Yay!

A Long Wait....

Still waiting for the results from my mammogram that I had on 6th December. I've asked in my YBCN forum if this long a wait is normal and apparently is can take upto 6 weeks! Little bit ridiculous really :(

I think I'm going to ask if I can move my annual mammogram forward one month otherwise it will always be looming over me over the Christmas period which will be pants.

Brighton Meet Up

Yesterday evening I met up with some of the lovely YBCN girlies who are based in the South East. We had a lovely meal at Zizzis and a few drinks in a bar afterwards. Although some of us had only ever met "virtually" the conversation (and wine!) didn't stop flowing. Such a fab evening :-)

First Annual Mammogram

All done, now just a fortnight or so wait for the results....

Check Up

Today I went to Crawley hospital for a post treatment check-up with (the elusive) Dr Houston. As usual they were running pretty late, but thanks to the CSP breathing techniques I stayed fairly calm in the waiting room.

When I was called through I saw Dr Houston's registrar (hence the elusive comment above, think I've only ever seen my oncologist twice!) and we had a chat through how I was getting on with tamoxifen. My answer was/is pretty well tbh. I get occasional hot flushes, joint aches and hormone relate mood swings but they are all perfectly tolerable. 

Then I jumped on the couch and he tapped my back a few times asked me to take some breaths in and then I lay down and he felt both my boobs, my breast bones and my armpits. He didn't say anything but then they never do!

I have my mammogram tomorrow, then I'll be seen again in January by my surgeon (or more likely a registrar!) and then these guys again in June. So I'm seen every 6 months by the team and have annual mammograms. 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone, don't forget to TLC (Touch, Look, Check) xx

Chemoversary

 

Blimey this year has flown by!!

 

 

Getting Published #2

A few weeks ago I had a few interviews with 2 journalists, one lady who works for Cancer Research and another who works for a local Brighton paper "The Argus".

They both wanted to chat to my about my story, my blog and if I would support a new Cancer Research fundraising initiative called The In Thing. Of course I was happy to chat to them as it would be an opportunity to raise awareness of BC in young people and also to help with fundraising for Cancer Research.

 

I've just found out that the story has been published, it's a pretty long article so I'm really chuffed.

 

Article Here and Here

 

Here's where I was published first time (Macmillan Guest Blog)

50,000 Page Views

 

 

Super excited that this blog has just hit 50,000 page views, thank you everyone for reading and for all your messages of love and support :)

Willow Weekend

 

Rob and I have just got back from our fantastic weekend away at Longleat Center Parcs provided by the amazing Willow Foundation and what a lovely, relaxing treat it was.

 

 

Back in April I found out that my request for a "Special Day" had been granted by Willow (you can read my blog post about it here) and over the next few months Zoe (my special day co-ordinator) kept in touch arranging our fab weekend with us. We booked it for September so that we would have something later in the year to look forward to after the summer.

 

We drove down in Beppe to Longleat on Friday (past Stonehenge - amazing in the mist!),

arriving late afternoon and checked into our perfectly located lodge complete with log fire :)

 

The whole weekend was spent having nice walks, relaxing, reading in front of our log fire, swimming, going round and round in the rapids and having some lovely food - Willow even paid for us to have a meal out (we went for Tapas!).

 

I've even discovered a new talent this weekend - I'm a demon at Crazy Golf! I kicked my husband's butt by over 20 points!

 

Thank Willow, we had a truly wonderful time :)

 

 

 

 

 

For Willow's Facebook page click here

To follow Willow on Twitter click here

The CSP

Today (July 3rd)  I attended the first session of an 8 week course (Wednesday evenings) called The Cancer Survivorship Programme

I'm looking forward to the programme because I, like so many cancer patients felt lost when my treatment plan finished. When you have your diagnosis, your treatment, appointments, check-ups etc, although obviously it's a horrendous time; you are swept up in everything that's happening. Once all that stops, it's a case of stopping and thinking "holy crap, did that really happen to me" and that can be a pretty overwhelming thing. There is also the non-stop fear of thinking that every ache and pain (that you would have ignored or thought nothing of before) is the cancer coming back.

The CSP helps you to deal with these fears, and also teaches about nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, mental imagery and other techniques. Although I realise that I may not agree with everything that is going to be taught, I am going into it with an open mind and looking forward to what I can learn.

Week 1
Tonight's session was just an introduction to the programme, next week is when we'll properly start.

Week 2

Following on from I attended week 2 of 8 tonight. This week it was all about Stress Identification, Assessment and Management.

