So true about younger women with large tumours 
I had this very conversation with the beast care nurse today. She said they’re seeing more and more !!! In the chemo unit I’m unusual that Im older and post op chemo not pre op (because my tumour was under 2cm). The vast majority of the women alongside me are young and pre op chemo because their tumours were more advanced when found.
Something needs to change about the way we educate women or the screening program.
I’m not sure a poster on the back of M&S changing room doors is going to cut it !!!
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I remember being told to eat fresh pineapple if my taste went and it worked. Always worth a try 
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@Vibby Agree, I’m one of those with pre op chemo, because my tumour was around 3 cm. I’m still angry with myself that a few years ago when I asked for a mammogram and GP was wondering whether I had any family history of BC I didn’t come up with a lie to have this mammogram. My grannies both passed away many years ago and wouldn’t be cross with me. Young women don’t get any screenings unless there is a specific reason and back then I didn’t know that I had the BRCA gene.
Thanks @salbert for your message. I’m trying not to think about children at the moment but sometimes I do wonder if it’s meant to be for me. I think I’ll just wait and see.
Specially for the group, a pic in my new wig!
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Thats beautiful 
love it 
I’ve got 2 wigs but can’t really get on with them so far, even though hairdresser has trimmed one to be as close to my hair as possible.
Maybe if I get desperate I’ll try again.
I’m paranoid about bald patches !!!
Whilst waiting to see the oncologist today was randomly trying to photograph the back of my head 
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Looking fab @tinatin - it’s very natural looking! Is it similar to what your hair was before or did you change it up for the wig?
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Thank you @kartoffel ! I was trying to replicate my hair (or rather the magic my hairdresser has been doing over the years). My natural colour is dark blonde but I’ve been blonde over the last 20 years. I think my husband will be very surprised to learn my natural hair colour when my hair starts to grow back…
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@tinatin You look beautiful. So pretty. You are looking so well. Bloody brilliant to see.
@Vibby Your hair is also looking really thick and healthy. I have a serious receding hairline on the right hand side. I love seeing my friends on here doing well.
@emmaxoxo Thanks for your kinds words. I just wanted to write it all down as it helps me process it all. Then I suddenly thought ‘to hell with it’ and I posted it. I’m definitely glad I did now. I even have 3 friends who have been through it and kept quiet about it. I totally respect that decision but I think it’s been good for us all to talk.
@naughty_boob This may be where I have been going wrong. I’ve been buying tinned pineapple. 
Although I have invented a dessert that I can actually taste and which is ruddy delicious. It consists of tinned pineapple over 3 ginger biscuits topped with Vanilla Alpro Soya yogurt. Try it. Not sure it’s ever going to get a Michelin star but it should!
@Vibby @tinatin That is really disturbing to hear that so many younger women are getting this horrid disease and it not getting discovered until it is advanced. I’m going to be spreading the word far and wide about checking after this. It makes me feel even more strongly that I’m glad I did my post and went public. I have found this so tough at 53 and I honestly don’t know how I would have coped in my 20s or 30s. My consultant was saying that we are getting healthier and yet we cannot seem to get on top of the vast amounts of women who are getting breast cancer. Why is that, I wonder? The treatment now is great compared to what it used to be, but why is it so common?
Anyway, it’s Sunday afternoon so I’m going to go for my walk now. Nothing can get me down this week as it’s EUROVISION WEEK!! I have some friends who have gone out to Sweden so I’ll be living it vicariously through them this week. I have my red sequinned outfit and lilac wig at the ready for Saturday and I’m having my hardcore Eurovision friends round as NOTHING stops me from celebrating Eurovision, least of all cancer. It doesn’t stand a chance!
Big love,
Salbert
xxx
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@salbert I’m a die hard Eurovision fan but I’ver never had a crowd to share it with. It’s so great to read that you’ve got plans with your friends to celebrate Eurovision. I’ll be watching online while reading live reactions on Twitter I guess. Although I may end up at one of the gay bars near my place, why not! We need pics on the wig, you know the rules!
Over the weekend my husband and I cycled to Richmond park and it was absolutely fantastic. Cycling lanes in the parks are quite muddy after weeks of rain but it was so much fun. I’ve finally seen the Isabella plantation and it was just stunning.
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Good morning to all you lovely people. Not been on here for a while so wanted to check in. I love the support shared by you all and it helps to know you are not alone.
