Suzanne Dixon - My Cancer Journey

11/04/2026

POSITIVE UPDATE 11/04/2026

My Ribociclib has been reduced from 600mg to 400mg since last Saturday (4th April). I had been off it for a while and don’t know my tumour markers on the blood test just before yet, I will find that out. I’m intrigued to find out if there’s any difference when I get my next blood test.

Anyhoo, the positive is that I am feeling top of the world at the moment! I haven’t felt so well in months!

Yesterday we went bowling and I actually played. I initially had the pusher that little kids use and my lush niece May was loading it for me, so I just had to push the ball off but I hated it. I gave bowling normally a go with a lighter ball than I would usually use, took my time an was careful not to twist myself etc. we played 4 games! I even won a game.

This might seem like nothing but it’s massive to me. I feel like a different person. I hope I can stay on this dose but that it proves to keep the cancer at bay for as long as possible.

A few couple things that have worked for me:

Timings of medication;

7am I take My normal twice daily tablets
Lansoprazole - protects stomach from steroids.
Morphine - pain relief.
Apixaban - blood thinners due to previous blood clots.
DulcoEase - to counteract anti sickness meds (constipation).
Eve cal D3 chewable - help bones.

8am
Ondansetron - Anti sickness due to Ribociclib.
Dexamethazone - Steroid for pain relief and to increase appetite.

10am
Ribociclib - Chemo meds.

1pm
DulcoEase - to counteract anti sickness meds (constipation).

7pm I take My normal twice daily tablets
Lansoprazole - protects stomach from steroids.
Morphine - pain relief.
Apixaban - blood thinners due to previous blood clots
DulcoEase - to counteract anti sickness meds (constipation).
Eve cal D3 chewable - help bones.

Oral care (massive improvement due to new routine):

I now brush my teeth with disposable toothbrushes, scrape my tongue and mouth wash as soon ad I get up, after all meals and right before I go to bed. Since doing this I have had zero oral thrush (which I had been plagued with when taking any chemo meds previously. I can also taste food a lot better and I am enjoying food a lot more. I am also now enjoying wine ( which I had previously gone right off).

I’m very happy right now and those around me have noticed it massively too. Long may it continue!

I’ve had a head scan and awaiting results of that. I’ve had some head aches but hopefully that’s just all the meds or dehydration or something along those lines. I shall await the results. Next blood test is due around 29th so with any luck I will see a reduction in tumour markers at that point. If so, the dose I’m on is working and I will be over the moon!

If anyone suffers with oral thrush due to meds, I highly recommend a routine like above. It’s worked for me.

Hope my update is useful.

💜 PMA 💜

24/03/2026

Update 24th March 2026

I had a spell of being very unwell. I got quite a bit better and then was able to restart my cancer medication (Ribociclib). Unfortunately it made me ill, I couldn’t keep anything down and was visibly bright red, itching all over and extremely lethargic. I couldn’t really be bothered to speak to anyone at all.

I’ve seen my oncologist and have been told that the Ribociclib is working well to stabilise the cancer and keep it at bay, which is great but I have no life on the current dose. So my options are I either stay on Ribociclib on a lower dose to see if symptoms are manageable or I come off Ribociclib all together.

If I come off Ribociclib, I will only be offered chemo if I have proven via scans to have deteriorated. They won’t give me another treatment if I’m stable.

Scans are every 3 months or so, a lot can change in that amount of time. I could deteriorate very quickly and it be too late by the time I’m scanned. Feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.

What’s the point in being here with zero quality of life.

Obviously I am going to have to try the lower dose and see how I am. I don’t expect to be fit and healthy when on drugs like this but I hope it to be tolerable. I hope to be awake and be able to hold a conversation.

It’s so strange that on the NHS once it’s secondary cancer their goal is for you to be stable. They don’t try to improve anything, they just try to stop it getting any worse or slowing it down. Don’t get me wrong, I love the NHS and all of the support I have had. We are very lucky as a country to have this. I just don’t agree with this particular thing for obvious reasons.

I have been researching treatment options in Germany. The problem is, it’s very expensive!

I await confirmation of whether any treatments would be available to me, as I don’t know that yet. If there are, I’m going to have to do some serious fund raising and would massively appreciate any advice and/or support anyone can give me with that.

Watch this space, with any luck I will be posting soon with a new just giving fundraising page with details of treatment options including costs. 🤞

I have to be here for as long as possible for my boy!

Wish me luck with the lower dose of Ribociclib! Fingers crossed it’s just as effective but with lessened side effects. 🤞

💜 PMA 💜

05/02/2026

Update from oncologist 5th Feb 2026

No spread, if anything there’s slight improvement!

