What lovely news Sharon, you deserve all the good things happening, especially a nice and hopefully hunky man! Glad you’re still enjoying your job and the food I bet! I wondered how you were and you too Beryl. Sending hugs to you. My boob has now healed from the rads, thanks to some really good dressings I was recommended to use. The nurse at my GP was great and ordered them in, bugger the cost she said. The hospital gave me some cheap ones and they didn’t work at all well. After 25 rads which ended at the beginning of December I felt pretty tired but was intent on going down to Somerset to spend Xmas with all the family, including sister over from South Africa. It was lovely to be with everyone but I was exhausted when I got back and not very well. Probably too much for me but sod it, I wasn’t going to miss it. Feeling sad as sister has gone back now and I miss her. Hoping to go out and see her in 2017, health permitting. I’m having a few problems with my stomach again so doc has put me on some meds for irritable bowel and steroids. Just another set of tablets to add to the pile! OH has got a clot in his leg and is on 6 weeks of heparin injections in the tum. I am doing them, as he has a thing about needles and I’m getting very good at it I have to say! I’ve told him not to have a row with me just before I do them as I might get a bit heavy handed, lol. Have started at a yoga class once a week but finding it hard, even the gentle exercises. I’m so lacking in stamina. Can’t wait to start swimming again but going to wait another month or so for the skin on the boob to be a bit stronger. It’s still giving out some heat but no longer painful. Love to you all xx Francine
Hi lovely ladies hope everyone feeling good. Cant believe that this time last year I was getting ready for my op. On Friday I received all clear results from my mammogram so feel much relief. Sharon so pleased for you, enjoy. To all others, sending hugs and best wishes. Let’s continue our special bonding and always here for one another. Xxxxxx
Hi Pandorra. Great news. Glad to hear all is good with you. Monday is the anniversary of my diagnosis and it’s been a hell of a ride! Thank you all for the support you gave me. Struggling a bit with the Anastrazole, hot flushes, insomnia etc but pushing on X Francine
Hi Everyone!
I had my check up and my white blood cells are low. Found this article: medicalinformatics.pw/breast-cancer-survivors-could-be-vulnerable-to-common-viral-and-bacterial-infections/
Anyone else have a low white count? Also my port stung when I had my first flush so I might need a dye test. I requested a PET scan but don’t know if I will make it because of the snow we’ve had feet drop on us. Check out washington dc areas. Wish I could post pictures here but I see the forum has hugs no pics yet.
I do believe that sugar is feeding bad cells so you would think I could stop eating it and Stay stopped but No. So I am testing out a home remedy of baking soda with GradeB syrup 1 to 3 parts (respectively) cooked for 5-10min. I will let you know what happens. Suppose to kill cancer cells. Sounds odd, I know. I’m afraid that what I’ve been feeling under my arm like a burning. Is the cancer back? Or is it sugar related? Oh well.
Wishing everyone well and much love.
Sue
Hi francine, many thanks, think we are all on the 1 year trek and we have all done so well. We have shown strength, courage and when we have sat with our tears we have mustered through. Now, we carry on wiser because I for one have picked up mañy grateful tips, advice and I thank all you wonderful ladies for your friendship and support. Stick with the anastrozole, I was going through a rough time , hot flushes, horrible joint pain in fingers, actually felt crap and was feeling very down, but in the last couple of weeks seems to be easing up. Fingers nowhere near as bad and not so mzny flushes. I have never been a good sleeper but I find that if I read in bed, it seems to help. So, let’s carry on and always here for one another. Hug, wishes and xxxxxxx
Hi Chez and suehoneybee, chez it will feel strange after such a long time, but I am sure you will fulfil your days. Enjoy. Hope you are doing ok. Sue, I had the burning pain and was told all part of healing and sure enough it does go. I still have tingles and I do try to massage the scar area daily. Let us know how you get on with your experiment. I think our Sharon has found love , so pleased for her but we could do with an update couldn’t we. Wishes and love xxxxxxx
Good evening lovely ladies. Pleased to say the Anastrazole hot flushes seem to have eased a bit and the pain in my wrists is definitely not so bad. Perhaps my body is starting to acclimatise to it a bit although I am still dried up line a prune! Ashamed to say I haven’t managed to get to yoga for the last 2 weeks. OH shipped off to A & E last weekend with chest pains and I was worried it was his heart again. However, he has pleurisy apparently so had been put on strong antibiotics and painkillers. It hurts him to breathe too deeply and moving about is also difficult. I’m running our business on my own at the moment so am pooped. Still I’m grateful to be fit enough to do this after last year. Daughter is coming up this weekend to lend a hand before I strangle him! Such a bad patient. I was hoping 2016 might be a better year for us but it hasn’t started too well. Love to everyone xx Francine
Morning lovely ladies 
Cheryl I’m so pleased to hear you are moving on from your job, it didn’t sound like a great place to be anymore and life is way too short to be unhappy. Hope you’ve got lots of exciting plans (not least a bit of a holiday ) and I’m living proof that sometimes change, even traumatic change, can lead to better things.
