Yes Rosie, am keen to start herceptin , as you say it’s another weapon in our armoury to stop the unwelcome squatter returning! How’s the rash now? Hope the antibiotics are doing their job, but they come with some unpleasant side effects too don’t they! Am hoping we don’t get too many side effects from herceptin, oncologist said there could be bone aches and flu like symptoms but nothing like chemo thankfully.
Morning Rosie and all ladies! Especially Jackie, will be thinking of you today also, fingers crossed for more information for you and as Rosie said not as bad as you fear.
After my impromptu hospital day yesterday I am playing catch up with my week now, still have same volume of work to do, but one less day in which to do it, but at least I got that part of the radiotherapy etc done and dates sorted so hopefully can have a few days away
in North Yorkshire early November when it’s done!
I did mention to oncologist yesterday that I was feeling a bit delayed stress and emotionally numb, he said it’s very common after all we are / have been going through and whilst on treadmill of chemo etc we are concentrating on getting through it, when it’s finished we realise what we have been through and hits you full in the face!-a form of delayed shock, was told to be " kind to myself" and do things like watch " boring telly!" , I told him I didn’t have bloody time! And of course still have ongoing saga with sons girlfriend who returns to the city today, so let’s see what happens! He has booked a 10 day trip to Rome in October with a couple of friends from uni, hoping it will do him good! He did his masters degree on " roman army" and ancient history so it will be right up his street!! Wish I could go too!
Rosie,hope you start to get the benefit from antibiotics as day goes on, at least only one more inflation to go, small comfort I know when you are so uncomfortable and fed up with it all.
Lovewine, what a chaotic start to your radiotherapy but how fortunate that it all went ahead and you are good to go pretty soon. I had my planning session today so am now tattooed and marked too but my first session isn’t until the 15th Oct. I was a bit dismayed at the number of people in the waiting room and a board indicating delays of between an hour and 90 minutes. Hopefully that is not a regular occurrence. I have been given a very natty top to wear with easy access side flaps. All very decorous. I confess I had envisaged lying there with boobs exposed. Not a pretty sight. It’s good your son will have a break away with his friends sans girlfriend but pity about the Harry Potter.
One bonus from going into the oncology centre. Spotted some rather nice patterned cotton Baker boy caps which they were about to pack away. Just the thing for Barcelona. Sadly my hair isn’t going to be back in time although it is returning and not all of it is white. Just hope I don’t look like a skinned badger.
Rosie, hope the antibiotics sort out both the rash and the cold/cough. Good for you for resisting an unscheduled inflation. 28 sessions of radiotherapy. Oh my, and all that distance to travel.
Wildpurl, glad you are having a great holiday. Amazing that you were able to manage your 10 mike trek up and down and around Snowdon. Not sure I could have managed that in full health. We spent a lovely holiday just outside Harlech many years ago and always intended to go back. Perhaps your enthusiasm will give us the incentive to do something about it.
Tulamo, glad you are having fewer side effects but sympathise with horrible mouth. It’s so amazing when that particular side effect disappears. Young children say such lovely things don’t they. Brings tears to your eyes.
Lisa, your weekend in London sounds great. We saw Wolf Hall and bring up,the bodies in Stratford earlier this year and very much enjoyed them. Wish we had gone to see Matilda when it was on there too. My husband keeps asking when our granddaughter will be old enough to go so that we have an excuse. Great that you have reached the point of having to tame your hair.
Jackie, have you seen the oncologist yet?
Hi everyone
Thinking of you Jackie and Rosie. Hope your days have not been too grim.
I’ve had a pretty good day today. I’ve been on a bike ride with my husband as he has the day off. It was great to do something together that wasn’t involving my treatment. I’m now packed and ready to bring my younger son to the uk to look round a couple of schools before we pick the older one up on Friday. Can’t wait to see him! Then we will be coming back home on Friday evening. He’ll be travelling back again on Sunday evening with 2 older boys who are in the same boarding house as him. All very grown up for a 13 year old.
Hope you all have a good evening.
Hi everyone, tij, sounds like a nice day, it’s nice to do normal things with your husband after all the trips to hospital appointments- my husband complains sometimes that the only places he used to see are work and the hospital!! Have a lovely weekend with your son whilst he’s home .
Joan, you are lucky having a gown to cover your modesty, I don’t think I am given one! Just one of those hideous front hospital gowns that you can never tie up and everything is on display! When are you off to Barcelona? Bet you can’t wait to go now, good find too with the hats!
Rosie, not surprised you are wanting a bit of a break before more procedures! Think we are all well and truly fed up now, must say I feel extremely grumpy today- mixture of being tired due to sons problems and fed up with hospital trips etc, we would have been going down to fowey in Cornwall beginning of October which we have been doing every year for 20 years -love the area and the cottage we always rent, we had to cancel it months ago and now going for radiotherapy that week instead of coastal walks and pub lunches!
