Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

**TAMOXIFEN TEN***

993 replies

MaryAnnSingleton · 20/05/2011 08:51

brand new shiny thread....our tenth !

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 26/05/2011 15:45

arf !

OP posts:
sandripples · 26/05/2011 19:45

What a lot on here since I left.

Sparkle - am so sorry you're down - you know you can haul yourself back up this cliff and we're all here to help give a pull. I do think it takes a few months for the boob to heal up inside. Did you have a lumpectomy? I imagine it is a difficult wound to heal as its left a spherical hole after all. Mine took a while to settle. Hugs.

Topsy - I really feel for you. I also got ready for 0700 one morning (5 Jan 2010 to be precise!) but alas that ton of snow had fallen during the night and none of the medics could get to hospital. So my op was also delayed - horrid feeling. Mine took place 2 weeks later - I think they told me after a week and it was hard to have to wait I must say. So I hope you'll get a new date very soon. Has the BCN helped your cause?

Cakes - yes I'm technophobic too and I confess it is beginning to be a problem at work as so many things depend on whizzy stystems now. Not my forte.

Amber - hope you're getting over the sickness.

Love to all.

smee · 26/05/2011 20:34

Hello SR. You missed Kurri's jail breakout. Grin

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 26/05/2011 22:55

night all- am taking my weary limbs to bed- am happily friends with smee and figgy on facebook Smile

OP posts:
topsyturner · 27/05/2011 08:43

Morning All

Still not got a date for rebooking yet . But was called by one of the secretaries yesterday , who told me they are trying to put 2 extra lists on next week (Tuesday and Thursday) and they are trying to get me on one of those . But no promises .

Can I ask a question ?
I don't want to go on google , and I wondered if any of you have had the same experience .
When I met with my surgeon last week she was telling me about my tumour .
She told me it was type 3 (as far as I can remember) and that it was "non hormone receptor" . And therefore I wouldn't be suitable for Tamoxifen .

Does anyone know what this means ?

smee · 27/05/2011 09:46

Hello Topsy. Great that you might not go in next week, though I hope they let you know today. Must be horribly unsettling.

On the Tamoxifen thing, the hormone receptors shows if your tumour is progesterone/ oestrogen positive - if it is you get Tamoxifen, if it's not you don't. I sort of understand it, but mostly don't, so found a quick link to Macmillan - better to read their wisdom than my witterings.

www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Breast/Symptomsdiagnosis/HormoneandHER2receptors/HormoneandHER2receptors.aspx

I wonder if you might be a candidate for Herceptin? Did they mention anything about that? And just because you won't take Tamoxifen doesn't exclude you from here. I think a few of us don't take it - can't remember who now, but stick with us. Smile

Waving to all others. So cold here - DH thinks I'm a wuss, but I have a hot water bottle and two jumpers on and am still cold.

smee · 27/05/2011 10:05

ps to Topsy: meant to say, the Type 3 will be Grade or Stage - they're slightly different. 1's lowest - 4's highest. 3 is a bugger, as it means it's aggressive rather than sluggish, but younger pre-menopausal women mostly find they're a 3. I am too if it helps! My Consultant told me to think of it as mostly irrelevant. Doesn't matter if it's stage 1, 2 or 3 as any left behind can grow, so all that matters is eradicating it. Trust the op and the treatment - they know what they're doing and from all I've seen they're v.good at it. And you're right to keep away from Google. Honestly, that way madness lies.

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/05/2011 10:08

if you aren't herceptin receptive as well (triple negative) then they treat you with chemotherapy topsy, but best to wait until your hospital tells you what treatment they are recommending. Really hope you get your op soon,fingers crossed.

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/05/2011 10:09

smee- are there not just 3 grades 1-3 and stages 1-4 ?

OP posts:
amberlight · 27/05/2011 10:14

Topsy, it can take a couple of months for them to get the full sets of results back for things like herceptin-positive as it takes a while for the cells to be grown and tested properly, so you might not know a full answer for a while yet. Took three months before I was up to date on everything to do with me.

Feel absolutely yuk today - side effects from the Tax I think - but can't afford to be off work for the day so ploughing on Hmm

I need Brew - anyone else for one?

cakesandale · 27/05/2011 10:24

Hi topsy. I really hope you get on that list. If you don't it will be v hard to wait a bit longer, but a week or two extra is unlikely to have a material effect on prognosis so don't be worrying about that.

I think MAS is right. There are four stages - based on size, and the likelihood of spread. 1 is pretty small, 2 is 2.5 cm or more (I'm certain about that one because it's what I was), and it goes up from there. The bigger it is, the higher the likelihood of spread because it is likely to have been there longer, but that is by no means certain. Tumours are wily buggers and they can grow very fast, or very slow. Then there are 3 grades, 1 being the most sluggish and 3 the most aggressive. But is IS largely irrelevant what grade it is, the bugger just has to come out, and then they have to mop up any straggler cells with chemo and/or rads.

Phone them a couple of times a day - you will be being a pest, but that is really the point. Sad to say, being proactive and getting yourself noticed really can speed things up for you. x

smee · 27/05/2011 10:26

Am sure you're right MAS - Topsy, get thee to the Macmillan site - follow that link I gave earlier and it won't confuse you. Confused

I'm up for a Brew. Supposed to be working, but what the heck. Amber are you achey?? That's a major Tax Truck effect. If so, take something - I know they tell you not to, but Ibuprofen just as it hits takes the edge off. And eat biscuits too, they're medicinal. Grin

cakesandale · 27/05/2011 10:26

Cross posted amber. I've just got my Brew in my hand.

