Breast Cancer Now Forum

Hi Katy I’ve been on anastrazole for just over a year (started January 2013). I have the same problem with fingers only it’s my middle finger of both hands which are mainly affected (how is a person supposed to drive when she can’t salute other drivers). I did mention to doctor when I was last there but all I got was a grunt as this was not my main reason for visit. I took it that the grunt meant ‘tuff’, so let it go. My hands are usually stiff/sore in the morning (hands feel as if they are swollen) but ease out as the day goes and stiffness returns of an evening. I have no arthritis that I know of but I can certainly feel the difference when walking up stairs, knees are stiff but as I’m 67 now I just put it down to getting older. Maggie ... View more

Hi Twidz I was diagnosed last year, had mx, chemo and rads. My OH was great at looking after me, both retired so he had nothing else to do, well that’s what I told him. Anyway, he died earlier this year of bowel cancer, very quick 2 weeks after diagnosis. I was soooo angry at him and I am only now getting over this anger. I really don’t know why I am angry but I am, as I said not quite as bad as I only cuss him every other day instead of all day every day! Probably a good psychiatrist could explain why. Three years is a long time for your husband to be angry but anger is easier to express than fear or grief. Have you actually asked your OH why he is angry? Maybe he hasn’t really sat down and thought about it or refuses to accept that his anger is to cover the fear. I’m afraid it’s probably a man thing and he won’t talk about feelings. He has needs, you have needs, number one being treated as a wife should be not just someone to be abused then used to meet his needs. Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh but... For a lot of years I worked from home so I understand this part. People think because you are at home all day, then you should have the tidiest, cleanest house, and should have plenty time to spend walking dogs, chatting on the phone, visiting neighbours, etc. I know it doesn’t work that way – my OH would sometimes come home asking what’s for dinner, yeh right, I’ll see what’s in the freezer that I can knock up quickly. If he didn’t like what was available there was always the chippie! His choice. He gave up asking and just ate what I made, assuming I had had time to cook fresh. Nobody starved. Daughter would occasionally moan but she ate what was on the table or went hungry. Look after yourself first of all, the kids won’t be undernourished because you have bought a couple of ready made meals. Kids are surprisingly tough, as for your OH well he’s a big boy get him to do the cooking at the weekend to give you a break, he might even enjoy it. Take care Maggie ... View more

Hi Rattles I did reply to this earlier but it seems to have disappeared. Got to hospital yesterday, they told me my appointment was next week but my card said 2nd so they saw me. Unfortunately I was seen by the professor who was totally disinterested as he is used to dealing with patients with complications/secondaries (interesting stuff). He told me I was the healthiest looking person he had seen in a long time, that my bone density scan showed no signs of osteoporosis, unusual for someone my age and and with a fair complexion, so of course by the end i'm feeling like a hypochondriac. He just shrugged his shoulders when I told him about the giddiness but after 2 min discussion he decided to send me for a CT scan (might just have been to shut me up but I don't care, he's not the one staggering about). So back to the waiting game, next appointment at the end of the month so I assume I will have had scan by then. Sorry no further help to you. Maggie ... View more

Hi Rattles I finished treatment, mx, anc, chemo and rads at the end of last year. I am having much the same problem as you, feel as if I've been taking strong drink! Getting up in the morning I have to sit on the edge of the bed for 5 min, when I'm sitting I have to get up slowly or I stagger like a drunk, and I didn't even have the pleasure of the whisky. I'm OK while sitting down and driving it's mainly changing posture when I have problems although I occasionally get the lightheaded bit while just moving about. I suffered from this years ago. Saw one GP who told me I was travel sick even though I had been back from holidays for a good couple of months. Saw another who sent me for an x-ray and they decided it was arthritis in my neck, and to be honest when I move my head slowly I can hear my neck crunching, sounds awful I know but it's not painful. I am on arimidex so was wondering if that had anything to do with it. This only started last week and as I have an appointment with oncologist on Monday I haven't bothered seeing my useless GP yet, but if I get no sense from onc then I will speak to GP. I have a sneaky feeling that they will put the dizziness down to stress as my OH died suddenly last month, but I don't think it's stress. I am a bit breathless, not sure about bloods but this will probably be checked on Monday. Hope things improve for you. I will let you know what onc says about this. Take care Maggie ... View more

