Tamoxifen bus shelter -42

[Gigondas]

Dragging trolley onto new thread.

well done handbags - good luck with the biopsy today and op tomorrow.

Thanks Smee all done now just sitting with my lovely cold cap on and can go in 10 minutes :)
No reaction yet thankfully

Oh that's good malt- how long is treatment?

Smee- I resisted tho others did not, Stevie had decorated her mic with scarves and I think had about 4 scarf changes. She is lucky or has had work as looked very good for her age.

well done Malt - you really are the queen of chemo - fingers crossed you don't get hit with SEs (am sure you won't). Has the cold cap felt colder now your hair is thinner or are you still finding it OK?

Hooray for you, Malt. Bet that's a relief. Go home and update us from the sofa.

What no wafty scarves, Gigs?!

Waving to MAS. don't over do it.

Took longer today went in at 9 but they were a bit late, then bit of faffing to get a vein till they called the man over who got it first time again ( wish they'd just let him do it in the first place really ! )
Actual chemo took an hour
Cold cap does feel colder each time but not unbearable only hurts for the first 5 minutes or so and I've found hot chocolate helps
Need to have a flu jab on my good week

handbags yay for good news :) and moving quickly!

malt glad you didn't have a reaction, and fingers crossed you don't get any horrid side effects

gigs sounds like a great night out! :)

hnd I really hope the surgeon has a good plan. You've had to put up with it for far too long

gracie been thinking of you lots

nj glad you can start back on iodine foods again! Sore throat may just be because you're thinking about it. Will be thinking of you while you wait for results, and hope ultrasound isn't too horrid!

Procedure went well yesterday, I was first on list and surgeon was very happy with how everything has healed up and is working etc. :) slept all day as GA really wiped me out, despite only being under for about 10 mins!

Waving to all, will be back soon, iPad battery about to run out!

Ruby glad it went ok and that the surgeon is pleased with everything :)
Hope Amber is having a good time she's going on the same ship that I was on last Christmas. It was fab
Just had an hours nap

handbags that is great that you get your op so quick .... most of us just wanted the offending cells/lump/brest out and gone immediatley so you are fortunate on that score.

gigs I'll reace you to get healed up !!!

malt glad things werent too bad today - one step closer to relative normality !

News from me .... saw Mrs Surgeon thsi morning and she took the stitch out. She pressed on the graft (from my back that is now my breast) and it squeaked like a dog toy !!! Oh My Gawd - I can now add squeaking to the repertoire of freaking abnormal things that have happenend to me ! I had to laugh.

So...... she says the flesh bed is healthy but it will never heal while there is an air pocket in the breast (which caused the squeak) so the plan is to leave it open for 8 days and then next Friday, take another look and if the graft has stuck down and the skin granualted that she will stitch it in the clinic or if it is still looking dodgy, she will have me back in again for hole fixing in theatre !

So at least 3 more weeks of not being stuck back together properly ! In the scheme of things, its not that bad but I really am hacked off with it now - I told her I had grown a full term baby in less time than its taken to heal this wound !

Oh my HND - did she laugh at your baby comment - you don't want to be offending her before she fixes you!!
I didn't even know you could get air pockets in your breasts - hopefully that's another thing that only you 'special' patients get.

Can I ask - did you have 1 or both breasts done (back in Jan that is)?

handbags it is good it is all moving quickly but from experience, I had dx, lumpectomy and mastectomy in a week, give your emotions a chance to catch up . It is all a blur now I look back but the ensuing weeks were a long slow process of coming to terms with it all.

Why do you feel so paniced by 5 years of Tamoxifen? Chemo is undeniably unpleasant, doable but something to endure but Tamoxifen was a far less daunting proposition. I had no real side effects, chemo had already thrown me into menopause and the only real difference Tamoxifen made was a tendency to out on the weight (which was related) around my middle) . In fact a life without periods was much better than the life with heavy periods, hormonal swings etc and the worst menopausal symptoms came after I stopped taking it so I think it masked them. All my chemo buddies had similar experiences. You would not be having Tamoxifen if you did not have a tumour with Estrogen receptors and even 12 years ago, yes 12 years, it was apparent that making sure there was no Estrogen getting to any Cancer cells was the most important part of my treatment after surgery. Now all the trials going on at my hospital, the Marsden are making them realise it is more crucial all the time, certainly more important than chemo.

