Yep I agree that it looks like I’m now in the midst of menopause, I thought I maybe had a few years to go - I was 47 last month - but that may have been wishful thinking!!
My son turned 17 last week too - I honestly don’t know where those years have gone 
he is starting driving lessons this Friday. Taxi for me when I fully recover and go out celebrating 
.
Hope your liver levels start to behave @salbert it seems to be quite a common side effect!!
Sending positive vibes to everyone for another ‘uneventful’ week 
Xx
1 Like
First time trying my eyebrow stickers/tattoos today ladies and I must say I’m very impressed 
.
Here’s a quick snap - brows only as I’ve not got my wig or makeup on yet 
Xx
7 Likes
@kitty77 they look great!! Very natural
1 Like
Thanks @taniak i think they’re better than my own brows 
Xx
These look great! Brows have always been my biggest concern - I’ve got fairly dark hair (dark blonde but on the darker side) but absolutely albino white brows and eye lashes! I’ve been regularly going to salons to fix that so that I have blonde hair and brown eye brows, which is what I would consider to be a normal look for my appearance 
I got microbrlading done before chemo but ironically it didn’t stick (people usually assume that my white brows would get really dark quickly but they are very stubborn and require multiple attempts) and I’m back to square one with my brows!
Sorry I’ve finally gotten round to the question I’ve been meaning to ask - where did you get yours from?
1 Like
@kitty77 They are fab, look really natural. What kind are they and where did you get them ?
2 Likes
By way of update, I had my first red EC chemo done yesterday 
So far, so good - I slept longer than usual (which I blame on all the steroids that I get for Pembro) and although I’m a bit nauseous, it’s not too bad.
My haemoglobin is officially too low for chemo to continue (it’s 79) but I told the doctor about my Seven Sisters hike of 18 km over the weekend and convinced her to give me a go ahead 
I’m getting a blood transfusion today which should help. Hopefully I feel fine afterwards. I specifically asked for my blood group this time round, maybe it’ll make a difference
2 Likes
@shonas @tinatin heres a link to the website I bought them from, it was recommended to me by the place I got my wig from .
Xx
3 Likes
@kitty77 Great eyebrows! Thanks for the link. I also have really fair eyebrows and lashes so draw them/paint them on. They look really fab. Way better than my artwork. You probably wouldn’t have been thrust into menopause were it not for the lovely bc. Damn its eyes! By the way, talking of celebrating when this is over, I got given a magnum of champagne on Saturday so that is in the fridge ready for when this is over. I was feeling a bit left out knowing you lot all had the champagne on ice. 
@tinatin I wondered how you had got on with the EC. Great news that it’s not too bad. Well done for getting the go ahead despite haemoglobin levels. As you know, I’m now a bit worried I will have delays as my liver levels have gone up but, like you, I feel ok so I was surprised to hear that my liver is struggling. Hoping it will be better than it was a week ago when I get my blood test results tomorrow. Good news re the blood transfusion too.
We are all getting there, my friends.
XX
2 Likes
I hope your liver levels will normalise quickly! Mine were also a bit high last time round, but they have miraculously recovered by the time of my EC. Warm hugs from me!
I can clearly tell you’ve turned a corner like all of us. I was TNBC 2.1cm, grade 3 now cleared having just had a lumpectomy and 1 lymph node removed. Do NOT say good bye to your tits yet! But thank your body daily for the miracles it’s been able to do so far -
I am sat on the sunbed now in Cyprus ,in an expensive hotel, recharging, and nourishing my soul, soaking (carefully) the sun. I would never have paid for such holiday before, it would have “been too expensive” but WHO CARES, … Crying reading your post, not of sadness, not of joy or happiness either, but of contempt. Proud that you made it and realising… I should have drank more, MUCH more in my recent years, to sustain EC alcohol drug 
I don’t hide my cancer, but I also don’t talk to anyone about it anymore. However, on a boat trip yesterday, I mentioned it to the guide-i raise lots of eyebrows travelling on my own 
- and said it was a celebratory holiday to having finished treatment (or near enough, immunotherapy still ongoing another 6 months) and he revealed he also had cancer. We shared a “moment” we knew what it meant to be alive and well, and to look forward to the future, to eating food which actually tastes like they’re supposed to taste (although he only had RT, the trauma is equal), to be part of club we never wanted to be of, but to which we are all crowned kings and queens. I thank my body every day for the healing it’s given me and, if my brain for whatever reason decides to distract me from the positiveness of this path I am on and it self care, I remind him to go and F itself, cause we now like expensive holiday much better than cheap ones and got our priorities wrong so far, pleasing people we shouldn’t have ever talked to in the first place, and that we ARE NOT BORN with negative thoughts. Wear that dam red bikini, perfume you like, your favourite dresses and tell people you love, that you love them, but remind yourself to stand your ground, and check in with yourself.
