Zombie's journey with breast cancer

[IamtheZombie]

The thread that Val started has now been moved to General Health. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2016081-Zombie-needs-her-limbs-holding?msgid=46439734

Please keep posting there if you wish.

As most of you know, I'm having my second mastectomy on Thursday. I will almost certainly need to have more chemotherapy.

This is my thread for those who wish to walk beside me on my journey.

&more

Hope it's warm and dry up there so you can have sundowners in the garden.

Morning!

We've had a lovely relaxed weekend. The sun is actually trying to shine this morning. We may be able to sit out in the garden a bit this afternoon.

Glad to see you have found some time to relax in your hectic schedule. I hope the coming week will give you the answers you are waiting for. How long will your friend be staying with you, it must be great for you to have her company. Enjoy today .

OMG. Today has been the absolute best day I have had in years.

There was a loud knock at the door at 10.00am. I opened it to find another of my (and Ally's) best friends standing there. She had driven cross country from Lincolnshire to spend the day with us. Neither of us knew she was coming. The three of us hadn't been all together in nearly 7 years. All those years melted away in an instant and it was as though we were picking up where we left off a week ago. Also this afternoon the very lovely Spero and her dad came for a visit. We were all able to sit in the garden in glorious sunshine. Ally had baked a magnificent Victoria Sponge cake this morning and we demolished half of that.

The rest of the afternoon and evening the three of us have laughed ourselves silly, had a lovely dinner and then Angie gave me a back massage while Ally was giving me a manicure. Angie left half an hour ago heading back to Lincolnshire.

Ally and I are basking in the afterglow (well the glow of wine, cognac and whisky). She has to return to Dublin tomorrow evening. She frets a lot about me but at least she's been able to meet my niece, speak to one friend on the phone and meet Spero so she can go home reassured that I have other people around me who will look after me.

Sometimes I really find it hard to believe how blessed I am with friendship and love.

What a lovely post Zombie! So glad you had such a good time. My fingers are still crossed for the scan results. (Makes it blinking hard to type tho!)
x

Sounds like you have had a ball. I love the friendships where despite not seeing someone for ages, when you do meet up its as though you saw them yesterday.spongecake sounds lovely too ! It is nice for your friend to be able to fly back knowing you have others to visit etc.

That's lovely to read Zombie, really lovely.

and [whisky] to you and Ally

XXX

My Breast Care Nurse rang this afternoon. Although my scan results haven't been officially reported, the Multi Disciplinary Team reviewed the scan itself. Everything appears to be clear except for some benign liver cysts AND another area on the liver that the CT didn't give enough definition for them to know what it is. I will therefore need to have an MRI next. My surgeon will do the letter requesting the MRI tomorrow so I hope the appointment letter will follow quickly.

Serena Seroma is returning and I mentioned this to my BCN. She will speak with my surgeon tomorrow to see if it should be drained again or just left to have a chance to re-absorb. She also told me it's highly unlikely they will begin chemo until the seroma is completely gone.

What a lovely bank holiday zombie.

Sorry you need another scan, fingers crossed x

I hope your next apt will come through very quickly. That's a blow about not starting chemo until after all the draining has been done,I hope it won't take too long. Is the chemo to kill off any remaining cells from the breast cancer ? I remain in awe of your no - nonsense approach.

How lovely to read your posts Zombie your delight at being with your friends shines through them, and I'm so pleased for you that you have had such a joyful happy few days.

Hoping all goes well for you during the coming weeks.

(the cake sounds fab, I hope you got your fair share of it )

I received an email from my BCN yesterday asking me to attend Clinic at 10.00 this morning. Mr. Dube and Mandy, the Clinic Sister, drained 120ml from Serena. That's an improvement on the last 2 weeks where they removed 150ml each time. They expect to see me at least one or two more times before she settles completely. Mr. Dube had a look at my CT scan and he mentioned nodules on my thyroid in addition to what my BCN told me on Tuesday. He didn't seem at all concerned about those so I won't be either! I also had him check the lymph nodes in my neck and he confirms that they are slightly swollen. I'm to raise this at my pre-chemo assessment on Monday morning.

