**TAMOXIFEN TEN***

[MaryAnnSingleton]

brand new shiny thread....our tenth !

x-posted Figgy - Well done for keeping out of hospital this time, and glad you haven't been feeling so bad. Loads of luck and love for tomorrow xx

Your poor dad and mum, KK. I am so glad it wasn't a hospitalisation job this time.

Figgy, I only had FEC but I thought it was not so bad, gald you are finding it OK. I have everything crossed for your onc meeting tomorrow, make sure you tell us what they say.

I too have WAY too much stuff. I am on a mission (long term, goes in fits and starts) to get rid of loads of stuff. i feel sure we (or at least I) would feel lighter and sharper and fitter. In particular I can feel all the books absorbing my energy. It is time I admitted to myself that I am unlikely ever to read War and Peace and just got shot of it. It could do some useful work down at the Oxfam second hand bookshop but it is wasted herei

I know what you mean about stuff absorbing your energy Cakes - that's how I feel, I find quantities of 'things' very overwhelming, especially since my DX strangely - I feel as if I want to streamline my life.

I am trying to get DH to help with sorting - so I don't throw out anything he's devoted to but he is so obsessed with entering competions at the moment he has very little time - last win a packet of freeze dried vegetable curry (hurrah).

competitions I mean

Well, a win's a win, however modest

I am glad you know how I feel, it's a bit like claustrophobia isn't it? It just seems to weigh down on you. I am worse since my dx too. I was like it after I had dd as well. I was NOT a relaxed new mother and all the wonderful flowers and cards and gifts we had just got me down, they were all over the place

I ended up chucking out half a dozen very large and beautiful bouquets because I just felt i couldn't breathe or see daylight....I am a weirdo I know.

On a positive note - my weight loss has geared up a notch. Hurrah! I can see it myself and now other people are noticing too. I have a way to go before I am back in thhe size 10 I should be, but at least I am a proper size 12 again, and not a pretending-to-be size 12 any more. Boy have I eaten a LOT of fruit and veg over the last 3 weeks

oh God- I felt that about flowers (it was like a florists in our house) after ds was born- !! they were lovely,but too many-I was in a bit of a state afterwards anyway as OCD had kicked in big time during pregnancy and added to the stress of being a new mum who'd had a pretty difficult birth -yikes- and I was fretting about writing thank yous for all the cards and flowers and presents- horrible.

Thinking of topsy this morning - no nice candles here,but will send thoughts.
Poor,poor dad KK - it must make you want to weep- unbearable to think of your poor father suffering so(and your mum of course)

Sorry about your mum too smee - it's so dreadful.
Lots of good wishes to figgy for tomorrow- really hope it has shrunkxx
And fantastic weight loss cakes !! so nice when other notice too- well done you.
My friend has been into hospital this morning,bright and early,for a knee op and the consultant,who hadn't seen her in the clinic looked at her MRI and declared that he could do nothing for her so the operation was cancelled

Well I'm mighty glad to hear I am not as nuts (on the flower thing) as i thought! I can imagine you stressing wildly about the thank-yous when everything else was stressful too. It is very when you look back, isn't it? I wonder sometimes how we ever get through those times.

And your poor friend. What is she to do about her knee, then? It sounds awful!

Afternoon all.
Echoing all that MaryAnn has summarised above.

Had blood test today ready for tomorrow's first Tax (having had the four FEC). At least the portacath worked this time and it didn't hurt like hell. Told them I want the frozen-nail gloves, and I'm bringing my own frozen peas for my toenails. Should keep them amused.
Not looking forward to starting Tax as I've gotten on so well (really) with FEC and I don't see why I should be lucky twice.
Think that calls for more . Anyone else?

Me please!

Back in a sec have to call someone

Dear me, pesky work, how very dare they?

I haven't heard of all these frozen jobs for Taxol, FEC was quite civilised that way, no discoloured nails, just ridges later down the line. You sound very well prepared, I am sure you will be fine. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be lucky twice, some people are more sensitive than others. Take it steady, get really well hydrated and go with the flow. I will be thinking of you. And then you'll be more than halfway through, which is a fab thought.

Right here comes my

Good luck for tomorrow Amber, who knows - you might be lucky on Tax too - here's hoping for you

I'll have a - I just knocked the one I made onto the kitchen floor [fool].

