**TAMOXIFEN** 4th thread

[MaryAnnSingleton]

here we go !

Thank you for the link MAS - I will have a good read of that thread. I'm glad your CBT session was good, and hope you will find it very helpful.

Also thank you Cakes - good to hear about your mum and brother doing well, I am feeling quite optimistic about the thyroxin.

Please excuse the fact that I seemed to ignore your earlier posts!! - I actually cross posted - SR's being the last one I saw. It must have taken me about Fifteen minutes to write my post - I blame the thyroid

Didn't notice any ignoring! I also seem to type v slow, cross post all the time. I blame having what my dad used to call a 'grasshopper mind' Thanks Dad!

Hi KK, well its good that your thyroid problem is diagnosed now and I trust the medication will help. I don't know anything about it but hope there are no SEs and that you'll feel much better v. soon.

Thanks for the comments re CMF - its a combination of cyclphosphamide, methotrexate and 5FU - more --bloody disgusting weedkiller! I have been told its slightly less kick-ass than epirubicin but that by the time one gets there one is so battered as not to notice the difference - great! Well its better to be warned so thanks for tellig me how you felt KK. And rads at the same time - OMG. How accelerated were you KK? I have a half dose each fortnight plus pliss then a 3 week break and start again x4 cycles. Must say I don't think I could cope with accelerated when I read how Pennies has had to go through it.

How great of your DS to do the Big C collection.

MAS _ can't beleive they increased yr dose without telling you. What a cheek.

I've had a very lazy day - bit boring but I'm being sociable tomorrow. Today I went to the farm shop, where they are so lovely and carry all my stuff out to the car then I planted some lilies and some morning glory in containers - presents from friends a few weeks ago. I also gnashed on a lambsteak while my veggie family were out - at least meat tastes nice . Yes pineapple too - must experiment with lemon.

RWU - can you reach a pc yet?

SR - mine was fortnightly on Epirub. then CMF - 2 weeks in a row, then I think it was 3 weeks off - sounds fairly similar to yours but as you say, I was knackered by the epir. by the time I got there!Which was probably why I din't do so well.
How many rads are you having? IME - although the rads do make you v.tired, that kicks in a few weeks after you have finished them - so perhaps with luck, you won't get 2 doses of fatigue coinciding. very good luck with it, its a lot all at once, but you will get there.

Tried to do some gardening - but was chased out of my greenhouse by hornets again - wish I (well DH) could find the nest.

We went on holiday about a week after rads finished and I remember the first night feeling soooooo unbelieavably tired - I wasn't sure if it was the aftermath of radiotherapy or just general mental exhaustion, or just having driven half of the journey to Suffolk - I also found the sudden ending of active treatment a bit of a shock - being 'looked after' every day,then shot out the other end...was very emotionally turmoiled all summer really. My dad,who had rads for prostate cancer a couple of years before said that radiotherapy was easy peasy so I felt I couldn't allow myself to feel tired as others had warned me- silly I know,but...
I had hospital transport to Southampton -about 50 mins journey each way -am very glad not to have had to drive as the parking at hospitals is so difficult and that would have added to the stressfulness. I did quite enjoy the routine in a way - nice drivers,sometimes another nice local lady shared the car and the League of Friends shop selling Wagon Wheels.

KK - well done to your DS for the play. Did you have a lump in your throat? Sorry to haer you haven't been well. I don't know much about Herceptin - is it the same sort of thing as Tamoxifen?

RWU - so glad to see you back - missed your posts. Hope you are feeling much better now. I think the idea of getting someone else to do the hard slog in the garden is great. You could supervise with a G&T in hand .

Smee good to see that you are back too and hope that the drain gets out soon.

Cakes - I think I need to send you my boy cat. He would fix the rats for you. In his day he has was a great hunter (rats and rabbits as well as the smaller stuff) but I must admit I've only seen him with mice and voles lately. Anyway, hope you get rid of them soon.

I have been working hard on doing simple exercises and walking the last few weeks. Major milestone fanfare I walked DS to and back from school today - first time in 7 months!! One small step etc....

WEll done Haggis for your walk! I do find walking helps a lot but yesterday I could scacrecely drag myslef round one of my usual circuits.

MAS thanks re your account of rads. Just don't mention Wagon Wheels - I spent one summer working in the factory.....

