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!

So the mirena is out, quite painlessly. I've been given tranexamic acid in case my periods come back with a vengeance. The gp didn't know how much the tamoxifen might help alleviate that, I guess everyone is different. If its a problem at all I have to go back and there are other things she can do to switch them off. I also had a blood test to check hormone levels to see if I am menopausal, results Friday. I'm not sure if anyone else is having mirena issues/questions so I'm just sharing my experience.

Hope everyone is ok today, thoughts with all starting treatment this week.

Morning everyone.
Have just come back from the hospital. My lump has apparently gone and no more ultrasounds needed .
The only thing is that I am going to have two more docetaxol so it won't be my last one on thurs. I was so hoping that would be it now and started to cry. Felt really silly as had just been given some great news! Oh well, am sure they have seen it all before!

Well looks like I celebrated too soon. Breast nurse phoned me. I explained about the mix up with my thyroid specialist yesterday but he looked the results up and everything looked fine. Turns out he only looked at the biopsy results from the original lump which they said was a cyst but they biopsied it anyway to be sure. Yeah that was fine but the core biopsy's of the axillary nodes under my arm are a different story.

They can't tell yes/no if it is cancer. They couldn't tell from the 6 biopsy's taken. It could still be cancer or it might be damage from the radio iodine ablation I had 4 years ago for the thyroid cancer.

I've to go to the breast clinic on thursday to speak about what happens next. I will be getting a node clearance operation as soon as possible so they can remove some of the nodes to send of for a detailed pathology report (As in cut them up ) I'll find out the date on thursday.

Feeling totally shit again, so happy last night and now this.

I had a crap time with the thyroid cancer as my notes got lost between the 4 hospitals that did the treatment as edinburgh doesn't do it all in the one place. And there was a 4 month delay between op 1 which confirmed the cancer (Which was missed in the tests ) and op 2 to remove the rest of my thyroid which thankfully had nothing in it.

I'm going between anger and crying just now. :(

Oh misskitty
That's really rubbish for you and so difficult that you have to wait until after the op to get detailed info about what's going on. Hopefully you will get more information on thurs and an operation date quickly.
Sending you a big hug and thinking of you.

Misskitty, I'm so sorry that you have been thrown back into a place of fear and confusion. I very much hope that they can move you on quickly so you get answers and action. Big hugs...

Speedy, a vanishing lump is SUPERB news. Good work... . Those last two docetaxol will just do the final sweep up, but I guess that means an additional few weeks of treatment, so no wonder it was a shock.

Oh miss kitty I'm sorry it's not as clear cut as you thought. How awful if them, I'd be fuming do shout if you want any info or help about the node clearance

Speedy great news about the lump, not so much about the tax don't worry about getting upset

Mrsrhod glad the mirena came out ok

I remember a friend who's dad had had cancer said to me when I was diagnosed that it would be a real roller coaster of highs and lows, it's very true

I'm now getting really angry.

I told the breast clinic how my thyroid cancer was missed and I kept getting told it was just a cyst nothing to worry about but instead of waiting 6mths to redo the tests I asked for it to be removed and then they found out it was cancer. A 4cm tumor was somehow missed in all the tests and the ultrasound (when I mentioned it to the woman doing the core biopsys that it wasn't small she told me she had looked up that scan and she agreed it wasn't)
The breast cancer nurses words to me were 'You had a crap time with the thyroid cancer, don't worry it won't be like that here. You will not get lost in the system like before. You will be kept completely informed. ' Yeah well already they've mucked up.

Sorry for the rant but can't really do it at home just now as it's still school holidays here and have my 2 daughters with me. Trying to hold it together. One of them has a birthday in a few weeks and my BIL gets married next month as well. Just great :(

Anyone had the node operation ? Been told it's a day case but will know more on thursday when I get to speak to someone.

Hi miss kitty, you've had a rubbish time and poor treatment so far, I'm not surprised you're angry.

I had three nodes removed in May, along with a lump, so two incisions. Are you having full clearance or just a few out? It is a bit uncomfortable, but not hugely painful. It feels like you're carrying a sharp brick under your arm for a while afterwards and it does restrict arm movement. You will be given exercises to do which really help. It took a week for the results to come through.

mrshodgilbert i won't know until thursday what's happening but i think it's a few that they are going to remove as the core biopsy came back as highly suspicious. What i don't understand is they can find nothing in the main part of my breast so if this is cancer then is it still a breast cancer ? And if it is could there be a small cancer hidden in the breast somewhere that they can't see or have missed ? or is it a different one.

The thyroid cancer spreading has been ruled out as my thyroglubulin in my blood is non existent which means i have NO thyroid cells anywhere in my body and so no thyroid cancer ones.

It's a good place to vent on here miss kitty keep talking to us. I had full node clearance in December, think it was 27 nodes that they removed. Was meant to be day surgery but ended up staying in for 1 night.
I wish I could answer your questions but I don't know. Hope Thursday comes around quickly for you

misskitty - I am so sorry for the rollercoaster you are on! I hope you get the answers you need on Thursday.

