photo!! Enjoy your holiday 🍵🥂☕️⛷🎿🏂

[January-2016-UK]

Wow! Amazing. Just being in that mountain air amongst the snow must be so invigorating, even if you don’t do as much as you’d like.

Great photo!

[Nancy222]

My hat is off to you. Lovely shot.

[julia8163]

Go girl and have a ball, fab photo.

[Welshandproud]

You go girl. TAke it easy on the piste!!!!

[Howick01]

Lovely photo!

Enjoy xxx

[Emsymits]

You go for it! Make sure you enjoy the apres ski too!

Em

x

[Lou53]

Thanks for posting this Shaz. I am still undergoing chemo for stage 3c after debulking surgery. I was so shocked at my diagnosis as I had no symptoms until I blew up with ascites last October. Before getting ill last year I ran my first half marathon trail run as well as 2 weeks mountain walking in the alps. Not being able to be my usual active self alongside not working has been really distressing and depressing. This is the first post I have seen that gives me hope I can get back to my active lifestyle and it is hard to explain how important this is to my mental and emotional well being. Looking forward to the end of chemo now and getting some quality of life back! Hope you continue to enjoy being active.

Louise

[ShazD in reply to Lou53]

You will get there. After I had my surgery ( I had bilateral pleural effusions and had to have someone turn me during the night as I could not move) and during each chemo I would close my eyes and dream of being at the top of a wide steep red run with the sun shining on me and then feeling the skis run down the slope with the wind rushing past me. It was the only thing that kept me sane. I kept a photo of me at base camp Everest and would look at it each day thinking one step at a time. I am now doing an hour and a quarter gym workout and an hour aerobics each week and starting back at my weekly yoga sessions. I did an 8 hour day back at work yesterday( only paperwork but it was an achievement) and am going back in to work again on Thursday on a phased return. I am a clinical nurse specialist so have to still be a bit careful with seeing pts as my wbc and neutrophil count is a bit low. I am determined to beat the poor statistics and live at least another 25 years . I was a fit and active 49 year old who spent all of last year presenting to specialists including a top gynae oncology guy who told me there was nothing wrong with me. I was turned away from a and e with ascites and breathlessness and told I probably had gallstones. I had to admit myself and demand a ct at my work. The gynae guy I saw in May is now trying to dismiss me saying I have an extremely aggressive disease which suddenly appeared after he sent me away so I have to deal with that( as I am pursuing him regarding his omissions and I will probably have to deal with him at work as he consults where I work). I am doing every thing I can to change my lifestyle to prevent the cancer returning. I am on 3 weekly avastin infusions until Dec and have cut out all processed foods and sugar and eggs cheese and dairy. I was vegetarian before diagnosis but ate fish so I am trying to limit fish intake to oily fish only and have had to stop all my chocolate and wine! I am doing my mindfulness and taking my cbd oil to keep myself chilled as I was a person who always had 10 different projects on the go at once. The chemo is tough. Are you responding to the chemo? How many more do you have to have?

[Lou53]

Hi Shaz,

Thanks for getting back to me. I too have dreams of being outdoors....in my case hill walking or trail running in the Lakes. I miss it so much and it's hard seeing my partner and friends continue to do these things - I must admit to being very jealous which is not a feeling I am proud of. Amazed that you have been to Everest base camp! I feel slightly embarrassed that I thought people would know/feel ill for some time if they had cancer. I kept telling myself that the 2 tumours on my ovaries would be benign because I felt so well apart from the ascites...my family experience is of dementia, not cancer .

You have been through the mill with your lack of diagnosis when you knew you were not well. Thank goodness you pushed it and didn't accept what you were being told. I was taken seriously quite early on by my GPs (but I did have to see 5 of them and get emergency apppointments) and didn't have much of a wait to see a specialist or to get CA 125 and scan results. So I am lucky there. I have just completed chemo 5 of carbo/taxol (last Thursday) and am still struggling with the side effects - sleeping 15 hours out of 24 and pains in my joints from the injections for white blood cell. I have been told that chemo 6 may be delayed due to my low white blood cell count, which I think is common. But scan results are good and CA125 is now 23 so like you I am trying to remain positive in spite of the stats. I am on a trial for avelumab, a new immunotherapy drug. I don't find out until the end of chemo if I am in the control group or get avelumab for 2 years. Fingers crossed it's the avelumab as I have heard good things about immunotherapy although this means being at the Christie once a fortnight for 2 days so will need to fit that in alongside a phased return to work.

I too am pescatarian and probably did too much on a regular basis. Why do one thing when you can multi task eh?

Good luck with the challenge to the gynae consultant. My mum was a nurse and sometimes found that doctors were very threatened by her knowledge of her own condition. The NHS is wonderful but it could benefit from a little less consultant reverence. It must be hard to be involved in a challenge to a setting you are working in.

Louise