I’m so relieved! My positivity had started to wane slightly with me feeling so poorly for weeks. I’ve just been run down with colds that have become infections. It’s had nothing to do with the cancer (which was my concern).

The cancer is still contained within bone and is staying put for now.

My oncologist is very happy with my CT & MRI scans and is confident that the treatment I’m on is working. I don’t need to be seen again for another 12 weeks.

I’m so happy and got my positive head firmly planted back on!

Now to focus on getting rid of whatever is making me feel so unwell and kicking it’s arse so that I can crack on with life and get moving more.

💜 PMA 💜

02/02/2026

Update 2nd Feb 2026

Had a day in A & E with suspected spinal compressions. Back home now after it was ruled out with an MRI.

May have more spinal metastasis but theres nothing in spinal cord so thats good news really.

I await results of staging CT but will hopefully hear from my oncologist soon as she was emailed about what happened today. If not my next appointment is on 16th so will have a thorough update then.

I have been quite poorly for a while now and two different types of antibiotics due to chest and sinus infection.

My mobility is getting worse so now need a sit on walker for anywhere my stick won’t take me (which isn’t far).

Whilst I remain positive on the whole as always, I’ve had a few dips for different reasons. Mostly being fed up with feeling unwell.

Don’t know if you can click on the music video below but it’s called More Than Words by Extreme so have a google if you can’t. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time (certainly lyric wise) the words are poignant and in my opinion will be relatable to everyone.

Source: YouTube https://share.google/h1YbxI0mVpQQvxuci

Anyhoo, a further update will come soon.

💜 PMA 💜

22/12/2025

Update 22nd Dec 2025

Well what a year! It’s been just over a year since I got the news that my cancer had returned and is now incurable.

I’m still here and have made fond memories with my family and friends over the past year. I hope to make many more and hopefully over several more years yet! 💜PMA💜

Now that I have a mobility van that I’m able to easily get my electric wheelchair into, I have a lot more options for uk travel.

We’re going to do a Scotland trip (all being well) in the spring/summer.

Will have to save up some funds for that somehow. Now that I’m medically retired, funds are substantially lower unfortunately.

If anyone would like to help, my go fund me page is linked on here and I will also add to this post (shy bairns get nowt and all that 🤣).

https://gofund.me/3e9efb17f

Medical update:

I haven’t been on any cancer fighting treatment for several weeks now but after my lovely oncologist has sat and manually calculated my past ECGs with her team, they have determined that I’m in a normal enough range to get back on the Ribociclib.

This will start in January as I am currently having radiotherapy to my spine for pain relief. My oncologist doesn’t want me starting until that’s had time to set in.

While I’ve been off ribociclib my tumour markers have unfortunately risen from 103 to 193 which means that tumours are potentially growing and/or spreading.

Hopefully the hormone treatments I’m on are helping to keep that at bay alongside the radiotherapy which may be helping in the bones being treat.

There’s still no sign of spread to organs, as far as we’re aware anyway. I’m having a CT scan of my torso soon. I will next see my oncologist in early Feb to go over the results of that so fingers crossed 🤞.

I’m currently feeling well, I’m able to taste food! I’m looking forward to a lovely Christmas with my wonderful family and I’m just so thankful to be here!

I don’t know how long I have and nobody can answer that question either. Every day means the world to me and I refuse to waste a single one!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words of support and positivity over the past year. It has meant the absolute world to me and I truly appreciate every single word.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy and fabulous 2026.

💜PMA💜

### Suzy out for 2025 ###

Hi my name is Suzanne, I am mother to my handsome, resilient and intelligen… Suzanne Dixon needs your support for Live my best life with my family and friends

28/11/2025

Update 28th November 2025

Had another few changes/issues/improvements

1, Cancer meds have caused a prolonged QT interval in my heart which may mean another change in meds. I’m yet to find out. Other hormonal and bone strengthening to continue as normal but with extra precautions due to blood thinners.

2, After weening off steroids my appetite took a massive nose dive, couldn’t stomach anything and was very nauseous to the point of vomiting a few times. Not good 🤦‍♀️.

3, Changed from blood thinner injections to tablets thankfully. This appears to have relieved the awful itch I have had all over my torso 🙌. So far so good. 🤞

4, Hospital admission with suspected spinal compressions. I was admitted on Tuesday and got out yesterday. Thankfully after scans there were no spinal compressions found. They have dosed me quite highly with steroids which I now need to ween off again.

They also found no increase in metastasis in my skull but there have been some increases in my spine. I was reassured that they are not dangerous increases and have still not come outside of bone which is always a good thing.

