Erica
Only place going to today is A&E. have developed a high temperature and chesty cough and have been advised to go straight to the hospital. Really cheesed off as was looking forward to meeting fellow patients but these things happen.
Anita
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Hi @Anita, that’s just "pants ",typical "best laid plans"so I hope it turns out not too bad for you today and look forward to your next meeting.
Bannanacake
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Oh @Anita you get yourself straight to A&E that is the most important thing.
Perhaps take a bag of hospital stay necessities in case you are kept in, it might be the best place for you.
Please look after yourself and I am sending you loads of healing vibes.
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Thinking of you @Anita X
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Thinking about you loads @Anita take lots of special care of yourself
Hi @Anita and @SpaceAngel may I ask how you’re both getting on?
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Hi, I’m ok thanks. I’ve been given a date for my stem cell collection which is at the end of March which will give me a bit of time to prepare for the procedure. I’m going out for lunch on Saturday with my daughter and granddaughter so just trying to get back to normal as much as possible.
Hope you are ok and many thanks for your message.
Anita x
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Hi Alice,
Thank you for thinking of me. I’ll be honest, I’ve had better times! It was my 58th birthday on Valentine’s Day and it was the first birthday I’ve ever spent alone - it was pretty rubbish, despite all the cards, gifts and wishes from friends and family. However, hitting rock bottom has made me decide to stop isolating and get back to my old normal. Today I threw caution to the wind and went to a busy supermarket for the first time in over 12 months! Just looking at the goodies in my fridge is worth the risk that I may have caught Covid (very few people were wearing masks). I’ve also booked a holiday at Easter, so that I have something to look forward to and I’m going to watch my son later in the year competing for Team GB in Iceland.
I’ve done my research and it seems that the anti-virals are pretty effective, so now I’ll just have to rely on those if, or more likely when, I catch it!
The last 2 years of my life feel like they were stolen from me, so now I am claiming back my life and I’ll take the risks - at least if I do face the worst and die, I can do so with a smile on my face, as opposed to me being a miserable hermit!
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Hi @SpaceAngel , your message is really uplifting. I’ve been feeling pretty down recently. Reading your post is helping me to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Do have a wonderful holiday and I bet you will be so proud watching your son compete for team GB in Iceland.
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Hi @SpaceAngel
So sorry to hear you had a real low on your birthday. Happy belated Birthday, by the way! I hope you have done a few more things to celebrate and make up for the disappointing day. I agree that even going to the supermarket is a bit of excitement these days, after so long shielding. And having control over what is in your fridge is actually a big deal. Am a bit fed up with yucky veg chosen by someone in the supermarket who doesn’t care all that much, and with the lack of spur of the moment food treats. It matters! Feeding yourself well is self love, and food is a pleasure and a comfort.
And I admire your decision enormously to live a little. It’s not for everybody at the moment, but I have been mulling it over, and have also decided it’s time for me to loosen up a bit and enjoy a few more outings. I agree, the antibodies and antivirals should stand us in good stead, and unfortunately some risk is necessary to enjoy the life we have.
I live with my husband and teenage son, and obviously my shielding also affects them. I want them to live a bit more too. So we’re going to try to go on holiday overseas this year, and to eat out and attend a few events. I’ll be careful and take some precautions - but I’m going!
It’s inevitable we all get covid at some point, unless we really do hide away. I’d have to stop my son going to school and my husband going to work to truly protect myself, which obviously I can’t and won’t do. So may as well have some fun and accept I will get it at some point. And now we have these life-saving medicines, now is a good time.
Enjoy yourself, and good luck.
All the best X
P.S. So amazing your son is in the Olympics! Which event? You must be bursting with pride and so excited about watching him. Ww’ll be rooting for him too.
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Hope you’re feeling a bit better, @Kirsteen. I also found @SpaceAngel’s post inspiring. It’s not surprising people in our situation are having down moments - we’ve all been through so much. How’ve you been? Can we help in any way? X
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Hi @SpaceAngel @Kirsteen @Fullofbeans yes, @SpaceAngel I really found your post so inspiring.
A very happy belated birthday, I wish we had known as you could have the support of your forum friends who really understand the emotions and thoughts we have gone through in the last 2 years.
Wow, a visit to a supermarket and looking at the wares on the shelves what does it come to when I get so excited at the thought. I am so glad you got ‘goodies’ If Sainsburys doesn’t deliver it we don’t get it !!!
A holiday at Easter is really something to look forward to, that light at the end of a very long tunnel.
Being with and watching your son competing for Team GB in Iceland, a chance of a lifetime.
Please keep that smile on your face and enjoy your adventures
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Thanks for your words of concern @Fullofbeans. My worries are about my
husband as he has a few health concerns which I’ve posted about in the mental health thread. We are slowly working through things such as arranging appointments. But having gone through everything that happened over the past 2 years my own anxiety feels very heightened and the waiting for appointments and results feels hard.
