Breast Cancer Now Forum

Hi Nette, Bumble and all,   It is really good to hear you are both doing so well. Nette your energy is amazing.  Bumble so pleased your  hub is recovering from that nasty accident.  My first check is dragging on,  as I had to have a few scans, get results on Tuesday. Then I dont have to see them for 6 whole months, bliss. Had the last of my curls cut off last week and really like my new style.  Need to shed some weight but that isn't going to happen when im worried about my job, oh the joys of working for a London borough.   Take care JJ's love Kat xxx ... View more

Hi LisaC,   I also work for my local council and i returned to work on a phased return agreed by HR and their doctor. I then used up my outstanding annual leave. So I have spent the last 6 months as part time. Have a chat to HR and see what they can offer.   Good luck, Kat x ... View more

Well done Nette and you jump up and down, which I presume you are doing at 3 in the morning looking at the time of your post. Have you tried http://www.knittedknockersuk.com/ some of the ladies on here swear by them. Bumble I hope you and Ian are managing, please don't over do it and ask for help if you need it.  Julie I hope all is well with you and your cousin. Like Nette I am part of a cluster family, do have a chat with a geneticist. Piggsy I hope you have bounced back from your surgery.   Well I had my last Herceptin on Monday, 14 months of treatment since July '13 (not including surgery) Strange but I will miss the chemo suite and the wonderful team. Hopefully I can start climbing the ladders and feeling well, and losing weight now the steroids have stopped (I wish!!??) .   Sending lots of love to all the JJs out there, Kat xxxxxxxxxxx ... View more

Bonjour all, I'm back and seems you have been busy. I do hope Nette and Piggsy are on the mend after surgery and great news Piggsy that those abnormal cells where removed before they started to change. Sending a hug to Julie and good news that your Herceptin is nearing the finish line. Deb how was your op and CT??    We have been to France again, it is so easy from here. lots of yummy food, great weather and endless sandy beaches. Would you believe I am still photosensitive courtesy of the chemo, get a very attractive rash!!  Have a date for the port removal, fingers crossed they won't cancel it. Only 2 more Herceptins to go, which also means no more steroids and antihistamies yipee. mammo ok and u/sound booked for mastectomy side in Jan. Work is OK but running out of annual leave. So the reality of full time will hit me soon.   Hope all the JJs out there are Ok and senning love to you all, Kat xxxxxxxxxxx   ... View more

Im a bit slow this morning, wobbly from the steroids and fun, only 3 more Herceptins to go!! Deb how where your results ?? def go for a port, I do still have mine but it is all singing and dancing and I can have a bath and swim and you can keep them in for years ( but i do want mine out soon) and are flushed every 3 weeks and they can take blood from them. Kat xx ... View more

Piggsy, your 2 weeks of waiting must be up soon? So fingers crossed for your biopsy. Kat xx ... View more

Oh ********  (words we are not allowed to say on BCC) Piggsy that is tough news. I could give you loads of postive gumph but you know all that, so fingers crossed for Friday and keep us in the loop. Nette 231 miles wow I am in awe. That actually rhymes with saddle sore!! If only I was clever enough I could come up with a limerick. Wimbledon is back and it is a year since we started our chemo, my first run was the 3rd. Well I stil am at the chemo suite every 3 weeks for my Herceptin ( only 4 to go ) and thanks to the steroids and antihistamines my heart is managing to take it. Probably should take them a cake next time, because they are all splendid. Love to you all Kat xxxx   ... View more

Hello all,   Well it has been a while since my last post. We popped through the tunnel to France and had a lovely time of wine and cheese and lovely fields and feeding the chickens and laughing lots especially when my daughter was chased by geese (yes we did manage to video it). Work is still phasing, I start properly 1st June. I think my brain is slowly adapting and I feel less like the village idiot??!! Just had my cardio/onco appt and all seems to be OK. I was actually worried about how to get there with the tube strike! but easy. Herceptin continues, port is still with me, and yes I do need a GA to get it out. Must be one hell of a long waiting list. So yet again (this cancer) I take time out of my life and then just drop back in and start all over again. Its a bit like sitting in jail in a game of monopoly and missing 3 turns. I want something else, but I don't know what. OOps getting deep. Well I have had the cough,cold and big temp from hell, GP did say the first illnesses post chemo and stuff can be debilitating as our immune system is still recovering, so beware. Nette one check up done, tick. Now enjoy the next year. Piggsy hope the cough and aches are sorted. Must admit I do feel less creaky when I take steroids with the Herceptin. Boxofrogs hope the work thing is improving, if not put yourself first. Easy to say I know, but be kind to yourself. Sakura nice to see you posting, wow you have been through so much. Masha, have you found your new home yet?? Did you have your scan on your nodule?? Sending love to all the JJ's out there, Kat xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ... View more

Hi gmc, Us recurrence ladies do seem to get lost on the forum. Not sure "I am recently diagnosed" is the best place for us?? I do occasionally have a look, which is how I found you. You must have your results by now. How are they?? Do you have a plan?? I had my second diagnosis last year on the same side as my mastectomy but a different type of tumor. i have finished chemo and rads and am now on herceptin. I was coming up to 5 years anniversary. I felt terribly let down by my body, and it is hard to voice this when all around you (even on here) are full of fight and positive thoughts. But my monthly thread ladies have been marvellous and it is comforting that there are a few of us going again. Kat x ... View more

Hi Vicki, I finished rads in Jan and I had minimal aches and stiffness, but in the last few weeks it feels like I have been kicked by a horse on that side and like Busyanne I'm trying swimming, but it does seem quite a few of us are starting to seize up courtesy of the rads. Kat x ... View more

