Bluerose you wont get a PICC if you are having Herceptin. PICC are only used if you are just having chemo.
Good luck for Tuesday
Funki x
Thanks Funki - but why is that? My chemo nurse told me I should consider a PICC and gave me info sheets on them - maybe she doesn’t know I’ll also be having Herceptin?
GOOD LUCK LINDA! Will be thinking of you today and praying for minimal side effects, let us know when you can. Thinking of everyone else starting or having chemo this week xxx
Kath - ‘Anthem’ is brilliant, so true, i sometimes work with people who have disabilities - have you thought about getting your poems published, you could write a book of them? Maybe you have, you should when all this is done x
Feeling for all those losing their hair right now, it is the most traumatic part of all this for some people, but you will get through it and in six months time it will be growing back - hope everyone has a good week this week - fingers crossed.
Love, Sarah xxx
BlueRose call your Chemo Suite and ask them hun. They will be able to answer your question.
I was told Chemo alone = PICC
Chemo + Hercertin = Portacath or Hickman
x
Good morning Valentines,
and thanks everyone for wishing me luck today and for thinking of me … it’s just a pre-chemo talk with a video to watch, and a second chat with the oncologist. Nothing to worry about I don’t think. I doubt I will be having any medical messing today, but I am hoping I get a date for my portacath fitting and a date to start, and I hope these are all this week. Sorry if I gave the impression I was starting today!!! If only …
BlueRose - portacaths are more complicated than PICC lines because the fitting is done in day surgery usually by a surgeon. I imagine this is the reason not all hospitals offer them. My hospital fits them for Herceptin patients because a portacath can stay in place over 12 or more months whereas a PICC line can’t. Those just on chemo get a PICC line.
Mandy - thanks for that link. I’ll have a good read later.
I’ll catch up with all the other posts later. Have a good day everyone, Linda xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bluerose, you can just have a cannula put in and removed each time - you just let medics know if you don’t want a PICC line. Just tell them what you want.
I hope you get a start date today Linda. I have never known anyone have to wait this long for a start date. X
Thanks Funki - It has been forever. I had my lumpectomy and SNB on 18th January - no problems arose other than a tiny margin on one side. Waited 5 weeks for my cavity shave on 22nd February. Successful. Still waiting for a date to start chemo - a full 2 months after lumpectomy.
Good morning Valentines! Won’t be long now Linda - and I hope your treatment goes fine. 
We are having some nice weather here today in S. Wales - I’ve just put out more bird food - can’t keep up with them.
You poor thing Linda! I guess they wanted you to get over your cavity shave and have taken the date from then instead of your WLE. Fingers crossed for you lovely lady. You have been such a support to us all in here and I hope we can offer you as much support once you start X
Hi there all my lovely Valentines
Sorry I’ve not posted lately, but as usual I’ve found chemo fairly rough. Due to round 1 going so badly I had to see the Consultant Onc this time who said I’ve had a worse than normal experience so far. They fitted me with a syringe driver this time round which helped immensely although there were still occasions where I had my head down the toilet! Anyway while I’m still not back to ‘full power’ I wanted you all to know that I hadn’t deserted my BREAST FRIENDS.
Surprisingly I still have quite a lot of hair, it falls out all the time, but to a stranger I’ve a full head - I can see slight bald patches but theyre not obvious. The mess around the house drives me crazy but I haven’t lost enough to warrant the clippers yet. My oh shaved his but I think it was a good excuse for him to get rid of the lot rather than in sympathy for me lol.
On the PICC line debate, nothing like this has been offered in my hospital (same as injections or cold caps) & my arm was very sore getting round two administered. I’m taking my water bottle next time as it was just too uncomfortable this time. I even saw a lady get her Herceptin via a normal drip into her arm. Strange, must be different hospitals/different routines. To be fair though I can’t fault the nurses at Antrim as they’re very caring & can’t do enough for you.
