*TAMOXIGANG* All the fours...44!

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

Apologies for the bingo reference, couldn't think of a witty title but the other thread is very nearly full.

In honour of our new thread I have piled extra apple pudding on the trolley so tuck in :)

Marshy - have you tried Primark for PJs? They usually have a great range of sets with button up fronts?

Have you tried the white company or Hush for pjs? I got some lovely white company pjs for hospital next week.

Bearing in mind I had to chuck the lovely silk jammies my mum bought me for mx as they gave me flashbacks. (I am hospital phobic, I faint when I visit people in hospital)

Thanks for all the suggestions re button up pj's - will be checking them out tomorrow. I don't want to spend too much as I don't think they will be ones I will treasure, for similar reasons to trice, though I'm not hospital phobic - yet.

Have been helping DS with his homework. That has been the only thing which has completely taken my mind off current events. Perhaps I should do it more often.

Wishing everyone a restful night, or a good book to read if not.

I'm off to bed with my kindle
Watched educating Yorkshire tonight on channel 4 which made dh and I both cry, not unusual for me but is for him, it's worth a watch it was about a teenager with a stammer and how they helped him, very uplifting
Night all

Malt - DD and I watched that and were both really moved. Usually we watch it to see how mad it is but when he got his grade C it was amazing.

Morning kitkat
DP just gone off to work so of course I am wide awake. He was really quiet too but he let the cat in and she is all over me! We have to put her in the conservatory at night as she is a pain otherwise.

Morning. We had one of our cats on the bed last night as it was rainy out. That one is lovely and just sleeps all night on our legs but the other one never settles and wanders around all the time but doesn't tend to disturb us much.

I'm still powered by steroids so up quite happily even though I had only about 4 hrs sleep - crash time will start this evening I suspect.

I weighed myself and I have lost about 5lbs - not loads but a fair bit considering all the steroids I'm taking (and chocolate I'm eating). Certainly enough to make me look better .

Morning from French France. Wish I had some steroids as feeling no appetite/ sick about food. Steroids cured that. wouldn't mind something to knock out big gig as she was up in the night .

Marshy- m and s had some nice brushed cotton pjs in ( including some in the Rosie range which are lovely). I second whoever said to go light as hospitals are always super hot.

Morning all,

I slept well. Roused a couple of times and started to get 'the fear' but managed to supress it and doze off again.

Am off to the hairdressers in a bit. Was due to go a few days after my op but thought I wouldn't be up to it so brought it forward. Told my hairdresser what's going on in case I need his help with hair issues later on. He was shocked, bur lovely about it.

Then off to the gym with a friend for a very gentle work out and to yet to stretch dratted arm.

Seeing a friend this evening who is just completing rads following a lumpectomy.

So a busy day for me and hoping to feel normal

Will try to fit in some pj shopping too

Wishing all a good day free from too much yucky stuff xx

Just had a quick skim and noticed your diabetes, kitkat. Bloody hell, not fair! Hope Onc's right and it's transitory.

Gig, where's your appetite gone? Hope Big Gig not too whiney today if she's tired. Always used to hate that knock on effect. xx

I have men's Muji pj's, Marshy. They're v.old now as have been with me years. Nice and light but roomy. Clearly not v.chic though.

Hope everyone's okay. Really can't keep up. Love to all.

bonjour madam gigs ... I wish I could join you in French France this morning instead of going to the hospital in the torrential rain that we have here ! coffee and a baguette would go down just fine !

marshy i got some very very stretchy flowy pjs in that lovely modal fabric from Sainsburys/M&S/TK Maxx that were comfy after surgery and posed no problem in being examined (if that helps)

Morning all
Gigs sorry about your appetite and big gigs being up in the night. Hope you can get out and do something gentle today.
Marshy enjoy the gym if that's possible !
Kitkat it was the end but that got us, when he did the speech and you could see all of his peers crying even the tough nut boys. I of love the orange girls with their drawn on eyebrows too, there are lots like that at dds school thankfully she's shown no interest in make up yet

kitkat - sorry about your diabetes, hope it's just temporary.
gigs - hope big gigs is good for you today and has no hangover from disturbed night.
Had onc appt yesterday, have a lovely female onc (is it unfeminist of me to
be happy about that?)
They have a bit of a waiting list for chemo just now (!) so will be about a week. Having FEC and Tax, 8 cycles rather than 6 as tumours are big and hormone -ve.
Quick question - we have health insurance through DH's work, is there anything cancer related it could help with? The team where I'm being treated are the best in Scotland so I don't want to go private for the majority!

weebarra, I think for something as serious as cancer the NHS is wondrous and if you're already with a good team, then just stick with that.

Malt - DD also has no interest in wearing make-up but is fascinated by the orange skin and the eyebrows - her school is very strict so she has never seen anything like that in real life. It also make her realise how privileged she is to go to a school where there is no disrubtive behaviour etc. She is in awe of good the teachers are with the children though.

