TAMOXIFEN THREAD HERE ***

[MaryAnnSingleton]

Am sick of my messages never getting through - I have had 7 attempts to reply to Cakes' last post- am starting a new thread ....
this is what I wrote anyway.....

righto, this i my 7th attempt to reply on this thread - everything keeps disappearing !
My assessment is on 25th,and am told to allow two hours for it,crikey !!
Saw a lady in town yesterday who was having rads and finished at about the same time as me and she's just seen the onc. for her follow up - they are running very behind I know- so I emailed to ask about mine - I tie myself in knots in trying to be assertive yet not too needy or a nuisance - I suppose I just like to feel that everything is done in order. Am not worrying about my health -am sure breast is fine and dandy, it's more my emotional state which troubles me.
Anyway, they have made me an appointment but it's at the same time as my assessment so have emailed back and left a phone message...arghh !
Special thoughts for RWU today and of course KurriKurri - hope all ok..and of course you Cakes and Morph.

go for it pennies- seriously its easy (but very addictive!) i am starting a dress for great-niece tomorrow as i picked up some lovely cheap acrylic, also just finishing some trousers for DD (actually they are 'longies' as they are going to be used over her nappies at night)

Don't think i am going to get a chance to meet SR, i have been buzzing around all day to kids parties, then a quick nip into Morrisomns turned into an hour and a half as i met a mate who's going through a tough divorce and i felt i couldn't just walk away and now i am being dragged for a non-alcoholic girly night to have a bitch about all the local recent gossip BUT there will be plenty of opportunities as SR's family own the house so she will be visiting again soon i'm sure! so SR i know you are only about 7 miles from me but i'll get a bit more organised next tiem you are down and we can arrange a meet up in advance sorry!
Thinking about it, i hope they got here ok as there was quite a bit of snow overnight and the mountain road is horrible at the best of times!

Hi, got back safely, and we had a lovely time. Sorry we didn't meet RWU, but as you say, now we know of this possibility we might be able to organise it next time! Anyway the journey there was really beautiful as all the hills were covered in snow and the sun was shining. Then had a fab afternoon in sunny Aber yesterday with old friends we hadn't seen for several years, and who don't know Aber much. Nice tea in Caesar's then took them up the hill in the funicular and walked down, as the sun began to sink towards the sea.

Today walked along by sea at Borth and had burnch then again a lovely snowy ride home - it has done me good.

Pennies, sympathy about having to sleep on your back- I'm the same. Find I am better with a pillow under my knees! Hope you have a better night tonight.

Haggis - congrats on getting this far through treatment. I am starting to dread it now as it looms closer - only because of the veins problem.

All - I've just read a book in cartoon form called Cancer Vixen - by an American cartoonist who's been through BC. I thought it was very good. have also read The Average Sized Rock bun now too. Enjoyed that too. Have started Juliet Naked now, to take my
mind off this disease. Long live denial healthy escapism.

sorry about the lack of sleep Pennies -that's no fun.
So glad that your trip was good SR -sounds really lovely -I've never been to Wales (or Ireland) and only to Edinburgh twice...[ill travelled emoticon]] but I know the Suffolk and Dorset coasts pretty damn well.

Glad to hear that you had a good weekend SR - and you too by the sounds of it RWU. Hope things have improved for you Pennies and that you are not so tired KK.
I'm still drooling at the thought of Rococcos - especially the dark cholcolate bars with orange and geranium. If I lived in london think I would be in King's Road every weekend. I think they do courses there now - who knows I may get there one day!
I had a bum day yesterday - cost £229 to fix my car windscreen wipers!! Still waiting for a roofer to come and fix a leak (2 weeks now) and also for the plumber to fix the shower - oh and my watch broke. Why does it all happen when I'm not working?? Never mind it'll all come out in the wash I suppose.
Gardening update - can't see garden for snow but my sweet peas in the germinator are through. Hurray it's the official start of the new growing season
Night all!

Sorry to hear you're having sleeping problems Pennies. I used a small bean bag on top of my pillows after my surgery, and found it more comfortable.

I am going to get on with my knitting, - its all this talk of it has inspired me I'm going to make myself this as i need something warm for walking the dog. But first I've got to finish this for the pooch -only got the hood and trim to do. I'll put a photo of her wearing it up when its done.

Had a really nice evening at DS's play last night, and a lovely vegetable curry in the theatre bar/restaurant before hand.
Back down to earth today, grocery shopping and blitzing the kitchen with the steamer!

SR glad you had a lovely weekend. Good luck for next week. I have heard of the book you mention, I may well give it a try.