Helen I was really saddened to read your post. Sadly there are lots of people out there who can’t cope with illness in others so they take the coward’s road and don't look back but at some point in their life they will realise what they did and feel shame and regret. I’m in a slightly different position. My OH looked after me well last year when I had mx, anc, chemo and rads, treatment finished just before New Year. He didn’t complain when I bitched about things he did/didn’t do. Just as I thought things were getting better and I was feeling well he upped and died 10 days ago of bowel cancer. I am so angry at him for not telling me he was having problems, he kept it to himself, wouldn’t go to the doctor. I’m angry and feel guilty at the same time. Last year was all about me me me, I should have noticed that there was something wrong but I didn’t because I was too busy thinking about me, hence the guilt. ... View more

Last year I had mx, anc, chemo and 5 weeks rad. Rads finished December but oncologist gave me a prescription for anastrazole some time before I actually started rads because I wouldn't be seeing her again until after rads had finished. I actually asked her when I should start taking the pills, meaning should I start taking them now or after rads, and was told please yourself it doesn't matter. So hey ho, I thought I will take them after I finish rads - actually I started about 3 days after I finished rads so that I could see the New Year in with no side effects of pills and I could have a wee drink to see in the New Year - being a Scot it's hard to see the New Year in with a glass of Irn-Bru in your hand. Take care all Maggie ... View more

Good evening ladies Been a while since I've been on here, I'm still trying to catch up on last year's unfinished work, getting there. I have been taking anastrazole/arimidex for 6 months now, didn't think I had any problems. No particular aches and pains - well no more than usual for a 66 year old. I had a call from my gp today to collect a prescription hadn't a clue why as I didn't request anything. Picked up the prescription to find that the hospital had written to the gp (without copying me in) asking gp to prescribe colecalciferol 20,000, once weekly dosage, for 12 weeks as my vitamin D had fallen to deficiency level (18.6nmol/L). Has anyone else had this problem while on arimidex and what was the outcome/did you have any symptoms, I'm inclined to ignore things hoping they will go away, did the vitamin level rise again? I feel fine, energy levels seem to be back to norm, although I have the occasional off day but then I'm not getting any younger and OH isn't improving in fact he was round at gp last week and gp told OH that he has patients like him who are virtually housebound. He's managed to have two falls this week - hospital still don't know what's wrong with him, they can tell what it isn't but not what it is! This of course means that I'm doing my best impression of a blue tailed fly most days and maybe I've just not had time to notice any symptoms. Any information greatly appreciated. Maggie ... View more

Evening ladies Understand exactly what you mean about the feeling in breast, only my feelings were, to put it nicely, quite sensual. This feeling started soon after I got home after surgery and would last from 5 to 20 min a few times a day. I must have been the only person walking around with drains and a smile on my face – thing is I had a mastectomy! Phantom boob syndrome? Couldn't tell OH until later why I was laughing, he thinks I'm mad anyway (hence the nom de plume). Unfortunately only lasted a few weeks. I'm long time post-menopausal. Maggie ... View more

Hi VJ I finished rads just after Christmas, I had an appointment for this Monday which the hospital cancelled and rebooked for beginning of March (9 weeks after finishing rads). I had to e-mail BCN on another matter and mentioned this to her, she reckioned I should be seen before that and was trying to get an earlier one. Below is a short paragraph I have cut and pasted from the Macmillan website: "The positive effects of radiotherapy may take some time to show. How well the radiotherapy has worked will usually be assessed when you go to your first follow-up appointment, which is about 4-6 weeks after the treatment has finished." I think you shoul speak to your BCN about this. Take care. Maggie ... View more

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I finished rads just after Christmas. I had to go in Saturday before Christmas then I had Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed off and had last 2 thurs, Fri. Think a lot depends on your hospital. Bye, Maggie ... View more

