Tamoxigang -the 39th thread ***

[MaryAnnSingleton]

cooee ! we're over here - just in case the current thread hit 1000 without our noticing Bring the trolley !

Yes offload all you want just wish we could be more help
Where's everyone else today ?
Topsy you'd think someone would have seen the market for nice not too expensive mx bras by now
Just watching TOWIE here before bed

Makingdo, do you have a haven center nearby? They are very good. They have lots of counselling and relaxation sessions aimed at people in your sil situation. She sounds like she needs some help now.
If her mouth is sore she might like a smoothie made with oats, berries, coconut milk or cream and honey (bananas sting if you have ulcers), nice and calorific. She can experiment with flavours she likes. Raspberries are supposed to be active against cancer, if you use frozen ones the smoothie turns into icecream in the blender. Yummy.

She is allowed to freak out though. It is scary and extremely unpleasant having chemo for cancer.

I never buy mastectomy bras. They are granny ish and unsupportive. I like full cup freya bras which I sew pockets into. You can buy or make your own pockets and just tack them in. I put some padding over the wire on my op side as they dig in a bit where I have no fat over my ribs.

I also have a freya tankini which has underwired bra in it. I just sewed in a sponge swimming breast form and it looks fine. It can be a bit weird when you jump out of the pool for a bit of a sunbathe and you have to surreptitiously squeeze the water out of it otherwise it drips.

Just been on eBay .
My major bra requirement is something strapless .
I found bandeau bras , with pockets in them .
Bought a pack of 3 for a tenner , so if they are a mistake it's no great hardship !

I shall let you know the outcome when they arrive !

My sil did mention to me about sewing pockets in normal bras Trice , I must look into that .

I used to have a huge lingerie collection .
After my mx and my reduction on the other side , I had a massive clear out
2 bin liners of bras I got rid of !

I was very large of knork , and it's been quite hard to adjust to my new b/c cup .
It changes the way I dress completely , I used to be a complete harlot with my cleavage out all the time

And if anyone is taking note of doctors apts this week , I have my smear on Thursday .
Do you think they will let me have a GA for it ........ ?

Anyhow , off to bed now .
Hope everyone gets a good nights sleep x

makindo agree with trice that it is perfectly normal to be scared and depressed by a cancer dx and chemo. If her medical team advised her to delay though she may be putting her body through more than she needs to. I know how depressing delays are but the doses they calculate for chemo are crude, not necessarily accounting for all the variations in how our bodies react, they then calibrate them according to how you react. There are several of us on here who had doses reduced and treatments delayed, it is so common as to be normal. On one hand if you have had a difficult time with infections and blood counts it shows the Cancer cells have had a good blast, on the other hand it also shows that the dose may have been too great for your body. After the first chemo wiped my white blood cell count out completely and I had a very serious infection they reduced the dose but eventhen they had to keep reducing the dose and delaying treatments more and more. my team would only give me the white blood cell boosting injections to tide me over the second week when I was vulnerable to infection. after that they would not give me another dose of chemo until my white blood cell count had recovered enough on it's own. None of this makes the chemo less effective, it just makes sure that it is the right dose for your body and that keeps you safe. After the first cycle I didn't have another problem with infection. As a friend It might help if you helped her get a perspective on this. I know I paniced that reducing the dose and delaying would mean it wouldn't work but that is clearly not the case. Totally agree that getting out is important, and unless you are having close contact with lots of people, why it is not a good idea to be teaching children for instance, a few common sense hygiene measures, washing hands etc. will protect you from infection.

topsy will be interested to hear how bra works out, M&S now do some nice non granny mastectomy bras, I get most of mine there. Amoena used to do decent swimwear too but now seem to only do blingy cougar or granny.. I still have some nice simple bikinis and tankinis from them but I don't know what I will do when they wear out. Had a very down day yesterday as i had bought a new vest top and the bag of fat at the end of my mastectomy scar on my back was hanging over the armhole not a good look. Anyone else find that. Of course the solution is not to be so fat but it is just another restriction on what I can wear. It's bad enough not having a cleavage (never had one to miss anyway!) but now I seem to have gained a side cleavage on my back

Lovely evening last night, girls and I watched BOTH Bridget Jones movies, double bonding ! We were having a competition to see who could get he next line right, and DH was complaining the raucous singalongs were waking him up, I really need to find a nice orange man to keep him on his toes .

Topsy GA can be avoided as long as you make sure it's not Nurse Ratchett, the clue is in the eyes. If the mouth is smiling sweetly but she has the cold eyes of a psychotic serial killer don't let her come near you with that instrument of torture speculum.

