*tamoxifen* 31- in the bus shelter with the cheap booze

[Gigondas]

Shiny new thread

I've been avoiding soya - but not to the extent of checking labels - just wouldn't use soya milk on my cornflakes anymore.
pen Hi sorry you are waiting for results - normal to be stressed and argue and shout ime. Try and take it easy - I find chocolate is essential for stress.

Very busy day today, parkrun, ice sculptures, The Hobbit, Curry at Omars. Tomorrow we are going to have to make room for dmil's furniture which we are going to "look after" while she rents out her house.
dGmil is in hospital still and they have phoned to say she is on the way out :( She is 99 though and not been so well for 18 months so it is hardly a surprise...

Waves to gig in french france and belated happy birthday to kk

mas :( about ses, nesquick sounds nice...

sandripples This is what the Polly, the Chinese Dr Lovely (the breast surgeon with the gentlest hands in the world) is currently advising, so perhaps we should be avoiding Soy. http://bhc.hkbcf.org/habits.php She founded this charity, you can see how lovely she is in the founders message on the same website. However I'm going to decide that Soy sauce is OK. Friends and I decided a life without champagne and chocolates wasn't worth living and I would definitely add soy sauce to that list.

I am not doing well with the Mumsnet devices bhc.hkbcf.org/habits.php

Why did the website turn Chinese whilst I was linking? In the top right hand corner you can change it to English but this is what the relevant bit says ◦Studies have shown that soy beans can reduce the risk of breast cancer. Yet, there has not yet been conclusive evidence on whether or not plant estrogens in food such as soy beans and flaxseeds are connected with breast cancer. Women with high risk of breast cancer or receiving hormonal supplement therapy should control their intake of food that contains plant estrogens.

Hands, ESP fingers are v v sore and swollen- and still so dry- they look terrible- I shall wear my mittens constantly. Painkilling gels might be an idea - chilling them prob not as I have lousy circulation in hands - the chilled bits of supermarkets set them off and my fingers go numb and white.
Feeling very plain and fat too which makes me feel unacceptable - I am getting into horrid self critical mode.
Marrons glacé are sooo delicious.

maryanne your poor hands! I hope the mittens help. I've got rotten circulation and I've got several pairs of the fingerless sort so I don't have to walk around our heated house with purple hands.

Ma-in-law just popped round to wash my hair so I'm feeling knackered, but less ashamed of my wan face with greasy locks as I was before .

Sorry for misspelling your name...

MaryAnn - my gran had terrible hands and feet on chemo and she found Aveeno very helpful. She got it in prescription.

I had a terrible night and was awake googling thyroid cancer till about 4 am. I know all about it now.

Do any of you follow a special diet ? I am blaming myself for being unhealthy and will never eat junk again.

Stay away from the dreaded google pen unless its one of the uk cancer charities you'll get tons if misinformation! (And I speak from experience). And to blame diet or lifestyle is the road to madness. I lead a perfectly ok lifestyle, other than too little exercise. And too much stress. As far as I'm concerned its just one of those things.

Hi, Thank-you for all the comments re soya! I found the sight of all that Chinese quite reassuring in a way!

MAS - so sorry about your hands - now a bit of mindfullness might be needed for you today? Focussing on some beautiful things and all your lovely good points/talenst?

Ms Colada (sorry I just can't call you Penis!) - very important not to google - it will drive you insane and you don't have a diagnosis yet. I agree that getting cancer is just one of those things - I have reduced my alcohol intake to about one glass a week but I didn't drink heavily before and I find I don't like it much now anyway - it just makes me hot and stops me sleeping! I don't eat much processed meat although I do like ham. I think moderation is the thing - but alcohol and processed meat seem worth limiting IMO. And of course , when I remember, I eat lots of vegetables! I have always tended to eat loads of fruit and know I should try to boost the veggies esp the green elafy ones I'm not that keen on.

I found that cooking was a good distraction/therapy though, so its nice to experiment with healthy food if you also enjoy cooking it.

I've just amended my Christmas order to be more vegan now! (because of our guest).

Pen Whys and what ifs are as much of an enemy as Dr Google. Certainly in the case of Breast Cancer they really don't understand 90% of the risk anyway. Isn't environment heavily implicated in thyroid Cancer as well? As my wonky oncy said as she wrote down that I had breastfed two children to 18 months, never smoked, eaten healthily, exercised, drank the odd bottle glass of wine (some of it very odd, and in bus shelters), "well you did everything right but then so did most of the women who I treat". Anyway there is no point worrying about what you cannot change, or indeed what hasn't happened yet, though I know that is easier said than done.

MAS I also have zombie fingers at the very suggestion of minus temperatures. Your hands sound terrible, and constant chronic pain like that can bring you very low. I bet you are not at all plain and fat.

By the way wine was not implicated in my terrible handling of t'internet last night, chance would have been a fine thing, I was in fact on chauffeur duty and spent an hour on the motorway at midnight collecting DD from a party somewhere near France.

you are sweet copt and sr -yes,mindfulness would be good- am just feeling sorry for myself a bit.
pen have Aveeno on precription but they are still dry old husks ! actually Neutrogena is good as it's glycerine-y I think and that seals in moisture.
Do avoid google,it can really scare the crap out of you if you're not careful...

Pen, if it is thyroid cancer, 9 out of 10 are cured. It's good odds, if that cheers you up at all.
MAS, large hug for you/bracing tea/either/both. And for anyone else in need.

