**Tamoxigang 53** Roll up, roll up... Anyone with any cancer (or test-waiting) welcome!

[MarthaCostello]

Good evening all,

The old thread had nearly run out when I posted so I have taken the liberty of starting a new one before it fills up completely.

I hope the title is OK - there isn't actually that much room, I was trying to fit in that people should come along even if they haven't been diagnosed yet.

If you're new here welcome to the Tamoxigang thread. This is a great place for anyone with any type of cancer (it originally started out as those taking Tamoxifen for breast cancer, hence the name, but has expanded). Please introduce yourself and make yourself comfortable! You're more than welcome here if you haven't been diagnosed yet too, sometimes people find it helpful to talk through their fears whilst waiting for results. And we will hold your hand until you find out, and hopefully wave you on your way with an all-clear :)

There is almost always someone around to chat, or to answer any questions. Nothing is off-limits here. This is somewhere to offload any fears and frustrations, in a safe place where someone will have been there before.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the gorgeous summery weather

Mysillydog I hope you are allowed home today :)

Lilymaid good that your boss is being so understanding of your colleague's situation. Quite a lot of people seem to work through radiotherapy, so hopefully she will be able to if she wants to, especially if your workplace are willing to be flexible with timings.

How are all our various lovely newbies doing? I hope that you have plenty of distractions while you wait for appointments and results

roselover good luck with today's MRI

Waving to everyone.

Hi all.
Cailindeas here under a new name, I couldn't log in with old one.
I haven't been around for a few months.
I'm just back after seeing my surgeon today, I have had a full pathological response, their is no evidence of disease.
After 5 months and 16 rounds of chemo and MX.
It has been a long and tough road at times. But with the support of my partner, family and friends, I came out the other side.
I am truly blessed.
So for those of you starting out or partway through, keep going.

That's brilliant greeneyedgirl! it's always lovely to hear good news.

greenyeyedgirl that is great news. Forgive me for not remembering your details but any good news is a welcome blessing indeed. Wishing you and everybidy else all the best there is.

Hi I am new here and was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with grade 3 triple negative. Lymph nodes looked ok on the mri but am having a Mastectomy and node biopsy on Friday , lump is around 6cm. don't know what my treatment plan is for afterwards yet . I had breast cancer 10 years ago in the other breast and that one was hormone postive. Am feeling very low at the moment as all I seem to see when looking into this is the fact that there is no treatment available like with the other types of breast cancer. Has anybody got any experience of this. Hope you are all doing ok xxxx

Welcome Sandra but sorry you've had to join us, and that you are going through this again.

If you scroll up to a post by amberlight on 11th December, she shared an update from an oncology conference, with promising results for triple negative. It's a shame that progress is slower than with other types though.

Hopefully some of the more experienced posters will be along soon with more helpful answers

Thank you WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo
I just had a look at the link by amberlight. I am hoping that this is something that will be available soon ?
Thank you for your reply xx

Mysilly Dog

Thank you very much for your good wishes.

I am just back from the hospital. I received good news.
I learnt that my breasts are full of cysts and some of them are pretty large. I asked them to drain the one that I was feeling. Nothing was painful and they actually didn't want to drain it but I feel better for it now.
I need to keep watching since the amount of cysts making it difficult to notice any new lumps.
With all my heart, I am sending ladies waiting for tests and getting their treatments best of luck. Thank you very much for your support over the last two weeks. It was extremely helpful. If there is any chance that I can be of any help to anybody please let me know.

Excellent news Cratos :)

Hi Sandra tom.
I was triple negative too. Triple negative seems to react really well to chemo. It is kinda frightening that their are no biological therapies for it. But I have found with the passing of time, I have gotten used to it.
Feel free to pm me if you would like.