Jackie, I have been thinking of you today.
Oh Jackie, I am really sorry your news wasn’t better, as Rosie says stay positive, know that’s easier said than done, but a partial response is better than no response , there are many different chemo / treatment options oncologists try until the right one really works, I have read on other monthly threads of other ladies in exactly same situation and have gone on to have successful treatment that worked, it’s hard not to feel your many weeks of chemo were a waste , I felt exactly the same when there was a possibility I was to have 2 extra chemos as they thought my lymph nodes had become cancerous whilst having chemo. Do you know what the next step in treatment is next?- radiotherapy maybe? I am sending you lots of love and a big hug .
Not sure if it would help( it helped me) but I downloaded a great book called " talk to the headscarf" by Emma
Hannigan it is very positive and uplifting and a true story and Emma has a wonderful sense of humour even through the awfulness of breast cancer and chemo. I also read The choice , the true story of a mothers triumph over cancer, by bernadette bohan, again a very positive, uplifting book I found helpful too. Keep strong Jackie. Xx
Rosie, we did think of going down to fowey in November, but it is a six hour drive and thought we may leave now until next year, don’t feel like we would get our " money’s worth" somehow, with it getting dark at 4.00 p.m probably by then, will settle for North Yorkshire for a few days, which is maybe a 3 hour drive! Yes agree it’s hard for husbands too, having to cope with worrying about us, fielding friends and families questions etc! And not much of a social life either.! Or much else!
Yes me too, in fact I have noticed here it’s getting dark at about 7.15 p.m ! I love autumn but agree not the dark nights !! You must be enjoying though the evenings now it’s not quite so hot. And agree definitely not much else!!! Hope you are feeling a little better this evening, how’s the rash now antibiotics are in your system?
Morning Rosie, nothing ever goes to plan does it!? I have lost count of the day trips, weekends and weeks away that have had a spanner thrown in the works from various problems with this bloody disease, hope everything goes well tomorrow with your final inflation and maybe something different to treat the rash too, a weekend of a change of a scenery may be of help, but as you say on double antibiotics a little restricting when socialising!
Jackie, I too have been thinking of you during the last few hours x
Hope everyone else is doing well? Wildpurl, hope you are having a great week!
Joan, have you anything planned this weekend? Tij, enjoy your sons weekend at home, cassie, Lisa, Nellie - sorry if I missed anyone hope you are ok.
Jos and Eam , hope you are both doing ok too!
Wildpurl, what a lovely time you are having by the sound of it! It will do you so much good all that fresh air and exercise!
My parents have just visited, they are off up to whitby for a few days with my sister and brother in law , they certainly need the break after all my issues! Rosie, how is your dad getting on now he’s been home for a few days?
Well I have worked for a few hours and now having a lazy afternoon doing what onc told me to do : I.e watching crappy daytime t.v so watching " four in a bed" and " come dine with me", which I am getting quite drawn into! Also like " a place in the sun" too !!
Called into marks and spencer and bought 2 pairs of jeggings in an attempt to get more " with it ! " and hate them so will be returning in favour of trusty bootleg jeans!
D me
Rosie, it must be a relief for you to have your sister drop in to check in on your dad, he must feel happier I expect to have his familiar things around him. My dad was quite excited earlier as he has received his disabled parking pass!! He can only walk about 4 steps so think it was due really! I might try the jeggings on again with a variety of footwear and see if I can get to like them, I am assured by everyone they are very comfortable, although I can’t get the image out of my head of " max wall !!" . I also watch four in a bed on a Sunday afternoon too!! Not that keen on deal or no deal, but really like The chase!
Yes the permit will make a big difference to him Rosie, and flat shoes sounds good with jeggings!
Wildpurl, myself and hubby went to Caernarfon for a romantic weekend early in our relationship 26 years ago and I remember he asked me to marry him whilst having dinner in a lovely restaurant in the centre somewhere, I also conceived my eldest son there! We named him Thomas in honour of wales!
Morning ladies, Rosie I will be thinking of you today, no wonder you are getting low and depressed all this backwards and forwards to hospital, hope you are not in too much discomfort today after inflation, yes 8.45 is quite Late for a meal for me too as I am struggling to stay awake usually! Might manage it tonight as it’s the start of " strictly come dancing" which I love! Enjoy your weekend as best you can.
Wildpurl, enjoy your final day! Tulamo, hope your side effects are easing now.
Oh Rosie, it’s really dragging on isn’t it, I start mine on the 7th and herceptin next week. Girlfriend front is brewing up again, she’s moved into the student shared house but still making excuses not to see my son, I.e going to a party with house mates etc! She told him last night she MAY see him Saturday afternoon! Once again last night I was trying to console a very distressed, madly in love 23 year old who is convinced if she dumps him his life will have no meaning at all, I personally think she wants to end the relationship but hasnt the guts to do it so is hoping she will push him so much he will end it, they were planning a long term future and moving in together so not sure what has so drastically changed and assume it’s because of her depression, I know what I want to say and do but obviously can’t!
