How did you get on ? How do you feel. I hope you feel a sense of relief getting the first one out of way x
@arty1
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@jeml ahh just posted above ! Definitely glad to get that done ā¦ three more to go !!! (And eleventy billion herceptin jabsā¦ meh)
So your only having the 4 cycles of chemo? Not 6?
Im glad all went well apart from the allergy thing of course but they do get straight on it. They are fab! I had my meeting with my surgeon this morning. Im booked in for 18th december. Going to be a bit banged up for xmas but at least its getting done.
The hotness might just be nerves too but keep eye on it incase you get a temp. I been going hot and cold i think chemo can do that though. Mainly at night time hot and cold shivers usually days after.
Eat while you can and enjoy it 
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@jeml itās the same flushed feeling I had in hospital could be chemo , herceptin and steroids all rolled into one 
Hopefully heās not wrong but the last oncologist I saw said it would be 4 x
Are you having a mastectomy ? I felt floored for a week then was able to go out and about etc so I think youāll be fine for Christmas but obviously tired and sore x
Well done @arty1 getting your big girl pants on. We knew you could do it.
As a nurse you will know this, but listen to your body, if it doesnāt feel right give your helpline a ring no matter what time or day or night. They would rather hear from you when you start feeling iffy rather than full blown ill. It will be easier to get on top of it. Not that it will happen to you!
1 down, 3 to go!
Sleep well 
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Im sure they know what they are doing and each person is different
Yes could be just keep eye on it and get plenty of rest.
Yep i having a double mastectomy! I wanted both off from start and had a lil scare with other one too they did biopsy but did show normal benign changes. But when i spoke to them today i shared my concerns with them and obviously being a young mother how i did not want to go down this route again if anything had to happen in the other breast. They understood my feelings and agreed they would do it for me.
I going to have reconstruction not straight away but even if its a year or 2 down line when i decide to. For now i will just get a bra with them fakies lol
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@naughty_boob yep Iāve stuck the red card on my fridge and also photographed it AND programmed the numbers Into my phone 
@jeml perfectly understandable I wanted a double but they refused however I really wish it was gone as there were suspicious areas in that boob too that turned out to be nothing . But still ā¦ the worry is there ā¦
Iāve got a boost breast form but itās not cheap ā¦ however itās great as it looks real , is light and doesnāt migrate up to my collarbone like the softy.
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Just an update. Iām in hospital with sepsis. So no more chemo. My PICC came out today as it is from there my ocn thinks. I could do the last 2 chemo but my onc recommends I donāt. I would need another PICC or use a cannula which could leak.
We drove in yesterday through the snow which took ages as the nurse doing bloods said I had a temperature. I couldnāt get out of bed and wasnāt eating, felt sick and felt very tired. I should have taken my temperature sooner/called onc. He gave me a telling off today when we discussed what to do.
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@Linda_Corinne itās not nice to be in hospital but itās the best place for you. I hope the treatment for sepsis starts to work quickly and you feel better. PICC lines are great but there are a multitude of things that can go wrong with them.
It is a blow to know you wonāt be continuing with the chemo but the oncologist will know the risks of stopping and would have weighed that up with your wellbeing. Iāve probably said it before but a professor I met early on during my chemo said they give everyone the same dose but would rather give a an individualised dose for each person to reduce side effects., but they are not there yet. Fingers crossed the chemo has done its job already.
I had 12 weekly paclitaxel and had a reduced dose from the beginning, had a reaction in week 3, dose reduced again and hospitalised week 8, dose reduced again. So I didnāt have the full dose. I did managed the full 12 weeks.
Take care and be kind to yourself.
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Hello, lovely people
@scaredmum1 Thank you for your kind words. Iām sure I speak for many on here when I say that if there is anything in my power that I can do to help alleviate the fear then I want to do it. My CT scan results were quick but I guess it varies from one NHS trust to another. @jeml is bang on that your lumps are not big and we have so much treatment to whack it! Herceptin has been a game changer and we are super lucky to get that along with chemo to wash us right through. My oncologist told me just last week that the stats for our type of breast cancer are really good.
How are you today, our @arty1 ? You are so comforting to others with your medical knowledge and reassurance so I hope you are not suffering too much when you do so much to alleviate suffering in everyone else. I hear you re the Piriton and steroid mix. The effect on the brain is instant, isnāt it. I used to say goodbye to the nurses as they put that heady mix into my arm and apologise in advance for spouting any nonsense which was frequent! I used to get intense hot flushes on EC but they subsided when I went onto Paclitaxel. It threw me into full blown menopause and out the other side.
@Linda_Corinne Iām so sorry, darling. What a horrible thing to happen. Like @naughty_boob says, you are in the best place, thank goodness. Try to relax and rest now. Sending you love and strength. Keep fighting the good fight.
Salbert
xx
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@Linda_Corinne Oh this isnāt what you needed 
PICC lines are obviously great but sadly also a great route for infection when our immunity is reduced ā¦ Please donāt worry about no further chemo ā¦ the oncologist wouldnāt stop it if they didnāt feel you had already benefited from it .
I hope you are feeling better soon and are being looked after well in hospital x
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First off ā¦ try not to think about the nodes ā¦ instead think that itās a huge positive , your wonderful body has worked efficiently at catching those damn cancer cells before they can go elsewhere ā¦ itās really not a lightning quick transfer round the lymphatic system once the cells reach the nodes so please donāt panic . They do their job by getting rid of waste and soaking up the bad stuff and theyāve done just that . You have a LOT of lymph nodes in your arm alone so the cells would need to get through all those nodes before they could go anywhere else .
