Tamoxigang thread 50 with summer sun, sangria and maybe even some sand

[foofooyeah]

Welcome to thread 50 .... Yes FIFTY.
Lots of us are rising 50 so rather apt!

buns I'm so very sorry to hear about your mum and the extra burden you are now carrying. You really do need to look after yourself though. I can't remember if you've said this already but do you have help from other family members, siblings, aunts, uncles etc? It seems so unfair for you to have to deal with this extra worry. Is it out of the question to spread the load a little, ven if its against your mums wishes?

minty and briteside I'll be thinking of you both this week at the start of treatment. I can't offer practical advice but will be supporting from a distance.

speedy I hope you have a great day at the zoo and feel well.

malt I completely understand what you mean about thinking about the cancer all the time. Statistically I should have a bright future but I could be one of the unlucky ones and I do find myself being very aware of it all the time. Not necessarily worrying, but it's always there.

Well today's the day I find out the results of my core biopsy's I had taken just over a week ago. I posted here at the time as they could see nothing in my breast but the axillary lymph nodes were enlarged and suspicious. I had 6 core biopsys done on them. I had got checked at the breast clinic due to a lump on the opposite breast which was a collection of cysts. Wasn't expecting them to find anything when they checked the other side while I was there.

There was only talk about what they would do I.E. surgery and chemo and nothing about what it would be if it wasn't breast cancer. I had thyroid cancer 4 years ago and they kept saying that this would be unrelated to that which is a good thing. They were also fast tracking a ct scan and it might have been done before these results but it was quite busy. (Haven't had it yet)

I go in 3 hours to get the results and totally crapping it. I do expect it to be cancer as the breast nurse was only talking about the treatment. Just hope it's an early stage one .

Good luck misskitty, they are great at the western. Fingers crossed for you.

Fingers crossed for misskitty

Buns that is tough for you and your mom. Sending good vibes you way.

minty and briteside, best of luck with your first chemo. While it is far from pleasant, usually it is very doable. And come on here if you have any questions about SE. I got some good advise here which helped me with my SE.

Thanks for the tips. I'm seeing the BCN tomorrow for more info and hopefully more detail on my results too if poss.
I'm not sure where I'll be, but if its the new Southmead block, it should be smarter than

Thinking of you miss kitty, whatever the results let us know and we'll all be here to support you

Hi everybody and welcome to the new people.

I haven't posted much recently - life has been a bit hectic! Dh broke a rib before we went on holiday, FIL ended up in ICU with pneumonia from Legionnaire's whilst we were away (dh had to fly back to the UK), dd fell and injured her spleen (at least she was in the same hospital that I go to for radiotherapy!) and DM has had a stroke, minor thankfully. My parents and my in-laws all live in the UK - we don't unfortunately, so there has been much booking of last minute travel. I want to go to DMs next appointment with the consultant which will be at the end of August - they can only do Tuesday or Thursday.

However I appear to have a problem with my radiotherapy due to travelling. Before I booked anything, I checked with the hospital that they would be okay with me going away on Thursday and Friday. My French isn't brilliant so it took a while to explain but I think I got all the information across. They weren't happy but told me to go ahead and book tickets. So I did.

Today when I went in to rearrange my schedule, I realised that I have Thursday and Friday off - and no appointment on the following Monday. The machine is down for maintenance. The nurses all looked worried and said that this will be a problem. In fact, one of them came to me after and said that he would not be happy with this if it was his mother having radiotherapy. The treatment will not be as effective.

The doctor will talk to me tomorrow, but in the meantime, does anyone know how big a problem it is to have 5 days off in the middle of radiotherapy? I am having 25 fractions + 8 boosters. The break would be just at the end of the regular sessions / start of the boosters if that makes a difference.

I'm really worried now. I don't want to risk my own health but I'm pretty sure that my parents are not understanding what the doctor is saying to them. I'm an only child - there is no-one else.

Mrs and wren, thank you both. I've only had 5 rads (out of 20). The area already feels tight and tender, not actually painful (yet?). The radiologists do minimize and shrug off side effects. Good to know it's not just me.

Updating www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16127290 may be useful. It suggests that treatment gaps of over a week are a problem. But the study is more than ten years old so may be of no value here. I would ask for the senior doc in control of the radiotherapy to have a chat with you.

Hope news was good misskitty, you know where we all are if you need us.

updating, I know you are abroard, but is there any way you can call one of the cancer charity helplines re taking a rad break? I know both Macmillan and Breast cancer Care have very knowledgeable people to talk to.

Good luck to everyone starting chemo, hoping your SE are mild.

amber wonder if you could repost a link to the research regains aspirin if you get a second please? Ive had a look but can't seem to find it and I want to ask my oncologist armed with proper information.

Thanks

Thanks all for you kind words and for caring. Sounds like updating is also having a nightmare 2014. Just to answer a question, I do have 3 siblings but I am the only local one. They are all trying yo do their bit, my sister is a teacher so is staying with my dad half the time, and in some ways harder for them as they don't get to go home to their own bed when staying but they are getting days/weeks off. I did make the decision to share the suicide threat with my eldest brother, which did help.
8miss fingers crossed for you.
Chemo question. Has anyone else had their hair stop falling out after second cycle. I lost a lot in cycle 1, had my head shaved, which I don't regret but not all of hair went and seems to have stopped falling out. I still have some stubble on my head, but haven't lost anything from my arms, and although hair is obviously not growing, I have not had to shave my legs for weeks, but can still still see all the hair follicles. The funniest thing is my nether regions, which was the first to start going but seems to have settled on a reverse Hollywood (that's what they call a landing strip, right). I have decided to patent this look as the 'Yeovil' as it looks like one of the Wurzrels' side burns but not sure it will catch on! Happened to anyone else? Will it start falling out again? I am now half way through cycle 3.