Copt Bridget jones night sounds lovely
Topsy smear will be fine it will be over before you know it
Last week of term here so lots of Facebook countdowns to end of term and holidays which is a bit depressing. Ds asked me if we were going away, I said we'd have to see

Yippeee - first day of hols here.
DH at work and I am working from home for a few hours as the DCs are both still asleep (and will be for hours I suspect).

Chemo week for me so I've got bloods on Weds, Chemo on Thurs and injection on Friday. Will get to see if new sickness meds work any better .
Hair hanging in but I guess this week is when it will fall out if it is going to - I've got a couple of really nice sun hats anyway so will wear them if it goes thin this week.

makindo sorry to hear your SIL is not doing so well - I agree with others though avoiding crowded places is a sensible precautions but hiding in the house is not necessary and a gentle walk somewhere pretty in the fresh air can do wonders for how you feel. Anything cool will help ease a sore mouth, ice cream, sorbet, ice pops, yoghurt, smoothies, chilled soup etc. If it so sore it is stopping her eating she really needs to be contacting her team/helpline for advice (it's listed as a amber "call within 24 hrs" in my red book)

topsy ew for smear, hope it's not too bad. Everyone's least favourite thing I think.

gigs - how's things with you?

Still no news from EMIN ? Hope she's ok

Well other than a bit tired and an ulcer on the side of my tongue I'm feeling almost normal today. :) Sad to be missing DDs class assembly this morning though, but 30 minutes crammed like sardines in a hot hall with loads of other parents is just not worth the risk at the moment.

When does the famous chemo-spa effect kick in? I look a lot like a spotty teenager at the moment Still got hair for now, but waiting for it to fall out...

Review appointment with the oncologist tomorrow (before cycle 2 next week) and I've already got 7 things on my list. He will soon learn (If he hasn't already) I'm a detail person!

One qu someone knowledgeable on here may be able to answer - if you have surgery then chemo and circulating cancer cells are (hopefully) mopped up by chemo. If you have chemo then surgery there will be a few weeks after the last chemo (I'm told usually 5 weeks) before surgery for cancer cells to start circulating again - what deals with those cells?

Phew - what a scorcher! I'd thought of going into work today, but a 2 hour commute (each way) in these temperatures have made me think again, so am remote working again.
Couldn't bear to watch the tennis live yesterday, but had a lovely cream tea in an orchard tea room (with half the population of the planet, but we were able to find deck chairs and a table).
Best wishes to all. Enjoy the weather whilst it lasts.

ooo good last question Betsy - I can't help answer am expecting 3 weeks between last chemo and Op.
BTW - my skin is fab already - just using tinted moisturisor with SPF as I am VERY sensitive to the sun.

I have been very naughty and not avoided doing anything this cycle - as it was our last couple of weeks of term I went to lots of concerts and sports days etc. but have been very lucky health wise.

Waving to Making. Can't add to what the others have said, but stick around though next time buy more biscuits

Bridget Jones and Stones all sounds fun, Copt. You do keep busy, don't you?!

at GA for smear, Topsy. Though a valium before hand might work..

Happy holidays, KitKat. Hope the hair hangs on and they sort the anti-sickness this time. Good chance they will. x

Malt, any news from BCN yet?? Honestly I can't believe you're still waiting for a start date. The psychology of cancer treatment is so important and a structure helps so much. Must be really unsettling not being able to plan. on your behalf.

Betsy,glad to hear you're feeling almost back to normal. I haven't a clue on that question, as I had op, then chemo. Ask your team, as there must be an answer. It's a very tried and tested way to deal with the critters, so it obviously works. Chemo spa effect hit me on about 3rd cycle.

Good call on the non-commute, Lily.

Hope everyone's okay out there. Too many to post to, but am hoping Ruby's got through her sickness, and MAS and Trice are feeling okay too. Gig, hope not too achy today and you're climbing out of it all. Where are you Earth?? Thinking of you too and finally, am still missing Kurri. If you're lurking, hope you're okay. xx

Sorry if I've missed anyone. Had a fantastic day yesterday. I do love London in the sun, so we had a brunch picnic in one park and played badminton with DS's new birthday set. Then in the afternoon, another park with other friends while the kids ran round. Perfect. Very hard to work today!

