Cancer Support Thread 92 - Christmas Happy Hour at the Patience Inn 7pm tonight 🎄

[LemonDrizzle10]

Old thread nearly full!

Also I have just started back at work 4 weeks ago, reduced hours, so gutted I will need to go back on sick leave, or give up my job. My jobs quite physical so I’m stressed over that.

@Shityshitybangbang welcome! Getting that thing off your chest sounds like a good idea. They don’t sound very worried it is malignant but it is all a bit unnerving. I have no experience thankfully, just early stage BC here, but you have my sympathy and best wishes.

A good day here sorting out tech. My super exercise bike has arrived and I managed to walk 1.3km on crutches round the block. I had my first shower in two weeks and am feeling almost human again. DH is going steadily round the bend but perhaps a trip to the pub for supper will help.

Morning all, Saturday again, it's very dreich here. I will have my surgery on Wednesday afternoon, happy valentine's day to me and DH.

I'm about to finish the food shop for delivery on Wednesday morning. I know I'll be in for a few days, so have ordered snacks, nice juices and easy food that DH can make and bring to me in case the hospital food is dire. Freezer is stocked up with meals and soups for when I'm out. DH is handy in the kitchen so he will cook when he feels like it.

So, soon we'll know what we're dealing with. I'm working till Tuesday which is helping take my mind off it.

💐to everyone on here.

GETTING DAISY DOG DAY 😁

I’m so excited about the arrival of DaisyDog!!! @Tilllly lots of photos please. She will certainly liven the house up, though it sounds like you’re not wanting for drama.

@Shityshitybangbang sorry, no experience of that but again, welcome and hopefully the situation isn’t too bad given the timings. The waiting is the worst though, I know.

@PissOffCancer best of luck for Wednesday

@TopOfTheCliff remember some good music for your cycling, I’m thinking Chariots of Fire or Rocky! Another favourite ‘Alive and kicking’ Simple Minds x

I had my 9/12 chemo session yesterday which I dozed through after the piriton was given. DH and I agreed we will miss the relaxing morning and lunch when I finish soon, which seems an odd thought really. I’ve told him he’ll have to start taking me to lunch as he wfh on Fridays.

my oncologist popped down to see me as he’d taken my MRI results to the MDT that morning. Upshot is that my tumour has shrunk considerably (though they can’t quite tell what is tumour and if any of the mass is scarring from the biopsies - is this normal?). I can have either breast conserving surgery or a mastectomy with reconstruction so have to see my surgeon next week to talk about that. My oncologist is lovely, I send him queries which I’m sure look to him like I’ve just pulled random info off google and must send his eyebrows into space, but he still answers them!

The pros and cons of each surgery seem to be that my surgeon isn’t sure that the lumpectomy (BSC) will be aesthetically pleasing given the MRI plus I have to have radio. Versus a mastectomy where I am likely to avoid radio, but don’t know yet what type of reconstruction I am suitable for. Both theoretically give the same outcomes clinically. Any advice/experience for me to consider?

Hey,
Just getting myself a little het up and wondering if anyone might know or have experience/what I should be asking.
Heading in for an appointment with the surgeon to get a lesion on my breast looked at on Tuesday and hopefully removed for biopsy. (Dermatology referral for poss melanoma).
Really jumping the gun but if it is a positive, is that another primary? My last cancer was endometrial. It's happened all relatively fast so I'm in a bit of a head spin.

Hi @WombTangClan
I think you're just going to have to grit your teeth and wait, for any answers

No way of knowing if it's malignant, and if so if it's a primary, until those tests are in

It's awful waiting tho

Agree with @Tilllly
Cancer is a minefield.
Don't even try and work out what's what until the tests are in.

Reason being, my primary was in the breast 14 years ago. A mass In my womb wall was diagnosed as a secondary. 10 days post hysterectomy, it was diagnosed as an isolated sarcoma. The secondary has been sitting in my lung all the while.

Best of luck.

@BreakfastClub80 Is there a difference in post operative drug regime between the two surgeries? After my lumpectomy I struggled with side effects of Tamoxifen and sometimes wondered if I'd not have had to take them if I'd had a mastectomy. Something to consider if there is a difference. Might be a complete red herring though.

Lovely quiet morning here. Took husband and daughter to the airport in the middle of the night - they're off skiing with family. I'm watching crap telly at the moment but I can already feel the urge for the big tidy up/chuck out that I've been looking forward to for months. Next is a trip to M&S to buy lovely meals for the week, then I'm setting up the dining table as a sewing station and binge watching films back to back. Mum's coming to stay for a few days early next week too.

@SewingBees @BreakfastClub80 The medication after the surgery doesn't change. If you are low risk of recurrence, you'll typically be offered Tamoxifen. Higher risk, an aromatase inhibitor like Exemestane. If you are pre-menopausal, they add Zoladex to suppress the ovaries.
I hate the side effects from my Zoladex+ Exemestane combo with a passion, but don't dare change it to Tamoxifen as I had quite a number of lymph nodes involved.

