Breast Cancer Now Forum

Glad the Voltarol worked for you. Sadly made no difference to me but we are all different and some things work better than others on people, hence my suggestion. The uddermint will not suit all, but the farming crowd will appreciate its possible benefits. It’s always worth telling people what products have helped you but you only need to read Amazon reviews of products to see how different our experiences are. For those who don’t fancy trying that, or the expense, try Biofreeze gel . I use that when not in an enclosed space! . That works better than Volterol for me.   ... View more

Also try some bicarbonate of soda dissolved in a small amount of warm water at night - I know that helped other people. Good luck - it used to drive me mad at night .   ... View more

I was diagnosed just before Christmas 2010 and had to tell my daughter on the evening just after we'd collected her for the Christmas holiday that I had breast cancer and was going to have my operation on Christmas Eve, a week later. This was her first year at uni. It was, quite honestly, the worst thing I think I've ever had to do and one I hope I'll never have to repeat. We were lucky because although she's 200 miles away at UCLan my parents are only about half an hour away from there. Without them I don't know if she'd have coped in the early days. I was glad that by the time she went back after Christmas I was recovering from my op, so although she didn't want to leave me she knew that I was OK. Being away meant that she didn't see me at my worst during chemo, for which I was very grateful, and I made sure that we used Skype and that I was always upbeat when I spoke to her. She told her tutors who were brilliant and gave her time off at one point to come home and take part in a fund raising charity concert organised by friends. She also confided a lot in her friends, several of whose mums had had BC as well (although she hadn't known thaat before). The uni counselling service was available if she needed it but TBH I think she was far happier just talking to her friends, visiting her grandparents more often than she would have done otherwise and knowing that the support was there if she needed it. Do make sure that her tutors know, and also encourage her to chat to her friends - it's very likely that at least one of them will have experience of this and might be able to give her some support. I'm also certain that her uni will have a counselling/support service that she can go to if she thinks it would be useful to her. It's a rotten situation when they're so far away but maybe you could view it as a good thing, keeping her away from the epicentre of your treatment. I'm sure that in the end it was less stressful for my daughter not to be around during my worst days, both for me and her. All the very best of luck to you and your family, Jane xxx ... View more