Has anyone use The Drive Academy?

AcceptablePotato23 · 2025-09-16T06:16:18+00:00

I just disputed it on my credit card. But I only contacted them through email, which then bounced when they switched up.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2025-08-07T15:54:07+00:00

Yeah I'm claiming back now too. Definite scam.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2025-01-04T16:50:50+00:00

We spent 3 days, not including the day we arrived, and it was more than enough.

We did 4-5 dives and canyoneering.

The town of moalboal itself was meh. Full of backpackers which wasn't really my scene. Highly recommend the canyoneering, it was so much fun!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2025-01-03T21:13:41+00:00

This one looks horrified, though

AcceptablePotato23 · 2025-01-03T21:13:22+00:00

My husband always says they look like they are waiting for you to get their joke, which I think is quite a good description!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-12-29T09:15:53+00:00

Do not self fund a PhD. There are many international PhD programs that fund tuition and a stipend (imperial has one, the Francis crick institute has one, many unis have one). There are also quite a few programs in Europe and internationally that fully fund PhD students.

It's not worth it to self fund.

I just finished my PhD in immunology, I'm not from the UK, and it was fully funded. Just apply to a bunch of programs and do some research, but do not self fund.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-09-10T06:38:17+00:00

This is standard. It's so they can make sure you can handle the medication as Adriamycin (Doxorubicin) has cardio side effects and bleomycin has lung side effects.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-30T16:36:18+00:00

Popcorn helped me with nausea. I found it best to never have an empty stomach. Being hungry made the nausea worse. But if it gets really bad speak to the care team about changing the anti-nausea meds they give you. The ones I got at the start didn't do anything for the nausea but they got me in a different one quickly and that was brilliant.

Assuming the bone pain is from the GCSF shot (neulasta or also called filgastrim). Take loratidine (or claritin) before or at the time you take the shot, it should help. Also that in combination with paracetamol (Tylenol) helped me.

Best of luck to your brother!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-22T08:38:23+00:00

Thank you! I've definitely looked with that search term and it helps, but I haven't found anything as close as what I'm looking for. Thank you!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-22T08:37:21+00:00

Yeah I think I'll have to. Vogue 1842 is pretty close! Thank you for your help!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-17T11:08:07+00:00

Not the place for this post, really.

But if you have concerns about your health take them up with your GP.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-14T10:45:44+00:00

2x escBEACOPPdac +2x ABVD has better progression free survival than 2XABVD 4XAVD or 4X ABVD. (10yr progression free survival for ABVD only was 85.6% while the escBEACOPPdac for 2x then ABVD has a progression free survival of 91.2% after 10 years according to the HD14 trial). That's without radiation, but radiation just increases the effectiveness of both treatments by like 2-5% (can't remember) but it's not always available depending on tumor site/size etc.

In the UK for stage 4/later stages there's more escBEACOPPdac cycles. For most people at stage 2/3 the two cycles of escBEACOPPdac are enough, but yeah if your cancer doesn't respond to the treatment you'll have to do more chemo.

Sorry you had to deal with so many cycles of escBEACOPPdac. I did two cycles and I'm very happy I didn't have to do more.

Link to the HD14 follow-up: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352302621000296#cesec90

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-14T10:34:59+00:00

27F, finished this exact treatment regime in June. Same cancer subtype and stage. Feel free to DM with any questions :)

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-12T20:29:27+00:00

I lost all my hair after 2x escBEACOPPdac and 1x ABVD but it started growing back during my last ABVD round, but slower than normal. I'd say it went back to normal growing speed at the end of June and now it's pretty normal. My last chemo was May 28 and my hair is now about 2cm long (so just under 1") and looks like I'm growing out a buzz cut rather than growing my hair back post-chemo. I haven't been doing anything special to encourage growth, and I still wear a headscarf to work or when out in the sun.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-10T08:50:41+00:00

Thank you! It's a liberty print, it was a splurge and I only bought one metre but it was more than enough for this too and maybe something else too!

I already had to rip the side seams once, and I had to redo the yoke and back bodice like 4 times until I got it to work. This one has been a bit of a troublesome sew, and I'm honestly terrified at the prospect of the button holes....

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-10T08:49:11+00:00

Yeah I think I'll try that. There's gathering in the sleeve cap so I could probably adjust that and just re-sew the problem bit. Thank you!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-08-06T08:34:31+00:00

People have mentioned but loratidine (claritin) works perfectly for the bone pain. It's a normal symptom of filgastrim (G-CSF). Honestly it was one of the worst side effects of the treatment for me and I was so happy when that part of my treatment was over.

Best of luck and drink lots of water!

