Hello everyone
This is a wonderful service thatis provided for us isn’t it, like so many other services BCC provides. Whithout them, I don’t know where I’d be. They and the nurses, medics, and support group at the hospital where I am treated have been wonderful and a real lifeline for me, as I live alone and don’t have a support network, so I am so very grateful for all the care and support which is provided, and completely free of charge.
On a lighter note, I know we are supposed toavoid just about everything!!! Dairy foods, animal fats, and alcohol, amongst many others. Is anyone out there who is a lover of red wine still consuming?!! I have done much researchand the info is so conflicting. The latest I have discovered is that if your folate intake is sufficient, then it cancels out the red wine possible cause of b/cancer!! If anyone has any helful advice on whether or nto to partake!!! I can let anyone know the website for the bit of folate info if interested.
I suddenly feel flipant - didn’t mean to be. Hope I haven’t upset anyone. If I have I am genuinely sorry.
Hop[e to hear from lots of you,
Love to you all
Dee
Hi Dee,
Absolutely nothing to feel sorry about!!!
I didn’t drink during chemo but only because I felt so poorly {long story], f I had felt well enough I would have done. You read so many conflicting stories about the cause of bc. I was told by my breast care nurse it’s just bad luck and I believe this. While remaining sensible,welll I try… I think a little of what you want can only do you good!
I also live by myself but do have wonderful support from my daughter. i find living alone a mixed blessing - I don’t have anyone else to worry about but sometimes I could do with a great big hug!
I was told by my BC nurse that the reason I got BC was cos I am a woman and produce estrogen. My oncologist, surgeon and GP are all in agreement with this.
There are also 2 other possible reasons for mine - one being that my gran had BC many years back. The other - and my old GP thinks it is highly possible but most difficult to prove - is that for 13 years I lived in a house that was built on contaminated land. The site had been a gas works eons back when pollution was not an issue and the bit my flat was built on was where they used to dump the slag from the fuel they processed to make the gas. The council were forced to do land, water and air pollution testing and admitted that there were contaminates in all 3 but said not sufficient to cause risk to human health - funny that they re-housed everyone and demolished 2 blocks of flats tho.
Sorry to have detracted from your original topic or red wine - I am not a wine drinker and rarely drink any alcohol at all so in my case that was most certainly not the cause of my cancer.
I was diagnosed and had my surgery just before Christmas 2006. Just before leaving the hospital I said to the Breast Care Nurse ‘I suppose I can’t have a drink over Christmas’ to which she said’ ‘yes of course you can - no problem’.
Since then I’ve had a drink when I’ve felt like it although during chemo I didn’t want a drink because everything tasted so strange. I don’t usually drink red wine - I prefer white - but I drink everything else - in moderation.
I also said to the same BCN that I felt bad about possibly having caused the cancer - through HRT - to which she replied ‘we don’t know what causes it’. So at that stage I stopped feeling guilty and just started instead to concentrate on getting better. I think guilt feelings are a waste of time and energy.
Good luck and take care
Anthi x
Can I join in and say that like Lilacblushes I was told that my BC was also because of the oestrogen - especially as my oestrogen receptor status was 100% positive. And, I love my red wine! It’s my favourite tipple and it has good enzymes which are very good for your heart and blood. White wine doesn’t contain these apparently. So I feel that it actually does me good and its my only real vice now that I can’t eat as much and the sex life has gone out of the window…
Let’s face it, if there was only one cause then we’d be a lot further on to a cure! For every one who gets breast cancer who does drink, there’ll be another who does etc. Common sense might suggest maybe that for those oestrogen positive, then maybe long term use of the pill might contribute to the cause, but again there are oestrogen positive women who have never taken the pill! Why is bc so low in women in the Far East? Something they have more or less of in their diet maybe? Why more younger women than ever before? I guess it’s a far more complicated cause we are looking for than just one thing.
So - after that waffle (!) - yes, I do still have red wine, though now the weather is getting warmer (?) I find I prefer rose and I certainly won’t be stopping it. I remember my chemo nurse, bless her, saying to me - “don’t let it take over any more of your life than it has to - do what you feel you can”. She was right. As far as I’m concerned, 3 years on from my diagnosis, I do what I can, whenever I can (and, like everyone, I have moments of doubt or just being downright scared) and cock a snoop at it.
