Rosie14 does this lady do motivational speaking??? Good grief she was all you needed! Honestly no one can say how you will react to chemotherapy because we are all different. My work like to tell me about a lady who still manages to live her life. The fact that she is 15 years younger than me and does not have to work and her family are very well off oh and she does not happen to have type 1diabetes isnt important All of us are unique so it stands to reason all our reactions to this will be different.
Eam, yes I had similar food advice too at beginning of chemo and went stupid in not eating b…er all!! I was told too it’s got nothing at all to do with what we have/ have not done- it’s a crap random disease that has landed on us!. Previously I was never overweight, never smoked, didn’t set red meat and walked my dogs 2/3 miles every day and was very healthy: well it’s made no difference to me getting it- so now I have started eating meat again and whatever I want, including loads of sweets for the sickness etc, even wished I had gorged on crappy burgers and smoked 60 fags a day - you can get quite bitter can’t you!
I think a little of what you want in a varied diet is fine, but it is so easy to get into these ’ healthy food’ diets.
Eam, what a nice day to look forward to as a bridesmaid, hopefuly be feeling much better by then- roll on 2015 , this year really is a total write off in many ways, but weddings are a boost, and you too Rosie with your sons wedding in July to look forward too.
With Louise on questionable motivational skills of your “helpful lady!” We need positivity right now!!
Have a better Thursday everyone,… We are halfway. X
Thank you Louise & Rosie! Your both right in that you can’t get hung up too much on all that stuff - some people can go a bit overboard! And like you say - got to enjoy life - even more so after this! When she came back in the room to check on me during treatment she said ‘your not as relaxed as you should be’ - hardly surprising with the amount of info she had just given me ! She basically said ‘you don’t want this coming back do you - so need to eat like this…’ Crikey!! And at the end of the day I went there for acupuncture not for her to preach her diet views on me without even asking what I eat anyway! You’re right Louise - no facts about sugar & things like that on the good websites like this or Macmillan. We certainly are just un-lucky.
Auw no Rosie that lady’s attitude towards it all was the last thing you needed to hear! We all know (you better than all of us) that its no walk in the park but is different for everyone & is what it is,but she could have been a bit more positive & encouraging! Fingers crossed things are settling down for you & you can have two nice weeks before your next one - you certainly deserve it! Xxxx
You certainly do get a bit bitter I’m afraid love wine! My lifestyle sounds the same as yours so after DX & this advice I’m like what the blooming hell can I change?! I nearly said I couldn’t be a bridesmaid but then thought I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world for my lovely friend & its a goal for me & hopefully be looking back on all this by then so will be a good feeling,new years eve will be even better for all of us won’t it!:).
Xxxx
EAM. I agree with Louise. Eat chocolate. ! Cancer doesn’t choose between fit healthy or non healthy. We have enough to deal with to go sugar free or anything right now.
Q have had scans and meeting with specialist this week. Good news tumour has shrunk by half. Bad news earlier I was told we will do chemo first due to MRI and scrink then masectomy and reconstruction and rads. Got told yesterday masectomy and delayed reconstruction Very annoyed as only want one op reason seems to be effect rads will have. Is anyone similar and can you rads first
Hi ladies, glad we are mostly getting over our latest dose of chemo. I have to admit this one has taken me a bit longer to recover from. Haven’t really bounced back yet, but not feeling sick so I suppose I can’t complain.
My brain is pretty useless, can’t concentrate on anything too complicated.
Good news is that my son passed his school entrance exam so I’m now trying to comprehend the email containing loads of information about what he is to expect in September. Hope he can get his head round it because I’m struggling! He’s so excited he keeps looking the school up on the internet and telling me all the things he can do.
I agree with you guys about the diet thing. Eat healthy and balanced is my mantra. Not a believer in excluding certain food groups.
Booksandwine. It’s great news that your tumour has shrunk, makes all the horrors of chemo worthwhile. But how disappointing, and strange, that you have been given different info about the timing of reconstruction after surgery. Perhaps the breast cancer helpline can give you further info, it may be something about which there are different approaches.
Tlj, good news about your son and something for you and him to look forward to and focus on.
Eam, I think you’re very brave to go for acupuncture but what a pity that woman felt she had a right to lecture you. I suppose she thought she was being helpful.
Rosie glad things are improving but what a pity about your friends friend. It sounds as if she really needed to talk to someone about her experience. Perhaps, ironically, you may have helped her.
Like others I am feeling stronger today and hoping to do a little bit of work. Hoping the brain can engage. I might even get on the exercise bike! Although I heartily agree with other postings about the randomness of cancer I confess to feeling somewhat responsible because I have struggled with my weight for years and just after I was diagnosed read about a new piece of research saying that this was correlated with increased cancer risk. One of the positive aspects of chemo for me has been losing weight and losing my desire for sweet thins, esp chocolate. I doubt, though, that the C-plan diet will catch on! Hoping won’t be cancelled out by TAX.
