Happy New Year, may 2025 be much kinder to us all!
Yep feels like we have reached the peak of the mountain and slowly coming down the other side
I have my surgery (lumpectomy) on Thurs 9th, being injected with nuclear meds on Wed I have been on a strong dose of steriods over Xmas due to my creatinine levels and kidney function has been affected, they think due to immunotherapy, so thatās on hold for now whilst weaning off the steriods!! And still having weekly bloods as a result, I honestly think I have not had one week since 1st July that I have not needed to go to hospital
Following surgery will have 5 days of radiotherapy at some point!
Good luck to those having surgery this week and for those waiting
Hi everyone. Happy new year to you all. Heres definitely hoping for a healthier one. Good luck with the next treatments and operations. Im doing ok. Little tender after radiotherapy but was told it could get worse after treatment. Will definitely get this lump checked out again. Its under armpit where l had centile lymph node biopsy. Its not visible but quite hard when i feel it. Will see bcn in 3 weeks so will mention it then. Trying not to get paranoid. Happy snow day xxxx
Happy new year everyone. Iām glad itās not just me that feels like an old lady now!!! My legs are a nightmare in the mornings. Iām on Anastrozol. Hot flushes are back to what they were like when going through menopause.
I realised in early November that I was getting a little bit of swelling in my right arm. I suspected it was the start of lymphoedema and had it conference clinic on Thursday. Just waiting for compression bandages to arrive for my arm and had which I will have to wear every day from now onwards. If anyone has found any fun ones please let me know as Iād rather embrace it and have fun with it than be grumpy about it!
Breast cancer the gift that keeps giving!
Love to you all I hope all your treatments go well this year x
Hi all
I feel quite lucky hearing the side effects of Letrozole, that im only on steroids. I have a moon face now though and annoyingly, people keep saying how well I look. I want to say āBut this isnāt me!ā My face is usually thin. Perhaps they donāt remember how i used to lookā¦
Hopefully, toes and fingers crossed, my surgery will go ahead on 21 Jan. I might not be able to have my reconstruction because of the steroids which is the most upsetting aspect of this mess for me.
I have to ask if anyoneās treatment has gone to schedule? Just out of curiosity. Or even if you know of anyone who kept to schedule? Reading through our posts, it seems everyone has had complications.
Xx
I hated the steroid look during chemo and had a āfriendā gasp when I told her I needed them as she proceeded to tell me about the puffy face I would get (based on someone she knew who needed them for something else)
But my silver lining was it did smooth my wrinkles lol
As for surgery, I had it before chemo so no delay and pre op / bloods was before treatment so I was āhealthyā so to spk but from how I was scheduled on the surgery list I think they tend to build in when we are ready ā¦ so hopefully your surgeon knows it will take x weeks to sort the steroid situ and has booked you in accordingly
Surgery must be daunting but I can say hand on heart, chemo is the hard bit
Youāve got this !
And glad hot yoga worked on the arthritis, Iām hoping for the same
The place im looking at also does that (may try hot yoga too - not sure how limber I will be haha)
Xx
Nice to hear how everyone is getting onā¤ļø. Good luck to all those having surgery this month.
Iāve got 9 appointments this week - I really wish I was joking! 5 for radiotherapy, 1 oncology appointment, 2 radiotherapy reviews (Iāve an extra one tomorrow due to a skin reaction) and 1 CT monitoring scan for a couple of pesky things in my lungs and another in my back that are being monitored still. @debi1 Iāve also got a hard lump in my arm pit on the side I has all the lymph nodes removed. Iām going to contact my BCN as soon as radiotherapy finishes. I had a few seromas once the drain was removed after surgery and I think this is the end of the final one that almost sorted itself ( the others were drained) @cf640 i had a delay with radiotherapy due to a few issues and having to have additional scans. Itās (fingers crossed) going ok now. @pipspops im on anastrozole and had massive problems with dizziness last week. Seem to have been better the last couple of days but will be mentioning it in my oncology app on Weds.
Hope everyone has a good week xx
@pipspops Totally relate to what you say about the Letrozole, especially the stair lift and the winch! I donāt have the dizziness though, that sounds awful.
Hope your skin heals soon from the radio. Iāve got 3 sessions left. Itās starting to get red and has been a bit itchy, they said to use hydrocortisone but I had some dermol lotion left from my chemo rashes so Iāve been using that instead. @louc Sorry to hear about the lymphoedema, I hope it isnāt too bad. Seems like weāre all suffering with side effects from the medications. I too have the hot flushes back, havenāt had them for years as I was on HRT.