Blimey, hornets don't sound good at all. My DS seems to get wasps in his bedroom at present but no hornets - bit early for wasps though

I've turned the heating on this evening and feel more comfortable than I have all day.

'ello! Still on iPod, not reached the puter yet. Going to tackle tje bedroom tomorrow, it's the piles of crap washing that are putting me off venturing up there! Dh kindly drove to tesco today to buy me lots of storage solution thingys so might be able to find the floor soon!

Hi Haggis - brilliant you did the walk. Don't overdo it now.

Sandripples why do you have to have it all at once? That seems cruel. Is there any mileage in telling yourself at least it will be over in less time? Not sure that helps at all, as it sounds so overwhelming.

KK glad you've go the thyroid diagnosis - maybe the energy'll flow again.

MAS I wish you hadn't mentioned Wagon Wheels. You've given me a craving.

rwu - your floor sounds like mine. DH has gone back to work for two days and though friends have been helping, I haven't let them up to the bedroom where the mountain of clothes is almost a new room. Mind you the cat likes them, as does DS. They've been nesting.

Still got my drain, though they're insisting I go back to have it out on Sunday. Not sure how that works, as I still have 150ml + of fluid daily. Anyone else have one out with a lot still draining?

Just dashing through - hi RWU!

Smee - yes, don't worry they are often still draining a lot, mine def, was, but they don't like them left in too long becuase of risk of infection. You might (or might not) get a bit of a build up under your arm (it feels like a rolled up newspaper). Perfectly harmless, it can either be drawn off by the BC nurse, or left to disperse naturally, it's up to you. Don't worry! It's a pest but not a pain...

Well done on your walk to school Haggis - these sort of things are real achievements when you've been trough such a lot.

I am of your storage things RWU - I think thats what I need. (or else I need to throw out some of the clutter we seem to accumulate all the time).

Smee - you must be fed up of that drain by now! IIRC, mine was taken out after 5 days even though it hadn't quite dropped below the volume level. I think they assume the liquid will just be reabsorbed into your body. It is good to get rid of it, and not have to lug a bottle around any more!

Love to everyone else. My DD has said she may come home over the bank holiday, so if I'm not around for a few days - its because she's dragged me off shopping or something Hope you all have a nice break. xx

Ah well - have just spoken to the BC Nurse, who asked the Surgeon and they've decided to leave me until Tuesday and then they'll take it out at clinic. Am a bit at the idea of having this thing hanging off me for an extra two days, but then in the great scheme of things it's not a lot to moan about. Happy weekend to one and all. Hope it is sunny.

well done on school walk Haggis - excellent !!
Sorry to hear that you're still being drained Smee- what a bore for you.
Have a lovely time with dd KK and everyone have a good weekend.

Sorry about the drain Smee. Hope you do get rid of it on Tuesday as it seems a long time to have it with you.

Good luck to everyone decluttering/reorganising storage. I've been focussing on throwing things out - slowly so that the family don't notice

Have a good w/e everyone. I feel slightly more lively today so hope I'm picking up after a below par few days. I've been treated to lunch today - v. nice veggie crumble it was too. Think I'd better have a low calorie soup tonight as have been piggin a bit the last couple of days

Hope you have a nice time with DD, KK. My DD has gone to Amsterdam for the Dutch Queen's holiday, and to meet up with her boyfriend.

Hello,

Just dropping in to say 'Hi'. Had second chemo on Wednesday. They gave me Lorazepam to help with the sickness. Very effective, but has also left me feeling very spaced out and floaty. So thinking of everyone, hope everthing is going OK, and I'll try to catch up properly whan I can a) read properly again, and b) don't need my Mum to check my post is spelled Ok and makes sense.

hi BB - well done - hope you can relax over the weekend

Hi BB - don't think we've met before. Glad to hear you're not as sick though. Floaty must be preferable even in not exactly desirable. Hope it wears off soon.

Hi all, hope all ok.

not read all posts - need to catch up!

internet has been poorly here.

just had 1st dose of taxol.

waves to all

will write more soon.

well done you too Pennies - hope you all manage to have good weekends xx

Hi BB - good to hear from you. Glad the sickness has been sorted out. Pennies - hope you are fine with the Taxol. Smee, sorry to hear you still have the drain in.

What is everyone doing this holiday weekend. KK is shopping I think - but what about the rest of you?

Hello All,

Sorry for gratuitous lack of punctuation last night - I had a glass of wine in one hand and had the laptop balanced on my knee!