Also, @SewingBees, your plan for you time alone sounds amazing! Jealous!

Visiting DH's friends with a new baby today, then seeing a neighbour for birthday cake (theirs). Tomorrow, DS has a play date. Would quite like to do anything nice with DH while he's at his friend's, but when I mentioned it to DH, he said, "Yes, we can use that time to do the supermarket shop." I don't think he quite understood... :)

Return to work meeting was interesting. I was informed by my (departing) boss that I should be working approx 25 hours in my first two weeks, and full-time hours in the second two. Now, call me cynical, but that means my "phased return" is essentially shortened to two weeks from the four that the doctor ordered... I pointed this out, and the answer was, "Oh, I mean official full-time hours, so something easy like 40 hours, not the usual 50 or 60."
Well, thanks then! So generous.
I could have argued, but since my boss leaves two days after I return, it's pointless and I'll have to debate it with someone else at a later stage.

Actually @KentishMama it’s not up to the boss, it’s up to you what you feel able to manage. But as you say, no need to mention that!

Just did a short session on the exercise bike with playlist blasting. “This is my fight song” “I’m a survivor” etc. It feels brilliant!

@TopOfTheCliff That's why I think it's pointless to argue right now. If I'm too exhausted to work, I won't work, and that's that. Duh. But the part about official full-time hours vs typical full-time hours really annoyed me... It's bad enough that that's happening, but to acknowledge it in a meeting! F* that.

That's too many @KentishMama

4 hrs a day MAX

@Enigma52 @Tilllly thank you for replying! I actually feel a bit better for getting it out and written down

@Tilllly

Can we see more pictures of your new puppy please?

@KentishMama how kind that you boss will only make you work you contracted and paid hours. i hope you find a new job that is equal in pay and position but where your boss isn't a Jack ass

Apparently Daisy go night nights doesn’t mean stay in your bed and go to sleep, as I thought
It means jump out of bed and bark at shadows then run round the room

Morning all, I'm just about to catch up with the thread now. How's everyone doing?

@Tilllly it was fabulous to open it up to pics of Daisy when I clicked the last post 😊

We've broken up for half term & what I thought was a bit of a hangover yesterday has turned into full blown cold today 🙄 Not sure if it's end-of-term-itis, or I overdid it going out out (until 1am! Weeeeeelllll beyond bed time) on Friday, with colleagues 🤷‍♀️

I've had an "invitation" to book my MRI this week - keep forgetting to do it though because it's not an actual letter I can plonk on the table to remind me, it's an email & I keep seeing it when I've settled down for the night & am deleting crap/ones I don't need. Also had a letter summoning me for an echo the day after my tooth comes out...erm, no. It's half written in red bloody ink ffs & full of warnings about not attending. It's not even easy for me to get to the hospital they want me to go to, by bus. Shall be calling to change it to my local one on a different day, after work.

Other than that, surprisingly little has pissed me off this week!

Did get an email about some new starters at work though. One sounds like he may have SN & is in our class. I hope they don't think I'm picking up another 1:1. That'll be a straight no.

I've been debating the best way to book off most of the week after the Era's Tour concert - Eve's Trust are booking accommodation for a long weekend in Liverpool & I've booked The Killers for the 19th June...might just bundle it all into one request for time off & be a little bit naughty 🤷‍♀️. Everyone else seems to have random time off when they want it.

@SewingBees oh that sounds like amazing personal time! Eat what you want, do what you want, and full on sewing space with mum time! You'll feel more refreshed after than the fam that went to the mountains I bet :)

I think I am finally getting the pain management right and learning to go WITH the side effect flows/pain rather than try to bend it to my schedule (which isn't much right now, since im off work). Trying to build up strength in the legs/buttocks while I am still on steroids for the lungs, so have been doing 15 minutes on my floor pedal bike per day during my 'good hours'. Its certainly helped my mental state, my sleeping is better, and I move better after. I have an upright stationary bike too, but I need to swap out the saddle for something more supportive for the pelvis and back.

My heating pad died in the middle of the night last night :( Hopefully the Amazon order arrives quickly tomorrow!

@Tilllly Ohhhh Daisy Daisy give me an answer do, I'm half crazy......
She is a beaut!

I'm looking forward to another uss of my axilla but with biopsies this time, after a long chat with surgeons( they've booked me a long appointment sounds ominous) and a bronchoscopy couple of days later. Dreading that.. note to self made, demand as many drugs as possible.
I actually kind of fell worse now following chemo I think the next phase just hasn't got the same momentum which keeps me bobbing along nicely. Surgery bit feels like a huge traffic jam! But we move

@Tilllly

Daisy is gorgeous. Thankyou for posting the pictures.

@lucysmam
Book your MRI