*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]

Mummywheel I didn't have to have further surgery but my friend did and the 2nd op was successful which she was very relieved about
They say if you had morning sickness and get travel sickness is a good indication of whether you will suffer with chemo sickness, but if you tell them they should give you the stronger drugs straight away

Thanks all of you so much for your words of encouragement, I so appreciate all the advice and have made mental notes on the drugs I'll need. As many of you have said, as horrible a first experience as it was, at least we know what we need to do for the next time. I'll discuss all of this at my Pre chemo appt the day before and I can ask about the PICC line then as well if the cannula continues to be tricky. Boiled sweets too, I'll try them. It's interesting too how many of you had a hard time with nausea and sickness on FEC but encouraging to hear that like childbirth it will one day be a distant memory!! (Far too vivid for me right now!). Yes Tiny the cyclixine (sp?) is flippin painful in the thigh! That didn't even seem to figure amid the throwing up at the time. I'm interested to read about the ladies now on Tax, so far you're selling it to me compared to FEC! Thanks again for all encouragement and advice. As a separate query has anyone here got involved with something called Look Good Feel Better? It's a nationally run thing from what I can see and involves a 2 hour pampering session of skincare & cosmetics and then you walk away with £200 worth of cosmetic booty! I've been invited via a phone call and recieved my official invite in the post this weekend - all because I'm a cancer sufferer! Honestly I don't somehow feel worthy of such privilege (but will grab it with both hands!) I think it still feels very surreal that I'm here at all! Anyway I hope you have all had a good weekend xx

hossy - you must go to LGFB -lots of us have been and it is a really nice 1/2 day out and you do get loads of nice goodies.

I'm impressed that you got an invite - mostly you have to search it out for yourself I think.
It's for any ladies undergoing treatment for cancer but in reality a large proportion have BC - all at different stages of treatment though.

Oh yes do go to LGFB it's fab and I use the make up they gave me every day to make me look a bit more normal !

MomofTwo, I hope all goes smoothly for you tomorrow.
Xx

hoosy Also ask about a Port-a-cath as well when asking about a PICC line. Pretty much maintenance free. Especially in-light of Really's story. But needs surgery to insert. I had difficulty getting a vein for my first chemo, and immediately the team recommended a Port-a-Cath. After 3 chemos since, and 8 days of intravenous antibiotics, mine has been a Godsent.

LGFB sounds great - we don't have that in Ireland. I've been lucky, I still have eyebrows and some eyelashes, but am afraid to use mascara incase I pull out the remaining eyelashes during makeup removal!

Goodness thanks for the good wishes for tomorrow. I'll post on Tuesday and let ye all know how I got on with my first Tax. Fingers crossed. I've been stress eating all weekend. Unfortunately we still have Christmas chocolate in the house. I almost welcome the upcoming chemo yukky mouth taste to wean me off the sweets. I've put back on the weight I'd lost last 3 cycles due to Christmas 'eating'.

Good luck with your first Tax today mumof2 LGFB sounds great and definitely something to look forward to :) xx

Mom - Good Luck with chemo today. Also really pleased to hear that your sister is not BRCA positive, must be such a weight off of your mind. (I am still a few days late in catching up with what has gone on.)

Goodness - Whoop, Whoop, so glad you have finally got your op date. It will soon roll round, so make sure you do some lovely things with your family and for yourself. Definitly don't worry about tidying the house!

Betsy - Good luck with rads this week, hope the aloe vera and Doublebase continue to keep the lobster look at bay.

Malt - No treats for me at the shopping mall either, bought lots of bottoms for my son as he seems to have shot up all of a sudden.

Waves to everyone else.

Hi all, I haven't been here since my pre-Christmas surgery, which knocked me out a bit (no surprise to anyone but me; it was a mx plus ANC plus DIEP reconstruction, but I bounced back so quickly from my lumpectomy I thought it would be easier). Just been catching up a bit on the thread.

I noticed you'd asked after me, Kitkat; thanks. Rather than bore people on this page I might do an update on the reconstruction thread.

Chemo next. Fingers crossed that my reluctant wound heals in time to start FEC-T in two weeks. I've been very interested to read others' experiences.

Bad results for me, sadly. Although my tumour was still sized at 2.2 cm, I have 10 lymph nodes affected. This means radiotherapy for sure and a prognosis that made my oncologist unhelpfully awkward. The bad news was somehow made worse by her agreeing with me that it was really bad and telling me I was brave. I didn't want to be thought brave, I wanted some positive words about treatment and the great things that can be done nowadays.

Bit of a self centred post. Will become more socially minded as I catch up a bit.

Oh, and I noticed talk about creams. Aqueous cream has been a disaster for me; I'm covered now in an itchy and spreading allergic rash. Avoid the stuff - apparently lots of people react badly.

Hi Wren - great to hear from you but sorry that your recovery has been tougher than you expected and that your results were not what you wanted. I'll catch up with you on the reconstruction thread about the surgery (mine is on Friday!!).
Amber is the expert but as I understand it node involement can be dealt with these days and even though 10 sounds a lot it is their job to catch things and stop spread. Are you going to have additional scans because of this or have they been done already?