Thank God it's a long weekend. Try to do as little as possible today.

smee · 27/05/2011 10:27

x posted cakes, but I'm was deemed 3 and was 1.7cm, so your certainty might not be certain! Confused

cakesandale · 27/05/2011 10:39

oh, well I could most definitely be wrong.

But I was a stage 2 (and was told that meant 2.5cm and up) and also grade 2. If you were a stage 3 at 1.7 and not a grade 3, then I am also truly Confused

Topsy, I imagine we are not helping to clear the fog, are we? Get thee to the MacMillan site. Wink

cakesandale · 27/05/2011 10:43

oh yes, I have just looked it up and it is more complex than I thought. But I was a stage 2a because it was between 2 and 5cm but with no evidence of spread to axillary nodes. There are a range of other possibilities. I stand corrected. And not for the first time Wink

smee · 27/05/2011 10:49

Ah that makes sense as I had it in my nodes - I think if it's there you're virtually automatically a 3. Hooray for Cakes. Might have another Brew..

cakesandale · 27/05/2011 10:51

Did smee jnr make himself sick on jelly and ice cream or did he manage to exercise restraint?

amberlight · 27/05/2011 10:54

Yup, I'm a 2a as far as I know. So in total Grade 3 invasive ductal, 2.3 cm originally, no nodes, HER2+.

KurriKurri · 27/05/2011 10:54

Topsy - I really hope you get on that list - waiting is horrible ( but be assured that these relatively short waits don't make a difference to the cancer)

Everyone has given you good advice about grades and stages - its a bit complicated and takes various things into account. I was grade 3 - 3.5 cm tumour and her2+ (so receptive to herceptin). Essentially grade 3 for me meant I needed chemo, which I think you are probably expecting anyway?

Maybe they can talk you through it all when you go in for your op. There is so much info and unfamiliar terms thrown at you initially it gets a bit overwhelming - try not to worry Smile

Sparkle I hope you are feeling a bit better - come back soon we miss you - you won't bring anyone down, come and have rant if it will make you feel better. (I've put some chocolate brownies into the picnic basket - are you tempted? Smile)

waving to SR - any sign of PG going yet?

Can I just have a small shout about how much I hate hot flushes, - I am getting loads everyday. A hot drink brings them on, sometimes they arrive when I'm doing nothing, - sitting watching TV. People are starting to notice, I had a couple of comment about how hot/red I look. I hate feeling sweaty all the time, having about 3 showers a day atm. Ho hum and grrr and moan. Grin

I got very excited this morning, - a man came up the driveway with a huge bouquet of flowers, but they were for the woman next door Envy who was out. On the good side - I took them in to give to her later and she works until about 5, so I am pretending they are mine for the day Grin

love to all, hope sickness is not too bad and other truck effects.

smee · 27/05/2011 10:55

He had three portions to no ill effect - I had two and felt a bit queasy. Blush Cake tonight as DH is back, plus basket ball hoop. Birthday seems never ending..

amberlight · 27/05/2011 10:56

Smee, apparently you can still be stage 2 and it be in the nodes.
www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/staging.jsp
Stage 3 is where it's been in the nodes or breast for long enough that it's got all tangled up with other things and is more tricky to fish out.

smee · 27/05/2011 10:58

Kurri, moan away, as those hot flushes sound a bit much. I have them too, but not nearly as badly and mostly at night, seem to spend most of the night duvet surfing. I didn't know they could build?!

Flowers sound most excellent. Smile

Original poster
MaryAnnSingleton · 27/05/2011 11:05

The staging involves combinations of size and then whether or not there is vascular and/or node involvement. Small sized tumours can equally be v aggressive as well as mild mannered,and big ones can be just very slow growing ( as i understand )

OP posts:
cakesandale · 27/05/2011 11:11

Oh yuk all this talk of fishing things out makes me feel queasy.

How do kids manage to take in so much sugar and not feel bad? My dd can eat multiple helpings of sweets and pudding, it is astounding. I would feel sick for hours.

Enjoy your brief sojourn with flowers KK. It is disappointing, isn't it, when they are not for you?

I am having a lot of hot flushes too. They happen as soon as I sit down to do nothing in the evening, and also as soon as I lie down in bed. My duvet wafting habit is getting very hard to live with, I think Grin You have my sympathies. And on that subject - does anyone else also feel a bit claustrophobic and panicky while it is happening? Poor little dd wanted a cuddle last night and clambered onto my lap during a flush - it was all I could do not to fling her off Sad

When we came home from Tae Kwon Do there was an almost fully fledged Great Tit chick standing forlornly by our front door, cheeping loudly. We managed to get in without frightening him to death and then he stood there for half an hour before disappearing. Half an hour after that I went upstairs and could hear him again. Poor little guy was on our neighbour's porch roof, still shouting for his Mum. I hope she found him... Our house seems to attract them. last year a baby robin took up residence on the rung underneath the seat on one of our dining chairs, and had to be forcibly evicted by me (he was so cute), and a few days later I was standing in the kitchen when I kept hearing a forlorn little cheeping sound. Eventually tracked it down to the dark cupboard under our stairs. When I peered in i could see a baby starling standing on the handle of the Dyson. We had to close all the doors into the kitchen except the back door, put all the lights on, and wait several hours before the light and hunger tempted him out the back door. God knows how long he'd been in there. Definitely over night Sad

Swipe left for the next trending thread