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?
Lailla you having three taxotere first one is tomorrow - are they weekly - if so your nearly off the chemo now then :-) Brill - have you gained much weight on the chemo/steroids i have put on 11lb and still got a way to go aaargh. Like Jean said - will deal with the weight after xmas now. x stef
Hope your bruises are not too bad :-( How did Trevor react afterwards?
My cooking is not extravagant - I'm not really the cook in our family - John is, but I get urges now and then to cook. John's everyday cooking is quite boring so when I get the urge I look at our ingredients and go to the BBCFood website to find something interesting. And yes, we do have fish fingers, but not very often. Tend to have non-batterered fish.
With the FEC I only had 2 x 2 tablets for two days after chemo, hardly any side effect at all. But now that I go on to taxotere they have put me on 4 tabl x 2 for four days. Have only taken them this morning - can't see any side effects yet...Oh yes I do - the holes in the sift of a memory i sometimes have got have just gotten much bigger!!! Do get some cravings after the steroids, not neccessarily the days after I stopped. My taxotere will also be at three weeks interval, so not finished for a while yet. I have all my chemos at Macclesfield and will go to Christies for the radiation. I have my appointment for 11.30, so go after the rush traffic and also get free lunch hehe.... Usually out of there by 14.00.
Will also see my oncologist tomorrow. Must remember to ask for a copy of my diagnosis after the operation.
My DLA was rejected so will take it to Macc and have a talk to the Macmillan people while there.
I have not gained much weight, only couple of kgs. I'm on the study so have a very large eye on my eating habits, and also do my stretches and lots of walking now, but you do that anyway.
Afternoon to you all. As i said before i go for mastectomy on thursday, starting to get scared!!! I don't know what to expect emmotionaly. I've accepted that i have to do this in order to survive but the fear is still there. Will it hurt? will i be able to do most things for myself? i'm guessing it's going to be emotional more than physical, is this so? my family are very supportive but i think you can't really understand until your faced with this bloody awful disease. Cancer was always just a word to me but now it's my reality!!!!!!! I worry of how i will feel when i first see scar, so many things i'm unsure of!!!!! Its good to see you all still staying positive, it's been a great help to me just reading about you all. If anything has come out of this its knowing that so many poeple do beat this and still keep a sense of humour. Good luck to anyone having treatment this week and i'll be thinking of you all. I'm hoping i can take laptop to hosp just so i can keep up with all going on and maybe have chuckle along the way. One last thing, are there any scooterists on here? Fingers crossed for you all caley ((((((((((((x)))))))))))) xxx
Cancer its awful disease. Not long ago, I've consult with the specialist here: http://ampills.com/womens-health/prometrium/questions/ he gave me advise, concerning cancer prevention. Recommended!
Stef, welcome back, but I bet you wish you were still in the Lakes. Hope the bruises don't ache too much. Laila, I had 6 goes of doxe whatsit. Doable, but not nice. We have fish fingers now and again. Great in sandwiches I found.
Caley, deep breaths sweetheart. Yes, it will be a bit sore afterwards, but it's bearable. If you're also having lymph nodes removed then you will find your arm movements are restricted. Just do the exercises and that will get a lot better, but you must keep doing the exercises for ages, otherwise the arm will stiffen up again. How it looks will depend a lot on how big you are now. If you're reasonably small breasted then you should have a straight line scar which won't look too bad at all. If you're larger then you may have a bit of puckering at either end. But this can be tidied up later if need be, and will in any event disappear when you have a reconstruction. You'll probably go home with a drain, which you can carry around in a small bag until it's ready to come out. Just be careful not to snag the tube on door handles and you can do pretty much anything. You'll be given a foam prosthesis to use until you've healed enough to have a proper one. It's important to realise that you may have lots of aches and pains afterwards, especially in your backand rib area. This will NOT mean that the cancer is still there, it's just that there's a fair amount of healing for the body to do, and this often aches. Just keep telling yourself that all of this is necessary for you to get better, and get on with your life. You'll be amazed how little the loss of a boob matters to you compared with the alternative. Much love and good luck. Kay xx
Kay, Thanks so much for that, i think its easier to get on and deal with things if you know wat your actualy dealing with, your advice has put my mind at ease a bit. I'm sure i'll get through this and manage a few laughs a long the way. Fish finger sandwiches are yummy with salad cream, one of my personal favourite meals, (actualy i think i'll have one for tea). Thanks again, caley xxx
Upon the suggestion of a lovely person who replied to my detached thread, I am going to repost my
original message within this thread which seems to deal so well with the subject of breast cancer. I won't say any more but simple copy paste in my original message.
Thank you so much in advance for any help you might be able to give, my warmest wishes,
Grace.
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Hi everyone,
I have just registered on here and this is my first post. First of all may I just say well done to everyone for creating such a supportive community and although I will probably be taking more than giving over the near future I fully support everyone who is going through difficult times.
I have joined the community as my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer last week. I honestly couldn't believe it as dad is in remission and I didn't think lightening could strike twice. I just expected her to come out of the consultation room and say 'they're going to drain the cyst'.
From then on I have supported her as much as I can by talking to her on the phone and having her stay the weekend so we could spend some quality time together. She is scheduled for surgery in September to remove the 2 malignant tumors in her breast.
This is where my confusion kicks in. At first they said chemotherapy would be decided upon only after the operation, and upon inspection of the offending tumors. She went back to the hospital today to meet with her surgeon and get her surgery date, and they are now telling her that chemotherapy and radiotherapy will both be necessary. Whatsmore they want to do a complete body scan, and say that if the cancer has spread her breast surgery will be canceled? What on EARTH does that mean? Surely they cannot NOT operate on someone who has tumors?
I just feel so helpless and don't understand why everything seems to have gotten so much more serious and heavy in just one hospital appointment.
Also, just as a side note, I don't seem to be able to verbally tell anyone that she has been diagnosed. Any of the close friends I have told I have done it via email or text message, and when someone asked me yesterday why I didn't look so good I just said I was under the weather. Is it normal to not be able to just come out with it?
I agree with everything Kay said. I was amazed how little pain I was in after the operation. Only needed ordinary paracetamol. I came home the day after the operation - they send you home with very strong painkillers to take if you need it, but I have not opened the pack yet, might do after recon :-)
Regarding the drains - the district nurses (nice people) will come to your house to empty the drain bag. I slept in the recliner in my living room while I had the drains in because I spin around in my bed while asleep. The drains in your chest WILL NOT come out, but the attachments to the drain bag can become dislocated. So, as Kay said, look out for doorhandles etc.Showering is a bit awkward, as far as I remember I put the bag on the floor (on steroids today so my memory could be playing tricks...). Anyway, ANYTHING GOES!!! You will grow to hate the softie, and look forward to the "proper" prosthesis.
Can't tell you anything else at the moment as you have not filled in your profile so don't know your circumstances and can't remember what you said when you first came on here.
Grace, welcome to the forum. Sorry you have to be here, but it's a very good place to be.
To grace, I can't really offer you much advice on your mum as i've not long been diagnosed myself, but i can say your in the right place. As for you saying you can't tell poeple about your mum verbaly, that's sometimes how it is, when i was diagnosed in june i just sent text messages to everyone i knew. Ifound talking about it made it all the more real, when you write it out it doesn't seem so real, its easier!!! You just need time to get your head round it all, then you'll talk. I wish you and your mum lots of luck, love caley xx
