Calling all triple negative breast cancer patients in the UK
Comments
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for your posts and the link.
I had mentioned a lot of what I printed in quotes from the book some weeks ago when I first bought it and before my appointment, as I like to be informed and know what I will do and will not do as far as treatment goes.
What I have found is that it is necessary to keep repeating information because there is so much information going around that people forget it or miss posts and do not get the information. Lymphoedema is of the utmost importance and it should be mentioned to patients before they start their cancer treatment. I think it can come at any point, straight away, within months or a long time afterwards. The older you get and the further away from treatment your lymph system and your immune system can become more and more weary and les and less efficient.
It is also important to realise, as I have mentioned before, that lymphoedema is not restricted to cancer patients and I did mention other causes. They are all in chapter 4 under What causes lymphoedema? They are Genes, Immobility, Old Age, Obesity, Accidental Trauma or Surgery, Infection (a major problem for those who have lymphoedema), Filariasis, Deep Vein Thrombosis, Varicose Veins. As we have already said, lymphoedema is widespread and under diagnosed.
I like the book I mentioned because Professor Peter Mortimer is a consultant dermatologist working at both St. George's Hospital and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK. He is also Professor of Dermatological Medicine to St. George's University London. He has spent most of his professional life in the research and clinical practice of lymphoedema and related disorders of the lymphatic system. He is a founder of both the Lymphoedema Support Network and the British Lymphology Society and is internationally recognised for his work on lymphoedema. He is the author of Lymphoedema: Advice on Self-Management and Treatment (2004).
the co-author, Gemma Levine, who is a well known photographer, who had breast cancer and lymphoedema.
Have you made any resolutions for the New Year?
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Sylvia - thanks for the excerpt on lymphodema - it is most enlightening. Having read that short part of the book will definitely keep me on the alert for the development of it in the years ahead. We are not told or forewarned of this during the cancer education at the cancer agency - or if I was, I certainly cannot recall it at all. I found the part about chest lymphodema on the increase with minimal breast surgery interesting. It would appear that there are consequences to everything no matter which treatment we have. And in many ways - I see that we are all guinea pigs while the medical system tries the many new and varied treatments that keep getting discovered. The moral in all of this for me is a) to continue to do my own research, b) not to rush into a quick decision about any treatment and c) do what I can to try to avoid all of the side effects and d) realize that things happen and sometimes there is no obvious reason why. We are all in this together and each of us can only do the best we can with the amount of knowledge we have at a given time.
I hope your arm is healing well. Did you have a general anaesthetic or a local?
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Maryna - I have not read the link that you posted about lymphodema, but I am most curious to hear that the taxanes can a play a role in the development of it. This further clarifies for me that even the experts are unaware of some of the side effects of the chemicals that are used. It is horrifying in many ways, and I do feel bad at times having received chemotherapy, but I did, and I have to live with it.
I attend an Anglican church and we have the same celebrations as the Catholic (more or less), so in the Anglican tradition - Christmas starts on December 25th and that is when we start to sing the carols for the 12 days of Christmas right up till Epiphany. Unlike the consumer world where Christmas is over once the presents are opened. I also sing our church choir and Christmas is a busy time at the church, but I do enjoy it.
I wish you a healthy 2018. I hope you are well and thanks for sharing the link - I hoping to read it later today.
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for your second post.
I was interested in the details you posted about where you live. I like to try to visualise things so I shall try to do this with you. You said you live about 25 miles from a city if 50,000 and this where you go for doctors' appointments and do your main shopping. If I relate that to Exmouth then Exmouth is what we call a town of 40,000 and my doctor (GP) is in the centre of Exmouth, about a mile from where I live, so I can walk there if I want to or take the bus. It is not bad for shopping and I can get most of what I want, except perhaps clothing. I also have some big stores and a supermarket along the road going out of the town. Exeter is the main city and has a population of 120,000. It is where the main hospital is ans it is also a university hospital. It is where I had all my treatment. It has a very good university where one of my younger brothers lectured in French for most of his career. It also has a very famous cathedral which attracts a lot of tourists. Exeter is about 12 miles from Exmouth and has become a very busy place. Exeter was around at the time of the Romans. From Exmouth you can go to Exeter by train or bus.
These days I spend most of my time in Exmouth but sometimes go to the seaside small towns of Budleigh Salterton and Sidmouth.
Exmouth does have a yellow sandy beach but the beaches in Budleigh and Sidmouth are stony. Exmouth is really busy all year with holiday makers. Even throughout the winter we have coaches of senior citizens coming here to the sea front hotels and going on coach trips.
The apartment complex where I live is along a very long avenue with a few local shops at one end. I can easily walk to the sea front as I am about half a mile from there but I am up hill from it so no fear of floods. It is very quiet where I live compared to the sea front.
I was glad to know you have some neighbours. Where we are in the complex we have about 32 people and we know them all very well. Raymond and I have taken it in turns to be volunteer directors here so we are always busy and have lots of responsibilities. I continued doing all this when I was ill and found it took my mind of everything.
I know you have the travelling bug, so maybe I shall see you turn up here one day!!!