Ultimately I’m back home, had a chilled day and appetite is a bit better which is amazing!

As I have been having increased issues more frequently we have taken the decision to knock the holidays abroad on the head and stick to the UK. This will be more expensive but definitely more accessible for me. Especially when I get my new WAV as the last car mobility provided was not suitable (that’s a whole other story).

Onward and upward!

💜 PMA 💜

26/10/2025

Update 26th October 2025 - Another long one

While I have continued to make wonderful memories with my family. I have been down more than up health wise since my last post. Hence the delay.

While I had said that steroids were my saviour previously, I had no idea that they could cause me so many issues. This may also be a combination of everything too but it seems to be a general consensus from health care professionals that I ween off ASAP which I started doing a week ago now.

Side effects:

1, Swollen face and neck - see photo, look like Jabba The Hutt 😞 it is going down gradually.

2, Weakness in my thighs - makes it more difficult to get up from a sitting position. My mobility isn’t the best to start with so it’s annoying.

3, Thinning skin - this was a weird one to come across. I ran my finger across my eyebrow and it started bleeding. I had caused a cut simply from my finger tip, no nail involved. My skin had ripped. I later noticed that I had huge purple (at least 1” wide) stretch marks all over my torso, arm pits and breasts. Some of these have stretched to the point of opening up. This was quite scary to see but I haven’t felt any of it happening thankfully it’s just visually awful.

Once I’m off steroids I’m going to go back to trusty old ibuprofen and hope that they help like they have in the past.

Change of care:

I now have a new oncologist and all of my treatment has been moved to Gateshead as some was in South Shields before.

It makes everything easier as different areas NHS trusts systems are separate and not accessible to the other (that’s another rant for another day)! All of my scans are being reviewed. I’ve had recent scans on body and head, so I will have another update on what’s happening with the cancer progress in a week or two. Hopefully no worse 🤞💜 PMA 💜

New health issue:

I started coughing up blood in my sputum on Thursday night. After investigations on Friday and yesterday, it turns out I have multiple blood clots in both lungs. My right lung is worse than the left.

All of my vitals have been perfect which is very reassuring.

Thankfully it’s just a case of blood thinners, moving more and I should be ok. It’s apparently common when you have cancer and are on cancer treatment. Obviously it’s scary and I have to pay attention to my body and how I’m feeling etc.

As always I remain positive. I will recover from this or it will at least be managed with blood thinners going forward.

My arms have improved massively now and I’m not itching anywhere near as much as I was, which is great! See photo.

Thank you for reading my ramblings and I hope you find them interesting or informative in some way.

💜 PMA 💜

20/08/2025

Very long post. Lots of info.

Started a new cancer drug yesterday🤞

Bit of a back story. A few weeks ago I was very poorly with suspected side effects from Abemaciclib which was the cancer drug I had been on since February.

I had a lot of side effects from this (some side effects may be from hormonal and pain meds or even the cancer itself, I don’t know) it has ultimately been put down to Abemaciclib in the end or they wouldn’t be changing it as it has dramatically reduced my tumour markers from well over 400 to 125.

It’s been up and down. I could have a good week then a bad week or 2 weeks good and one bad and vice versa. Even daily changes, it’s been so sporadic.

I have listed symptoms/side effects below (sorry if some of this is graphic but I’m a realist so 🤷‍♀️.

Diarrhoea: When I first started Abemaciclib in Feb this was projectile and unstoppable! To the point my mam was following me around with a mop and I had to resort to nappies. Thankfully managed to get it under control.

Fatigue/Exhaustion: Some days I could have fallen asleep standing or in the middle of a conversation. I still get fatigued every now and then.

Hot flushes: I’m talking from the pits of hell, the devil came and slapped me silly across the face type of heat. Accompanied with extreme red blotchy face. Manageable though to be fair as they come and go.

Itchiness: Both of my arms became extremely itchy! I wanted to rip them off as it was itching that no scratch, cream, cold, heat or anything could soothe. This resulted in me causing welts all over my arms. Some became infected and required antibiotic creams etc.

Nausea & Sickness: This was killer a few weeks ago. I couldn’t keep a sip of water down which included any of my tablets and even morphine oral solution. It had me on the bottom. I even cried! (I don’t cry). This was the last straw for me as I also lost a stone (I mean I could do with some weight loss but my body needs fuel to fight). I cannot be without pain relief either.

Shakiness/instability: Every now and then (at least once a day I would say) If I’m doing something that takes any sort of effort of the mind and/or body I suddenly become really shaky, my hands twist forward and back uncontrollably and then my whole body starts wobbling along with my head nodding like a Winston dog. It’s the strangest feeling and I have found that deep controlled breathing resolves it within a few minutes.