Regains??? Sorry should say regarding aspirin!!

Thank you amber, I will definitely talk to the doctor tomorrow. Dh has suggested asking to use a machine in one of their other clinics on the Monday but I can't see that happening given that I had to have an appointment to get the machine set up correctly before starting rads. I'll ask about it anyway.

You're right buns, 2014 is turning into a bit of a nightmare. I'm quite a positive person normally but the news about dm was almost the last straw. Best wishes to you and your Mom. In answer to your question, most of my hair fell out in the first cycle but I think it did continue to fall out slowly so that I went from straggly bald to almost completely bald over the course of the chemo. Pubic hair was the first to go and followed the same pattern! Eyebrows / eyelashes hung in there until the last of 6 cycles. I expected them to reappear much more quickly than they actually did - even now, 10 weeks after the last chemo, they are only just growing back in a patchy fashion.

www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/06/aspirin-could-dramtically-cut-cancer-risk-say-scientists-biggest-study-yet is the very recent news about aspirin and lower cancer risk for those that take it longer term (with suitable warnings about asking doctors first, as it has side effects also).
www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v111/n3/full/bjc2014264a.html may be the article you mean that is just about its effect on breast cancer. Some warn that there is more research needed, so we don't know for sure. But it's very interesting indeed.

Thats great amber, thank you very much.

Thinking of you updating. It sounds as if you have a huge amount on your plate. Am afraid I don't know anything about rads yet so can't be of any help.

Buns. I kept stubble all the way from number one to number four (docetaxol) but now it is growing back. I lost my underarm and leg hair but that is now growing back too. Downstairs I am sporting a Brazilian with a tiny bit at the top!!

Mrs had a lovely time at the zoo thanks but very tired now. Worth it to have a lovely day with boys.

Thanks everyone.

Got part of my results and it's NOT cancer. I didn't get them at the breast clinic as I was originally going to get them tomorrow, but since I had an appointment for a check with my Thyroid professor today they told me last week that they had spoken to him and he'd get his registrar to give me the results as it would save me 2 trips.

Well when i got there the registrar knew nothing about it at all. Poor guy had to look up the central system to see if he could find anything for me, he found the reports and told me it is benign but he couldn't tell me what it is or if I need any treatment as he doesn't deal with breast tissue etc. I had to contact the breast clinic who couldn't tell me anything either as the breast nurses leave at 4pm, and as they weren't doctors they couldn't interpret what the numbers etc. mean. So i have to wait on a call back tomorrow morning.

But I've already decided I want whatever it is removed. Partly to do with being told my neck lump was nothing to worry about and the biopsy on that didn't show cancer, It was only after they took it out that they found a 4cm cancerous tumor within it and somehow all the tests/biopsy's/ultrasounds etc. managed to miss it.

Misskitty. Really pleased for you it's not cancer but rubbish that you have to wait for a call back to get more info. I don't blame you for wanting it out though. Hope you get your answers tomorrow.

That's great miss kitty really pleased for you

Love to updating, sounds like you are having a very testing time to say the least

Buns it's strange how quickly you forget timings but I'm sure that once my hair started coming out on fec it carried on going but then regrew a bit on tax

Good news, Misskitty...

Updating, that is such a stressful combination of things to deal with; I'm so sorry. Talk to the most senior doctor you can; they will have both the knowledge and the confidence to advise properly.

Wine, I asked my GP if I could go on low dose aspirin (didn't talk to the oncologist) and she was happy to arrange it.

Buns, the Yeovil sounds pretty special. [Smile] My nether hair is all growing back but, due to the tummy tuck that comes with the DIEP reconstruction, it is growing back higher up than it used to (all that stretching). I'm not best pleased. My experience was that some bits of hair just clung on, with body hair much more tenacious than head hair. Tax is tougher on body hair I think.

That's interesting wren, getting aspirin from your gp not oncologist. I haven't seen my gp since she first referred me and she retired two weeks ago. Tomorrow I'm seeing a new one to have my mirena removed and I'll mention the aspirin I think. I'm seeing the oncologist in two weeks for a post rads follow up. Might he be a bit annoyed for a gp to have prescribed aspirin, I don't really know who's in charge of my treatment?

So sorry to hear of your mum's problems buns and updating - such a worry on top of everything else you are going through.

minty and briteside I hope the chemo goes as well as it can - am sending positive vibes and I'll be there myself before long.

Although I feel so well, when the fact that I have cancer does hit me, its like you've said, that you wonder if you'll be around to see another milestone or special event. Before I went to the GP with the lump I had one of the best days of my life at Glastonbury, watching Dolly and Ed Sheeran, with the kids - we all loved it. Now I think "was that a couple of things off my bucket list done, just in time?" Or just a fab memory to return to in my mind when life gets tough?

I saw my BCN today to talk about the mastectomy. She gave me my receptor results, which weren't ready at my last appointment, they are ER+, PR+ and HER2+. I understand that this means I can have hormone therapy and herceptin, but what does it really mean , for treatments (and, whisper it.. outcome?)

BTW, am loving the talk of the Yeovil (made me smile as I live in North Somerset - the Wurzels are worshipped round here).

DH has been having a tough time getting his head round the whole cancer thing this last week or so. Next time he gets into a dark place I will remind him of the loss of nether region hair - guaranteed to put a smile on his face!

Triple positive? Jolly good! The modern treatments have turned this combination from puzzling to pleasing for teams, from what I read of it. Loads of treatment options. I'm sure the teams will explain all.