Hello my name is Heather I have just been diagnosed with brest cancer last week for the first time (and last I hope) Both my sisters have had cancer,one died seven month ago Im a bit scared of what to expect with the chemo. Can anyone tell me how soon after the treatment do you start to feel ill? How soon do you lose your hair?
Kay, that’s excellent. You sound like your coping really well. I bet your hubby is glad you don’t have that ‘need to kill’ feeling :-D
Blossom that’s fab news and to think you may get away without radiotherapy, you must be over the moon x
Jean I take it your fingers are no better today? Good luck for this afternoon, lets hope they give you the reason why and something to stop them from hurting x
Kev sorry to hear you’ve been feeling weird. We all have those days and they’re not very nice. I try not to ‘exchange moments’ to much because as you say life’s to short, but I still find myself moaning about trivial things at times!! Maybe it’s the woman in me Lol !! I will send off those forms…it’s worth a try. Hope your feeling brighter today x
Paula was your phone on vibrate?? I would have been worried that the vibration would have caused my wig to slip off in public Lol!!! Hope all goes well today x
Stef isn’t it funny how ordinary, daily things such as shopping can make us feel paranoid. Doing everyday tasks like shopping wasn’t a problem a few months ago so why should it be now? My hair was patchy like yours to begin but you lose more and more hair each chemo. It was chemo 4 that took most of my lashes and brows. I still had a few strands which clung on through it all...bless em!! My dads taken me to a couple of my chemo’s, I think they like to see what we go through and have a better understanding of things. I agree that it’ll do your husband good too!! Hope all goes well today and hopefully your carpets will survive the week :-) x
Blossom great news - hoorah !! keep up the excercises :-)
Jean hope goes well at quacks with your fingers - i will keep mine crossed for you.
Paula i like the mobile under the wig story - but have to ask did you wip the wig off to answer the phone hahaha. I like being able to shock people with my baldness and joke about my wig - just got back from chemo 3 was offered a foot massage and was really miffed had to declline as didnt have time for shower before i went - only because dad came at 8am for me (appt wasnt till 9.30am) and had to make sure Trevor was tired out so took him long walk before we set off - left him 5hrs and he only had a little wee and chewed a bit of his newspaper up - cos he been soooooo goooood i taking him out now while got the energy to (and it not raining). Hope your chemo gone ok today - my dad nearly passed out when he saw the size of syringe hahaha. i also went in to the headstart place and BOUGHT A FRINGE hahaha and a headscarf and one of those BUFF things like a tube - its dead good.
Also found out my cancers name - he is called MEDULLARY which is very rare wooooh and doesnt tend to mestatasize (spread) so that makes me feel better - though does say usually doesnt spread to lymph nodes and mine did to 3 of them??? oh well says its treatable considering its aggressive. i apparently not her2+ or any letter and number combination and he just wrote down medullary - he doesnt give much away oncologist - he called Mr McGee which is very tempting to call him Mr McGoo hahhaa.
I hope you dont mind me butting in on your thread but I have tried starting a couple of my own but dont seem to get much response and I could really do with some support myself at the moment. You are welcome to read my profile but I will just tell you a bit about my story so far. I was diagnosed in April 07 with breast cancer when I was only 26. Had a mastectomy with 21 lymph nodes removed all negative, chemo, rads and herceptin. All went well and I have been doing lots of exciting things to be getting on with my life but recently things have been difficult. I found some lumps above my collarbone on both sides so went for a scan and needle biopsy which was inconclusive. So muy surgeon removed one of them on monday and I had a staging CT Friday as they feel strongly the cancer has returned. I am very scared and emotionally all over the place. Also in quite a bit of pain from the op on Monday which has surprised me as I usually recover well and it was only one node!!! I just feel what else can life throw at me?? From my first diagnosis I was told I had a 90 % chance of a full recovery and not a high risk of recurrence etc. I have 3 small children and a wondeful husband who I love tremendously and I am now only 28 I just feel in such despair. I hate feeling this way, please help!
