*Tamoxigang Christmas Party* - 45

[Tiny100]

Morning All!

We're nearly in December, so let's get the festivities started.

[adds mince pies to the trolley]

Gah my typing on phone is even worse gran normal!

weebarra - that's my neck of the woods - when are you coming? It's rather wet at the moment!!

How many rads have you had then Betsy? and how many visits left?

I've burnt myself on the oven a few times and worried about it (well not picked it like I normally would) but have had no ill effects. To be honest I'm not even sure if having just 2 sentinel nodes removed even counts .

Kitkat - Waiting for no 3 of 15, so far do good but I know the effects are cumulative so not counting any chickens just yet.
I would have thought with just SNB and no rads your risk is fairly minuscule :)

Betsy - 15 rads is not too bad, is it. Hopefully that will fly by and you won't get any burns and not too much tiredness.

Are you the first of 'our group' to do rads? I've escaped and I think Lily is not having them at present.
Is this your last treatment? And if so what plans do you have to go back to work?

Weebarra Bristol will be lovely especially with a suite very posh !
Betsy good luck with rads today still waiting for my planning appointment oh what a surprise !
Kitkat see you are fed up of being home alone like me, have you got any plans for today ? I've recorded the programme about masks on channel 4 last night everyone said it was a good watch if you get bored you could always check that out on demand

KitKat - Currently the plan is for full node clearance and wide local excision, although genetic testing could change that. Then I am due to have 15 sessions of rads. I might do a relaxing mini break in the UK instead and save the holiday for later in the yer. Won't have to worry about getting sun burnt in the UK in April! I hear what you are saying about the surgery. It's a tough one, as psychologically I will feel better having surgery quickly to get rid of the cancer, but the body might not be so happy about it!

{Hugs} UK, hope you get some answers soon. It must be a very stressful time.

That's a bloody long holiday for the Dr. Goodness, I wonder if the tech got that right. Do you have a follow up appointment scheduled to discuss the results yet?

Hope you managed to get some sleep Trice and thanks for the link Betsy.

Why do we google Malt? Especially as it never does us any good. My OH now get's angry with me when I do it - was the source of Sunday's row. Enjoy shopping, you are one step better than me being in leggings - I spend most of my time in PJ's these days.

I have been up most of the night with LO. I thought it was just attention seeking and was a bit short with him, feel bad now as he does seem poorly. Like his mother he is a demanding patient and has had me up and down with his requests!

Hi Malt - I'm doing a bit of work at the moment and then have a few errands to run - nothing exciting though. To be fair I have a reasonably busy couple of weeks coming up as I have the dentist (excited to be able to go again!!), fasting glucose blood test, pre-op assessment and then op next Friday. And I will probably change my car - started to look yesterday and now have to book a few test drives .
The weather doesn't help does it -it's fially stopped raining here so I will head out for a walk soon. Then I suspect it will be an afternoon in front of the TV - I'm busy watching Covert Affairs series 3 on netflix so may continue with that.

Tiny - i've found it much easier to recover from surgery then for chemo but that might be just me. Will you have a mx if you get a positive result on your genetic testing then? You'll have some big decisions to make.

Good that last post took me so long, (I blame my toddler with his demands), that a whole other conversation has taken place!

Tis wet everywhere at the moment KitKat.

Good Luck Betsy - hope the wait is not too long.

Your hospital giving your a 2015 appointment must have been a ond off then Malt!

BTW, the mask program is very funny and also quite worrying!

Oh no, my odds were 84% on that test.

That's interesting KitKat, I thought surgery would have been worse. I probably will have a mx if the genetic results come back positive. (Onc thinks it is unlikey that I will have a positive result.) I am getting the ball rolling with it today at the GP's.

Right re-doing the test and have a question about this question:

Number of cycles of neo- or adjuvant chemotherapy infusions in ipsilateral arm?

Does this mean the number of times I have had chemo in the arm of the side where I have BC? (I had that once, prior to having my port-a-cath which is on the other side.)

Tiny, I called secretary today and unless results are back in today (highly unlikely as scanned yesterday), my consultant will be on leave from Wednesday until 22/1/14. This is becoming laughable. I am speechless. They wanted to operate with ing a month. Can't see that happening. More waiting.

