Rosie, both the possible diagnoses of your dad’s condition must be worrying for you and I can understand your fears that he will not be able to return home. As Wildpurl says, he has done extremely well to be able to live independently for so long but the point at which that is no longer possible is hard for everyone. I hope they manage to treat his symptoms to give him some relief. I’m not surprised you hit the bottle after the day you had on Friday. Lack of coordination between different specialists is really frustrating. But at least you were able to see your surgeon quickly. I’m sorry you are still so uncomfortable after the first inflation and hope the discomfort starts to decrease soon.
Wildpurl, your energy continues to amaze me. You say you had jelly legs after the gym. I went on my borrowed exercise bike for the first time and could scarcely stand up after 5 minutes.
Tulamo, happy birthday for yesterday. Hope you enjoyed your meal, although, having recently had a birthday lunch with two young children I can sympathise with you, we had to take turns taking them outside. They seem to manage this much better in continental Europe. Glad you were pleased with your hair. But how annoying about the stroppy stenographer. As you say most of the professionals involved with us are so kind and nice that it comes a shock to encounter people who aren’t. I’d have opened the letter too.
Jos, sorry to hear about your pain. Hope it reduces soon.
Sorry, have to rush off now, husbands 70 th birthday and gg to daughters.
Hello everyone, had really nice walk today about 4 miles, legs ached but very pleased I managed it after so long!
Joan, hope your husband had a nice birthday! Rosie , it’s nice to have a restful day, are you going into school tomorrow? Not sure if you said about hospital appointments!
Wildpurl, good cardigan is finished!! I love wales- used to go every year to Pembrokeshire in a lovely coastal village near st David’s, also some years we stayed near Porthmadog and also near morfa nefyn which has a lovely pub on the beach!!
Feel quite knackered now Rosie! Large glass of red wine and pizza for dinner as too tired to do much more! , but feel good. Also you flew for sons wedding so soon after surgery and chemo- doubt if many of us could have done that! Hope you had a nice relaxing day today.
Good your dad is more stable, and yes agree he has done very well to live independently at his age, it is a worry though when not able to return to Independant living , at least your sister can keep you up to date on him.
It’s been a lovely sunny day here, lovely to have late summer sun, hope you have had it too Wildpurl on your visit today, hope you enjoyed it and managed a cake in the cafe!!
I have had a nice weekend a little bit of food shopping and had a delivery from Waitrose so we are well stocked for the moment, my brother had his 51st birthday today so I took him out for a nice pub lunch and then we had a little Belgian chocolate birthday cake at home. I am just reflecting a little on where we all are in our treatment and how far we have all come. I have just 7 more sessions of radiotherapy then hopefully thats is it for me, the next check up will be in four months time, I am not on any medication now except lansoprazole which I may also try to do without and see what happens with my digestion.
I have been back to work full time for a few weeks now except for time off for my appointments, I still have a aspiration biopsy next month for my thyroid problem but appart from that I am feeling fairly normal tired but OK, I took the plunge and had my hair trimmed and coloured yesterday at the hairdressers they used a diliuted version of permanent colour its short but no bald patches now, no sign of my eyelashes or eyebrows returning though, its almost six weeks since the last chemo sesssion, I guess I need to be patient. I may need to have my eyebrows tatooed on they were never very thick.
Thankyou all for the birthday wishes, had a nice quiet day, up early as my little boy was very keen to help me open my presents he was hoping I would get some nice new toys (tractor or digger variety) kept telling him they would be boring mummy type things , got plenty of chocolates so he was happy !
Actually really enjoyed meal out went early so was pretty quiet and to my amazement my little one ate a meal from the childrens menu a bowl of pasta followed by ice cream. First time ever !have to say it was best present of the day he sat for over an hour and a half and was so good I was very proud of him though did wonder if I brought wrong child home from nursery on Friday !!
Sounds like everyone have had good weekend I am trying to get bit more rest in preparation for tound 5 on Thursday so will say goodnight and best wishes to all x
Morning everyone, cassie sounds like you are doing really well, that’s great you are feeling quite normal, my lashes and brows are not growing yet either! Good too you are full time at work, although very tiring!!
Wildpurl, yes we stayed in a cottage near snowdon a couple of years ago, it’s lovely, there are also 3 mountains near Nefyn called the Rivals and we climbed up one of those! Have you been before? There is a fabulous pub literally on the beach at Porthdinllain called ty coch inn, it has a great webcam which I look at most days looking at sea and over towards the Rivals.
Tulamo, glad you had a lovely birthday, what a good boy your son was to sit all that time in a restaurant and eat too !! Remember it well when my 2 boys were little!!