So sorry to hear some of you are having these awful anti-hormone side effects, they sound miserable. Large doses of lemon tart/chocolate on a regular schedule plus a truckload of painkillers is my recommendation. Are any of the wonderful charities (BCC, The Haven, MacMillan) able to offer any practical advice and support?
Sadly I think my Prince is turning out to be more of a frog. That might be a bit unkind, it’s just that I think he is a fundamentally unhappy person and I find myself feeling responsible for making him happy which is never a good basis for a relationship. This whole cancer thing has really focused my priorities and the main one is being happy myself; if I’m going to be with someone I want it to be because he makes me happy rather than being ‘generous’ enough to share his own unhappiness by pulling me down into it!
Everything else is going well, job still fantastic and I’m off to Seville for a little holiday next month with a dear friend and looking forward to that.
Love to you all, hope you’re all taking very good care of yourselves
xx
Sharon
Hi ladies, hope everyone is doing ok. Good for you Eileen, do what you feel is right, let us know when you get your results. Sending hugs Francine, it will get better. I know it’s not easy when it seems you don’t get a let up. My days are so different with this anastrozole, just start feeling better and then it decides to remind me it’s around. Thought my fingers were getting brtter, but last few days have been awful. Thumbs are evil and can’t even turn taps let alone do anything else. My doctor has suggested cortisol injections if no improvement, but I know it’s not the answer. Oh well, there’s people far worse off I know, but I still think we have some right to moan. Also, had acid reflux, hiatus hernia, for 30 years and last 4 weeks really playing up. Already had 7 endoscopies in the past, so hope it settles down. Sorry about the frog Sharon, suppose kissing won’t change anything then. Great news for Seville, hope you enjoy.
To all you special, wonderful ladies I send you lol and xxxxxx
Hi All!
So much is going on and I wish you ladies had better news! Although one clear mammography is fantastic! Francine hope your husband gets better very soon. Sharon I agree with you. He’s out there! Keep looking.
My mom in law wound up with MS…hands stopped working etc. Dr’s said it was unusual at her age (80) after breast cancer treatment. Sometimes these treatments seem worse than any good they might do. Hope the hands turn around.
I am struggling to get my diet under control (story of my life!). But as for acid reflux OMG I am the Queen of Prilosec but when I successfully stayed on the diet for 4-6 weeks berries yogurt oatmeal breakfast and chicken salad lots of veggies lunch and dinner I swear I stopped having heartburn and stopped the antacid meds that I took for over a decade daily!!! We are all so quick to take pills but diet and what we eat/ swallow can be the answer/medicine. I fall and fell hard to the sugar! Ketogenic diet is looking extremely healthy too the more I read up on it. I may die trying to master what I eat! Bless you all.
So I tried my baking soda mix …not tasty. I am trying to remain open to ideas of treatment that are less harmful and holistic. I did postpone my pet/ct scan because of three feet of snow (Sorry I didnt make that clear last time 3 crazy feet). Well overall today I’m doing good. I’m a little bit afraid really to look for more cancer pet/ct scan but I will get the test done soon.
Good news it felt like Spring today. It was absolutely gorgeous today!
I wish you all health and love,
Sue
Sorry another correction my mother in law has ALS.
Hi all! Good to see we’re all marching on pretty successfully for the most part. Even those with problems are so much better than this time last year.
I resigned from work back in January. Things went from bad to worse and i’d had enough. But… I’m amazed at how positively my job applications were received. Due to start as a support worker with Mencap next Monday. Or with Leeds building society if today’s interview was successful. Turned stuff down too so quite proud of my little 61 year old self!
Finally had my annual check up last week. All clear which was a massive relief. My daughter had her little boy a month ago by emergency section. Both well except her wound won’t heal so she has to have it dressed every day by a nurse. So my brief period of unemployment was timed well as I have been able to provide a taxi service for her.
Love to all. I might not have been posting but I follow this thread all the time xxxx
Hi ladies.
Rosemaryanne sounds like wonderful news. We all need to hear good news. Congratulations on the new grad baby! How wonderful to be a part giving rides and spending time.
Beryl I hope the meds get straightened out very soon. I dislike all the side effects of them.
I have a bunch of tests coming up next week. I keep feeling a burning, itching feeling under my left arm. I am hoping for the best.