Try to make the most of the next 2 weeks and try and get yourself as well as possible for chemo.

forgot to send you hugs ((( ))) and

Wren glad you've posted we were wondering how you were. Sorry to hear about your nodes but I don't think it's as bad as you think. I read a lot before getting my results and was reassured that it just means they will throw everything at it, chemo and radiotherapy.
I only had node clearance in early December and that was much harder to recover from than the lumpectomy so I can imagine after everything you had done it's been hard. I have full movement and no pain now though so it does get better
Do ask if there's anything we can help with the chemo as a lot of us have been through fec t recently
Hugs :)

Thanks for the encouraging words, Kitkat. Bone scan is clear. CT scan is probably clear but had an ambiguous chest lymph node (bit big; not necessarily a problem).

I hope your surgery will be easier than mine - should be, as it's implants, isn't it? I also have a healing problem due to my previous lumpectomy - not a usual complication. But really really good luck with it.

Oh and a xpost with you, Malt. Thank you. Can't tell you how much it all helps.

Wren, lovely to hear from you. Sorry to hear that your recovery has been slow and that your Consultant or Onc hasn't given you the support that you need with regards to your results. Don't worry that's what we are here for. {{{Hugs}}}

I have just got a genetic testing appointment for tomorrow - phew, that happened quickly.

well that's all positive Wren - so your nodes did their job (it just took 10 of them!!) - and now they are out and the chemo will mop up anything else.

My Op should be straightforward - just swap of implant and a new implant in the other side and no node surgery required so I'll be out the next day. (am very excited though ).

Good luck tomorrow Tiny - that appt is for a chat isn't it? Big step though.

And to doubly make sure Wren, they will also zap them with the radiotherapy.

Not long to go now KitKat!

I am not sure what to expect at the appointment. I am guessing it is just a chat, although I am on fast track. My main focus is to get the results so I can make some decisions about surgery. I know that I am not focused on the wider implications at this point, which I probably should be.

Wren, sorry to hear about your nodes, but it's great they've done what they're supposed to. I have node involvement too but no one seems to have discussed clearance with me. Having my bmx after chemo finishes in April and seeing surgeon next week, suppose I should ask then!
My incredibly supportive mum has gone on a well deserved 2 week break to the Caribbean - I'd forgotten how tiring the daily grind is as she's been helping out so much. Must stop being a wimp!
Also havr LGFB next week, lookinh forward to that.

Wren, most odd that your team are being depressing. Running your stats through the standard calculators, you are starting with an 80% chance of success even before all the most modern treatment methods. With ten nodes affected. That's not bad. Sending you a large and hope you get some answers from your team as to why they think that's not the case.
Sending love and to everyone else too.

Wren: hugs.
I use something from the doctor called Epaderm Ointment. Quite thick and greasy but BRILLIANT!
Tiny, hope it goes well tomorrow!
Everyone else, 'hello!'
Xx

Thanks, Amber. The calculations I was given was 66% chance of getting to ten years. I think it was my consultant's opening phrase that "there's still a chance we can get rid of it" that haunts me - "a chance" sounds very slim to me.

But definitely like your stats better! The cocoa is very welcome too....

I'm having a second opinion on Wednesday, so I hope that will shed light on the situation.

And thank you for the epiderm tip, Goodness. I've just been given some and agree it's great - even though my clothes have gone a bit greasy.

Good luck tomorrow, Tiny.

wren more hugs from me. Trust that chemo and rads will do their job, and kill off any rogue cells that may have escaped.

weebarra. Take it easy yourself while your mom is on holidays. Do you have friends who can help out? Good friends are usually only to happy to be asked for help. You probably had offers of help when people heard first of your diagnosis. Now is the time to take them up on their kind offers!!

kitkat good luck for Fri! tiny good luck for tomorrow!

Had my first Tax this morning. Very early days yet, but so far so good. No nausea at all, and energy levels pretty good especially after little walk and food, but slight tingle in my knees. Weird place to get a tingle, but my poor knees are not in good shape at the best of times.

The weather looks yucky for rest of week here. Onc nurse recommended walking as good way to keep energy levels up. Maybe it is time to pull out my old wii-fit, which hadn't seen light of day with about 2 years??

Feeling tired now and really hoping to get some sleep tonight!

wren I do wonder if perhaps now that the treatment is so good and so many people do live long, cancer-free lives afterwards that perhaps the medical team have lost sight a bit of what are good and bad odds, or at least the language to use, as if their usual survival odds are, say, 90% then 66% does look worse, but it's still more likely that you will make it to ten years than not. Some of my team were really optimistic but others less so. My bowel nurse helpfully gave me a little talk about living in the moment and that sort of thing I tend to take what she says with a generous pinch of salt. My onc wrote in one letter that I had an extremely high risk of recurrence, which slightly worried me, but then the odds he had told my ex (at the time I refused to discuss statistics as I was worried that it would affect my positive state of mind during treatment) were 60% chance of it not coming back, so 40% chance of it coming back, which is not really my idea of extremely high

Also pigeons, who hasn't posted for a while, was given 60% chances along with quite a few friends and that was, I think, about 12 years ago. All are still here.

Waving to everyone else, hope you're all well. Just about to hopefully venture out for a run.

Just got a consultant letter through the post and it has got me really worried.

The consultant has has put down that my DX is T2, N2 M?1 left scapula. Where as my Oncologist, (who's letters I see much more of), has my DX as: T2, N1, MX.

I am aware that my bone scan and MRI (taken in October) showed increased activity in my shoulder, which is treated as suspicious due to my DX, but why are they using different codes? Also why does one have N1 and the other N2 - does anyone know what this means? Has the Consultant seen something in the MRI that I had done in December to see if the chemo is working? Shit, shit, shit.