Hope everyone has a good week and good luck to all those having surgery in the next week or two. Hope it all goes ahead. xx
@idcand49 My diagnosis was 19th January but my surgery was April too. 30th of April actually lol.
I cant believe its gonna be a year soon since finding out. But as i said, i knew i had it for months beforehand, just needed to convince the doctors.
I think my biggest problem has been keeping cool in bed at night - I sleep on my treated side and my remaining boob flops onto it making it lovely and toasty!! Add night sweats and it isnāt a wonder it is still a bit angry. Canāt wear a bra yet to keep it out of the way, too rough around the bra line middle and itās driving me mad (my remaining boob has become something of a pain in the arse, and I canāt wait for surgery to have it removed instead of reconstruction). I was told the hydrocortisone cream could only be used for 7 days, so maybe I waited too long to try it - didnāt want to use it as soon as I got it and then find my skin got worse after a couple of weeks as they said it would . Been less dizzy today, so fingers crossed itās getting past me now. Iāll find out more when I scoot to bed in a minute
Realised Friday 3rd was 1 year since I phoned the GP to say I had a swollen boobā¦ā¦ doesnāt time fly when youāre having fun
Hi @pipspops your post caught my attention as I had problems with dizzzyness going through the menopause. Turned out to be positional labyrinthitis possibly caused by falling oestrogen levels. Turing over on my left side in bed or looking up to the left were the triggers & worse when I had a cold. I found epey maneuvers (can find on youtube) sorted it out. Just mentioning it in case it helps as it so miserable having vertigo/dizziness.
Good news about being able to use mascara again! I have some tiny eyelashes growing. Very excited!
Thanks very much for the info, gives me something to elaborate with, less likely to be fobbed off if you can throw in specifics its got all the hallmarks of labrynthitis for sure, rather than dizziness from low blood pressure or low sugar levels for example.
Iāll present it as another āany suggestions on this oneā to my woman on Thursday
@pipspops im a vertigo sufferer and notice turning in bed i may get a swoosh and think there are ear exercises on YouTube that may help
You never know
@zaran ohh I donāt know your back story you having to āconvinceā dr something suspicious was going on must have been a nightmare !
Are you marking the 19 th?
I plan on waiting for my first mammo to pop the bubbles
I thought I wound do it after chemo but felt so flat after and then there was radio, ovarian suppression , endocrine , bone infusionā¦ Xmas ā¦. lol ā¦ wasnāt there mentally
I had a lumpectomy + re excision for better margins
After the 2nd surgery I look like a chicken piece kebabād and radio has withered /discoloured my boob
No more going topless on the beach haha (not that I ever did)
X
@idcand49 dont blame you for popping the bubbles to mark the occasion! I havent really marked the occasion for much i dont think. We went out for dinner to miller & carter after chemo i thinkā¦ or it might have been after radiotherapy i cant remember haha.
Its so much treatment wise isnt it!? I just had my appointment today with the oncologist and honestly, im so drained now! It was an appointment to start the next stage of treatment (hormone stuff) and it was SO much more than i was expecting. Plus my cancer ended up being a bit more serious than i realised too. I think i just went into autopilot mode when i was being treated last year and today was the first time i took it all inā¦ exhausted!! Hope your day was good xxxx
@caz1970 hope everything goes well with your operation tomorrow . I have surgery tomorrow as well, after it looked like it would be cancelled last week. I had the radioactive nodal injection this afternoon. It was a lot quicker than I thought it would be.
@cf640 I hope the new drugs are working and everything will go to plan for the 21st xx
I have been on a strong dose of steriods over Xmas due to my creatinine levels and kidney function has been affected, they think due to immunotherapy, so thatās on hold for now whilst weaning off the steriods!! And still having weekly bloods as a result, I honestly think I have not had one week since 1st July that I have not needed to go to hospital 
xx
xx
. Been less dizzy today, so fingers crossed itās getting past me now. Iāll find out more when I scoot to bed in a minute 
its got all the hallmarks of labrynthitis for sure, rather than dizziness from low blood pressure or low sugar levels for example.
i cant remember haha.
. I have surgery tomorrow as well, after it looked like it would be cancelled last week. I had the radioactive nodal injection this afternoon. It was a lot quicker than I thought it would be.