March 1st

My heart bleeds for you Joan, lost my wife in October after a 10 year battle, keep positive though and be sure there are many on here thinking of you .

Make sure you get all the check ups and don't ever miss out on anything , keep a good eye on yourself after the treatment you are lined up for. It does sound as though your GP is well up to scratch, that was an important thing for us. Best of Luck.

March 30th

A worrying month for me or am I over reacting? - that is the impression I am getting from the health care " proffessionals"

My first ESR blood test has a reading of 33 which is quite high, the 2nd one repeated a month later had come down to 30. My GP had examined me thoroughly at my last visit and I wasn't feeling unwell, apart from the persistent tiredness and the aching joints, in particular my left hip which aches so much it keeps me awake at night. A bone density scan showed a slight thinning of the bones but not enough to cause the pain I have been having.

My GP sent the results of the 2nd test to the Oncologist which immediately rang alarm bells. As I am not due back to see the Oncologist until July  I rang the Breast care nurse that I have been asigned and asked her what the next step was, I was assured that it would be discussed at the next meeting and I would then get a phone call - no phone call came so I rang again and was assured that my test result would be printed out and put under is nose. In the meantime I went off for an X-Ray on my left hip.

Result as I had a phone call from the breast care nurse - who incidently has a tone of voice which makes you think she is about to deliver bad news!

she told me that the Oncologist thought the rise in the ESR was down to Arthritis! - except unless he has a crystal ball he can't know for sure that I have arthritis as I had only had the X-Ray the day before. She managed to locate my X-Ray results and guess what - no Arthritis - so what are they going to do about the ESR, monitor it or ignore it? thats right they are not going to do anything further about it even after his theory has been dispelled.

I have googled ESR and found out about it and I am not happy to let things carry on until July, so I have an appointment with my GP next week to discuss whether I can have the test repeated monthy to monitor it.

So here we are at the end of the month, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and all my joints ache like there is no tomorrow.

The good news is that since starting on the tamoxifen I haven't felt as tired during the day which is a good thing as nodding off in Year 4  gives the teacher the impression that she is boring the pants off me and elicits strange looks from the Kids.

April 22nd

Easter - I have had a lovely 2 weeks at home,  the beauty of my job is every 6 weeks or so you get a week off!  

Good Friday lived up to its name and I felt like a spring chicken with plenty of energy, so it was off to Skipton for a look around the market and I didn't need to sit down once - not that there was anywhere to sit even if I needed it, a pizza from my favourite takeaway on the way home and a present of a Thorntons chocolate rabbit from a close friend of ours completed a lovely day.

I have now been taking tamoxifen for nearly 2 months and I have seen a huge difference in the way I feel, the tiredness isn't as bad, the joint pain has decreased and the breast pain around the scars has gone as well, the downside being that the hot flushes are pretty horrendous and I have an extremely itchy scalp - and its not headlice that is causing it, that was my first thought and I treated myself with "nit shampoo" but the itching goes on!

I had my first appointment since the follow up after my operation last week and everything appears to be fine, my next appointment will be in October and I will  also have a mammogram, the downside is that my Consultant retired the day I was there and so far they haven't appointed a new one!

Having spoken to my GP she agreed that I can have the ESR test repeated "very sensible" were the words she used, she also told me that I had had an ESR test 5 years ago and the count was 7, so something is definately causing it to rise. I have made blood test appointment  for May 3rd, as I have first to get over the chest infection that I had a couple of weeks ago, I also have to see her for the blood test results and she will give me the once over to make sure there is nothing untoward going on - should I mention my increasingly weak bladder? I am now getting up 2 and sometimes 3 times in the night,  I witness all the nocturnal comings and goings on our street - nothing escapes me!  

So its back to work on Tuesday for all of 3 days, I just hope the builders have finished and the school is clean and workmen free, and of course we have the Royal wedding celebrations on Wednesday when we are all expected to don our finery or wear red, white and blue - oh joy I hate dressing up, roll on Friday.