Rosie,that is hot! Bet you don’t feel like doing anything in that heat! I am also getting nervous about surgery too, not sure either on the terminology of dog ears/flaps etc!!
Lisa and myself met up this morning for a chat and a lovely piece of cake and tea/coffee, was very nice to put a face to a name, I really enjoyed the comparing of experience etc and hope you did too Lisa!
Booksandwine, glad you are feeling more normal now, and you too are facing surgery soon and not sure what’s happening either! Your residential course sounds like it would be interesting.
Another month ladies and we will have just about kicked chemos backside!!
Hi. Yes feeling better thanks all. Managed a walk today and my tart tomorrow is hospital haha - bloods and oncologist.
Mmmmm end is in sight trying to think what I want as a treat thinking spa in london with pool and spa and hangout in a bathrobe. Def to have a shower or bath with out picc line cover !!!
Surgery doesn’t faze me know the only thing I’m consernred about is them changing to lumpectomy or a delay in recon as i want recon in six months not twelve. Plus what am I gonna do with my nice bras ??? Seems a shame just to throw them out.
PS also planning lunch out tomorrow Bliss normality
Hi ladies i have had my masectomy and would like to reassure you that compared to chemotherapy it’s a doddle . You must use your arm on the side where the breast has been removed don’t hold it like it’s broken or avoid using it because it will set also it helps dissolve seromas (bag of fluid)You will get exercises to do and if you want to regain full use please make sure you do them. I have finally been told that I can have reconstruction but not until a year has elapsed since surgery . Lgfb course at hospital was fab I would thoroughly recommend it
Evening ladies, hope you are all surviving the football! I’ve had an ok day. Really looking forward to picking my son up tomorrow night. He’s been away on a school trip in France for a week.
The weather is supposed to be good here for the weekend so hoping to meet up with friends for a BBQ on the beach. Not that I can really taste much, although it’s better than feeling sick! Still prefer tax to FEC.
Hi Louise great tips and advice re masectomy. But a year for recon sounds like a huge wait confess that is my concern they have told me six months.
Lovewine like has been posted previously it does.all vary so much depends on where you are. I have only seen my consultant once and that was only to shake my hand the rest of the time i see his registrars
The time scale of a year was only given as an aside so will query it with which ever registrar I see next
This communication malarky between patient and Dr really needs sorting
I only got my prothesis this week and I had my op in March the lady apologised as I had to call a few times before getting appointment but they are short staffed and so no one could get an appointment x
3.30 am. Going cold turkey from sleeping pills to give them a fighting chance against the dreaded steroids in next chemo. Saw oncologist yesterday. Looks as if the chemo is working; she couldn’t feel the lumps at all. I was getting rather worried because she was frowning and feeling all the way up into my armpit so I thought maybe it had spread (ever the optimist). Hands and arms no better; it appears that in addition to side effects of chemo and the clot I am also allergic to one of the three antibiotics I was prescribed for the infection. Never do things by halves! Hopefully now that I have finished the course at least some of the rash/swelling/redness may subside. She was reluctant to reduce the dose of TAX but next time is going to taper off the steroids and has also prescribed some painkillers so with any luck it won’t be as bad. Final bit of news from the appointment, she said the hospital was perfectly happy with the approach taken by the local cancer care centre and that although in the past they were promulgating their approach as an alternative to conventional medicine now it is seen as complementary. So although husband is still suspicious, since we agreed to go with what the oncologist said, I feel able to pursue it.
Right, enough of me.
Booksandwine, glad you’re feeling better in week three; hope your appointment yesterday went well and good luck for Tuesday. Not surprised you didn’t feel up to work. I like your idea of a spa treatment at the end if all this and like you look forward to being able to bath/shower without the plastic sleeve. Penny Brohn is my local cancer care centre which I visited for the first time last week and am keen to go back to. It seems to be a lovely, peaceful place and a friend of a friend who did a residential course said it was absolutely wonderful.
Jos, hope the rest of day 4 continued well and that any aches and pains are manageable.
Rosie, you are not the granny; I am 67 next month, 2 days before final chemo, (going on 96 last week) so win by a long way. hope your event tonight goes well. Commiserations on the loss of eyebrows. Mine are now very sparse. Not sure whether to try feathering them in or just leave it. How did you get on with the on-line tutorial? Have the same experience re walking, not as jelly-legged as with FEC but on several occasions have had to use a stick for reassurance and to stop me wandering drunkenly across the path. Feel I’m getting a foretaste of old age. Glad you’re getting your taste back. Your account of struggling to remember how to download a book to your kindle is familiar; I decided to water the garden the other evening but couldn’t remember what to fix on the hose to get a spray’
Nellie, do hope you start to feel better soon and that you can get to your cancer help centre. I haven’t felt safe to drive since starting chemo and it is so limiting. Is there any kind of volunteer driver scheme in your area? I know there is one here and I don’t think it’s limited to hospital appointments.
Jackie, what a horrible experience. When you are feeling pretty vulnerable it is so important that medical staff are understanding. I hope you get a better response from your usual oncologist.