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The waiting is so hard, isn’t it, @Kirsteen? And I often think it may be harder to be the loved one/carer of someone with blood cancer. I look at my husband sometimes, and wonder what awful feelings and thoughts and moments he’s experienced since I was diagnosed. He doesn’t tell me everything - I think he wants to protect me from that fall out. But a blood cancer diagnosis is a catastrophe for more people than the patient alone, isnt it? And the diagnosis can genuinely make other members of the family ill, by affecting mental health, which can then affect physical health. It really does have a huge impact, and yet it is the patient who gets most of the care and attention.
I hope you don’t underplay to others what you are going through, and that you are getting some support from somewhere? And maybe you have done this, but perhaps it is worth checking in with your GP to discuss your anxiety, and any support the surgery might be able to provide? And of course there is us here. And the helpline. Two years of continual stress is a very long time to experience stress - you are both bound to be affected by that.
And I hope you can make time for yourself to do whatever it is that de-stresses and relaxes you. I listen to guided meditations, and I walk the dog and do HIIT workouts. And have a laugh with my husband and son watching a bit of stand-up comedy. I hope there’s something that works for you.
Sending a virtual hug your way. ( )
All the best X
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Thanks @Fullofbeans , your message gave me a lovely warm feeling. We seem to do similar things to relax and de-stress. I also meditate and do either Zumba or go out for walks as being active helps to cut down my anxiety. I’m also beginning to realise that it’s important to be selective about what I watch on TV in the evening. Like you said a good comedy or watching a drama series or wildlife series help me to switch off. Our adult son also lives with us, he’s given us a lot of support over the last two years.
I have been in touch with my GP, she has been very supportive and understanding to both my husband and myself. I am on a waiting list for CBT but have been waiting for 7 months now! I spoke to someone last week and was told I’m near the top of the list and should be seen by the end of March. My husband has a few appointments coming up so hoping to get results and diagnosis from these. As you said the not knowing is difficult and knowing things are being dealt with will really help both of us.
I was reading about your hopes and plans for this year. A holiday, some days out and eating out sound great. These are also things I’m looking forward to doing to. But as @Erica says it will be baby steps as I slowly get used to doing things again.
Wishing you, your husband and son well. And sending you a virtual hug too. x
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Oh just a thought, @Kirsteen - you can do free CBT online via the NHS. It’s obviously not the same as a one-to-one, but it could be a start, to get you thinking along the CBT lines, and in prep for end of March. I did some one-to-one CBT years ago, and got given homework exercises - which I imagine is similar to what you do online. Could be worth a go - just google ‘online CBT NHS.’ My sister actually recomnended it to me - she’s an NHS psychiatrist - but I haven’t needed to try it, since her recommendation.
Glad your GP has been supportive. My GP and surgery have been fantastic- it makes all the difference.
And yes, sounds like we enjoy similar things! I had never realised quite how therapeutic exercise can be. Ironically, I’m now fitter since my illness, and my mental health has never been so stable (I had depression a few times, before my diagnosis.) And like you, I won’t watch anything that brings me down or makes me feel sad or anxious now. Not worth it.
Let’s hope we both get a meal out this year, at the very least - and maybe we’ll be surprised by a few more pleasures to come.
So nice to speak to you. Let me know how you both get on.
All the best
Fullofbeans X
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I’ve started to be really careful about what I watch in the evening to. I don’t sleep well anyway but depending on my choice of programmes it can either improve it or make it worse. A comedy is always a good choice for me!
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Swimming has had such a positive impacting my mental health. I never thought I’d say this but I actually miss it on the days I don’t do it!
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Hi Alice evening , my hopes & goals are to get fitter than I am at the moment , although I do know & understand it doesn’t happen overnight… I also would like to see more of my boys as they still lived with me before I was taken into hospital , but as they have Cerebral Palsy additional support needs they were taken into care & still there as I’m not strong or fit enough to look after them yet… to be more active so I can get out more so I’m not isolated & cut off from everything… Im quite quiet so I find making friends hard & I still don’t like going into a room full of people if it has to be I’m more comfortable being in 1st then everyone else can start coming in after me , you’d think at 56yrs old I’d be pass that… I survived cancer but still can’t walk into a room 
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Oh @Jay I so agree with you, I am far better on a 1-1 basis with people, the thought of walking into a room full of people just makes me want to curl into a ball.
I have got fitter through walking with my music playing. I am very nosey so I enjoy it and it is free. I have slowly built up the length I can walk… I sometimes go out of my front door and then decide where I am going to walk.
The last 2 days I have walked along our river towpath, fresh air and no vehicles, stunning…
I also do pilates dvd’s which has also helped me
Hopefully soon the weather will start improving and the main priority I know for you is to get your lovely boys back.
You have got me thinking that pre Covid I would walk onto a crowded bus or train, supermarket etc. Now I will walk into a hospital or doctors crowded waiting room without thinking about it. I am not logical sometimes.
You are doing brilliantly, look after yourself and keep posting
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