As we’ve been talking about people’s perception of what being diagnosed with BC involves, I thought this was a good summary of the stages BC patients have to go through
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Hi Sharon
Opps itchy finger! Yep Crouch End is lovely, there’s a very nice coffee shop just up from the clocktower called The Haberdashery. My daughter helps organise the Crouch End music festival every year, booking the bands. She’s just had to look for a new place to rent as her landlord has just put the rent up on her 2 bed flat to £1700 per month, yikes! She’s going to house share with some other 30 some professionals, none of whom can afford to buy in London. Makes me laugh when I think we bought our first place in Kingston, Surrey, for £14,000 in 1976!!
Thanks for the info on Predict. I’ve gone and done it (of course!) and results show a very low benefit after 5 yrs but a bit more benefit after 10 yrs. i also had a large area of DCIS as well as the Grade 3 invasive so this will probably tip me in to taking the Anastrazole. My surgeon wanted to wait for the oncs report before deciding on further surgery and I had a wait for the onc appt (lost my paperwork) he said at last appt that another WLE was very borderline as there was a 1.5mm clear margin all round. He’s a very nice guy, not at all a ‘cut and slash person’ !! so I trust his judgement.
Like others, I am also finding the ‘silence’ from some of my friends a bit upsetting. I’m sure it’s because they think it’s all over now and everything is fine but I don’t want to seem needy by telling them it’s not. As you say, unless you’ve been thro it all, you can’t have any conception of how it plays with your head. I feel rather guilty at times, as so many ladies have had to go thro far more than me, especially chemo, so I shouldn’t be feeling so down. Perhaps a raging ear infection and trying to keep the business going at the same time doesn’t help! So nice to have you lovely ladies to sound off to sometimes, keeps me going. Hugs to all. Francine xx
Ha! We could demonstrate stress levels of each stage on the flowchart by correlating the amount of chocolate/cake/alcohol consumed. Waiting for diagnosis pre and post surgery is definitely a high scorer on that one :womanlol:
LOL - Imodium not working then Cheryl?! :womanlol:
Hi lovely ladies, hope you have sailed through your rads today sharon. I imagine it to be like willy wonkas factory, and the munchkins are rushing here and there. And then of course, the machine oozes chocolate as our treat. Oh if! Well of for my planning tomorrow. They called me this afternoon to ask if all ok and remind me I get free parking. She seemed very nice, so fingers crossed all will be ok. Going into work for the afternoon shift, I am in a medical centre, and the girls are brilliant telling me not to stress if running late as they will cover. That’s as long as I dont lose direction on the machine. Quite fancy the idea of my head going where my feet should go as mentioned by Sharon. Will report in. Lol xxxxxxx
Evening all 
Pandorra I’ll be looking out for a post from you tomorrow to see where exactly you end up with your tattoos, probably on your knees at this rate :womanlol: So long as they don’t keep you hanging around you should be fine as it isn’t a horrible thing to go through, unlike the other stuff.
10/25 done today, nice and straightforward again and no hanging around so very happy with that.
Todays treat was a colouring book for adults (not the pornographic kind I hasten to add) and some colouring pencils .I spent a happy hour colouring in a pretty pattern (photo on my profile) before leaving to get zapped Very relaxing (and inexpensive) way to pass the time.
xx
Sharon
Oh you ladies do make me laugh, which is much needed. Time is hanging heavily with me at the moment, although I’m keeping busy. I have to admit I’ve just eaten a whole pot of houmus with a bag of tortilla chips and now feel quite queasy. Hope it wears off before I’m due to eat the chocolate eclair! OH seems to think that feeding me will help the waiting stress but at this rate they might have to wheel me in to the rad dept in a truck, lol. X
Hi ladies, final Rad today so the end of that bit of the treatment plan for me, although a relief I think I will feel a bit lost for a few days after 3 weeks of going to the hospital.
Evening ladies,
Wow, seems like a lot of you have terrible journeys, don’t envy you that at all.
11/25 today and serious tiredness has kicked in - fell asleep on the sofa last night and I wouldn’t have thought that was possible given how uncomfortable it is. Went to the theatre this afternoon and struggled to keep my eyes open which isn’t like me at all. I need to start having ‘Nan naps’ I think and I’m pretty sure I’d be finding work a struggle now.
Had to wait an hour for my zapping today but I really don’t mind as I can always occupy myself and I figure they wouldn’t make me wait unless someone needed to be seen more urgently than me, and given how ill some people look I’d rather they were seen first. Tiny little babe-in-arms was being treated today - sobbing his little heart out. I could hardly bear it 
Boob still about the same shade of pink but definitely cooking on the inside and quite swollen (long may it continue, at least it makes me more symmetrical!)
Cheryl I’m liking that idea of cake & chocolate juice - do you need a taste tester to help you with it?
xx
Sharon
Hi all, first day of no Rad clinic for me, feel strangely aimless and very tired, I’m sure this will right itself over next few weeks.
