Hi all,
Just popping in to say hi as I'm finally starting to climb out of the pit of second T. The se's haven't been quite as bad this time - I think that last time it was worse because I did 2 days at the hospital to have the herceptin (day 1) then the T on day 2, so I was knackered to start with. I've also been ultra careful with my mouth and have (touch wood) not had any ulcers this time. The fatigue and blues are as bad as before though. Hopefully the fog will lift soon!
Popkit - my neighbours are doing building work too!! They've discovered that our gas mains routes through their garden so it now needs to be moved. The gas men came round to us on Thursday (day after treatment) to see if they could sort it that day - which involves digging up our garden. I gave them short shrift! When they got in touch to arrange when to do it I explained that I was having medical treatment and could it not wait until the new year. They said that our neighbours are having a new drive laid and want it done in 2 weeks time. I very nearly went on a big "you try chemo and see how important a new f*ing drive is after that" tirade but managed to restrain myself. Just could do without the extra stress!
Ref the different treatments, I think it's good to remember that everyone here is having something slightly different because the NHS (like other country's health services) is so good at tailoring its response to BC. In the 'old days' we'd have all been on exactly the same regime because every cancer was treated the same. These days they understand it so much better they can tailor everything to your type of cancer, to your personal situation. So definitely ask questions of your onc if you want to understand more about the choices they are making for you, but don't worry that someone who 'seems' to have the same BC is having different treatment, because there's probably something subtly different that we don't see. Also, in my case, I was giving the choice between surgery first or chemo first because there wasn't any difference in terms of prognosis, and I'm sure there are other similar situations where treatment decisions have to be made even though it doesn't make any difference in the long term, so different oncs might make different decisions.
Moving beyond chemo, I know a few of us are looking at radiotherapy coming up and thought I'd share something I read. When they do radiotherapy they tattoo some really tiny black dots on you so they can get it in the right place each time. Apparently, some hospitals have the option of tattoos that only show up in UV light, but you might have to ask for it to get them. As someone with very pale skin I found this helpful as I don't like the idea of black dots on me, however small. So I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else wanted to ask their hospital about it when the time comes.
Right, must stop procrastinating and walk the dog - my first proper outside trip for 3 days!
xxx
