Calling all triple negative breast cancer patients in the UK
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Hello Marias,
I have just been looking at the thread and was so sorry to read that your biopsy result has not brought good news. I know this will be a shock for you but you must be optimistic and tell yourself that you are going to be alright. You will get the thyroid removed and that will remove the cancerous tumour.
It is good that this is a tumour that has not spread from the breast.
My information is that following a thryroidectomy, you will have treatment with radio-active iodine to destroy any residual cancer.
You will also need to take the thyroid hormone thyroxine for life. I have a friend who has a thyroid problem and has to take this drug all the time. You must keep telling yourself that you will be cured.
How is this going to affect your breast cancer treatment? I remember that you were going to start radiotherapy soon but you did not know when because you had that redness around the nipple.
We are all thinking of you here and sending you our love.
Keep in close touch.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello adagio,
I would not worry about all this latest news about good and bad fats. There is too mush information and too much of it conflicts. There is always the next 'super food'. The last thing I heard it was bone broth!! Just carry on as you are and have everything in moderation. I do think the Mediterranean Rainbow diet seems healthy and is the one I tend to follow, but I do not really believe in all these super foods. I think the problem with Western diet is that there is too much emphasis on meat, poultry and dairy foods, not to mention processed foods to the detriment of everything else.
I do hope you had an enjoyable Labour Day.
I have some more Chris Woollams to read and if there is anything you would like to discuss with me about his information I would be only too glad to share views.
In Chris Woollams second email, dated September 4th, 1. Interview with Dr Aseem Malhotra on the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. Read what it says there and then click on Dr Assem Malhotra's Pioppi diet. I read all of this and found it most interesting. It is a bit long, so take your time.
We must all try to come together to support Marias.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello I'm.in shock ... So I'm begin to wash this"The Science of Happiness" (GG101x on edX): http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1t8gs-WJprD...
I will star radiates next Monday.
Abrazos
marias
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Hello Marias,
I think that is a good idea to watch the Science of Happiness. Thank you for the link. I shall try to watch it during the weekend.
I think we all understand how you are feeling and how you feel in shock. I think we can all remember how we went into shock when we got our diagnosis of breast cancer, even if we really knew that this was gong to be the diagnosis.
You will be busy from Monday when you start your radiotherapy treatment.
Do you have a date for your thyroidectomy?
Thinking of you.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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A few plants in the grounds of the apartment complex where I live.
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Hello adagio,
I have been reading more of the Chris Woollams of Cancer Active email from September 4th and just out of interest went through his list of twelve things to do to lower your blood triglycerides. Have you read it and have you tried ticking off what you are doing?
1. Eat more soluble fibre – whole oats are good and pulses like lentils are good, add flaxseed.
2. Cut sugar and fructose consumption drastically, cut refined carbohydrates.
3. Cut saturated fat consumption – cows' dairy, fatty meats and processed meats.
4. Switch to good fats like extra virgin olive oil and fish oils. Eat a colourful Mediterranean diet – Rainbow diet.
5. Eat more nuts like walnuts and almonds.
6. Substitute fish for meat.
7. Eat garlic.
8. Take moderate exercise for an hour a day – get out of breath for thirty minutes.
9. Limit alcohol to three glasses of red wine a week.
10. Lose weight – be the correct weight for your height or slightly below.
11. Do not have a fatty liver.
12. Look into supplementing with polycosanols and fish oils.
As I read this, the questions I had to ask myself were how do I know whether I have a fatty liver or not and what exactly are polycosanols?
I do remember reading that cancer patients often have fatty livers.
Have a good weekend and keep in touch.
Very best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Rhonda,
We have not heard from you in a while so I do hope you will be in touch about what is going on with you now and your treatment. I am not sure whether you are on holiday, as many of the group are.
Have a good weekend Mary, adagio, Pam, Val, Kath in Australia, Lou and 4everStrong.
To Marias, do not get too downhearted. Tell yourself you are going to get through all of this.
InspiredbyDolce (Debra), hope you are well.
Galway and Angie, I hope all is progressing with you.
Best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Sylvia the picture s of the flower are really beautiful.and thanks for yours words
tomorrow is going to be my first radiotherapy session. I hope this be ok.
Have a nice Sunday.
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HI, Marias,
I got home late last night and have been trying to catch up with things all day.
I see that you have been diagnosed with a thyroid tumor! I am sorry for that, I did want to say that I know a couple of people that have had that, and they were very successfully treated. I do believe it is one of the cancers that is easier to deal with. Nevertheless, I know it's very scary and worrisome. I think it is good news that it is not a metastasis of the breast cancer.
We all will be holding you close in our thoughts tomorrow as you start your radiation treatments.