Week 3

Today's session was all about Mindfulness, is was really useful and I will definitely be putting some of the techniques into practise.

Wiki Link to Mindfulness description

A good phrase I got taught (from someone else not The CSP) which really captures mindfulness for me is: Don't Borrow Tomorrow's Sorrow. Sam said he was going to add that to the next lot of course slides which is fab :)

Week 4
Today's session was all about Mindfulness again. This time about Affirmations and Progressive Muscle Relaxation.

Week 5

Tonight's class was all about guided Mental Imagery and Goal Setting. Both of these are things I do in everyday life anyway so I think for me these will be fairly straightforward to get the hang of.

Week 6

Tonight's class was a continuation of last week, we looked in more depth at Guided Mental Imagery.

Week 7

Tonight we looked at "The Anti-Cancer Lifestyle". So we examined the right foods to eat, what to eliminate from our everyday life, cancer fighting foods that we should be eating in abundance and the things that are best to avoid. This was the session I was perhaps most nervous about as I didn't want to be told, if you eat this you will get cancer. It wasn't at all like that though, Sam taught us that our bodies are like a balance/scale and all we need to do is tip the balance in favour of the anti-cancer. So if we can only add one good thing and eliminate one "bad" thing then the balance is tipped in the right way.

Week 8

Tonight was a the final class. It was a continuation of last week and we also looked at the role of exercise.

If anyone would like any of the workbooks from the course, please drop me an email and I will send them to you xx

....Gone tomorrow

Today my friend Carrie shaved her head for Little Princess Trust.

 

My post from yesterday shows how long her hair was before

 

and this is her now.....

 

 

 

 

 

Carrie you rock! 

Hair Today...

Tomorrow my friend Carrie will be shaving her head to raise money for The Little Princess Trust.

 

This is what her lovely long hair looks like at the moment:

 

 

She even got a write up in the local paper (even though they got the date wrong!)

 

 

So if you can spare any pennies (or pounds) for this amazing charity, please Click Here

 

Check-Up Time

Today I had a check up at East Surrey Hospital.

It's about 6/7 months since I had my second WLE and although I was feeling very nervous about the appointment, I was able to use some of the breathing techniques that Sam had taught me at my CSP course so I was able to calm myself down.

Of course when I got to the hospital they couldn't find my notes and the appointment was 45 minutes late (despite being at 09h45 in the morning) so they were really testing my resolve!

When I did get seen it was a huge relief. They asked me a few questions about how I was coping with tamoxifen and then got my to take my top off and lie on the bed.

The doctor then felt my armpits and my right and left boobies. He said everything felt fine (and a follow up letter said that my breast felt "unremarkable- charming!)

They don't want to see me again until December when I'll have my first mammogram.

Hooray :)

Exeter Uni - Alumni Blogger!

This blog was featured in the July Exeter Alumni Newsletter :)

 

Click here to view the e-version

 

 

Spiders & Lymphoedema

Yesterday whilst walking Fagin in the woods I got bitten on my elbow by a spider  :( Ouchy!

 

I used some antibiotic cream and took an antihistamine but when I woke up today my arm was hot, bright red and swollen. Because I had an SNB during my operation I am at risk of something called Lymphoedema. Therefore I made an emergency appointment with the GP and got prescribed a week's worth of antibiotics (they are the size of horse pills!)

 

 

Lymphoedema is something that I had never even heard of before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As soon as I did hear about it I was really scared that I would get it.

 

Let me explain a bit more.. Lymphoedema is the swelling that develops because of a build up of fluid in the body's tissues. This happens when the body's lymphatic system isn't working properly and cannot drain fluid away.

 

After treatment (surgery and/or radiotherapy) for Breast Cancer, the areas most at risk are your arm, hand and armpit (axilla). This is because during surgery you have 1 or more lymph nodes removed to test for spread. The more lymph nodes removed, the greater the risk of lymphoedema. Around 25% of people who have had BC surgery will develop it. As I had an SNB, my risk rate of developing lymphoedema is around 10%.

 

Unfortunately there is no cure for lymphoedema so the best idea is to try to reduce your risk of getting it in the first place. This is easier said than done which is why it is something that worries me so much.

 

 

Tips for Reducing Risk (taken from BCC):

·         Gentle exercise such as swimming or walking will keep your joints supple and is important for lymph drainage.

·         Look after the skin on your ‘at risk’ arm.

·         Try not to use very hot or cold water.

·         Avoid very hot saunas or steam rooms.

·         Avoid having your blood pressure or blood samples taken from your ‘at risk’ arm.

