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

[Gigondas]

Shiny new thread

Merry Christmas to all my lovelies on this thread. Hope you are all having a good one.

Special hugs for those having a difficult time, - you are very much in my thoughts.
Pen my love - it's shit thing to happen especially just before Christmas but you will get through, honestly you will.
Ned - loads of love xx

Lime great to see you as always, hope all is well with you xx

Massive hugs and Christmas smooches to all my girls xx

Nighty night. Visited Nan in hospital again this afternoon and played pass the pigs. She seemed glad to have visitors and even ate some chocolate. She is soft food now which is an advance. NBM when admitted 2 weeks ago because of swallowing reflex. They didn't think she would make it to Christmas so doing well. Not walking much now, seems to have forgotten how
Hope you all got through the day ok. Emo time of year and horrible time for dx pen (hugs)

Anyone? Hope you all had lovely days . I even have had two days of Xmas lie in as mini gig being loads Better about early waking .

I also have playmobil fingers/wrist as big gig got a fair few bits.

jchocglad your gran seems bit better.

ned I think therapy is way forward- it may not be a quick fix (I well remember thinking would need x number of sessions) and at times can make you feel bad/worse but ultimately it has helped me immensely and I am so much happier. And I agree with others that working may help .

pen how are you?

topsy at ds and his stocking. How did the long awaited Xmas present go down?

Hugs and love to you all.

Glad you all had a good day yesterday.

My dc woke at 3 am with excitement and then I had I cook for 14 lunch and buffet tea. It went well and let night I slept for 9 hours solid.

I feel a lot better today and we are going to family later so I won't have to cook today. We have enough left overs to feed us for a week too !

I did not tell my family and will tell them flyer Xmas and it was nice kind of forgetting about it . I am looking forward to the op now to get started on dealing with it.

My brother did ask if I was pregnant as I was not drinking though !

Glad you had a good day and started to forget about it- that is positive as it is a step forward to the new normal. It's something you have or had(like a cold) not who you are.

And sleep is massively good as everything seems worse when you are tired.

well done pen you are doing well -things will soon seem better and more manageable.
Glad that your nan is doing ok too ned
Slept until 9 - weird dreams - but that's probably because of excess food and watching 'Enders on iPad in bed.
Had enough festiving at about 7 yesterday so came home to unwind and relax a bit.
Dn got a Sylvanian treehouse among her treasures ! T got his proper camera and was thrilled. It was lovely and lunch was divine. Drank a little- some prosecco and wine with lunch, but far less than would normally- really losing the taste for it. (which is good possibly ?)
Lunch with db,SIL and dn at mum's before the return home.

Nighty night - everyone too busy, vegged out to mn today? sweet dreams.

waves to jane
Not much going on yesterday- went to have blood test then a walk into town to bank and to buy some supplies for next few days...off to MIL tomorrow - hospital today. Had friends over for tea and cake yesterday which was nice.
Hope everyone is fine and dandy...how's it going ned -have been thinking of you xxx

new prescription - 25% reduction in dose - start tomorrow. Dh came with me today as he's not back at work until next week -was nice as there's always lots of waiting around.

Scattering goodies from French France. Hope new dosage helps your hands mas.

How is everyone else?

Morning All

Did we all have a good Christmas ?
DD loved her iPad so much that she sat there hugging the box for at least 10 minutes before she even opened it

DS got a flat screen tv for his room , we will never see him again ...

DH and I decided not to buy each other pressies , we shall treat ourselves in the sales instead .

On a boob related front , bought my first proper bras since the surgery !
Can't believe how uncomfortable real underwired bras feel , haven't worn one for 18 months !

Glad they have reduced your dose Mas , hopefully you will feel a lot better on this regime .

Suppose I should do a little housework .

Housework, Topsy . Though I have to do some, as SIL's coming later and her house is always incredibly clean and neat. Glad DD loved her iPad. Buying the DC presents so you never see them is inspired.

We had fun, so hope all of you did too. MAS, that's good about reduced dose. Nice to have DH with you. What did they say about the hands and feet then? Is that why they're reducing

Ned I've been thinking of you too. How are you? Christmas is exhausting at the best of times, so I hope you're muddling through and finding some cheer amidst it all.