I had mx way back in May, had 25 rads sessions all using bolus. Bolus is basically a plastic covered gel that is made to measure for the individual. If they decide you need it they take the measurements at your rads planning session. Got a little bit of the internet which states very roughly what it does. "A bolus is a material that acts like human tissue during radiation therapy. It can be used to "fill in" missing tissue or to accurately modify a radiation dose on the skin's surface." So if you need the bolus it doesn't make it hurt, it's there to protect and they just stick it on with micropore each session (well at least that's what they done with me). I must confess I didn't use any cream at all during rads. It was only the last 2 or 3 session that I was starting to go a bit sunburnt and now there is a small part of my chest that is flaking slightly so I use E45 just to keep it moist. Not sore at all though. I finished rads end of December so apart from a little bit of dry skin everything is fine. Take care of yourselves ladies. Maggie ... View more

Hi all Not been here for a while, not had much to say. Got my prosthesis at last, 7 months later, BCN forgot to contact me!! It's really quite comfortable and because it's been so long since mx it doesn't rub at all, much better than that comfie. If I didn't keep adjusting the comfie I would have ended up looking like Quasimodo, it kept moving. Kay, I just finished rads at the end of December and am now on Arimidex so been taking it for about 6 weeks, still no problems. I didn't even get particularly fatigued with rads just fed up going to hospital every day, and now that everything is finished I feel really good, even managed to catch up on lots of things that I neglected over the last few months when on chemo and rads. OH is having to keep on his toes as I can't have any slacking, if I feel good and energetic then I can't have him sitting about making the place look untidy. Bye - Maggie ... View more

Hi ladies Sian, I see that you're having 25 rads sessions - it's such a bore, the time it takes to get there and all for 10 minutes treatment. The Rads Dept at Charing Cross generally ran on time and I was only kept waiting once (machine breakdown) maybe that's why it seemed such a pain as I was in and out in 15 min. Oh well, it's all over now. Glad you're feeling good. I was tidying up files on my computer during the week and I came across the photo that you might like to see - it's my daughter with Gary Barlow, I have her permission as long as it was one of the good one's of her (she's got photos with the rest of the bunch as well - not Robbie) thought you might like to see it, if it posts that is! Since I stopped working my computer skills are now out of date, but I'll give it a try. I eventually managed to contact my BCN and have an appointment with her next week to talk about a prosthesis, ooops they forgot to get in touch with me, but better late than never. Good luck with the rads and keep a good eye on your skin. Maggie ... View more

Hi Sian I think the reason I haven’t had any scans since before mx is because I was a definite for radiotherapy, no question about it. Possibly the site of the cancer makes a difference as well, mine was mainly behind the nipple. Something about people talking about injury to nipple makes me cringe and I remember first and only time I spoke to surgeon she was talking about possibly just removing the nipple I went weak at the knees but then after scan it wasn’t an option. Good to hear they are keeping a close eye on you, and happy that you don’t have to worry about transport to the hospital for your rads. As I said earlier, appointment with onc mid Feb and I’ll sort everything out then, a few weeks will make no difference. Onc said she had referred me to Cardio Dept (way back in October) as my heart rate was way too high but haven’t heard from them either (again on the ask list). I am not going for any recon although they did say I could have this done at any time. I’m 66 now, birthday last month, and I don’t know that it’s worth the possible problems at my age (still think I’m 25 but body tells me to dream on). Going to find something for lunch and take my pill (anastrozole). Never had to take anything long-term and I have had to put a reminder on my phone! Have a good day, Maggie ... View more

Sian, really glad you’ve managed to sort out the finances with the benefits adviser. One less thing for you to worry about. How did your onc know that the chemo hadn’t finished off all the cancer cells, have you had a scan of some sort, I thought that was the only way they could tell, but I could well be wrong. I don’t know if I still have cancer cells left as I have had no scans of any sort since before my mx but I think the rads guy was going to arrange a something (well he told me he would arrange it but I don’t know for when). I have an appointment with onc mid February and this was one of the questions on my list! No one has contacted me about a prosthesis yet, but I was assuming that was because of the rads as sometimes they like the rads to be over in case of skin problems as I will be looking for a more permanent prosthesis (another question on the list). I had 25 sessions of rads but that was because of the heavy lymph node involvement and I can’t say as they bothered me that much, just going every day was the hassle, 45 min to get there, 10 min treatment and 45 min to get home, always seemed such a waste of a day. Skin only just started to break down at the last knockings but it’s fine now, just got a mark like a nearly healed burn but that’s fading. My arm and side, where the upper arm meets the body is often tight at night and feels swollen (it isn’t), same in the morning, I was assuming that my body was still trying to sort out how to get rid of the fluid now that the lymph nodes are missing. It’s not painful so I’m not complaining. My hair is starting to grow back now. Never actually lost eyebrows but the parts where I haven’t had to pluck them for years have started growing again so I will have to find the tweezers! Ah well, going to bed now feeling tired as I had a busy day building a snowman in the back garden with my 30 year old daughter (we’re all mad here). Goodnight all and take care. Maggie ... View more