Jackie, sorry to hear that- it hits hard when things don’t go as planned .
Hi Wildpurl
Sorry you feel low today, but hey why not, why shouldn’t we have days like that. Be kind to yourself though, were going through so much…people say to me ‘your so brave’, I’m not im just coping the best way I can, but its bloody hard. I am having my third chemo next week and dreading it in one way and desperate for it in another as I want to finish it. I do feel that time has flown since it started and hope that continues. We will all get through it and then the rads and for me 10 years of hormone tablets, but so be it. My onc said the best way to treat cancer is to chuck everything at it the first time, so bring it on and lets get rid of this nasty little sh*t thats taken residence in our wonderful bodies… Take care and chin up xxxx
Hi Wildpurl, we all know how you are feeling today and really sympathise, I had a wobble a couple if weeks ago and felt like giving up on chemo as really fed up feeling so crap, the year seems never ending and all we want is our old life back, I would give anything to fe " normal" again doin g normal, boring things, instead of feeling like a crippled old lady, sending you a hug and hope you can do something nice at the weekend!!
It is good to get the feelings out as bottling things up makes it much worse the ladies on our thread are all so lovely and supportive and truly know what it feels like to go through this hideous experience, you are strong and am sure will feel different tomorrow!! Be kind to yourself and have a nice truest. Xx
Meant treat! Sorry wasn’t wearing glasses sorry for typing errors!
Wildpurl - think back to a month ago & I was posting about feeling exactly the same. Now I’m in a different frame of mind. I’m 3 down and 3 to go so halfway through the chemo. Yes I’ve got the mastectomy & radio therapy to come but honestly I couldn’t give two f**ks about that, chemo was my dread from the first moment . I think it’s natural to feel that way at some point. You know my very supportive friend? Well here’s a couple of extracts from a very long text he sent me after I’d told him how I was feeling. It’s stark but very to the point and was just the kick up the backside I needed
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong in feeling how you do.
And of course you’re not strong 100% of the time, nobody is.
I’m sure everybody who goes through the **bleep** you’re going through, feels the same.
The game face is the mask everybody wears. It’s the eyes that are the hardest to disguise. Always carry sunglasses ?
There is one redeeming fact about that c*nt cancer.
It forces you to really face your immortality head on.
It throws up complications that simplifies your life.
You live or you die. That’s it!
And as it’s done to you. Gives you not so much the strength, but forces your hand in life.
You get over it or you don’t.
If you do do you carry on as before or change things. As you’re doing.
And that’s probably scarier than the disease itself.
That you have no control over. It’s also a no brainer.
Being alive has got to be better than dead. You can change things if you’re alive.
And that is scary that prospect.
But it’s way better than not being able to.”
So no matter how crap the chemo is Wildpurl and how crappy you feel, we have it to stay alive. It’s a few weeks of crap to hopefully give us many more years of good times. I was in your shoes a few weeks ago. And you should vent on here, we all know how you’re feeling x
Rosie - glad you’re feeling a bit more with it & that lady sounds like a nightmare to talk to. Yes you need to hear the realism of chemo but you don’t need a doom and gloom merchant
Kirstie - glad you’ve joined the halfway club!
EAM - I’ve had ‘helpful’ advice on the food front. Right now I’m concentrating on getting through my treatment, I’ll worry about my continuing lifestyle when I beat this thing. Tbh my lifestyle to now has probably contributed - I’ve smoked on and off since I was 13 (currently 6 days smoke free) , drunk too much, indulged in illegal substances in my past & been overweight for years. The bugger is that I decided to clean up my act a year ago and have been training for a 10k, cut back massively on my drinking & have lost 2 stone. So this feels a little like a kick in the teeth right now
Booksandwine - great news about the tumour. I’m sorry you didn’t really get the right information about the reconstruction. I was told at diagnosis that it wouldn’t happen for 6-24 months after finishing all other treatment so I’ve got used to the idea of being lopsided for a while.
Jackie - hope you get to have your chemo next week & you’re not delayed any more.
And me… Well I’ve had a hard time swallowing food down this week so I phoned the unit & had to go into hospital for blood cultures etc. Fortunately cell count is still good & it seems I’d developed a throat infection that had spread a little further down my food pipe. More meds & today I can finally eat for that isn’t mushed up
My positive - I know it sounds a bit strange but I’ve started to do the #100happydays on Instagram & I’ve found it’s helping me massively to see a positive in each day 
Off to Wembley tomorrow to watch my beloved Derby
Smokeclouds enjoy wembley tomorrow, I am from the East Midlands so will be cheering you all!. And yes the diet / lifestyle thing is not worth dwelling on- I also drank far too much in my youth and probably now- hence my forum name of lovewine!! Because I do - in fact now I feel more human again I am going to have a large glass of red tonight!! It’s easy to think what we have or have not done to get this bleep disease, but I agree concentrating on getting thro the next few months is more important than taking diet advice from do-gooders!!
