Yep… google is very much away now!! Drs and consultants info only now!! ?xx
Sangeetha well done in chemo 1 drink plenty of water keep hydrated
Re hair I didn’t cold cap but held on to head hair cycle 2 though lady hair started to fall out about day 15 following cycle 1 my hair started to go very quickly x
I had shaved to a number 2 (did it for beave the Shave charity with my sister and raised £1700) prior to starting chemo and found it quite liberating that I had taken control
Ladies please don’t consult dr google you will see a lot of the information is very outdated please ask your bc nurses or onco team if you have questions or use the ask a nurse section on forums … google will send your mind into a tailspin xx
Love and hugs to all xxx
xx
Glad that you are back safely Sangeetha and that you were well looked after. Take it easy now and drink plenty. Have a light meal and take the anti sickness tablets as soon as you feel sick don’t leave it until you feel bad have an early night and hopefully you will feel ok tomorrow x
Kirsty, although that is rubbish for you thank god you noticed it. I was called for a trial mammogram when I was 46 as they were looking at lowering the age in this area. They wanted to see how many people would respond, as I went I was called for a routine one this year at 49. If that hadn’t been the case I would have been none the wiser with the first mammogram next year by which time with the HER+ I guess it would have spread. Someone must be watching over me!!
I definitely think the age for routine mammograms needs to be lowered.
Good luck Fiona for tommorrow, let me know how you get on. xx
That was lucky they started you early as well then rabbit! I think they need to lower the age as well. The first GP I saw mid september told me she thought it was just hormonal and to do with my pill so to wait until after my next period then go back if hadnt got better, cos of my age and the pains she wasnt worried at all and thought it was nothing! so ended up wasting around 5 weeks where should have been referred the first time, although its rare it is happening to far too many young woman so they really need to look at some sort of routine checks. They say mammograms dont work on younger woman due to the dense breast tissue, but my mammogram showed the lot! so they must show stuff on some people x
To be honest when you look at how breast cancer feeds on these hormones, makes you wonder about the contraceptive pill as they are all artificial hormones and I’ve been on it on and off for over 20 years. xx
Hi ladies!
Glad to hear you’ve put google away! I am usually the queen of google but avoided it when I was diagnosed as I knew my mind would go into overdrive! I agree the age for mammograms should be lowered. Especially for those at greater risk. I didn’t realise that not having children or starting your periods before the age of 12 could increase your chance of bc.
Sangeetha, glad to hear treatment went ok as Chaffinch has said make sure you drink loads of water and take the sickness meds, don’t wait to feel poorly.
For exercise I have been doing some yoga and meditation everyday which I find really good as you don’t have to go out anywhere and you can do as much or as little as you like.
The age of mammogram screening should at least be lowered to 45 but I think 40 would be more realistic. So many of us are in our 40’s & early 50’s.
Hormones are an influence I’m sure. I had the Mirena coil for 18 years which was removed in August when I had my surgery.
I presume the age is 50 due to changes that occur with the menopause and probably comes down to cost at the end of day. They campaigned to get the age lowered for smear tests but I don’t think thats been changed?xx
Hi Mai7, thanks for sharing, sums it up prefectly! Great to hear that you have had clear margins after all the chemo xx
That is so true including the husband part. The first part about opening fridge really resonated with me. You are trotting along minding your own business and open the fridge and your life changes in a nano second ?
Mai I know I am emotional anyway but that made me cry
Thank you for sharing x
The mammogram question is a tough one. I knew I had a lump (second time round for me) but the mammogram showed absolutely nothing. Yet I had a 4cm grade 3 tumour which had doubled in size just four weeks later. My consultant said if he had seen my mammogram without seeing me he would have said it was fine. Scary stuff. I’m 46 so no spring chicken. So we can’t rely on these things, the majority of lumps are found by us, so maybe even more needs to be done on self examination.
i haven’t googled a thing and consequently am very happy! Just from being on here we know that most of us have different combinations, from receptor positive to triple negatives, different sizes, stages, grades etc. The treatment you are given is designed specifically for your condition, no one else. So please have the utmost confidence in your team as they are the only ones that have your specific results and the facts in front of them.
Re neo adjuvant therapy, they give it this way round (chemo first) for many reasons, including if you have a triple negative tumour as they tend to be more aggressive and studies have shown this tends to give best results. Mine is grade three but I finally found out yesterday (after two months of scans, rescans, deliberations etc) it’s stage one, so that’s a relief. I know we are all desperate to know if the treatment is working and a friend of mine who is now a year on from diagnosis told me something helpful: imagine your tumour is an ocean liner. The chemo stops it in its tracks but it takes a while to turn it around. Thinking about it like that helped me. And if you think it isn’t working, or if it actually isn’t working, there is always another combination. Similarly if you have a bad reaction to one, there will be another.