Well I finished 4 cycles of EC at the end of March and I think I escaped very lightly the main problems I encountered were fatigue nausea constipation and a horrible peppery taste in my mouth as well as hair loss. I’ve now started 4x3 weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin. It came as a shock when I found out the paclitaxel would be weekly and the carboplatin every 3 weeks. I think I can say the side effects have been even milder even though they are similar ones. Hopefully chemo should finish the end of June then a break before 5 sessions of radiotherapy then I’ll be done. At least the end is now in sight. My thoughts are with you all. We can do this
Take care xxx
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Hello @Amanda - This forum is just great, isn’t it. Sounds like you haven’t done badly with the chemo side effects. I am having weekly Paclitaxel and am finding it way milder than the EC. (I’ve no doubt said that before but I’m on here so much that I forget what I’ve said and to whom. 
) It’s great to be ticking it off, isn’t it. I just love that we are all going through this together like one big, powerful army wearing fantastic headgear and with our sense of humour intact!
@tinatin YOU’RE A DIE-HARD EUROVISION FAN!!! 
If you could see the inane grin on my face right now… Who is your favourite? Mine is Switzerland with Croatia for second place. I told a friend who has been really supportive throughout this whole cancer journey. She has only gone and placed a very sizeable bet on it to pay for a drag brunch for our girlie friendship group when I finish in the autumn sometime. Now the pressure is really on. It gets worse as I told her not to place a bet on Ukraine winning and us coming 2nd two years ago as I told her that nobody votes for us so it was impossible. And what happened!!! I lost her a fortune. I do love a gay bar for Eurovision. I may have to do Brighton next year. Have a ball wherever you watch it. Far be it from me to break the rules on pics. I’m going to look absolutely ludicrous this year. It will be my pleasure to share.
I cycled round Richmond Park about 14 years ago now. It was a lovely day out and I remember it well. Great pics and it’s empowering to see you out and about, cycling in the mud. Nice one!
Salbert
xx
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Haha I am! I’ve watched it since I was 10, every single year.
I usually do not listen to contestants’ songs in advance and let them wow me when they first perform on stage, so I see the whole package.
I almost cried when I saw Petra (THAT Petra) moderating the semi-final tonight.
I mean, Petra could have won Eurovision herself with this song…
I also love hearing so many contestants singing in their native language. I’m originally from Belarus and my favourite entry has always been the one in Belarusian… (yes, it’s a language, no, I don’t speak it but I understand it, yes, it’s similar to Russian but it’s still a different language, like Ukrainian).
In this semi-final, I really loved the song from Germany but it was Finland who really made me smile…
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Ugh, yesterday was a day… we had to make the decision to return our pup to the shelter as he was starting to show signs of aggression towards my husband and it was causing massive amounts of stress which isn’t good at the best of times but is especially bad when you’re trying to survive this whole cancer malarkey. He only bonded to me and was really scared of/aggressive towards my husband so all the care fell on me which was a lot. He didn’t cope well when I was in hospital last week and I know it was the kinder decision for him to rehome him but I’m so sad.
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@tinatin I have to agree that it was absolutely lovely to see Petra back. Like welcoming an old friend and Love, Love, Peace, Peace will go down in the annals of Eurovision history as one of the very best interval acts ever. You are from Belarus! My cousin’s wife was from there and we always used to cheer on Belarus for Katya. That is a joyous song. I remember his hat. Finland was very funny last night, I agree. Can’t wait for Thursday now. Chemo? What chemo?
@kartoffel That is really sad and I am so sorry. It’s awful that you are having to deal with that sadness on top of everything else. Our dog was put down back in January when everything was at its worst as I was waiting for the results of my further scans. It was so tough and now that my husband is hankering after a new dog, I have pretty much said what you have said above. Which is that if we encounter any problems then I don’t know that now is a good time to deal with them. I know that I don’t deal with stress well and I am fearful of introducing more into my life at present. Another big hug from here. It’s so painful to say goodbye to a fur baby, whatever the circumstances, but recognising that you have reached your limits and that you are heaping more stress onto an already stressful situation and then acting upon it, is the best course of action for you all. In a vague attempt to cheer you up, this has made me remember a faux pas I once made. I was in Quebec with my relatives and staying in a motel where I was introduced to their dog on my first day. I cannot speak French. On the day I was leaving, the owner came rushing over in tears and spoke to me in a stream of French. I picked up enough to realise that the dog had died. I asked my aunt to tell her that I was very sorry and that in time she could get another one. My aunt did this and the lady answered her, then my aunt made some consoling noises and led me away. She then explained that the lady was talking about her husband!!
