@naughty_boob happy birthday and glad your meet up was good. Just so encouraging from you all getting on with things! Gives me hope while I still await results of 2nd go for clear margin. Meanwhile I’m on train home after Persian Afternoon Tea in Birmingham!
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@caz591 i had radiotherapy first (continuing phesgo till I started Kadcyla/during radio) then 2 week break after radio before starting Kadcyla. Everywhere seems to be different… There is a very small risk of lung issues with both radiotherapy and Kadcyla so my cancer centre prefer to do one at a time to reduce the risk of any issues. I do think it is a very small risk though, as plenty places seem happy to do both at the same time.
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Yay !! What a fab photo !! Two legends together !!
Im up to my eyes in it as have been quietly organising s huge network event for my industry and its tomorrow … 80 people expected ! All money raised is going to Breast Cancer Now … I’m exhausted already 
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Good luck and enjoy tomorrow!
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Great photo of @salbert and @naughty_boob , you could be sisters! @arty1 good luck for your event, you are doing a great job, i dont know how you keep it up.
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Sorry you are feeling so bad. I have no real advise as I am only 1/4 way through chemo but can empathise as I am bothered with Oesophagitis since my first treatment. The only thing that soothes is honey and lemon water (very cool) sipping throughout the day.
I hope you find some kind of comfort soon.
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I hear you @mrsjelly. This year was meant to be a huge year for my family and it all seems on hold. My husband turns 50 in April and I turn 50 in October. My youngest finishes school and starts uni and my eldest finishes uni! We had hoped for a big family holiday plus many celebratory days. Can’t even book husband a birthday meal until I know when my chemos will be🤨
On the plus side, chemo will be finished before my daughters graduation, and we are hoping the operation is after it, but will figure that out too. Plus, we will have a joint 50th party after all my treatment is done….
We just have to be kind to ourselves and I truly believe my life is on hold this year so that I can have many more years.
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Lovely way to put it 
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Lots of lovely messages to catch up on! Love the photo of @salbert and @naughty_boob 
I had my first docetaxel a few weeks ago and was feeling smug because I didn’t really have many side effects (I know it’s the first dose and likely to get worse…!) but since then I’ve been wiped out by 2 consecutive nursery bugs 
just like bad colds, feel so annoyed I don’t want to/can’t really keep her off nursery for a few months while I have my treatment as I struggle looking after her when I’m not well and with all the appointments, but just can’t be bothered with her coming back with a different virus every week 
I ended up in a&e last Friday and was neutropenic. My consultant gave me 6 days of filgrastim injections and just had my blood results from Friday through on the app and now my white cells and neutrophils are really high so I’m worried I’m not going to get my treatment tomorrow anyone had high neutrophils that delayed treatment?
Sorry for the negative post after all your lovely ones!! In happier news I got a new wig this week (my nhs one) so just have to find some confidence to wear them out in public 
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@sooz1 you are doing amazing. It’s hard enough going through all this treatment when your children are grown but to have a little one, who just sometimes wants their mum is hard. You have to do what is right for you. Can you speak to the nursery about them opening windows and ventilating more to help improve the air quality? It will help to reduce bugs. I’m always baffled that things we learnt through Vovid are being ignored now.
Great news about your wig. I had a NHS wig and never wore it. Tried two charities to give to them and no response. Local Maggie’s and Velindre don’t do a recycle wigs thing and they were the one’s who gave me the charity name. It’s a really good quality short pixie and I would love to give it to a good home. I did find a sponsor for the cancer in common event that had a lady who takes wigs, so will try them.
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@naughty_boob the wig salon I went to with my NHS voucher in Glasgow take back used wigs and sell them for their chosen charity for around £50. The salon is called Parruche (need to check spelling). They were really good. Couldn’t recommend them enough
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Thanks will look into them.
I am only about to receive EC number 3 this week of a total 8 chemos, however I am already wondering about my operation which I believe is scheduled end June, start July. I am, although tired, still able to work blended between home and the office. This is my choice as I own the business and like to keep my brain busy. Can anyone advise how long you needed off after your operation. I know this is a piece of sting question but the thought of not working really bothers me. I am due to get bilateral operation and they werent expecting to have to carry out a total masectomy, but more than a lumpectomy with the plastic surgeon working on the otherside at the same time.
On another point, my next batch of chemo is Docetaxel 4 x 3 weekly but have just read another document in my folder about Trastuzumab and pertuzumab. Nothing was mentioned about it but I must be getting that too. Anyone got the same delightful cocktail of drugs from their onchology bar? When did you start getting the Trastuzumab and pertuzumab and for how long as the document suggests a year
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@magl I noticed we were colour-coordinated too! 
@carrie5 It sounds like you are also getting on with things going for your Persian Afternoon Tea. I do like the sound of that. It’s really important to put cancer in a box and get on with life as much as possible. It helps to shrink it mentally while the treatment does the job of shrinking it/eradicating it physically. Well done! More afternoon teas all round, I say.
@arty1 Wow!! You wonderful person. How fabulous and massive respect to you for organising such an event just after you finish chemo. You are made of stern stuff! I hope it is going swimmingly and that you raise masses of money. Where would we be without the incredible Breast Cancer Now charity. You deserve cakes. Lots of them.
