Breast Cancer Now Forum

After Eight Mints??? Good on ya girl 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 Bleeding heck, for a bunch of strangers we are all the same with our ups and downs. But it gives me strength to know that what Im feeling is "normal" in the most un-normal situation to find myself in. Deep breaths my lovelies and best foot forward xxxx 🌻 💐 🌻 ... View more

Thank you so much Lucaboo xxx Feeling very very low tonight. My B/F has really peed me off being so stupidly blokeish and thoughtless and I'm beside myself with stress and upset. Really not what I need right now 😕 😕 😕 Hopefully things will calm down by the weekend and he'll realise what an a☆☆e hole he's been. Sorry xxxx ... View more

Good luck everyone who's getting on the September hit list!! You are in the right place for help, advice, rants and bellringing. I finished rads nearly 8 weeks ago now (where has the time gone????) and life is getting back to normal. Sometimes it really does feel like the last 5 and a half months have been a dream. I am one of the biggest stressheads ever BUT, in the end there was nothing at all to stress over and no massive side effects to note. Keep well moisturised and drink heaps, thats the best advice I can give 🌼 🌹 🌼 ... View more

I too feel like this all happened so long ago and to someone else! Seems so unreal now and feel like I'm at a bit of a loose end. Silly mare. 🌻 🌼 🌻 ... View more

Zips, make sure you post in "After the bell" We have tended to have finished treatment over the summer and are keeping an eye on each other as we start to find our "normal". 😊 🌻 😊 ... View more

Meant *It wasn't a pretty sight*!! ... View more

Hi Chris, I've posted about my nip in other threads, so apologies to anyone who's read my take on it already!!! Scroll on if you have 😂 😂 😂 My skin did great, no issues at all but my nip didn't fair so well. It was very itchy and swollen and so so sore to touch. It was almost like a blister around it and although there was no blood or skin breakdown, it was a pretty sight. Never forget the look of horror on my boyfriends face when i gave him a flash 🤢 I went to Boots and got a tube of Lanolin cream "Lansinoh" tiny little purple tube and a box of breast pads. After using it for a week my skin dried out and once the scab feel off it was lovely new skin underneath. Sorry for the graphics!! Boob and nip now fully recovered but i have more or less a full box of breast pads........... 🌼 🌼 ... View more

Thanks for that Ktk. Im back at the hospital in another few weeks so shall nip in the MacMillan centre and ask them about it. 😊 ... View more

Hi there, Just to give you an idea of what I went through. I had a lumpectomy and my rads started just under 6 weeks after that. Everything for me went pretty quickly from first going to the docs to getting through rads. I know they always say that you need time for your surgery to heal before rads can start so it makes sense for your timings to being longer then mine as a MX is a lot more involved then the lumpect. Remember, rads is belt and braces treatment, you're through the worst and the bugger is out. You just need to go through the mopping up stage now. Good luck to you and take care xxx ... View more

Dearest Ailand, What the other lovelies have all said is 100% true. I had a total meltdown at my planning session. It was prob the only thing I went to without my mum or boyfriend being with me and I just got totally overwhelmed. A total snot fest. But you know, once the routine kicked in it was totally fine. I never bothered to change in to a gown at all. I just used to get in the rad room and whip my top off! I think by that stage I didnt care who saw my boobs as they'd have seen it all before anyway 😁 However, i was always given a sheet of paper to allow for some modesty. They even covered me with it while the zaps happened so that i didnt lay there feeling exposed and vulnerable. Not that i ever did. Think the quickest session was me being in and out in 10 mins. But the faff was the 70 mile round trip. Just for 15/20 mins on average!!!! So, heaps of moisturiser, Aloe Vera gel, water, water and water. Honestly, it must get boring us all saying the same thing 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 😘 ... View more

AnnieA, I hear ya!! I was called in to my boss' office yesterday (felt like a school kid all over again being sent to the headmistress) and actually considered that she was going to ask me how i was. But no, she just talked about a company restructure. But even when she or my line manager ask how I am, its not in the way of "Seriously, how are you, are you coping, can we do anything to help" its more of the causal "How are you?" -meaning for me to give the shortest answer possible. Hey ho. I have a job where Im out and about most of the time so as long as they leave me alone I'll do my own managing of how I feel. 🌼 🌻 🌼 ... View more