Speedy - Congratulations on the vanishing lump! Just one more tax to get through...

I had my first Chemo yesterday - the actual treatment went well, the nurses are amazing. About 90 minutes after we left the hospital though, I started to get hot & cold flushes along with severe shivering, then started throwing up. I couldn't keep anything (including water!) down at all. I couldn't keep my antiemetics down, which didn't help! Luckily today I feel better although still a little nauseous and weak. At least I can eat again. I hadn't been expecting such severe symptoms so soon. Hopefully I will continue to feel better.

Briteside. Sorry you have had a rough time with the chemo. Have you spoken to your doctor about different anti sickness meds? There are loads of different ones (I have a box full of them ). I was given emend the second time which stopped me being physically sick so worth asking about that. I know lots of others have had it as well. I found eating a little and often helped a bit, and making sure I drank plenty. Not easy though. Hopefully you will feel better soon.

Misskitty vent away on here, it really is pants!

Thanks wren, it was good news and Malt I know I shouldn't worry about crying- I feel I've done so much over the past few months but there were some happy tears mixed up in there as well. You are so right about there being highs and lows.

briteside is Emend on your list of anti nausea tablets? If not, request for next cycle, communicate how sick you have been in the request. If you already take Emend ask them to increase the anti nausea dose during next chemo. Is your chemo FEC?
Also, make the request in advance of next cycle to your oncologist rather than chemo nurses.

The other thing I would recommend is to take anti nausea tablets as soon as you feel even slightly queasy. Much easier to keep it at bay than fight it. (BTW, same with sore mouth, hop on it immediately with mouthwash)

My Onc strongly believes that there is help available for all SEs.

Hugs, and hope you feel much better soon.

Cross pits with Speedy

Cross posts

Briteside that sounds like my first chemo experience. I join with Mom to say ask for Emend; it was a wonder drug for me and meant that I never threw up again.

Misskitty, I had full node clearance too. Can talk more about it when you want. I'm guessing they'll remove the lot from what you say. Fingers crossed for Thursday; waiting is unbearable and it sounds as though you are having to hold to all together for those at home.

Briteside sorry to hear about the sickness, like others have said don't suffer, do phone if you need something stronger and now they know you are prone to it they will give you something different next time. How are you feeling today ? I think the first one is the hardest as you have no idea what to expect

A wave to everyone on here that I recognise. I haven't been on here for ages and I'm sorry to see lots of newbies since my last posting.

I've had my stem cell transplant. I ended up spending 16 weeks in hospital. 11 at the local hospital and then transferred to Kings for the transplant as I was too ill to spend any time at home in between. Transplant went well but chemo effects put me in intensive care for a week and my family got a call to urgently visit as the hospital was concerned I wouldn't survive.

I've been home a week now and still getting over the shock of doing everything for myself and not having someone to dish out all the drugs I'm on or give me injections when I feel too sick to eat. However I am very glad to be home and to have made it this far. Still a long way to go.

Realistically I can't contemplate going back to work for at least 6 months and probably longer than that. Fortunately my work are being hugely supportive and whilst keen to have me back understand how ill I am. Perhaps fortunately our head of HR visited me when I was at my worst in intensive care (she didn't know before she visited I was there). I was hallucinating because of the medication I was on which didn't help in being able to talk lucidly. According to a colleague she was shocked at how ill I was. Originally I thought I'd only be off work for 6 months but it's already been that long and I can't even contemplate going back.

Pickle, you're back!! It is really great to hear from you and I am so delighted that your transplant has now taken place. It's a long tough treatment and I'm glad you're back at home. Your poor family must have been through hell; I hope your ds is ok. It's rather neat that your head of HR visited you when you were so ill; I hope they carry on being supportive as it sounds as though you need plenty more time to fully recover - don't push it.

Lovely to hear from you pickle we have been wondering how you were :) I'm glad it all went well though sounds like you've had some really tough times too. Must be lovely to be home and if you're well enough to even be thinking of work that seems like a good sign to me

Welcome back pickle.
Sounds like you have really been through the mill. So glad you are home now.

Quick question- my hair had started growing back but this morning my pillow was covered in hair again! Did anybody else's hair start growing then come out again? Am not going to be impressed if it all goes again.

Hi everyone, I spent the morning at the Marsden today and after various investigations it turns out I'm fine... I feel a bit of a fraud to have joined this thread but I want to thank you for being so friendly and reading about all your positivity really helped me to deal with the wait....

Great news curious- so pleased for you.

Great to hear from you Pickle and so glad you are home

Speedy my hair started to grow back before my final FEC and the nurse did tell me it would probably come out again. It did a little but not completely.

Briteside I took Emend and although I felt nauseas I didn't actually throw up and I am a very sickly person generally.

Sorry to those who are having a difficult time at the moment