To all of you, I wish you an awesome summer. The best you could possibly have during this time. You might not quite see the end of it, but the end of the treatment is near and your new life is about to begin 
9 Likes
@pinklilli3s thanks so much for posting from the other side!!! 
Wishing you a great holiday!
I’ve already started planning mine and it will be an EXPENSIVE one, that’s for sure!
1 Like
Hi guys
@tinatin My liver levels had gone down a bit so I got another Paclitaxel. Didn’t have a great night’s sleep last night so I’m a bit out of it today. Good old steroids.
@pinklilli3s It’s so great to hear you are out in Cyprus having a wonderful time in a deliberately devil-may-care expensive hotel. I’m with you all the way. I’m saving up right now. That luxury holiday will be mine once this is all over. I think anyone who gets through this will have a bond and an understanding afterwards. I cannot wait to taste savoury food again. I cannot even taste Marmite now. Thanks for your wonderful empowering message.
I had my genetic testing results and they were all negative so who knows why I got bc but then nobody does really know. If it’s 1 in 7 women then why not me?
Love to you all and have a great weekend,
Salbert
x
5 Likes
@pinklilli3s That’s interesting. My paternal grandmother died aged 52 of cancer and I lived in fear of getting it at the same age. And that is exactly what happened. I got breast cancer at 52. I wonder if I was subliminally giving myself that message all these years. Also I was working 3 jobs so have decided that after this is over, I will not go back to one of them. It was too much.
I hope your flight comes soon. Delays are just adding insult to injury at the end of a lovely holiday. XX
2 Likes
You might be onto something… Wow 3 jobs 
I don’t actually really care. Because it’s actually not a big deal. I tried not to sweat the small stuff anymore. They got to fly us home anyway. As long as I get home! I don’t have to get up tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind it being delayed another week
1 Like
@salbert its great news that you haven’t got the mutation! I know that it helps with “why me”, but you’ve got so much other stuff to deal with (ovarian cancer risk etc). I still need to tell my parents and cousins about the mutation by it’s something that I plan to work through later.
My question has rather been “why now” and there’s no answer to it. 2023 was my happiest year, I was blissfully happy. My breast first hurt when I was celebrating my birthday in Paris at a beautiful restaurant with my handsome husband who was crazy about me and organised a trip to Paris to make me happy. We laughed that I was getting older. Little did we know.
1 Like
Morning everyone
@tinatin I was actually thinking of you when I posted that my gene results were negative as I remembered that you had said that you do have the BRCA gene. It’s another level of stuff to work through for you. I was trying to tell myself that if it was positive for me then I would rather know and take pre-emptive action. I’m so sorry that you have to deal with that knowledge on top of everything else. It sounds like your life was going so wonderfully and then wham! Great big curveball. And I know there is no good time for this to happen but I still think it is harder to accept when you are as young as you. You really don’t expect it to happen in your 30s. I got into reading about HER2+ cancer again yesterday and although I tick a lot of boxes for getting breast cancer, (first child at 38, started periods young, drank too much alcohol, over 50), I’m also aware that this happens to super healthy young people.
Something I did hear last week that I loved was ‘We have the common cold of cancers’. That came from a breast cancer survivor of 6 years now. She does a lot of research to keep on top of all the latest news and breakthroughs and I liked that analogy so thought I would share.
Hope everyone is off to a good start for the week and that it is an easy one for us all.
Salbert
xx
3 Likes
Hello team!
My first EC week has now finished and I feel surprisingly ok. I had a blood transfusion which also went much better than last time round (my husband fought hard for me to get my blood type this time).
And now to really serious business- holidays!
Once my chemotherapy finishes, I will have 4-5 weeks of respite before surgery and I was hoping to go on holiday during this time. Is it a sensible thing to do? Would any travel insurance take me?
I would rather go on holiday after surgery of course but I guess by the time I’ve recovered it will be November and no Mediterranean seaside for me.
@salbert thank you so much for your message! To be honest, I don’t think any of our life choices get us cancer. Case in point: both my grandparents (my father’s side) were alcoholics but they lived until their 80s and didn’t have cancer (and one of them had the BRCA gene!). It’s all a bit of a lottery.
I’m now somewhat happy I’ve got it now, when my body is fit and healthy and can deal with it. If it was meant to happen, now is a good time - I’m in a happy and stable relationship, my job is secure and I have access to good healthcare. I had worse periods in life for sure.
1 Like
Much love xxx