Rosie, hope things are sorted at school today! Joan, hope things are ok with you, jos , good luck for your op tomorrow.
Lisa, are you back at work this week?, Jackie, how are you recovering?
Hi to everyone else and have a good Monday!
Sons
Good luck with surgery tomorrow, jos. I hope that once it’s over and the seroma is drained you will feel rather better in relation to the treatment issues at least.
Tulamo, glad your birthday meal went well. Your little boy obviously realised it was a special occasion and behaved accordingly.
Cassie, it’s great you are nearly at the finishing post. And enough hair to be trimmed and dyed. Wow! I seem to be still losing my eyebrows and no sign of eyelashes.
Husband is having quite an extended birthday really. Saturday we went up to London to see eldest daughter and partner and had celebratory lunch. Sunday my younger daughter had made a surprise birthday camel next week family get together. Not sure he really wants to be repeatedly reminded he’s 70 though!
Had PICC line out today. Hooray. The process was much more difficult than I had been told though. It took well over half an hour to extract the tube- apparently my vein went into spasm sonevery time they pulled a bit out it retracted. It began to feel a bit like a tug of war. Then the nurses couldn’t get all the clip out. Eventually, after seeking advice they came back and said they would have to cut it out under a local. I was therefore rather taken aback when another more senior nurse came along and without any warning just yanked it out. Bloody painful. I guess it got it all over with quickly but so much for informed consent and trusting what they say. Apart from that, however, my appt with the oncologist went well, he was able to explain the histology report and reassure me, as far as anyone can, that it doesn’t mean there are likely to be other cancerous areas which haven’t been zapped. The two bits that are still cancerous after chemo appear to be bits on the edge of the main tumours. So I have resolved to stop worrying about them. Signed consent form for radiotherapy which won’t start until we get back from holiday.
Oh Joan, that sounds not very nice at all- poor you. Good news from oncologist , at least you have explanation of histology report, think it’s great you can look forward to your holiday before radiotherapy begins- when do you go on holiday?
Also curious about the camel!
Jos good luck for tomorrow, the plastic surgeons can do amazing things hope you’re pleased with the outcome and discomfort is minimal.
As for the other stuff, what rotten timing, at least it wasnt acrimonious and if it feels right maybe you can get things back on track some time in the future .
Joan your picc removal sounds pretty horrid reminds me of my drain removal post mastectomy, district nurse didnt devac bottle properly so developed into a tug of war session very unpleasant. At least its done now
Hope your husband liked his surprise camel wish I’d got one but they’re probably only available for big birthdays I suspect it was a delicious cake though !
Rosie I would be going totally stir crazy not driving for 2 months though you’ve probably been so sore you’ve not been tempted hopefully things will improve for you soon and you can do more without any discomfort Ive had all kinds of issues with my left arm and chest muscle since my ANC surgery my recon often feels tight like its been strapped onto my chest so I have some understanding of what you’re feeling just now
Wildpurl your holiday sounds good but a little too energetic for me at the moment and you are so organised planning menus etc they do say the key to everything is preparation so I am sure you’ll all have a great time.
I am keen to get next treatment done now although I am only just starting to feel SE free from last one, just want to reach point where I dont have to go back again for more poisoning and the SEs will go for good, soooo fed up of the yukky mouth and sleeplessness.
Lovewine sounds like you’re getting your strength back now and starting to do some nice things again will you be getting back to work soon I think you have your own business?
Apologies to those Ive missed need to post this before it disappears into cyberspace.
I’d forgotten about your weekend away Rosie, that will be lovely and probably just what you both need. I’m going to Wales the week after next, really looking forward to it.
I would have thought you would be fine to drive in three weeks if you have started healing on the side that was slower to heal. You will know when you feel ready though.
I had my legs waxed 5 weeks ago and have another appointment this Friday. Thought that I might not need it but I do!
Glad my birthday camel has given you all a laugh. Sadly it wasn’t an exotic present, just predictive text though why it should have turned cake into camel is beyond me, as are most of the helpful suggestions it comes up with.
Forgot to say yesterday, something the oncologist said was music to my ears. We were discussing how long I needed to stay on the blood thinning injections I have been on since April. He reckoned I could stop them just before we go on holiday because I would no longer have the risk factors: I was no longer having chemo, the PICC line would be out AND ‘YOU DONT HAVE CANCER’ . How good is that to hear.
That’s great news Joan, how lovely to hear those words! Holiday here you come!!
Wildpurl, not long until you go to wales then! Was thinking of places I enjoyed in snowdon you might like- Harlech castle, criccieth castle, Carmarthen castle and town is also pretty, borthy- gest has a nice beach and pretty village! Porthmadog is very pretty too and has a steam train you can take for various trips! Abersoch is very nice…Blackrock sands has a fabulous , long sandy beach, sorry if you know all these places already!!