Love, Mary
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Hi, Sylvia and all
I got home late last night, about midnight. It was a long afternoon and evening of airports and waiting and driving and so on. Just very tiring. It seems that I can get nice and relaxed on a vacation but am still tired from the "traveling" part of traveling by the time I get home! I will post some pics of trip at some point.
We were in Santa Fe, New Mexico all week and had a great time. It is in what is called high desert, quite dry but there are rivers here and there and green oases around them. It is a very artsy community, lots and lots of galleries to browse, and they have an opera house (we didn't go). A fact that amazed me is that Santa Fe is third in the world for the number of art galleries, per capita that is; the population is about 90,000. Per capita/art galleries it is third after Paris and New York.
I rented a car and we drove up into the mountains 2 days, one day into Los Alamos, a city invented for one reason, to build the atomic bomb that was used in WWII. I actually lived there briefly in the 70s, it is very different now. The Lab is still there but the town has ballooned to about 13,000 and is very beautiful and flower-filled. There are said to be more PHDs per capita than anywhere else in the world living there. Our other day in the mountains we took a 2-hour scenic drive into the Sangre de Cristo mountains to Taos, New Mexico. Taos is home to the oldest continuously-occupied Indian pueblo in the United States, about 1100 years ago they built this pueblo. You can google Taos Pueblo and see what it's like, it's quite amazing to be walking about in there. Europe has ancient history, but our history is not nearly so old, except when you find examples of Native American earlier civilization like this.
I will stop rambling for now, I am still tired, and tried to catch up on a lot of things today. I am hoping everyone is okay, I saw that Marias got upsetting news. I think she will feel better after meeting with her docs tomorrow and getting started on that routine.
Talk to you again soon, Sylvia! Your flowers are stil beautiful, you must be sticking your green thumb in them every day!
Love, Mary
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Hello Marias and Mary,
Thank you for your posts. I shall answer sometime today. Like you, Mary, I always seem to be chasing time!
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello to all
So sorry Marias. We are reaching to hold your hand. We have been hurricane watching. I'm in a state that is a little distance from the ocean. We will get some wind and rain.
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Hello Marias,
Thank you for the kind words about the flowers. I think it is so important to have photographs on the thread as a therapy. Anything that helps a person to get through therapy and to have moments of relaxation and happiness is important. I do hope all goes well with your radiotherapy session tomorrow. Remember it may seem much easier than chemotherapy but it is still toxic and you need to rest, to look after yourself and to lok after your skin.
Sending you very best wishes.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Mary,
I was glad to know you are safely back at home. I look forward to looking at some interesting photographs when you have the time to deal with them.
Santa Fe sounds like a very interesting place. It sounds very cultural.
I was really interested to know that you had driven up into the mountains and had visited Los Alamos. The Indian Taos Pueblo sounds very interesting.
I do hope everything will go well for Marias when she starts radiotherapy tomorrow. She has been through a lot and is still going through a lot. It is bad enough getting through treatment for TNBC and now she is dealing with hormonal breast cancer in the other breast and on top of that she has to get through thyroid cancer. I do hope they will discuss available treatments for this.
I have been absorbed with the last two emails from Chris Woollams and have been clicking on different things like mad. I have been most interested in all the information about hyperthermia and hope it will bring better, less invasive, and less harmful treatment in the not too distant future. I think it is already being used in some countries but here in the UK we are always behind.
I look forward to discussions with you and others on the thread.
That is all for now. I am going to listen to Nigel Farage at 7pm as there is a big debate going on in Parliament today – The Great Withdrawal Bill – which changes all EU laws in UK ones. I do not know if it is going to get past Parliament. Labour and the Conservatives are playing funny games with one another.
The dreaded Tony Blair is back on the scene. He has caused all the trouble that we are in. I think Nigel would be more useful taking up the reins of UKIP once again. At the moment they have disappeared and are without a leader.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Silvia and and all of you.
Maybe I make an understanding about my right breast cancer. In December the pathology said it was TNB and before the surgery the pathology said is 25% progesterone. The doctor said the cancer change but is the same tumor and the same breast.
Today I went to my first radiotherapy. It was tired time. They put a little sticking plaster with a drow in it. They said tomorrow is more fast because the put the stickers.
My right breast became red again. I'm feeling tired and sad. I don't feel like this before. Also I feeling along even with my brother beside me is a deep feeling inside my self. I ask if I could be able go through this. The way looks so hard and loneliness.
I'm not a Catholic practice but for the past 6.days the pope Francisco came to Colombia and his words make me to have something of hope.
Mary is really nice you had that great travel. I know those people and different cities.
I'm really far from politics in UK. I'm learning with you Silvia.
Is a big support to me this trial. Thanks.all of.you for your attention.
