Anyone due to start chemo April 14??

Nice to have you back Joan! Yes I would really miss my ipad too!

Hi everyone, I have just put a pear and blackberry crumble in the oven! Chicken and chorizo paella for supper, very nice too!
Great Wildpurl to see bike race, mount snowdon sounds good for September- a good target to aim for in fitness! I am hoping to go on our annual walking holiday in East Cornwall coast( fowey) in late October, depending on radiotherapy etc, really need to increase my fitness too, but as Joan says when you have 2 very active collies not walking them twice a day isn’t an option!! Even when I feel crap I have to go out, but usually feel better for it.
Joan, all the best for Tuesday, I also haven’t been told about further surgery for dent after lumpectomy, I am having same as you-WLE excision guided by wire! I am quite small chested and quite skinny, so not sure what I will look like!! More concerned the buggar packs it’s bags and leaves me , sure that will change in time and will be concerned what I look like!
Rosie, hope you gave had a nice day with your family? Have you been lolling on your new chair again? - hope so!
Hello to all you other ladies too, whatever you are doing, hope your holidays are going well and you havnt been blown off the beach by today’s remnants of hurricane Bertha!?

Morning everyone, nice sunny day here after yesterday’s wind and rain, am working half the day today and then trying to get some order back in my kitchen! Tidying and cleaning out cupboards .
Hope everyone is doing ok, a new week , let’s hope it’s a fairly good one, I am going to see surgeon on Thursday to discuss the surgery and have an ultrasound on my lump, am getting quite anxious about it all again now,

Rosie, what a pity you are still having to cope with stitches. Hopefully they will be out next week. Also that your husbands anxieties about your back prove unfounded.

Lovewine. Hope everything goes well on Thursday. It is the uncertainty I think that is the worst. Well done for tackling your kitchen cupboards. I had intended to do a bit of gardening this afternoon but instead slept for two hours!

Administration in the private hospital seems no better than in the NHS. Had a letter today confirming my op tomorrow but telling me (wrongly) to come in 2 hours later than I had previously been told. Fortunately I was able to check with the breast care nurse. I was also relieved that my new breast care nurse at the NHS hospital rang today and confirmed that she would be doing the follow up.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Joan, will be thinking of you tomorrow, hope everything goes smoothly with your surgery! A 2 hour sleep will do you good!
Rosie, poor you and D/H it’s a long process for healing! At least you have your son and fiancée to take your mind off things a little.
Yes you are right about the uncertainty , I find it the worse thing to deal with, have kept busy and managed to clean out all my cupboards and now feeling quite virtuous!!

Ha ha Lovewine loved the way you dried out!!!

Envious of your late lunch Rosie! Far more exciting than kitchen cupboards , the grape vines sound lovely, nice and shady too.i will be going to bed about 10.00 p.m too, tired from all my cleaning activity!
Wildpurl, like the sound of cake and latte, have you cut out dairy since being diagnosed? I have soya milk as don’t like the way cows are continually pregnant, havnt drank milk for a while because of the animal welfare issue!

Hi jackie lovely to hear from you , sorry you have been feeling low, think we all sympathise with how you feel, take care of yourself.

Hi Lisa, sounds like you are getting back to some kind of " normal " life and feeling stronger, that’s great, I am still in the Coconut phase! My nails are awful too, really brown and ridged, no eyebrows/lashes either.
Rosie, sounds like a relaxing day in store, that will be lovely, I think hair starts to grow quite soon after chemo finishes, but maybe yours has stayed in hiding with all your tribulations over last couple of weeks!
Regarding dairy and ER+ I think a lot of ladies cut it out as Wildpurl says because of the hormones from pregnant cows is not supposed to be good if you are oestrogen positive! I am not ER +, am HER2+ so mine is more a personal choice for animal welfare concerns! I think you are HER2+ too Rosie?
I am too at the stage of feeling like I have climbed a mountain when going up a few stairs, but I feel a little stronger each day, am working most of today, so will be tired tonight! Since this illness I have rediscovered how much I enjoy reading , I was bought a kindle for my birthday in June and now read in the evening and first thing in the morning- I make a cup of coffee and take it back to bed and read for an hour instead of rushing around doing chores before I leave for work- making time for myself for a change!!
Jackie, hope you are ok, Joan , all the best and am sure I speak for us all on the April thread we will be thinking of you today.
Wildpurl, have you decided where you are visiting this weekend with your national trust membership?

