Not a patient patient

Hi , I totally understand your frustrations as after a clear routine mammogram in January 2025 , I found a lump in May and didn't believe it could be anything un-towards.

After a little while I went to the doctors who sent me for tests in July and 4 weeks later in August I was diagnosed with interval  high grade DCIS and Grade 3 Triple Negative 35mm invasive breast cancer.

I had Surgery 4 weeks today and so far no results back .So I understand the frustration.

Thank you for the reply. I still don't know if I really believe it, even with the stitches to prove it. I haven't even cried yet. 
It's hard to wait for the result, isn't it? I'm carrying the house phone and my mobile with me everywhere, not to miss the call. I hope you hear something from them very soon.

Hi ,I am exactly the same ,phone goes everywhere with me, and when it rings you think this is it .

With regards to the tiredness and soreness and aching I have been frustrated with it but have decided to give into the tiredness as I find if I do then I feel better the next day.

It is the restrictions that I find frustrating as I so much want to hoover and Iron etc instead of having to relay on my Daughters to come round ,but it is all for the right reason .

Fingers crossed our results will come through soon and we can move forward .

I have had a WLE ,SLNB and Licap reconstruction surgery ,which the initial appearance has caused me to shed a few tears ,but again it is all for the right reason.

I've started to take a nap during the day if I need one too. Sometimes I'm fine, but I've had times when I wake up and, within half an hour, I'm ready to go to sleep again. 

My daughter is amazing, but she has her own life and I want her to go out and enjoy herself. We're currently negotiating what I'm allowed to do and it's working out ok. My husband works long hours and he's struggling with what's happening. He's lost two brothers, a sister and his mother to cancer and this is very hard for him. 

It's a shock to see it, isn't it? I had WLE and SLNB and I'm currently lopsided and trying to disguise that with a scarf when people see me. As you say, it's for the right reason and I hope you hear something soon. 

It is good that you are resting as this helps your body to heal , all be day time TV can leave a lot to be desired. I normal work full time so not use to it , but made me realise I am not missing much LOL .

It definitely is a shock to see it ,as at this part of healing it is still swollen and it is hard to imagine what it will look like in a few months. I am not lopsided so to speak ,but the shape is very different to my other breast.

Regrettably I lost my Husband when he was 60 years old ,to cancer 3 years ago on the 31/10 next week , which has caused added emotional and anxiety and it causes mixed emotion with regards to me having to accept help from my Daughters as it has caused them added anxiety as well plus they have young children and work, all be it they don't mind at all .So I can only imagine how stressed you Husband must be feeling out it.

How are you getting on with the physio exercises ,as I have found them helpful.

Also I have a dog which gets me out walking everyday ,which helps with the inflammation and also clears the head a bit.

Hopefully your results will come through soon as well ,as it is just about moving forward to any further treatment that may be required .

Being able to chat about it does help I find .

I have a few hobbies and they're things I can continue to do, so that's a bonus, and I can take a rest when I need one. Daytime tv is mostly antiques and game shows, so I read and write instead.

It is a shock to see afterwards. I don't think I was prepared for that. 

I'm so sorry about your husband. I can understand how difficult it must be for you and your daughters to be going through this experience after losing your husband from cancer.

The exercises have been really helpful. A couple of them are ones I'm still doing following the stroke too.

What dog do you have? I have a rescue bull lurcher but he's reactive to other dogs so I can't walk him alone. He's great company in the day though, and we get out into the garden together. 

Thank you, and I hope you get your results soon. 

You're right and it does help. It's useful to know that other people have similar experiences and concerns and how they dealt with them. 

Hi ,my dog is a Lurcher and is called Phoebe( Doberman/greyhound)cross , she is so gentle and 12 and a half years old but we still walk between 7 and 9 km a day.She loves to cuddle up to me .She is definitely good company.I did have a Dalmatian (who was reactive )as well, but he developed a spinal tumour in July last year and with 10 days he was paralysed and I had to have him put to sleep.

Must admit I don’t really have hobbies but I don’t mind jigsaws or knitting from time to time but I can keep myself busy with something or other. I do like batch cooking which I did a lot of before surgery so I knew I would have meals in afterwards with less effort.

I am back driving so I get out and about, doing a bit of window shopping or catching up with friends.

The journeys the same but different for us all and when I have completed my treatment(s)I plan on doing some half marathons for cancer research as I did one last year and it was so exhilarating, and it gives me something to work towards. 

Lee 

Phoebe sounds lovely and I've found most lurchers to be very cuddly. I'm sorry about your Dalmatian. It's so awful when you lose them. Casper is staffy/greyhound, mostly white with fawn spotted ears. He's somewhere between 10 and 14. The rescue could only guess at his age because he'd been ill treated. 

The batch cooking idea is very useful. I don't do as much cooking as I used to, mainly because my daughter loves to cook and she comes up with such interesting meals. During Covid I learned coding and how to update and fix computers, so I do websites for people and small computer repairs. I'm told it's an unusual hobby for a 70 year old woman, but I enjoy it. It's great that you can get out, and congratulations on the half marathons. That's a wonderful achievement.

Gill

Hi Gill

WOW for the computer skills at the end of the day just goes to show we all have something positive to contribute no matter what our age is,I am 62 ,I am good at finding my way around finance packages as I went into finance when I was 40 and since then I have used roughly 10 different packages but would not have clue about coding etc . 

Our  youngest daughter was in Cornwall in the summer and she fell in love with a bull lurcher . 
I believe adopting rescue dogs is so rewarding, we have rescued 3 and bought our last dalmatian from a family who were struggling to look after him , he was 4 month old when we got him.

It makes me so cross with people who ill treat Animals . We adopted a boxer many years ago now was she was 18 month old and her teeth were broke and she had no muscle tone when she came to us and lived until 13 years old she was amazing.

Must admit when someone else cooks for you it’s lovely. My middle daughter had me round for tea tonight it was so relaxing and added bonus getting cuddles of the grandchildren . 
Hope you have had a good weekend.

Lee 

Hi Lee,

My grandmother had dementia and I found that terrifying, so I'm constantly trying to learn new things to keep my brain active. I don't know if that helps, but it's worth a try. Coding is easy but lots of sites are built without coding skills now. I'm old fashioned though, and I like to do it myself. 

Bull lurchers are lovely. Beautiful and powerful looking dogs but so sweet and gentle. I know Dalmatians need a firm hand and lots of people get them for their appearance and then struggle to look after them properly. 

I hate that too and all my dogs have been rescues. I took one in off the road and he was trying to grab the dogfood as I spooned it into a dish for him to eat. He became my daughter's dearest friend and we had him for years. 

Oh, that sounds lovely. I don't have grandchildren but lots of nieces and nephews. One nephew was in Thailand when I had my lumpectomy and insisted on phoning from there to make sure I was ok. 

I'm a bit late replying because Casper had to go to the vet and they're a bit concerned about his kidneys, so they're going to do some tests next week. I'm hoping he'll be ok because he seems so healthy. Fingers crossed!

Gill