Thank you for the words of We three kings of Orient Are. It took me back to my school days from 5 to 18. You will know, of course, that we do not have separation of Church and State in this country, so at school we all had to go to morning religious assemblies where we had hymns and prayers before lessons began and we had religious instruction classes. I do not agree with all of this and much preferred teaching in France where religion is not allowed in state schools. I do remember even now the words to the hymns and carols that we were taught.
It is true that a lot of what is done today in different countries goes back to pagan times.
You are right that if it had not been for Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII splitting from Rome, and making himself head of the Church of England, things may have been different here. However, movement was afoot in countries like Holland and Germany to have the bible in their own language and to break with Latin, including in the church. I think the Reformation would have come anyway.
Have you been following the events in Iran? I do hope our young Hanieh is alright.
That is about all for today.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
I am posting the links for a couple of articles that I found under Good Health in the Daily Mail on January 2nd.
The first one is entitled Why are women STILL being denied breast reconstruction? - By a breast cancer surgeon who had the disease herself. This article is by Angela Epstein and the resolute surgeon is Ruth Waters.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5227429/Why-women-denied-breast-reconstruction.html
There is a programme about this entitled SURGEONS: At The Edge Of Life on BBC2 at 9pm next Monday January 8th 2018.
The other article is Everything EVERY over 65 needs to know about the FLU JAB. This is under Ask The Doctor – every week Dr Martin Scurr, a top GP, answers your questions.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5227413/Everything-65-needs-know-flu-jab.html
I was very interested in this because the UK seems to be behind Europe with up-to-date flu jabs.
Best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
This is the cake that we used to have for twelfth night when I was in France. It is called une galette des Rois, a cake eaten at Epiphany, which contains a little figure. The person who finds it is the king(or queen) and gets the paper crown. They then choose someone to be their queen (or king).
There are plenty of recipes for this online, including one by the famous French Chef, Raymond Le Blanc. I have not posted one because for my taste all the ingredients are rather rich and I do not think they are healthy for us! If you can find healthy substitutes, that would be fine.
Let me know what you think.
Best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Marias,
I was wondering whether you will be having one of these kinds of cakes for Twelfth Night. I have looked in my large Spanish dictionary for information about all this and it says that in the Spanish speaking world los Reyes or El Dia de Reyes is the day when people traditionally receive presents for the Christmas season. When they go to bed on January 5th children leave their shoes outside their bedroom doors or by their windows in the expectation that the Reyes Magos (Wise Men) will leave presents beside them. They may already have written letters to SS.MM.los Reyes Magos des Oriente, with a list of what they would like.
For Reyes it is traditional to eat Roscon des Reyes, a ring shaped cake studded with frosted fruits and containing a little trinket or coin.
I think it is interesting to know these customs and traditions of other countries.
Will you be having a cake, a healthy one of course?
How are things going with you? Keep in touch.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi, Nancy
I realized when I was diagnosed with BC, just how much I didn't understand BC. I think most people don't understand it and I guess I can't expect them to do so if they haven't had to find out. I have a step-daughter who never asked me how I felt, or how I was doing all through my treatment. I talked to her about it later, and she was surprised. She said she thought BC was just something that people got and then got over it, sort of like a bad flu, I guess. She just expected me to get better, and I have not bothered to try to tell her about TN and the differences between different BCs, or about everything that has happened to my body.
I feel like you, I am so grateful to be able to come here and meet people from all over the world who understand and have walked in the same shoes and understand the fears and worries that come with this diagnosis.
Happy New Year, Nancy!
Love, Mary
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Hi, Adagio
The link that I posted does not really explain why taxanes would affect the development of lymphedema, it is just about clinical trial results where they learn that they do seem to do so. And adding taxanes really does seem to make a difference, according to their numbers.
I feel as you do, it is terrifying that we are given drugs because trials tell the docs that it helps the numbers, but there is not much said about the real people who are given the drugs who later develop the unintended consequences. I am always glad though when I see that they are testing the incidence of these side-effects, because that means they are more aware than they seem to be. Before I did the chemo, my MO brushed off my neuropathy fears, even after I developed symptoms after my first infusion. He said it would go away when I was finished. Lymphedema was not even mentioned by him. The article of trials I posted states that it seems that lymph node removal is not the only reason BC/chemo patients develop lymphedema, but the chemo and radiation can set it off too. This is on top of heart problems, caused by the Adriamycin, I do know one woman that has had to have a defibrillator placed because of it.
I will have to read up on the differences between the Anglican and the Catholic, there are probably more similarities than differences. I enjoy the Christmas season singing too, and the dressed-up church. Our parish priest used to be a monk, so he likes things to be simple; a neighboring parish has a priest who likes to decorate, and their church looked fabulous!
I hope your New Year is starting out to be wonderful, and that it stays that way for you and yours!
Talk to you soon, love,
Mary
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Hello adagio,
Thank you for your post. If you want to have a good reference book about lymphoedema then I think this is the best one and probably the best source for understanding it. In the part that I posted, it does explain why the taxanes are the source of a lymphoedema problem.
"It appears likely that taxanes, a widely used chemotherapy agent, increase the lymph load by making blood vessels in the arm release more fluid. This can overwhelm a lymph system already weakened by lymph gland removal and so cause lymphoedema."