Hello my lovely friends xxx Been a bit quiet on the forum front this week as it was my first full week back at work. My life was I knackered by yesterday evening!!! My body wants to hit sleep mood at about 1 to 2:30 and although I could easily have a siesta i fight it. (Although the thought of an afternoon nap really appeals but not professional when at work!!!) Now 7 weeks since the end of treatment and everything has pretty much settled down. I still have a very faint pink patch on my chest where the rad field ended and the non zapped skin meet and it get slightly itchy and warm if I get hot. But I carry a tube of moisturiser in my handbag and dap on some of that to calm any flare ups. Im really impressed with the way my wounds have healed, i keep meaning to up the use of Bio oil but my scares have more or less gone. Thankfully the scare from my node removal gets hidden in a convenient bit of under arm fat 😂 😂 😂 Im keeping an eye on any side effects from the Tamoxifen as I've been on the for 3 months now and touch wood, the only thing I can think of is a hot flush to the middle of my chest a few times a day but thats not every day. Plus Im using it as an excuse as to why I can't lose weight!!! Im back at the hospital in about another 3 weeks and I think that that is when they sign me off?? I might give my BCN a bell just to confirm what its all about. I know there is never an ideal time for all this rubbish to hit, but Ive got to admit that it was well planned with it all coinciding with a lovely summer rather then a dark and gloomy winter. Every cloud!!!!! Much love xxxxx ... View more

Hi Pinklily, Im thinking of buying the MacMillan recipe book. Was having a look through it the other day at the hospital and there were some lovely ideas in there. Over the last 18 months I've put on a good stone and a half so seriuosly need a kick up the backside to lose it. You'd think getting through my diagnosis and treatment would spur me on but Im such a comfort/convenienance eater that its just not happening at the mo!! ... View more

Well done Thistle, Amy and JClarke for getting to the end of rads and the endless days travelling to the hospital xxxxx The sun will be shining, hopefully all weekend, so kick back and enjoy the rest while your bodies adjust themselves and settle down. Remember that you will feel little pings of nerve movement and your skin might get worse before it gets better, but things settle down after a few weeks so just let nature take its course. And don't forget to book your 6 week follow up appointment. Many gentle hugs one and all xxx ... View more

Thank you Marla xxxx Good Lord this thread has gone off in so many different directions!! We all have so much to say. Please take care all x ... View more

My mum swears blind that mine was stress related. I've had a right old time of it over the years, stress in my job, stress in a past relationship, stress of buying my own place, I guess I could see her point. However, my blip was very hormone responsive and so i put it down to years and years of being on The Pill. I never had babies although there were breaks from it over the years. I was a vegetarian for nearly 15 but went back to eating fish about 2 years ago. Im not yet 50. Do yoga and walking is a hobby. Never smoked, have a drink once every 2 to 3 weeks, never touched drugs. No real family history. So as my nan always said "You can't wonder at it" So i guess I'll never know for sure but what I do know is that life really isn't worth stressing over as we're a short time here and a long time dead!!! ... View more

Good luck tomorrow and hope Bobby Ewing is there supply much needed tea and cake 😂 😂 😂 I went on holiday 2 weeks after my surgery and all was ok. Had to wear flight socks just in case. I also rang my insurance company to let them know as i was worried they'd make my insurance null and void. Thankfully it all stood but they couldn't cover me for anything related to the BC as it hadn't been 6 weeks since my surgery. Let your team know your dates and if they are anything like mine, they said don't change your plans till the need arises. GOOD LUCK!!!!!! ... View more

Hi Lou, A quick rundown from me! I had my lumpectomy as a day patient and under a general. It was a long old day and a bit of touring round the different departments but the NHS is a well oiled machine and i just went where i was told. (Thankfully had my partner with me, star that he is.) Started with a pre-op with one of the nurses and got issued wrist tags and lovely surgical socks. After that a trip to some department or other where they injected me with dye, so as to trace the line of my lymph nodes. I had 3 removed in the end. After that it was off to the breast clinic to get marked up via ultrasound and feeling. (My blip was very near the surface and could be felt by everyone. Literally. After that it was back to the inpatient dept and was kitted out for surgery. My procedure was done late in the day as i had a temperature for some reason, so they did some investigation before they'd put me under. No idea what it was but had a temp of 38.7 Maybe it was getting hot and bothered walking to all the departments!!! Surgery was 2 hours with 2 hours in recovery. They took the blip and nodes and patched me up before sending me home. The next day the nurse came to visit to check my dressings and go through the arm exercises. I was pretty mobile already and i put that down to yoga. I spent the next dat resting then the day after went for a 3 mile walk with my partner and my mum, as i just wanted to get out. I think its just the tiredness from being knocked out and the emotion of it all which drains you. But looking back, it really was very straight forward and painless. Just a bit of discomfort at worst. Sorry to go on, but that is the edited version!!!! 😊 😊 😊 ... View more

Hope alls gone well and you're home and tucked up in bed. The dye was the bit that got me as well! Take care and be gentle with yourself xx ... View more

Good luck for today xxx I stupidly had a cup of tea with milk the morning of my surgery!!!! But they did me last and I was home by 7:30 that evening. It was a long old day and felt a bit like going here there and everywhere to get to different departments but I had my boyfriend with me the wholetime and he listened to instructions as I was just in another time zone!! After surgery I was discharged after 2 hours and apart from feeling numb in the area operated on I was fine. Very sleepy and feeling sorry for myself but otherwise just glad it was all out of me. The district nurse came the next day to check me over and leave me my exercises to do and after that it was a case of just slowly getting on with stuff again. All very uneventful really. Just take it easy and good luck xxx ... View more