@bigpickle Well there’s a new word that I never knew. I love that! I’m so looking forward to being pert. It’s been a long time…
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I’ve written a poem ahead of Wednesday’s mastectomy. It’s a poem of gratitude.
Mastectomy Musings
You fed my child, you entertained
You nipple tassel twirled
You looked great in bikinis
On beaches round the world
My cleavage was phenomenal
On you I could depend
On ugly or bad hair days
You were a loyal friend
I stuck my boobs out loud and proud
My chest was quite exalted
And as erogenous zones go
You really can’t be faulted
You’ve never let me down
Our relationship’s been long
But maybe I just wore you out
‘Cos lately you’ve gone wrong
And though I tried to keep you
It’s clear we’ve reached the end
So I thank you for your service
And I say farewell, my friend
For in saying goodbye to you
This way I get to live
What’s more, I get an implant
So there’s nothing to forgive
Farewell, fair tit!
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Love it 
Fabulous. I hope all goes well for you xx
Hi @rrey
I did get my results they were fine.
Feeling anxious at the long wait til I get to start chemo.
Have to wait until 20th august for kidney function test and have no other appointments yet. It’s all so disheartening! Xx
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Hi @salbert that poem is brilliant, love it!
I have only one wig and i love it, going to keep it for future bad hair days. Good luck for your op this week.
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Welcome @bigpickle great name
I see you have already joined the August chemo starters, don’t worry I’m not checking on you😜, I look at lots of threads and like to signpost people. Sometimes you have so much going on you don’t always know what to do so I think direct link really help.
@salbert you do have a way with words🤪 It’s a great poem, I love the ending ‘farewell tit’ So pleased your hair is growing back, hopefully soon you’ll have no need for wigs except the knitted one because I know that’s really your favourite😛Will be thinking of you on Wednesday😘 You’ve got this far I know you can do this.
Keep going all, you’ve got this ( I’m saying this for myself as well)
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Thanks everyone.
I’m packing my bag for hospital tomorrow and I’ll see you all on the other side.
Have also hidden a box of chocolates and some tiffin in my sock drawer ready for being stuck in bed for a couple of days. Because I’m worth it!! They are for me and me alone!
Salbert
x
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Wishing you all the best, and farewell to your boob xx
Good luck, salbert
Sending hugs 
Good luck, i’m sure you will be fine.
Penny
Hi everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself. Never in a million years did I imagine I would be joining a group like this, yet here I am. I had my diagnosis last Tuesday, but told 2 weeks before that, that it was probably cancer. One lump in left breast and lymph node tested positive for HER2+. Its really scary. I had a CT scan a few weeks ago too and waiting for the results on that, which is the worst part, as I’m constantly feeling aches and pains and asking myself do I feel breathless as my chest feels a little heavy, but I do think deep down its all in my mind, but that doesnt help when you’re waiting on news whether its spread and isnt curable. I’ve been told I will have chemo first and I’m seeing the oncologist next week for a treatment plan, so hopefully will have the CT results then. Had a heart echo today and bloods tomorrow. Seems like its non stop xx
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Hi Cheryl
I recently joined this club. I know what you mean about all the appointments. I had bloods and swabs yesterday, PICC line fitting tomorrow, more swabs and echo scan on Friday. I start chemo on Monday. I have come to terms with it now and just want to get it started. One day at a time.
All the best with your treatment.
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Hi @cheryl2109
Welcome to the group and sorry to hear of your diagnosis. We are all a different stages of our journeys but we will be there to support each other.
You may want to join the monthly chemo starters, it’s really supportive to be with others on a similar journey and share the ups and downs. Here’s August August 2024 chemo starters
The waiting for your treatment plan is the worst part, all the tests and appointments it’s like a full time job. Once the treatment starts you should feel a bit more settled but there will be more appointments! I’m 15 months on from finding a lump and still have Herceptin 3 weekly with 6 monthly Zometa infusions, MUGA heart scan 4 monthly. I’ve just had a lymphoedema clinic and my annual mammogram with an oncology appointment end of August.
It can be a long treatment time with HER2+ and it’s wonderful this thread was started for that ongoing support.
Take care
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Hi @cheryl2109
We have all been where you are now and I know that doesn’t help, I was also beside myself and very much felt every ache and pain when waiting for my CT results.
It sounds like everything is moving quickly for you to get started with your treatment. I am in the August chemo starters although I’m finding out tomorrow what date my treatment starts as I’m away next week and have my kidney function and echo on my return. It may roll over to the beginning of Sept! Such a long time since I had my biopsy on 7th June 
Iv come to learn that nothing is certain and things can change quickly and no matter how much I worry it’s not going to change anything.