Hi All,

cratos that is fantastic news! 😃

Sadly I have NO news to share! My BCN didn't get in touch 😒 Starting to think I should of gone to the hospital and sat and waited until someone gave me the results! But looks like I am destined to wait till Wednesday whether I like it or not! 😒 But I will be telling them exactly what I think of their system, and if my BCN has the nerve to ask how I am, I will tell her exactly how I feel! 😡😡😡😡😡

Anyway just one more day to get through. Then at least my appointment is early, so I won't have too long to wait once I'm at the hospital.

Thank you greeneyedgirl34 I have pm'd you
x

lovebeingananny - sorry that they are making you wait. I think their policy is not to say anything until they have all the facts and opinions on the matter. I hope your results will look clear

WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo - thank you very much for your support

Mysillydog - hope you will be at home very soon

cratos great news! You must be relieved:) wishing you nothing but good health from here on.
nanny i am so angry for you i hope the wait means great news though.i wish they would be more sensitive to our fears and worries. My sister in law( the one diganosed with thyroid ancer a few weeks ago) wen theough hell and although she has had her surgery and the news is good ( cancer papillary and caught very early and no need for any chemo etc) she is still a nerve wreck!
I have a massive sinus headache( am prone to them) and have my chemo today( tuesday) ..lovely combo
Hope you all wake up feeling resctul and fine.

Good Luck with you chemo today royal it'll be one more ticked off 😘

I had another rubbish nights sleep! But just one more day to get through! Let's see if my BCN can ignore me today too! Then she'll probably greet me with a huge smile tomorrow.....not sure I can hold back on telling her what I think of her and the system 😡

Hope everyone has a nice day! I apologise for all my moaning, and am hoping and praying I will be back tomorrow to finally share some Good News! 😉

Royal, sounds like you are in for an unpleasant day, I hope it at least runs smoothly. Very good news about your sil although I'm sure it's left her very shaken.

Nanny, I'm outraged that your nurse is ignoring you. Even if she has no information an acknowledgement would be appropriate. If she doesn't understand the stress we go through waiting for results she shouldn't be doing the job. She's there to provide support as much as anything do if she knows you're trying to contact her she should respond. I hope she calls today.

Hi everyone, and goodbye to cratos, so glad we can wave you off

Good luck with the chemo today Royal, another step closer to the end.

Nanny, hope you have good news when it eventually comes !

I am busy trying to get all the prezzies wrapped and the houseclean and in some sort of order before next weeks chemo, just in case I feel rubbish after it. Finding I am not up to my usual speed though, I seem to feel worn out from doing nothing and dd seems to have so many things she needs taking to this week.

Good luck Royal - as someone else said, one more ticked off afterwards, it must feel like quite the achievement. I hope all goes as well as it can for you.

Here's today's lengthy whinge . . . I still haven't had my referral letter - I thought it would come quickly even if the appointment was closer to the 14 days. Yesterday, I felt a bit positive when I thought that my other nipple was (newly) slightly inverted - what would be the chances of it being in both? But, I've realised this morning that when I bend over so that my breasts droop down, the right one always stays pressed in, so I'm back to being a wreck again.

I have managed to contact my new psychiatrist - the one I trusted and had been with for a few years left a couple of months ago. They hadn't been great with appointments for a while, so I hadn't seen her for a bit anyway, then she emailed to say she was going. I was very nervous about a new one, and would probably have tried to do without until I'd had a crisis, but I do feel I need a bit of input just now. So, I asked for help (I'm not too good at that) and the new one called me yesterday. I've to go in tomorrow - he was very kind on the phone (kindness still setting me off).

Mum's been told she'll have to go into hospital for a few days for tests soon - we all live about an hour from hospitals, in quite a rural area so the actual logistics of all this are another concern. Dad's getting worse too, but I can see I'm going to have three lots of travelling to do. I have a huge work deadline for the end of the week (self-employed) and just can't seem to get motivated for anything.