Dyane
FEC 2/6 day 6, Antrim Area Hospital
I got a copy of my pathology report (I love all the gory detail lol) & it made interesting reading. Not only am I ER+, but PR+ too, I was also 8/8 in positivity, so am hoping this means that tamoxifen will work well for me. Anyone know if that’s right? Alison or Jo? I know you girlies are professionals in a similar type field, so if you can shed any light I’d appreciate it, or anyone else for that matter as Linda is pretty good on the research front/knowledge too.
Did anyone else get there’s or am I the only sadist in the group lol?
Dyane
FEC 2/6 day 6, Antrim Area Hospital
As I’ve been AWOL for a few days it doesn’t mean that I haven’t tried to keep up with everyones posts as I try & read when the eyes are up to it. Please don’t be offended if I don’t mention you but there is just so many messages to keep up with however I particularly felt for Jo’s sad story (& all you other girls with similar issues) not only faced with this dreaded disease but to have had that added torture. My heart went out to her when I read her post.
I have a friend who at 29 was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Instead of chemo they gave her radical rads which was so extreme she is still very closely monitored today (14 years on). The treatment is no longer available now as its considered too harsh. Anyway she was told that she’d probably be infertile yet she defied the odds to go on and have a healthy little boy who is now 10! So ladies never give up hope, none of us know what will happen.
I hope 2014 bring you all plenty of dirty nappy’s & sleepless nights that have nothing to do with steroids!
Dyane
FEC 2/6 day 6, Antrim Area Hospital
Linda- really hope you get a date, think I assumed you were starting today- if only, like others have said you’ve been a great support to people on this thread, hope we can all return the favour!! fingers crossed for a date today! X
Hi Dyane,
so good to hear your friend is doing so well 14 years on, i had non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma 18 years ago and had chemo &rads, don’t want to cause unnecessary worry but this breast cancer I have now is thought to be as a result of the rads (my lymphoma was in the chest&lung), like you say they do not use the same treatment now, I know you said she is being closely monitored, I hope and pray she is, I was having yearly mammograms and found the lump myself, it was missed on the mammogram. Hope you don’t think I’m being a scaremonger, your story just hit a nerve but inspirational at the same time, like I said sounds like she is being monitored closely x
Sarah xxx
Morning Vatentines.
Just read latest poem Kath - Again spot on.
Linda fingers crossed you get start date today.
Good luck to all having appointments today.
I think I should keep diary of all the “chemo brain” moments Im having so that I can look back and have a laugh sometime in the future?! But at the moment I’m more likely to burst into tears rather than laugh. For example, this morning in the shower I stood looking at the bottle of shampoo and wondered whether I should still use that or whether now Im bald I should use the body wash. . . .
Off out for lunch with OH now. Enjoying feeling almost normal before second FEC on Wednesday.
Tup x
Well Linda, you asked for it, here it is.
Bloody Forum Gremlins!
Those sodding forum gremlins
are up to their tricks again,
posting stuff out of order
and playing around with my brain.
Someone will ask a question
and I will give a reply
but when I look at it later
the answer comes first! But why?
I spend hours reading each message
from all of my friends so dear,
and ages more typing my own stuff
just to see my post disappear!!
I don’t think I’m turning senile,
or that the chemo’s to blame
as others have had the same problem
it’s those bloody gremlins again!
So next time I send you a message,
and it’s gobbledy gook you can’t read,
don’t think I’m losing my marbles
it’s those gremlins that did the deed.
Love Kathxx
Sarah I’ve sent you a PM.
kath keep the poems coming, they’re our little ray of sunshine through these dark chemo-filled days .
Dyane
FEC 2/6 day 6
I have my path. report Dyane and all my medical notes - gotta keep an eye on the medics!
Tup, I forget words - it happens on this TCH, but was bad on FEC . You can be in the middle of a sentence and forgotten the word you want. So you have to make a longer sentence, a kind of bid for time! E.g. thinking 'what’s that big yellow square thing you clean with? Oh yeh, a duster!
Jen xx
Trust Dawn French, this should make you smile.
http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/625596\_496733553717713\_271001288\_n.jpg
Kath xx