Pain: Obviously I can be in a lot of pain. The cancer in my bones(as shown in previous posts) is quite extensive so that goes with the territory. I have specialist MacMillan & paliative nurses who are amazing at prompting me to keep track of this and ensure I’m taking whatever pain relief I can (I love Amanda & Jaz).

More info on the pain: It is always worse at night and first thing in the morning. Back & neck pain has been pretty constant if I’m stood up or on the move. I need my walking stick to take weight off short distances and my wheelchair if i need to go further.

Currently I’m suffering badly with my legs, specifically my joints. The pain is so bad sometimes that it makes me vocally cry out which again is not like me. Once this type of pain starts, it can take 4-5 hours to get under control. The only pain relief that really works for my pain are anything anti inflammatory. Steroids have really saved me. All of the opioids just kind of back up the steroids.

Insomnia: This one is recent. I will go to bed tired and then I’m wide awake and needn’t have bothered 🤦‍♀️. I’ve gone to bed and woke up half an hour later and then been unable to get back to sleep. I’ve been up all night and still not slept properly the next day. I’ve been down 2 hours then up 2 then down 2. This has gone on for a couple weeks now. I just have to sleep when my eyes won’t stay open anymore. I can’t make myself fall asleep at all.

New tablets: Ribociclib(Kisqali). I started these yesterday but have had to stop Amitriptyline (nerve pain blocker) as it is contraindicated. They have to keep an eye on me with these too. Had to have an ECG and the usual blood testing before I could take them and they will need to keep an eye on both regularly too. I’m extremely susceptible to infection as with any cancer drug so I’m trying my very best not to touch my scabby arms.

I’m relatively none symptomatic at the moment from the new drug. It will likely take a couple weeks for it to get bedded into my system though.

Bonus on the new drug is that I only need one injection instead of 4! I have a bone strengthening injection(Denosumab) along with the ribociclib.

With the Abemaciclib I had to have:
Denosumab for bone strengthening. Injected in stomach.

Zoladex(goseralin) Reduces oestrogen, this is a wide needle where a pellet is injected under the skin of the stomach. Stung a bit but not too bad.

Fulvestrant(Faslodex) Stops oestrogen reaching cancer cells. Had 2 of these, one in each buttock. They’re quite large needles and more of a gel than a liquid solution. They have to be injected slowly over a couple minutes for each injection. Uncomfortable but not too bad. Stung a bit a few times and couldn’t sit with weight on injection sights for a good week as it felt like I was going to burst a huge blister(even though there was no blister there).

Anyhoo, ranting over for the day 🤣. I’m as ever positive and happy. I’ve got years in me yet!

I’m keeping all the positive vibes and hopes that this new drug works either the same or better than the last one and that the side effects are minimal 🤞.

💜 PMA 💜

19/07/2025

For the past 2 weeks or so I’ve not been stomaching any food or beverages whatsoever. The thought of food alone has been making me vomit even if all I’d consumed that day was sips of water.

The GP put me on steroids and anti sickness tablets yesterday. I’ve only took them yesterday afternoon.

Today I have woken up and all I can think about is food! It’s making my tummy rumble but I am waiting to see if that’s hunger or nausea. I have a nice coffee in front of me and that’s going to be my test.

Wish me luck 🤣

💜PMA💜

17/07/2025

Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. I have been unwell but surviving.

I’ve been to the oncologist today and have had good and not so good news. The good news is that the tumour markers in my blood have gone down from 407 to 145. Still quite a way to go as they shouldn’t be over 30. I however remain positive as always.

You will see the bad news in the pictures below, they’re pretty self explanatory but the black parts are cancer. This was a bone scan so it is focused on bone. I am keeping my positive thoughts that it is not in any organs 🤞

💜PMA💜

05/06/2025

Update from Oncologist 5th June 2025

Head: looking better and improvement in sinuses so that’s good. Cancer evident in C2 & C3 vertebrae in neck which I already knew about anyway.

Spine: significant increase in cancer in my spine. I also have a fracture in my T9 vertebrae.

There’s no cancer in any organs so that’s really positive.

Tumour markers are down in my blood which means the treatments may be working but my spine may have gotten worse between scans before this started to happen.

The plan is to continue treatment as is for now and in the meantime I will be having blood tests for certain genes etc. This will determine which treatment I will go onto next should my spine continue to deteriorate.

I’m happy that my head is good and not in any organs. The fractures are expected and I’m not in any pain so on the whole from my point of view it’s all positive.

💜PMA💜