I often wonder whether the newer drugs, such as the taxanes, which were relatively new here in 2005, when I was diagnosed, are much more lethal than the ones which had been used for years, such as doxorubicin (Adriamycin), epirubicin (Ellence), cyclophosphomide (Cytoxan) and fluorouracil (Adrucil). Did we really need the newer ones and are the taxanes really more effective against TNBC receptors than the others? We know that taxanes affect the heart and we know they cause neuropathy. My oncologist definitely told me that the taxanes had caused my neuropathy and that there was no cure. She told me this after the neuropathy was in my feet and I asked about it. All we can say is that, despite it all, we are alive.
There is an interesting part in chapter 4 of the book, among the causes of lymphoedema, entitled Accidental trauma or surgery, which I shall try to post about soon.
My arm is healing very well. I removed the dressing the other day and I am coating the scar part with Vaseline as recommended. I apparently have self absorbing stitches underneath the ones at the top which are visible. There are three of them. I am going to have them removed at the GP surgery tomorrow. I shall continue with the Vaseline until Monday, when I shall try the Class 1 compression sleeve I have and see how it goes.
I have an appointment at the lymphoedema clinic on January 29th in the afternoon, and with the Dermatology in the morning, about the mole.
I had a local anaesthetic for the removal of the mole. It was emphasised that this was surgery and that I should rest and relax. I did feel a bit peculiar for a few days. I have a lot of anxiety about all this and want to get back out of the health system.
I think that your a,b,c,d attitude is wise.
As for the newly diagnosed and those going through treatment, I hope they take notice of all the information and experience we can offer and that they ask questions, give themselves time to think, and get side effects pointed out in advance, so that they are truly informed.
I hope you have a good 2018 with as little stress as possible.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi, Sylvia
I have not made New Year's resolutions, and I usually do not. If I want to change something I can do it anytime, the way I figure things. I do know several people who were eating and drinking with abandon over holiday time and then were starting exercise programs etc. on Jan. 1 or 2. I think it's easier on ourselves to keep up with things throughout, although I did eat things I usually don't over the Holidays, and then got back on track the next day.
Thanks for the very detailed picture of where you live, and the surroundings. I do think we will make it to England one of these days in our travels, how far are you from London? I have been in airport in London! I'm glad you like all your neighbors; I was raised rural and have really not lived in large cities or large apartment complexes for any length of time so it would be something I would have to get used to, if I were to move to a city or complex. Exmouth sounds charming, and it is nice you can find everything you need so close to home, and a train ride will take you to Exeter. That is something that hasn't really taken off here, that is widespread train service in our part of the country. Everyone has cars here, unless you do live in a large city and have public transport. You are also smart because you have no house maintenance, I suppose. I have to manage everything that goes wrong in this house, sometimes it's a lot to deal with.
I have noticed the events in Iran, and am hoping the protests are not happening near Hanieh. It's hard to say. I do hope the people who are wanting more freedom and less of the ayatollahs' rule get their way.
I do hope she and Marias are doing well, and Kathy's mother too. I do hope the same for all of us!
I will have to go for now, and will talk to you later.
Love, Mary
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for your post. I shall reply either later on today or during the weekend.
I am getting ready to go to the GP surgery to have my stitches out.
My future appointments were sorted out today. I have to go to Dermatology on January 29th at 11.45 am. This is the follow up to the mole removal. I am dreading this.
The next day I have to return to the same hospital to Lymphoedema for the next appointment with the specialist.
I have tried to get the appointments on the same day to avoid all the travelling to Exeter, but I have not been able to do this.
I was looking at the TNs and saw that someone had posted a link to an article in the Ottawa Citizen and because I had lived there it caught my attention. The link is:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-sc...
I would love to know that you think. I have to read it again later on. I do wonder about it. I would appreciate your opinion.
To adagio,
I shall post later about accidental trauma or surgery.
Best wishes to both of you.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
I have various bits of information to post, so I shall try to work my way through them.
The first bit is an article I noticed on the first few pages of the January edition of What Doctors Don't Tell You. The article is entitled Breast cancer caused by bacterial imbalance.
"Medicine is slowly waking up to the relationship between health and the bacteria in our gut, known as the microbiome, and it has just got a whole lot more interesting: the microbiome is all over our body, and breast cancer is linked to imbalances in this bacterial population.
"Healthy breast tissue has more of a 'good' bacteria known as Methylobacterium, say researchers, who also discovered that the breast area has its own 'mini-microbiome'.
"This suggests that breast cancer could be treated with prebiotics and probiotics if tissue was being screened for bacterial imbalances, say researchers from the Cleveland Clinic.
"They also found that the urine of cancer patients has increased levels of other types of bacteria, including Staphylococcus and Actinomyces.
"Other researchers have for a long time suspected that breast tissue has its own microbiome, but the Cleveland team is the first to positively identify it. The findings suggests that other organs could also have their own mini-microbiome to keep bacteria in balance, and, in turn, help maintain health.
"The researchers examined breast tissue from 78 patients who had had a mastectomy, as well as samples from an oral rinse and urine."
(Oncotarget, 2017, 8:88122-38.)