Love,
Sue
Hi everyone. Haven’t posted for a while, OH has been having some health problems and it’s been a struggle keeping our business going. We’ve taken the decision to try and sell it later this year, as we want to be able to take time for ourselves and our health. It’s a bit sad as we’ve put a lot in to it but we need to put ourselves first now. I just don’t have the energy or desire post BC to keep it going? My view on life has changed completely. Physically, I feel very tired and am also battling with the SEs of the Anastrazole, like you Beryl. The onc has said that my tumour was highly ER+ so I should think about it carefully before I stop taking it. However, looking st my stats, she said given my age and that no nodes were involved, stopping it would only render me 3% more likely to die fom a recurrence in the next 5 yrs. So it’s my decision. Going to carry on taking it for a while and give it some more thought. It’s a dilemma. Suebee, keeping all crossed that your underarm problems are nothing to worry about and just SE from all your treatment. I still get a burning pain in my boob and sharp needle like pains. Onc says it’s nerve damage from ops and rads and should stop eventually. BC is the gift that keeps on giving eh! Wonder how Sharon is? Sending big hugs to everyone. Love Francine
Hi ladies. Hope everyone is ok. Where’s our Sharon? Great news for good mamogram results, we certainly still go through it don’t we. My hands are so painful, once I get them moving there is some improvement but lost a great deal of strength. Still massaging the scar area as get sharp pains and aches on and off, seems it takes some time on the healing process and definitely still slightly bigger than other one. Hope you sort the business fluffs, yes you need your time now, enjoy. Anyone booked holiday yet? Booked a boat again on the Broads as we both find it so tranquil and fun. Be good if we get some sun though. Hope you all enjoy easter, and those lovely eggs! Thinking of you all and send xxxxxxxx and hugs xxxxxxxxxxxx
HI ladies,
It’s so good to hear all your news. Sorry I’ve been AWOL, life has been ‘interesting’ for a little while now and idiot that I am, I got a bit caught up in all the nonsense stuff and I’m only just coming out the other side.
I had to have my adored kitkat put to sleep two weeks ago which just about broke my heart. He was 16.5 years old so had a pretty good run but I do miss him. And I’ve resigned as well (*high fives you Rosemary*) and finish on 1st April. The job was lovely but then one of my colleagues went nuts for a while because he didn’t get a promotion he thought he deserved and made my working life miserable (along with everyone else’s). Sigh. There are few things quite so nasty as an inadequate but ambitious male colleague so I decided to get out as the environment is toxic now. And, truth be told, the job itself is more than a little boring, it was always the environment that was appealing.
On the positive side, I had a great time in Seville and my health seems good (I even put on my big girl pants and went to the GP to get my dodgy sinuses sorted out so will be be to-ing and fro-ing at yet another hospital soon) :womanhappy:
Love to you all
xx
Sharon
Oh so good to hear from you Sharon, but so sorry about your beloved kitkat. It takes awhile to get over losing a precious part of your life, I still talk to my Ollie who went to rainbow bridge nearly 3 years sgo. Good news on your health, aside from dodgy sinuses, and well done on resigning. You don’t need to be in an unhappy environment with what you have been through, so if you are looking for something else wish you good luck. Hope you have a good easter, the weather doesn’t seem to be too great, but whatever the weather we can eat choccy eggs. Keep in touch. Lol xxxxxxxxxxx
Hope everyone else is ok, lol xxxxxxxxx
Hi all!
Good to hear the updates on everyone. As we drudge the road of happiness. Life is too short to be anything but happy!
My good news:
Good news!
PET scan came back fine - no suspicious areas to suggest cancer recurrence !!!
Love,
Sue
Hi lovely ladies :womanhappy:
Great news SueBee, you must be so relieved! Lovely to hear from you too Pandorra and Eileen.
I was checking my diary earlier today and realised that I have another appointment soon, with the Oncologists I think. I’m not entirely sure why I need to see them as I didn’t have chemo and didn’t take the anti-hormone drugs either but I’ll be pleased to be checked again as my axillary lymph nodes are still swollen which is slightly worrying as they’ve been like that for five or six months now. Sigh. Anyone else having these 6 monthly check ups or do you just have annual mammograms?
Love to all
xx
Sharon
Hi Cheryl, it’s good to hear from you and the volunteer job sounds really great, so pleased something positive has come out of it for you as you’ve been through the mill this last few years. Love and loss is always hard to deal with never mind our own health problems on top of it all.
I’m definitely up for a meet up in London as it’s easy for me (although I’d travel to meet you all as you’re all worth it!). To me this last couple of years has been a bit surreal, almost can’t believe all the bereavements/ cancer actually happened so I’m longing to talk to you all to hear your experiences.
Love to you all
x
Sharon