Oh Egg and Blue.
Seems we have all sorts of problems in “that” area.
I hope you don’t suffer too much but best to get all the medsmeds and fruits on hand just in case.
Went to hodoutal this morning
That didnt go as planned, so i have to report that Tax 5 is done.
Only 1 to go. ???
I went to just talk to the oncologist, thinking he would have been persuaded to put off the chemo for a week given how ill I’ve been after the last one.
He was having none of it!
“If you are ill go to A and E and they will call me”
Cheers. Thanks doc.
I’m not sure if he was being entirely honest and taking note of my unwellness, as I noticed he wasn’t available next Friday.
It’s Holy Week and he’s on holiday! ???
No matter - it’s done now.
I feel I can cope with whatever side effects come my way - EXCEPT another boil on the bum AND a hospital stay.
Please pray for me.
Have a lovely weekend.
Hiya ladies.
Hope you are all managing to enjoy a bit of this lovely weather.
Hello Alison… This group is great for reassurance and insider knowledge. I also have 2 kids a boy aged 8 and a girl aged 10 and I hate the fact that they have to be exposed to this horrible disease and life feels like it is on hold. But kids are amazing at coping and just accepting change and getting on with life. My daughter wrote in my mother’s day card that she was so proud of me for getting through these hard times and to keep up the good work and stay positive. It brought tears to my eyes and I was amazed at her love and understanding but at same time angry that I she is exposed to this horrible situation. For me the mental turmoil is as bad as the physical effects.
Well done to everyone who had chemo last week, despite delays we are all slowly getting there. Jackie stay strong only 1 to go you have had a tough time but you will do it.
I am at the end of my good week and back in tomorrow for tax 2… Beedot I think you are having chemo tomorrow too…so good luck, will be thinking of you.
Robin and anyone else who has had their radiotherapy appointment. Can I ask how many weeks you are getting and why? I was originally told 4 weeks as has spread to nearly all my lymph nodes but now am only getting 3 weeks. I asked the Bcn and she said that was fine and they know what they are doing but am worried if I should be pushing for more?
Quick thing about picc line. I have had mine from the start and I love it. No nasty vein problems so far and I hate cannulas and needles so really glad I have it.
Take care everyone and big hugs.
Nicky xxx
Hello Nicky. I’m going to have four weeks - the three standard weeks and then the five day boost. I think the boost targets a slightly different area.
Ebim, well done to you and your sister! I hope you’ve both had a great day. The weather has been lovely here - hope not too hot for your sister. I am planning to do some walks and fund raising for these amazing cancer charities when treatment is over.
Good luck to Beedot and anyone else being done tomorrow and indeed this week.
I’m feeling ok at the moment (day 12 of tax 2) apart from a bit of fatigue and breathlessness. But I have managed a few jobs around the house and garden. I’ve got that unpleasant mouth taste too.
I’m disappointed at my lack of hair growth. My five o clock shadow was just wishful thinking. I thought there might be a bit of a sign of something happening by now but nothing! I’ve got used to drawing on eyebrows and going heavy on the eye make up to disguise my Gollum features.
I know what you mean Nicky about the mental torment. It’s very hard, isn’t it? I have so many irrational thoughts sometimes. But I know I’m not alone and just have to remind myself that these thoughts pass.
Hope you’ve all been able to enjoy this amazing weather.
Mooney - you’re quiet. Hope you’re ok.
R x
Nicky,
I feel the same as you about radio - not had meeting yet but been told I will have 18 although I expected it to be more. Not sure how they decide and what the criteria are. I am not expecting to have my planning meeting until third week of May which seems ages away. I am assuming rads will start about 5 weeks after last chemo - what timescales have others got ?
Good luck anyone being blasted this week. On we go.
Thanks all for willing me on to T1 tomorrow. I still have the erratic heartbeat but onc. says I can continue. I wonder if I self induced it by fast dieting before chemo so I have given up on that strategy now and comfort eaten all weekend (any excuse!) chocolate is a must at the moment.
re RT, I was told all along that I would have 3 weeks but when I got the appointment letter, it said 4 weeks. I asked my onc.last week and she said the 4th week is a boost to the specific spot plus 3 weeks to the whole area - no mention of my age Robin (59). It is supposed to start about 3 or 4 weeks after chemo but my delay on chemo has shortened the gap, I don’t know if it will get pushed back.
Well done to Ebim’s sister, thank her from us all.
hope all going well Jackie - just one more. I think I will be Billy no mates by the time I get there, you will all have finished!
Beedot x
Good luck today Beedot!! One more tick in the box 
I’ll still be on here for some time as have another 8 wks of T then 4 wks break, surgery, then recovery time (4-6 wks) then RT so you won’t be billy
Blue2 - if the dreaded constipation doesn’t get any better, ask for more meds to sort it from your team or GP asap as I, like Egg, suffered from tearing and some nasty piles too. It sounds like you’ve already been through the wars in that area! I found that just as things were getting back to normal, I would be due the next round of EC! I also had some piles suppositories on hand which helped with the pain after although prevention is def better than cure!
