Thanks Dawn.
I had already seen most of the info.
If it hadn’t been for these 3 charities in don’t know what I’d have done.
My Spanish is pretty good but there isn’t the same level of support here.
Ironically enough, I was due to take part in a March against Cancer in my own little village this Sunday.
As my stay in hospital has been extended to at least Monday I won’t be able to go.
Scotty you hope all goes well for you over the weekend.
Esther- good luck for Monday.
Wtp - you go girl! Very brave to discard your headgear.
Robin- all ok with you?
Have a lovely weekend girls.
We will soon be there. Xxx
Oh Jackie! That sucks - I hope you’re feeling better now. Just when you think things can’t get any worse!
Good luck to you guys on T2… another one ticked off - we’re on the final countdown!!!
I had my 3rd weekly T on Thursday (so the equivalent of one full round done but in small bits) and saw my onc - first time in 5 wks as he’d been on hols etc.
I’m so over the moon re my response! My original
lump was very aggressive and measured between 10-11cm. My onc told me that had I been a new patient now, for diagnosis, he wouldn’t be able to feel a thing!!!
So the whole way through I’ve been told a radical mastectomy is the only option as the lump was so big and skin inflamed - fine by me - whatever stops it from spreading or recurring. Now he tells me that a lumpectomy might be on the cards!! No promises until final MRI but still…, makes it all worth it!!
AND my head feels soft and fuzzy… like my hair might be slowly starting again.,.
I’m scared of feeling too happy about any of this. I’m scared of a lumpectomy as I don’t want to risk recurrence. But I’m also so happy to see light at the end of the tunnel and to have found strength I never knew i had.
I’m also wired on steroids - primed and painted my daughter’s bedroom pink today. She always wanted a pink room. Knew those steroids had to be good for something!!
Stay strong ladies - we will beat this thing!
Xxx
Wtp that’s great news re tumour response! And with steroid energy and painting you must be feeling extra good ?
Jackie I hope you are feeling better and get out of hospital on Monday as planned. Do you at least have your own room so you can rest a bit?
Beedot - any news on your ECG? Is all ok?
I seem to have woken up this morning with a cold a sore throat grrrrr. Hoping it is just something that passes as finally got a bit more energy back after EC4, and we were able to come up to Scotland for a few days to stay with some friends. It’s lovely being out of London for the first time since this all started but having to take it very easy and not too do much as energy levels still low. Did anyone else feel like this after EC4?
Lots of you seem to be getting through the Tax cycles now which is good to hear. Summer will soon be here and then chemo will be over with - it seems the surgery and radio (for us that are moving onto that) might be easier to cope with!
Hope you all have a good weekend.
Egg x
Jackie, I hope you are feeling more comfortable now, you must be so fed up with these setbacks.
Wtp, great news on your progress, that is an impressive reduction!
Esther it looks like you and I might be virtual handholding buddies on Monday.
I saw the cardiologist on Friday and had an echocardiogram. He said my heart is fine, it is just under stress from being poisoned! I am not sure the onc. would thank him for describing it like that. He looked at my arm too and confirmed it is superficial venous thrombosis, he put me on Apixaban, blood thinning medication - anyone else on that? I checked with the chemo unit and they said it is ok to take it. I still feel fluttery but not as breathless.
I am going to see my onc. first on Monday, then have Tax 1 if she is happy. I have a horrible feeling she might say I have to have a portacath fitted, I so wanted to avoid that; my only comfort is the feedback on here that it’s really not so bad, I am just such a wimp and the thought of it really gets to me.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend, as Egg says, let’s think ahead to the summer when we’ll all have some hair and be past this stage.
Beedot x
Beedot I shall be holding your hand tomorrow and wishing you well for your 1st tax!
Jackie I hope you are on the mend.
Good luck anyone else getting blasted this week.
X
Good much Esther and beedot for today and good luck to anyone else being done this week. Great news wtp! Jackie hope you are home soon. Ebim thanks for asking. I’m ok but struggling with fatigue, breathlessness and taste issues. Have to find some energy today as I am going to my radiotherapy meeting. I have no eyelashes now and look awful. Hugs to all warrior teddies. R x
That should say good luck and not good much. I’m fed up with predictive text too. R x
Esther, I am still thinking of you but I am not having T1 after all today.
The cardiologist recommended another scan in case of blood clots and the onc. said that she has to follow his advice and no chemo until after. However, she said a 2 week delay is not a problem because my chemo is post surgery, therefore just a mopping up exercise. She did mention the dreaded port or PICC again so I think I won’t be able to avoid it.
Good luck to everyone up this week, I will get to join the tax band eventually!
Bedot x
Beedot I hope your scan turns out ok. I am now a bit worried about my arm as I think we had the same thing but none of the onc team have said anything about thrombosis. Interesting that it was your cardiologist and not the onc who picked it up! How are you getting on with the new meds they prescribed?
Esther hope today has gone well for you.
Jackie - are you home yet?
Egg
Ebim and Robin sorry to hear you are not feeling great right now. Hopefully it will improve in next few days.
Egg x
Esther , hope it went well today. I hope I can compare notes with you after T2 and Herceptin tomorrow. Good vibes to anyone else getting blasted or otherwise assailed this week.
Hi Ebim a few people have told me that frozen pineapple helps with the mouth and taste. Might be worth a try?
I must say the thought of Tax next week is now looming like a dreaded thing!
Beeedot hope arm improves enough for cannulating. Like you I want to avoid PiCC or port if I can but maybe I am kidding myself!
