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Hi,
Thank you all for your kind words of support.

Good look with the surgery Andie,hope your soon on the road to recovery…xx

Caron- hope your scan goes well tomorrow,will be thinking about you.

Bright- meeting up sounds great,cant wait to see you all…

Well i went to the doctors with my new lumps and he checked me out for infection…in my eyes,throat,teeth and ears…no infection.
He suggests i have a CT scan to see what these nodes are doing,then maybe a biopsy.
Im just waiting for the appointment…
I have been keeping myself busy by painting my sons bedroom…

Thinking of you all…

Shell
xxxxxxxx

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Hello girls,
Andie, wanted to send my love and best wishes to you and to sayI will be thinking of you tomorrow.
Bright, I’ll be having rads April time,if this helps with your plans for meeting up.
Hope everyone is keeping their spirits up,
Love Kathy

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GOOD LUCK ANDIE SEE YOU SOON XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Evening ALL (sound like a copper lol).

Bright seen as I have seen your arm pic I think you should change your name to Bright - ARM !!! LOL.

Well had paella for tea that my mam kept raving on about WHY???
dunno wasn’t all that keen really.

I have been making tea in batches tonight as Jordan had his acting group to go to.

Andie hope you read this before you go? but I love the name Milly when I was pregnant with Owen at the scan they told me HE was a SHE !
Anyway I chose the name Millicent for him but he was going to be known as Milly , anyway didn’t quite work out did it cos Owen has got a extra bit !!! we had to think of a boy’s name as we never had one ! Owen’s middle name is Paul so his initials are OPM !!!

Betty had her jab today god she is such a wuss!! cries at everything ! we can’t even touch her back now where she had her jab as if you touch it she cries ! ( such a wuss ).

Ive got my scan tomoz so I am hoping they tell me the measurements??
I bet they dont though ! and guess what I will try and look back at this site cos I can’t remember how big they said it was CORE SIZE cos it wasn’t until later I found out it was much bigger than I was told , I think it was 41mm???shame they never told me it was actually 110mm!!! oh well what can you do ???

SHELLY hope you are still keeping positive and your scan shows nothing out of the ordinary (fingers & toes crossed).

GAIL so you have had your last TAX bet you are pleased, how much of a reprieve do you get before your next battle (surgery).

I remember KATEMATE now right at the beginning what stage are you at now???.

JO how you doing on your TAX are you still fluey??? do you get constipation with it?? (probably the other wat round?).

Bright has her next lot of chemo next Friday hope your arm is better by then ?? (looks like it’s about to fall off !! )

LOVE CARON XXXXXXXXXXX

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My Arm - for a short time only I am changing my avatar!!!

It is getting better now but it was scary

Bright (Arm) xx

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Hi guys,

Bright - your arm!!! My goodness!! Hope it gets better soon. They told me Tax is more gentle than FEC on the veins.
Shell - glad to hear you are getting things sorted. I hope everything is OK! Painting your son’s room??? My goodness you really are a wonder woman!!!
Caron - hope scans go well. I have one next week. I think they forgot to do one earlier!!! I hate going for them. I don’t really have much of a reprieve before surgery as it’s only a few weeks away…gulp!!

We are trying to plan in some help around surgery time. They think I’ll be in for 4 days if all is ok. Those of you who have had surgery - how long did it take you to feel mobile etc… able to do normal stuff. Wondering about looking after monster mainly as he is quite lively at the moment.

Thanks,
Gxxx

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Morning All ( there’s that copper again ! ).
hope your all ok?
I am tired as went to bed late & Jordan sounds like a herd of getting ready for college!!!
Its gone back to living in a milk bottle here or if you prefer a light bulb !! No blue skies today, don’t know why you feel better when the sun is shining???

Betty is still looney !!! she is quite good though toilet wise! she’s only done a couple of doings on the floor! ( good job I have laminated floor!) and 1 of them was Jordans fault as he brought her in too early !
She is very clever as she wees on demand !! lol and she knows what sit means already!.

My Mother has invited me & Steve for supper next Saturday ,we were meant to go on my Birthday but they (mam & dad) had the flu , wonder what we’ll be having??? hope it’s nothing fishy!! or wilderbeast or something like that , you may all think I am joking but i am not they have Zebra , wilderbeast , wild boar , shark ,!!!
I don’t want fish cos I only like skate ,haddock ,& my home made fish cakes ! with my home made fishcakes!!.
Any way she might cancel again due to the news of Marc???
My sis rung me last night she has not found any more out yet but she did say that they think it’s not cancerous, don’t know how they know without doing a biopsy? and my sis said she thinks they won’t do anything because they can’t cos of where the tumor is in a pipe either in / or coming from the lungs, but there was a bit of argy bargy the other night as a nurse told Marcs aunt on his fathers side ( who hasn’t seen him for 12 years incidentally!) that the tumor was wrapped around Marcs lungs , nobody has told my sis this so she went mad.