Better start making the house look acceptable. Acceptable's a long way from clean, but it'll still take an age...

ooh,French France goodies- have just eaten a load of wafer thin mints
Reduced dose to help hands and feet- bcn and onc thought they still looked red but hope the new dosage will be easier on them.
So glad the dcs loved their presents topsy - bless dd.
Haven't worn a wired bra for ages.

Hope everyone had a fab Christmas. Hope the lower dose helps the hands mas and hope you have a fab time in France gigs.

I was very pampered over Christmas and got lots of goodies. DH and I said we were only going to buy small gifts this year as we spent a lot on the children. I kept to the arrangement DH didn't so I got lots of goodies and a Kindle Fire which I am so in love with. I may have cried when I opened it.

Must go as have left DH cooking dinner (again!). Just in case I don't get on again Happy New Year to all.

Hi all, I just returned from a two hour wait for my post-op clinic appointment to get the results of the biopsy (I had a lumpectomy of arolea complex two weeks ago following a diagnosis of Paget's).

A thoroughly frustrating experience: the doctor had an incomplete verbal report from the lab to say they've started the tests and not found anything so far (good) but they haven't finished. He didn't have a written report to refer to. All the way home I was fretting as to what they were hiding from me: why did they lead me to expect clear results today, but none were forthcoming? The doc said he'd expect in "most" cases to find an underlying malignancy. This contradicts what my regular surgeon (who's on holiday) said when I saw him last - that they hadn't found anything in all the scans etc and he was confident they'd find nothing in the biopsy. His number 2, the man I saw, was so bloody negative. It was as if he expected to find something.

It was only when I got home and discussed this with a friend that I realised that the real story was probably that the lab was delayed finishing the tests because of the xmas break. If that's the case, I'm so annoyed. If the doctor had been honest and straightforwad with me he'd spared me unnecessary speculation and worry. I'm stuck now waiting another week for the results and I can only hope and pray that a) they do indeed continue to find nothing and b) that I see my normal chap next time, who I can trust to give me the honest truth!

Sorry for the self-indulgent rant.

loma

gah loma that's so annoying- am so sorry you are still waiting in limbo - hang in there and keep posting xxx

Thanks MaryAnn. It's kind of you to say so. I do hope you had a good Christmas and that your hands and feet are improving.

Topsy what sort of crochet do you do? I used to make my own cardigans and have been known to make the odd (in both senses of the word ) blanket, but haven't made anything for a few years now.

loma

Hi Peeps,

I hope you don't mind me crashing your thread like this but am after some advice?

An old friend's breast cancer has returned and she is having another op in the new year followed by chemo and radiotherapy. She lives a few hours away and I would like to send her some kind of care package for post op recovery and when she is having chemo. Any suggestions what I could put in it?

Many Thanks xx

Loma - how frustrating for you - you do come across some consultants with a not very good manner, - I hope you get your usual chap back next time and he can reassure you xx

Hi Piemistress - welcome to the thread - not gatecrashing at all, - everyone welcome. What a nice friend you are

When I had my op. + chemo I found the following things useful and nice,

Hand cream (skin gets v.dry)
warm soft socks to wear in bed or round the house (skin v-sensitive so soft or natural cotton fabrics in anything are good)
Audiobooks and novels (audios good for when you are to tired to read, but want distraction, - novels - light easy reads, or mags)
Puzzle books (for when you are waiting for chemo appointments and having chemo)
wrist warmers - to keep your hands warm for chemo.
boiled sweets to suck in hospital - as the air is very drying on the throat.
i-tunes voucher if she has an i-pod.
I drank a lot of peppermint tea, ginger tea and lemon tea - helped with the nausea.
Anything she can do while she's resting and not feeling very energetic - depends on her hobbies, - I enjoyed knitting and embroidery, but whatever floats her boat

I'm sure others will be along soon with more suggestions soon - good luck to your friend for her treatment.