I think all of us on the thread are informed about having a healthy gut and how gut ill health affects our general health.
There is more information on this in a later article of the magazine.
Best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello adagio,
Following on from my post to you about lymphoedema, this is the other part of chapter 4, What causes lymphoedema.
This is causes other than cancer treatment:
"Accidental trauma or surgery.
"Any accidental or surgical damage to lymph channels risks causing lymphoedema. Surgical removal of lymph glands is the most documented cause, such as happens with cancer treatment, but lymphoedema can result after extensive surgery of any kind that damages or removes lymph vessels.
"We know a lot about the recovery of blood vessels when they are damaged. For example, when you cut your finger, the blood soon clots and plugs the hole in the small blood vessels, known as capillaries, to stop the bleeding. These blood capillaries then sprout tiny new capillaries to replace the damaged ones.
"Where there are blood capillaries, there are also lymph vessels. If you cut your finger, these tiny lymph vessels will also be damaged, and they repair themselves in much the same way as blood capillaries.
"It is inevitable, therefore, that surgery involves severing lymph vessels, and on a much larger scale than a cut to your finger. If the surgical cut is small then the surviving lymph vessels nearby take on the responsibility of maintaining lymph drainage. However, if the surgical cut is large, there may be extensive damage to the vessels and new ones must be grown. The problem is that newly formed lymph vessels struggle to grow through scar tissue, therefore the bigger the surgical cut or traumatic injury, the more likely local lymph drainage will be affected.
"If the surgery involves the removal of one or more lymph glands, the effects can be more serious. This is because lymph glands are positioned at points where multiple lymph vessels converge, and so their removal can have wider ramifications. This is why cancer treatment commonly causes lymphoedema."
Reading this I found the explantation very easy to understand.
I think that when we are diagnosed with breast cancer, and told of the standard treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, we should be told of the risk of having lymphoedema and what that lymphoedema implies.
I hope you find this useful.
Under all topics on the bc.org forum, there is some information.
I also regularly look under active topics for the lymphoedema forum and the various threads. I find them very informative.
I do hope you are having a good weekend over there in British Columbia.
I do get news from the province of Saskatchewan from an old school friend. I think the Prairie provinces probably have harsher weather than Ontario and Quebec, but that was hard enough for me!
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Mary,
Like you, I do not make New Year's resolutions. I have certain principles that I stick to throughout my life.
Where we are in East Devon, is about 200 miles from the centre of London. It is quite a long and stressful drive from here and we have not been anywhere near London since 2011 when we went to a funeral. Even then we did not go to the centre of London and went off on the notorious M25 ring motorway round London to Essex, near where we used to live. We do not feel safe or very at home in London any more. It is too over populated and too cosmopolitan for us. I feel deracinated from my roots. It is not the London into which I was born and grew up in until age 20. I really feel I have no roots any more. I like it in Devon, but I am not a Devonian, not even after being here for 16 years on January 10th 2018. We lived in Canada for 17 years, have Canadian citizenship but I do not feel Canadian. When we came home from Canada we spent 9 years in Essex, but I was glad to leave. I doubt if we shall move from Devon or even Exmouth, and we do not stray far from Exmouth any more. I sum it up as being rootless and classless.
Thank you for the details of where you live. The US is such a huge country. Raymond and I have just started watching a television programme about the US. It is called the American Dream. It is a documentary with Miriam Margolyes travelling across the US visiting various places and asking people whether they think they can still live the American Dream. You will probably remember Miriam from the series about a group of retired celebrities visiting various countries to see whether they could retire there. She is quite funny and outspoken. If you can get to see it, I am sure you will enjoy it. It started last Wednesday January 3rd and she visited Chicago, the affluent part, where she stayed in a lovely modern airbnb and then the really poor part where it was quite dangerous and shootings seemed to be an everyday occurrence. She is driving across Middle America. She went from Chicago to Indiana.
This coming week, January 10th, she visits what is described as a quintessential American institution, a summer camp in Indiana, where she shudders as the jolly young campers robotically pledge their allegiance to the US flag. I am quoting these words from the Radio Times magazine.
"In Ohio she locks horns with a radical Trump-supporting sheriff and some of the many men he has put behind bars. Her final stop is rural Tennessee to stay with a 'prepper' who believes America's sovereignty is under threat and has been burying buckets of emergency supplies since 1987."
There is still no news from Hanieh and it is hard to tell what exactly is going on in Tehran. It looks as though the powers that be may have cut off the internet. I do not think governments should have this right.
There is still no news from Marias. She may be undertaking that iodine treatment.
I am also wondering what has happened to Rhonda, Val and 4everStrong. I do hope they are fine.
I do hope that Sarah's mother has made her decision about her chemotherapy treatment and that Kathy's sister continues to do well.
I have to take a break now, but I hope to be able to do a bit more later on about that article in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. I was wondering whether adagio would have read about it somewhere.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi, Sylvia
I hope your visit to the Dermatology Clinic on January 29 is all clear, and you can be relieved of the worry. I am sorry your visits couldn't be combined, as you have to return to Exeter the next day to see the Lymphedema specialist. Could you perhaps just get a room and spend the night? Take Raymond along and have a nice meal somewhere and have a traveling partner to boot. Or perhaps he goes along on your trips anyway?