Is it strange that I’m sort of enjoying the tax trots after the EC constipation? ?
Ebim - well done to your sister on the race and raising so much money. So lovely to have support so close to hand too.
Hope you’ve all enjoyed the amazing weather this wknd! I had to wear scarf and big floppy hat as my head is so sensitive to the sun now… oh and SPF 50 all over. How are you coping with the sun/heat in Spain, Jackie?
Xxx
Morning all you lovely ladies and Tax warriors.
I have been quiet, lurking, but have had nothing positive to say - bit fed up tbh. I was back in hospital earlier with neutropenia white cells 0.153! Also had temp so iv antibiotics for a few days then home.
All you ladies have mentioned the mental side of things keeping positive etc. Don’t know how some of you remain so positive especially Jackie with her Bob.
I am with Robin was hoping for a sign of hair growth on Tax, but not a scrap, totally bald and exceptionally smooth in places. I do have a panic my hair may never grow back! It’s my 2nd Tax tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I feel very well at the moment though still tire easily.Good luck to all you ladies going for treatment this week. We will do it, sometimes it feels harder than others.
I think I am a bit down because we have also sold our lovely house! Such a lot of work to do to pack 30 years of love away. This house has been family headquarters for 30 yrs. We have been looking around at houses but can’t found anything we like. Downsizing is always difficult.
Love and strength to all you lovely ladies - I have 15 rads as well so will be here on and off for a while.
Mooneyxxx
Beedot and WTP - I think I will be even later than you - starting T1 on Thursday all being well. It have to have 4 cycles… then surgery and then radio plus herceptin for next year. Haven’t gotten to the stage where they have even mentioned planning for radio so I feel a bit envious of all of you! Have stocked up on bland stodgy food today for anticipation of Tax trots. All prunes have been put away!
Pleased to see you back Mooney, sounds like you have had a time of it too, sorry to hear that. With the home sale as well! We did a similar move 2 years ago and I found that selling a home you are attached to without knowing where you are going is very unsettling. OH kept having to tell me that I wasn’t being brave enough and it would turn out fine, every time I said we were making a mistake. We had a list of search criteria and we failed on every one but we ended up with a lovely place that became home as soon as family and friends turned up, with a gap of a month during which we went on holiday. Our reason was to move nearer to family and it turned out to have been exactly the right thing to do with what’s going on now.
Egg and Wtp, yes my timetable isn’t so bad after all, you’re right. If all goes to plan I should be finished chemo and RT by mid July.
On that note, I finally had T1 today! Bit of drama on cannulation but got there in the end. I am feeling ok at the moment but planning to catch up on the steroid fuelled insomnia which found me painting my nails and doing an online grocery shop at 3.30am.
good luck to everyone else this week.
Beedot x
Hello ladies, I’m a little late but I’d like to join this thread if that’s ok?
Just a bit about me - I was diagnosed last October (stage 2, grade 2, 4.5cm and 5/13 positive lymph nodes) a bit of a shock as I’d been given the all clear after a mammogram back in June. It turns out it was buried in dense tissue, meaning the mammogram couldn’t detect it. Apparently that happens sometimes especially in ‘younger’ ladies (I’m 48!). I’d always had lumps and bumps and to me they didn’t feel any different. I’ll always feel bad about not finding sooner, although the nurse was unsure when I was first examined, and the ultrasound showed something much smaller. I found it by a lump under my arm - thank goodness for lymph nodes doing their job - I do think I’ve been very lucky that as far as the scans show it hasn’t spread any further.
I had a mastectomy and lymph node clearance in December, and FEC-T started on Jan 9th. I’ve been fairly lucky and so far I haven’t suffered too badly, only one trip to a&e. I’m now in the middle of T2, only one more to go, then radiotherapy and Tamoxifen.
I just wanted to say thank you ladies for all your posts, you’ve all been a huge help in getting me through this. There’s such a lot to take in, it’s hard to know where to start, you’ve helped me make sense of it all.
Wishing you all the very best, take care
Paula x
Hi Paula
Welcome to the group! It’s never too late to join! Like you, I read along for a while before summoning up the courage to ‘join’ and even though I wasn’t a ‘member’, felt very supported by the group.
Dense breast tissue was hiding my lump (s) too and I have to have screening by mri now as they don’t show on mammogram and ultrasound. My breast changes were dismissed by several consultants initially until a couple of enlarged lymph nodes were found which showed breast cancer! I’m having chemo prior to surgery, EC-T, but had T first, so am now on EC. Then it’s surgery probably June, then rads August time I expect - right through the school holidays, so I’ll be one of the last to finish with Wtp and Egg.