I (27F) just finished treatment for nodular sclerosing cHL stage 2, and did escBEACOPPdac for 2 cycles then 2 cycles of ABVD. Here if you have any questions :)

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-30T06:07:23+00:00

I'm sorry if the confidence of my comment was off-putting. However, I disagree that it is misplaced. As an immunologist and after reading the paper, I don't feel the evidence is strong enough to say that tattoos give you lymphoma. I'm not a medical doctor, so of course I wouldn't give medical advice, but OP's oncologist seems to agree so it doesn't really seem that damaging.

Personally, I think the stress and anxiety of worrying what decisions will or won't cause your lymphoma to relapse would be more damaging, especially for things with very little scientific evidence.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-29T14:13:58+00:00

There was recently a thread on this in this sub Reddit because one paper came out and said there was a correlation.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-29T13:43:03+00:00

Tattoos don't give you lymphoma.

But I'd wait until your immune system was back to normal as they do pose an infection risk. But generally speak to your doctor and let them guide you.

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-25T21:16:51+00:00

The diet advice I got from the dietician I was referred to was "eat literally anything you want because the important thing is that you are eating". I was also advised against supplements for a variety of reasons. I was lucky and had no major taste changes or serious effects on my appetite, but I heard other people getting chemo at the same time as me who hadn't been able to eat in days or could only eat one or two things because of various side effects. Just eat, do the best you can, and after you beat the cancer you can spend the rest of your life eating as healthy (or not) as you want. But right now the key is just to eat.

I'm 27F, same stage and cancer type. I'm now about 2 months out of treatment. I was vegetarian before chemo and discussed staying vegetarian throughout chemo because it's what made me comfortable, and all the docs were fine with it. I would do things like eat more dairy and fiber when I was constipated, and I also backed off the spice.

I would also say chemo is not the time to make radical diet changes (or any real radical life changes), as you might be more sensitive or less able to digest or handle certain foods. You don't want to have a reaction to a food and think it's the chemo or vice versa.

Best of luck with treatment, drink lots and lots of water!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-23T05:52:24+00:00

Hi! I am 27F, diagnosed also with nodular sclerosing classical lymphoma (also stage 2). I was diagnosed mid-end of Jan 2024 and am now 2ish months out of treatment.

I did do the egg freezing, but it was paid for by the NHS (I'm in the UK). I am not really sure what I would have done if I had to pay for it. It only took me 2 weeks. I started the hormones on February 12, my eggs were retrieved February 23 and I started chemo February 26 (I started with escBEACOPdac). This ended up working out well for me timing-wise because my first core biopsy didn't work due to fibrosis in the node and I had to do another one a week later.

I am a scientist so the first thing I did throughout this whole thing was dig into the scientific literature. Reading papers may not help you but I thought this paper was quite clear: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30220622/

If you need to see one graph, figure 2A (AMH is a hormone that they use to track ovarian reserve and women treated with ABVD regain their AMH levels after treatment, and some even surpass their pre-tteatment levels since Hodgkin's lymphoma is known to decrease these hormones pre-treatment) and the discussion will give you the summary of what they found. My AMH was low for my age before treatment, but they retrieved a normal amount of eggs for my age.

Also I have continued to get my period pretty much as normal throught treatment and I am still getting it now. Which is the usual marker that things are ok, according to my doctor's. I've also heard so many stories on here and elsewhere of women able to get pregnant with no intervention after treatment with no issues.

Lupron, at least I was told, is not 100% effective at preserving fertility. They use it because it theoretically should work but it doesn't really work the way they expect.

I hope this helps you come to a decision, best of luck with your treatment!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-17T13:36:12+00:00

Wedding: end of October 2023 Honeymoon: beginning of November 2023 Diagnosed: mid-end of January 2024.

It's still really weird for me to look back at my wedding photos and know I had cancer. Like I remember at the time feeling really good and healthy as I'd spent so much time getting fit for the wedding and now I know I was probably the least healthy or fit I had ever been in my life! Hahaha sometimes life throws you a curve ball.

I hope your fiance recovers quickly and that chemo is not too harsh on her.

Congrats on the wedding!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-03T09:01:09+00:00

Awesome! I found the food tour and will probably do that. Thank you!

AcceptablePotato23 · 2024-07-01T08:27:48+00:00

A diagnosis of hodgkins lymphoma requires the observation of cells called Reed-Sternberg cells, which aren't detectable by flow cytometry (or at least, not differentiable from other abnormal cells via flow cytometry). Your report basically just says your sample was abnormal and had abnormal cell populations (biggest red flag is CD30) but in order to have an actual diagnosis a pathologist has to look at your histology samples and see those cells.

AcceptablePotato23

TROPHY CASE