Breast Cancer Now Forum

So sorry for your loss. Remember the good times. Take care Marilyn x ... View more

I must be thick. What is a mastopexy? I've not heard it mentioned at hospital. Thanks Marilyn x ... View more

right handed ... View more

Hi Greanpea How I remember the tears. Some days were really bad, and for no apparent reason. Feel free to speak to us as at some time or other we've all been the same. My worst time was just after starting Femara and all anyone needed to do was smile at me and I blubbed. Hope tomorrow is a better day Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Kelly That's one bit of good news, hope the next is as well. Take care Marilyn x ... View more

We don't need a special day or month to think about bc as we think about it everyday (we wouldn't be on here so often if we didn't). I don't feel like it's partytime. I feel mutilated, disfigured, deformed - choose what word you will, and I've had a reconstruction. My body doesn't feel like 'mine' I'm going into hibernation in October Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Td Thanks for replying. It always feels better to talk to somebody. She had lumpectomy, chemo and rads, and also has lymphodema. She told me yesterday she's waiting for an appointment, so it looks like it's back to another load of appointments for her. Fingers crossed MarilynX ... View more

Hi Kelly Sorry you're having to go through the wait yet again. I'm convinced that until you're in our position your don't realise how patronising the "don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing", sounds. We all worry and aches etc, that don't seem to disappear, and we know that all too often it's something. We hope it's not. My chemo nurse had a scare and I told her "I'll not say what everyone says. I'll say - I HOPE it's nothing" I hope your scan turns out OK. Back to last year, when Daughters' hubby left and you called him am a....hole. She's got a new feller and he seems very nice. It's also looking like A...hole was seeing someone. Life is starting to look good again in our family, I hope that things soon look up for you. Take care Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Lorna I had mast/TRAM recon in Aug06 followed by 8 FEC and 17 Herceptin. I finished Herceptin at the end of March. Whilst on Herceptin I permanently felt like I was starting with a really bad cold, but all that happened was the runny nose. I was always tired. I still only do 3 to 4 days a week at work. My heart function at the end of treatment was borderline for stopping it, but because I only had 1 to go when the results came back it went ahead. A later scan showed that my heart function was back to 59%. I was brave on Tuesday and did my weekly shop on my own, I was kn*****d by the time I'd put half the shopping away. I'm not doing that again in a hurry. Walking is fine (did the Race for Life in 55mins) but the shopping etc exhausts me. Play it by ear and don't overdo it. It's finding out how much you can do without ending up in an exhausted heap. Take care Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Joan Good luck for tomorrow Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Joan ... View more

Hi Maureen Is it a touring or static site? Sounds ideal and much nearer than where we found in Scotland. We're in Burnley and have a touring caravan. Enjoy! Marilyn x ... View more

Hi All We've been away for the weekend and I've just logged on and had a read. I support Jane's views. There's more to life than being 'alive'. I do not want to be helpless, incoherrent and in pain when my time to 'go' arrives. Lots of you know that I have an oddball way of looking at things and have declined some treatments because of side effects making life intolerable. To me there are ways of living which , to me, are worse than dying - my Dad has his first stroke when I was 9 my sister 6 and my brother 4, he made a full recovery and did so frome the next one when I was 17. When I was 21 he had a third and he spent from 1972 to 1976 unable to walk, feed himself, speak or even push himself up when he slipped down in his chair. My Mum had a heart attack from the effort of being his 'carer', and he spent his las 2 years of life in hospital. Don't get me wrong, I loved him and hoped with all my heart(as we all did) that somehow he would recover. I do not want to be in a postition to need care like that. Once I get to that stage I want to go quickly as I will not be alive but only breathing. I hope that I never need to think about this and that I die like my Father-in-law did, with a book on my knee and a mug of tea on the hearth. More upsetting for those left, but better for him. My family have had a warning about me, cancer is a wake up call to all of us, and we are making the most of our lives. I'm lucky not to have secondaries, but who knows what the future holds. I know what I don't want it to hold. Marilyn x ... View more

47. When what you thought of wearing for the big night out fit in all the right places ... View more

Hi All I too worry about whether or not I'm going to get secondaries, recurrence or God knows what, so in that respect we're all in the same boat. My hubby tells me (and I agree), that I have an oddball way of looking at things, and so to a certain extent have refused some treatments, and am taking my chances. I have had a few friends who have had secondaries and died, but, and I don't mean to upset anyone, if statistics show that a certain percentage 'make it' and live for many years, every one who doesn't make it increases my chances of doing so. That is how I'm coping at the moment. I said I had a whacky way of looking at things and I certainly don't want to appear hard hearted, but like some of you say we have to look after ourselves. It still upsets me when I hear of others with secondaries etc but like those who don't have breast cancer think 'glad it's not me' I think the same. Sorry if I upset anyone but it's how I'm coping. Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Ann Thankfully I don't have any symptoms for secondaries, but my hubby did have a kidney biopsy in 1999. He went into Preston as a day case and from how he described it it seemed to be a similar procedure to a core biopsy. He had it done in the morning and had to lie still for the rest of the day. As there had been no bleeding, he came home in the evening. His was not cancer but his kidneys had been damaged by the anti-inflammatories he took for his arthritus. He had to take it easy for a couple of days. Hope it goes well and that it isn't secondaries. Take care Marilyn x ... View more

Hi I had an immediate TRAM recon mid August 06 and went back to work in October. It was only the chemo etc that b******d up my recovery. If you're careful and do what they tell you and maybe find slightly different ways to do things, life is not much different. That's for me anyway. Just find it a bit difficult to bend down to weed or to brush the edges of the carpets. Good luck in making your decision and hope the wedding goes OK, our son gets married end of October. Marilyn x ... View more

Hi Julie I took Femara for two weeks and actually felt suicidal ( got round to working out whether or not I'd got enough tablets to end it all). didn't because i didn't want sectioning if my attempt failed. I had loads of other side effects as well. Think mood swings and depression one of the not so common effects. Hope it soon wears off Marilyn X ... View more