Gigs - typical that Big Gigs has been up in the night when mini is sleeping for you. Enjoy French France for the rest of the day.

Webarra - that's good ole chunk of chemo then - still best to give it a good blast.

I have all my treatment privately but the surgeon and onc are the same that i would have seen on the NHS just in a nicer environment with better food. I would doubt you can split treatment though - you can only ask. I also got a top notch wig paid for (more allowance than NHS) but that's not a significant differerence. The other differences are that I choose my appt times, can have chemo at home and everything happens a bit quicker - same treatment plans though.

I think dds school is probably very like the educating Yorkshire one ! Thankfully she stays away from trouble and is doing very well

wee I was treated at The Royal Marsden which specialises in Cancer. I had/have my treatment privately but I would see the same team, have had the same treatment on NHS (but wouldn't be getting check ups on the NHS anymore, in fact Dr geek now regards himself as more safeguarding my general health, probs with bone density etc since my chances of recurrence are now so low). I had a choice of private rooms and see him in slightly nicer consulting rooms, either travelodge posh at The Marsden or proper posh in Harley Street , everything happens a bit quicker and he has more time to get to know you, build a relationship, what with my insurance company putting his children through private schools

marshy I can't help with how you feel waking up with new boob but I woke up to a flat side and like hnd was just relieved that the Cancer was gone.

I wept buckets watching Educating Yorkshire last night, my DH and his brother have stammers, I am sure to do with being sent to boarding school at 7 , he had to leave the room

I hope it's ok to come on here briefly. My very dear Stepmum (who has been my mum for most of my life) has just been diagnosed with invasive, non-hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. She'll be having a full mastectomy with reconstruction soon.
My dh is a doc and has looked lots of stuff up - there's a great chance that things will be ok after mastectomy and lymph node removal, but if it has spread further it becomes much more tricky.
I've got 3 dc - dd1(13), ds(11), and dd2(9). Dd1 and her Gran have a very special bond. We think they should know about it (we didn't tell them about the needle biopsy or lumpectomy) and I just wondered if any of you had any advice on how to tell them? Our dc are quite used to medical talk with Dh being a GP, but this is personal. I've had a serious illness and am disabled so this isn't entirely new to them.
Please tell me to shove off if this is inappropriate!

weegie - my children are younger (5&7) so I can't offer any personal experience of talking to older kids - but I did find this booklet a useful starting point of things to think about. I'm sure someone with older kids will be along with "real" advice shortly!

I've just watched Educating Yorkshire as I'd recorded it - cried buckets at the leaving speech, bless him! The series has portrayed very well how many amazing teachers there are that go the extra mile to help the kids who need a bit extra for whatever reason. I've been lucky enough to witness it first hand from most of the teachers I've worked with - I hope the series helps enlighten (some) parents a bit more as to how much effort teachers (and other staff) put in to actually help the kids they work with, I'm sure a lot don't realise!

Weegiemum sorry to hear about your stepmum but you are very welcome here
Mine are 14 and 10 so similar ages and with the eldest I was honest with her from the start and have spoken to her about treatments etc, my youngest still doesn't know it's cancer at the beginning I couldn't bring myself to tell him so just told him that I had a lump which needed to come out and talked to him about my treatment. Both have been absolutely fine, it's true that children are very resilient.

Thank you! I'd already been recommended this thread as I have a life-limiting neurological illness, but I only felt I could ask about this.

We reckon that it's easier to say - Gran's having an operation for cancer - Gran's having radio/chemo therapy for cancer - Gran is very sick - Gran could die - Gran is dying than to start at the end without telling them. She can't have tamoxifen or herceptin as her cancer isn't hormone receptor positive.

I'd much rather they knew as they went along, one step at a time.

My brother gets married next Thursday so I plan to wait until after that to tell them. But I'm sure they should know.

Weegie, I think you should definitely tell them, but I really wouldn't be so bleak about it. Is she really so likely to die?? Sounds unlikely to me atm (hooray!). Breast cancer's horrid, but odds are she's going to have a heck of a lot of treatment then be okay. If it's not spread, it's easier obviously but I'd be factual but positive, so say something like it's cancer yes, admit it's scary and could have killed her, but if it hasn't spread you can honestly say it's curable. As it's been found in time, the operation will remove it, but then to give her the best chance she has to have chemo, rads whatever to make damn sure it won't come back. Breast Cancer really doesn't mean death in the majority of cases these days. Even if it's spread, there's still a lot they can do and chances are she'll still be around for a long while yet.

I'm not being bleak (I know it's likely to be ok) I'm just thinking through the possible worst case scenario.

My parents aren't too keen on us telling the children, but I'd rather tell them as things progress.

My Stepmum is awesome. The fact she can't have tamoxifen etc makes it much worse, but we're all still behind her getting well!

Think I misunderstood weegie, and thought you were going to the death bit right from the start!

I must admit I read it like that too ! No reason to think she won't be around for years to come