Hi again, just a quick post to say be prepared when the rads are over for possibly not feeling too great, I expected to feel relieved its over, yes I do, tired, yes but no more than usual, skin not too bad. But its more in my head, I feel like I’ve been washed up on a beach after a storm, a bit aimless and still slightly shell shocked that BC happened to me. I think this is what I struggle to get over to family & friends that although I’ve come to the end of the treatment it takes quite a while for the mind to catch up doesn’t it. I will be fine, I’ve been here before when I had a stroke 10 yrs ago so I know it will pass, onwards & upwards. All the best to all you ladies still having your Rad sessions. X
Hi Eastanglian,
I’d heard that lots of women have that reaction and I’m not at all surprised as dealing with the cancer is all-consuming isn’t it and we seem to spend our time gearing up for one trauma after another and then to have to go back to ‘normal’ is a huge step as what on earth does ‘normal’ look like now? I’m well aware that I’ve put normal life on hold for the last six months and I have to start it again soon (need to job hunt etc) and can’t imagine how I’m going to find the energy or desire to do that.
I was planning on having some counselling and pampering sessions from The Haven, a breast cancer charity in London, just to ease me back into real life. Do you have something like that near you, or a cancer surviver group, that you could use?
xx
Sharon
Thanks Sharon & Margaret, Its true what you say, when we’re having the rads its full on and you feel proactive don’t you, now its finished I need to build up the trust that its all worked, my oncologist said I was ‘low risk’ as Stage 1 BC lymph nodes clear, so I know It could have been much worse. i’m also on Anastrozole tabs for 5 yrs and so far no S/E’s, I’ve read up on it and all the literature says it is very effective at preventing recurrence, with that & the yearly screening for next 5 yrs I hope I’m going to be OK. Now I have to prepare myself for the lung op I’ve got to have, I mentioned this in previous posts, lump found when they did mri scan for the BC. Same thing that the BBC political editor Nick Robinson has just had an op for. My oncologist joked that I’m having a full MoT and will be fit & hearty for another 20 years
Hi Sharon, yes I will be looking at complementary therapies to try, a bit of pampering definitely in order will also be returning to my local Pilates class soon. Lovely day today here, nice to see the sun shining. X
Hi ladies, report on my planning yesterday and to put sharons mind at ease. Kept everything in the right direction, did exactly as told, and felt like I was auditioning for a scene in a James bond film. No not the glam roles, just the enemy had captured me and waiting forvthe laser beam to appear, and of course james should come to my rescue, but alas dream over. All went well, 2 tatoos 1 which she had to do 4 times, 1 right in middle of cleavage and looks like a flippin blackhead! so, start on 8th april, only to use Simple soap around area and NO deodorant on that side for whole 3 weeks! I hope all good with everyone, wish you all courage, strength and hugs. Lol xxxxxxxx
Hi ladies. Very interested to read all your experiences with the rads as I’ll be starting mine some time after mid April I think, unless my surgeon decides on another WLE when I see him on 14th. Had rather a down day today as I feel like I’m in limbo and just want to get on with it all. My OH can’t understand why I don’t feel more chirpy, since I was told there was no spread to the nodes. Clearly he doesn’t understand how it all plays with your head but why would he? Anyway girls don’t forget the clocks go forward this weekend, not that an extra hour in bed is any good for me as I don’t sleep anyway! I also have vivid not so nice dreams inbetween fitful bouts of sleep and would give anything just to sleep through the night once! Going to try Bach’s Flower Remedy so will let you know if it works. OH says he could always hit me on the head with a mallet but that doesn’t sound too appealing for some reason. Xx Francine
Evening ladies
Pandorra I’m very glad to know I’m not the only one with what looks like a blackhead in my cleavage! I’m rather proud of mine, it’s a sort of survivors Badge of Honour I think (and I have it on good authority, i.e. I can feel it in my water, that every single one of us is going to be a survivor :))
Can’t say I’m having problems sleeping anymore Lynne, although I did for the first few days. Now I’m having more of a problem staying awake for more than a couple of hours at a time AND I’m sleeping the whole night through.
Hang in there Francine, you’ll be doing the porn star pose on the radiotherapy couch before you know it Radiographers were telling me today that they have two patients coming in next week who will take 3 hours each so I imagine they are having whole body radiation - makes my puny little 15 min treatment seems fairly insignificant so I feel lucky.
Barbara I haven’t felt sick, but I’ve noticed I do feel light headed if I haven’t eaten something fairly substantial before I go in (chocolate biscuits don’t work unfortunately, I’ve tried!)
So, that’s 12 down, 13 to go so I’m halfway through. Yay!
xx
Sharon
Mynahcharlie, I forgot to say that I think the Susan Love book is brilliant and I think it should be prescribed to all who are diagnosed with breast cancer. She manages to explain absolutely everything in a clear and straightforward way which makes the whole thing less scary. It’s the book I’ve returned to at each stage of the treatment to get good advice on what it involves and how to handle it. The website has some excellent ‘before and after’ photos too which I found reassuring to look at before surgery
xx
Sharon
Daniel Craig? Nooooo, you young whippersnapper, it has to be Sean Connery: everyone else is just a poor imitation!
xx
Sharon
EDIT I’m hyperventilating and having a meltdown about your lump even though you’ve said it was benign, aaarggghh!
LOL! Well I think I’d be in the running for whatever prize they give for being a mess: two fibroadenoma, two breast cysts (one accidently removed during surgery), one breast cancer (hopefully fully removed), old lady wrinkles , a cold sore and acne pimples, plus three little blackhead tattoos. And a wonky boob. Can’t imagine why Vogue aren’t falling over themselves to make me their cover girl