Hope you all have a nice bank holiday weekend without too many side effects.
Smoke, my oncologist said there was some evidence that having some red wine during chemo was beneficial! So enjoy.
Wildpurl - you’re very welcome. He is a very kind man but he knows when it’s time to call a spade a spade with me. That text, amongst other things he’s said, really helped me to put the chemo and all the crap that comes with it into perspective. I hope it helps you in the same way. And yes, I’ve read that text most days since I got it, just to remind me x
Well what a lot to take in but all so valid right now! My thoughts & feelings have totally echoed yours lots of times wildpurl - I could really relate to your post. So glad you’ve brightened up now.
There’s going to be lots of highs & lows but we’ve all got to get to our destination of being free of this crappy thing we’ve got - we can’t get off this train when we don’t like the look of the scenery.
Really good to read each & every one of your posts. We cant help how all the treatments ahead make us feel - out of our hands just like the cancer. I still think even now after 6months (as it feels like yesterday) what if I hadn’t found that lump?? It sounds cheesy but I feel that my daughter has saved my life! Could have been a totally different story & now we will all be monitored more closely over the coming years. I get tearful & fed up & sometimes its hard to snap out of - doesn’t matter what anyone says but most of the time I actually feel lucky xxxx
Didn’t get on here yesterday, such a lot of thoughtful posts in response to Wildpurl that I feel I can only add my commiserations and hopes that you are now feeling a bit better. I have been feeling more fed up than usual, though nothing dramatic. I suspect it is partly to do with being halfway, which reminds us of how far there is to go, anxiety about TAX, and whatever lies beyond that and also frustration at the limitations on our lives. I have gone from being something of a workaholic, trying to resist working 6 days a week, 10 hours a day or more, never enough time, to suddenly having all the time in the world and struggling to fill the days. Most of the time I try to be positive and see it as an opportunity and other times I just want to scream. Having things to look forward to is vital, even if quite pathetically minor, to break up the days, which can seem so long.
Kirstie. Are you on sick leave. Are there any protections against redundancy for people on sick leave?
Hi kirstie,I know what you mean with regards to what people say. I have found myself avoiding certain people when I walk down the street as I know the ones that are going to tilt their head annoying things & it gets monotimus with the same reply all the time! Sounds horrid I know but I’d rather surround myself with people that are going to be normal with me & talk about other things! You’ve got every right to feel like this - you didn’t have a great start,then your leg & now your job! Fingers crossed for you. We don’t need more stress on top of this!
I had a bit of a problem with bowels this time. The orange juice didn’t seem to work like normal. I think a few cups of tea & a long walk helped with movement in the end!
The caravan sounds great! At least you can pretty much just go somewhere whenever you feel like it. An accaintance of ours has a caravan down in Cornwall & he actually said we could go down & use it any time. His wife & daughter have both been through this so obviously knows its good to just get away when you feel well in between things!
Hope everyone has a nice wkend. I’m going food shopping today so I can do loads of baking. Going to have family over on sunday. Trying to make the most of feeling well.
Hope everyone feeling better now that most of us are a week on from last round xxxx
Enjoy your caravan Kirstie, will be great just to pack up and go where you please!
I am off to my son and daughter in laws for dinner later this afternoon with younger son and husband! She is a brilliant cook( unlike me!), she is Chinese and makes fantastic Cantonese food- really looking forward to it especially now feeling ok.
Have a good day everyone, xx
Morning everyone, hi Rosie you are up early!! - what a bloody nuisance you are still doing toilet trips all the time- hope it settles down soon, you must be well and truly fed up now with a restricted diet! Your evening out sounds nice tho, think it’s important to do our normal things, and yes our O/H s do really with extra chores/ looking after us , but do seem to have a little nap afterwards to recover!! Bless them, makes you wonder how us super women managed it all doesn’t it! Hope you have a better day with the toilet problems today!
Wildpurl, good that you are feeling better, and yes as Joan said it is really hard to not try and be as busy as we would like to be, I previously was always very busy, full time work, running the home and and always busy so it is very frustrating- the mind is willing but the body doesn’t work! Must say tho the home made cakes sound delicious- a day at the seaside packed with homemade cakes in kirsties caravan sounds like bliss!
Jackie, hope you manage to rearrange your lovely trip to Antigua, it will be something positive to look forward too.
Smokeclouds, commiserations on football result yesterday, hope you had a good day at wembley though .
I had a lovely time at son and daughter in laws last night- lovely food and company, Vanessa, my lovely daughter in law is a wonderful cook, she baked lovely little Chinese tarts filled with lovely gooey custard type filling and I gorged on loads and she gave me a box full to bring home which I will finish off today!