Your tumour isnāt huge ā¦ honestly it isnāt x itās also worth pointing out that lump size has no relevance really as you could have a huge lump thatās exactly just sitting there doing nothing and only grade 1 x
When I got the results of my mastectomy my surgeon started off by announcing the good news that Iād had a mastectomy as my breast was riddled with cancer ! I was thinking ā¦ err ā¦ ok ā¦ but she explained my breast was full of high grade DCIS literally down to the nipple and lurking in there were FIVE invasives (her2) ā¦ what a shock ā¦ but ā¦ my biggest was only 7mm ā¦ she said they considered this early cancer still and that it was all treatable , and CURATIVEā¦ this is the word theyāve asked me to focus on repeatedly ā¦ remember treatments for breast cancer have evolved incredibly in the last thirty years , plus early detection really does help ā¦The targeted treatments for her2 are an absolute game changer ā¦. Remember ā¦ a cancer diagnosis these days does not mean instant or even probably death . You only hear the horror stories in the news of well known people whoāve died of breast cancer but you donāt hear a billion news reports a day about women living their lives after breast cancer , cancer free x
@salbert - I feel groggy and washed out today , a bit faint , but nothing worrying . It feels like Iām at the tail end of a bug if that makes sense .
I took my last hrt patch off on Friday so Iām suffering with intense hot flushes in the night and waking up with a start ! I might ask the oncologist if I can use magnesium butter .
Iām only gutted I canāt have pre meds everytime as once theyād got that lot into me I went off to my happy place ! Chair reclined ā¦ bliss !
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Okay guys so i am booked in on the 18th for a double mastectomy! I should get my drains out day before xmas eve which will be loads better as i imagineā¦ still be banged up like as i can imagine. But surely its not as bad as the chemo side effects. ( i have had a c section ) so i know what to expect pain wise with movement etc.
I just wanted to get any tips on what helped you get comfy? Did you stack pillows to help sleep?
Just wear baggy vests? I know i need to rest but i really do want a good xmas with my little one x
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I had double mastectomy is July and recovery was fine.
Drains out day 5 and I stacked pillows with a v pillow on top. I was walking six miles every day from day 3 (lots of dogs) and was back at the gym on day 10 (physio at hospital made me a programme) doing legs and gentle arm exercises.
Do your arm exercises every day (three times a day I think I did).
My husband took the bandages off and all was fine - I had no reconstruction and felt recovery was better than I thought.
I still have numbness under arms where sentinel nodes were removed but nothing too bad, and some tightness across the chest but apart from that all is good.
Hope your op goes well xx
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@jeml I know I only had a single mastectomy but two days after surgery I went to Dunelm and the garden centre probably a big ambitious as I was shattered for x few days then but 2 weeks post surgery I went to a face and body art convention and painted ā¦ which again probably was a bit crazy 
ā¦ I made sure to rest every day though and took naps ā¦
I bought a v cushion which was brilliant and a seatbelt pad for the car to protect my wound x
I didnāt have a reconstruction and one thing I did was start my arm exercises the day after surgery which had really helped get movement back .
Iām nine weeks post surgery now and still have a small seroma and numbness under the armpit but am not restricting my movements in any way x
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@arty1 Loving your positive post. Everyone needs to read that. In fact, Iām going to copy and paste it and put it in my Positivity Document for future use. I hope the grogginess is subsiding. Going cold turkey off HRT is no fun, I remember. Definitely ask for pre meds every time. They should be sympathetic. I listened to some spacey zen music one time which really transported me to another realm. Loved it!
@jeml I had a single mastectomy and I honestly found it fine. Having the full lymph node clearance was definitely worse. Even the drain didnāt hurt this time round. It was more of an inconvenience than anything. I know that I have a high pain threshold so Iām lucky there but I even went off to Reigate Hill to sit in the sunshine and have a tea and cake on the Saturday with my drain in, after having it done on the Wednesday. I had a good M&S post surgery bra and I already had a V pillow but I didnāt really need it this time. I hope your experience is as good as mine.
@lynnc123 I just wanted to say hello and thanks for answering our Jem. Itās really good to hear the stories of people who have come out the other side. I also still have a bit of numbness from the node removal but I think it is improving. Talking of reconstruction, I am seeing Kieran Power this Thursday to discuss my final op. The tissue expander I currently have has worked so well that apart from having no nipple, it actually looks better than the real boob! 
Iām hoping he can put that right. As I was the nipple tassel twirling stripper in The Graduate many moons ago, I have decided to ask for a tattooed nipple tassel if itās possible and they think itās doable. Iām quite excited about it!
Happy Monday everyone,
Salbert
x
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@lynnc123 amazing. I am meeting my surgeon this afternoon but still have three more chemo to go.
Any tips for questions I should be asking?
Also I have walked 3 miles every day and was thinking about how soon I could go back to walking. So you was able to walk 6 miles from day 3 
that is so impressive and feels me with absolute hope.
Did you have reconstruction?
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Reconstruction was going to be a nine-week wait so I went for the op first and immediately decided being flat was best for me - I absolutely love it!
I saw the phsio the day after my op and told her that I wanted to get back to exercise ASAP.
So yes, I started a mile the first day, then three miles the second and six miles by day three post op, complete with my drains in bags.
I was really pleased that my physio and consultant both supported my aim to get back to full strength safely with the physio giving me different bands to build up strength before moving back to weights.
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@lynnc123 sonsorry another question. Did you need/ have radiotherapy?
Itās so tricky to go to an appointment and make some decisions but not know where you will be when you finish chemo 
Hello @galdiolus
No, I had bilateral tumours but removed by double mastectomy and the four sentinel nodes tested were clear.
No radio or chemo, letrozole for 10 years and Iām not too bad with the side effects. I find walking and running and weights have helped with the joint pain and Iāve just started acupuncture for a shoulder issue.
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