*TAMOXIFEN* the 5th

[MaryAnnSingleton]

in case we forget and find ourselves at 1000 - here's a fresh new thread !

Hi SR

All sounds a bit energetic for me!

Don't worry too much about the joint aches, I am a bit prone anyway owing to having hypermobile joints. I don't think Tam has started up many significant new ones, just exacerbated (!?) existing ones.

I am down for two new ops. Groan. One to decompress a nerve in my right arm (result of a bad break) and one to do the same in my back (doctors reckon this'll help with my bad back and my achey ankle, as they are both affected by the same nerve). So woop-de-do, but at least it'll be worth it. Probably. And I am very grateful to be in a country where I am offered it, of course.

Hello Cakes - lovely to see you back and it sounds as if you had a great holiday. I'm pleased DD is feeling a bit better, and glad you found the book useful. I expect the break was really good for her - we all need to get away from it all sometimes. And it sounds as if she got a lot out of her visit to Arran.

Ops sound slightly daunting, but hopefully will help sort out your pain.

Also very sorry to hear about your FIL, even though it was expected, it is obviously still very sad for you all. It is good your DH got to say his farewells to his Dad.
How is DD coping with the news?

Thanks for good wishes on my mammo everyone, I was surprised to hear so quickly. I hope yours arrives soon Haggis
Your party sounds great, - I'm glad the cats are going to be suitably smartly dressed

Ouch ouch, to broken finger and hand RWU, what a pain. Good luck with the move, it is exciting when it all starts coming together

Happy anniversary MAS, hope you have a lovely evening 15 years is good going I like your Mum's raised bed very much, mine is not as impressive as that, - its not as high. But I'd love one with a little wall round it.

SR - the veg. planning sounds fun and you have had a busy gardening weekend - great you are feeling a bit better atm. I'm thinking about what to grow for autumn and winter.Might try parsnips. Spinach is fairly easy and a useful veg. (I grew a lot of radishes this year, also very easy, but there are only so many radishes you can eat!)

Smee - hurray for return of taste buds, it makes all the difference.

I'm still a bit wheezy and tired so still pottering (I'm getting very good at it now), but AB's should kick in soon I hope. DD and I fancy a day in Cambridge this week and I don't want to have to cancel.

Ooh, Cambridge sounds lovely, hope you make it. And parsnips sound great too - we could never grow those when we had a veg garden owing to some kind of problem in the soil (club root????), but so nice and versatile. Can't ever have too many parsnips.

DD is being a bit histrionic about grandad, as you might expect from a seven year old drama queen but she is adamant she wants to come to the funeral. so I have said OK and will just steer her away from the actual burial bit (which I am quite keen to avoid myself).

Yay for mammogram results!!!

Guess what we saw in Arran? I am so excited. Red squirrels!!! Yeehah!

sorry to hear about your FIL cakes, even though someone's been ill, it hits those closest hard. Best wishes to all the family especially your DH.

I am alive, but off to bed

Well one full day and 2 sleeps before I know one way or another.
I am trawling through the thread trying to catch up with everyone-I promise I will try to be more supportive when I have got past this.Sorry.

no need to apologise pranma - just hang on in there -we'll be thinking of you.
So sorry about FIL Cakes - but it's good that he has been spared languishing in a nowhere state - huge sympathies to you all. Perhaps dd can apply her new found buddhist beliefs to her grandfather's death ? that he is moving on to his next wheel of life (my mum is a buddhist) towards Nirvana. I think if she'd like to go to the funeral then she should,am sure you will explain what happens so there are no nasty shocks.

A friend of mine from the BCC forums is contemplating coming off tamoxifen (we discussed starting tamox. together on the forums - I think she feels that she wants to try to do it by diet - she is asking about having her oestrogen levels monitored)
Had a v nice day today with dh and ds - out to lunch at Zizzi,then blew my £50 JL voucher won in the marketing competition on mn at Waitrose on wine and bubble bath - nice bottle of prosecco chilling in the fridge -we have champagne too,but might keep it for tomorrow when we are on our own - eating over at my parents tonight with ds,db and dn.

MAS - ooh I love prosecco. And I've spent the afternoon asleep for an hour and a half then doing my Italina homework for tomorrow. Quite fancy a prosecco right now actually.

On a less positive note I couldn't stop eating this afternoon - oh dear. Crisps, 2 ham sandwiches and chocolate. I guess its a couple of crackers for tea

Thinking of Pranma and RWU and sending supportive thoughts.

prosecco was very nice hope you get good markls for your Italian homework !

MAS happy anniversary It sounds like you have had a lovely day. The wine and bubblebath sounds like a very good use of your voucher
Cakes, so sorry to hear about your FIL. Even if it isn't a shock it is still a traumatic time. Will be thinking of you this week.