kitkat and Betsy Even though I had a really nasty infection in the first cycle as a result of the first dose leaving me with no white blood cells to speak of, in the subsequent cycles I did still go into DDs' school etc. and didn't have any further problems with infection. Once they know the impact the chemo has on your white blood cells they can manage it with reduced dose /booster injections and then it is just a matter of the common sense precautions. Ironically we subsequently found ourselves living in Hong Kong during the SARs epidemic and when all around me were panicing I stayed calm, because I knew that even if it were airbourne (which it turned out it wasn't) there were plenty of sensible things you could do to avoid it and I was used to following the advice being given by doctors about washing hands etc. I certainly didn't resort to fleeing the country, wearing silly masks or incarcerating my children at home! Apart from anything else, I couldn't get worked up about the threat of a disease which gave you chances of survival of 94%, when I had only 60%. (I am being flippant but that is not at all to underestimate the huge risks and suffering of the Health professionals and the poor people who took the full blast of the viral load from multiple sources)

Even now I have a low white blood cell count, around 2 compared to the 4 minimum they regard as normal but I don't get ill anymore than the rest of my family. There is no need to feel paranoid (easier said than done I know )

I think Betsy the answer is that if the chemo hasn't killed off any cancer cells that may be lurking in the body, then it doesn't matter much the timing of the chemo as those cells would resist and survive anyway...

At least when you are neoadjuvant you will know how effective the chemo has been, and the timescale is more predictable. With surgery first, chemo can sometimes be delayed due to poor healing/recovery etc.

No easy answer really, but evidence says that the outcomes are the same regardless of whether you are adjuvant or neoadjuvant.

smee cross posted, not sure about busy, this summer has been a bit like waiting for a London bus, you wait for ages and then everything turns up at once! Robbie, Lions winning, Stones, Murray (winning thanks to me not watching, I couldn't resist a peak when he had 3 championship points and look what happened, guess when I went back out into the garden)

Am in awe of how you keep up with postings.

Thanks everyone - I know the stats are the same whether you adjuvant or neoadjuvant, just wondered how it works - it's on my list for tomorrow, I'll report back :)

malt if you've not heard anything by lunchtime/in post, you really do need to ring and nag again. You need a date then you can start planning accordingly - I would be going stir crazy waiting like you have.

Betsy, do report back. It's interesting! I reckon the chemo stops the active cancer cells re-producing, so then they take the residue tumour and you're clear. Just a guess.

Hello all,

Not much to report here, sickness is improving but I'm finding the hot weather quite hard work, just feeling faint and a bit pathetic really, it's coincided nicely with worst time of cycle for my tum so I'm just trying to keep hydrated :) also have the horrid bruised feeling that always comes on on the Sunday (day 5) evening of each cycle, it's weird (in a good way!) to think my life is soon not going to be ruled by three week cycles :) sickness eased off quite quickly and so far everything seems to be going to plan!

So many posts I don't really know where to start with replying so I shall just wave to everyone and hope you're all having a lovely day, and that malt has finally got her letter today! :)

It's flipping hot out there today !
No wonder you are feeling jaded Ruby , I'm feeling flumped and I'm not on chemo !

Just done 1/2 hour sunning myself .
15 mins front and 15 mins back .
It's the best thing for my psoriasis .

Right , off to hang the next load of bedding out !

I've just had an M&S cheese pastry twist thing. None left for the trolley I'm afraid but they are yummy and I highly recommend as a nutritious chemo snack! :)

topsy I hope the sun has helped, it's lovely but so tiring isn't it!

I'm waiting for the sun to move round a bit so I can sit on the swing bench in the shade :)

Thanks to everyone who's thinking of me I've been out all day but just got back to a message on my answer phone from bcn saying she chased up the appointment and they are still looking at all of the referrals but she will ring me back tomorrow
Yes really want a date so I can plan a few things over the holidays !
Love to all

That's good news then malt, at least something is being done!

How is it half 3 already?! I'm still in my pjs

I've just received a goodie basket sent by one of my work suppliers. Rather a lot of healthy stuff, but there's a chocolate fudge cake that can go on the trolley!
I only got dressed at lunch time ... but my excuse was that I was MNing working all morning so didn't have time to get a shower.

If you can't stay in your pjs when going through chemo when can you ? Chocolate fudge cake sounds lovely, I was desperate for chocolate last night and had none in the house so have been shopping today for supplies ! Dairy Milk with crunchie bits in for the trolley, hidden in the fridge so the pesky kids don't eat it !

I just found some Tesco finest ice cream in my freezer .
Belgian chocolate with salted caramel and various nuts .
It's deeeeeeevine !