Thanks all for youe kind words.
Perfidiouspanda, counselling is a great idea and hopefully your new therapist will be able to help you cope with all the stress and anxiety you are facing.
I am sure you will be ok as I can tell you have a good ability to mapout your difficulties, and in the menatime come and talk to hs and with us about it all as much as you care here:)
Sending you many many positive vibes.

Royalmama - thank you very much and best of luck with your chemo. I will be thinking of you

Nanny - it is very frustrating. Hope you will reach them today and get good news

Fresta - thank you very much for waiving good buy. I may still be around a little bit (-: I don't know how to do the symbols, I must learn.

PerifidousPanda - sounds like you really have a lot on at the moment. It will be good to talk to somebody so it is great that you booked some time with the psychiatrist. Maybe a friend might be able to help you with your work or with trips to hospitals.
Have you consider to ask for an extension on the project you are working on ? Explaining that you need some extra time since you need to help your parents. You should not be worrying about work as well at the moment. Please take care,

Lily, I've been thinking about what you said re your work colleague. I had a lumpectomy last year, but with SNB. I certainly would not have been up to working the same week, I think the offer of staying away until after new year sounds very sensible. I know much of my discomfort from the surgery was from the SNB but my breast was bruised and swollen for several weeks, plus a largish wound to take care of. I was very protective of it when out in public, certainly would not gave wanted to be crushed into public transport and I was unable to drive for a few weeks. Surgery itself takes time to recover from.

I almost sounds like she is trying to make a point by returning so quickly, either denial about the cancer, fear for her job maybe or could she possibly see you working through so much treatment and feel she needs to keep going to? I hope she has a change of heart and takes some time to recover properly.

With rads, I think a lot depends on the distance being travelled. I don't know if private hospitals have the equipment, I would have had to go to my nearest city big cancer dept still even if I'd gone private. I think people react differently. I wasn't too tired, but I wasn't working or travelling great distances. I did have a lot of pain towards the end, a rare but not unknown SE. Although my treatment only lasted three months I still think you need time to acknowledge what you've been through and recover.

Is rads radiotherapy? Sorry to ask, not up on the terminology yet and trying not to Google! I think the point about denial is probably spot on - I have a friend who is doing that just now with something non-cancer related and she really just needs to take some time to process and heal, but she's trying to be Superwoman.

Cratos - I have to do the work myself I'm afraid, and I can't ask for an extension (partly as I've already had one as I had flu before this happened but also because it would have a huge knock-on effect on things for a major company - sorry to be so evasive, but my job's quite unusual). I just need to get on with it. I'm doing that trade off thing with most stuff anyway - if I get the first stage of the project finished, my diagnosis won't be as bad as I expect, or if I throw this bit of paper in the bin successfully, or if I manage to eat lunch! Ridiculous really.

I don't think I can take anyone with me when I do go - kindness just makes me cry, and I will get through by faking it. If I take my partner, he'll know that and that will make it harder. Other people will just take me at face value and think I'm coping (or being cold and hard, which is what I usually paint on). That's if I'm not the wreck I fully expect to be. None of that made sense did it?

Any word yet, Nanny?

Well I had contact from my BCN, but missed her call as I was working. She then emailed me to tell me she had tried to call. Still no mention of results. Just a sentence about she knows how anxious I must be, and if I need to chat, please call her 😱 SERIOUSLY!!

Anyway I call back when my little one is napping, and guess what she is in clinic all afternoon 😡 I GIVE UP! Think I have to face the fact I am not going to hear anything until tomorrow! So just need to get through tonight.

Although I think I am resigned to the fact that it can't be totally clear, as if it was I am sure she would of just written that in her email, once she realised how upset I was......or at least that's what I would do in her position.

Think tomorrow is going to be an emotional day, whatever the results! Thanks for all the kind words of support, I really appreciate them 💐💐💐💐💐 xxxxxx

That really is awful Nanny - either way, you would think she would give you a specific time you could call and definitely get her. My thoughts are with you.