Hi folks…late to the party…as usual for me. Im not very good at involving myself in things…but having tead through these posts I feel comfortable adding to them as everyone is very welcoming…and we’re all in the same boat, some of us paddling frantically trying to stay afloat…and some of us just going with the flow…and for many of us riding the waves holding on for dear life! My story is very similar to many of you. Found a lump on my right (.)… visit to doc, referred to (.)(.) clinic for mammogram end Sept. Right (.) was fine…left (.) not so fine! Widespread calcification and mass found so multiple biopsies (they couldn’t find on the ultrasound what they could see on the mammogram). Back 2 weeks later for results to be told calcification was not pre-cancerous but needed to do more precise biopsies. Long story short…2nd lot of biopsy results showed calcification WAS pre-cancerous and the mass was cancer… first biopsies they were basically digging in the dark hence wrong diagnosis. Her2+ invasive dcis. Have had mastectomy without reconstruction… was to terrified to wait the extra weeks incase it spread so opted not have it…wanted the bugger removed as soon as possible! Turned out there were 2 tumours found which was a bit of a shock. So this week is chemo week and im really not looking forwards to it. I will try the cold cap but have read its not pleasant. Like many of you…every week for 12 weeks of chemo alongside herceptin injections. Ive been very positive throughout and hope I can maintain the positivity during treatment. Wishing everyone well on their individual boat rides…and hope we all achieve smooth sailing on our journeys. God Bless x
Morning, my buddies and welcome @mandz1 It’s ok that you’re late to the party! Making an entrance is fine by us. Let us know how the chemo goes.
I’m feeling a lot more positive today and thanks for the encouraging words after my gloom dump on Friday. My GP friend told me about her sister on Saturday who got diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer 9 years ago!! She has a group of other Stage 4 breast cancer friends who are all living with it. It was in her liver, lungs and brain and they have got rid of it in her brain and the tumours in her liver and lungs just sit there and do not grow and she has ongoing treatment. She is off to Dubai in a few days. She was 50 when diagnosed. I found that so inspirational. She got me to go down the pub and I had a lovely night with my friends and realised that I don’t need to be living in a constant state of fear. It doesn’t help.
Whilst I was at the pub I saw a couple of friends who are in their 60s. One of them has an incurable lung condition which is terminal and the other has just got over breast cancer and has Parkinson’s. There they were, joking and laughing with everyone. She said to me that it doesn’t mean they don’t have their dark, bleak times but that they want to enjoy all the time they have. She also said that she didn’t worry about the breast cancer as she knew they could deal with that but that she worries about how she will cope with the Parkinson’s once her husband has gone.
This gave me a massive kick up the arse! I have had great health for 53 years and have taken it for granted. I have a choice. I either let this drag me under or I fight, fight, fight. Saturday did me the world of good.
We can do this, my friends. We are so lucky to have excellent treatment available. The sun is shining today and the sky is blue and we have so much to live for.
Get me, Mrs Positivity Sunshine!!
Big love to you all. Make sure you all do a bit of what makes you happy today.
Magic Sal! Onwards n upwards. Great to hear youve hit a positice streak. Long may it last. No doubt we’ll all have down days and be swimming against the tide…but what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Heres to many more ‘Saturday nights’ x
Hi @mandz1 sorry you’ve has to join our club. Hope you are doing okay. You sound like you are. Good luck with starting chemo. I recommend joining your monthly starters group for Jan so you have some buddies on the ride with you.
@salbert what a difference a day (and a night at the pub!) makes. Glad you are feeling a bit better. There is a very good TED talk on resilience. One of the three pillars is acknowledging that everyone suffers at some point. Your post made me think of it. Hearing about your friends. Sometimes knowing you are not alone does really help and also realising others have different but equally hard issues does put things into perspective at times.
Welcome to the group you don’t want to be part of. It’s ok to join in, read and take it all,in. Everyone is different. I was sceptical of this online community but found it a real life line, with total strangers checking in on me, supporting me and encouraging me.
I’m so sorry to hear your story but you have a plan, just try your best to take each day as it comes. I did weekly Paclitaxel and managed the cold cap, maintaining most off my hair. It wasn’t easy and it more time consuming but worth it. I don’t look like I have cancer and you know what I mean when you’ve been to clinics. I didn’t want to be the person that people look at and feel sorry for. I know many can’t help their hair loss but if there is something that may prevent it it’s definitely worth a try. These websites may help.
Hey naughty_boob…thank you so much for the ‘heads’ up re the help groups! i truly appreciate your time. I will have a look at them and weigh things up. So many different people with different opinions and outcomes…but i guess in the end it’s a personal choice. Hope things are going well for you. X
Bloody hell! That was a painful op. I still have a nice tube and drain coming out from my right armpit but the pain has subsided today, thank goodness.
So that’s all my lymph nodes gone.
Just checking in to say hi, buddies. Hope you are all ok and have a lovely weekend.
@salbert well done getting through another procedure. Another step on the way to recovery. At least knowing the lymph nodes are removed means hopefully no more surgery for you and onwards to next steps.
I am the reverse. Chemo just finished. Hoping for some physical recovery over the coming weeks and then surgery.
