hi everyone
my mum has just fnshed all of her treatment, and i am pleased to say minius a few little hic ups has all went very smothly, (easy for me to say - i know). as she is triple neg, its all over. i have some question i was wondering if anyone could help me with, thanks in advance-
mum would like to dye her hair how long do you have to wait till you can?
when can you use perfumed soaps, bubble bath ect?
just one other thing we have got her appointment with the onc on tue, what hasppens at this appointment now all the treatment is finished- more tests?
i would also like to thank all the people of this forum you have provided me with support and knewledge throughout this bc jorney, i wish you all well, you all truly are insprational.
love jo
x
Hi there,
I was told by my Onc that I could use a semi permanent dye 3 months after last chemo and a pemanent after 6 months. I had alot of grey hair and i found a really good herbal dye called Naturtint in my local health food shop. Its a permanent but I put it on 3 months after last chemo and it worked a treat.
The appointment with Onc will probably be an examination and chat about what happens next. I was told not to use perfumed soaps etc for 2 weeks after Rads. I would play it by ear, If she is still sore and red I would maybe wait a little longer.
hope this helps
lots of love
Andrea x
Hi
Congratulations to your mum, I finished my treatment in January and had a follow up with my onc 6 weeks later, he examined my boobs obviously but also did that finger tappy thing on my chest and back, felt my stomach and all round my neck. He then declared that all was well and I would be referred back to the surgical team for monitoring.
I then got my list of questions out [get your mum to make a list and add any questions you have] and he answered them all very patiently before saying I must stop worrying because I am a normal person again now, yeah right!
I have since had an urgent referral back cos I was getting armpit pain similar to pain I was getting pre-dx but had mammo and scan and both were completely clear, radiologist said pain was probably just healing stuff [well she didn’t quite say it like that she was a bit more technical but thats what she meant!]
Anyway good luck and you might be able to help me with a query, what is triple neg?
AJxxx
hello again
thanks andrea i will certainly go a try to find a hair dye for her now as i think it would make her feel much better.
thanks aj that explains what we are going to the hospital for on tue. fingers crosssed all is ok. do you have any questions you would reccomend us asking?
triple neg is when the tumor was not sensitive to hormones (oestrogen and progesterone) and also HER2- so this in turn means that the hormonal tablets many others get to take for 5 years (tamoxifen etc) and herceptin are of no benifit to these type of tumors. its a little scary having tripple neg but i have gained so much knewledge of this type of tumor from reading the posts from fellow tripple neg (especially JaneR) that realy each and every tumor and person is very difffernt, so triple neg doesn’t automaticly mean a poorer outcome. hope this helps.
love jo
xx
Jo
Thanks for the explanation and you hit the nail on the head when you said every tumour and every person is different, don’t read the stats they really don’t mean anything.
My questions were really based around things that were happening to me, finger and toe nails falling off, I have deep ridges in my chemo arm that run from my elbow to my hand which were worrying me, things I should look out for now I am “on my own with this”, I asked him to clarify the whole menopause thing with the tamoxifen. I’m still not really sure if this is it or if periods will come back after tamoxifen and I will have to do it all again later [joy].
Just use the time between now and the appointment to write anything down that you aren’t sure about no matter how trivial you might think it is because when you get in there you may not remember.
Good luck and love to your mum.
AJxxx
Hi AJ = noticed you comment about your ridges in your arm. I have them and was told it was my veins that had gone hard and that they were “dead” and no blood would flow through them again. They ache a lot - do yours? Were you told to massage them to try and soften them?
Liz xxx
Hi Liz
My onc said that the veins had collapsed and the damage was permanent. It doesn’t give me alot of trouble just looks horrible. I sometimes wonder if people notice and think I’m a junky but then I remind myself that things that I think are really obvious people dont really notice.
I moisturise every day any way so maybe this is helping without me realising it. It worries me abit what will happen if I need them again but try not to dwell on it.
Whilst I’m sorry you’ve got the same it helps that I’m not the only one!
AJxxx
Hi - I try and massage them every day but the only time they really hurt is when I extend my arm to do my exercises.
I went to the chemo ward when I noticed them and asked the lead nurse what they were and she assured me it was nothing to do with chemo as she had never seen it before ! anyway when I showed the onc she said straightaway it was the veins and that it didn’t really matter as we have plenty of veins for the blood to flow through!!
And yes - it’s good to know there is somebody else out there with this !
Liz xx
Hi Jo
Was your mum’s appt today? hope it went Ok and you are all feeling reassured about the future.
AJxxx