Expat-France

[system]

Salut everyone, how was your test result pinklinda?

I am just back from Toulouse, well the Tarn region, and its was beautiful! hubby is renting a little gite as he is now working at the airport in Toulouse. Its got a shared pool but i have to say it was a touch too hot for me and my daughter. It was 33 every day and the day we left it was 39 in the centre of toulouse.
Had a great time, visited the HQ of the knights templars and some Cathar places as i am very into that subject. Took loads of pics. Noticed the food was alot cheaper than back home which shocked me.
It was a long 9 hour drive back in a boiling car and last night we had an amazing thunder storm which last hours.
Hows everyone coping in this heat?

[system]

Hi All ex pats in France, I am not living there but spend a lot of time near cahors/Lauzerte/montcuq. Has anyone any experience of the doctors or hospitals there, just thinking if I get ill where I would need to go. Am currently undergoing chemo so guess at risk of infection.

Tek

[system]

Hi Tek

Well, you’re not a million miles from me when you’re in France - I’m in the Languedoc!

You’re bound to have an EHIC card, but top-up insurance isn’t a bad idea, either. Exlusive Healthcare do some plans for people who spend a lot of time in France.

If you’re having chemo and become unwell, my suggestion would be to get to the nearest A & E asap. You might want to think about getting some info’ about your condition translated and keeping it on you, just in case.

I’ve been very happy with the standard of care here. I’ve been treated first in the UK and now France for breast cancer and wouldn’t think of returning, despite a bit of a language barrier at times.

Pineapple,

It’s been 97 in the shade at 6 pm here! Can’t face going to bed until 1 am - or ironing - aargh! The Cathars are a fascinating subject aren’t they? So brave…

Hope everyone else is keeping well and keeping cool, too.

[system]

Hi all
My test result was 14 which is good news. I saw the oncologist and she was really nice so back again in 6 months. She has said that I will need to stop letrozole then as the policy is that you take it for 20 months as the toxicity isn’t known for a longer period. My english onc had said I would take it for as long as it was useful so I’m a bit phased at the idea of stopping. I look on it as a safety net.
I love to see the sun but it is not good for my lymphoedema. My arm is more swollen and I have 3 infected bites where I have been bitten through my sleeve so popping antibiotics and hoping that solves it and avoids celulitus.
Glad you had a good holiday Pineapple, had missed you on the forum even though I don’t get on as often as I used to.

[peacock]

Hi ladies and welcome Tek,

Wow it’s been a hot week here in the Dordorgne, a couple of days it touched 40 deg and on one of those days 3 of our chooks died, must have been too hot for them. All the animals have been pretty heat exhausted.

Good news Linda for your result, at present I don’t know what mine is, I must say that is about the only thing I have to worry about, at my hospital they don’t seem to do tumour markers very often, if at all! I think my GP will do one more easily though, so I will ask her. Like you, I am a bit phased about stopping Herceptin, I think my next one in 2 weeks might be the last one but I have to see the Onc for a confirmation. Last week I had Herceptin, plus when I mentioned about a consistent cough and breathlessness I was rushed down for a chest xray, thankfully nothing was suspect so I presume it is to do with the Herceptin.

Pineapple, that’s great news for your OH to be at Toulouse now, not so far away from me (2 hours). Must be better than before eh? Cheaper on flights etc.? How is the thyroid treatment going? Are you still losing weight?

Bahons I know what you mean about the heat, is it going to last? The rain we had yesterday morning was lovely, I never thought I’d hear myself say that, do you have fans going like we do? Of course living in a mobile home still (but soon our new house hopefully), it gets like an oven in here. Like you say, at 7pm it was still 35 the last couple of days. Is it going to last though? Our electrician reckons the French base it on full moons, and last year was the last 13th full moon year, so that means this year will be hot - the French and their folklore though.

Will you all be joining in with the celebrations for Bastille Day? We are meeting up with friends and going to Perigueux, of course the fireworks are set off over the Dordogne River and it will be our first time, last year I was too ill to want to do anything.

Take care ladies, nice to catch up with everyone.