@fimac1 That’s absolutely the way to look at it. It’s flipping it and rather than saying ‘Poor us…why did it happen to us?’ you are saying ‘Thanks for giving me this amazing treatment so that I can have many more years with my loved ones’. I love that attitude. You are going to have one helluva party after your treatment is done. I hope you can post a pic on here when you reach that milestone. As for time off after op, I wanted to keep working and was able to do so as I worked from home. And so it was that I was working from bed the day after my ops every time, twice with a drain hanging out of my side. I know, nuts. However, it’s my way of staying sane and I have a tenuous grip on sanity at the best of times! As with all things, it’s very much dependent on the individual but that was my experience. Hopefully others will also be able to advise what they did. Your Trastuzumab and Pertuzumab cocktail is also known as Phesgo and is our wonderful, wonderful, wonder drug that has turned around HER2+ breast cancer from being one of the worst to the best according to my Senior GP friend. Great news that you’re getting that. I’ve been having mine since last summer and am due to finish the course on 10th April. I got many surgeries (long story), EC and Paclitaxel, a mastectomy, ongoing Phesgo and then I will get six monthly zoledronic acid infusions for the next 2 years. Yes, HER2+ breast cancer is a long haul journey but it’s worth it as our stats are excellent. We are lucky.
@sooz1 As many of us have said before, doing this with a young child is a whole different ballgame and we take our collective hat off to you. Your post isn’t negative, it’s real and it’s your life right now. The one place you can vent is here. Never apologise for that. What a pants week you’ve just had. You are getting a virtual hug right now. A big one. I really hope you are on the up again and good point from @naughty_boob (as ever) about having a word with the nursery about open windows. At least cold and bugs time of year will be coming to an end soon so there should be less about. I hope your new wig looks lovely. I loved mine. I had so many I had to have a word with myself and stop buying them. They certainly looked a damn sight better than my current pullet! (Pixie/mullet combo which might be all the rage but certainly not on my head!)
I have to cover three Funky Feet dance classes for someone now and I am no dance teacher. Fortunately, I do love funky dancing and have some fabulous dance moves to bust out. This should be fun with the little ones, ok with the middle ones but potentially excruciating with the teenagers. I’ll report back tomorrow.
Love Salbert
xx
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I also had the same drugs as you… as @salbert said, the two combined as known as phesgo. You get it alongside your Docetaxel chemo every 3 weeks, and my phesgo was given as an injection into the thigh. I used numbing cream before it as I don’t like needles (particularly in stomach/thigh type area), so if you want you could ask your chemo ward for some numbing cream too and just ask them to show you where to apply it. They alternate legs for each dose too.
If you have an oncology appointment before Docetaxel/soon then I’d also ask them the plan for you in respect of the phesgo/how long you’ll be on it (as it continues after chemo like with Salbert and can be 6 months or a year etc), and what the possible treatments are that you may get after surgery. Myself and a few others here got switched from phesgo leg injections to Kadcyla chemo after surgery (due to not having a complete response to initial chemo), so it’s worth checking with your team what your own specific plan looks like/what the possibilities are
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@belle1 and @salbert Thanks for filling in the blanks. I will look up Phesgo and see what it says as the leaflet advises given over couple of hours seperately by canula and observed for several hours after, which made me panic a little…and relax
Good luck with the dancing. Maybe you should change your name to happy feet?
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Inspired as always by you ladies - Like the idea of keeping cancer in a box @salbert and impressed with @arty1 fundraising. My mini project- I’m going to create a cancer swear box and anytime I find myself on an unproductive line of thought (what if…will I manage…??) I will record a fine which will get totted up and donated to Breast Care Now. Have already placed ‘what if I can’t do 9th March with dog at Crufts?’ in there. Dog not showing, she’s there as Pets As Therapy dog. Think PAT dogs should be there for stress relief while waiting in breast care clinics but no doubt would be considered unhygienic!
Hi @fimac1. You are right that it’s very much an individual thing about how much time is needed or wanted off work. I, like you, was keen to keep working as much as possible. I am lucky in that I can pretty much work from home so I went back to work after a lumpectomy and lymph node removal after 2 weeks. It was a compromise between me, the breast cancer nurses and my (very supportive) line manager. I worked flexed hours for a few weeks. My only advice is to listen to your body and mind, not every day feels the same.
Like @salbert, my Phesgo is given by injection. Apart from a bit of a squishy stomach (
) from time to time, no major side effects. Having said that, my heart function had deteriorated a bit at my last scan (they keep an eye on this throughout Phesgo). Can’t be that bad though as I managed a 9km run (well ok then, jog) today. We are definitely all different in the reactions we get but 
you will be ok.
@@naughty_boob @@salbert Love the photo. You both look fab and it’s so lovely to put a face to the name.
@arty1 The event sounds amazing and fab of you to give back to Breast Cancer Now.
Just catching up on the comments as i have not logged on in a good few days. I been doing crafts and starting exercising etc also about to decorate the bedroom! Which i am excited for which makes me feel old 
all while juggling a 3 year old and i have told her at least 4 times today that i am not her friend because she been really naughty 
Mine was also delayed about a week because my bloods was not up to scratch… i was not surprised though because i felt weird all week! Just try and get some rest in and they should bounce back again naturally ( mine did )
Loving the photo of @salbert & @naughty_boob 
Im meeting a friend this weekend in leeds with some other ladies, she is going on a breast cancer now course and its near me so we going to meet up might have a glass of wine to celebrate!
Also i been asked to join breast cancer now im guessing to offer support etc which is nice. Got a lovely email from them. Im considering it… not yet but at some point. I do want to help others and turn a negative into a positive and hopefully be someones inspiration. Hope everyone as had a good weekend! Feeling a bit achey where i had radiotherapy… they did say it could take a week or 2 to feel the effects… also hormones are kicking in… anyway, we keep pushing on!
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