P.s there is a very good tesco at Porthmadog and think also at phwelli.
Rosie, sounds like you are out and about more now, I think you will be driving very soon by the sound of it!
Jos, hope everything went well today.
Morning everyone, yes Rosie, this summer was definitely a memorable one for all the wrong reasons! Must be easier for you in cooler temperatures now! Sorry if you have already said this : but are you about to start your herceptin? I know there was a delay for heart scan and you saw further doctor who wanted you on it ! I am worried because I havnt started it either and was supposed to with the chemo. Anyway, trying to be a patient patient but not succeeding! Have a good day, sounds like D/H is hopefully healing well too , and yes the wedding seems ages away now , what a superhuman effort from you both to have got there!
Am doing a couple of hours of work today, then relax this afternoon with a bit of gardening!
Today I realised I needed to shave my legs. Progress at last! Now if only it would start coming back where I want it. But good to know that once it starts it grows quickly. It would be so good to have some hair for Barcelona.
Rosie, I know you suffered from numbness after your chemo. Has it now gone? I still have mine- fingers, feet, and often legs and back, especially in the morning. Good that your wound has now healed on the inside, hope it won’t be too long healing completely.
Sorry can’t reply to posts, my system is taking ages to get back to the board.
Joan, hair on legs is signs of life in hair department! Mine still not appearing yet!
Rosie, hope you had a relaxing morning and fairly productive afternoon! Mine went pear shaped when faced with a very distraught 23 year old son who’s girlfriend is doing charity work in Morocco , she decided to stop taking medication for her depression and has behaved badly towards my son by totally ignoring all calls, messages etc and worrying him literally sick , so have spent most of the day trying to comfort him as he is convinced she is going to end the relationship and is madly in love with her- obviously I really feel for him and want to give her a damn good slap( selfish little madam!) realise this is extremely uncharitable on my part, but I hate to see my children distraught as we all do. I know she is ill, but not sure why she has stopped medication, anyway feel totally drained now after listening and sympathising and using all my self control to not open my mouth and criticise her actions!! Makes it worse too that she is in another country.it also emerged just how stressed and worried he has been about me and all the ups and downs of treatment etc, he never really has shown his worries since my diagnosis.
Anyway tomorrow another day so hoping it will be resolved!! Don’t think I can cope with the stress either!
Hope everyone is doing well.
Rosie, yes it’s very difficult isn’t it, she returns next week, she is still a student and has a lot of issues , I do feel sympathy but my poor son is like you said yours was, doesn’t know what to do - she’s up and down , goes for days in silence and then answers in one word replies for every question which can last for weeks!! He is very ground down with it all, but refuses to see any fault in her, so have to be very careful what I say!! It’s difficult! Thankyou for your kind words, even when they are grown up we worry about them!!!
Morning everyone, thanks Rosie and jos for the support, son is going in to work today after not being able to yesterday- all he did was pace around the house, blaming himself! I have found it quite a shock seeing him so upset as he is generally a happy, no nonsense person- good advice not to interfere Rosie , as hard as it is not too! Jos, you are right it does drag you down dealing with it!
Anyway, jos, hope you heal well and not in too much discomfort today, I too have childhood memories of my dad driving our Morris marina onto blackrock sands and me and my sister being delighted at thought we would be carried away out to sea! It hasn’t changed that much at all. Also remember on the same holiday going up snowdon on the train and it breaking down halfway up and being stranded in the mist for hours( well seemed hours when you were 7 years old!)
Am visiting a friend for coffee this morning and having s hopefully easier day- but aren’t they famous last words!!
Rosie, enjoy your day , you seem to be getting stronger in last week?
Hello to everyone else too!
Hello everyone. I wrote a long thread last night and just as I posted it the website crashed, so lost it. Anyway, I hope everyone is fine and enjoying the sunshine still.
We have returned from the UK, having left our son at his new boarding school. He has phoned every night and seems to be settling in ok. I’m so relieved, I couldn’t bear it if he was unhappy. I’m sure he will have a wobble at some time in the next few weeks, but so far so good.
I had my 5th herceptin yesterday and am on to my 3rd week of tamoxifen. The hot flushes have definitely started, particularly at night. It will be interesting how it feels when the weather gets colder. You never know, I might be able to turn the central heating down which will please my husband. My hair is growing, but not very fast, so I think it will be at least another month before I can go out without something on my head. Otherwise, I seem to be recovering my fitness levels although still a long way to go on that front. Really enjoying my electric bike.