Also sending virtual hugs to Pranma and RWU. Hang on in there girls.

Gardening chat - the only way I have ever managed to get parsnips to grow is as follows: Make a deep drill in the soil and fill with compost. Wrap three parsnips seeds in a cigarette paper and space each paper along the drill about 10 cm apart. Cover up with soil and cover with fleece. Once they germinate (notoriously slow) then thin to one plant per station. I can't really plant them before March or April here as the soil is too cold. Have had great success with tomatoes this year by using grafted varieties. I find that the extra vigour means that the tomatoes are about 3 weeks earlier than non grafted varieties which gives the tomatoes a chance to ripen before the frosts (which can come early here). Apologies to non-gardeners for all that blurb!

I wonder why it has to be a ciggie paper?! Do you know? useful advice, though, Haggis!

Thanks all for good wishes -best to pranma and RWU, both of you take it easy, and don't worry about being more supportive, take it one day at a time, and take a bit of support from us for a bit, if you can.

MAS - I'd forgotten your Mum was a buddhist. I think she is applying her new ideas to it, to be honest, she is certainly giving her Tibetan singing bowl a bit of a pounding. We have discussed the funeral and she is going, despite it meaning she'll miss the second day at her new school, but I think it is importnant that she says Goodbye, all the rest of the cousins are much older than her and will be there, so she would definitely feel she had been excluded from an important family event if she was not allowed to go.

Prosecco and bubble, what a fab combination. Enjoy it all (and the champagne)

PS I am a bit in awe of friend coming off tamoxifen. I am not sure I would be brave enough. (Actually, that's not true, I AM sure I would NOT be brave enough)

sounds as though your dd is getting her head round it all and saying goodbye properly is important - I know to my cost - I wasn't asked /allowed to go to my brother's and I was 13 - am dealing with that right now,a million years later.
Friend is still searching for alternatives/advice but seems quite sure that's what she wants to do.
Am in a bit of a whirl as I have three commissions to finish/do and have just been asked to do a poetry book for Macmillan Children's books - yay ! it's poems about puppies for girls between 7 and 9. Deadline end of Sept - yikes. That will help with dental bill on friday !

Well done MAS re the new work - sounds great!

Cakes - I too feel it is the right thing for your DD to go to the funeral. It will be helpful to have the ritual of saying goodbye I think.

Haggis - thanks for the parsnip tips - have been thinking of parsnips so v. timely! The new Gardener's World mag has just dropped through the door and has an article on preparing veg plots - will read this evening.

Am a bit exhausted due to drinking Asti at about 1030 today with friends and DS who got 7 x A* and 2X As in his GCSEs, so everyone very pleased and his friend also did well so all very happy here today! Have to go to Italian now. With so much excitement recently I'm a bit worn out tho!! We'll have celebratory meal tomoz as I think the teens have a party somewhere tonight - well probably anyway. (Hmm it might end up here possibly....)

Well done indeed to you MAS ref the work: it sounds absolutely great! The book sounds just perfect for dd as well, so let us know what it's going to be called and Santa can get her a copy for Christmas (if it will be out by then)

And well done to SR's ds! Wine just HAD to be drunk in this case! What a clever lad.

Thanks, both of you, for support ref letting dd go to the funeral. I think it is the right choice, but I trust your judgement and it has helped because my Mum was a bit dubious about it. But it seems right, she is a bit of a deep one and I think it will play on her mind unless she says a proper goodbye.

Just picked up a big job that is great from a money point of view, but a bit gulp-making in terms of execution. So I am happy but also feeling a bit weedy about it. It'll be fine, I just need to bite the bullet and get started.....But not today

excellent news about SR's ds - clever,clever boy !!!!!!
I think the book is called simply puppy poems (the cover is girly and pink with paw prints & a cute pup on the front) - I imagine it'd be out before Christmas as deadline is end of sept...some of my favourite poets in it too -
Well done for your new work - it's always daunting before you start - i can never quite believe when i've finished something that I somehow got through it ! I always get nervy before any job, no matter how nice

Goodness - its congratulations central on here today Well done on your commissions MAS, they sound brilliant - I would also love to get a copy of the book when it's done, so let us know nearer the time

Cakes well done on your work, even if it is a bit scary, I'm sure you will be fine once you get your teeth into it.
Btw, for what it's worth, I agree with everyone else regarding the funeral, I think it is a good idea your DD to go. I think a ceremony is quite important in marking what has happened and understanding the reality of it, if that makes sense.

SR - You must be very proud of your boy, congratulations to him on his wonderful resultshave a lovely celebration.