Hi JJs,   How lovely to see lots of posts. Well I am exhausted from this work stuff. Annette and BofF,  I to am "phasing" and work are bending over backwards to accomodate me, but .......... it is different. I really don't trust my foggy brain. I actually managed to find the word archivist in my vocabulary but later looked like a game of charades trying to find the words for window box!!!! Which is fine at home were everyone laughs and it is just silly mum, but at work I'm not sure how long I can laugh this off. Julie this work stuff must be a drag. When I found my present job I too had been through my first diagnosis and was convinced no one would employ me, but what seemed to swing it was my one morning a week vounteering at the local childrens hospice shop. Seems I have a good work ethic!! Herceptin OK for you?? I have my next echo end of April and I'm waiting for a 24hr ECG as my little heart dose race when I get tired. I'm feeling lighter of head,(which is a good thing because I did find some dark corners) which I put down to the reduced steroids and anti hists and my last round of Herceptin seemed to bring less SE. Piggsy I still have my port, seems the waiting list to have it removed is longer than the one to put it in?? So have it flushed when I have my H ( which is Sub cut). Piggsy a big well done from me to your stepdaughter, what an amazing oppourtunity and I would imagine a lot of of fun too. I do remember the relief at having that silly nozzle gone once they swapped over the expander for the implant. On the subject of rads my "tea stain" under my arm has gone but I do now seem to be having more aches and pains?? and I haven't gone back on Tamoxifen yet either. Annette so pleased your lumpy thing is now sorted and you can breathe a sigh of relief.  Mahsa I agree we should have a meet up all of us soon. Good luck with your scan on that annoying nodule and trying to find somewhere to live, that is serious multi tasking. You are not alone with a useless BCN I haven't seen one since that day I got my new diagnosis, saying that I did once see one walk through the chemo suite but she went passed me. Nette hope you are over your cold and can start preping your van for your next adventure. I too must get my vit D checked, should be routine for us ladies now. Love to all the JJs. Kat xxxxxxxxxxxx ... View more

  Well I do hope you are all well JJs?? Mahsa hope the house hunting and move is going well and you are not too exhausted by the rads. Bumble any news?? you must have parted company from your 7 stitches by now. I'm still plodding along here, steroids reduced as having nasty SE. I started back at work this month on my phased return and I am knackered. Not sure I will manage this but I am having a go. Chez how is the Herceptin for you?? I am still waiting to have this damn port out!!. Did you ever do your TV/film thing?? Hope everyone is having fun in the sun, Kat xxxxxxxxx   ... View more

Thinking of you An nette x   Hope all the JJs are well. Had Herceptin this morning so whizzing on steroids here   Kat xx     ... View more

Annette, A plan is good but no answers are ******** . This lump of yours must be driving you mad so go get it removed. Kat xx ... View more

So sad. Sending my love to their families and the September stars. Kat x ... View more

So sad. Love to all the Moonbeams and to Karen's family. Kat x ... View more

Everything crossed here for you Annette xx ... View more

Morning all, Lovely to see people posting. Had a bit of a down moment (understatement) on these flipping steroids, so thankfully they have reduced them a teeny bit. I find the thought of all this until my last dose in Sept quite daunting. I worked it out I take 5 different drugs to be able to tolerate the herceptin every 3 weeks.  Im in a good zone this week so squeezing all the good stuff. So tempted to buy myself a prom dress!!?? and why not?? I have been taking teenage daughter to try them on in prep for hers this summer. Bumble, I had meeting with Occ health which was fine. He is going to recommend every 3 weeks off for my treatment, not sure HR are going to like that.  Mahsa you will be well and truly cooked after your rads. I found my back was agony  at the end of my sessions and never felt I was quite in the right position. I now have a very attractive brown circle under my arm which is like a coffee mug stain!!?? otherwise a bit stiff and sore. Remarkably my implant which I had put in in 2008 is still OK. They said it would shrivel up with the rads but they must have a good aim. Chezz, how are you doing on the rads??I could never see my tattoos, just about now with a magnifying glass!!I also had a long journey to the hospital and back so seemed to spend all my time driving. Talking of driving I was caught speeding and have to go on a "speed awareness" course. I was doing 35 in a 30 zone and unfortunately being lost and having an elderly father giving you wrong directions is not mitigation. Nette you are moving on and good bones. How was Holland, did I miss that post?? Well we are the lucky ones here regarding the flooding because we are on high ground. Im very near the Thames and I have never seen it so high. The benches were submerged and the sign to the ferry was just above water. Many boats were lost because they were badly moored, so will need a huge clean up. Hope Piggsy is OK?? I have had my first hair cut, actually more like light topiary. Bumble mine also grew on top. My fingernails are breaking off as corrugated bits reach the end and also one numb toe. Thinking of you all. Missing Tamsin and thinking of her every time I drive passed Hampton Court Palace Love Kat xxxxxxxxxxxxx ... View more

Cripes Bumble you have been through a rough and scary time. Feb 25th seems ages to wait but sounds like you have a good team looking after you. You take care and do something nice just for you. Kat xx ... View more

Bumble, oh blimey something else to worry about, but as Chez says seems a bit soon to be something nasty. Can you not get your Gp to have a prod and then they could hurry your BCN along, 6th Feb. seems a long wait.  Nette I still have a hard lump in my arm and what my teenage daughter describes as the veins of Bruce Banner just before he turns into the Hulk!! and to cap it all my arms are a different shade!! They do say it will improve, but still waiting. Mahsa hope the rads are going fine. Kat xx ... View more