Hello Debibay I finished 5 weeks radiotherapy just before new year. I'll be honest and say that I didn't really feel that I was any more tired than usual, but then I'm retired and don't have to get up for work. The most tiring thing I found was dragging to the hospital every day, a real pain that was and all just before Christmas. Possibly I didn't feel too tired because most of my appointments were late afternoon (I did ask for morning appointments but well you know what hospitals are like, say mornings and you'll get afternoons!), so I wasn't doing much after I got home, just making dinner and then relaxing. I had mx, chemo and then rads in that order. I still don't feel particularly overtired but then I've always slept soundly (not necessarily quietly). If you find the rads tiring then have a rest, you're the best judge of how you feel. Hope the rest of your treatment goes well and that the house move is not too traumatic. Take care Maggie ... View more

G’day girls Hope you are all feeling well and the new year has been good to you. I don't know how you ladies cope with your other physical problems on top of the BC, you're all tougher than I am (deliberately didn't say braver). Have now finished chemo and rads and feeling good. I am now on anastrozole. Don’t have a problem as yet with the pills (only been taking them for a couple of weeks so early days yet). A qeustion - when would I normally see someone about a more permanent prosthetic or do I have to chase for this myself. My next appointment at the hospital is mid February but that is with the oncologist (well I think it’s with the oncologist as I actually have 3 appointment cards with different names (onc, rads guy and surgeon) for the same time and same date. I do have a softie but that’s really pretty useless and usually ends up round my collar bone so am inclined to wear looser clothing to hide this. I understand why they would leave prosthetic fitting until after rads and am just trying to plan ahead. Any idea if/when I would be likely to have a follow up with surgeon/bcn – last time I saw the registrar was way back in June when dressings were removed. BCN gave me a softie at this appointment and that was the last I had any contact with surgical dept. Just a thought to make you all jealous – my hot flushes seem to have stopped since chemo – not boasting too much about this as I know the anastrozole might well bring them back but I’m enjoying the cool days. Not saying I don’t get hot with exertion but don’t have to carry a cloth to mop my face when I’m out. Even started wearing a bit of makeup again. Have a good day ladies and I hope 2013 is kind to you all. Take care Maggie ... View more

Hi Rosie - this rads on a daily basis is a real pain and time consuming for a few minutes of actual therapy, but hey ho soon be over. How many are you having. I had 25, thought they would never be over. Why do you have to strip off in front of the radiographers, don't they have changing rooms where you can undress and put on a gown. I was at Charing Cross and I used a cubicle to change and put on gown - and believe me I kept my hat on during actual rads, it was a bit nippy where they actually did the treatment. Radiographers, both male and female, did all they could to help me keep what dignity I had left. I think they were using permanent marker pens to mark me up, a real sod to get that ink off. The numbers they talk are just to get you in the proper position. Like you my hair is growing, slowly but nonetheless I can see it now. Didn't lose my eyebrows but I can feel eyelashes have grown a bit - the only decent family trait I got was long eyelashes and they all went. Do you have an appointment to see your surgeon to find out about recon and when you can have it done. If not phone your BCN and talk to her about getting an early appointment to talk to someone - I know you're not asking to have the recon immediately, body has to heal, but a time scale would be good. I've been taking the anastrazole for about 2 weeks now, can't say I've noticed any SEs but probably not been taking them long enough. Jelly, 12 weeks till you get married, it will be on you before you know. Keep going ladies, you will all get there. Maggie ... View more