Sorry not been around much - had an OK time with my last AC, needed a blood transfusion but that was OK. So I kind of made the most of it and socialised like Paris Hilton. OK,OK maybe not exactly like Paris Hilton but I was certainly out there! It was great to do the school run, go to the shops, have coffee with mates, a pub lunch with my MN friend and dinner out with DH. On a more serious note it also served an important purpose to remind people that I do still exist. I realised that I was in an out of sight out of mind situation and I was getting lonely.

Glad to see you again RWU!

And Smee, hope you get rid of that pesky drain too. Not much fun at all.

KK - glad that you were able to pin how you were feeling on your thyroid. you may be interested to know that a friend of mine had Hodgkins disease 20 years ago and had to have two months of 9 months worth of chemo and she has thyroid problems which her team attribute to her having had chemo. She takes thyroxine and she's fine on it.

SR - I'm amazed (and if i'm honest pretty ) of how well you're coping! Making soup is totally beyond me when I'm in the chemo zone! You're so active! I'm hugely impressed. Horird taste in the mouth is gross isn't it. It's taken me quite a while to place it and I've concluded that I can taste a lovely combo of green snot mixed with sea water. Nice.

BB - great to se you. Good luck with chemo 2.

Ebbie - I'm not on Facebook - work of the devil IMO! Hope you're OK and getting some advice. Sorry for not being able to get to you; I'm almost totally housebound for 10 days out of each fortnight and as I said above I got busy catching up with everyone!

MAS - hows' the CBT? I hope you're finding it useful. Do you practice the stuff at home as well? It takes a bit of effort but it is worth it.

Haggisdoodle - yay on more energy! It really does work wonders! You'll be so proud of my seedlings. They are simply growing like Trifids. I reckon if I stood there for long enough I could actually see them grow, it's astonishing.

Last week I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of reading back through all the Tamoxifen threads that are on here - I was looking for info on side effects and saw the inaugural thread. I have to say, Ladies, it is was really humbling to read through how far you've come and what you've been through and it made me immensely proud to have you here supporting me through this.

Some of us posted on RedTartanLass's thread the other day about her mammogram recall. She's not been back on MN since as far as I know and she's normally around quite a bit. I do hope she's OK.

Hope I didn't miss anyone! it's very early!

Don't like the Twitter & FB links. Grrrrr.

hi Pennies - yes,was wondering about Redtartanlass - do hope it was ok.
The CBT session was good I think, lots of drawing of circular thought-anxieties-outcomes etc on a whiteboard. The self help book I combination of with the meds seem to have made a big difference in how I feel and I gather that being in a better place makes CBT easier,so they were right to suggest antidepressants,despite my not wanting them !!
Next session on Thursday and meanwhile I was given a chart to fill in and 3 questionnaires.
This w/end should be nice I think as were getting plants for the garden and my aunt and cousin are staying in a cottage nearby having come down for the week from the Wirral - we're having them and my parents to supper on Sunday (am making a bitter chocolate & almond mousse)
Am glad you found all the beginnings of the thread - I love it that it's carried on and gathered people on it's way.

Mm chocolate and almond mousse sounds very nice.

Pennies - great that you have had renewed energy - is it thanks to the blood transfusion? I know I am doing well but have felt more grotty than usual this week. As others have said I think you are totally amazing to be coping with this accelerated chemo and small children. I don't think I could manage it myself.

I'm not doing much this w/e but have a friend for lunch tomorrow. Will prob potter in the garden a bit and watch my seeds growing!

Hi all -especially good to see Pennies and BB doing well!

Pennies, I am glad you got round to reading all the Tamoxifen threads - it's a lot of posts, but there is probably some quite useful stuff there, and it is good that it exists for people to refer to if they find themsleves in this situation. maybe we should publish! I am glad it is still helping, God Knows it has helped me!

MAS - your weekend sounds nice (as does the mousse), I am just working. I have a project - not my usual thing. I am a media relations consultant and I usually promote products and services: this time round I am trying to squash a story that could get a bit nasty if it is allowed to run unchecked. I may get a bit stressed as the week wears on...

Interesting what Pennies was saying about chemo and the thyroid - have been wondering if i should get mine checked as my family all seem to have underavtive thyroids and I do seem to have a few symptoms. Maybe I'll suggest it next time I go.

I missed redtartanlass's thread but I too hope she is OK, especially if she is lurking here.