We are so lucky to live in a time where all these treatments are available to us. Treatment has come on so much since I was first diagnosed nearly 20 years ago. Yes I’m back here again but I am so encouraged by everything. And we didn’t have wonderful forums like this then!
I’m on an accelerated course so will be back in the chemo chair on Thursday for my fortnightly poisoning. But every cycle is a step back to normal life, and there is so much waiting for all of us at the end of this very long, dark tunnel. Let’s all buy a 2018 calendar and strike all those days off one by one until we get there. Be kind to yourselves, get off google and start thinking about what you might feel like doing tomorrow. We don’t have to think any further than that (quite frankly I can’t at the moment anyway - feel totally spaced out most of the time!! ???)
Liking the ocean liner analogy dramaminx, will keep that in mind when worrying about it working
Its scary how fast some grow and can double so fast and also scary that mammograms also dont even pick some of them up xx
I had my surgery first to remove a 49mm tumour and first cluster of lymph nodes removed, cancer shown in 4 of 5 so went on to have 2nd op for lymph node clearance cancer found in 1 more node so was in 5 of 12
HOWEVER i had mammogram and ultrasound at time of biopsy and neither of them indicated any lymph node involvement so I was totally taken by surprise on this journey as initially it was surgery then radiotherapy then everything changed so sometimes the technology is not perfect
I am 3 cycles done with next one on Friday but want to reassure you all that what ever treatment plan they put you on it will be done to your own specific needs and yes chemo can be tough but so far totally doable, okay so I had 2 ops rather than 1 but hey they saving my life yes when I finish chemo I got rads to do but when I am out the other side I will be glade I took this journey
I guess the purpose of my post is to say that in my opinion education is needed more than earlier mammograms and I ordered leaflets for all of my friends and relatives about examining their breasts they were free from breast cancer care
I have also put examination posts on fb and constantly ask anyone I speak to if they have checked their boobs
I was a checker but didn’t feel my lump until it was a substantial size due to its location however as soon as it was found my doctor then my team were wonderful
Good luck to all of you with appointments this week xxx
Morning all
hope you lovely December ladies are doing ok!!
I just wanted to reassure you that normality does return.
Chemo 1 was ok for me … not knowing what to expect was the biggest issue, but I suffered with nausea and fatigue … but it actually wasnt as bad as I had feared. Chemo 2 was less nausea with a change of meds and fatigue as bad if not a little worse.
Chemo 3 is next week :)
But there was a point last week when I was in a really bad place, bad fatigue and low mood and like a few of you I thought I would never feel normal again, and how could I possible go on with more rounds of this hell.
But this was just my body dealing with all the toxins that had been thrown at it.
A week later and I am back on top form and creating hell for everyone at work!!
I am definitely going into chemo 3 divinding the 21 days into 3 section, first 7 days - physically bad, second 7 days - emotionally and mentally battered, third 7 days - back on form!! Obviously within each 7 sessions there are degrees so actually there may only be 2/3 really grotty days!
We need to remind ourselves that we although we all possess amazing super powers, we dont always have to wear our knickers over the top of our tights and rush around with a cape on!!
Be kind to yourselves ladies - sending lots of positive thoughts and hugs???
Lovely post Lesley ?. I’m 4 cycles in and that pretty much sums it up! I’m day 8 and feeling ok and some serious house cleaning will happen today. Weirdly cycle 4 has been the best so far, not sure if body is adjusting or I’ve just got meds right and have lost some of the fear.
Could be all psychological because I should have an extra good week this cycle as postponed number 5 until 3rd January and in between is Christmas with all my lovely adult children and hubby ?
Hello lovely ladies…I haven’t been on here much but I have been following you all.
I had extreme nausea for the first 8 days and felt wretched. From day 9 it turned completely and although I have been tired occasionally I have felt good. Now I find myself dreading the nausea next time. I did phone the helpline on one of the really bad days and was told to continue the Ondandestron for as long as I needed.
Day 14 for me and lady tuft falling out, I presume head hair won’t be too long behind it. Picked wig up yesterday and have a selection of hats. Santa will be bringing me a bald head this Christmas! Dreading this phase but trying to put a brace face on. To me I’m going to look so ugly, hopefully it won’t be as bad as I have made it in my mind.
I’m going to enjoy feeling well now right up to the moment I walk in the unit next week.
Virtual hugs to you all xx