P xx

[system]

Hiya peacock, when do you think you will be in the house? How far are you from Albi ? thats the nearest big town, the smaller town which he is 3 km from is Guillac and has the tarn river running throu. Its a stunning region, he can fly to Brest but has to change at paris! or direct to Rennes but thats too far for me to pick him up so not much easier. Sorry you lost some chucks, they do suffer easily with the heat though - can you keep spraying them with water to cooler them down?
I put 3 kilos on when we went to Turkey, but have now lost it again so back down to 72.7, i still have another 7 kilos to shift at least.
The thyroid treatment is still ongoing - fed up with waiting and just want this radioactive iodine asap. I couldnt be bothered to go for a check up this week - acting like a spoilt brat really as my gp not happy that i have dismissed his treatment plan and asked for treatment that wasnt offered to me and the specialist said yes! so i am not flavour of the month with him. Oh well, he will get over it - perhaps.
Glad your breathlessness was nothing but herceptin, i think alot of ladies have complained about that. Would an inhaler help?
shirl X

[system]

Hi am posting this in response to a query from peacock on another thread - sorry it’s a bit of a non-sequitur - just thought it might interest a few other expat ladies…

Hi Peacock

I’ve had variable experiences with nurses, but most them are postive.

The ‘district’ nurses who comes to the house to take blood are really clued up and can now get it out of my foot as quickly as out of a bog standard arm. Ditto nurse at PET scan place in Toulouse and CT scanner in local hospital for injecting dye, etc into feet. These ladies encounter lots of people whose arms can’t be used for a variety of reasons and are not fazed by it.

The place where they seem least aware is, bafflingly, the chemo ward, but there is an onc there (one of a team of three) who keeps telling me that alll these lymphoedema precautions are a myth and you can do anything you like with a swollen arm!!! (have been nose to nose with him on a couple of memorable occasions) The nurses, of course, do what he tells them is ‘true’.

This business of using feet/legs instead of arms is ongoing for me, so I’ve bought my own blood pressure monitor and thigh cuff, so they have no excuse now not to use my legs and feet for BP.

There IS indeed a French Lymphoedema Association. It’s called Association Vivre Mieux le Lymphoedeme (AVML). Website:

avml.fr

The association is very much in its infancy and can’t boast the membership of the UK’s lymphoedema support network, but it’s growing. You can’t as yet buy alert bracelets (or anything else for that matter) from them, but read on…

Another useful link is:

sfmv.fr/index.php?mod=editeur_contenu&act=view&ID=162&rub=1&cat=Dossiers&scat=Pr%E9vention+Lymphoed%E8me&archives=0

It goes firect to the lymphoedema prevention page of the French Vascular Association website, where you can print off, in French, an 18 point guide to trying to avoid lymphoedema.

In fact, the guide mentions that you can only get French language lymphoedema alert bracelets in Canada, altho’ I suppose there is nothing to stop you having your own engraved. But I’m on the case with this one - we have a rellie who works in a hospital in Canada, so will ask her how to get one - hopefully they might actually be bi-lingual, which would be even better!!!

X to all

[peacock]

Hi Bahons

Thanks for all your answers on this forum, which will hopefully help all the other expat ladies too. I realised after I posted that none of the others would be interested in my question, so sorry for posting on the wrong thread.

I will print off the sheet in French and keep it on me. So far I have only encountered 1 nurse (after my mx) who was going to use my “bad” arm to take a finger prick test, so I quickly stopped her.

So far I’ve been ok, I think, but I do sometimes feel that my arm and hand are swollen, and they are always painful, I get a lot of pins and needles in my arm/hand, but I think this is all to do with mx and not lymphoedema.

I’ve also printed off FB exercise sheets, as I don’t feel the exercises I am doing are really helping my arm with pain, I have pretty good use of it and can do most things but a lot of movements are painful (but then I have shoulder probs anyway).

Pineapple, still not sure when we can be in the house - hopefully within the next 2 weeks we will have our bedroom completely finished, so at least I can sleep in there if nothing else. Glad to hear you’ve managed to lose a bit of weight since Turkey and hope that you soon get the iodine test done. Albi, I think is probably about 2 hours from us, how far from Toulouse is it?

