It’s great that we’re all through chemo now. There was a little cheer for me yesterday when I went out of the ward punching the air. There’s still radiotherapy & hormone therapy to come but this horrible chemical poisoning is done. (Just sore hands & feet, food tasting like it’s been cooked in battery acid, fatigue for a week or two.)
Good news about your pre-op examination, Christine. I hope the nightmares fade & you get more restful nights. It’s a lovely feeling to get rid of the paraphernalia of chemo delivery, even when having it has been helpful. You must be glad your port is going. I was extremely grateful for all the pain I didn’t have to endure because I had a picc line but I like having my arm back.
I hope the UCAS information helps, Michelle. You have enough to be going on with as it is. Good luck to your daughter; I hope all her hard work (and your support) have the best outcome. Most of all, I hope your surgery goes brilliantly on the 16th.
I love the battery acid description Dorabel! I’ve still got that going on but unfortunately it’s not slowing down my eating! I glad your unit gave you a little cheer, no when said a word to me in mine, not even to wish me luck which was a little disappointing. Never mind I was just glad it was done. I have radiotherapy too, in about 6 weeks time.
I have had my pre op assessment today, apart from a lot of waiting around in the wrong place for an hour as the trainee Dr had gotnit wrong, it went well. I feel more prepared for 16th.
Am I right in thinking your surgery is on 14th Christine? Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.
I went for my herceptin injection today and a different nurse gave it and the sting was much less. Not sure if it was just that my body is more used to it or she may have just administered it slightly more slowly. I mentioned the blood tests taken from my arm after i had told them i had had surgery in both arms and was told it shouldn’t have been done. One of the hospitals is linked to the one i went to today and it was decided that they needed to report it and some re training would be needed. Apparently they should only use my arm if i give permission and sign a consent form. It was in a cancer hospital so there must have been some one there trained to use my port or failing that it should have taken from my foot, as it has been done twice before.
Hope those who have finished chemo are enjoying it and that Fiona is counting the last few weeks to the end. I think you still have three weeks to go as you said end of August but I may be wrong or things may have changed. My chemo brain still seems to make my memory bad. I need to write down my questions for doctors etc or i forget them.
Yes my op is next tuesday (14th) and I am scared. I have the added stress of my elderly father having a hip replacement a couple of weeks ago and my mother being frail. A new emergency call system when she falls failed on its first need but luckily she found the manual emergency button to call for help. My sister is dealing with it together with her sick dog and a mother in law with early stages of dementia. she is stressed and i can do nothing to help.
All the bset for the 16th Michelle and hope you are feeling better Gygi.
Hi Christine, I had my first herceptin injection yesterday. She administered it very slowly and it wasn’t stingy at all thankfully. However last night and still this morning my leg feels bruised and stiff in the area of the injection, There aren’t any marks or bruises on my leg. Have you had this? If so how long does it last?
Sorry to hear you have so much on your plate with family worries. I’m sure it doesn’t help with the nerves. I’m feeling pretty scared myself especially as it is my first op so I’m not sure I can offer you much comfort. For now I’m trying not to think too much about it. X
Firstly sorry i got my message wrong yesterday as i forgot that Fiona stopped chemo.
Michelle it must be a worry for you too and yes i am trying to keep myself busy and my mind of it all. I plan to do a cleaning blitz on Monday and have advised my husband to keep his distance as he will be shouted at but he knows what i get like when i am worried so he will be ok. Glad the Herceptin went well too and all the best.
I didn’t suffer with fatigue but did get more tired towards the end. I had 2x FEC and 4x T. I don’t want to sound preachy as I know there is a lot of luck involved but I walked 3+ miles almost everyday of chemo and I have read that this helps with fatigue. I was very lucky with my SE’s and likecto believe the walking helped. Good luck with the remainder of your chemo x
Hope Monday goes well Sally, you are near the end now and can see the light at the end of the chemo tunnel. I have just finished chemo, have surgery on Thursday and rads after so yes we are fillowing a similar path. Let us know how you get on with the remainder of your chemo x
Hi guys how is everyone? Thinking of you Christine. Hope recovery is going well. I went to a Look good feel better make up workshop yesterday at the hospital and loved it. Highly recommend it even though I hardly ever wear makeup (first time in 2018!) Off to meet a friend for lunch. Going to buy a 2019 calendar to put all my dates in. Now the weather has cooled down I’m out more and feeling much better. Just really achy legs today and need to pace myself. Hope your daughter gets what she wants for uni tomorrow Michelle and will be thinking of you. Dorabel Fiona it’s been a month since my last chemo and only just beginning to feel better so I guess it’s still affecting you. Hope you are recovering well and Sally too. Take care Gigi x
Hi Michelle, sending lots of positive thoughts for tomorrow, you’ll do great I’m sure… and fingers crossed for good results for both you and your daughter! … I’ll be thinking of you x
I am pleased to say my daughter got into her uni choice and got better grades than expected! I feel so happy and proud of her, especially as she did it all whilst i was dx and having chemo. She really is amazing. Anyway enough of my showing off!!
