Oh Quaggie your surgeon sounds like they’ve time traveled from the 1950’s!
WLE is major surgery, just look at the consent process… I felt strangely diminished when a good friend asked if I’d had local or general, I can laugh about it now, we’ve all been clumsy. That’s why this forum is so helpful.
p.s. I had a gynae consultant ask me once if I had children - bearing mind where his head torch was shining it took all my effort not to reply “can’t you tell?” ?
Mahamilton… So pleased that the postman is safe again. I managed to get a holiday in between planning meeting and start of Rads. Was good to get away and not having to be constantly thinking about hospital appointments. Hope you have a lovely time. My sister has been a star throughout all of this and has asked my husband and I to go away with her and brother in law next year,busy now planning a trip that will definitely make a massive hole in the kids inheritance. Ha ha. Oh and in case anyone is wondering my mother is definitely not tagging along.Have a good day everyone hope treatment is going to plan xx
I had dressings that you could bathe in and they told me that when they came off naturally that it was fine to leave it uncovered -that was about 5 days after surgery so it will probably be fine .It was similar when I had hysterectomy - they said let air get to wound unless infected .
Hello all,
I was with my daughter and future son in law yesterday in hospital (just had 4 nights in with neutropenia/ sepsis) and a nurse was trying to reassure them about my fate. She said to them “well if you could pick a cancer, breast cancer would be at the top of my list”.
I said
nothing.
Oh Georgie Gee bless you so not helpful… hopefully you saw the dark humour in it. My hairdresser said he thought bladder cancer was easier than Breast cancer (he’s not had BC but was being nice!)
Today’s favourite for me was
Friend “so have they told you to lose weight”
Me “no”
Reply “oh…I thought they would”
Me “they might, … when I’ve finished treatment”
Reply “have you thought about 5&2?”
Me “not really, tbh, I’m focussing on treatment at the mo… coffee?
You can imagine the Bridget Jones commentary in my head…
Mcnulcc - have fun planning spending the kids inheritance!
Hope those having treatment this week had a good Monday x
Hi I don’t know how i ended up here but your posts have made me smile… I so get the inappropriate comments… Especially the ones from mothers! Mine is wonderful and I love her to bits but sometimes… I too didn’t tell her when I found the lump or had biopsy but wanted until diagnosis, j just knew she would worry. Once i knew e it was BC we went to tell her. On hearing the news she broke down in tears and said ,“if something happens to you i will kill myself”. Hmmm no pressure there then! She did apologies at a later date tho. She has also repeatddly told me abouta a terminal lady she knows"but it’s ok as it’s pacreatic". Also on asks me frequently what hair colour I use even though I have none! Bless em! Perhaps a 2 for 1 offer on mums Mclnucc?
Kip… Your mum sounds just like mine. I do love her but at the moment I need a lot of space between us. Like possibly a whole continent…
Hi Ladies
Just in from a quick trip to the co-op where I bumped Into an acquaintance who’s sister passed away from BC two years ago. She said I looked well then asked me what grade and stage my tumour is, this was in the middle of the shop and surrounded by people, it caught me completely unprepared. Not sure if she wanted to assess my chance of survival but I was dumbfounded. I lied and said I didn’t know. On a lighter note, went dress shopping with my sister yesterday, she got a bit hot and bothered trying things on and asked me if I had a scrunchie she could borrow! ?
Jacq x
Oh I agree ladies I’m not ‘more able to cope’, strong or brave either, just getting on with it as I didn’t fancy leaving it untreated!
Some other recent crackers -
‘You’re coping so well’
“I’d be hopeless, I don’t know how you cope”
Are you sure you’re allowed wine?
They have other drugs for all the side effects though, right? (Wouldn’t that be amazing if it was true!?)
I know people are kind in their impatience for us to ‘feel better’ and ‘get back to normal’ but as my hubstar said, ‘I expect we’ll go forward to a new normal to be honest… the treatment is at least 5 years, not just the op’ I was super proud, then I cried, then I had a glass of wine!