Oh Rosie, no wine with mezze- like having strawberries without cream! Hope you are going to make up for it when you have finished antibiotics!! Still be nice though to get out with D/H and family, you will be hot though with dressing and a scarf! Not to mention the wig!

Hi Rosie if u can’t wear your prosthesis try a moulded padded normal bra it works well. Ladies found some fab bras that actually fit after no luck with M and S John Lewis. Asda are great fit and fab price plus very pretty.

Finally coming out of chemotherapy fog radiotherapy next month

Hi Jackie, I hadn’t realised you Also had chemo before surgery? So you there are a few of us left after Rosie and Joan have now had theirs( Joan hope you are recovering well) there seems to be yourself, jos and me!
Have you had a date and what surgery are you having? Must confess I am getting very anxious about mine now! There just seems no end to all the worry and anxiety. Hope you are not so " Down" today?
On a lighter note, must thank you for recommending the mo Hayder books, I am really enjoying them and find a good gruesome murder a distraction before sleep!

Evening Wildpurl, strangely I seem to have a cold too, my eyes watered badly the last couple of weeks, that has now stopped thankfully.
You seem to have a busy day planned tomorrow, hope you accomplish what you want to do!
It’s nice to have an outing though to look forward to, my plan is to do more exploring/walking and visiting new places when i am hopefully up to a better stamina than at the moment!

Morning Rosie, glad you had a sweat free evening, I think the wig really adds to it too, what have you got planned today? And yes Thursday is when I see the breast surgeon and also have ultra sound on lump to establish what she is going to be doing! Appointments seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment, that adds to my anxiety( I think I am correct in saying you feel the same Jackie?)-I want to run away from the hospital, but know I can’t!!
I am working for a while today again so that takes my mind off things a little, hope you are healing well and also D/H is doing well too, when do you expect to start radiotherapy and herceptin? Have a good day today.

Yes Rosie, you definitely need time to get over everything! I have just had an appt come in post for 2 days before my surgery for a heart scan! Prior to starting herceptin the letter says!!
Wildpurl, know what you mean about shopping, I couldn’t wait to get in to marks and Spencer’s last week! Good luck with trousers!

Goodness, I’ve only been off the forum for a couple of days and suddenly there are loads of posts. Jackie, welcome back. We had been wondering whether you were OK. Sorry you have been down in the dumps. Jos too. I think several of us experienced that after the end of chemo.

Back home now from hospital. All went to plan and treated very well so just have to wait now to see if successful. I’m OK although like a couple of other ladies I have picked up a cold. Have to wear an elastic pressure bandage round boobs for 5 days because I am at greater risk of bruising because of having the blood thinning injections but fortunately got away without having a drain. For those of you having a wire guided WLE it was quite time consuming but otherwise OK. I had mine through a mammogram but fortunately they use less pressure than usual. The radiologist was much more positive about my MRI results than anyone else has been which gave me a bit of a boost but the surgeon is still hedging his bets. I hadn’t realised that when they do a WLE they remove tissue right back to the chest wall, so I think I’ may have quite a dent. Also discovered that I am anaemic, though not sufficient to need a transfusion. Think that May be why I have been feeling so tired and wobbly. On the positive side though my blood sugar level is back to normal, so it looks as if the raised level was caused by the steroids. I was also relieved that they only required me to remove the nail varnish from one nail so I didn’t have them bitten to pieces before I got into the operating room. Mind you, that nail looked pretty disgusting, very brown halfway up.

