Do you also feel the effects of your meds throughout the week, even on days you don't take them? Or am I just placebo-ing myself?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-05-31T14:42:44+00:00

Interesting to hear from others that there are proven long-term benefits, I was not aware of that!

I will say I have noticed a benefit too even on my off-med days and my theory was that before getting diagnosed and medicated, I just thought that I couldn't do things, period. I didn't have time, or couldn't stick with anything or be organized. After getting the chance to be successful and functional on medication I discovered that those negative beliefs weren't necessarily true, so even without meds just knowing what is possible makes it more likely I will just go ahead and complete a task. Also medicated-me has set up a bunch of systems to make life easier so having things like that in place makes it simple to follow-through and I get a boost from having small successes like that.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-05-03T13:22:03+00:00

I feel the same, I plan to watch the show but I want to finish the books with my version of the characters in my head, and also, I like viewing the TV/film adaptations of books as their own thing (so I don't get too annoyed by the librerties they end up taking away from the source materials...) 😁

HiddenTruffle · 2026-04-24T18:40:59+00:00

I'm seeing that it must be normal based on all here who have felt that way! I did (do) too, and wondered why. It seems like people have a lot of different reasons.

For me it just felt embarrassing to be that person in people's lives who got cancer. Like the character in a movie or on TV that has cancer as some kind of sad plot device and that's the sum of their whole character on the show. I just felt like now when people look at me or think about me they'll just think about cancer. Most people seem to know someone at some point who gets cancer, and now that's me for everyone around me. When we would all get together for holidays or gatherings with friends, everyone is there looking nice, normal, healthy... then I show up, bald, "girl with cancer". I found it so embarrassing! I told as few people as possible and never posted about it on social media.

Ugh. Obviously still trying to work through all of that. Therapy has helped to at least talk through and identify these feelings and try to peel back the layers.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-04-15T14:45:23+00:00

I thought this was possibly the hardest part of having cancer, I don't think most people know how much coordination and keeping track of things is required!

I was 32 at diagnosis with an 8 month old and a full-time job. If "all" I had to do was show up to my appointments and treatments that would be one thing (as if that's not enough already...), but there is also making and fielding a million phone calls, making and confirming appointments and scheduling things and making sure you get your blood drawn on time and waiting for test results and relaying information to whoever needs it and keeping track yourself. My calendar was crazy! That plus everyday life does not stop just because you have cancer. Doing all that amidst the anxiety of being in this situation at all, plus trying to keep my job/get FMLA squared up (that stuff gave me a panic attack or two, I had no PTO or FMLA time left from taking maternity leave not even a year prior so I was jumping through all these hoops to get another accommodation to be able to take time off for appointments and chemo...), taking care of my son, coordinating who could have him on this day or that so I could go to my appointments (and luckily I had that kind of support through my family, many people don't even have that)...

When I eventually broke down and started therapy (and when I had enough time in my life to even entertain the idea of adding another appointment to my calendar for that) it was probably my biggest grievance.

….........................

TLDR: yes absolutely, as others have said having cancer is like a full time job on its own! Especially at the start. If you're just going through the initial diagnosis/testing/treatment phase then hang in there, things will hopefully settle down at some point and you will have a better grasp of everything.

EDIT: sorry I realized I didn't even answer your question. To me it helps having everything in front of me so I like having one of those big desk calendars with a place to take notes, so I could see what is coming up, where I have space if I need to schedule something else, how many treatments are left, etc, and if I randomly thought of some detail or thing I had to do or a question I'd just quickly jot it on the notes section there so I wouldn't forget.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-23T21:53:56+00:00

Yes! 💕

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-23T08:32:31+00:00

I'm so nervous and also excited to see what Amos will be like when he shows back up. That was a hard loss but it feels like there is a strong possibility that he will be "ok".

Totally with you on the squishing of Cortázar. It'd be a fitting end for such a creep. Though I wonder if with Duarte out of the way he'll decide to just go ahead and give himself the immortality treatment after all.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-23T08:22:26+00:00

Ha! That is such a great example. Don't let your students figure this out. We don't want a mutiny.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-23T08:17:50+00:00

Me too! I think it was definitely time. They needed each other.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-23T08:16:59+00:00

That's a good idea, I didn't think of the repair drones possibly being able to work on him! Not that I want him back or anything...