foofoo you had not cried until now? Are you human? At one stage I couldn't even go out because the slightest thing, a head tilt or "you can beat this" would send me into floods severely damaging my brave and positive credentials , until I realised I didn't want them anyway and had to stifle the urge to thump anyone peddling pity or the F or B or P words

smee yes St Andrews is a long way although a little nearer I now realise than I thought as I mentally had it somewhere in the very far top left hand corner, the land of golfers and puffins and hoorays. Actually it is only just above Edinburgh on the other coast and judging by the videos there are not surprisingly a lot more Scots people than hoorays (or perhaps they are hiding them, lots of scots people are sat on top of them behind the sofas . Anyway jchoc yes her preferred options are in Gods own country.......

hnd a plan

Ruby

Must go as Dh making a meal out of getting car fixed and we are both required to pick it up, how I did it all these years on my own I don't know.

kit kat (and anyone else wonders what has happenend to me) I had my right breast removed in early January and a new one (called a flap) made out of the muscle and skin from my back (LD flap procedure). The fat necrosis where the fat from the flap died and broke down (pure bad luck) left a rainbow shaped channel of emptiness above the muscle that now forms my breast. This channel filled with liquid fat and seroma and has been leaking since January - firstly I had dressings but it got worse and worse and then about 80ml per day at two sites were draining into wound pouches ( for about 2 months) that kept falling off and leaking everywhere. Then I had about 100ml a day at each site draining into the vac pump (for about 3.5 months).

Once it slowed down drastically, the vac pump was removed and dressings applied again. The last two surgeries in the last few weeks were to dibride the wounds (take away dead and broken skin and stitch good skin back together) This air pocket is where part of this channel has not stuck down to the muscle and it keeps filling with fluid and being pushed out of the weakest point where the stitches are.

This course of events is VERY rare and even now, given hindsight, I would still have had the surgery done as the actually breast, once finished wishould look and feel great and its still a part of me and feels warm etc - all the things I personally wanted from the surgery.

.... PS, my surgeon is a really personable lady and really really caring as well as being a great surgeon. We have a very informal relationship but she is fiercely protective of me and won't let anyone but her near the wound even to emove sutures !

my goodness - i didn't realise that you had the pump for 3.5 months. I'm glad it still looks good after all these traumas and that you are pleased with the results. Fingers crossed that in 3 weeks you will finally be finished on this saga.

Yay for Ruby. That all sounds mighty positive.

And yay for Mrs Surgeon, HND. She does sound fab. Though mighty irksome it's still on going.

How are you feeling Malt? Must be a relief top be on the other side of first Tax. Hoping you avoid the tax truck.

Talking of which, Betsy's quiet today. Hope you're not too addled with it all.. xx

Gracie, I'm thinking of you lots too. Hope you get clear results asap xx

Pigeon's I read end of your post wrong, so thought your DH was making a meal out of the car..

Am in a cafe working while DS is at an after school thing. Too far for me to go home, so of course a valid reason for cake.. Chose a vaguely virtuous flapjack which arrived with a knife and fork.

Smee I have a few questions for you - when you had your tissue expander in was very 'high' and did it make you look like a body builder due to it being under the pectoral muscle (assuming it was)? And if so did it stay that way like until you had it replaced? And when replaced did it 'drop' more into a normal breast position?
As you've done this twice I class you as an expert .

Hnd you have been through a lot bless you I do hope it's sorted soon
Sometimes I think we ought to have a sticky of something where we all tell our stories, I can't be the only one who sometimes forgets what stage people are at with their treatment etc, or is it just my chemo brain !