Jackie, I have numbness and tingling in my fingers and feet, especially on the soles. I have been told it is peripheral neuropathy. What a shame about your LGFB course. But it might be more beneficial anyway once you are over the effects of chemo. I went earlier on and although there were some useful tips I haven’t been able to use many of them other than filling in my eyebrows because my eyes have been so sore and runny that putting makeup anywhere near them had been impossible.

Lovewine, good luck for tomorrow. It’s natural to be anxious about surgery but for me so far it has been fine.

Rollicarpit, good news about your hair. I have no sign of new growth yet although what remained after chemo seems to be growing.

Reading has bend my lifeline through all this. Currently having a binge on detective novels, linked to a book group meeting discussing fictional detectives and their sidekicks. Ha et read any Mo Hayder, though, are they very gruesome?

Rosie, hope you continue to recover and that OH doesn’t have to have a skin graft. You certainly seem to be getting out and about. I could almost taste those grapes.

Wildpurl, hope the weather is good for your projected trip to Polesden Lacey.

Lovely to hear from you Joan, hope your recovery is quick, mo Hayder books are very gripping and gruesome! Jackie recommended them after I read " eeny meeny" which is a richard and judy book which I also enjoyed!(gruesome too) , I have started with mo Hayders first book of the jack caffrey series which is called " Birdman" I am now reading the 2nd one.
Jackie, yes we would make good hospital companions! I now recognise a hospital letter a mile off and have almost panic attacks bringing myself to open them! Is your appointment on 18th august to discuss surgery or the actual date of operation? Hope you have a nice evening with your son after football, at least you has some time to recover when feeling not so great, it must be very hard when you have younger children to look after, I have had tingling in my hands and feet too.
Have noticed also my nails are disgusting - brown halfway down,they look awful.
Jos, sounds like you are busy with all those appointments, we all seemed to have had our share of being down in the dumps, not surprising really is it with all thats going on for us all. I can relate to wanting normality, I have found that very important from the start of all this.
Rosie, hope you have had a good day so far, people do say strange things don’t they! Surely it’s obvious you are not able to get about visiting at the moment! When I was feeling sick on chemo, various people said how they would like to take me out to lunch to cheer me up!
Wildpurl, hope you accomplished what you wanted to do today? And your shopping trip to marks and spencer was successfull!
Havnt heard from Eam for a while?
hope you are ok and maybe busy with your little girl? Hope everyone else is doing well.

Rosie, sounded exciting - thought you were hanging out with dubious types for a minute! Enjoy your chops, hope you cool down a little!

Hi been a while hope your all well.

Well it was an interesting birthday this week as my operation was Monday for bi lateral masectimy and left lymph node clearNce Tuesday birthday woke up to being flat chested but not in too much pain except under arms if I put pressies to sit up

Blissfully got home after two nights was nearly in for three nights got no sleep in hospital so good to get sleep. Have drains a very strange thing.

Best to all

Lovely to hear from you Booksandwine, good luck with your recovery and lots of rest now you are back home Rosie ,Hope D/Hs stitches stayed together for the BBQ chops! He must have been very hot! Are you visiting another shady bar today!?
My appt with surgeon was at 9.00 a.m this morning, went in early too! All being well my surgery is for 29th as planned by Wire guided WLE, nipple removal too, she said we will talk about some kind or reconstruction next year, which is fine with me!! Also had bloods done and ECG, but still have to go in for pre op assessment next Wednesday.
Hope everyone is ok, particularly jos and Jackie, know you have been feeling low, I woke up in the small hours with a panic attack at the thought of having cancer and all what is to come and how life as I knew it will never be the same again, despite family and friends trying to convince me it will!! I think the anxiety us triggered now by impending surgery and a flood of hospital appts- whilst on chemo I only went every 3 weeks( very lucky), so I felt in a little bubble of the routine of it .