MAS - I grew up in Dorset(near Wareham), we spent every weekend at the coast in Summer. My parents are still there. [homesick emoticon]

oh kk i like that poncho, but i fear it may be out of my league just yet i am trying to do a jumper for the first time in some cheapy acrylic for practice as ds4 wants a tank-top for school and has instructed that i should "knitify" one for him for summer

The sleeping thing sucks and if i'm honest i don't have any tips- i take the radical approach of 'if it still hurts take some more painkillers and ignore what the box says' i have become very adept at knocking myself out with various narcotics over the last year or so. I am not however reccomending this!

SR so glad you had a good time, sorry i couldn't meet but the tail end of half term is always a bit of a trial- today we had to dash to matalan to find new shoes, socks and grey trousers- all of which have gone missing since this time last week Constitution Hill is great if you get nice weather, but its one of those things that the locals don't appreciate, i can't remember the last time i went up there (although i do remember taking the first twins up there with various people holding babies for me as i lobbed bits of my huge carriage pram into the train thingy!) A friend of mine is getting married up there in september. Borth must be quiet this time of year, we usually go over and watch the carnival each June but it quickly decends into a drunken free for all .

Haggis- ouch on the windscreen wipers- i winced at £45 for a set for my old car but i'm guessing it was a more technical problem than just new blades! I am entering mechanic-land on Tuesday to have something very technical sounding done- i have not got a clue what but dh and the garage-man both stood and sucked air through their teeth whilst looking at the under-carriage of my car! so i shall be sporting the Jazz [oh joy] I hate that flipping car and it hates me, there are too many dings and bongs and it tries to tell me faaaaar too much information, for example i do not need to know that it has 287 days until it next needs a service neither do i need to now how much flipping petrol it has used since i last filled it up. As long as it tells me before i run out then that's fine! grrr, rant over- i know there is at least one other jazz owner here so i'll stop now .

Mas- on the travelling thing, we rarely go anywhere (mainly because of the kids) and i'm not all that interested in travelling anywhere be it around the uk or overseas, as a child i was dragged on 'holidays' around the world, most of which i found mind numbingly boring. My idea of a holiday is sitting under a palm tree with a good book and a rum and coke, with a dishy waiter on hand with my next drink and dh off entertaining the kids

RWU - getting round to doing it is my problem, I like chunky knit patterns because I finish quicker. I like 'knitify'.

Sorry about your wipers HD. But lovely your sweet peas are coming through. My sister is in NE of Scotland, and I send her some dwarf sweet pea seeds (from plants I grew last year), - thinking they might do better for her because of the strong winds.

That poncho looks lovely - hm, might think about that, if I ever finish the waistcoat I'm well on with but haven't touched for 5 weeks and now can't remember the pattern exactly - I couldn't quite follow the pattern for the right front so had to make it up slightly but now how do I remember what I did as of course left side will have to match?

RWU - sorry I probably missed this at some point but how many pairs of twisn do you have?

My parents dragged me round a few too many European churches when I was about 13. I rebelled and started doing exchanges instead, but have continued to like travelling. Main challenge for us (apart from the budget) was finding hols that suited all of us, esp with 4.5 year age gap betwwwn DD and DS. We sometimes did things separately just cos it was easer. DD at uni now so no longer such an issue although DH has to have time for his beloved boat, which is very needy. Think all boats are. I am not into all this malarky but it is DH's passion and as we live 2 hours from boat this is tricky for him.

I am very nervous about scans now......

Will try to visualise Suffolk and Dorset coasts - both lovely, and Northumberland where I grew up on the coast. (Did we all grow up by the sea? - Several seem to have done?)I have got to know Wales since living in NW England - nice places when the DCs were young - we went to Angelsey a lot, also LLeyn and round Conway/Snowdonia as well as Borth which has been good for teenagers (big bonfires on the beach with cousins at new Year a couple of times! And once at easter and stones were warm enough the next morning for us to lie down, put warm stones on our backs and pretend we were at a spa..)

I am jealous of all of you, you all live in far more beautiful places than me.

The knitting thing is going to pass me by I am afraid, I always get the tension way too loose and everything goes all shapeless. And I get bored. But I definitely wouldn't if i felt I could achieve some of these things, they are lovely and you are all much cleverer than me.

Ref the sleep thing, it is shit when you can't sleep. I used to be great at it, but am not any more, I think it is the tamoxifen, in part. But I tried relaxing each bit of my body in turn last night (like they teach you at yoga) instead of my usual plan of getting up and eating biscuits reading. I only got as far as my neck and i was gone! So it may be worth a try - although obviously unlikely to work if it is pain that is keeping you awake, in which case i think RWU's plan sounds more practical

Still just plugging away copywriting here. Been doing it all weekend and no end in sight yet....

Hi all - quick slightly panicky question - what happens if you forget to take a tamoxifen?