Anyway, looks like the showers have stopped for now thank goodness it is a bit cooler.

P xx

[system]

Hi peacock (and everyone else)

I don’t think your original post was in the wrong place at all…just thought it might be useful to have it in both places.

I don’t want to worry you, but if your arm doesn’t ‘feel right’, it might be worth talking to someone straightaway ( altho’probably the last thing you feel like doing is having another load of medical appointments). It is possible to ‘feel’ lymphoedema before it can be ‘seen’ with the naked eye. I seem to remember you were able to have some MLD for legs a little while ago, maybe some for your arm would help? Perhaps taking some baseline measuremens of both arms and then retaking those on your ‘at-risk’ arm at weekly intervals thereafter might give you a clue as to whether there was anything untoward happening. Pins and needles can also be a sign.

Glad everyone is cooling down a bit - could do without the showers tho’ - I’m off to see Status Quo at the Carcassonee festival tonight (yes, I know I’m sad, everyone’s been telling me) - open air concert, natch and it looks like the end of the world is nigh outside.

So glad to hear that you could well be sleeping in a proper bedroom soon, Peacock. Mind you don’t get agoraphobia…

Congrats on the weight loss, Pineapple. It’s never easy, is it?

X to all

S

[system]

I am livid! My doctor phoned me last night at 8.30pm to say that he has just opened a letter from my specialist and she says i cant have the radioactive idodine because i am too young!!! so i told him she told me i could have it despite my age because i really wanted it and had asked for it and she had no problem with saying yes, so now she has changed her mind. I am so angry, so i told him i am not staying on these tabs as i have constant indegestion apart from other niggles and NO WAY am i prepared to stay on them for 2 years only to find out they havent worked especaially with the side effects. So he was under no illusion i am not staying on them! he said he would phone her this morning to find out what the rpoblem is. I know what it is, they can get more money off the gov to do the op than give me that one off pill. Well, wrong because i will be coming off these tabs any day now as i cant stand them any longer and i am not having the op. He did say if she wont budge he will try to find me another specialist willing to get me it done. After i hung up he then phoned again 5 mins later to say he had then just opened my blood test and now i have gone under active and need to reduce my dosage by one pill aday.
I was so shocked she has changed her mind and didnt have the guts to tell me no to my face when i asked her for this treatment.
He hasnt phoned me back today yet, he better hurry and sort it, my heartburn is so bad today i feel sick.
Albi, is one hour east from Toulouse.

[peacock]

Pineapple, what a blasted nuisance - I don’t understand why they’ve gone back on what was said, do you think your doctor’s reluctance for you to have it has influenced the specialist in any way? I sympathise with the heartburn/indigestion, I suffer too more now than I ever did and am constantly popping ranitidine and gaviscon. Presumably they’ve given you tablets to combat this side effect? Omeprazole is quite good if you haven’t tried that one. That’s beside the point, other than that I don’t know what else to suggest. Let us know how it goes. I did a google map check and Albi from us is about 2 hours 15 mins - maybe we could meet up half way some time?

Bahons, thank you for your suggestions, I will keep an eye on it. I am going to physio still (since a month after mx) and she does do MLD on my arm, she says it isn’t swollen. I’ve been putting all the strange feelings down to the operation, when I saw the surgeon a few weeks ago he said it might never feel normal again! I’ve mentioned it everytime I go to the hospital for Herceptin but they don’t seem to take much notice, I don’t know what else to do really. I do find after about 3 hours on the computer (for my work) it really starts to feel heavy and pins & needles in my hand is quite bad. It usually wears off once I start moving it about a bit though.

Hope you enjoy Status Quo, you old rocker you - LOL, and hope you managed to “get down, deeper and down” ha ha.

Take care all, Pinklinda, Tek (Cahors is around an hour away from me) hope you are both doing ok.

P xx

[system]

Hi all

Sorry to hear about all your thyroid probs, Pineapple. One thing just seems to lead to another for us, doesn’t it?

