Wildpurl, welcome to the Sunday rant club!!
Jackie that’s great you are home, sounds like quite a performance for you at the hospital, regarding temperature taking, I have also stopped taking it unless I feel unwell, I found the stress of worrying about it going up and down too much !! I think you should do whatever feels right for yourself, if you want to lie on settee watching t,v then no problem, on good days a little exercise and company can also help! Personally today has been a write off for me as can hardly bare to be civil to poor husband or anyone who rings etc!! Maybe tomorrow will be a better day in the mood department!! I think husband will be hoping so!
Jackie glad your home. Wishing you all the best
Morning! Rosie, hope you get some answers today- I will be interested to hear the outcome as I seem to be on a very similar path to you, but as we know treatment varies so much region to region let alone in a different country! At least you had a little more sleep!
Hope everyone else is doing well?
I am going to work for about 4 hours this morning, might distract me a little from my still grumpy mood!
Off to work today, well for at least a few hours.
Sorry you had a rough time Jackie and hope you are feeling better soon.
Good luck with your appointment today Rosie.
Mine is the under the tongue digital type (Sure sign), not old bought when the bird flu seasons started because I work in a surgery. Last Friday when I was admitted it obviously was not reading properly at least .5 under, glad I ignored it an just went by how rough I was feeling. I have purchased another one same type from Boots, reads at least .5 higher. I only take temp if feeling iffy.
Wildpurl, yes cabin fever it is, have realised now why feel fed up and grumpy, not being able to do what we want / when we want!! Need to try and plan some nice trips out when feeling stronger!
Jackie, so pleased you are out of hospital but what an experience. It’s awful that the junior doctor didn’t seem to realise that the white cell count going up was a good sign and that nurses didn’t seem sufficiently au fiat with the issues. It is so important to feel confident in the medical staff; I’m not surprised you had a meltdown. But great that you were able to talk to your oncologist. I’m going to invest in a new thermometer as well; although mine was good at picking up a high temp and very similar to the hospital reading, it often tells me I have a very low temp, eg 35.5 which I’m sure can’t be right. There seem to be some very confusing messages about paracetamol and temp, what I have been told is just to check your temp before taking, but no one has said I shouldn’t take so that’s what I go with. Hope all goes well from now on.
Re live yoghurt, I had been avoiding it but when this question came up at the cancer support centre I went to both the dietician and the doctor said the evidence was mixed and they did not think it was necessary to avoid. So I have been having a little but not overdoing it.
In terms if fighting cancer I think we are all doing it by persisting despite all the horrible side effects and most of the time managing to stay reasonably sane and able to offer each other support. I think this notion that we are more likely to do well if we actively battle is pernicious and most unhelpful. Of course we shouldn’t just roll over and give up but as far as I can see no-one is doing that.
Rolicarpit, congrats on reaching your last chemo. It seems quite a natural reaction to just heave a great sigh of relief and chill out for a bit.
Rosie, hope your appt goes well today and you get the answers you need. Sounds as if you need a cattle prod to get your husband away from his computer. But then my husband accuses me of being addicted to my I-pad.
I feel for those of you suffering from cabin fever. I do t tend to do much in the first week but after that try to have so e outings planned. But I am in the fortunate position that my husband is technically retired and although he does have a lot of commitments he is able to arrange them so we can go out together. Fortunate because I haven’t felt safe enough to drive myself so otherwise would be really stuck and screaming with boredom.
Lovewine, hope work has the desired effect and you feel less grumpy. Like you I am waiting for the day 4 Side effects to kick in. So far no aches of restless legs which was the worst thing last time but that may happen tonight. Anyway have decided to take Piriton regularly, I normally only take it at night. I feel very wobbly and my finger ends are already tingling and mouth sore despite ice lollies during chemo, two lots of mouthwash and frequent use of Vaseline on side of mouth. Also taste gone. Still I have managed to get up, bath and dress which is a considerable improvement on last time.
Spent a lovely morning yesterday with the grandchildren, lots of play and cuddles. Slept for an hour when got back but worth it.
Wildpurl, hope you manage to get your work issues sorted. I guess there is an assumption that once all the treatment is over we will be able to function as before immediately. But I think we are likely to need a bit of a recovery period and ease back into it gently if that is possible.
Cassie, glad your thrush has gone and that the hair trim went well. Hope work goes well.
Nellie, baked beans! What were you thinking of? All this wind is really quite embarrassing, isn’t it.
Just in the course of writing this my mouth seems to have gone numb. Perhaps it’s telling me I have spent too long replying.
Hope everybody has an ok afternoon. I’m thinking about you Rosie, you must be at your surgical appointment now. Hope the surgeon tells you what you want to hear.
