One week on from my last post and I'm sitting waiting for things to happen. Where are my hot flushes? When is my surgery? Where will I stay after the op? Who's going to shout at me for eating aspirin?
Since last writing, I've taken up a number of things
- stomping around muddy flelds for an hour a day at least, preferably two
- eating Tamoxifen at night and having the *oddest* dreams as the main side effect so far
- not eating things with a lot of cholesterol, but maintaining basic oils and healthy things in my diet
- drinking less prosecco, much as it pains me
I've managed to win on a couple of things, like getting a second, brand new UV system installed so I can maybe use the tap water safely and my lawyers coming through with some concrete action to get the contaminated spring water dispute resolved. I've lost on a couple more issues, like having to say bye bye to the puddy cat after fourteen and a half years together, and finding all my taps are harbouring lead. This is a very common problem, the lead, not dying cats. Although I suppose they demise very commonly too... The lead thing is really the least of the problems because I have no intention of small children drinking or washing in the water. So that fix can wait but it's not ideal.
On the op side, I've heard absolutely nothing. Echoing silence. I will change that in the coming week but I thought it fair enough to give my new surgical teams a few days to sort themselves out.
The Lump, meanwhile, is a bit achy and hurts if I catch it by mistake. It's quite on the surface of things so if I hug someone at the wrong angle I end up squashing The Lump and it complains. This can prove mildly amusing but poor sods on the receiving end are a bit perturbed. Actually, my upper left arm and left arm pit are not exactly comfortable but nothing much home to write about. Over the last few days, my left tit now gurgles occasionally. Not audibly, just that sensation of running liquid gurgling through a pipe. I like to think this is a good thing with any blockages melting away, even The Lump.
So the medicine I am consuming is 300mg soluable aspirin a day, split across two meals - breakfast and supper - and just for a short spell, and 20mg Tamoxifen taken at 10pm every night. I'm still looking into the effects of aspirin but actually I started taking it to help sort out having high cholesterol and possible symptoms of blockages from that, about which my GP is mystified. She thought we might have caught the high cholesterol early. I think we may have caught it in the nick of time and it's been around for a good year at the very least. My problem is I've had mystified medics too many times before and I ended up being pretty unwell whilst they sat there saying "ooo, but you don't fit the pattern". So I'm being proactive, but only short term. I'm very aware of gastric bleeding, not least because I've eaten diclofenac repeatedly, for a month at a time, without any problem. It has similar gastric lining ripping up effects if you're not careful. I reckon, if I make sure I'm not taking aspirin until I have a good meal in my tummy and, according to some findings, vitamin C, I should be okay. But I'm not going to risk it for long. I will, however, keep the small dose going with the porridge mixed with fresh fruit that I have every breakfast now. I'll be talking it all through to my latest GP in the week ahead, and also to the Add Aspirin clinical trials team that are investigating the beneficial effects of aspirin on breast cancers like mine because early trials indicate aspirin could make a positive difference to the effectiveness of Tamoxifen as well as having cancer stem cell distrupting properties in its own right.
Meanwhile, still looking for the best post-operative recouperation care solution depending on whether I stay in the house or not. I predict much positive juggling in the week ahead. But maybe less prosecco, herrumph.