I am home after the op and feeling ok. I have found it sore around the drain area but that seems to be a little better every day. I haven’t managed to put a bra on yet but feel that I should do that today for the support. I have a 3 week wait now to find out the pathology results but keeping my fingers crossed that chemo, Perjeta and Herceptin have destroyed those nasty cancer cells.
I am now 4 weeks from my last chemo and obviously have my op to recover from but I am pleased that the battery acid mouth taste has finally gone and taste buds are back to normal. My hair is growing back in the patches that thinned but it is also still falling out in the thicker patches! I don’t think I’ll be running again for a few weeks but when I ran a couple of times post chemo my performance was far below normal, even a normal of not exercising for that long I wouldn’t have been as bad as this! Yes chemo does set us back but we will all get back to our pre chemo selves and will be even stronger for having gone through all of this.
Sally I hope session 7 goes well on Monday with minimal SE’s, you really are a trooper going through 8 chemo cycles.
Gygi glad you are begining to feel more like yourself and getting out and about again. Has your hair stopped shedding completely now? Do you remember when it stopped?
Dorabel keep up the gym it will get easier, you are still early days.
Christine, how did the op go? I hope you are feeling ok and are being well looked after.
Fiona, how is life post chemo?! I hope all is well.
Just a quick post as i am still in hospital. Physically all is going well but emotions all over the place. Waiting for last drain to be removed but keep seeing it fill and dreading yet another night of no sleep. I am sure it is worth it but just need to sort my head out.
Christine I’m so pleased your op went well and you are physically well. There has been a lot to take in and a big build up to surgery so no surprise you are feeling emotional. I would say just go with it let the tears come if you have to, they are just emotions and they will pass, hopefully leaving you feeling better soon.
I am 3 days post op, still got the drain in. I could have it for anything from 5 days to 2 weeks. It is uncomfortable so I’m hoping it will be out soon. The nurse is coming each day to measure the fluid released. I am looking forward to having the drain out and the clips out which will be in a weeks time but know that like in chemo I just have to be patient and go through each day.
Dorabel Thanks for your kind words, also your description of the drain is hilarious! I haven’t become obsessed with fashion but I am obsessed with the growth of my hair. As you know I cold capped but still developed bald patches. These are growing back but I find my self staring at them every night trying to calculate how much it might have grown since I last looked! I’ve never spent so much time on my appearance. I think for me i want to look like my normal self again as soon as possible. It’s as if I don’t want people to know I have been through this, even though all my friends do know. Go for it Dorabel, but new clothes and get a new look if that’s what you fancy. I think we deserve to treat ourselves after all we have been through xx
So glad all looks good for you Michelle. I always think that if something is wrong they would have told you long before the 3 weeks are up so no news is always good news. Great your daughter got what she wanted too and you can both look forward.
They did let me home today but the drain is still in but unlike you Michelle it is left to me to empty it and measure the contents before phoning in the results. There was talk of a district nurse but the this will only be done if the drain can’t come out tomorrow. I have an appointment with the surgeon who did the mastectomy tomorrow which i could cancel if i wasn’t up to it but i am sure she will take out the drain if the numbers are right. below 40 is the magic number and this morning was 60 so hopeful. The one i have left is in the abdomen as the other 3 have been removed.
The operation when pretty much to plan except he did have to go through the stomache muscle on one side to get the blood vessels but i knew this was a risk no matter what the CT scan showed. I didn’t react well to the morphine pump so stopped that as soon as i could. It made me very sick, woozy and spaced out which is not great when you have had surgery across the stomache. Once i came through the first 48 hours the nursing staff on the ward were brilliant at looking after me and keeping me comfortable. The plastics Consultant and all his team were in at least once a day and i hate to think how many people must have been in theatre. All very considerate and informative.
Now i have two boobs again and it feels odd considering i have only had one for 17 years. They are firm but still have tape and dressings on so will wait to see them proeprly at the end of the week when the dressings are taken off and the wounds checked. I am really pleased with it so far but it is a very big operation and took a lot out of me. Still lots of adjustments to go but that is the main bit all done now.
Thank you for all your good wishes and hope you are all doing well. After chemo had ended my eyebrows disappeared but they are now growing back. It was very odd but i have heard others losing hair after the chemo finished.