Anyway see what happens there.
well thats me for a a bit love Caron xx

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Hello all ,
well I am back from my scan which she said shows shrinkage but wouldn’t say how much !!
I asked her ( it wasn’t a nurse it was one of the top consultants )how big does it have to be to be operable??? anyway she said " it all depends, each person & cancer are different " so I think if mine was operable she would have said dont worry yours is ok " but she never , I know I have 3 months of chemo left yet but it’s not shrinking how I hoped it would , so if at the end and it hasn’t shrunk much more I will ask for more chemo , dont know if they would give me any? but I dont want to chance not getting clear margins for the sake of a few more chemos ( i’d rather have that than risk it coming back ).
Anyway now for the good news ( thats what I mean she told me the good news so if there was more I knew she would have said ) the 2 nodes that were infected one was 8mm and the other was 13mm and the chemo nurse couldn’t feel them for the last 6 weeks, anyway grimsby hospital has got brand new breast care unit but today when I went they had a even newer scanner ( loads clearer than the last one and that was new ! ) anyway she was saying how it picks everything up but she couldn’t find either of them !! , so something is working just wish it would on the bust one !!!.

Also what I thought was the cancer the big black hole I described if you remember ??? well thats not the cancer at all !!! that is one of the 4 cysts I have !!!.
I didn’t realise that one of the cysts was that big and I I know I have 2 in my bust and I DID have 2 under my arm, I think I am right in thinking that some cyst’s CAN turn cancerous??? and thats why they remove them??? so now I am thinking cos I have so many cysts in that bust and none in the right bust makes me wonder if this cancer started out as a cyst???
can anybody please clarify if cysts can turn to cancer ?? (moderator?)thanks.

Anyway so thats all I know on that front, (get it? FRONT !!)

Been to hospital also to see Marc today he was fast asleep bless him anyway he has deffo got a tumor and in 2005 he had phnumonia anyway they did an xray then they have gone back to that xray and found that Marc had that tumor then !!!
thats how they know it’s a slow growing one !! (disgusting< they should have checked then instead of leaving it till there is nothing they can do (nearly?)).
They dont think it is cancerous because it hasn’t spread to other parts of his body.
She (sis) has texed me to say they are going to do a biopsy which is good cos Cheryl (sis) has told the Drs that she wants him treating and to not think they dont have to cos he is disabled a nurse then let it slip that they have agreed to do the biopsy !.
(talk about fighting for your rights !) but can you imagine if it got out that they wouldn’t treat him cos he is disabled ??.

I too am mad at Jamie (eldest) as when we came home from hospital and when any of our children are on a school trip the deal is we take the others out for dinner to the Hainton, which is what we decided to do today for Jordan seen as Chilli (chloe) & Owen are in Scotland. So he (Jam) rings up at 10 2 4 and says " OH YOU ARE IN ARE YOU “! I said " I’m sorry but I told you I was having my scan today!” he says " you never" so I say " ok then I told Emmy" (WHO HE LIVES WITH)so anyway I get the jist that she never told him, (if he bothered asking once in a while he might get to know!)
So he says " well I want dad (steve) to fit me an air filter !!!
so I knew he meant right NOW so I said we have 30 minutes to pick Jordan up so he wasn’t happy that he will have to wait till tomorrow!
Never mind about your poor mother you just get your new air filter fitted !!! then I was on msn later & he was so I type I will tell you about my scan then seen as you never asked ! so then the cheeky sod typed " dont say that as if i’m not bothered " ( maybe cos you dont ask ???).
thats me done MOANING sorry ive gone on & on !!.
Betty was good when we went out it’s the first time we have left her and years ago I watched a programme about dogs and it said 45 minutes to a dog is a lifetime ! so everytime we left my mams dog for a while we used to say 45 minutes ( cos it was so fussy ) but I think in Betty’s terms it is more like 2 minutes ! (if that ) thats why they are so fussy when they greet you ! ( just thought you might like to know ! ) lol love Caron x

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Is there only me writing ??? gggrrrrrr !!