I missed mine yesterday, have phoned the oncology drugs unit- answerphone, they'll get back to me within 24 hours

So instructions in packet say just take todays dose, don't double up, which I've done. But will it matter much in the overall scheme of things to miss one??? I'm a bit worried. [mad old woman who can't remember her drugs emoticon]

am sure missing one or doubling up can't hurt -it's only the once - I suppose you might get a concentrated hot flush -but really am sure you needn't fret. Ask on the BCC forum if you are really worried,they'll know

Thanks MAS - just re read my post, its not very clear - I haven't doubled up, I gone for missing one. No sign of a phone call from the drug line.

I don't suppose there's much I can do really.Feel so annoyed at myself - I keep all my pills in a dated pill box, and take them every morning. Don't know how I missed yesterday.

SR- two sets! after having immense difficulty even getting one baby, i was prescribed clomid and went on to have ds1&2, then no-one thought to tell me that clomid babies can spark over-zealous fertility and that the drug can have effects for up to two years and i fell with ds3&4 11 months after the first lot were born needless to say we were then very careful and also very thankful when dd turned out to be not only a dd but an 'only' dd

ah, KK - am sure it can't hurt to miss just one in that case.

Hi KK

I have missed a couple completely in my time (only been taking since Nov, as well ) and have also, on one occasion, remembered the next morning, so taken 2 in one day, though spaced out iyswim.

There's no help for it, it is just one of those things.Obviously not ideal, but it won't have any real effect.

Relax!

Thanks all - I am calming down

oh mas- have just posted on kind dog page on fb- looking for something for mothers day!

Sleeping a bit bit better now. Taking the children into London to see Chinese New Year Stuff and the London Transport Museum may have been a deciding factor in that though.

Very, very sad day here. A friend of mine, just a week younger than me, died this morning after an 18-month long battle with skin cancer. She leaves three children aged 7, 6 and 2. She was a beautiful person in all respects and if I can muster even a shadow of the determination, courage, dignity and humour she showed in her battle against cancer whilst I fight mine I shall consider myself fortunate indeed.

I am sorry to bring some sadness to our corner of MN today. This rather overwhelms me and I felt I had to share.

Pennies - that is so sad -I am so sorry for the loss of your friend..thinking of you and sending love.

RWU - have sent you an fb message

Hi All,

Sorry not to have been on for a while. This is the first time I've been online since just before my op.

Pennies - Glad to hear that your surgery went ok too, but very sorry about the loss of your friend.

My surgery was a week ago and went well. It is a bit strange to have no breasts but I'm getting used to it. I'd like to say that I feel all flat chested in a svelte super model sort of a way, but actually I just feel a bit sore and tired - more so now in fact than straight after the operation. Not very super at all. Also, my love handles and enormous arse sort of give away the non super modelness of me. But on the whole, I have not been as upset by the loss of the breasts as I expected.

Pennies, I am shocked and very sorry to hear about the death of your friend. I send you my love and condolences, but that feels such an inadequate thing to type.

You seem very brave taking DCs into London already - hope you are getting loads of rest when you can.

RWU - I had no idea you had 2 sets of twins and 5 DCs altogether - congratulations! You really must have your work cut out! But what fun they must all be! I would have liked a bigger family if we'd got started earlier!

BB - nice to see you back, take care of yourself. Lots of sleep for you too.

I have had CT scan today and am so relieved - no results yet of course, but just that when I explained my vein problem the nice phlebotomist immediately just said fine we'll use your arm and he was v skillful with canula, no pain at all. (I do wonder if I had the absolute cannula beginners in the ward when they hurt my hand so much! Perhaps they'd just read 'Janet and John/Biff and Chip Have Fun with Cannulas' and sent them out to practise )

The nice woman today is also seeing me for the bone scan on Wed so I don't need to worry about veins for that one now. Sorry to be so obsessed with this topic. Will stop now.

My DH did my wound packing and dressing yesterday as we were away and I had a look for the 1st time. The opening is tiny now, I'm glad to say - quite glad I didn't look at it earlier as scar a bit bigger than I'd realised and might not have been nice when all gaping!! [Stop it SR) (SR goes to get tea ready)

Glad the tamoxifen panic is sorted.

Welcome back Burning Bright. Glad all went well, get lots of rest.

Welcome back BurningBright -as the others have said-get lots of rest
Glad that you got the CT scan today SR -and hope all goes well with bone scan..well done to your dh for wound packing - not sure mine would be able to do that.

i am a nutjob.

DD (6) wants to go to karate classes: I have found her one which is mothers and kids combined. And I have signed up - how ridiculous is that?!?

Wish me lick for tomorrow (nervous emoticon)

Luck even! (lick?)

Pennies, sorry I was not meaning to ignore your loss. I am so sorry, what a terrible thing to happen.