Abrazos
Marias
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Hello Marias,
Thank you for your post. I have read your details carefully again and understand that all your problems have been in the same breast. I do know that cancer cells can mutate, so I can understand that your tumour has probably mutated. In your post you say that the tumour is now 25% progesterone, but in your details you have put ER+, which is oestrogen. You said in the past that you were going on tamoxifen which fights oestrogen but I do not know if it is also effective against progesterone. I understand that you are writing in English which is a second language for you, so if you want to, from time to time, if it gets difficult for you, you can send me a short PM in Spanish.
I was glad to know that you have got through your first radiotherapy session. This treatment will make you feel tired, so just rest. You said they put a sticking plaster with a mark on it. Are you sure it was proper radiotherapy you had yesterday or was it being marked out on a prototype machine that was preparing the mark for the radiotherapy to target.
You are going to get through your radiotherapy and you must keep telling yourself that you are going to get through and you are goind to be alright and that you will get back to a normal life.
It is all very difficult for you at the moment and we can all understand that. We are all living proof that we can get through this long cancer journey and then get on with our lives. Do not be sad but be positive.
Do you think that your right breast is red because you have inflammatory breast cancer? You could ask your oncologist about this.
A cancer journey is a long one and a lonely one, even if you have family, friends and support groups to help you. Deep within yourself and your thoughts you are alone. Some say life is a lonely journey and that we are all alone even if we are surrounded by people.
I am not religious but those who are say that prayer helps them. It plays no part in my life and I think it was determination that got me through my cancer journey.
Try to find ways to make you laugh during each day. We can only live the day, just the moment, because we cannot know what the day will bring.
I am thinking of you and sending you some of my determination to help you through this difficult time.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that it is exactly seven years ago today September 12th that I started this thread. Little did I imagine it would go on this long! There is no one on the thread now that was there at the beginning and I do not think there is anyone on the TNs that was there back in 2010 when Titan started that thread a few months before I started this one. She did inspire me.
Thinking of you all.
Very fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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This is one of the structural clusters at Taos Pueblo, there are several more. My back view is included free in this pic!
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A serene mountain view
Inside one of the churches near the Plaza, it is actually a Basilica, but small.
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On the Santa Fe Plaza, me in green shirt
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Hi Everyone,
We reached home last Friday from Cambodia but have been too tired and been sleeping most of the time. Yesterday I had fever but I am feeling better now.
We visited on Day 1, a silk farm & a place where they do the wood carving as well as stone carving. On Day 2,we visited 3 ancient Temples and one of it is where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider. On Day 3, we visited a floating village. It was quiet interesting but very tiring specially the 2nd day because it involves a lot of walking under the sun.
Sylvia - Love the photos of the flowers.
Marias - I am so sorry to read about your thyroid tumor and that you are feeling down. I hope you will feel better soon.
Mary - Love the photos of Taos Pueblo and the small basilica. I am Catholic educated but when I started working I also found it challenging to continue being religious. Now I simply believe in doing good to others as you would want them to treat you.
Best regards,
Lou
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HI Marias,
I am so sorry you are feeling alone and sad. A lot of things are happening to you, and it must seem so hard to have to deal with it all. Please know that we are here and consider you a friend and sister, and care about what happens to you. I see that your tumor has changed to a different type, I wonder why that happens.
I think prayer is good, even if you are not practicing religion. It can focus the mind, and be relaxing at the same time. I use repetition of a familiar Catholic prayer at night when I can't sleep, it usually will put me to sleep. I know many people here who pray to St. Anthony when they lose something, because as children they were taught that he is the patron saint of lost things. Sometimes it just seems to help.
Thinking of you, Marias, and your brother who is with you through all this.
Love, Mary
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for posting the photographs. They are truly interesting. Taos Pueblo looks marvellous.
The US is such a mixture of natural beauty and of course we have to remember that originally a lot of the southern parts belonged to Mexico.
Are you beginning to recover from all the travelling included in your holiday?
Thinking of you.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Lou,
It was nice to know you were safely back home. I can understand that you have been feeling tired and have been in need of sleep. I hope your fever went away.
Thank you for the lovely photographs. It sounds as though you had a very busy time, but enjoyable and interesting.
Like you, I am not religious, but try to be a good and decent person and hope that others will treat me like I treat them. I do remember "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
I do not like the way the UK is going in general.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi, Sylvia
Marias is going through a lot, I am glad her brother is able to be with her. We do know that lonely feeling, and to feel ill for as long as she has is very wearing. I hope and pray for efficient, successful treatment for her.
I did post a few pics, I will do a few more when my friend sends me some of hers. I did all of the driving, so she did most of the picture-taking. We had a great time, the other thing I loved is that we were at 6000 ft. altitude, so being high-desert it was dry and very nice weather. I could breathe without a stuffed nose, and I just felt more energetic not being in a humid climate.