I’m so grateful for this group there is wealth of knowledgeable and lovely people here to support you. 
xx
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Thank you ladies. Quick question - did anyone have to have a kidney function test? Just been told the consultant wants me to have one, even though my last lot of bloods said my kidney function was normal. Now my overactive brain is thinking they’ve seen something on the CT! For someone who at 46 years old can probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been to the doctor, all these tests are overwhelming! xx
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I had a meeting yesterday that didn’t go great tbh. I’m 4 months into chemo and just found out I’m triple positive as they’d only told me about the HER2 positive part initially. Some sort of communication error with the initial biopsy results.
I’d been given a plan and timescales etc but no one mentioned any hormonal element during all of this either so I was unaware till yesterday that I’d need hormone therapy for 5-10 years depending on surgery results or that Kadcyla was potentially on the cards for up to a year if surgery results were not PCR next month. I was told before it would just be phesgo injections continuing and the amount would depend on surgery results. Weird that it’s never even came up anywhere in convo and I was gutted at not being told from the off and not knowing my proper diagnosis as have to get my head round the impact on things moving forward again and feel like I’ve been diagnosed all over again.
My question is…. Is anyone on Kadcyla now and how is it? It’s on the cards for me but uncertain at this time so just trying to figure out what it’s like in comparison to EC/Docetaxel that I’ve been on
Hello, my friends
Thanks for all your heartwarming good luck wishes. I am home! In fact, they let me come home last night. I now have a brand new, bionic tit. My drain is nowhere near as painful as last time as the marvellous Katherine Krupa has used a tiny little tube as opposed to the hosepipe that Dr Doom stuck in my side! What a difference. I’m walking about and carrying my drain etc around with me on just Paracetamol. I am fuelled by chocolates. I just feel a bit bruised but that’s all.
So… I want to say WELCOME to @cheryl2109 and first of all, please accept my massive, virtual bearhug. The bit you are at is plain horrible. Fear is your constant unwelcome companion. It’s so sudden, isn’t it. Life is ticking along and minor irritants such as your family not picking up their clothes are all you really have to worry about and then WHAM! The biggest curveball smacks you clean off your feet and suddenly you realise you have spent your life worrying about things that simply didn’t matter. And suddenly we find ourselves here, in this club that we didn’t know existed and which we never thought we would join. This thread takes hours to read so I’m going to repeat stuff that I clung onto during the scary times in case you haven’t seen it.
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My breast cancer nurse at Marsden recently told me that the vast majority of breast cancers are now curable and those that aren’t are treatable. She said that diabetes would kill you if untreated but people now live with it and that now women with Stage 4 breast cancer are living with it.
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My GP told me of his friend in her early 30s who found out she had metastatic breast cancer which had spread to her brain. Just over a year later and after chemo, Herceptin etc. she shows no evidence of disease.
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A close friend of mine has a sister who got diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer 10 years ago. She has just got back from visiting her grandchildren in Dubai. She lives with it and yet it is in her liver, lungs and brain. The tumours sit there and don’t get any larger.
I was convinced I was Stage 4 but it turns out I was Stage 2 so I wish I had not put myself through the mental angst that I did.
It’s impossible to stop your mind from wandering to the darkest and scariest of places and we have all done it. But I pray that you get your results fast because once you are on that treatment path, you just feel so much better. We do have a lot of appointments, it’s true, but they become part of your life and you make friends with all the nurses and staff that you come into contact with and then it gets hard to say goodbye when they finally kick you out the nest for you to fly off on your own again. I think lots of us have had kidney function tests so it’s normal but you can ring your breast cancer nurses to check who may be able to put your mind at rest. Keep us posted. We’re all here for you.
@bigpickle I hope the PICC line fitting goes well today and all the other bits and bobs. I remember wondering how I would ever get through chemo and @naughty_boob saying that I would and I could and she was right. Suddenly it is over and I was slapping a bench! (There was no bell to ring at Marsden.) We all get through it and you will too.
@lilly123 It’s so true what you say about no matter how much you worry, it won’t change anything. I asked a friend who had breast cancer back in 2020 if she worried every time she attended a follow up scan. She said no, as there was no point. Simple as that. So when I recently went for a scan, I made the decision not to worry. I feel like the worry at the outset is so all-consuming that I have to do everything in my power not to go there again. It’s a battle but one we have to win, for our own sakes.
Hi @belle1 Well, that’s a bit rubbish to only find out you are triple positive now. I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m not hormone positive but I know there are women on here who are, so I hope you hear from someone soon re the Kadcyla. Big hug to you too.
I’m told I can shower with this drain and dressing which is fantastic so I guess I had better get my sorry carcass out of bed and wash it or it will be midday. Then I am going to read my book and chill out because if you can’t do that the day after a mastectomy, then when can you?! 
Love to you all
Salbert
x
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Hi @cheryl2109
I am having this done before chemo starts, have to have radiation injection and then go away for
2 hours come back and Have a blood test, go away for an hour then come back and have another and then go for another hour and come back and have another. So all in all 5 hours at the hospital. 
It’s to check that your kidneys are able to manage the chemo.
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