Hi Jackie, what a sad day for you to have, lovely though to see the rest of your family, you must miss them very much, in my village there are above average cases of breast cancer, some too in quite young women, it is very worrying. Are you in Nottinghamshire? We used to live near Carlton and then moved to Redmile near Belvoir castle, now near market harborough, Leicestershire. It is rather worrying the disparity in your area in private and NHS care, I am lucky in having absolutely fantastic care in my area, right from surgeon who is absolutely fantastic to oncology department. Fancy four in a bed filming near you! We had phil spencer last year filming at the bottom of our road and apparently this week Sarah beeny was filming at the other end of our village!!
Rosie, hope your inflations have gone ok.
Jackie, what a distressing time you are having. No wonder you are feeling down. I hope you will be able to see your oncologist soon and get some clarity about the next steps. I wonder what your lady who has gone private means precisely when she compared the treatment available with what she was offered on the NHS. It may not have any relevance to your situation but make you worry unnecessarily. Hope the physio helps with your cording.
Lovewine, our claim to fame here recently is having the town scenes of Broadchurch (with David Tennant ) filmed here and the One direction video. I hope you’re right about so s girlfriend really wanting to end it and she won’t continue to torment him. Although he will be distraught at least there will be something concrete to deal with and comfort him about.
Rosie, hope the final inflation is not too uncomfortable. You are quite entitled to feel fed up, it has been such a long hard haul for you. 8.45 certainly does sound quite late.
Busy weekend ahead. Taking sister in law out for the day on Saturday, babysitting for the grandchildren that evening, then to Oxford on Sunday for the Tutankhamun exhibition . We also seem to have planned rather too much for following week. Not sure when we"ll have time to pack.
Bit of bad news this week: daughters dog has rectal cancer. So they have to decide whether to pay for an operation. Cancer seems to be everywhere. It seems you can’t open a newspaper, switch on the TV or read a book without there being some reference to it. Am I just sensitised to it or is it getting more coverage?
Now lost 6 finger nails. Decided I really can’t cover them all up with plaster so people will just have to think I bite my nails really badly. Dreamt last night that I woke up,one morning to find my hair had grown back very dramatically and I had an Afro!
You are having a busy weekend Joan! We are going to oxford to see Tutankhamen exhibition in 2 weeks! I love oxford and the ashmolean! My fingernails too are starting to come off , have lost one already this week, but on positive note my eyelashes and brows seem to be springing to life finally. I sympathise with your daughters decision regarding her dog, as a great lover of dogs I think it’s very upsetting when faced with a very poorly pet and the right thing to do. Hope you are not too exhausted by your busy weekend, it will be good practice for Barcelona!
You are so right about cancer being all over the television at the moment, it does get a bit much, I particularly despise the macmillan advert with the miserable woman sat on her own In grim chemo ward, my chemo experience was nothing like that!
Hi everyone, Rosie, can’t get much better than having the queen visiting your area! Hope you had a glass of wine last night and enjoyed it! I would have loved to visit Egypt , but as you say far too dangerous now! I have always found mummies fascinating from bring a small child- remember mum and dad taking us to our museum and a mummy on display had 2 teeth poking through bandages and I was hooked! Have visited many times since and took my Boys too when they were children and they too became very interested in Egyptian history! I still pop in to the museum from time to time when parking to go shopping !!
I am off with O/H down to hairdressers in village for a macmillan fund raising coffee morning, don’t think I will need a shampoo and set today though!! My hair is coming back awful- grey, brown,white and curly, my wig is blonde and straight!
Have a good Saturday everyone! Wildpurl, hope you have a safe journey home.
Enjoy your evening Rosie! Hope you have a better night and can take some painkillers ! Had some lovely cake at coffee morning - chocolate and strawberry with fresh cream!!
Hello Ladies,
Just waiting for my daughter to return from the Shine Night Walk marathon for cancer research I went to Southwark Park to see her and my nephew who lost his dad to lung cancer Oct 2010 off, bless them both they had two other friends from uni with them on the journey. The slogan is “sleep can wait, beating cancer can’t” and they all know someone who has been through or is going through this awful disease, it was really impressive over 33,00 people have taken part last night. My daughters group went with the striders.
My nephew was at lectures Saturday Morning and will be travelling back straight afterwards this morning he will be missing lectures this morning and re-joining them by midday, you have to admire the stamina at 25 we all felt unstoppable I guess!
It has predicted if the fundraising continues at this rate there will be many more break throughs and more complete cures, well done to them all I say XXXXX Cassie