Thanks for straightening me out on Kathy and her sister, and Sarah and her mother. I'm afraid I had the two of them muddled. I'm not sure how you keep us all straight!
I did read the article in the Ottawa Citizen about trials on mice using combo of immunotherapy drugs to "cure" TNBC. It sounds promising, they are proposing using a drug that turns on the immune system to fight the invading cancer cells, which is given to the patient first, then doing surgery to remove obvious tumor and then giving a drug which inhibits the cancer cells from mutating so that the first drug given can enable the "turned-on" immune system to destroy them. It has been used with success on mice, with up to a 95% "cure" rate, and they are wanting to move on to human trials. I would assume the patient would have to remain on the drugs for some time, they don't really say. There was nothing in the article about side effects, of course, the mice can't complain much so I guess that part of the study is yet to come. I always wonder about the people who bravely go into these studies and test the new drugs. I became interested in that when I learned that my cousin's son did this for somewhat of a livelihood. He is a young, healthy twenty-something, and would volunteer to be in all kinds of drug trials. My cousin worried about him a lot, she said some of the drugs had unfortunate side-effects.
At any rate, as always, I am glad to see that the researchers are trying to find something to help TNBC patients. I hope they are going down the right path, immunotherapy seems to be what they are working with these days. I wish there was a way to know what the state of our immune systems, we here on the thread, was at the time our cancers became invasive. Were we in a weakened state for some reason? Is that why our cancer became full-blown?
I can not always find BBC programming, but I will try to check out the program about America you are watching. I did not remember Miriam Margolyes until I Googled her and the show and read a bit about her. I do remember her from watching the movie "The Age of Innocence", which is based on an Edith Wharton novel of the same name. I like Edith Wharton's novels and her doomed heroines, so made sure to watch that movie, in which Miriam played the wealthy grandmother to said heroine. After reading a description of the show she is in now about American Dream, I am not sure I will watch much of it if I do find it. It sounds like she is going into it with preconceived notions about us, about Trump, about a lot of things. The description of the next show, which is as follows, is off-putting to me. You quoted it as follows:
"This coming week, January 10th, she visits what is described as a quintessential American institution, a summer camp in Indiana, where she shudders as the jolly young campers robotically pledge their allegiance to the US flag."
I myself pledged allegiance to our flag every day in school, it is repeated all over the place at many times and I see nothing wrong with it, and I'm not sure why she's shuddering. I'm not sure a summer camp in Indiana is a quintessential American institution, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Many (probably mostly city-dwelling) children are sent to camp in the summer, a couple of my grandchildren would go to one for a couple of weeks in the summer when they were younger; it was there that my grand-daughter developed her love for horses. Now we do have people protesting the pledge of allegiance at times, but the times that have made the most publicity are at major-league football games and they are actually protesting police and their perceived unfair treatment of certain minorities.
The only other thing I will say is to watch the show and take what you hear with a grain of salt, it sounds as though it will be quite one-sided and political. Hopefully she will keep a light, humorous touch.
I was reading too about the Internet being affected intermittently in Iran, it does not sound like a total shutdown though. Hopefully Hanieh will be back soon and let us know how she is doing.
I think Val is doing well, so it has seemed in all her latest posts. She was quite busy with writing books and stories. She has overcome a lot. 4everstrong is perhaps just busy with her life, I hope. I am concerned about Rhonda, the last we heard of her she and her daughter were going to another hospital to check out a worrying development. She sounded very down, and we haven't heard anything since. I think Marias is going to be allright, she seems to be a very strong person, and I believe she will be back to fill us in when she has time and feels up to it.
You are getting very well versed about Lymphedema, and you are educating us all. I daresay you will know as much as your Specialist does!
Talk to you later, love
Mary
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hi everyone
Glad u are all doing well. I'm back at work after 4 weeks off and actually really happy about it. Have had a good rest but now too much time on my hands and the dark days become more frequent. So glad all went well Sylvia with your mole removal. My husband just had a complete body check as he works outdoors and his work run them every year given our heat.
It's 43 degrees celciushere today and very hot. We spend the day inside and at night by the pool. The poor widelife are really feeling it so I leave water out for the birds. Can u ask u ladies if any of you have had Crawling sensations under ur skin after taxol? Sounds weird I know but mine started with chemo and I still get them in different areas when I wake up if a morning. Dry brushing helps and they go away when I get up but it is. Really strange sensation that comes and goes. I still have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and hands so it may take a little while. I have heard of some people getting a. crawling sensation post chemo and mine is still quite freauent. I guess it's the nerves re perfusing.
Hope u all are well
Cheers
Kath
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Hello silvia and all of you !! Mary and Silvia, thank you very much for your beautiful words of support and for having your thoughts in us. especially in me who spent so much time without visiting you.
I trust you all had a nice celebration of the end of the year and a new year full of optimism and health. I was with a very strong flu that the oncologist sent me antibiotics for three days.
On the 31st I was in bed early, my brother and my niece became company while I slept. My ear pain and flu have been decreasing.
