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?
Emma glad you ok and your mum in good spirit - if your mums having lumpectomy only - she will hardly feel any pain after the op i had lumpectomy and lymph nodes removed (which means for the nodes they cut under your armpit and that is more of a pain as you have restricted arm movement and numbness) so your mum will hardly have any restrictions with the lumpectomy its much more straight forward. Like the idea you all wearing pink in October and arranging a run maybe for next year it will help keep your mind off stuff :-)
Kay you look ace there in your bikini on the beach - can i ask how long it has taken for your hair to grow to that length after chemo (im havin FEC number 6 this wed and got 2 more to go - last one is 21st october) - did you get hol insurance ok or did you leave the insurance, im just planning ahead :-)
Lailla glad youre feeling much better - take it easy - i think i was overdoing it cleaning and going long walks with dog etc. and then i had 2 days feeling really tired out just before i get zapped again on wed. Rings bells that falling out with hubby part - i think my hubby has job worries he has all the lads off this coming week with full pay as theres no work for them - hes in the office and is obviously worried for his own job and he doesnt talk about it with me - he justs drinks a lot and is either giddy or depressed like he doesnt know what to do?? so i am now worried as i go on half pay middle oct and he may have no job - worse is that we moved house and now have big mortgage - im sure i just worrying unnecessarily (HOPE SO). Take it easy x
Hi Stef - I think you meant to ask Karen about her hair, not me. She's the only one in a bikini that I could find. Although, if it helps, I had last lot of chemo Jan 08. I shaved my head a couple of times to even it up, then had a number 3 cut at a barbers, and I've had it cut properly twice (just trimmed and shaped), and it's now about 4 inches long. I did have Herceptin for a year though, and I think there's some evidence that it slows regrowth a bit, so I suppose my hair may have grown a bit more without it. I think hair grows half inch per month on average (less any hair cuts obviously). Hope your husband's business picks up - he must be feeling really crap at the moment, not surprising he's a bit all over the place. Men really are rubbish at talking about troubles though, aren't they?
Stepson & -daughter have invited themselves to cook us Sunday dinner!! (They are in middle of renovating house so want a bit of normality. I'm so glad my taste buds are back - at least until my next chemo on Wednesday.
Step - hope hubby can eventually talk to you about his problems, must be adding additional stress onto your situation :-(
A big welcome and a big hug to the newbies on here. It’s a tough time for anyone going through this but we all manage to keep smiling most if the time.
Marmalade It’s great to hear from you. I’ve been wondering how you and your sis have been keeping. It’s fab that at last your sister is close to having her op. Please keep in touch, you always knew the right things to say to make us feel better x
Hello to everyone else. Best wishes to all who are having treatment, operations or recovering from chemo this week x
My taste buds are returning too…woo-hoo!! They are still not perfect but I’m happy with what taste I do have. My Radiotherapy starts on the 21st September for 4 weeks. I asked if they would leave it till that week as I have other appointments before. I’m booked in to have my ovaries removed on 12th November and I’ve moved my Herceptin back to 26th October rather than have it alongside Radiotherapy. My calendar is bursting with appointments/treatments!!
Hi everyone - do hope you've had a good weekend. Emlou, it's great that you are going to raise some money in pink - so much more constructive that sitting around being worried - well done, you! Karen, your holiday in Crete sounds wonderful - I love Greece! Like Stef I was wondering about insurance too. What did you do? After this is all sorted I would like to splash out on a good holiday - I haven't had one for a while what with mum and dad's illnesses. Dear Stef, I do hope you have some good news about your hubby's job soon. He os probably trying to shield you from his worries but men are awful about withdrawing into atheir caves, aren't they. I think we girls do much better by talking things out with others. Lucky you, Laila, to have your dinner cooked -did you have a traditional roast? Chelle - all those appointments! I hope you go to the right ones at the right time! Seriously, I hope all goes well for you. Caley and faeryharper, I was interested to hear about your fluid retention - that will be me soon so I'm listening to every word! Jean, have a great time with your brother! It will be lovely for you to enjoy some haggis together! Will you have a nip of whisky too or stay with your voddy? How long is he down for? Marmalade - I hope all goes well for your sister's tug flap - I'm sure she will be pleased with the results. When I was diagnosed with dystonia 11 years ago I found the local support group really helpful. Then I seemed to get to a stage when I felt strong enough not to need it. Well, I'm counting down to my op.now - just a fortnight away. I'm seeing the anaethetist and the breast reconstructiob nurses on Thursday so I'll take my notebook so I don't forget anything. Maria - where are you - you have your DIEP flap on the 17th, I think? Right, just off to oversee a youth group. Some of them will have had results recently so I expect there will be cheers and tears, bless them! lots of love to you all - sorry - I must have missed some! Hugs to you all, Wendy xxx
Hi everyone. Know what you mean about appointments Chelle. Don't know what i'd do without me calender 'cos the memory's not so good lately.Kay how did you get on with herceptin as I start mine in 2 weeks. Had last fec in May Steff so hair doing ok. Its lovely to have it back again and great to have last chemo. You're nearly there!! Hope things pick up with hubbies work. Its crap worrying about money on top of all this. I've been off work since Dec' and don't know when i'm going back. When does the fatigue go? Hi Jean, been on arimidex nearly 4 weeks. So far ok just hope the old bones are ok. Oh and hol insurance.Got it at post office but it won't cover anything to do with the cancer. Ttfn love Karen xxx
Thank you for your lovely words! :-) Have been around, just haven't been posting, but will try & post a bit more often on here.. Have missed you all.
