Lizcat just message you…I hope you dont mind
Mel xx
Hi Buffy3,
Thank you for replying, the chemo i had was called Docetaxol, and one of the main side effects is nail loss unfortunately. The hard top layer comes off leaving the soft bit underneath but you can bet your bum you catch the sore ones on everything!!!
I am still taking Tamoxifen though im not sure why, i dont think it helped at all but better do as im told! ( not always good at that!) lol 
Time goes so slowly doesnt it when your waiting for results, the weekend could be the longest ever!
Enjoy your afternoon on the couch, relax!
Suns gone in now! cloudy again,
Take care,
Lorna x
Bumping for Dicky.
Mel - I’ll pm you later with my experience. Don’t worry, it’s now trouble and you are not bothering me at all.
Liz x
Hi everyone,
A murky day here in London… but have a big book to keep me company! Having a sofa day as feeling achy in my back, don’t know why and trying not to let the old brain go haywire.
Hi Lizcat - hope things are going ok for you on the new combo and you will soon be in a routine and have a grip on the side effects.
best wishes to all
xx
Dull, wet and gloomy here today. I have the merigues in the oven slowly drying out and about to make scones now. I thought I would have to wait until the merigues were ready until I remembered that I could use my Remoska which is a portable oventhat I take with me when I go caravanning. So Bran scones and fruit scones is next with lots of rests inbetween of course.
Went to order, or at least try out, the car I hope to have when I have to hand back my Mobility car to replace with a new one and have chosen an automatic, the first of its kind for me and I have been driving for 45 years now! Just hope that nothing changes and that this is the car I can have next. Glad to have choice decided as my husband loves taking me round showrooms and looking at cars on the laptop and reading about them when all I want to do is drive the bl**dy thing!¬
Chemo seems ot get easier as the weeks go by but I think it is just getting used to the new way of life and hoping that things will get back to normal when the chemo is finished next month. Ooh that sounds better that 5 more cycles!
Hope everuone is coping as well as can be expected, Love to all my boney friend and non boney ladies who just like to post here too. Hope you have a good weekend, Love V
Just calling in to say hi to all! Haven’t been on for a while - work and life in general are just busy.Am so loving being back at work. I have been reading posts though and keeping up to date. Welcome to any new members although I’m sure you would much rather not be joining this club!
I have had the delights of attending a red light awareness course this afternoon. Ended up on the loud table and actually had a laugh. The content of the course itself wasn’t exactly thrilling. I’m at Alice’s dance presentation tonight.
I suppose the real reason for this post is that I am worried. I have been coasting along since starting herceptin and zometa quiite happily since October last year. However my breast bone this last week has been really tender to touch. I had bloods done at my local unit on Thursday and mentioned it to my nurse. She is my regular nurse and basically said it could be something or nothing on one hand or something very serious on the other. I know in my heart of hearts that is what I am thinking too. Just stressing now about seeing the onc on Monday when I have treatment. I thought by telling her the feeling of tenderness would go away if that makes sense? Sometimes if you tell someone about a pain it does weirdly disappear. This hasn’t! I am probably just rambling now. As usual I don’t feel like I can talk about it at home. Feel better for getting it off my chest (excuse the pun) and telling you! Nowt to be done except just get on with things.
Love to all - sorry for going on.xxx
Tillie45
I had 4 Ec and 4 taxotere last year - my onc thought I was going to lose a couple of fingernails but I didn’t. I used OPI nail strengthener. That seemed to work for me. Check though before you use it. I finished chemo last June. For some reason my left foot toenails are still in a shocking state although managed to keep hold of them.
Hope that tip helps! I’ve being trying the FAST shampoo too but not convinced on that one. My hair is growing up and not down. It looks like a toilet brush. 
x
Dear Katie ( AKA Miss toilet brush hair!). That is what we are here for Katie when it is difficut to talk to those at home. Sometimes I feel my friends are sick to the back teeth with my ongoing tales of woe and some have stopped asking me how I am doing and days can pass without a phonecall even. As for your worry about your breastbone…sorry I cannot advise so hope you speak to the professionals at the hospital about it and see what they say. I have had times when there is no reason for aches and pains and other times I have been told about something I wasn’t even aware of. Not much help, but you are obviously worried and hope you get them to check you out assp.
My hair is none existant but I am wearing my wig and soft head caps around the house. It is easier to wear the wig when the weather is cold and I do not even need to search for a winter hat to put on as the wig keeps me snug and warm. Let us know how you get on Katie. Miss your posts but realise that work and life can keep us busy. But rooting for you that there is nothing to worry about. Hugs, V
Thanks Val x
No helpful comments to make Katie but just to let you know an sending a few (((((((((((xx))))))))))))and thinking of you. It must be hard to hold it all in at home so it is good that you found us and can come and share.
Dawn
xx
Hi Lorna, of course you are welcome to join in on our boney thread. I often wonder if anyone has the time now to read through all our posts. Pity they can’t all be put into a book! Like you I am on zometa and herceptin indefinitely but I started down the boney road some time back now in 2002! with my primary dx starting in 1990. It is just possible that the chemo you are on just now is not the right one for you and it may be that once you have the results of the PET scan on monday they may switch to something else. I know it is easy to say don’t get to anxious but there is so much that can be done now when more problems pop up with our bones. When I have had increase of pain and scans show where the problem is I have been offered radiotherapy and that can be very successful in halting things in their track. How long have you been on zometa & herceptin? I found in the early days of these I did have a little more progression and then as these drugs started to attack the bu**ers things started to settle. I hope they do for you and find the discussion with your onc on Monday puts your mind at rest. Do come back and tell us how you get on.