I went through Woollams' August 28th post yesterday, there is a lot there. He is no fan of CRUK (Cancer Research UK), and when I read through their agenda I agree, it all sounds quite silly. I stopped this post last night, am returning this morning and now I can't access Chris's pages. That hasn't happened before, I hope it gets fixed. I found almost every article very interesting and I haven't even gotten to the Sept. 4th post yet. Hopefully the problem will be resolved and I can talk about it all with you later. Are his pages working for you?
I read about the Withdrawal Bill, which is to replace the Great Repeal Bill. The article I read said that there is not much difference between the two. Labour does not want to vote for it because it retains some of Henry the VIII-era clauses, which allows the government to bypass Parliament. It sounds like it would allow the government to do as it pleased even if Brexit went through, which would be all nice for them. It would enshrine some EU clauses before Brexit happens, to make sure of not losing power. It all sounds like the usual, tiring power-grabbing people doing the same thing they do everywhere, holding on for dear life with no thought for the people they supposedly serve. And if Labour votes NO on this bill, then it will be said that it is their fault that Brexit isn't going well, I suppose.
Congratulations on the 7-year anniversary of starting this thread! It has certainly helped so many of us through a very difficult time and beyond, Thank you, Sylvia!!
Talk again soon, love,
Mary
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HI, Lou
I enjoyed your pictures very much, the ancient temple has such intricate carving. I bet it was hot, that is extra tiring to be in the heat and humidity too long. I hope you are feeling better, I find the airports the most tiring part of the trip. Hurry up and wait, and then sitting cramped in a small seat, and waiting in a long line to get out of busy airports. But I'm glad you enjoyed your trip with your family to Cambodia.
Talk to you again soon,
Love, Mary
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Hello Everyone,
I've enjoyed all of your beautiful pictures. I just wanted to pop in to say I am posting FROM THE UK. Finally! It has been such a long road to get here, (to Edinburgh), in every way.
I'll do a proper post when we get home, with pictures. For now, Marias, you are facing more than I did, but I felt very down at times during my radiation. It's hard to imagine that now, and I wish the same for you during the months to come, and as many happy moments as possible during treatment. The prayer advice - or meditation, is good, and I hope one or the other helps you get through it.
Sylvia, thank you again for starting this thread.
Cheers, Pam
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Hi, Pam
I am glad you made it to Edinburgh, don't know where you are now but I hope it's beautiful and you are having a great time. Wonderful to have our trips to look forward to after the long months of cancer treatment. Talk to you later, enjoy!
Love, Mary
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for your post on September 13th. I am very concerned about Marias. I do hope we shall hear from her soon. I am wondering whether her doctors will see her through radiotherapy before starting the treatment for the thyroid cancer. I should think she must be exhausted.
It sounds as though being at a high altitude was very therapeutic for you. Humidity seems to be unhealthy for us.
You are right about Chris Woollams and that he is no fan of Cancer Research UK. I can understand why.
I do hope you have now managed to access Chris Woollams pages. He has got so much to say. I have not had any problems with accessing the pages.
I was glad to see that you have thoroughly understood the Withdrawal Bill. It is all taking far too much time. This is going to drag on for years. The worst part is that Tony Blair is spouting off. I do not think we want any advice from him! I think he is trying to become the President of a Federal Europe. Recently he was in France talking to the dreadful Mr Junker. I still think this idea of a United States of Europe with more countries coming in and a European army is dreadful. It is really Germany's way of winning the war they lost in 1945. They have far too much power. They want the UK for money only and I do hope someone will have the guts to say "no deal" and walk away.
I am not sure what kind of game Labour is playing but they have been all over the place with Brexit and I am sure they are losing a lot of their supporters. There is no UKIP presence now and they are leaderless. I think the Conservatives will get rid of Theresa May in the not too distant future, but I cannot see who can replace her.
It does seem ages ago since I started this thread. It was quite by accident and I discovered breastcancer.org by accident when I was looking for information about the over-active parathyroid with which I had been diagnosed in 2005 and was trying to decide what to do about it in 2009. The hospital had in fact forgotten about it. I met sam52 and we went through our surgery to cure it together. She had been diagnosed with hormonal breast cancer in 2001. We were both interested in what Swedish research had to say about parathyroid problems and the connection with breast cancer.
That is about all for now.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Pam,
How are you enjoying Edinburgh? How are you getting on with the Scots, their pronunciation and their temperament? The good thing about Scotland is that it is not as overpopulated as England. Scotland is a huge part of the UK land wise, but it has only 5 million people. I think my Canadian friend and her husband are in the Highlands of Scotland at the moment. She was born in Nottingham in England but went to Canada with her parents when she was five. The population of England is about 65 million and is bursting at the seams. Wales is only about 2 million and Northern Ireland is about 1 million and should be returned to the Republic of Ireland from whom the English stole it. I have been to Wales and Northern Ireland and found the scenery beautiful, but I have not been to Scotland.
We shall all look forward to your photographs.
Thank you for your kind words to Marias.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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