I’ve just returned home after having a nice lunch with some friends and taken my 2nd dose of steroids in preparation for tomorrow, penultimate Tax. I thought I’d wash down my tablets with a few squares of Galaxy. Well I’m gutted, it tasted horrible. Perhaps it’s the steroids, not the chemo that makes everything taste horrible!
My son’s school play is on Thursday and Friday so I’m hoping to at least make it to the Thursday performance, before any aches and pains arrive.
Well done Rolicarpet on getting to the end of the chemo journey. Must admit I’m really looking forward to being in your position in 3 weeks time. Beginning to think about the next phase. I’ve had a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction, so am hoping to get away with just herceptin and tamoxifen and avoid radiotherapy. However, I’m now beginning to think perhaps I should go for it and have radiotherapy as well. However, I have an implant and the radiotherapy can damage the tissue around the implant. If the damage becomes infected you can end up back in theatre having the implant removed, so it’s a tricky one. Plus, the added complication that I don’t live on the mainland, so I would have to fly over to the uk and stay there for 6 weeks whilst I had my treatment, leaving husband and kids behind which would be a logistical nightmare. Are you all having radiotherapy? My oncologist told me that we can keep the radiotherapy up our sleeves in case there was any local recurrence. Tough decisions.
Rosie, you must be very confused, my thoughts are with you tonight x
Cassie, well done for a productive day, hope you can enjoy fish pie, and radiotherapy does seem to vary for us all. Tij , it will be very hard to be apart from family if you have to do it, enjoy your sons play, hope you stay well.
I worked this morning , but have felt pretty crap, was actually sick too this morning, hope everyone else is doing well.
After all the posts about wind I can’t believe we have just booked a few days away post chemo/pre surgery at the Burpham House Hotel. Hope it isn’t prophetic.
Sounds lovely Joan! Where is it? I have heard the name? Just what you need!
Rosie, I can see where your surgeon was coming from. My surgeon told me that a mastectomy is a straight forward operation where as the reconstruction is the complicated bit, so the recovery time post op is a lot quicker if you don’t have the reconstruction at the same time, which would be good for your son’s wedding. Also, if you have an implant it can cause problems when you have radiotherapy, so if they know you need radiotherapy they are not keen on putting an implant in before the radiotherapy treatment is completed.
I was offered 3 options for my reconstruction. Most straight forward was an implant and a ‘calf skin sling to support it’. Next option was the one where they use a muscle from your back to support the implant, so slightly more complicated or the one where they use your stomach muscle. For the last one I would have had to travel to the uk for the surgery and it involved 48 hours on intensive care. I decided on the first option. The position of the tumour can also have an impact on the decision. If it is near the skin surface or attached to the chest wall it can make the decision more complicated.
Lovewine hope your feeling brighter. Cassie best for work. I can’t face at the moment Wildpurl enjoy london will be a nice change of scenery. Rosie hope you get the snares you want and need.
I’m ok overall. Pins and needles in feet have kicked but feel more line someone stabbing me with big pins ouch then restless legs so for third night in row took sleeping tablets bed at
OK odd I posted reading what I saw was current after posting seems I was on earlier page. Joan I will be having diep tram flap ie new new boobs from my tum.
Rose I can hear and feel your frustration they seem to fluffy the picture in the beginning all will be ok and then start to change things around. However if they are offering you recon in November that sounds amazing and fast as you can see other comments normal seems six to twelve months.
Best to all heading for picc line clean my last one next one with bloods on Friday then out on final chemo on 15
Rosie, Good luck this afternoon, how awful all this uncertainty I really feel for you.
Thankyou ladies for the good wishes, I improved by the evening and even managed to eat a small portion of takeaway Indian curry with hubby and son and really enjoyed it!! I find I start the day well, but go downhill in the afternoon!
Have a good day everyone!
What an uplifting post jos, great news!! I love Pembrokeshire, we used to stay just outside st David’s in a village called trefin with a lovely Cove and beach, enjoy!
Joan, your trip sounds lovely too, it really lifts the spirits to plan some nice treats,
Nellie, sounds like a lot of us were in the grumpy club last weekend- not surprising really with what we have to put up with us it! Hope appt went well.
That sounds more doable Rosie, and at least chemo has done it’s job! Are you feeling happier with that news?
Agree, you seem to have been in the dark over this! Wondered what would have been the plan of treatment if you hadn’t seen surgeon yesterday!
Yes and makes it all worth the horrid side effects!! At least yours will be finished earlier than thought, you will be toasting the happy couple with a glass of champagne before you know it!