Breast Cancer Care Forum

I just wanted to wish you all the best for tomorrow. It's a very scary time but I'm sure you'll be well looked after and don't be afraid to tell them how nervous you are. Take care. ... View more

My goodness, you've had a lot to cope with! I'm not surprised you're having some problems. I don't think it's abnormal at all but I do think you should access some help either from your GP or BCN. Do you have a Maggie's centre or a Haven near you? I read somewhere that up to 80% of breast cancer patients suffer from PTSD. Take care. ... View more

My radiotherapy started mid December last year so I had breaks for both Christmas and New Year. Treatment wise I was told it wasn't a problem and frankly, it was nice to have a break from visiting the hospital every day!  ... View more

Probably not much help to you but I've had no trouble with rizatriptan and Anastrazole.  Just a thought but it's not a different make is? Sometimes it's the fillers rather than the drug that causes problems. ... View more

I know your Mum is worried for you, but you could do without that added worry! This is going to sound obvious but you just ask her not to? Perhaps if she realised how much it upsets you. As I said, l know she's worried and having a sick child (regardless of how old they are!) is awful but she's being a bit selfish in my opinion and , given the circumstances, the only person entitled to be selfish at the moment is you. You've had major surgery just a month ago, never mind all the worry and anxiety, your body needs time to recover and your mind some time to process. I do hope you're okay. ... View more

I would contact the radiotherapy department about the Naproxen just to be on the safe side and hopefully put your mind at rest. My oncologist said he'd rather I didn't take anything that wasn't prescribed during treatment. I think there isn't much evidence they do harm but only because there hasn't been much research into it. ... View more

I think you're right and it probably should be cM0 meaning clinically no sign of mets. As ann-m says, I'm sure you'd have been told if there were any concerns. Just a thought, they wouldn't/couldn't have tested bone marrow or "lymph nodes at some distance" without you having known and they don't normally test blood at the time of surgery. I hope you can try to put it out of your mind. ... View more

I used it before, during and after my radiotherapy! I've used it for ages and, as it hasn't got SLS in it, continued to use it during my treatment. ... View more

Was this at the bottom of the path report? It might be the NPI score which uses the size of the cancer, the number of affected nodes and if there is distant spread to work out a prognosis. I would guess M0 means no metastases. What did you google to think it had gone into your blood? ... View more

I use the one called Moisturising Creamy Oil, which isn't an oil at all! I prefer the lotions to creams as they absorb quicker. ... View more

If it's any comfort to you at all, I found the planning session the most difficult of the lot. I walked out of the oncology centre, started dry heaving and crying. This is the woman who was told she had breast cancer in her lunch break and went back to work for the rest of the afternoon! The treatment sessions were shorter and there were half as many people in the room for starters. I think I'd sort of been ignoring the whole cancer business and suddenly it seemed very real. Good luck, I'm sure you can do it. ... View more

I'm pretty sure that the Oncotype DX test gives an indication of whether chemo will be of benefit by estimating how likely a cancer is to recur whilst taking hormone therapy. The Predict tool will give the added benefit of hormone therapy vs no hormone therapy. At the end of the day, the choice is yours. If you find the side effects so debilitating, how high a chance of recurrence would make that worth it? Your quality of life is everything. One of the hardest things I've found about this disease is that there are no guarantees, no one can tell me it's gone for good, that it won't come back, it's all 'best guesses' based on the available evidence. I do genuinely believe that the overwhelming majority of health professionals want the best for us, they prescribe the treatments they know work because they want us to get better, they aren't trying to make us unwell. BUT we are all individuals, all our cancers are too, how we react to to drugs is.  ... View more

This is what I think. The particular study mentioned in the link was conducted on mice so may not be able to be extrapolated to humans (I am able to access the full paper). It doesn't conclude that surgery will/does cause spread, only that the researchers might have found a mechanism by which cancer cells that have already spread might become active.  It does say "The new research contradicts the idea that surgeons might be releasing cancerous cells that then travel to other parts of the body." and "there is so much tissue removed surrounding the tumor that it isn’t really feasible for the operation to be spreading cancerous cells."  The comment in the article that it's not the tumour in the breast that kills you, it's the distant spread is true. Untreated breast cancer will spread locally and to other parts of the body. There will always be examples of people who say they've been cured without conventional treatment, but there are also a heck of a lot more folk out there who have been cured conventionally!  Good luck with your treatment rose_wilts. ... View more

Nippy, I think you're being very hard on yourself! With all that you've had going on this year it's a wonder your not flat out on the floor never mind fatigued. I think when we go through something like this it's easy to blame "the tablets" (and I'm absolutely not dismissing side effects) because that is something we can control whereas most life events, like the loss of your father and your mother's illness, we can't and we've already lost so much control when we were diagnosed. It might be worth seeing if you can speak to your oncologist anyway or maybe your GP? I don't know what age you are, but could you now be menopausal? I'm sorry about your father and hope you feel better soon. ... View more

I had different surgery but my wounds were glued and I was told to let it peel off by itself. You could try ringing the breat care nurses at the hospital for advice. ... View more

Just to say I hope you get on alright today. ... View more

I didn't have a mastectomy but I also found the radiotherapy difficult. I think it is perfectly understandable how you feel. Firstly, they can cover you with a gown for the treatment, you only need to be uncovered for the setting up. Secondly, I would to speak to the department and ask if it's possible for you to have a female team? It might not be possible all the time, but even if it was a woman doing the positioning it might help. Please ring them and ask to speak to the superintendent radiographer and explain your concerns. When I contacted the department where I was treated about my experience I was told "we don't get complaints" (I wasn't making a formal complaint by the way!) if they don't know, they can't do anything about it. I hope you're okay. ... View more

Are you in a union? That would be my first port of call. Also speak to HR if your employer has them. You could ask your doctor for a fit note stating what you can/can't do. Macmillan are very good with advice too. ... View more

Someone I work with said the other day "At least to look at you you wouldn't know you'd had anything done" whilst moaning about the wart on her thumb. ... View more

I'm pretty sure you're asked to  remove nail polish because they put a clip probe on your finger that monitors your blood oxygen level and it doesn't work through polish. ... View more