Hi Chrissi, excuse my typeing as I am a bit zonco from chemo today. Your post has really got to me as you are so young to be going through this crap! I have no advice on the lumps they have found as I have only had it in the breast up to now. The only thing I can say is you are obviously a real fighter with a great hubby and wonderful kids, please, please try and stay positive. You have done it once before and you can do it again. Post on here as much as you like, everyone is brilliant and they have seen me through a few dark patches and managed to keep me positive. I have everything crossed this is not a reoccurance for you. Loads of hugs and positive vibes coming your way Paula xxxxx
Your words have been really encouraging. I have got to wait 2 weeks for the results from the op and I assume they will tell me the CT results at the same time. My appointment is on the 21st July and I am meant to be going back to work then so thats all up in the air too. I dont like to mess them about and money is tight as at the moment so I need to get back asap. The breast care nurse said she would ring me if they could get the results sooner but I'm not holding my breath.
I will keep posting as I feel much better already so thankyou again for your support.
Hiya, falling asleep as this one as hit me really hard already lol Blossom, I am soooooo pleased about your news, go girl!!!! Steff, what's a buff, I am intrigued now. Mr Mgee cracked me up lol Jean, metal mouth has set in already, yuk. Good news is my white blood cells are marvelous, bad news is I am severely anaemic, hey ho what the hell I am knackered anyway lol. Got the hot chocolate on standby as I know I will rtise from the dead around 3am, not too worry I have 10 chess games to catch up on and my brain seems to be at it's best in the middle of the night. Anyone heard from Heather, how is she doing? xxxxx
Have not posted here for a while as no real news but I have been reading up on all of you every day.
Big welcome to Chrissie - as others have mentioned we are a kind and mad lot in here.
Update Had line fitted yesterday (one week late as blood not up to date last week). My sodding veins are trouble there as well - it was one of the smallest veins the specialist nurse (at Christies) had seen in ages and I had to hold breath and do pelvis floor exercise for the vein to expand a bit for her to get the line through it.
Slept in a chair in living room overnight as stitches a bit sore & I didn't know how to tape it down for bed as I turn around a lot in bed in my sleep.
So today went for new ECG as the one last week was "funny" (my ECG curves go into negative and that is not possible usually but it is normal for me). Then down to chemo suite for chemo 2. Was a doodle with the line in!
Because of my low blood count last time the district nurse is coming round tomorrow (24 hrs after chemo) to give me a booster so it does not happen again.
Guess what - I don't know how many of you have read my profile, but I am Norwegian. Had an appointment before my chemo with oncologist. Junior oncologist doctor was a young, nice looking woman with an accent and she turns out to be Swedish when I asked her. So for the rest of the consultation we spoke our respective languages!!
Had a "new" side effect - eyes watering, started on train when I was at funeral and I have had it for a few more days. Thought it was due to suncream at first but looked it up and it is a side effect of FEC. If you have it - this is a tip to stop it: I spoke to pharmacist about it and she told me to buy Hayfever Eye Drops - my make (from Asda) is Galpharm. Have not used it yet even though my eyes were watering all day driving down to Macc and nearly all the way back, but had of course stopped when I came home to take the drops.
Steph - husband to take you to chemo is a must. My husband (retired) has taken me everywhere since this thing started. But he is not interested in reading leaflets or me talking about it, so doesn't know a lot yet which is embarrasing when he talks to the others in the chemo suite. He did watch the program "My breasts could be killing me" - the thing is he takes all of it literally as he has no other information. Makes me really mad sometimes that he is so ignorant!!!! (He was 70 on 1 July so I guess I can't change him now - then again he has not gone through cancer treatment before either!!).
Yeh Stef - what is a buff??? Good idea to make hubby go with you for No 4.
Paula, just remember, no 4 of the first lot was the worst for me. The next lot will be easier. believe me. Keep that thought in your head.
Good news re the fingers is that the blood tests confirm that nothing else has caused this, so it is down to the chemo. As they are not any worse than they were, I just have to moisurise and tell the onc. on Wendesday about them when I see her.