Dawn
xx
hi Sarb, a belated welcome to this special place. I have to say that I do not have any special tips for long term survival. I have not made any changes to my lifestyle since being first diagnosed back in 1990 with primaries or 2002 with bone mets. When I had my first biopsies done back in 1990 the onc then said he doubted if it was malignant as everything pointed to that being the case as I didn’t drink or smoke, wasn’t overweight, I had breast fed my children etc.etc. I think nowadays we know a lot of that is pretty irrelevant. I like to think we eat a fairly healthy diet and certainly don’t rule out a few treats :).
i do hope reading of our experiences will help you to come to terms with your own diagnosis.
Dawn xx
For everyone’s information, Katie’s hair does NOT look like a toilet brush. I have seen it in the flesh so to speak and it’s cute! Shorter styled crop that looks brill.
Have been reading all the posts and keep meaning to reply as they turn up but haven’t had the energy, plus when I am using my kindle, the typing doesn’t work on this site properly so I leave it til I’m on laptop. I’m still working round the side effects of the new drugs combo. The pain patches have got rid of the pain completely but wipe me out. One minute I’m wide awake and the next asleep. Ah well. My immune system is definitely lower with the everolimus as I have a bit of a sore throat, sniffles and mouth ulcers just like chemo from years ago.The most worrying bit is that I seem to have lost some of my appetite - including for cake!!! I will adapt to it all though once I have had a cycle or two. Just hope that my bloods will be ok when they do them for the next lot of pills at the end of the month.
Anyway, love to you all and keep as well as possible.
Liz xx
Hi Liz, sorry to hear you’re having a few nasty side effects with the new drug combo. I finished my 1st cycle of Cape and thought I’d feel great on my week off. Hmmmm, well that didn’t happen, at least not straight away, and then I went down with the same as you, sore throat, tickly cough, a few small mouth ulcers and generally feeling rubbish - great. I was expecting my second cycle to be delayed but surprisingly all my blood results were good and my neuts probably higher than I’ve ever had! Very strange. Second cycle has gone ahead on time, which I’m glad about as I didn’t want a delay this early in my treatment. Let’s see what this one brings. Glad to hear the pain relief is working and hope that it can be adjusted in a way that makes you less ssleepy.
Hi to everyone else, new and old. Good to see you posting again Katie, aka Toilet Brush LOL, I was wondering where you’d vanished to but glad to hear it’s being busy that has caused it. Sorry to hear though that you are worried about a new pain, I hope it turns out to be nothing to be worried about but you do know you can come on here and voice your fears, we all understand. Good luck with your appointment today, fingers crossed.
Nicky x
Evening everyone,
Thanks for your support and listening to me. I saw the registrar today and explained the pain. He examined me and basically thught in his opinion it was to do with the mx and things still settling rather than anything more nasty. He has told me to keep an eye on it and let him know if it is still the same next time I see him. Part of me feels daft for worrying but its just instictive to fear the worst. To be honest I am not sure whether I should have pushed for a scan to put my mind at rest or whether that is an over reaction. I would like to be sure the drugs are working. The thing is though I was nervous as it was. I went alone again which is easier in some respects and not in others. Hey ho! I’ll see how it goes.
On positive note am off to London this weekend with my hubby and Alice. I missed out last year as felt too grot on chemo to go (we’d booked it before my dx). Anyway we are off to see Mamma Mia and take in some sights. Am really looking forward to it.
Thank you again for being there - your support means a lot.
Don’t believe Liz by the way - hair is like an old tatty toilet brush. Nothing I do seems to make it go flat. I seemed to have bought every styling wax, moouse, gel etc available. Never having had curly hair I don’t know what to do! Having said that I’m glad I have it back again especially in this cold weather.
Wrap up warm everyone. Love to all x
Nicky - good to hear you got your 2nd dose. I have heard that people on cap can often have their worst side effects on the week off and are surprised by it as it’s not what you expect, is it??
Katie - have the most fab weekend away. I love mamma Mia but have never seen the stage version. It’s such a good feel-good film and I remember all the songs from my dim and distant youth. Your hair really is fab. I love it like that. My tip for curly hair - wash and leave it to dry naturally. The trouble with mine being so curly and now fine is that absolutely nothing stops the frizz and I’ve tried so many remedies. My current look is the dragged-through-a-hedge-backwards one or the bird’s nest one as Paul frequently roughs it up and tells the birds to come and nest on my head…
Liz xx
Hi, the stage version is really funny, I think better than the film and I loved that.
My hair has a frizzy layer of black and white coming through! Not quite sure what to do with it…shave it off or leave it to grow. It usually grows quite fast so I think I’ll leave it.
Have a good evening
Mel
katie have a wonderful weekend with the family.Re hair my hairdresser recommended using macademia oil.It makes it softer and a bit more manageable and also moisturises the scalp.Almond oil would be as good but I still use the macademia oil 2 years after chemo as it helps styling and conditioning my lovely silver grey mop.
Enjoy Mamma Mia.
L xx
Thanks Lucinda - I will try it. I ending up buying texturized gum today to add to my gormless array of hair products. I could open a shop.
Also had to relent and buy size 14 jeans today. I am blaming it on the drugs not the mini eggs and cake.
Am so looking forward to going to London. I will be singing along and annoying everyone. As my best friend once told me, ‘Kate you can sing but you can’t hold a tune!’
Love to all x
Katie - I have some of that macadamia stuff, shampoo, conditioner and hold stuff. If I remember, I’ll bring it to the next Liverpool meet-up and you are welcome to it. Afraid it stopped helping my wild hair. You will have to remind me though…xx