I arrived home to find my MRI appointment letter. It was for Monday morning at 09.45am which conflicts with my pre-chemo assessment at 09.15am. The MRI is now rescheduled for Tuesday morning at 09.15am.

So, next week is shaping up to be a very busy week. I also need to make an appointment with my GP. Not yet sure what the following week will bring other than an appointment to see the phlebotomist at my GP surgery for my pre-chemo bloods to be drawn.

Hopefully by the end of next week you will have some conclusive answers and a treatment plan will be in place.

Wishing you lots of positive appointments next week, thinking of you.

My mum had to have a drain put in yesterday, they took a whopping 500ml i hope she remains as positive as you

sorry I missed a lot of what's going on Zombie - hope you are ok.

and for you, but I had a bite out of it!

Seems.like all the plans will soon be in place for you and you can get on with your treatment. Any idea how long you will have to have chemo for yet, or will you find that out next week ?

Hi Zing!

Where've you been? I missed you

Hope you are getting some rest Zombie to help you through the demanding days ahead.
Sleep tight

BBB

awww!
I'll pm you.

zombie! So glad to read all about your awesome friends!
Blimey, fitting in all these appointments must seem like a full time job - its good to see you are getting some time to relax as well

Thanks all.

Barbie, the results of the MRI will take about 2 weeks to come through so I should get those the week I have my first chemo. The treatment plan is in place. The scan results won't affect the treatment at this stage, just confirm whether I am potentially curable or just controllable.

Zing, cake with a bite out sounds a lot like pre-licked cheesecake to me.

mummy, my first chemo is scheduled for Monday, 16th June. It's a 3 week cycle so if all goes well, I'll have the last one on 29th September. But this drug is very tough and it's not uncommon for some treatments to be delayed by a week to give the body more time to recover so it could be even longer.

All, I'm trying to rest. Really I am. But in addition to the medical appointments, there are a few people I want to see and spend a day with before treatment starts. I'm prioritising a list and will only see as many as I can without tiring myself out too much.

Alpaca, there are moments when I feel I should have a PA to manage my diary.

We will all be hoping its curable for you Zombie. So you have 3 weeks chemo , then a break then start the next three weeks is that how it goes ? I'm sure it's a pretty tough thing to go through, but you can do it I'm sure of that. Zombies can't really be destroyed !

mummy, 16th June will be Day 1 of Cycle 1. I will attend the Chemo Day Centre and be given my first infusion of Docetaxel. I will then go home with some anti-nausea drugs and steroids to take for a few days. But basically nothing else happens on Days 2 - 21 other than having bloods taken on Day 18 or 19 so they can see if I've recovered well enough to begin the next cycle. If so, 7th July will be Day 1 of Cycle 2 and I again attend the CDC to be given the second infusion. It carries on like that until I have had a total of 6 infusions.

I pretty much sailed through my previous chemo which was a combination of 3 drugs known as FEC. But Docetaxel is a much, much stronger drug and the side effects are far worse than with FEC.

Will you have someone to look after you if you don't feel 100% ? Thanks for explaining. I hope it will be like the last time for you and you sail through.now you have said that it has reminded of me of when my brother had chemo for hodgkins, but it was a long time but he would go in and stay overnight, and then come home, I had forgotten that. And yes he is still well and with us !

A friend is coming down from Harrogate on the 15th June and will stay for at least a week. I know that Day 4 / 5 of the cycle will be very difficult as I will have severe joint and body pain for a day or so. Once I'm through that I should be able to take care of myself. We're going to batch cook and freeze meals so I have easy meals. Neighbours will pick up milk and bread as and when I need them. Sally will come back for each treatment and stay a week each time.