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Hi Caron

Here’s the response from our information nurses
Best wishes
Lucy

Hello Caron,

Cysts are fluid filled sacs and can vary greatly in size. It is not unusual to have more than one cyst. I’m not too sure what your doctor has suggested regarding your cysts. Sometimes doctors will suggest aspirating cysts, particularly if it is large or uncomfortable. This involves using a needle to draw off the fluid within the cyst. If the fluid withdrawn is blood stained, then the fluid will usually be sent to the laboratory to be checked as there is a slightly increased chance that breast cancer is present.

However, in the vast majority of cases, cysts are a benign (non-cancerous) condition. Once a benign cyst is diagnosed, it does not increase the risk of developing cancer in the future. It is very possible to have a benign breast condition, such as cysts, in the same breast as a cancer without the two being related. If you want to read more about cysts, please follow this link to our information about this on the website:

breastcancercare.org.uk/upload/pdf/breast_cysts_aug07_0.pdf

I would like to wish you all the best for your ongoing treatment.
If you would like to discuss any of this further, you are welcome to phone our helpline and speak with one of our experienced nurses or trained helpline workers. The freephone number is 0808 800 6000, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm.

Kind regards
Information Nurse

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Hi,
I have a date for my CT scan…10th March…im so pissed off its not sooner…
Caron- glad your cysts have gone or shrunk thats good news. Betty sounds like a little handfull…

Bright- hope your arm is better and chemo goes ok for you.
Im still doing my arm exercises but can still feel a lot of pulling and restricted movement…
Ainsley my 10 year old had a wobbly tooth (not that wobbly)this morning he decided he was going to pull it out as he had tooth ache,he did pull it out and only left a little piece behind… it was pouring of blood,i put cotton wool in it and its ok now.He will do anything to get out of going to school…

Thinking of you all

Shell
xxxxx

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Hello everyone,

I had to go to bed quite early last night as was suffering from bad stabbing pains in my arm - near the veins which have gone very phlebotic. They look quite strange really as the skin over the veins has gone dry. But at least the cellulitis is getting better, and I’ve now taken down ‘my arm’ avatar!

It has been quite spring-like in London and suddenly lots of green spikes of spring flowers are appearing above ground: I love the spring, and thinking about all the possible gardens to visit. My favourite garden ever has got to be West Green House near Hook in Hampshire. The first section is a tearoom with an Alice in Wonderland theme including topiaries, and then there are the gardens - with big frothy colourful flowerbeds which take up the whole space rather than arranged around a lawn. It is formal, but not formal - because the pathways are strewn with flowering tendrils, and each bed it different, one might have a fruit cage in its centre, whilst another comprises a potager. After the beds - there is a space in the hedging which goes through to a large and mysterious lake, with a statue of the first gardener on the edge, and in the centre is bird cage. Finally there is a sunken garden and a 1920s chicken house filled with fancy breeds in pretty colours. The garden has a magical quality to it and I often imagine it could be the setting for the ‘Secret Garden’.

Good news about Andie for those who don’t know - her surgery went well, and she up and about this morning complete with drains.

Shelly - hope you can have your scan date brought forward…

Caron - hope you get your cysts sorted out - and glad the tumours under your arm have gone…

Gail - great that you are nearly through the Tax

Hope Jo is okay…

An easy meal tonight - just controlled calorie meal from Somerfield - spagehetti and meatballs, and OH wants me to make him scrambled eggs on toast…

Love Bright x

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Thanks moderator (nurse) for the info have been reading about it today, one of the cyst was hurting last night? dont know why never noticed it before but they will go along with the cancer when I have my boob removed !.

I am excited to see Chloe & Owen tonight as they are coming home from Scotland (wonder if they saw any live haggis??? (lol).
Last time chloe went I gave her some info on finding a haggis I told her that they are very hard to find as they are so shy ! I even went on a website and it had a picture of the so called haggis and told you all about them , so there was Chloe info at the ready telling her teacher that this is what the haggis looks like ! ( I’m so cruel!) mind you the teacher is a bit of a joker so he never told Chloe that they are not an animal !. lol.

Owen & Chloe will be really surprised when they find out that Betty can sit on command now !.

Bright changed my mind about pasty Chlo & Ow are still having them but me & Steve are going to have haddock & my home made mushy peas so it might be a windy night here tonight !!.

Glad you have your appointmeny Shelly but it’s not for nearly 2 weeks time , maybe if you ring them and say you will accept a cancellation??.

Hope you arm is better now bright? and it’s really good about Andy I bet she is glad that part is over with.
Jo is still quiet, isn’t she?
and Katemate hasn’t wrote either or Gail???
whats happening ?? everyones gone quiet.
see ya later love Caron x

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Hi everyone,
Caron, you wanted to know how far along I was. I had a bi lateral mastectomy a month ago, and I start 4 weeks of rads in a few weeks.
I don’t know if I should be posting on a “hair loss” thread as my hair is growing back.Although short I’ve got a good covering now. I lost my eyelashes during tax and I can see they’re returning.