I feel like I've been pretty messed up about my thyroid cancer treatment. I wanted to do it in a clinic called imbanaco, but I have not been authorized except in one called Valle del Lili. I think that I should not give more time to this matter and make the decision and get treatment quickly.
So on Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday here, I will go to the medical service to authorize it to be in the Valle del Lili. Initially,
I did not want her to go there, since the nuclear medicine doctor seemed more worried about her lunch and her student than about me. but I think that this somewhat stubborn position on my part can make thyroid cancer advance.
I'm doing the Nordic walk for an hour in the park next to the river and it has been a good experience for me to do it every day, and today I made the same distance in 30 minutes.
I think that I have also been depressed these days, I think it affects me a lot to be so physically diminished that anything tires me. I met some friends, but only a short time, since they were more interested in the fair of Cali, and in going out to celebrate than in accompanying a sick person. I am walking slowly, I get tired a lot and I feel that people do not understand this situation. Really Nancy and Mary, I think that people not involved, do not care to know the differences of cancer and the conditions we have to treat them
In Colombia you do not have the tradition of kings, only Christmas, and before Christmas the family, meets during the 9 days before Christmas has made the "novenas". it is prayed around the manger, Christmas carols are sung and "custard and buñuelos" are eaten. When we were little we made those novenas in my paternal grandmother's house, we never made it in my parents' house. People invite you to the ninth, with my brother and niece we went to one, where one of my colleagues from work, was very nice and entertaining, many people go.
Kath I dont understand what is rawlings..?.. I have small cramps in my feet.. but before were more I take vitamina B.
I trust that they continue doing studies on TNBC and that the mice continue responding to the trials. Mary, it's amazing what you say about your cousin's son, who makes money offering to try medication, it's a risky job, but we also have to thank these people who participate in this kind of activities because when the medicines arrive we know more about them.
Equally I am surprised that the taxol and the iodotherapy that I will receive for my thyroid cancer have more than 50 years of being invented. sometimes I wonder if they really do as good research now as before,
Mary, what you talk about our immune system, they say here and it makes me angry that our relationships are the one that leads to the immune system decreases and allows cancer to grow inside of us. to me this theory of the emotional thing gives me a lot of anger, because in the chemotherapy room I see very young children and I say, boy, as at 12 months of age, your immune system decreased so much with the emotion that immediately gives you a cancer. .
Here is fashionable a German doctor who has his license removed, is called Hammer. http://www.newmedicine.ca/german-new-medicine.php
But it seems irresponsible to me that the patient is blamed for his cancer. Many doctors and psychologists believe in this here.
Silvie, what you say of no longer feeling any particular place, I think it happens to all people as they get older, nothing is what it was, and modernity is still doing small places cosmopolitan places, as there are much migration both within the country, and abroad.
I grew up facing the sea in a house of about 1500 square meters of area, and it was a neighborhood of 14 houses maximum per block. and now they have demolished those houses and built great buildings. I go to Cartagena and I do not recognize almost anything, neither the people, nor the customs, nor anything.
Speaking of that, I'm going to send you a video about Cartagena, and what the economic and statistical statistics say, Cartagena has grown economically, but it has increased a lot the poverty and misery of the people who live there. it's like what the program host Miriam Margolyes talks about Chicago.
https://www.facebook.com/NoticiasCaracol/videos/18...
I hope Hannie is very good with her treatment and can access the Internet soon. and that the demonstrations do not affect their daily life.
Silvia, I trust you more calmly awaiting the result of your biopsy. I trust the trip to visit the dermatologist is not very complicated and you have good news.
Like Mary and Silvia, I do not make promises for the new year. I do not know if it's because I'm sick, but every time I get demotivated more these holidays both Christmas and New Year.
Many years ago, it seemed hopeful the change of year, but now I tell myself, it's just a cultural invention ... the time ... the change of year, I think I'm getting more bitter ...
It's quite interesting about bacteria and breast cancer, but where could we reach these bacteria? in water? in the food?
Sylvie, I was looking at the map and from Exeter to Exmouth are 24 minutes by car, because you think the trip is long? is because you go by tren-?
I understood you well?
Looking a bit over Devon, I find all the cities and the landscape very beautiful, the river crossing the county, and the sea. In addition to the history part about the Romans and the Vikings, I find it super charming.
I also read that Francis Drake was from Devon, well I know he already attacked Cartagena.
I find this maybe you can be interesting. about nordic walking in your area.
https://exercise-anywhere.com/event/50729-Exmouth%...
According to what I have learned, about lymphedema, using something very tight can cause lymphedema, for example compression stockings for varicose veins of the legs, if they are not prescribed it is better not to use them. users only when they have been sent by a doctor who takes care of the blood circulation in the legs.
I'm finishing listening to all the stories of Guy de Maupassant. I hear them from youtube, in audiobooks. They have been more than 45 hours of listening. It is interesting as it shows the daily life in French Normandy, when Prussia attacked France in the late 1800s. I like how he describes the horror, and the fear in the book the Horla.
here when one asks the doctors about the treatments and adverse consequences, they prefer to give as little information as possible, but when one asks, they expand it but not as much as it should,
I need a doctor, I can call mine, not the breast, chemotherapy, not thyroid cancer, but I can see as a complete being and tell me what to take, lately I've felt enlightened with the decision of iodotherapy
Colombia from the constitution of 91 is a secular country, but still has strength Catholic religion and its hierarchy.
but a great number of prosperous churches have grown enormously, that the major interest of these churches is the famous tithe, so the pastors earn a lot and their poor parishioners allow themselves to be fooled by their discourses.