Finally, the post code lottery in all this has struck me almost from the start of being on this forum. I know this is a moderated group so someone from Breast cancer UK will be reading the comments but don’t know whether that goes any further in terms of supporting their attempts to improve services. We, are course, are likely to be moving on, and wanting to put it all behind us, however vital the issues are to us now.
The other thing that I keep thinking about and I did mention it in another post, is that it would be helpful to try to put together all the suggestions people have made on this and other threads about dealing with common side effects. I have looked at the top tips but useful as they are they don’t quite do that. So people could look up problems like sore mouth/bad taste etc and quickly find some ideas. Maybe I’m trying to reonvent the wheel.
It is now 5.30 and I am thoroughly awake. Man coming to plaster bathroom ceiling at 8 so that’s probably it for the night. But I can always snatch a nap in the day; my only commitment is going to get my nails repainted purple. Much to my surprise I love it. I know there is a poem about when I am old I shall wear purple but I don’t think it visualised purple nail varnish.
Morning ladies, yes I too woke up early and was walking my dogs beside a very peaceful woodland canal side at 6.00 a.m!! Must say it was lovely. Rosie, I have heard other ladies say " moo moo udder cream" is recommended by oncologists and other ladies for peeling, sore hands and feet, mine are very sore butno peeling yet, so I am going to order some this weekend, Amazon and eBay sell it…hope you enjoy your talent show and get on ok with wig!
Booksandwine hope it goes well today, tij , will be lovely to see your son and his washing!! Louise , good to hear surgery is not as bad as I am thinking it will be, just another hurdle to face !joan, sounds like you will need a nap today after your sleepless night, hope you get more rest tonight.wildpurl, your weekend sounds good, not sure what me and O/H are doing yet, may also go for a walk Sunday, but maybe quite a modest one, but like everyone else want to make the most of feeling ok before we go in again next week!!
Nellie, Jackie and cassie hope you are also feeling ok, Lisa, hope you are ok too , enjoy your weekend whatever you do!! Wendy x
Jos, sorry, I missed you out! Hope your aches and pains haven’t kicked in too badly today, found mine were bad day 5 onwards!
Rosie, gave just ordered mine on Amazon , called moo moo udderley smooth cream! About £8.00. I did read somewhere that a dairy farmers wife discovered it was good for sore hands when she applied it to cows with mastitis etc and realised it worked just as well on sore hands!! I know a lot of chemo units recommend it here x
Rosie, sorry you have had another bad night but pleased it was for a good reason. And that the school event went so well. It is quite a challenge seeing people you haven’t seen for some time, perhaps since the chemo started and children of course may not be as tactful as adults, at least most of them, try to be. So well done you. As far as alcohol goes I’d have what you feel like but probably not as much as you would like since it may have more effect than usual. Having said that I had a glass of whisky when I was trying to get to sleep without pills the other night and it had no effect at all. Re Moo moo cream, I have been using underlying Smooth Extra Care Cream since my second FEC and am about to order my second pot. It is lovely and I think effective and very soothing. Although I have had, indeed still have, sore hands and feet, and some of the skin on my hands is peeling, I haven’t had blisters. I think the key thing is the high urea content. The other ingredients are stearic acid, Peg-2 Stewarts, propylene glycol, isopropyl myristate, dimethicone, lanolin oil, paraffinum liquidium, triethanolamine, allantoin, methyparaben and propyl parables. So if you can’t readily get it in Cyprus a chemist might be able to suggest a good alternative. Enjoy your Leavers do tonight.
Wildpurl, thanks for the hint about using eyeshadow on brows when they haven’t completely disappeared. Will have a go. You are amazing, not only going to work but getting on with jobs afterwards as well.
Cassie, sorry you are having pains but good that you are getting some respite from them as well. Commiserations on all the stairs and a hot flat as well on top of chemo. Do you have a portable fan? A hand held one could also be useful. I know we don’t often need such things in this country but in weather like this they are invaluable. For your sake I hope the weather cools down soon. It’s Wimbledon next week of course so we should get some rain.
When I went to have my nails painted yesterday the beautician- who has been great and interested in the treatment- said she had had 5 other women in that week newly diagnosed with breast cancer as the result of routine screening. And I live in a small town and this is only one of several salons. So I have suggested that she mentions me and gives them my phone number so they can get in touch if they would like to. None of them might want to, of course, but it might form the nucleus of a local group.
Off to the art exhibition in Oxford today. So relieved that after my sleepless night on Thursday, I managed 6 hours last night, albeit in two bits, without a sleeping pill. Feel rather zonked now but hopefully it will give me enough energy to get round. Think I might take a stick though, partly for security and partly, and perhaps I shouldn’t, because it might make it easier to get a seat, should any be available. Hope no-one will link too closely and see that it is actually a walking pole for active walkers rather than a mobility aid for those with mobility difficulties. However perhaps my ‘oncologists haircut’ will be enough!
Hope everyone has the best weekend they can.
Sorry, ‘underlying smooth’ in my post should of course have been ‘udderly’ smooth.