Shell, I can’t believe you are up to decorating already.You’re amazing!

Bright, I’m sorry you’re having trouble with your arm. It must be so uncomfortable.

Gail, I had good mobility almost immediately after surgery. I found
it improved daily. There are exercises you can do. They advised me not to drive for a month, and said I wouldn’t be covered by insurance. Also, told me not to iron or vacuum either.
The worst thing was not driving, we live in a very rural area and it was awful having to rely on others.

I had my drains taken out in hospital and I’m having to be drained every few days, which is a nuisance as I want to visit my daughter in kent. THe next thing is being fitted with a prothesis. They give you softies after the op,but I haven’t bothered with them so far.
At the moment I’m intending to have reconstructive surgery later this year.

Has anyone heard how Andie is doing?

Love Kathy

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Hi Kathy,
sorry I am still dumb and dont know what bi lateral means? I will search though and find out this internet is so useful for finding out things !!.

Victoria (Brighlight) has heard from AndieT and she is doing fine she is up and about already.

Chloe & Owen have just come back from Scotland and they are still excited to see Betty!! they are telling all their stories and what things they have been on. Wish I went with them I did get on really well with one of Chloe’s old teachers (she was the second head) anyway she asked me to come on a trip to help with watching the children the trip was to Derbyshire and we went to an old Abbey and dressed up as monks we even visited a bridge that when it was being built a workman lost his dentures and they are still there to this day ! in the middle of the road encased in tarmac!!, it was such a good weekend we did orienteering (reading a map) I am useless as you have to turn the map around with you and I don’t know my left from my right ! anyway we had a good time but I had to be helped they went out looking for me as I had been that long with my children !!

KATEMATE to the hairloss thing as you have probably realized by now we don’t usually talk about hairloss just what is happening now so feel free to comment on other threads it’s just that we have got our own little group and are just helping each other along the way.
Also any one passing please feel to comment or ask questions or butt in!! just because it’s usually our group doesnot mean it’s solely so, maybe we can help others??? going through this awful disease.
Anyway please all take care love Caron xxxxxxxxx
ps

BRIGHT this pic is of Betty when she was between chairs !!! (that I was telling you about ! ( isn’t she so cute ) xxxx

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Hi Girls
I’M HOME!!!

I went into theatre at 7pm on thursday evening and was back in my own room by 10.30pm(Yes my own room!! They spoilt me, own bathroom as well)

I had a morphine pump connected under my own control but found that I didn’t really need it. Problem was that while you have a morphine pump connected you also have to be on oxygen and the noise of the oxygen together with the ticking of the very loud clock together with hourly obs I got hardly any sleep.

Friday morning after seeing the registrar I told the breast care nurse I was hoping to go home saturday or sunday. She had a word with the Early Discharge Team Co-ordinator who arranged for me to come home last night. I was actually home less than 24 hors after the op. Evidently its a system the Breast Specialist Consultant saw in America and has implemented at our hospital. A dedicated Early Discharge Nurse will now visit me at home for at least the next 10 days to deal with drains, dressings ans any stitches or problems.

OH is now in charge and I am banned from lifting anything heavier than a cup of tea

Take Care everyone

Andie

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Here I am!

Wow Andie, get you, out in 24 hours. You girls that have recently had surgery are putting me to shame, I was there nearly a week. Shell was out really quickly to, so much so that I missed meeting up with her!!! And now look she is superwoman, decorating indeed, whatever next!!!

Caron, sorry to hear about your nephews troubles, my nephew also has CP and i know wot u mean about having to fight for everything. When he was first diagnosed my sister in law couldn’t get any physio, speech therapy or anything for him, talk about postcode lottery, her and her boyfriend and my nephew ended up coming to live with us for 3 months just so he could get some sort of treatment here, because it was so much better, eventually after fighting tooth and nail, they got treatment, albeit nowhere near as good as he was getting, and they moved home!

Well, I have tried to post several times, and they’ve been really long winded messages, and I keep losing them, which is so blooming fustrating. Then I’ve felt too poorly to start again. Now i know why! Ended up in hospital thursday, with a white blood count of .2 Apparently that’s dangerously low. Have had yet another chest infection so they admitted me straight away as were concerned I might have pneumonia!!! Eeek, i thought, that’s curtains then, that’s why i’ve been feeling so crap really since a few days after the TAX.But no, chest x ray was clear! Had iv antibiotics anyway and drip and injections to boost white count then turfed me last night as they said more risk of infection in hospital than at home, that’s reassuring i thought. Was upset though coz no beds as usual at the Marsden so had to go to a general hospital and didn’t really feel very re assured the whole time i was there as they didn’t really know wot to do with me and kept phoning Marsden for advice! Oh well at least they did that I suppose!

