Well it’s not got any worse so fingers crossed!!!Beautiful blue sky here sat in the garden for once we have better weather up North!!
Sounds like fun!!! Yes ,good job you have rest of week to get over it!!!Hopefully going back to work will be a positive thing for you.
Don’t want to rub it in but gorgeous here too! Off for an outdoor swim…won’t be many left until next spring. Glad you are healing Jill. Good luck with appointment s anyone having them today x x
Very brave doing an out door swim. Think I would rather be at work tha looking after the toddler 
can’t wait for other half to come home so I can chill a bit xx
It’s heated…not that brave, it is sunny 
though I’ve been out there in rain and snow before it’s shut for winter. X
We have driven to Cornwall today ( for Mum’s funeral on Thursday) it was raining most of the way, very heavily at times, seems a bit clearer now though.
I’m 53 too and had only been to hospital three times, two for two of my four daughters births ( had two home deliveries) and then to be sterilised. So am also having to get used to more frequent visits!
I do feel for any of you who are dropping any of your children at university, I am super lucky that my two youngest are at a local Uni!
Ange, I don’t know how you cope with a toddler, you must be exhausted! Just had my 20 month old grandson staying with us for a week; its like a tornado has hit the house! He’s too cute though but tiring everyone out, how did I cope with four?
Amanda x
Difficult week for you Amanda, glad you have family around you though that helps.Hope the journey wasn’t too bad given you’ve just had your op.
Oh I have fond memories of swimming in the Ruislip Lido when I was a kid. Had to wear one of those thick rubber swimming hats or you won’t allowed in the pool. My mum was always paranoid about me getting verrucas! Do people still get them? I can’t wait to start swimming again once the rads are over. Hoping it will help restore some more mobility to my shoulder. Feeling very grateful that I don’t have to face chemo like some of you, you’re all very brave. I finally unpacked my ‘hospital bag’ today, which has been in use 5 times in the last 8 months. Trying to move on and convince myself that it won’t be needed again, not quite there yet. It’s amazing how it all plays with your head. X Francine
Hope you are doing okay Amanda. Not sure where you are travelling from but any journey to Cornwall from most places in the UK is an arduous one. Hope the rest of the week goes as well as it can do under the circumstances for you.
My onc appointment today was interesting. Hopefully I’ll be starting chemo on 9th October but just have to make a decision about ongoing treatment involving whether I’m having full lymph node clearance before or after the chemo. I only had a very small micro-met in one of the nodes taken so they are leaving it up to me to decide. My gut feeling at the moment is to get the chemo over with then do the final surgery early next year but I think I need to sleep on it to make the final decision.
You’ve been stuck in limbo for months Francine not surprised you are finding it hard to get your head round the fact that you can move forward now .
It’s all a bit strange as I get the impression that the surgeons think one way and oncology another but both said that no way is the wrong way and they seem happy for me to make the decision. There is also the complication of something called the POSNOC trial for people who have fewer than three involved lymph nodes which I could sign up to which would mean I could be randomised to have them all removed or none at all and just go straight to adjuvant therapy. There has been a trail in the US over the last few years (the Z11 study) which indicates that either treatment with limited node involvement has a similar outcome for 5 year survival rates and they are now starting trials of that here. I would love to have no more surgery and minimise any complications that would come from that but the gold standard here is still full removal so I am dithering about what to do. If I go for the trial and am randomised to the surgery group then that will happen in the next couple of weeks and delay chemo. If I go for chemo first then I will automatically have surgery early next year once I’ve recovered from chemo. At the moment my gut instinct is to get the chemo over with and worry about surgery later. Whatever way I do it will involve a few extra weeks of treatment at some point. I am feeling so surprisingly good (physically at least) at the moment considering that I am only 23 days post-mastectomy and implant reconstruction that I’m loathe to have more surgery just yet and just want to get chemo out of the way. I guess I am hugely lucky to have the choice - not that it stops me dithering mind!
Sorry for the long post - good to get my thoughts down in writing.
Hi Caffy, yes FEC-T for me too. Looks like I’ll have a buddy to compare notes with. Hope you are feeling okay about it all and that you have some nice things lined up for the next couple of weeks. :smileyhappy:
Thanks Lorna. My hubby agrees with me also. I think I’ll be in a better place mentally for more surgery in early 2016.
I had a very brief view of the chemo until today and it seemed quite tranquil and a lot less scary than I imagined which is probably another factor that is pushing me in that direction first.
Hi PrggyCat
I was reading some interesting stuff from a study in America too. It seemed to show that over 5 years there was no difference in recurrence rates between women who had full node clearance surgery and rads and those who just had rads to the nodes, I.e no surgery. It’s a difficult decision isn’t it. It seems to me that possibly there are a lot of women who are having unnecessary full node clearance but as you say it is the gold standard in the UK and I have no idea which way I would go in that situation.
We live in East Kent, the journey to Cornwall is about 300 miles, the M25 bit was slow as usual! I’m staying with my daughter who lives in Newquay.
Gosh, sometimes it would be easier to have someone just tell you what to do PeggyCat, but then again, it’s nice to have the choice! If the case is that it doesn’t matter which way round you do it, then try hard to imagine yourself in each way…so think about it and see which way the feel the best about. (Or at least, which way the dread the least!)
Amanda x
Peggycat, I would get the chemo over and done with I have had my nodes all removed and up be honest have found this recovery harder than the mx, but the choice is yours. I am having FEC and FECT I will be a week in front mine is 28th. Wow what a challenging journey we are all on xxxx
Evening all. Blimey that’s a tough one. The thing is people don’t realise what affect a nodes op has.
Ange is yours next week. That’s moving quick.
Hi Barry, yes final meeting with oncologist tomorrow to sign consent and get my first meds ( I think) then 1st chemo 10.30 on Monday. Scary but at least the quicker it starts the quicker it’s over xx
True We’ve got a few things lined up in October though