A few months ago I saw this one in the bbc. and what a great pleasure
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09b5154/ref...
Adagio how beautiful that you participate in your church and you are in the choir of the church, this must be very satisfactory for you.
Could you explain to me how from Christmas the 12 days of the epiphany are given ?, a thousand thanks
I have written in Spanish and I am going to put it in the google English translator
Well is all for now, I hope you understan me
Abrazos
marias
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Hello Mary,
Yes, Raymond and I always accompany each other to appointments. We think two lots of ears are better than one lot.
Exeter is not that far away but it is not like driving on roads in big countries such as America and Canada. Our roads are clogged a lot of the time and we have to allow ourselves enough time to get to an appointment. There is also a real parking problem in the hospital grounds. At the moment everything is worse than usual. The NHS is facing its worst crisis ever and the hospitals are full. I cannot believe we have such an unhealthy population. Apparently people are coming down in droves with flu. There are notices also about staying away from the hospitals because of the noro virus. My goal is to extricate myself from the hospital system as soon as possible.
As for the article in the Ottawa Citizen, I did not like the word 'cure' for TNBC. It may work for mice, but that does not mean it will work for humans. I do not understand why they use a drug that does not work on its own before surgery, and then the other one after surgery. Why not use both together before surgery? These sensationalistic stories come and go. As you say, there is no mention of side effects and you can bet these will be toxic.
All throughout 2017 I have followed a friend here having immunotherapy treatment for a different sort of cancer and the treatment has made her really ill. She was taken off it and immediately felt better. I think all the attention should be focused on preventing this disease.
I do not know what to think about the immune system. My consultants told me I should not have the disease and that because I had never been ill all my life until I was diagnosed with breast cancer, my immune system had not had to fight and had probably become lazy! I still think cancer is caused by lifestyles, some avoidable, some not and that the modern way of life, with all its stresses is not good for us.
As for the BBC programming, I do not think it is supposed to be taken 100% seriously. The woman is an actress, a celebrity and a comedienne, so the programme is meant to be entertaining. Remember, the object of the programme is supposed to be finding out whether people interviewed still believe in the American Dream. Remember, too, that this actress lived for a long time in the US and that she is going back there after a long absence. As for the American Dream, it probably works for the few and not the many. In the US and in the UK there is a great gap between rich and poor. Here we have everything based on class and over in North America it seems to be based on money. That is what I felt in Canada as well. If I went back to Ottawa and London, Ontario, I would probably find them greatly changed since we left in 1993.
We have all sorts of antiquated meaningless rituals here, but I do not take any notice of them. I remember all the fuss about the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn not singing the National Anthem and not wearing a tie. I say 'get a life'. We have much more serious things to worry about in this country and the most serious is to stop living in the past. How can anyone believe that the government was recently talking about the Henry VIII law with regard to leaving the EU. Today on the radio they were talking about implementing the 1824 vagrancy act to clear the streets of people living rough so that everything looks good for that 'royal wedding'. Talk about 'let them eat cake'!
All the talk here is now about Donald Trump and that gossip book. It would be more to the point if the population and especially the establishment got focussed on the fact that the NHS, the establishment of which in 1948, was our finest moment, but is now sinking as fast as the Titanic.
That is about all for now. Keep well and take care.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Marias and Kath,
I was so glad to see both of you on the thread. I have to go out now but I shall try to post later on. I have a lot to say to both of you.
To Kath, I have been reading a lot about the flu in the New Scientist magazine, an article entitled 2018 The year of the flu – how to survive the worst outbreak in living memory. It is a special report and is on the cover of the magazine.
I have also read an article in the Daily Mail, Tuesday January 2nd 2018, under good health – everything every over 65 needs to know about the flu jab. What the article says is that the flu jabs we have been having these past few months does not work for elderly people. I shall write more later.
To Marias, I am confused about your radio iodine treatment that you are supposed to be having. I thought it was for people with an overactive thyroid. You have had your thyroid removed and are on synthetic thyroxine. I shall talk more later.
Best wishes to both.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I had a PM from Kathy28 and I thought you would like to know that all is well there. She is busy catching up with her reading of the posts. She has asked me to post the following link for everyone to read. It is a blog by Patricia Prijatel. This name is very familiar to me and I remember reading something from her a few years back. I think I may have read her book.
http://hormonenegative.blogspot.co.uk/
Best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Sylvie I find This about I1
Differentiated thyroid cancer: Radioiodine treatment
- Author:
- R Michael Tuttle, MD
- Section Editor:
- Douglas S Ross, MD
- Deputy Editor:
- Jean E Mulder, MD
INTRODUCTION
Radioiodine therapy has been used in the management of patients with well-differentiated (papillary or follicular) thyroid cancer since the 1940s. Thyroid tissue has a unique ability to take up iodine from blood. Like iodine, radioiodine is taken up and concentrated in thyroid follicular cells because they have a membrane sodium-iodide transporter [1]. Compared with normal thyroid follicular cells, thyroid cancer cells have reduced expression of the transporter, which may account for the low iodine-131 (131-I) uptake in thyroid cancer tissue.