Morning ladies thanks for you well wishes for yesterday which went well. 5/6 is starting to feel like I’m getting there.
Beedot sorry to hear your scan has stopped T1 I hope your further investigations go ok and you’re back on track very soon.
Slowski I’m on the steroid high at the moment and will make the most of today and tomorrow. I’ve got co-codamol and extra strength ibuprofen for joint pains and Imodium for the tax trots!!! What joy!
Thankfully my taste hadn’t been too badly affected just gone right off certain foods - mostly anything good for me!
Robin my eyelashes are thinning and I’m getting a dab hand at painting on my eyebrows each morning. That at least makes me feel a bit more normal!
Good luck teddy warriors for whatever this week brings you. Xx
I agree with Ebim. The support I’ve found on here has been the best thing about this journey. And the humour has been a great part of that support. I can’t do chocolate Ebim - it tastes like earth as does most things. Coffee is about the only thing that tastes normal at the .moment. Thanks for all the sympathy but don’t feel too sorry for me - my side effects aren’t that bad. Just a bit of fatigue and breathlessness. Nothing compared to what some on here have had to put up with. Had my first radiotherapy meeting yesterday and the doctors were lovely. It was at the royal Marsden so top of the range. They said I will have four weeks of rads as I will get the five day booster ones at the end. They said I will have no trouble coping with radiotherapy and were clear that they think chemo and surgery are the hard bits. I agree about chemo. I don’t think surgery is as tough but I suppose they mean tough on the body. Went out last night wearing wig and false eyelashes and a few friends more or less said I looked better than usual!! Glad yours went ok yesterday Esther and enjoy that steroid energy. Hope all tax warrior teddies have a good day. Anyone being done today? R x
Beedot sorry you got delayed. Slowski good luck today. Ebim and Egg don’t worry about piccs. I didn’t want one either but it’s not that bad. Sorry if I’ve missed anyone. I read all the posts but can never remember what to reply to. Youre all in my thoughts. R x
Jackie, I hope you’re feeling OK and fighting those infections?
Wtp - wonderful news about your lump. That must feel so reassuring. Mine hasn’t shrunk much but i was warned it might not as I’m strongly ER+ and that doesn’t respond as well to chemo I believe?
Beedot, sorry you’re going through the mill a bit. Try and stay positive and think of these extra ‘good’ weeks as a bonus. Do something lovely!
Ebim, when I had Tax, I found blueberries tasted true to themselves and quite nice! And dry Garibaldi type biscuits. They taste like cardboard anyway so the weird mouth and taste didn’t affect them much! I had those electric shock type pains with my first cycle of Tax only I described them as feeling like I was being kicked, repeatedly, at random! And Im loving thinking of myself as a bad ass!!!
I have EC 1 tomorrow and I’m dreading it. I’m worried as I don’t know what to expect - the symptom diary I’ve been keeping is useless for this new regime. And I’m worried about sickness. And my veins, although I’ve been offered at PICC but it would mean delaying tomorrow’s treatment for a week to get it fitted, so I’ve opted to go ahead with treatment and see how my veins hold up. I hope I don’t live to regret it - many of you have had problems with your veins on EC/FEC. Has anybody not?!
As well as the support from you all, I have another best thing about this journey…when I go to phlebotomy for my pre chemo blood test, I have an urgent form which means I go straight through and am out in minutes! Today, they were queueing out of the doors, probably 50 people waiting, and I sailed straight in!!! Little things eh?!! X
Hello you Teddy Warriors.
Well I am finally home.
I wouldn’t want to repeat the last 10 days - but maybe I will have to after my next chemo session.
I am SO close to finishing with the poison, so near yet so far.
Being stuck in that hospital room for so long gives you a chance to think, and it’s not always good thoughts.
When I started on this cancer journey I was full of piss and vinegar, with lots of slogans like “Fight Like a Girl” and “Cancer picked the wrong girl”.
At the moment that fight has all but disappeared, and I’m just being dragged along by the current.
I KNOW it will pass, and in 6 weeks the chemo will be over.
I’d like, pretty please for it to be over now.
You are all having a pretty rough time one way or another.
Non co- operative veins, SEs that seem worse each time.
I’m on my mobile so can’t scroll to mention you individually and, truth be told, my brain can’t hold more than one thought at a time.
I’m due Tax 5 on Friday but my internal medicine consultant is going head to head with the oncologist to plead for a week’s delay.
My body is just exhausted from the chemo, from the anaesthetics, from the open wounds on my bum, from the continued antibiotics I have to take.
I’m hanging onto the thought that in 6 weeks this poisonous part will be over.
I’m just so glad to be back home with my wonderful hubby, son and my dogs.
Tomorrow is another day - let the fight resume.
If you are feeling ill, I pray you feel better soon.
If you have a treatment this week, I pray all goes well.
Most of all I pray you all find the strength to fight to the end.
Much love.
Xxxx
Oh Jackie, you really have had a rough time and you must be so glad to be back home with your family.
This is a tough old journey we’re on and you will get to the end. Although at the moment I’m guessing the end feels a long way off. Sending a big virtual hug to you. Xx
Sending you masses of hugs and sympathy Jackie. What can I say but hang on in there. You CAN do this. Keep focussed on the end goal. Hugs and strength to all. R x
Oh Jackie
You are having such a tough time, my thoughts are with you. Don’t worry about temporarily losing your fighting attitude - fighting is hard work! Being swept along with the current is OK for a while - you are still going in the right direction.
X