I agree flowers can get claustrophobic (although I've never actually had enough all at once to get overwhelmed )

Cakes you are doing brilliantly with the weight loss - and great that people are noticing, that gives you a real boost. I must get going on a diet - my will power is non-existent. Are you basically cutting out crap and eating lots of fruit and veg? (or is it vastly more complicated than that?)

Sorry about your friend MAS - how disappointing for her, I hope they do find something to help her knee.

Oh and the famous dissertation is finished and on its way to the printers [Hooray and phew]

Did someone say ? Have settled for a well deserved five minute rest. House looks none too bad now, but mostly because I've scooped things into cupboards.

Amber, really good luck for tomorrow. If the gloves aren't pleasant don't panic, as I had 3 x Tax and my nails weren't too bad really.

Figgy really good luck for tomorrow, but I'd bet it's shrunk. Great to hear you prefer FEC - you most definitely deserved an easier ride. For all those about to start Tax though, fear not as in the end I preferred it to FEC. Drugs affect everybody differently, so Tax is not necessarily worse.

Am glad you mentioned the flowers thing, Cakes. I was the same - even more so with diagnosis. The thing that really bugged me though was the cards lovely people sent to say sorry about BC. Most seemed like those you send when someone's died. I know they were well meant, but I felt like sending thank you cards back saying 'I'm not dead yet you know.'

MAS, your poor friend must be very down. Is she in a lot of pain? Could she maybe get a second opinion. And how dare they get her in for an op and cancel like that - apart from anything else it's a waste of a slot in theatre.

Kurri, hooray for dissertation. How's the centipede? Are his boots on?

Hooray for the dissertation! (Phew)

KK - the diet is basically lots of fruit and veg, yes. It is meant to be all raw fruit, veg and salad until the evening. No wheat, no dairy, and positively nothing processed and no refined sugar. In the evening you can have a cooked dinner as long as you made it yourself, and it follows the rules above. If hungry between means (not usually) you have to make yourself a smoothie, from scratch - even an innocent is no good as it is pasteurised. Ideally this is meant to be veg not fruit, but I am afraid I am not so hair shirt as that. I sneak a carrot in and convince myself that's enough.

Oh and the only oil you can use for cooking is coconut (which fortunately does not taste of coconut because that makes me gag).

Even done my way, which is rather less strict than that, it is quite arduous but that's where the hypnotherapy comes in. Seriously, it is a piece of cake (prob the wrong choice of words ). I don't even fancy any sweets, cakes or biscuits. I am having one slice of toast a day, milk in and a little bit of cheese. And some wine. and the weight is still going. Hurray!

I'll have a thank you !
amber- hope it's all fine and dandy tomorrow for you
Hooray for dissertation KK !

Not sure there is anything to be done about friend's knee - am not sure whether her medical condition (she has Turner's syndrome) might have been a cause (she is extremely small,heightwise) Was also thinking about her undergoing GA this morning- and wondering if there might be any complications -I really don't know enough about it. She is fiercely independent and is a university lecturer -very determined and would ask about any other poss. treatments I'm sure. She had no one to go with her this morning(is in London) so feel bad about that.

PS the idea is to get lots of raw food enzymes into you, which burn fat and also virtually make the food digest itself, so your body doesn't have to work so hard.

Allegedly (and this may interest you a bit) coconut oil is fantastic for the thyroid.

Cross post. Poor friend MAS. Joint pain is very lowering.

Have just read back and missed your weight loss, Cakes. Huge hoorays for fruit. Am mighty impressed.

That it interesting Cakes - like you, coconut makes me gag, but if it doesn't taste of it thats OK.

Centipede is very nearly done, hopefully will finish him off tonight/tomorrow and get a photo up, - am handing him over to DS on wednesday, we are meeting for lunch in town.

MAS, I agree cancelling your friends op. when she's there is horrible. One of my friends DD has Turner's syndrome, - she is very small and she also has to have heart checks I think.

Looking forward to seeing the centipede!

hooray for centipede !
and coconut oil !!

I have just looked up coconut oil and it does seem, indeed, to be a wonder food, just as the guy told me. Who knew???

It's also relatively cheap in Sainsbury's. I found it in the ethnic foods aisle.

Every time I see our thread title it makes me feel like we've been wrongly banged up - as in 'Free the Tamoxifen Ten'

Sorry just a silly thought

KK !

Ha Ha!