P.s. he’s not perfect I had my planning and 3 tiny tattoos spots today, apparently they look like blackheads - charming ?
You are very lucky to have him Maggie - despite the blackhead comment !
And yes wine is allowed !! Just maybe not the whole bottle .
Quite right Jill, everything in moderation!! Yes I got it right second time around ?
?
Yes, defo everything in moderation, especially wine!..cheers ??
ann x
Exactly Pecan!!
I usually respond to the ‘You’re looking very well’ comment by ‘I’m being very well looked after.’ That covers it!!
Both the treatment and care from the medical team and my lovely husband. Then I don’t have to explain anything more.
Maggie48 - your husband sounds really wonderful!! That’s what you need by your side.
Hope everyone is doing well today.
Take care.
Rosie xx
Pecan and Rosie I like those answers!! x
I have just heard of a cracker of an inappropriate comment, a young friend of mine got diagnosed with BC a few months before I did. It was triple negative Grade 3, and she has been through the mill of mental agony, and chemo and rads…
(Our place of employment does not hold any medals for staff welfare, her line manager visited her whilst she was waiting for her chair in the Chemo Day Unit to ask when she thought she’d be back at work ?)
She went back after much nagging, far too soon, whilst still undergoing radiotherapy, and the planned phased return turned in to full time after exactly one week…so she went to her GP and got another sick note, until her treatment ended and she was recovered from the effects.
Apparently the supposed ‘HR manager’ - although we don’t really have one as our HR was contracted out ages ago (this is the Civil Service btw), rang her at home to ask ‘what was the reason for her being off sick now?’
Friend - ‘Has the doc not written it on the sick note?’
Woodentop (aka HR) - ‘Yes, but it says Breast Cancer - you can’t still have that surely…’
Words absolutely failed me - dreading my own return…if I encounter The Enlightened One and get something similar, I’ll be no doubt summarily sacked, - if I can refrain from actual ABH !! ??
Omg Thistledown that sounds like the place I work!!! When I told my supervisor in work she was all sympathetic and then seconds later saying how lucky I was not to have to go work! as much as I’m not in love with my job I’d rather be going in every day than having ops and radio therapy lol she has also been grilling everyone as to what I’m up to, because god forbid I left the house one day to go for lunch with my husband and someone from work saw me and told her.
I had to have a second WLE last week because there wasn’t a clear margin after the first and when I told her I wanted to say ‘see I may look ok when I go out for lunch but inside I’m still going through hell’ but I kept it to myself lol we are going away next week to Lanzarote which was booked last year before any of this happened the doctor has said it will do me good to go but it is killing her that I’m on the sick and going on holiday, sometimes I wonder is she thoughtless or just stupid lol
Love reading all the comments on here it’s beyond belief the way some people think
Sue x
Sue
That’s dreadful !! Does she have a sister - sounds like our own beloved HR person ! ?
You go on that holiday and enjoy yourself, s@d them…you are so entitled to put yourself first here, ( I had a similar carry on, we went after my surgery on 4th July, I kept getting almost daily calls from Occ Health but ignored it… we so needed that holiday.)
Have a great time!
xx
This is a total disgrace. I was going to say that I couldn’t believe that people can say such things but past experiences show they can. I think a very real problem now is that most organisations outsource their HR functions to faceless money making companies who are paid based on the number of people they get back to work The idiot who said that to your friend probably has no life experience and thinks that an operation and a few pills will cure cancer I was personally amazed by a friend of mine who is a senior teacher in a large school who was shocked when I said I had to go to hospital every week day for radiotherapy. She thought you had a powerful x-ray once and that was it. Still so much ignorance out there. I do hope the lady in question does not go back till she is ready. Fortunately there is very good employment legislation protecting the rights of people just like us from uncaring and unfeeling employers. Xx