Hope you’re feeling OK beedot after finally getting T1? And if I don’t get chance to say it before Thursday Egg, I will be thinking of you. Hope the fatigue doesn’t knock you too hard at the end of the school holidays. That was funny to read about you putting your prunes away…they are on my regular shopping list now! After your tip the other day, I went to the local co-op for prunes, fruit juice and liquorice and that’s it! Do you think the girl on the till suspected my problem!!!
Hope everyone is bearing up OK? At my last onc review, it was mentioned that they will review my planned 8 sessions of chemo depending on the MRI and I might end up only having 6 or 7 sessions after all and go for surgery early, depending on if my lump is responding to EC. Well, that’s thrown up all kinds of thoughts…will I still be getting enough poison - being told you’d get something that’s the best treatment for this illness and then it potentially being stopped is a worry, has it not been working properly, but also on the flip side, it’s given me some much needed light at the end of this chemo tunnel. I have definitely 1 more treatment then it’s possible that this part is over… Feeling a bit confused!
X
Welcome FenHen. I was interested to read your post and yours too Blue - like both of you I was told I had “dense” breasts and so my mammogram was normal despife the fact I could feel a lump. Had an ultrasound too and the consultant radiologist missed the lymph node on that. MRI showed it, but since then they have put a marker in the node and the tumour so they can see it on ultrasound. Had ultrasound yesterday and it has shrunk a bit on the EC so am hoping on T/herceptin/perjeta it will shrink even more. Last “normal” day today before all day session tomorrow for Herceptin and Perjeta, followed by another all day session for T1 on Thursday. Has anyone here had the herceptin/perjeta combo and how did they find it?
Egg x
Mooney I think you are T2 today so hope it all goes well.
Jackie are you feeling better?
Morning Egg
I’ve had that combo. Not going to lie the first one is rough. I had mine all on the same day but some places do it over 2 days. It’s hard to know what causes each SE but herceptin is definitely responsible for a very runny nose! Good news is the second round was nowhere near as bad as first. I’ve got one more with T and then herceptin and perjeta on their for the last one. Any questions fire away! Hope everyone is ok
Yes Tax 2 today 12.30. Am going to try and be a good girl this time and avoid any hospital admissions!
Beedot we are living in a lovely village 10 miles from anywhere at the moment but with lots of lovely supportive friends. We are thinking of either staying here and waiting for a house we want, or moving within walking distance of a small market town about 40 mins drive from here where we can access theatre river castle cinema restaurants shops, a different lifestyle.Decisions are so difficult when we are going through all this c××p.
I do agree though when gamy and friends arrive it becomes home.
Good luck to everyone this week going for zapping as I call it, may your side effects be little ones! love and hugs to all, Slowski, are you this week?
Mooney xxxx
When family and friends come! Duh! x
Morning everyone,
Well, day 2 after T1 and no SE’s to report yet. I finally have the steroid rush on this higher dose so I am planning on making the most of that today. Nicky, hope your T2 went well yesterday.
Welcome Fen Hen. There is a surprisingly common theme coming up here. I had a routine mammogram last year which came back clear then 6 months later I found my lump by chance, 2.5cm, grade 3 and spread to 4/10 lymph nodes. The consultant said I have dense fibrous breasts and the contrast of tumour tissue is difficult to see because both are dark on the mammogram. He said I will have MRI checks going forward. I had surgery first as it was relatively small but aggressive.
Good luck today Mooney and tomorrow Egg.
Beedot x
Gosh Beedot it is a common theme - I also had normal mammogram 6months before I found lump. Also grade 3 and a lymph node on MRI.
I’ve just checked my dose of steroids as meant to start taking it tomorrow (day before T1) - its double what I had for EC! On EC had 4mg twice a day now it’s 8mg twice a day. Utrrggghh. I must say I hate the steroids. And didn’t seem to get any energy from them. Although Beedot as you say maybe with this bigger dose maybe it will come!
Scotty - good to hear from you. What side effects did you get (other than runny nose) with the Herceptin/perjeta? And nausea?
Just to add more to the dense breasts discussion…
When I was having my investigations at first diagnosis, the consultant radiologist told me whilst ultrasound scanning my breast that he reports on thousands of screening mammograms every year and that he would have passed mine as OK were it a screening mammogram, even though there was a 2.5cm cancer in the breast (not visible on the mammo) and a couple of enlarged lymph nodes! He said they would have put the lymph nodes down to infection, or an inflammatory arthritis type condition. It’s only because I reported symptoms that they looked further, which just goes to show, although screening is amazing, there is a real place for vigilance and knowing your own body. The radiologist said re dense breasts, he only sees a few like mine every year (
)and sort of acknowledged that some people slip through the screening net and they are the ones whose stories are reported in the magazines, not the thousands who are caught and successfully treated.
SE start on day 4. Watch out for bone and muscle pain. Start taking pain relief early is my advice. No doubt you have heard about the dreaded tax trots. It didn’t happen for a week so I thought I’d got away with it. No nausea though. Taste and mouth issues worse on T and the fatigue knocked me for 6. Some people prefer T though so no way of knowing! T3 next week ??