Tamoxigang cancer support thread 54: A new thread for a new year!

[WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo]

Welcome one and all to the wonderful Tamoxigang thread! May 2016 bring us all health and happiness

If you are new here, then an extra big welcome to the club nobody wants to join. The thread is for people with any type of cancer, and also those who are waiting for results. So don't be shy. We are more than happy to hold your hand while you are waiting for a diagnosis, and we will be here to celebrate or commiserate, whatever your news

No question is too big or too small, someone will usually have an answer, or an idea of where you might find one. You can laugh, cry, shout, swear, and, of course, eat chocolate it is a bit of a safe haven from the mad world of cancer, the head-tilting and talk of bravery, and all the nonsense that comes with this diagnosis :)

So feel free to introduce yourself. And oldies, feel free to re-introduce yourself if you'd like.

We only have one rule here and that is no Googling!

mysillydog, nice to hear form you, have been thinking about you. I am sure you will feel better when the drain is out and are back home and can move around more. I didn't realize the hospital stay was so long for node clearance, is that standard?

Sorry all am a bit worn out, just tummy troubles, nothing to worry about. But haven't felt up to posting. So just popping in to send my love all those waiting for results or feeling grim or worrying about things

Speedy recovery silly dog

I was only in for a night with node clearance and was hoping not to stay in at all but had it late in the day

Hope you feel better soon Leslie

Fingers crossed sleepy

Hope everyone has a good day, I'm at work again ( supply teacher ) getting more work than I want really at the moment but don't like to turn it down in nice schools ! Roll on the weekend

Leslie I hope you feel better soon.

Fresta node clearance is normally a one night hospital stay. I have a mechanical heart valve so take warfarin which has to be stopped for surgery. Usually warfarin bridging is done at home with injections. My trust requires bridging to be done the old fashioned way - on a heparin infusion in hospital. The whole process of stopping and starting warfarin takes about a week, so my experience is not typical.

I've asked the doctors to try different meds for my shoulder pain because I'm still walking like a frail old person.

How is everyone doing today? :)

Thank you Mysillydog. I hope they've sorted out something for the shoulder pain. There's no point you suffering unnecessarily

mum I hope you're having a good day at work.

Sleepy good you've got an appointment. I hope they're helpful. And fingers crossed you get the active treatment.

Lily I hope your colleague is doing OK. It sounds like a very supportive work environment so hopefully she will admit it if/when she becomes too unwell to work.

royal a belated hooray for the end of chemo

fresta great news about the shrinkage

Dotty I hope you are seeing some improvement with the cream

lozwil how are you getting on?

I'm sure I've missed lots of people, so good wishes to all

Hello everyone, hope it's been a good. Thanks Leslie.

Mysillydog, thanks for clearing that up, glad it's not generally such a long stay, but sorry that yours was. My brother has just had a mechanical heart valve fitted and is also on warfarin, I imagine it complicates things quite a lot for your treatment for breast cancer. Sending you and hope you are feeling better soon.

I've been for my pre-chemo blood test today, I always feel like a VIP when I go as my form says urgent, they just call me straight in, despite there being about 25 people waiting for their tests. It must be the only advantage I've found from having this blasted cancer.

I feel pretty good today, almost like my old self physically, and most of the water retention seems to have gone, I don't even have a headache- just in time for another dose tomorrow!

Just a quick check in. I was at the Haven today for a massage. It was lovely. If you haven't been, do have a look into what they offer.
Feeling pretty well today, been working today and yesterday so quite tired but in good spirits. Had this funny moment in bed last night, this feeling of being really content and relaxed...then suddenly I remembered I had cancer. I had forgotten for a few minutes and it felt really good.
mysillydog how are you doing? I will be having node removal too, surgeon keeps telling me how major it is. Eeek.
Good wishes to all of you x

I had a massage at the Leeds Haven about eight years ago. The vast quantities of junk mail, phone calls and begging letters I have had ever since has been appalling. They are relentless.

I recommend that you ask to be removed from their mailing list before it drives you spare.

leslie thanks :)
I have an appointment to meet with the radiation therapy team but I do not start rads for a while. I want to enjoy some time off the hook if possible. Unfortunately, I found out my 13 year old nephew has OCD and I was quite upset all day yesterday although I know I should not worry all that much, but couldnt help it. I totally forgot about my own woes:(
mysilydog hope you are feeling better? The lovely laides here may recall back in July when I had my suregry and kept complaining about the drains:) they are a bother but once they are out they are out of your mind too!
Wishing everybody all the best.

I had an appt at Leeds Haven for a course of acupuncture about six months ago to help with hot flushes and sleep problems. Unfortunately I just didn't get along with the therapist, I didn't want a full on counselling session before she started, just the treatment. I'd already had the initial consultation. It was all very upsetting actually. I'm sure they do a great job but it didn't work out for me.

Royal, finally the end of chemo, well done. Will you have to travel far for the rads?
Mysillydog, you must be itching to get home now, hope they release you soon.

Hello to everyone else.