So here’s to a weekend of recovery for us both. I hope you have a nice one with less worry than last weekend.
Hi @salbert, I’m pleased to read you are the other side of surgery. How are you feeling? My advice is to keep taking the painkillers as long as you can/need them without concern. I’m 5 weeks post losing all my left armpit nodes & only just feeling more ‘normal’ again and even that I say lightly. Recovery wasn’t linear by any means!
@naughty_boob MY DRAIN IS OUT! HALLELUJAH! That was highly unpleasant and I don’t remember anything hurting as much since childbirth.
@frazzledmcsazza Thanks. It’s true, it’s another tick. I pray they have got it all out this time. I’m getting very bored of watching tv. Problem is I have literally been confined to bed since Tuesday. I had a bath today and it was heavenly. So glad to hear your chemo is done. That must feel good. Here’s to a speedy recovery for us both.
@suedot My goodness, I’m glad you say that about the armpit nodes because it means I’m not imagining it. That was the worst surgery yet by far. I feel very washed out and low on energy. I guess that this year is all about beating this horrid cancer and pick up again once it’s all over. I have to believe that I will come out the other side although I know that my scan results are due to be discussed at the MDT meeting on Monday so I guess I will hear about those in the coming week and to say I am crapping myself is to put it mildly.
Thanks for the pink love. I am sprinkling it liberally over you all too.
Yes, it was painful at first and was my first ever surgery, first general anaesthetic, first night in hospital other than for childbirth (which is somehow different). I had lumpectomy at the same time, so 3 dressed areas to start with. As you say the drain was unpleasant, especially to sleep with at night.
I guess you have been given the exercises and maybe had them before for previous surgery. I overdid mine too early and paid for it for the following days. It’s humorous to say I am now literally ‘climbing the walls’ every day. I am determined to get full movement back in my left arm to match the right and extremely impatient! This weekend I’ve started applying Bio-oil to the scar too.
I’ve not let on here before, but I’m a pharmacist, so be it scar improvement, painkillers or moisturiser cream for radiotherapy, I’ve sold, talked about and dispensed the stuff for 30+ years, just not had to apply them to my own body before which is a whole new ball game .
Oh and I’ve now started the much talked about daily hormone blocker ‘letrozole’ as I am E2+ve as well as HER2 +ve.
Next stop radiotherapy! Monday’s job is to chase why no CT scan appt has been issued which I apparently have to have before I start.
@suedot I currently have 3 dressed areas too. Lumpectomy, lymph node removal and where the drain was. Bless my husband, but he asked this morning if I was worried that we hadn’t been having sex since my 9th November D-Day - (Diagnosis Day)! I explained that with one surgery a month since then and constantly being in dressings, surgical stockings and surgical bras, it was the furthest thing from my mind right now!!! Bless.
I have started the gentle starter arm exercises (again) and will continue with them as I want to get as back to normal as it is possible to get. I had to sleep on my husband’s side of the bed whilst I had the drain in as it was on my right hand side. Last night I was able to return to the left hand side of the bed and it was wonderful. Like welcoming back an old friend. I never want to sleep on his side of the bed again as now it has an association with the drain days.
I’m not sure you should have mentioned being a pharmacist. It’ll be “Sue! What can I take for this? Sue! What can I rub on that?” You have already prompted me to buy some Bio-oil.
@chellebelle Thinking of you for Tuesday and praying it all goes smoothly. Keep us posted.
I’ve had to go cold turkey on hrt and now feel horrendous. Thanks for mentioning that I don’t feel so alone now. Still don’t know how to feel better again but feel happier it’s not just me feeling crap.
Thank you. If be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I thought I’d have a call from the team before I went in but I haven’t yet so just gonna hope for the best. I’ve no idea what my treatment plan will be yet…I guess I won’t know until after the surgery results.
@clobo1 we get it. We all get it. Trying to pretend that everything is normal when your entire world has shifted on its axis is impossible. Life is made up of moments and the way I see it is that I try to get as many good moments as I can right now whilst knowing that it is bloody hard and that the knowledge of cancer is always lurking at the back of my mind, ready to shout out loud in my face just when I manage to think about anything else for a second.
Thank goodness we have each other. Everyone knows exactly what you’re going through and let’s not sugarcoat it. It absolutely sucks.
I have not been able to wash my hair since Monday because I have been stuck in bed with the drain attached which was removed yesterday. Today, my best friend washed and blow dried my hair for me and I found myself smiling, which I remarked upon because I realised how infrequently I have smiled of late. But I consider my ‘blow dry smile’ a minor triumph.
@chellebelle of course you’re nervous and I was crapping myself too for my first op. Now that I’ve just had my fourth I don’t even bat an eyelid. I see the same people every time and it’s good to remember that they do this all day every day and are really relaxed about it all in the best possible way.
I know that you will be fine. We are here rooting for you and will see you when you come out the other side.
Let us know how the chemo goes.
i truly appreciate your time. I will have a look at them and weigh things up. So many different people with different opinions and outcomes…but i guess in the end it’s a personal choice. Hope things are going well for you. X
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which I apparently have to have before I start.