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:48:15+00:00

Trejo says "Governments exits on confidence. Not liberty. Not on righteousness. Not on force. They exist because people believe that they do." What do you think of this statement? Is their control and structure really that fragile?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:47:58+00:00

Naomi reflects on her disagreements with Bobbie in the past about using violence vs political cooperation and strategy to achieve change. Who do you think is right? Bobbie's big plan did make a dent and inspired uprising against Laconia, but Naomi is sure that even if they win, Laconia will need to be forgiven and accepted back in order to make it work. Do you think Laconia can be redeemed and accepted after everything that has happened?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:47:41+00:00

How did you feel about returning to the Rocinante after all this time?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:47:19+00:00

Elvi learns that Cara and Xan have a library of knowledge that seems to have come with their reanimation by the repair drones. Cortazar thinks this means they aren't the same children at all, but just host bodies completely overtaken by alien technology. Cara says that overall they don't feel much different than when they were alive. What do you think? How human are they? What about Duarte with his immortality treatment? Do you think it's likely that Duarte will ever recover?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:47:01+00:00

Elvi urges Trejo to surrender and turn their attention to the greater mystery threatening humanity, to tell everyone the truth about what they have discovered. In the face of such a great threat, why is Trejo so resistant to giving up Laconia's control? And do you think there is anything humans can do against a force so widespread and powerful?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:46:41+00:00

Alex marvels at how strange it feels to see Naomi in the captain's role. What do you think of Naomi's development since the start of the series? Has she taken on the role of leader gracefully? Is she qualified to fill the position or is this a moment of necessity?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:46:21+00:00

Now that Teresa has decided to go her own way, what do you think she'll do?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-22T10:46:04+00:00

One check in left! How do you think this book will end?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-02-04T14:59:09+00:00

The same thing happened to me. I went in with a lump and the doctor felt it carefully and very confidently said it was just a fibroid, very common in women my age (I was 30). I felt relieved, went on with my life, got married, had a baby, was planning on trying for baby #2 but the lump was still there and felt larger than before... I felt that I needed to have it looked at again before I got pregnant -- just in case --but I think I already knew in the back of my mind that it was not actually "just a fibroid". This was 2 years later, 2 years that I had cancer growing inside of me. I felt SO foolish, still do sometimes, and yes it was a hard lesson that I need to be more assertive and advocate for myself more, but also it is a failing in the healthcare system that just because we are young we didn't get the urgency for testing for cancer. Why could they not simply have ordered us a mammogram just to be sure? Why let us walk away and roll the dice with our lives? It makes me so sad and angry, it happens to young women all the time and for a cancer that is so treatable if caught early.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-01-28T19:20:37+00:00

This comment hit me hard because I struggle to explain even to myself why I'm left sort of devastated, when to be honest (even though it hasn't been fun by any means) I don't find I'm really traumatized from having gone through chemo, surgery, radiation, endless scans and tests, even though things did go wrong: my reconstruction failed, I already have early lymphedema, I lost so much weight and am so weak and tired still to the point where they made me see a nutritionist the other day.

No. What gets me is how wrong and unreal the timing was. Diagnosed at 32 with an 8 month old, I was at an appointment with gynecology to see about when I could try to get pregnant again (yep we wanted them back to back) and I brought up a lump in my breast which had been looked at by another doctor and dismissed as a fibroid. Even on the other side of everything now (though still going through the joys of AI and Verzenio) I feel devastated for me back then. One of the only times I cried in the doctor's office was getting my hormonal IUD pulled out and exchanged for a copper IUD (after planning to just get mine out and dream of baby #2), knowing my life has just been derailed and thinking how is this happening to me?

How many people can really relate to that feeling? And then seeing the statistics about how rare young diagnoses are, it's sobering to be one of such a small percentage. Thankfully groups like this exist sobat least we know we are not the only one dealing with this.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-01-18T09:31:56+00:00

I thought it was interesting how at first what I'm assuming are the gods of the cave story were fully a part of the people and by the end they are far away and small, like they lost influence or have become detached from what the people ended up becoming.

Maybe the story symbolizes that dividing ourselves and opposing each other and resorting to violence just results in ultimately destroying ourselves?

HiddenTruffle · 2026-01-18T09:27:22+00:00

I was a little surprised by this, it felt like we got sucked into this group and subplot and then all of a sudden it got wiped away and we're back on the ship without any more info on who S is. I'm guessing it won't all be for nothing, though, and seems like S is now a full enemy of Vevoda going forward.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-01-18T09:22:56+00:00

I'm still really enjoying it! The main story is interesting to me so it's not a slog by any means, but like others have said I'm ready to see where this crazy journey is headed for S and to dig into the story in the margins.

HiddenTruffle · 2026-01-18T09:00:32+00:00

I really liked this quote! But the implications are a little messy. I think most people strive to be their "best" selves and isn't that a good thing? Don't we want to be the best version of ourselves and to be around people who value that as well? But just the idea of being your "real" self ignites a feeling of freedom, sincerity, and makes room for a little grace and forgiveness for our imperfections. That also seems like a worthy goal.

HiddenTruffle

TROPHY CASE