Good morning mrs. Thanks yes at last! Luckily the hospital is about 15 minutes drive away!
I will be asking a lot of rads questions from now on :)
How are you doing?

Morning everyone
Royal rads is much easier than chemo, its a pain having to go every day and I don't know if it's the same everywhere but my appointment times were all over the place. Still physically much easier. Sorry about your nephew I hope he gets the help he needs

I'm ok thanks Royal, just about to drive dd2 back to university for an exam this afternoon. I had my pelvic scan yesterday and the cyst is 1cm smaller than last time so I think I'll be recalled for checks in another 4 months.

I asked for early rads appts so dh could be working by 9.30ish. He works from home and took me in for about 8 every morning. They were great about allowing me to get those times throughout. It was tiring by the end but I think that's mostly because I was getting up much earlier than usual. Any questions, shout out.

No experience of rads here but had a similar experience to Mrs when I enquired about the massage treatments offered at our local Maggie's Centre. They told me I had to have "holistic counselling" with them first, so I declined!
Maggie's now visits the private hospital where I have chemo and I have spent some time with their counsellor discussing graduate recruitment ... and anything apart from cancer over a cup of tea whilst I'm having treatment. If she ever mentioned my "cancer journey" or similar stuff, she'd be out of my cubicle in a moment!

Rads fine. I'm sick and wobbly but that's because of where the tumour is. Only thing, it's tiring and cumulative. I've just finished 5 1/2 weeks and can't easily walk a mile. I can do one thing a day. That might be cooking supper.

When I had rads, in July 2014, there was a lot of chat on here about a product called Moogoo. It's a thick moisturiser which a lot of ladies were using to protect skin during treatment. You had to send away for it, it's Australian but with a UK distributor. I used it and had no skin breakdown, redness yes but nothing worse. I haven't seen it mentioned here for a while.

Dd safely delivered to university for a singing exam then off to London to see her boyfriend for the weekend. Is term never going to start, she still has another week of holidays so will be back on Monday. Dd1 is test driving cars with her dad, I'm feeling very old!

I just found rads very boring!!

No pain, no tiredness, just annoying having to go every poxy day. The machine was very interesting though - the noises and clicks it made.

(Plus all the rads operatives were rather young and lovely looking and me at 32 (so probably 5-10 years on them) felt a teeny bit self conscious getting my scars out every day!!!)

Another thing about rads I found was that a lot of the people there were really old which made me feel sad that I was going through it relatively young at 41. A lot looked really poorly too which was upsetting as it made me realise how ill I was despite looking well. Maybe something to be aware of so its not a shock

mumto2 thanks for your wishes re my nephew. Yes i do hope he gets the right treatment. I find myself worrying aiut him quite often now:(
And to you and everybody else thanks for sharing your input about the rads. I am reading and rereading your posts as they are quite insightful.
mrs i am dreading any skin reaction, so I have written down that moisturiser you mentioned.
themo the fatigue from chemo has restricted my everyday activity so much, I do hope it is not aggravated by the rads!
Also, since my affected area is on the left side, I am a bit concerned about how the rads may affect my heart. I intend to ask when I go next week for that initial appointment. I may sound totally silly to them but I need to know what if any risks there are.
DS1 today sounded somewhat frustrated when we mentioned rads and going every weekday for them. He only knows the basics but he wanted to know why so much treatment and what if that"bad thing" came back( i never thought he would assume it may return!) we were very patient and explained the doctors were doing a great job and making sure they zapped anything bad with all this medicine and lasers( that is what he calls the rads),but he still looked unimpressed with this dragging on. Sigh. So much you have to consider when you have kids.

Thanks for sharing your rads experiences everyone, it will be a while before I'm due mine but it's nice to be prepared. Moogoo looks interesting, anyone tried their shampoo?

I'm back from my chemo, so far so good. There seems to be a ton of meds to take after the EC but hopefully there won't be too many horrible side effects. I only feel the tiniest bit nauseous right now. The red urine is interesting though, although blue was more comical. Everyone at the hospital said EC is usually easier than Tax, hope they're right.

Royal, how long will your course of rads be?

Hope you continue to feel well Fresta, if you do start to feel sick take some meds sooner rather than later. You might not need them though

I keep remembering rads things, I was meant to have 3 weeks but when I had my first appointment they increased it to 4 so I could have boosters. This caused me to panic a bit but they just said it was just to make sure everything was zapped. My skin did break down and I had special cream and dressings but it was just a bit sore, very manageable and it went after a few weeks

Hi all, i'm starting rads in Feb and have bought some moogoo udder cream - it's lovely, rich and thick and has a nice smell, I also bought the deodorant as is aluminium free, didn't try the shampoo as waiting for mine to calm down and stop falling after cold capping...

Those who've had rads with any form of implant, did you get shrinkage and tightening around it? Have an expander implant and hope it doesn't get too painful was warned by consultant that could happen and not to worry.. But now I am worrying!

Moogoo was great for me, my skin was fine even though there were only three weeks between my mastectomy and rads.

Moogoo actually have a special oncology pack.