Peacock, I would certainly agree with what your surgeon says about arms that remain forever strange. Mine took ages to feel better - had huge numb patches, ditto shoulder blade after mx in 1993 - lots of tickly, bubbly sensations, too. When I had my lymphoedema treated with LLLT in Oz, all these other symptoms improved massively, too - but have never gone completely. Glad you are getting almost permanent MLD, that must be a big help.

I don’t know if you have to listen to audio voice files when you work on a pc? I do (I have to; it’s part of the job), and I have a foot pedal for FF, Play and Rew, which means less mousing. Just a thought. Have you considered a vertical mouse - buttons one above each other? They can help.

Status Quo was ACE, thanks. Don’t know where they get their energy from at their age…! A big plus was that, after all the jumping up and down in the aisles, clapping and waving, lymphoedema was much better the day!!! The Quo as a treatment for lymphoedema - now there’s a thought.

Take care all

X to everyone

S

[peacock]

Hi All

Any progress Pineapple with the injection?

Bahons, so glad you enjoyed Status Quo, its not very often in France we get the chance to go and see live shows is it? I wish they would get the hang of Christmas Pantomimes cos I really miss them, we used to go with the children every year, it just started Christmas off.

I don’t listen to audio, but I do have to “copy and paste” lots of things and then rewrite, and I do find that after about 2 hours my arm really aches. Today I’ve been oiling our new wood floor in our new bedroom, and that was quite a difficult action to do.

How is everyone coping with the hot weather? It’s lovely, but yesterday it felt like the desert here on our field. The rain we had the night before last was very welcome, although it put paid to our Bastille Day celebrations yesterday, as I think more rain was forecast which we didn’t get in the end.

I’m off to Toulouse on Friday for my 18th bout of Herceptin, it should be my last but as I changed hospitals after starting treatment I have a feeling that it may carry on for a bit longer. This week we are going to Ikea, that’s going to be really hard but someone has to do it (ha ha) to have a look at kitchens, furnishings and everything.

Take care all, have fun and enjoy the good weather

Love P

[system]

Hiya, Bahons glad you enjoyed the Quo. We have the massive Carhaix music fest over the next 4 days with Bruce springsteen etc and guess who i am going to see tonight? Yes, Lenny Kravitz again, twice in 3 months hehehehe. The killers were on last night with Bruce, my son went so i will have to wait for him to wake up before i find out how it went.
Well, i have now gone on ‘hunger strike’ well, pill strike to be exact.
I have come off all meds till i get what i want. Gp says he tried phoneing the specialist but she is on holiday for 2 weeks, that morning i decided to write to her and posted it but i didnt mention it to gp. He said i had to try a different choice of tabs, probly with the same damn side effects. So yesterday i left him a letter saying that i had slept on it and decided no, i wasnt going to have them and i will wait for her to get back from her hols and for him to sort out changing her mind or finding someone else! He will go ape **** when he reads it today as he said i couldnt go 2 weeks without meds. I pointed out to him i wasnt ill before i started all this medication and only asked him to check my thyroid to see if had any effect on my lack of hair!
My hubby is driving back from Toulouse today, back to the rain in Brittany and having a week at home so we can tackle the garden.
You house sounds like its really coming on peacock! I hate glossing the most - even with windows open the smell is terrible and i am rubbish at it too. Have fun in Ikea, we got all our things from there when we moved house a couple of years ago. Got a great kitchen but it takes hours to sort out there so go with plenty of time and aim to be the first in the shop as the kitchen dept fills up instantly! Have fun.
shirl X

[system]

Hi all

Lovely to hear from you both.

Pineapple, so sorry to hear about all your tribulations with GPs, meds, consultants, etc. Hope things get sorted asap. Is your hair any different at all these days?

I do envy your son going off to see the Boss. Perhaps he’ll come further south next year. Still, the Quo were ace, too, so no grumbles really.

Bastille Day we sat on the riverbank, picknicked and watched the firework display over the castle - knockout. The rain held off until the display had finished - phew.

Yes, pantos are great, aren’t they? Have fun at IKEA, Peacock - I haven’t been inside one for ages.

