Breast Cancer Now Forum

Thanks from me too Can I add my thanks for a thoughtful and comprehensive review. Unfortunately i don't seem to be able to access the 'other' site (I can't get my Yahoo account to work) so I am grateful for the chance to read the discussions on this site - please don't abandon it - buttons or no buttons! Regards Blondie ... View more

been there I do feel for you Patsy as my employers added to my stress by being really difficult to me. It backfired and they ended up keeping me on full employment for much long than they needed while they \'sorted it out\' and gave me a modest redundancy package; it was small comfort to me as I felt very used (especially as I had given them 22 years of service). At least I got something for my anguish and so must you. I agree with everything that has been said by the others but I do know that it can take ages to get an appointment with CAB so the half hour free sounds with a lawyer sounds good. You could also have a look at your home insurance policy - they often have free legal advice attached and that might be worth taking, even if it just sharpens you up to ask all the right questions at your free half hour elsewhere. Keep records of incidents etc, and ask for everything your employer says, or changes they make, in writing. Keep your chin up and give them your best shot! Blondie ... View more

Argh!! Moderator please I can\'t see the right hand side of the posts and I was particularly interested in the very detailed post by Tigerlily so it is very annoying to have to guess what the end of every line is! This happens far too frequently, is it just to me!!? Can anything be done about this? Regards Blondie ... View more

have asked Thanks Phoebe I have emailed my cousin and I will let you know what I find out. Blondie ... View more

Oncolyn Hi My Canadian cousin has recommended Oncolyn to boost the immune system and has offered to bring me supplies over. Does anyone know anything about this - I have never heard of it before. Posting this on Secondaries site too Blondie ... View more

Hi I had a sillicone nipple made for me at St Andrews prosthetic clinic (part of Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford) all of ten years ago now. This was NHS but fantastic. The nipple was cast from my own nipple and then hand-painted to match my general skin tones. I was given a skin-protector to paint over my skin and glue to attach the nipple to my (protected) skin. I also had glue remover to clean up the nipple ready for the next application. Nothing is perfect but this really worked and I used it for years, including going to the gym, showering and changing in open changing rooms, without being self-conscious. The only reason I don\'t wear it so much now is that my \'good\' boob has got bigger over time (and drugs) and I now wear a prosthetic to even out my \'nippleless boob\' so the stick on nipple is a bit redundant. I also got a lesson in camouflage makeup to cover the dreadful scar that I have on my chest (it is really high up and can show with certain clothes). Again I don\'t use it all the time but when I am dressed up in evening wear, it is great to know that the scar is minimised. You may be able to get a service near to you - you never know until you ask. Blondie ... View more

DDA working? Have a look at \'Hello again\' post by Cakelady on the Secondaries forum for a heartwarming story about how her employers are helping her to continue working. Blondie ... View more

married woman\'s stamp I paid only the Married woman\'s stamp (I was never given any guidance re paying a full stamp) but despite paying over £100 per month in NI I do not qualify for IB. I don\'t believe I am able to pay back any money in order to qualify so I am stuck. The tabloids are always going on about people \'just arriving\' into this country and getting our benefits. Reading the posts here they must be geniuses as the hurdles put in place to stop the deserving getting anything seem to be legion! Regards Blondie ... View more

my old dad I know it isn\'t BC but my dad (86 on Wed last) had to go to a hospital near Southend (we live in Colchester some 50 odd miles away) for eye investigation, the day before his birthday. He was sent literature on how to get there, told he could not drive after but was given no advice re travel costs or any other assistance. I couldn\'t take him as I was in treatment for my BC, he couldn\'t drive himself and my mum was terrified at the prospect of driving around the M25 and finding the hospital. Eventually he popped into our local hospital and asked how he was supposed to get to the appointment in Southend. He was speedily arranged hospital transport - a car would come and fetch him!! He was duly collected and attended his clinic. How he would have got there if he hadn\'t had the wit to challenge the information sent I do not know. Yes more information needs to get to patients on the help available, if only you know it is there! Regards Blondie ... View more

nipple reconstruction Hi Clopickett All the best for the 5th! Sorry to be nosey but what method of nipple reconstruction did your mother go for? It is 10 years since I investigated this and so I am a probably out of date as to methods. I have a specially modeled and hand painted silicone \'stick on\' nipple that would fool most people and i am content with that. Blondie ... View more

joy of reconstruction Hi I am surprised that no one has mentioned discomfort after mastectomy. I had mine in 1994 and waited a year for my expander type reconstruction as I had had a lumpectomy, segmentectomy and finally the mastectomy so I had had enough of operations for the time being. I found that, not having a breast, it was quite uncomfortable to lie on my front in bed as I missed the cushioning effect and lying on just my ribs was awkward. I was not large, mine were only A cup (B on a good day). I did, however, have time to get used to the new me and I think that was important for my mental adjustment over losing a breast. When I did finally get round to having the reconstruction I opted for the expander method and have been pleased with the results however, when I went for my consultation I told the plastic surgeon that I realised that my new silicon boob would be more \'pert\' than my remaining one and suggested that he gave me a boob job on the other at the same time - he agreed!! Then came the funny part, he asked what size he wanted me to be (having always been small I was tempted to go for BIG - but resisted). I settled on a nice 34C. When I was measured for my first bra I got a shock - I was a 32D!! I am really pleased with my \'decolletage\' - it is great to have boobs (and on the NHS too). This disease has taken so much from me (I have secondaries and all that to cope with) but I can get pleasure from the way I now look. This sounds so shallow from a retired academic with very little interest in fashion, but so be it. Now about nipple reconstruction ........ I didn\'t bother but let\'s extend this debate!! Your unapologetically Blondie ... View more