Haggis, hope work is going well and thanks for the parsnip tips They sound hard, but I will have a go. What sort of plants and flowers do well in your garden? - my sister lives in your region and I like to give her seeds but am always looking for things that can stand the wind and the cold. (she's on a very exposed piece of land).

Lots of love to RWU, hope you aren't feeling too wiped out today. And keeping you in my thoughts for tomorrow Pranma.

DS and his girlfriend are coming over for the day on thursday, as they have both got some time off work. So I'm looking forward to seeing them. I think I'll make the peach and blueberry cake again.

I'm not convinced these AB's are doing any good, feel as if I've got a golf ball stuck in my throat, and I'm very croaky - which is hard for someone like me who usually talks all the time

Well, I have been able to make my mum more than smile today as DS (first grandson to do GCSE's) got amazing exam results

that's great purplefish - bet she's proud
KK -am sorry you are so croaky still - sounds horrible...poor thing
Lots of good thoughts to RWU and to pranma for tomorrow -thinking of you both.

and well done to you purplefish for having such a clever ds

More congrats. to Purplefish's DS

Yay - good to have all this celebration! Well done Cakes on your new work. And well done to Purplefish's DS.

Smee - sorry not to remember but was it you who went to Italy mid-chemo and if so - I hope you don't mind me asking - waht did you do about insurance? I am planning a little trip tp Pisa and then we also hope to go the Canaries in October - my treatment will be over but only recently by then. So think I need to chewck insurance situation, partly for the sake of friends I'm going with to Pisa who are a bit worried! I feel it will be fine but will have to check out whether my bank cover would include anything related to the cancer I suppose.

KK - sorry this bug is taking time to clear off. Hope you feel better soon.

SR and Purplefish, congrats to DSs, my own DS also did similarly really well despite domestic crisis (me) inhibiting revision and am bursting with pride in him. Double celebrations as had last FEC chemo this afternoon, so am horizontal now, barff but yay!!!!

Quick congrats on wedding anniversary and new work, commiserations to Cakes and def doing right thing bringing dd to funeral. Answer every question truthfully, 7 yr olds do not thank u for trying to protectfeelings. (I have one, he was in fact v divertting at grandads funeral last yr).

KK, abs not working if you are getting worse on them- back to doc with u asap!

MAS, diet will not reduce oestrogen levels- your pal should really talk to onc about risks b4 stopping tamoxifen. Have to say i think that's really mad.

Pranma, all the best tomoro, thinkin of u. You too RWU.

Smee, I went to Italy mid chemo. Didn't bother with insurance but took EHIC card and loads of antibiotics and a thermometer and hoped for best. Was travelling with lots of docs too which helped. You can always
enquire but bet wil b expensive. Was also not far from airport and had low threshold for getin plane home again pronto if necessary, but gambled on it not being.

Sore head so that's enough for now.

congratulations all round to mums of such brainy sons - and of course to the Ds themselves. Congrats too on the work front to MAS and Cakes - busy times ahead ladies

KK - don't want to interfere but if you are not getting better I agree that its time to see doc again- asap. [stern face]

ASR - you mentioned bank insurance. I have an annual travel policy through my bank and called to let them know what had been happening before I went to Norway. They wanted to know all of the drugs that I was on and then helpfully amended the policy to exclude any treatment relating to breast cancer but - wait for it - added that treatment for my hayfever would be covered

Cuipcaked and RWU - hope your chemo is going OK. Laat one Cupcaked

Garden chat - don't know why ciggie papers. I just read that in a magazine and tried it - only time I have ever managed to grow parsnips successfully. What works this far North? Well most everything other than runner beans and sweetcorn as long as I sow/plant a month later than they say in the magazines. This year I have grown potatoes, asparagus, peas, french beans, cabbage, broccoli, chinese cabbage, pak choi, fennel, carrots, spring onions, lettuce, beetroot, pumpkins, courgettes and broad beans and tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies under cover. Some more successfuly than others! have just sown kohl rabi and romanescue cauliflower (green pointy plants). I like to try something new every year - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Cupcakes - laughing about your hayfever being covered! bet that was a big weight off your mind!!

OK, I'd better speak to the bank then and take a note of the ABs which I can take. I really don't think I'll get an infection at that stage as my blood counts should be recovering by 3 weeks post tablets (I think anyway and will check with onc). And its only 3 days away from home and a short flight so I can hop on a plane if necessary.
Or even a train - that would be rather nice actually

DS is out celebrating but I'd quite like him to come home soon [protective mum icon]

Haggis - very impressed by your list of veg! Fantastically satisfying I should think. WE had normal (ie shop sized ) carrots for tea today - not home grown. I hope to harvest more beans tomorrow though - they've been my biggest success really.

Wow Haggis wow....