MAS - hope the lower dose helps your hands, - nice that DH could come with you, good luck with the next cycle xx

waving to all, - hope everyone had a good Christmas, - I have eaten far too much and need to urgently diet for my plastics appointment in Feb

DD's 23rd birthday tomorrow, so I will make a cake and try not to eat too much of it! (will put loads on the trolley).

topsy - what are you making? - I crocheted a poncho/wrap thing for my DDIL for Christmas, - hadn't done any crochet for years, but the result wasn't too bad (if a little uneven at the edges but I covered that with fringing and she didn't mind ).

Thank you kurri that's very kind, I will note down your suggestions and get busy! :) My friend told barely anyone when it happened for the first time as was assured that it would be gone post op, but sadly it wasn't the case. They have told her that as she's pretty young (38) this next op and treatment should blitz it for good. I am praying that they are right x

I am making about 5 million hats at the moments .
They are the only things I know how to crochet , taught myself with YouTube videos .
Really should watch another video ...

Pie nice pjs are always welcome .
The lounging sort , so that if visitors turn up you look half decent !
If she's still in hospital when you are giving her gifts , wet wipes , a nice refreshing facial spray (I had a Clinique moisturising one)

Lo bastarding hospitals eh ?
How hard is it to say "sorry we don't have your results yet" ???

Horse riding tomorrow .
DD got new body armour and a riding crop for Christmas , so she can't wait to get back out there !

Wind is howling up a storm here , hope everyone else has it a little nicer

Welcome pie - sorry to hear about your friend - how unfair. I would think that things to read or listen to would be good and nice things like hand or body lotions, stuff to make her feel good.
Am off tomorrow to mil's so no broadband, just my phone which is tricky to MN on.
Happy bday to dd kk
xxxxxx

Morning all

pie I would second everything already suggested, plus some nice things to nibble. You don't always want sweet stuff, so nice nuts, crisps, crackers etc. did someone say magazines? Better than having to concentrate n a whole book sometimes.

Happy birthday to MissKurri

Doing OK here, Christmas went pretty well, was quite chilled as only DH,DS and DHs excellent granny staying. Mostly chilled out, watched TV, chatted etc. Played organ for 3 services over festive season, which all went pretty well, I think. At least you can rely on congregation to keep going with carols that they know, if the organist suddenly realises she's in the wrong key altogether. . .

Am feeling a bit better, I think. Had a good session with my trainer yesterday, who did some physio on my busted ankle, which has really helped. Told him about my counselling, maybe cried a bit, but he was lovely and completely unfazed by it all! Doc suggested upping my ADs again when I last saw him, but have decided not to at the moment, thought I would wait and see how stressful start of term gets, then I have option to increase then. Sensible or not?

Anyway, off to parents today til tomorrow evening. I promise to have a proper catch up on everyone's news. My posts recently have been so self-centred and self-indulgent. Sorry lovelies. X x x x x x x

Hello ned - glad you had a good Christmas, - I think your AD plan sounds sensible - I adjust mine up a little down a little depending on circs., main thing is that you do everything gradually so don't suddenly stop, and if you increase do it by increasing every other day and build up (but your GP will organize all that for you). You may well find that once you start back to work, you may feel a bit better. Cancer plays havoc with your self confidence - and it takes a bit of time to get it back, as you gradually return to 'normal' things you start to feel more like yourself. You will get there my lovely. xx

have fun at your parents.

MAS have a good time at MIL's.

DD liked her presents, and I am about to start baking her a chocolate cake. DS may come over later he said (for cake obv. )

Hope the weather has calmed down a bit for DD's horse riding topsy. Well done on the hats - DD wants me to knit her a big long cardi, so may look for wool in the sales next week.

love to all.

Hello again! We're back home. Lovely db cooked roast beef and apple crumble for our journey break at Mums. Well done ned playing the organ - I was told by a wise old minister that congregational singing is about making a joyful noise - the loud old lady who was tone deaf didn't faze at all and you shouldn't worry about the odd b*m note, just pull out all the stops and enjoy
loma I'm sure it is the holiday that has delayed the result - so frustrating.
mas hope you get on well with the lower dose.
Have set my deal mil a project knitting me a random coloured cardi out of left over scraps of wool... She is at the hosp most days visiting her mum and needs distraction... The hosp phoned twice while we were there saying nan unresponsive but managed to bring her round - think of she gets well enough for discharge it will be to a nursing home.
Waves and puts a on...