Society\'s canaries I must say that, despite the seriousness of this thread, the thought of breast cancer sufferers being \'society\'s canaries\' did make me smile so thanks for that. Like JaneRA, I do not want to dismiss the ability to screen out the BRCA gene out of hand. Like most things it rather depends on what we, as a society, decide to do with the new knowledge and how we implement its benefits that matters. Let\'s keep the debate going alongside the research, but don\'t reject the research until we know more about its implications. Blondie ... View more

in Sunday Times too Yes JaneRA I too read a critique of the programme. I watched the series and, like you, was amazed that something so fundamental as the fact that the heart patient was on large doses of pain-killing drugs - as well as acupuncture - was not even mentioned! They kept on saying \'how rigorous\' they were being in the programme too - very disappointing. Blondie ... View more

Another thanks JaneRA It does make me smile when your \'terrier like\' approach to shaking things until the truth drops out, turns up trumps yet again! There was one point your research uncovered: \'Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food.\' As I have a hormone responsive cancer HER2 positive - mine would be estradol responsive? (I presume but I am not sure) Is a hormone responsive BC responsive to this \'hormone-like\' Phthalates? Just another little thing for you to get your teeth into - funny isn\'t it, the more you know the more you realise how little you know! Blondie ... View more

Got my reply Courtney I contacted Cambridge website as you suggested and the reply was: \"The decision about whether or not your body is suitable for donation is made upon your death, therefore if you still had breast cancer upon your time of death, this would preclude you. \" It look as if, pending a miraculous cure of course, they don\'t want my poor body. It makes me feel as if I should wear a bell around my neck and shout \'unclean, unclean.....\' Well it was worth asking - sorry folks Blondie ... View more

Well done Thanks for that Courtney. It does seem strange to be \'being proactive\' about our deaths but I, for one, would like to feel I had been of some use - its the recycler in me I suppose!! Blondie ... View more

fuel for the fire OK I accept all that you say and I too have taken issue with people who tell me that \'my positive attitude\' will get me through this (!) however we must not be guilty of \'throwing the baby out with the bathwater\' here. Even if complementary therapies have nothing at all to offer, other than the placebo effect then are we right to dismiss that? Yesterday on BBC 4 a doctor stated that, in a trial (not sure for what) 40% of the people had recovered but had only had a placebo. I think we are wrong to dismiss such results as failure just because they are unexplained. 40%! If the chalk pill did not cure them then what did? Doctors insist on treating our diseases (thank goodness) but do not/cannot treat us as individuals. The more I read, the more I realise what complex creatures we are. Our medical information is increasing at an exponential rate and it would be impossible for one Doctor to know all there is to know about one of our systems (eg immune system) never mind the whole person. We know that people\'s mental state can hasten their death (one partner dying shortly after the loss of the first is just one example) and we also know that the \'placebo effect\' is very real; what is harder to establish is why it should work for one person and not for another. What happens in the medical profession is that these \'miracles\' are taken as \'odd anomalies\' in the tried and tested medical world and, for our poor relatives (and the snake oil merchants) it is seen as \'proof\' that we can, with superhuman effort, beat the odds and make our miraculous recovery. Our loved ones \'will\' us to get better and the medics apply \'rationality\' and probability. Perhaps the answer is somewhere in that very complex middle ground - the mind and body are inexorably tied, but how? I will not throw out the Herbalists, the Healers and the long distance runners and will exercise a balanced approach, taking from each what sustains me. I will continue to refuse to believe that the cancer is my fault, and will tackle anyone who says otherwise, but my belief in the body\'s ability to correct itself has nothing to do with guilt. Somehow or other my body got out of balance and has the ability to regain that balance (sometimes with a lot of medical help) whether that balance can be regained is what is at issue for me - the means are not so contentious and \'virtuous struggle\' just doesn\'t register. Thanks Bernie and JaneRA for, once again, allowing me to get \'stuff\' off my chest - its quite cathartic and probably very good for me (joke). Blondie ... View more

I know it isn\'t organs - I did wonder if I could leave my body to medical science. Surely having bc and secondaries would make us more interesting than a boringly health body! Has anyone else considered this and know how to go about it? Blondie ... View more

What to take? Like some of you I have been buying supplements and then not taking them, as I have lost my way a bit nutrition and supplement wise. I have now decided to follow the Bristol Cancer Help regime, they have a website, as they have research and updated their information on a regular basis and I feel that they have done all the leg work re amounts to take, what to take etc. Blondie ... View more