Morning ladies, re: alcohol Rosie, if I feel well enough to have a glass of red or white wine I usually do by day 6, I find it very enjoyable!! I think you know your own body, we usually go to our local pub maybe at weekends and I enjoy having a glass of wine sat in pub garden, so enjoy one at your do tonight! And yes I too am looking forward to Thursday to my last but one Tax, although as I said before I am now getting anxious about what’s coming next!
Joan your exhibition sounds like a lovely day out, hope you enjoy it.
Everyone else have a good Saturday and those of us facing next session next week let’s make the most of feeling fairly ok!
Dam post didn’t post round two.
Joan good on you for reaching out to newly diagnosed ladies
Rosie glad you had fun.
Cassie that’s a lot of stairs. !
Wildpurl impressed with your energy hoping I have more on tax two.
I have weepy eyes thin as sparse lashes and bugger all brows. Still hair seems to be growing back very odd. Best to all
Glad everyone seems to be emerging from the chemo fog. My energy levels are returning. Been to the supermarket this morning to stock up on BBQ food for this afternoon and done several loads of washing. My son returned home last night and the aroma from the suitcase was shall we say ‘interesting’!
My mouth still feels a bit odd and water still tastes funny, my finger tips feel a bit tender but otherwise I seem to be ok.
Hope you have all got lovely weather like we have. Enjoy your weekend.
Evening ladies, been gardening and hoovering today and now knackered! Been down pub garden with hubby for a well earned glass of cold, white wine!!
Lisa, not sure what you can do about nails lifting off, other than nail strengthened/ polish, hope you enjoy your barbecue, looks like the weather will stay good for you!
Rosie, hope your do went well, sure you looked lovely with your artfully applied brows and make up, and hope you enjoyed your tipple of choice too- will do you world of good!!
Joan, hope you had a nice day at art exhibition too, Wildpurl , you said you were planning some nice meals before next Blasting next week, hope you have enjoyed them so far? I too have very watery eyes and runny nose, especially in the mornings when I walk over fields with my dogs- so assume it’s hay fever even though I have never suffered with it before!
Tij, you sound like you have had a productive day- hope you Also enjoy your barbecue and have managed to plough through your sons washing!
Cassie and Nellie, hope you are coping ok? Nellie, I have used valerian sleeping tablets before which you can buy from holland and Barrett or any health store, they can be effective or Zoplicone from the doctor is Also effective I found.
Booksandwine I also have bugger sell brows and eyelashes are very thin, in fact trying to put mascara on us " hunt the eyelash" and takes ages, have some false ones and gave them a try, but looked like I had a dead insect on my eyeball!!
Hi Rosie we have been away to Whitby fabulous weather chemotherapy on thurs so enjoying being normal before fecing zombie land strikes honestly can anyone offer any advice re the fatigue ?
Tlj 63 thanks the onc told me the same frankly I wouldnt even get out of bed for a week I just feel sick and exhausted for a week with terrible taste in my mouth. I am so fed up of this fecing chemotherapy and now my joints ache too.Really I need to find a new hobby !
Hi Rosie and everyone! Sounds like the wig was a success Rosie, they do get very sweaty in hot weather though, always take mine off too when I get home, it is nice isn’t it to have a normal evening out, that’s what I like when we go to local pub garden, even if it’s just for an hour, I agree with the fatigue issue, it seems before this crappy disease we were all very busy, active ladies and now can hardly do anything!! It is really hard to deal with, I don’t feel like I have recovered properly this time before I go again on Thursday for Tax 4!!i was also told to rest when tired , but to try and walk a little every day, I do this even if I feel really crap and it does make you feel better to get out in fresh air.
Louise , I love whitby, so glad you had lovely weather, makes a big difference, it’s always busy there , the fish and chips in magpie cafe are delicious!!
Regarding aching joints and bones, before I go on Thursday for Tax I am going to stock up on clarityn as looking into it, found it is supposed to effective on helping these symptoms! Seeing as I have a continual snotty nose and weeping eyes anyway , helping the bone pain would be a bonus! Not sure if the 5 day booster injections made aches much worse, but this time I really don’t want to feel like I did before , must say I feel quite Fed up this week- almost back to the way I felt when first diagnosed, can only think it’s because another stage in treatment is looming and it’s into the unknown again!!
Have a lovely day ladies, think myself and hubby and dogs are driving into neighbouring Northamptonshire to a " English heritage" country park which has a historical folly lived in by one of the gunpowder plot men, it has acres of woodland and park as well as a good dose of history and culture!!not too far away for us to drive there( about 30 mins), so hoping it may lift my gloomy mood!! Xx
Thanks Rosie, yes me too, I love history and we are fortunate here as live on Leicestershire/ northants border and surrounded by interesting things to visit, we only live a short distance from Naseby and civil war sites which I find very interesting!! Supposedly on the long , straight road the civil war soldiers rode towards leicester on you can hear in the night sometimes the clatter of horses hooves and villagers rush to see what’s going on and nobody there!!the estate we are visiting today is part of the Tresham estate, we went last year to another part of estate were there is a cross called " the Eleanor cross" in a small village and it is one of only a few left where queen Eleanor’s body was rested on its way to Westminster abbey, I find it very interesting!! X