OH no, its that time again

Ladies, i know i probly drive you mad every 3 months going for my onc appointment and blood test but this time its for my mammo and echo scan. I am dreading it, scared they are going to see something and hate it when they do that echo scan thingy and you see them on the keyboard measuring stuff.They always have this stern look on their face as if they have found something.I am abit paranoid about my liver and sometimes get mild stitch around the liver/rib area and spend half the day poking my hand under my ribs to see if i can feel the liver, then afew mins later i will burp so i suppose its wind. The fluid (or is it fat!) that i have around the base of my neck is worrying me slightly as it seems to have gotten abit worse and when i see my surgeon (the georous sexy one! yummy) the following week he is going to say soemthing about it and am terrified he will want to do tests. I just want to be left alone. I have put on so much weight and i will have to stand there with all my bulges, looking horrendus, looking like mrs schwartenegger. He knows my hair hasnt grown back becuase of course its on my notes about it and i also need a smear but because i have hardly any pubes i just look discusting ‘down there’ so dont want my normal gp (or anyone else) to see that area.
Sorry to moan but these damn tests are so scarey.

Gosh yes pineapple how I empathise with you.I am waiting for appt for 1st post treatment mammo in Nov and I am terrified as I know I will have to wait for results.I also have 3month checkup with onc on 23rd and scared of that too.I get stitchy twinges under my ribs and wonder if its my liver,then my hip sches a bit bones?or that headache or tummy ache or the post rads hardness of the breast.Have a glass of wine with me and we can be paranoid together.I want an oncologist in the cupboard,a radiographer in the drawer and a surgeon[preferably dishy]in the wardrobe.Good luck Valxx

Thanks Val, must say that when i go for mammo, i just wait in the doctors room and he comes in to tell me the results there and then. Thank god, i would crack up having to wait a week or two.You cant share my surgeon, sorry he is all mine! he was the same one that did my hysterectomy 5 years ago so he knows me well at both ends.

I know how you all feel. I’m a year post surgery and should have been due for a mammo and check with my surgeon next month. However, there is so much pressure on the service at the moment that I’ve been shunted back to mid January with the mammo on New Year’s Eve! I checked that this was right but the surgeon has said a few more weeks will be neither here nor there. However, if anything felt not right I would be able to get an appointment within the week.

Thankfully I see the onc in another couple of weeks and she is always happy to do a breast examination, but it’s just a bit longer to worry isn’t it? New Years Eve, can’t wait - NOT! What a day to go for THAT test, even my BC Nurse said that.

How familiar all this sounds. I went for a check up recently because I was worried - it turned out to be scar tissue and post rads hardness - but the look on the radiologist’s face was terrifying. I’ve known him for years and he always looks like that (he sort of shakes his head and tut tuts all the time) but it is still frightening.
I definitely suffer from ‘cancer paranoia’ - every little pain has me worried.

I hope you get on OK Pineapple. Also how is your daughter? I’ve been away on holiday so may have missed some news about her.

Horace and Cherub good luck with your checks too.
Anthi x

Hi Anthi, thanks for remembering about my daughter. As you know she has to wait while they sent it away to this specialist in melanoma down in Bordeaux, so the results come back and she doesnt have to have anything else done! phew. When i next see my fav onc, probley in another 3 months time i will take the paper work into him and get his opinion.
shirl X

Gosh it’s terrifying all these tests now that we know so much more about IT ! Finished chemo in April, rads in June and on Wednesday go for my 1st mammogram since the one I had this time last year that told me the dreaded news(and I wasn’t worried last year - blissful ignorance!) Am really in a tizzy about Wednesday but don’t know what else to do about it apart from keeping busy. Was anyone else listening to radio 4’s Woman’s Hour programme’s on breast cancer ? I just couldn’t stop from having a quiet weep to myself - you just can so identify with all who were spoke.Will be in touch after Wednesday. Bye for now. Mo

Good luck for Wed Mo, i cant consentrate on anything till i have wed out of the way. Thats were i was told it was cancer-the doctor that did my echo- her exact words were (in broken English) ‘you need to get this cut out’, i had to wait while she did a leter for my gp. So of course as soon as i got home i was looking at an on-line french/english medical dictionary and knew beyond a dought. Went back to my astonished GP that night with x-rays and scan results and he just didnt know what to say to me. He had told me 2 weeks before that because it moved about and was painful he doughts that its anything and gave me some progesteron gel and tabs to take for 2 weeks. Its turnes out that i was progesteron receptive!
When it gets to April next year i will move onto 6 monthly tests instead of 3 monthly so that gives me a bigger breather inbetween each one.
shirl X

Hi to all you ladies having your annual mammograms, I too am having my first since my cancer diagnosis last year. I waited for the appointment but nothing came so had to ring the BC nurse and chase it up myself, as if it isn’t bad enough having the darn thing without having to make sure they haven’t forgotten you!!

Finally got appointment sorted out after 2 phone calls, am going for mine on 23rd, so hubby and I are off to book a much needed holiday for after that date, hoping to get a last minute deal to somewhere in the Carribean.

Good luck to you all, thinking of you.

Deborah xxx

Pineapple - I’m pleased to hear that your daughter doesn’t need more treatment. Good luck for Wednesday and good luck to everyone else as well - let us know how all you get on.

Take care
Anthi x

Hi Pineapple and everyone. I went for my first mammogram today since my mastectomy this time last year. One consolation was that I only had to be ‘squashed’ on one side, as my left one is a reconstruction.
The woman operating the machine was pleasant, but stood looking at the screen for ages. She said she was just waiting for the picture to come up, but I’m not sure I believe her. When she took a second pic from a different angle there was no delay.
I also couldn’t get an answer to my question as to whether I would hear nothing until my follow up appointment with my consultant in a few weeks, or whether I would get the ‘dreaded brown envelope’ like last time if they found anything worrying.
I am just going to forget about it. There is nothing I can do.
Good luck to everyone.
I will keep you posted.
Heidicat

Hi ladies, just back and everything looks good !!! i am so relieved i feel like crying.
Apart from mammo he did an ech graphie on boobs, liver and pancreas and it all looked good. Its a bit weird because the little nodule thats been on my liver has vanished, it was there months after chemo finished and was told to ignore it but today he couldnt find it. So it must have just dropped off.
I am off to London, hubby working there, this weekend and going to treat myself to a new handbag (like chelsea’s in Eastenders) and have a lovely wedding anniversary .Got to have a blood test next week but feel so relieved today.
shirl X

That’s marvellous news Pineapple
Enjoy London and hope you have a great time shopping and a great wedding anniversary.
Anthi x

Thanks Anthi, just hope after all that shopping i am not too tired, wink wink

Great news Pineapple, have a great time in London and relax. Went for my mammogram today but expected to get he results like last time, straight away but not this time. No doctor there to report on the result, all the radiologist said was the result would be sent to my oncologist but it could take a few weeks! All I took heart in was that she said to me “see you next year”- isn’t it terrible how you read into a simple comment like that. I suppose she says that to everyone who comes forward but I keep wondering surely if she had seen anything she wouldn’t have said that. Am I getting paranoid or does else feel the same way as me? Have decided to ring the oncologist’s secretary up in a few weeks time to get see what she says, maybe ask my doctor for advice but I know no news is good news in this case.Off to bed as I feel exhausted after my day.Love Mo.