Feeling fine

Hope everyone has a good evening I will be watching location and education Yorkshire making most of the peace as we have visitors the next 2 nights, family though so will take us as they find us. They haven't seen my lack of hair/ wig yet though

kitkat ask away, but yes the whole mis-shapen/ high sitting problem has been a constant source of despair and amusement. Also each replacement didn't fix it, as I seem very prone to capsular contraction (scar tissue forming in excess round the implant). That again pushes it up, which means with both sides I've had further surgery to sort it. Other problem I've had is hollowing above the implant, so just skin stretched very tightly over the bone and no fat, which looked pretty gruesome. Surgeon corrected that by putting in a smaller implant and easing skin around it. Mine said I'm unlucky, but it's meant more operations than most people. In a way I wish I'd never gone for the implants at all as I hadn't a clue it would mean this many ops. At the time I was just concerned about the cancer and didn't think ahead, so when the surgeon said I might as well I went with it. Nice to be alive to have the annoyance though and it is nice to have the shape, so I shouldn't moan!

Malt, I went round in a jester hat at home for a while when people came round as it made them laugh, so broke the ice. Hope your lot aren't head tilters...

thanks Smee. What with you and HND it does seems that it's worth being aware of the potential problems.

I didn't give it any thought either - surgeon just said 'I assume you'll want reconstruction, if you do I'll put in a tissue expander' and I kind of said righto and a few days later it was done - I didn't look at/consider any alternatives.
What I'll need to do is make sure that I really research the options for the 'proper' reconstruction - it will be tissue with maybe a small implant he said.

I've just had a practise tying headscarves (watched demos on Youtube) in anticipation of complete hair loss but both DH and I agree the bandanas or buffs are better. Somehow they seem a bit 'younger'.

Sounds like a sensible plan, kitkat. I'm always amused by myself, as I am about the last person on the planet to choose plastic surgery. i nearly had them taken out completely at last op, but the Surgeon told me to trust her and let her get them right. Fair enough really, as she's been so wonderful.

I wore buffs, though mostly bandanas. Good timing it being Autumn too as you wear hats which helps lots. I got really into beanies and still wear them. Great for a bad hair day with or without hair.

Cocoa here there was no horlicks in the shop :)
yay for ruby and her sucessful proceedure.
Handbags good you don't have to wait for op. Tamoxifen wasn't such a big deal for me, just a few weeks of side effects but then they disappeared. Although aparently I can blame it for my bad memory now. Thought I saw something in the paper the other day, but I've forgotten. ;)
Next month I'm going to go to the bosom pals meeting where my surgeon is speaking. Haven't been for a while but saw that he was on the program. First time I went it turned into a belly dancing session...
Sorry I can't keep up and phone won't let me scroll so just a wave to everyone.

Liked the picture of daddypigeon and his horse :)

Awake ! Bloody steroids !
Smee they're not really head tilters especially sil who's a nurse but don't want to upset them by seeing my very thin hair, I think it would upset me seeing someone I cared about like that though my mum saw it the other day when she dropped round unexpectedly and was fine she thought I'd have lost more. I'm sure once the initial embarrassment is over ill be ok
Wondering now Betsy is and trice they've been quiet x
Hope everyone is asleep !

Hello all - touching base nearly 6 months since my mx.
kitkat I had the Sam op as hnd but very straight forward (LD flap reconstruction). It took a few weeks to recover and you must do all the post op exercises to stop cording in your arm. I don't have an implant so it's all a bit uneven.
Greetings to all - hope all fighting fit, am lurking but not posting because no news - just getting on with living.

Morning all, DP went off to work at 05.30 and I couldn't get back to sleep. Should really go and have a bath but think will just stay skanky.

The reconstruction experiences on here are reminding me that I do need to think about this. So sorry to readk about those who have had problems. I have a book from my cancer unit that I must steel myself to read: I do like to do a bit of research.

Strange thing happened yesterday. DP found ten pounds in his wallet that had not been there. This morning there was 20! Nobody could have put it there. We are struggling financially and as its he end of the month this is a godsend - maybe literally! Maybe I do have a guardian angel.

pigeons no I hadn't cried up til now, cried more when a friend was diagnosed, maybe it was delayed shock. Back on an even keel now and looking forward to some woo later.

Morning all. I have found out that I can request to have my radiotherapy in a hospital close to family members so I am choosing to go to St Thomas'. Does anybody have any experience of treatment here and its Consultants, any particular one you would recommend? if you don't want to give out too many details on here then you could send me a private message. I'm seeing my onc on the 7th and need to tell him then.

Boob update....it's now blistered, still red and sore but they don't appear to be too worried about it