Breast Cancer Now Forum

Hi anon1 I have spoken to the helpline about your experience and they have asked me to post this. Hope it helps to clarify things but do get back to us if there is anything else we can do. Best wishes Ann I’m sorry to read that you were disappointed to be put on hold when you called our helpline previously. Our helpline is staffed by a mixture of experienced nurses and trained helpline workers with a personal or professional experience of breast cancer. All the helpline staff receive regular training on a variety of topics- family history and breast cancer being one of them. We aim to provide both information and emotional support to anyone who has a breast cancer or breast health concern. If a nurse or a helpline worker is unsure of the answer to a caller’s question, we encourage them to either go on hold or request to phone the caller back. This is because we want to make sure that all of our information is up-to-date and based on the latest evidence. Many of the research databases we search are online so it might be that this is what the helpline worker you spoke to was referring to. I’m sorry if this gave you the impression that they were doing something you could easily do yourself. I will feed back to the team how important it is to explain fully the reasons why they are putting a caller on hold. If you would ever like to try our helpline again, you would be very welcome to call us on 0808 800 6000, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 9am-2pm. You may also be interested in the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline. Their number is 01629 813000. Best Wishes Antonia Dean Clinical Nurse Specialist Helpline and Ask the Nurse Email Service. ... View more

Hi Dahlia It is probably better if you email her, then you can be sure she will get it. I'll pm you her email address best wishes Ann ... View more

Hi everyone Pippa has mentioned MacMillan here and they do have a lot of information on their site which you may find helpful. http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Resourcessupport/Symptomssideeffects/Lymphoedema/Organisationssuppliers Best wishes Ann ... View more

Hi Mandy You could give our office in Scotland a ring or drop them an email. They should be able to tell you if they know of any groups in your area (Tel: 0141 353 8330 Email: eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%73%63%6f%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%22%3e%73%63%6f%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b')) ) Best wishes Ann ... View more

Hi Susan Congratulations on the wedding from all of us on the forum team. Ann ... View more

HI again forum members This is what our nurse team have said: 'We are sorry to hear that you have developed lymphoedma. It can be difficult to establish the cause of lymphoedma following breast cancer treatment, and unfortunately we have very little good quality scientific evidence available to guide us when we make recommendations about how to try to avoid developing this condition. Many recommendations made by specialists are really made from common sense for this reason. It is therefore difficult to conclude whether or not a pampering hand massage may have an effect on developing lymphoedma, although this is probably unlikely. However we do recommend avoiding deep tissue massage to your arm and hand on the side where you have had surgery to the lymph glands, and to tell your therapist about your breast cancer history. Having a massage by a qualified therapist to the other areas of your body can be both relaxing and beneficial for well being, and should not be detrimental to your health as long as the therapist has an understanding of your medical history. If anyone would like to read more about reducing the risk of lymphoedema, we have a factsheet about this which you can read by clicking on the following link: www.breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/reducing_risk_of_lymphoedema_0.pdf For those wanting information about living with lymphoedema, and how it may be treated, we include another link below to our booklet on this topic: www.breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/bcc_lymph06_0.pdf ... View more

Hi again We do have a pamphlet on complementary therapies, including massage, (on page 20) http://beta.breastcancercare.org.uk/upload/pdf/complementary_therapies_aug07_0.pdf bw Ann ... View more

Hi fishmum You might find this information on the site helpful http://beta.breastcancercare.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.442 or you can always phone our helpline on 0808 800 6000. It is a free and confidential service, open Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm Saturday, 9am - 2pm They are able to offer information and support on any aspect of breast cancer or breast health. Hope this helps Ann ... View more

Hi Jan I am sorry to hear you are having this trouble. I have asked one of our nurses for some advice on massage and will put it here as soon as I get it. best wishes Ann ... View more

Hi Irina I am sorry to hear that you are feeling so rough. I have asked one of our nurses about your symptoms and she advises telling your doctors next time you go for the chemotherapy as they can adjust the dose of your medications and alter the type of anti-sickness drugs you are given (for example including suppositories). Some hospitals are also able to offer other strategies for coping with treatment side effects, such as relaxation exercises prior to having the drugs administered. I hope this helps Best wishes Ann ... View more

Hi Bev This is the advice from Breast Cancer Care nursing team: 'As many of you know, when you have chemotherapy your body is less able to fight infections. For this reason it is usually recommended that during the flu season people due to have chemotherapy have a flu vaccination before they start their chemotherapy. For those already in the middle of their chemotherapy treatment it might be best to check with your oncologist or chemotherapy nurse about what they advise. The flu vaccination is not a "live" vaccine, meaning that there are no safety worries about having it at the same time as chemotherapy. However because your body needs to mount an immune response to the vaccine to give you protection against the flu virus, it might be less effective to have the vaccine at a time when your immune system is not working as well as it usually does. It might be helpful to have the vaccine at a time when your immune system is most recovered and your chemotherapy nurse would be able to let you know when in your chemotherapy treatment this would occur for you (typically towards the end of each chemotherapy cycle). If you would like to read more about this, I include a link Cancer Research UK's website which contains more information: http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=23154' All the best Ann ... View more

Hi Sue You might find this information about Disabled Facilities Grants helpful. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/HomeAndHousingOptions/YourHome/DG_4000642 Best wishes Ann ... View more

HI damhead I do hope that you can get some support from your oncologist. However we at Breast Cancer Care would advise very strongly against buying any drugs over the Internet as you are unable to judge their quality. In addition, all treatment needs to be administered by professional healthcare teams because of possible side effects and it can be very dangerous to embark on a course of treatment without this backup. All the best Ann ... View more

Hi everyone http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/article1838688.ece will take you straight to the article Best wishes Ann ... View more

No Jane you can add to it when you want You can update a sitcky by adding to the thread just as with any other thread. Ann ... View more

Hi everyone And thanks to ostrich for this great list. If you want I can start a new thread and make it 'sticky' so it will stay at the top of the category for everyone to find easily. Let me know Ann ... View more