Have you got gel pads, etc, to rest your arm on? I’m sure that it was about 6 weeks of ‘F4’ ing that triggered my tennis elbow about 5 years ago…!

Take care all - it’s tipping it down and really windy today - hope it’s better with you guys.

X

S

[system]

Hi all

Hands up who hasn’t melted?

'Tis 97.5 Fahrenheit in the shade here today!

X

S

[peacock]

Hello all

Yes the hot temperatures were sweltering, I’ve been wishing for rain as it’s using up a lot of water watering the veg every night, and by the end of last week our area is on a hosepipe ban. Today is cooler, and its tried to rain a few times. The problem is it doesn’t know when to stop once it starts does it?

How is everyone doing. I have a thyroid problem now to add to the rest, I don’t think its serious, but might explain why I feel tired a lot and can’t seem to lose weight.

Also, how have you all found the follow care here in France? I must say that I am a bit disappointed with my hospital, and feel quite abandoned.

I had my last Herceptin nearly 6 weeks ago, and was crossed off the list basically when they realised it was my 18th course. I expected to receive an appointment to go back and see the Oncologist and my surgeon whom I saw in June said I would see him again in Nov and have a mammogram also beforehand. I’ve had nothing through in the post with any appointments, so today I contacted the hospital to learn I am not seeing the surgeon again until January, no appointment has been made to sign off with the Onc, or to see the plastic surgeon (I was told this would be in September).

So, all in all, I feel a bit abandoned. Has it been like that for all of you?

How is the Lymphoedema Bahons? Hope the excessive heat hasn’t caused you too much trouble, do you manage typing ok? As I seem to be on the computer with work nearly all day, I feel my arm isn’t doing so well, it is very stiff and uncomfortable. I am still having physio, so hope to see an improvement.

To everyone else I haven’t mentioned I hope everything is ok and you are all having a busy life.

P x

[system]

Hi Peacock (and everyone else)

It’s cooler here - but a thunderstorm has just wiped out my post, so I’ll try again!

Sorry to here about your thyroid. Sometimes it’s just one thing after another.

As for after-care, unfortunately I haven’t escaped from their clutches at all…see my post ‘Anomalies’ (Secondaries), so no first-hand experience of the French way of doing that, but from the French ladies with bc that I know, your schedule doesn’t sound unusual (advice in the UK was to seek medical advice for any symptoms which did not clear up after two weeks). I think the ‘grope and poke’ and scans, etc are very much reassurance - a’snapshot’ of you on a particular day, but no more than that.

Lymphoedema not too bad considering the heatwave and 6 helpings of Taxol. If I didn’t spend so much time on the pc, I’m sure it would be better, but, living abroad I tend to use the computer as a shop, office, bank, travel agents and newspaper all rolled into one. I imagine it’s much the same for you? I 'm beginning to think I must invest in a vertical mouse soon. Sorry to hear your arm is still bothersome, P.

Fortunately, I don’t have to type too much for work, but you’re right; it can aggravate everything. Typing, however, is easier than handwriting, which I find incredibly painful since I developed tennis elbow (very easy to do if you have lymphoedema, incidentally).

Well, that’s about it for now. Hope eveyone else is OK, wherever you are hiding!

X

S

[system]

Hi all

Having trouble with my reimbursements from the CPAM. They seem to have stopped! This is particularly affecting refunds for visiting my GP and the nurses who come to the house to take blood.

Have just spoken to the CPAM English-speaking helpline who are supposed to be looking into it this week, but would welcome any other suggestions.

And has it happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do?

X to all

S

[system]

Good morning all,

My folks live in Brittany and my wife & I are heaading out there for a fortnight at the beginning of November. Vicky has stage IV with mets in bones & head and she will not long have finished 6 cycles of taxotere when we go. Does anyone have any additional advice concerning the French medical system that they can offer if something does go wrong whilst we’re away?

(I should add that we’ve been out to France many time since diagnosis in 2005 but only been hospitalised and airlifted back that 1st time due to a disintegrating vertebrae.)

Thanks,
Stuart