A trip with triple negative breast cancer

Long tail survival

2026-03-25T16:57:06Z

It’s been a while since I have updated my blog, largely because I have been stable so have not had any developments to add. But I am conscious I engage on the forum with people new to metastatic TNBC, or new to TNBC, and often point them toward...(read more)

Hips

2025-04-29T18:42:30Z

It seems odd to be posting about a hip replacement on a cancer blog, but I guess many of us have a cross over of conditions. My first slight awareness of hip problems was about three years after the birth of my first child back in the early 90s...(read more)

Continued remission

2025-03-19T11:28:33Z

The scores on the doors are 38 months since my mammogram recall, 30 months since being diagnosed as an ‘incurable’ with liver mets, 18 months since my last systemic treatment (when I had to stop immunotherapy), 1 year since my last i...(read more)

Time for a hip replacement?

2025-01-20T18:10:24Z

I had my right hip replaced in September 21 following a couple of years of denial that anything was wrong. I seemed to have constant issues with abductors, quads, hamstrings etc, but never admitted the hip was the issue. Family were telling me to get...(read more)

Nothing to see here

2024-12-19T17:51:29Z

Another 3 months has passed. Another scan. Another anxious wait for results. Each time I go through this, my level of expectation of a good result is higher and therefore my fear of a bad one is worse. But I had nothing to worry about, as it was clea...(read more)

A tale of 3 months

2024-09-11T16:40:17Z

In June, I received the wonderful news that following immunotherapy, a near death and life changing immunotherapy related adverse event, and a microwave ablation of the liver where the probe exploded and remained in situ, my cancer was in remission. ...(read more)

parkrun #250

2024-07-07T10:03:00Z

In the time before breast cancer, I was a keen runner. Never fast, I had probably started too late in life for that, but it was something that gave me a lot of head space. I had been able to complete events such as the ten mile Great South Run, and r...(read more)

Into a siding

2024-06-13T13:53:20Z

I have often compared having metastatic cancer to being on a train journey. Once you are told your cancer is incurable, you have boarded the train. You know its final destination. You don’t know the route it will take or how long the journey wi...(read more)

Step down slowly

2024-05-22T17:18:07Z

Today was my 3-weekly oncology review and crunch time on whether I can finally come off the steroids. I haven’t been feeling good for the last few weeks. Aches. Stiffness. Headaches. Feeling tired and listless. Sometimes feeling slightly queasy...(read more)

Toxic positivity

2024-05-12T14:41:30Z

If one more person says “you’ve got this” or “you are so strong”, I think I might floor them. The other day, someone at the swimming pool told me she wouldn’t have been able to cope if she had had all the issues I ...(read more)

Adrenal insufficiency?

2024-05-02T12:14:03Z

Seven and a half months of prednisolone and still going. I had been warned the latter stages were the hard bit. At the beginning, on very high dosage, when I felt continually jittery and couldn’t sleep or taste anything, that was hard to imagin...(read more)

Gout

2024-04-09T15:26:38Z

The joint at the base of the big toe on my right foot has become increasingly painful, red and inflamed over the last 4 days. I contacted the acute oncology service yesterday, but they weren’t particularly interested as I have a review with my ...(read more)

Inflammation

2024-04-07T10:21:56Z

Today’s situation. Largely housebound having attempted to reduce my steroids from 2micrograms to 1 a day. Ok it’s a 50% reduction but a minuscule amount compared with the blockbuster steroid dosage I was on when this all started. Every st...(read more)

Microwave ablation recovery second time around

2024-03-08T10:49:48Z

Microwave ablation is a bit like childbirth - you somehow lose the memories of the worst bits and talk yourself into it again. I have no doubt it’s a lot less invasive than a liver resection, but I don’t think the information leaflet does...(read more)

Ping! A 1 in a 1000 experience

2024-02-21T21:37:04Z

Despite not having confirmation of a bed, I turned up in the radiology day case unit at 8am on Tuesday for my microwave ablation of the liver. A familiar place, it’s where I had my portacath fitted, and where I had my previous (unsuccessful) mi...(read more)