Can i ask if anyone else has had any problems with periods whilst on chemo, particularly Taxotere for those who have had it.That was main reason for going into hospital in the first place, I was so terrified as I was loosing so much blood and massive clots that the Marsden wanted me to have a blood test to make sure i didn’t need a transfusion! Then they found this other problem with the neutropenia that they weren’t bothered about my period at all. Consequently I’ve come home in the same state i went in and it’s not getting any better! They said I should mention it to the Marsden on Monday as now have an outpatients app to follow up this episode in hospital. Has anyone else experienced this because I’m thinking all sorts, especially with Poor Jade on TV everytime you switch on!

Hope everyone is well and coping!
Jo XX

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Andie !!!
can’t quite believe you are back with us so soon !!!
are you in pain now??? was you scared??? , I will be petrified when it’s my turn !!.

Jo I mentioned my periods to my chemo nurse and she said " well if they haven’t stopped by now I doubt if they will" so she said that I will probably have an injection in the stomach to stop them.
I haven’t noticed any abnormal bleeding though but I’m not on Tax yet 11th March that pleasure !!! but if owt happens I’ll let you know.
Glad you have not got phumonia!! crickey you dont want that you slowly drown!!!.
When I go in hospital I am going to take my laptop with me ! and we have got a dongle ( internet access ) so that will be good cos you are allowed to use phones .

I think Steve will be having time off work when I go in ( he’s his own boss so he can ! (well apart from me lol)).

Chloe & Owen are really tired from the Scotland trip still so I think it will be bed early for them tonight?, me & Steve are going to my mothers for supper (still don’t know what she is doing) I can leave Chloe & Owen ( Jordan has gone babysitting with his girlfriend)
as Chloe is 15(&1/2 lol) and Owen is 13 and we are also litrelly across the road, when we first bought this house I think my mother was worried that I would be at her house all the time ! ( I do know of a time when my children called to see her and she hid in the kitchen ! ) not very maternal my mother never has been, anyway it’s her who comes here all the time ! ( not just this cancer thing before as well ) and it’s her who wants me to dog sit her dog !.
Anyway I don’t want to get into all that .
Betty has been naughty today !! she never whimpered just squatted down and started to pee!! so she got told off and put in the garden for 20 minutes so hopefully she will think twice next time???
Has anybody heard from Shelly today???
I need to get ready really but am thinking what can I wear? do I get dolled up just to go across the road??, I don’t think we will be stopping late?

Everyone look on www. this is grimsby.co.uk as there was an armed siege right at the back of my house today !It was that going to harm himself. love Caron x

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well that went quite well really !
We had nearly 1/2 a chicken each done in southern fried coating.And it came with pea & white wine sauce, then for afters we had christmas pudding & brandy sauce !! ( bit late but it was nice ).
We went home at 1/2 11 as my mother was a bit worse for wear ! and didn’t want to out stay our welcome, but it all went well really.
see you all tomoz love Caron xx

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OHH what a night !
Guess who forgot to take their nytol ???
So woke up at 5 40 am and couldn’t get back to sleep just kept yawning ! then Steve says “DID YOU TAKE YOUR NYTOL”??? no soz!
So I ended up getting washed & dressed then which made Steve get up.
So we are like zombies now but I will go to bed early tonight.

Jordan went with his girlfriend babysitting and he went on his PGO moped (his girlfriend has a brand new Vespa) anyway it was going to be 2am when he was coming home but he was on his moped so that was ok so I texed him at 1am and said you will have to unlock the back gate (he would have to come through the house) and I said even though you won’t be long unlocking the gate to make sure he locked his moped while he left it to unlock the gate, as it would get robbed within 5 minutes here!!.
Anyway it was only yesterday I said to him have you got enough petrol?
yes he says!!!.
So I’m looking out the window and no moped in the garden! so we had to wake Jordan up at 6am this morning I said where id your bike?
he said "it’s at his girlfriends " HE RAN OUT OF PETROL!!!
So I don’t know how he got home it’s quite far at I guess I would say he walked, but I don’t like him walking on his own .

Going to my mothers today for coffee!! (yuk) thing was last night when they made it ,it was nice??? very strange.
hope everyone is ok??? love caron xxxxxxxxxxx