I hope everyone gets some time in the sunshine today. I will of sorts. I am taking my parents on a trip to the dump and to get their Covid jabs. Living the dream.
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@salbert That sounds mortifying! As much as I loved the little critter, I love my husband even more and I would definitely struggle to replace him! We are already talking about when we get another dog (definitely waiting until after I’m done with this stage of my treatment though!) You can use me as a cautionary tale to hit the snooze button on your husband’s puppy biological clock… Might as well have some good come out of it. What kind of pup are you thinking about getting?
The sunshine is lovely here, will need to get out for a good long walk after work today to enjoy it. We went for a walk yesterday and got ice cream, then sat and had dinner outside one of the local pubs at a water side table. It was lovely sitting there out amongst non-hospital folk and with the sunlight sparkling on the water and not a poo in sight (we’re on the Thames, so you’ve got no guarantee of poo free water). We couldn’t have done that with the little pup since he was so scared of everything and couldn’t settle.
I know nothing about Eurovision so I can’t really contribute anything meaningful in that conversation. My only connection with Eurovision is that the designer who made my wedding dress, the next year designed the dress for the Danish entry who won that year so I can say I knew her before she got famous.
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So sorry to hear that @kartoffel
It’s important that you focus on yourself and do whatever is needed for your wellbeing. It’s better to give this puppy a loving home now then later.
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I had an appointment with my plastic surgeon today to discuss the surgery following the CT scan of my tummy. His reaction was that the blood vessels in the tummy would not accommodate a DIEP operation (we could still do it, but there is a high risk that I would lose some of my muscle in the tummy as a result).
It’s not the result that I hoped for as I had my heart set on a DIEP surgery. He tried to put a positive spin on it and said that aesthetically we would be able to achieve better results and I won’t have a scar on my tummy. However I still wanted to have it all in one go and I liked the idea of having my own fat there, as my breasts would then feel very natural.
I’m still digesting but I think I’ll need to come to terms with it at some point. I’m also leaning towards a double mastectomy, as I’ve got the BRCA gene and a long life ahead of me, so I don’t want to think about BC ever again.
Penultimate paclitaxel sessioon done ! Now for the side effects to hit over the next few days.
Cant believe I only have one to go then my active treatments are complete. I can see a glimmer of light coming down the tunnel.
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Congratulations @shonas 
We should celebrate all milestones, big and small. I’ve been celebrating for the whole week, now all 12 of my Paclitaxels are done! I’ve still got EC to get through but indeed, it’s always helpful to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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@tinatin and @shonas congrats on your milestones! I’m 2/4 done of docetaxel and phesgo shot so I can go home. I’ve marked all the dates out so I can tick them off on completion and have a visual reminder of my progress. It’s so nice to see fewer sessions remaining than those already completed.
Today’s treatment was mostly uneventful for me which was nice compared to the last time where my cold cap was on too tight and I felt nauseated the whole time. We did have a situation where the lady next to me went into cardiac arrest after a reaction to her drugs - she’s OK apparently and the nurses and doctors responded like a well oiled machine but it was terrifying to witness.
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@kartoffel Oh my word! Watching a cardiac arrest must have been pretty stressful to add insult to injury. It was already a trying week. But well done on another treatment done. How lovely to live by the Thames. My husband and I were saying that when we were campervanning near Henley-on-Thames about a month ago. I take it that your wedding dress designer must have made Emmelie de Forest’s dress. That’s impressive! Cool.
@tinatin I can’t have the DIEP Flap procedure either but I see the benefits as way less time in hospital, way less time under general anaesthetic and no tummy scar. 80% of women apparently have the implants so, even though there are risks, surely this must be a small percentage. Great to hear that your surgeon thinks that aesthetically you can get better results. If I find out I have the BRCA gene then I will be having a double mastectomy as that is what my consultant wants to do and recommends. They will then be perfectly matching to boot. So that is another major plus. Let’s do all we can to thwart this little BC b*stard.
Well done @shonas Are you still getting horrid side effects? I’m doing ok on it.
I had Paclitaxel No. 4 yesterday. My liver levels are a bit high but not sufficient to delay treatment. I really don’t want any delays. I now have 8 left. So I’m exactly halfway through my 16 chemo sessions. Tick!
So now…it’s Eurovision weekend. I can barely contain myself. I got my oncologist letter today after yesterday’s visit and the first thing it said was ‘I was pleased to hear you are enjoying the Eurovision period’. I think I must have gone on about it rather! 
Go on, watch it everyone. It’s brilliant!!
Salbert
xx
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