·         Avoid having deep-tissue massage to your ‘at-risk’ arm.However, there is no need to avoid massage altogether.

·         Try to avoid cuts, scratches, insect bites or stings on your ‘at risk’ arm.

·         Avoid biting your nails.

·         Avoid getting sunburnt.

·         Take care when removing unwanted hair in your armpit. Using a well maintained electric razor is the safest method. Waxing is not recommended because it can cause damage to the skin and might increase the risk of infection.

·         Avoid constriction around the arm and armpit from tight fitting bras, sleeves and clothing or heavy shoulder bags.
Ensure watches, rings and bracelets are not too tight.

·         Try not to strain with activities such as pushing or pulling, digging the garden or heavy lifting such as carrying heavy shopping bags.

·         During long journeys, gently exercise your arm as much as possible. If you are standing on a train or a bus, try not to hold on with your ‘at risk’ arm.

 

So as you can see there are loads of things to avoid! When I got bitten by the spider I started to panic a bit but got antibiotics pretty quickly so I hope I have done enough to minimise my risk. Since doing some more research though, I have learned that even if you do do any of the things above, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will get lymphoedema, just as some people who don't do any of the things above may develop it anyway. It's all down to the individual's drainage system. 

If you notice any changes to your skin, signs of swelling to your arm, hand or chest wall, redness or infection then contact your GP. They will prescribe you antibiotics or refer you to a Lymphoedema Nurse.

As I said before, there is no cure for lymphoedema but it can be managed through:

Compression Garments
These work by:

• compressing the swollen tissues and stopping fluid from building up
• helping to move fluid to an area that’s draining well
• providing support, which allows the muscles to pump fluid away more effectively
• applying more pressure in certain areas to encourage the fluid to drain.

These aren't all horrible tan colours thankfully:

Specialised Massage
Manual Lymphatic Drainage
Simple Lymphatic Drainage

Limb Positioning
Info from Macmillan

Lymphoedema does sound stressful but manageable and thankfully there are some really helpful sites out there:

The Lymphoedema Support Network
The British Lymphology Society
Macmillan

Fingers crossed my antibiotics do their job!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Modelling Debut

 

 

This evening I was a model in a Charity Gala Fashion Show, the proceeds of which went to The Olive Tree

 

The evening took place at a lovely pub called The Green Man in Partridge Green near Horsham. I arrived and sat in a lovely sparkly roofed marquee with 8 other ladies who attend the Olive Tree and waited for the stage and catwalk to be set up! About an hour later we had our make-up and hair (yay for having enough hair to do something with!) done - proper pampering - and then headed back stage to organise our outfits.

 

All the clothes for the evening came from La Vida Boutique. I had been over to the shop earlier in the week to try on different clothes for the different themes, I had 6 outfits to model. You can see them in the photo below:

 

 

We've been told that we'll be sent some photos of us actually wearing the clothes so I'll put some up here when I get them :)

 

I modelled 4 different outfits (including one mega tight body con dress!) to start with and then we had a sit down meal with the guests who attended the show. I was careful not to eat too much dinner because I knew I had a super tight white dress to wear as my final piece!

 

The whole evening was really good fun and most importantly of all (other than lots of money being raised), I didn't fall over!

 

Coughs and Sneezes

I've had a persistent cough now for about 3 weeks. Lots of people at work have it too but given everything I thought I'd go to the docs.

I went over first thing this morning at 08h15 and got given an appointment at 9am. Doc examined me and said chest seems normal (and told me that there are a lot of viral coughs going around at the moment), but given my history wanted me to have a chest x-ray anyway.

I asked when it was for and she said they could fit me in immediately at the hospital. Drove there, waited 5 minutes and had x-ray.

Now I have to wait a week for the results. I so hate the waiting game but am blimmin impressed with the NHS' efficiency this morning!

 

 

Update: Called the docs for the results of my chest x-ray. Receptionist said notes on system say "satisfactory result. No further action required" Hoooooray!

Little Princess Trust

On the 31st August my friend Carrie is shaving her head for charity. It's not just any charity either, she's hoping to raise money for and also donate her lovely long hair to The Little Princess Trust.

The Little Princess Trust provides real hair wigs (free of charge) to children who have lost their hair through illness, most often chemotherapy. This is where Carrie's hair will be going, it will be turned into a gorgeous wig for a child going through hair loss.

Having gone through the this trauma myself, I obviously know what a horrible time this can be. So providing some comfort to children though free wigs is a really great thing.

If you can spare any pennies (or pounds) to help Carrie with this fantastic charity then please do so by clicking here

This time last year

 

 

This time last year....