Good luck with the radiotherapy! Sounds like you've got a busy old time coming up..hope everythings goes smoothly for you. I can imagine how glad you will be when all this treatment is over!!
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for your good wishes for my sis's op!! I think we're just going to go to the one support group session to find out people's experiences, but it is nice to know it is there.
My very best wishes to you for your op..I'm sure the time will fly by & you'll be back at home before you know it! Hope your youth group overseeing goes well tonight & that there are more cheers than tears! :-)
All my love & best wishes to everyone else..I hope everything goes well for everybody on here!!
Herceptin - I'm sure you already know that you'll need to have an echo every 3 months to make sure your heart is OK. You may be told at hospital that herceptin doesn't have side effects, but this is not necessarily so. Worry not though, because any side effects you may have will be nothing like chemo.
I used to have a bit of a pain in my throat for a few days every cycle, and sometimes in my upper back as well. Nothing major, but worrying until I read about other women's experience with herceptin and realised that quite a few got this too. You may well find that some of your fingernails and toe nails split vertically after a few treatments. I've still got a couple of nails that don't grow normally. I also think it may have slowed the rate at which my hair re-grew. I'm not sure about that, but other women have mentioned this, and certainly my hair has not grown at the rate it did before. I have also read that it can upset your digestive system a bit, although this didn't happen to me.
So, all in all, a bit of a breeze compared with chemo, but it does go on a bit. I sometimes thought I'd never get to the end. Did you know it's very expensive? The years course costs £26,000! I felt a bit guilty about that for about, oh, 10 minutes, then told myself I was worth it (lol).
You'll be given the first treatment over a long time (several hours), in case you have an allergic reaction to it. This is a major bore, but better I suppose than keeling over in the street from anaphalactic shock. Take lots of reading material! Subsequent treatments will be given over a much shorter period although you have to stay in the clinic for a minimum of 2 hours every time, just in case. I hope you're not as impatient as me, I used to start bouncing around on the dot of 2 hours, taking off the plasters holding the drip in place. I never did get used to all that hanging about.
I'm sure you'll be fine, and isn't it great that there's something on offer for HER2+ women now?
First of all, poor Paula's temperature didn't go down on Sat/Sun so she had to go back to hospital yesterday and they kept her in. She has an infection in the wound on her right boob and is on antibiotics. Hopefully she will be home today.
Marmalade, I am so enjoying my food. Each day gets better and better. It's lovely that you are posting again. I've missed you!
Emma, it's great to see that you and your Mum are being so positive. I hope all goes well for her on the 15th.
Stef and Laila stop doing so much bloody cleaning! you make me feel guilty! Stef, sorry to hear about Paul's job. Fingers crossed that everything turns out ok.
Chelle, welcome to the world of tasting food again! I know what you mean about appointments. I have to carry my diary with me everywhere.
Wendy, definitely won't be having whisky! Don't like the stuff! This, of course, pleases Duncan as he can have it all to himself!
My brother is arriving today and staying until Friday. No haggis on the menu, although I do love it. We will be eating out a lot. I won't be posting much whilst he is here as we will be too busy chatting and eating.
Karen I'm really pleased to hear you've had no side effects from the Arimidex. After all this chemo, I really don't want to have any other nasties to cope with!