I think it must do Tiny (had to google it). Have re-done mine correctly and got lower results now.

yes tiny it does :) I too found recovering from surgery easier than chemo - I had a bmx + anc on one side.
Chemo after effects - at my hospital they wait at least 5 weeks after chemo before surgery to give you chance to recover - my surgery was 5 weeks and 3 days after my last cycle and I needed every one of those days. The FEC cycles seemed to whack me for a week with nausea and vomiting but then mostly felt pretty normal until the next cycle, for the tax cycles it whacked me that bit harder every time and I never really bounced back between the cycles (this may just have been the cumulative chemo effect of course)
Surgery was a rough first week with drains in but after that felt sooo much better, I still had to be sensible and take it easy of course.

kitkat - I'm hoping to go back on a phased return from early Feb (although I haven't discussed this plan with Drs or school yet!) It's complicated by the fact that I'm on a fixed term contract that ends at the end of March - so ideally I'd like to be back a good month or so before it finishes, so I can remind them how marvellous I am and fingers crossed get another extension. It will be nice to get back to "normal" tbh, like you I'm getting bored of being at home now.

goodness - surely someone will be covering while your consultant is off, so you can at least get the results, even if he needs to be there to do the actual op.

chemo brain still, can't remember all the qus in one go!

Kitkat - yes I think I'm the first of "our" group for rads, with picture joining me today hopefully ( after yesterday's remeasuring instead of 1st rads...) Then I'm done apart from tamoxifen etc + a minor op some time later this year to sort our the sausage of scar tissue under my armpit, so not strictly cancer treatment.

Tiny - I had my mx 4 weeks and 2 days after my FEC but am waiting 7.5 weeks since my last TAX for my reconstruction op and like Betsy have needed all of that.

I had my mx on a Friday pm and was back working (from home) on the Monday.

Betsy - I'm aiming for early Feb too. I have Op on 17th Jan so am allowing 3 weeks after that but that is mainly due to the driving. I will be WFH before then. I also need to organise a phased return but not sure whether that is done through GP or work. I hope the bored feeling is due to finally feeling better .
I hope you do get an extension - you'll have to make sure that you are in top form before you go back.

Betsy - I was due to start Tamoxifen on 1st Jan but delayed now as surgeon says I cannot take it untilI am mobile after op - in my experience that will be as soon as I am home .
Although I'll also be done with major treatment I will have at least 1 other minor Op at some point in the future.
You'll have give Rads advice out to everyone else!

Afternoon - re rads, I've been told by a friend who had rads that aloe vera is brilliant for both protecting and soothing the skin. She used leaves from an aloe Vera plant rather than a shop bought gel, and she applied it before and after the rads, and she tells me that she suffered no burns. I now have my very own plant sitting in my bathroom waiting to be chopped up and used. Worth a try......

That's awful Goodness, I second what Betsy said.

Betsy and KitKat - I think I may wait till after surgery till going away then. If I remember correctly Picture will be having radiotherapy at Guys & St Thomas. This is the hospital I will more than likely be having my rads at, so am hoping that she will be back to share her experience.

Re-entered data and now have 30%, so much better. Still wish it were lower though.

I have just remembered that my Oncologist has taken away my wonderful Emend. He says that I won't need it for the Tax (Docetaxal).

I suffered really badly with nausea whilst on EC, (even ended up being hospitalised on the first round). If you suffered badly with nausea and sickness on EC or FEC, where you okay on Tax? Looking for reassurances or confirmation that I should demand the Emend back!

Been shopping and bought some nice bits then caught up on some tv, loved the mask programme !

Tiny are you on FB as a lot of us keep in touch on there too. Picture was meant to start rads yesterday but her measurements have changed so she's got to wait until at least Thursday to start again, more time away from her family :( am lucky mine will only be 15 mins away even if the parking is terrible

No letter in the post for me yet though they did say 2 weeks and it's only been 1 I suppose !

Or if anyone else wants to be friends on FB send me a message it's good to put faces to names !

Tiny - I had Emend (and lots of other stuff as well) on FEC due to sickness and terrible nausea and was fine on Tax. I had 3 doses of Ondansetron and 2 days worth of Domperidon each (weekly) cycle and had no problems. In fact I think that was more then some people get on Tax so I am sure you will be OK. Betsy had a torrid time on FEC and I'm pretty sure she was also OK on Tax.

Glad you had a successful shopping trip Malt. I ended up test driving a car so a much more exciting day then I had expected!

handbags I've been using aloe vera gel (and my trusty doublebase) - too soon yet though to say if I'll avoid the lobster look!

tiny - I still took the full gamete of anti-e's (emend +ondanestron + cyclizine + metaclopromide) on tax - I had a rough ride on FEC too, so I don't think my onc was taking any chances . I was way less nauseous on tax though, it used to be quite mild and come and go and I was only actually sick once.

One thing I will say about rads, having read some posts on the BCC site, some people seem to find it very impersonal - well it is. If you are the sensitive or professionally offended sort then it would be very easy to think you are a "body on the slab" or "a piece of meat" as I have seem people state. - The staff (I was surprised to discover there are three or four in the room) are talking over you about measurements, stop numbers, matchlines and tolerances - it's all very precise. They are all really lovely, but they are there to do a job (and they have a lot of people to get through!) and that job isn't to make endless small-talk with you! (and no, as you can tell, I'm not the professionally offended sort! ) It's fine, a bit tedious but fine.