Nipping in to say hi. Am hiding out, as DS,DH and the cat are 'creating' our tree. Sounds quite epic from here!

Hi to PenisC. Great name! Sorry you're here, but stick around and let us distract you. We all get how horribly scary it is. It's why we're all still here really.

Kurri, I missed your birthday!! Hope the lemon cake was fab. Re present haul sounds rather good. You are most definitely not old. Repeat 3 times while dancing round your tree and you'll start to believe it.

MAS, your hands sound so sore. I think Co-codamol's a good idea too. You need sleep and it does help; I took it lots when I had my back problems. On calcium, I think chemo saps everything, so it's not that surprising. Sending you a huge hug. xx

SR, I avoid soy, as all my Oncs have told me to (I seem to have 3!).

Looma, hair washing sounds good. Strange how the smallest things make you feel a bit better.

Hope Gig's having a great time in French France, and Ned at her bro's wedding.

Waving to all who I've missed. Better go, as have told myself I am going to clean the bedrooms while the tree's being done downstairs. Strangely I keep managing to find other things to do..

smee don't clean the bathroom. Snuggle down on the sofa with a cup of coffee and half a bun as I am. Cleaning's much better left to the experts.

I snuggled on the sofa with a mince pie....
V sad news from a friend (went to art school together ) both her parents died (of strokes) within days of each other- so awful...and her dh has been dealing with cancer too- how crap is that.I wrote her a card when her mum died but she emailed to say that her dad had also died. Have emailed back but seems inadequate. She's up in N Yorkshire so difficult to do anything useful.

That's sad MAS. My mother had a whole series of strokes so I always thought that would be my fate too- as I've probably said before, Cancer just wasn't in my plan!
I hope you have a better day tomorrow.

I've worn myself out a bit today, but feel I've made Xmas-progress. I always feel stressed until I get all the cards finished, and have done so - walked round with the local ones. (well apart from 2-3 for people who live a bit out of the way - they may or may not receiver their cards...)

This year we're taking a Xmas lunch to DH's aged and rather infirm aunts on 23rd, then we've got 4 guests on 25th, including our vegan guest - have rejigged the plans and all will be fine.

Also stocked up on sticks and logs, and di some wrapping.

DS did arrive home late Friday but we've hardly seen him. Perhaps he'll drop in tomorrow when we're at work...

Anyone else watching Sports personality? Another nice chance to watch those glorious moments!

hooray for Wiggo !
Have just seen my cousin's post on fb revealing that she collects those scary Baby Reborn dolls- irksome !
Am off to town shortly to go to bank etc and later am heading out to coffee with 2 friends- carol concert this evening.
Waves to sr and love top all

MAS, that is sad. Your poor friend, she must feel so lost. How are feet and hands today? Hope not too bad. Good to hear you're getting out with friends.

SR, hope DS manages to stay in long enough for you to catch up. You'd be ever so stressed by my Christmas planning, I haven't even bought any Christmas cards yet.

Am feeling quite festive. Really must get organised. I have a list an arm long and still adding to it. Has anyone got any appointments this week?? I've just got a letter through to book a Dexa scan for bone density. Has anyone had one of those? I think they're quite easy/ stress-free?

Festive good mornings to you all

Wedding was excellent - had big family get together on Friday night, with lots of cousins I hadn't seen in ages, then coffee on Saturday morning with old friends I hadn't seen in ages and then lovely wedding. DS lasted until about 9pm then DH took him back to the hotel and I continued on the extremely fine dessert wine. . .

Managed to paint on a smile all weekend - no-one apart from my DSis knows that I am a bit under par at the moment, but I think I managed to play the convincing part of the "all better, moving on, here's to 2013, blah blah blah" person everyone was expecting me to be. Quite exhausting. . .

Have put one pic of gorgeous DS in his page's outfit on FB, will try to put it on here too, if I can figure out how to. . .

Out to lunch soon with friend, will have a proper read back of all posts this afternoon.

lots of love to everyone x x x x

yay ned -glad it was lovely, but sorry that you had to cover up real feelings- must be very draining. I want to see bridal pictures and ned in her finery ! Saw ds on fb,bless him
smee @ the no cards yet ! Today I bought Babycham and cheese footballs as a kind of retro urge-plus I have a proper Babycham glass and wanted to use it !
Hands still sore,feet are ok. Am going to paint my nails so that my hands lookl less gnarled.(though that might draw attention to them)

Ned, DS looks so very sweet. Was he proud to be all dressed up? Glad you had a lovely day, though the smiling through must have been tricky. You did amazingly to manage it all day!

MAS am not quite as useless as I seem, as have sent to people abroad. Felt v.smug as did that a couple of weeks ago, but it must have lulled me into a false sense of security.

When are you seeing your team next?? Is there really nothing more they can do for your hands and feet?

Painting nails is good - can you also slather hands in Aveno put on rubber gloves and put in warm water or keep warm? I ask as might help circulation and to soak the cream in (its what they do for manicures) . Does tesco not do babycham mas?

ned yay for wedding and llovely photo but am sorry you are still finding it tough. Did you ring dr lovely?

Had lovely lunch with work friends and finished my Xmas shopping - so can be smug now.

Adding French chock to trolley- had lovely wweekend In Paris.

Ooh when is scan smee? And you less mad busy with work?

copthall I need your help please- can you suggest ways to decipher Chinese characters. Bought some new cufflinks for dh from antique store but have no idea what they mean (probably something really dull or inappropriate ).

Is this any good? www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/chinese-dictionary.php