131-I causes acute thyroid-cell death by emission of short path-length (1 to 2 mm) beta particles. The uptake of 131-I by thyroid tissue can be visualized by scanning to detect the gamma radiation that is also emitted by the isotope. 131-I must be taken up by thyroid tissue to be effective. As a result, it is of no value in patients whose thyroid cancers do not concentrate iodide, for example patients with medullary cancer, lymphoma, or anaplastic cancer.
Radioiodine therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer will be reviewed here. Surgery, the primary therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer, and an overview of the management of thyroid cancer are discussed separately
Here is the link
https://www.uptodate.com/contents/differentiated-thyroid-cancer-radioiodine-treatment#H1
Abrazos mariaa
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Hello Marias,
Thank you for your post.
I was sorry to read that you ended 2017 with a bad dose of flu. Since you had antibiotics it must have been a bacterial infection. I hope they cured you quickly. You did the right thing going to bed early on December 31st. Look forward to having a better end of year in 2018. I was glad to know your brother and niece were with you.
You are right when you say you have had a difficult time with your thyroid cancer treatment. I was sorry to read that you were not able to get the clinic of your choice. I agree that you need to complete your thyroid cancer treatment now and then look forward to a better year.
We shall all be thinking of you on Tuesday January 9th and hope you can get your treatment done quickly. Can you explain why you are having this radioactive iodine treatment. Is there something I do not understand?
Many years ago when she was about 16, my niece was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid gland and had to be admitted to hospital. She took the normal medication for this but they also wanted to do radioactive iodine treatment, which would have nasty side effects. Her parents refused to have this done. She continued on medication but then seemed to be alright. Why are you having it when your thyroid has been removed and you are on thyroxine, which I thought is for underactive problems anyway.
Congratulations on doing the Nordic walking. I am sure it must make you feel good.
I can understand how depressed you have been feeling. When we are used to being active and energetic, we do not like feeling tired.
It is sad that friends and family very often do not understand what cancer patients go through. They do not understand that it is like a life sentence. For us it is always life before and life afterwards. I have two younger brothers and they did not understand this. We have to surround ourselves with people who are friendly and understanding.
I was interested to know that you do not have Twelfth Night in Colombia. Traditions always vary a bit in different countries. I was interested to know about novenas.
I think that crawlings is probably the same as what we call pins and needles. I have experienced it slightly in the upper arm, very occasionally, and also a bit after surgery. It is probably something to do with lymphoedema or perhaps a bit of neuropathy.
I shall continue to be positive about being triple negative. I am so glad that I have not had to take any medication since I finished my standard breast cancer treatment. I am glad that I have not had to be on tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors for years. The women I know around me with hormonal breast cancer have suffered quite a bit from the side effects of these drugs. I have kept my body free of drugs and eaten healthily to strengthen my immune system. I think only my immune system will keep me clear of cancer and not drugs.
Thank you for the link. I shall certainly look at it.
I agree with what you say about a sense of not belonging. Everything changes and the UK has changed a lot from the country of my childhood, but the system it runs on is archaic. When I watch the government in action on the television, I think how outdated it all is.
Thank you for the video. I shall look at that as well. I understand what you say about business and how the economy can be thriving, but it does not help ordinary people and the poor. The wealth does not trickle down. Our government needs a good kick in the butt and needs kicking into the modern world!
I am going to have to finish now but I shall write more tomorrow. I know that tomorrow I need to start at the part of your post where you are talking about New Year resolutions.
I shall do that and also answer Kathseward.
Abrazos.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hola Marías,
Gracias por tu publicación.
Lamenté leer que terminaste 2017 con una mala dosis de gripe. Dado que usted tuvo antibióticos, debe haber sido una infección bacteriana. Espero que te hayan curado rápidamente. Hizo lo correcto al irse a la cama temprano el 31 de diciembre. Esperamos tener un mejor fin de año en 2018. Me alegré de saber que su hermano y su sobrina estaban con usted.
Tiene razón cuando dice que ha pasado un momento difícil con el tratamiento del cáncer de tiroides. Lamenté leer que no fue capaz de obtener la clínica de su elección. Estoy de acuerdo en que debe completar su tratamiento contra el cáncer de tiroides ahora y luego esperar un mejor año.
Todos estaremos pensando en usted el martes 9 de enero y esperamos que pueda hacer su tratamiento rápidamente. ¿Puede explicar por qué está teniendo este tratamiento con yodo radiactivo? ¿Hay algo que no entiendo?
Hace muchos años, cuando ella tenía alrededor de 16 años, a mi sobrina le diagnosticaron una glándula tiroides hiperactiva y tuvo que ser ingresada en el hospital. Ella tomó la medicación normal para esto, pero también querían hacer un tratamiento de yodo radioactivo, que tendría efectos secundarios desagradables. Sus padres se negaron a hacer esto. Ella continuó con la medicación pero luego pareció estar bien. ¿Por qué lo está teniendo cuando le extirparon la tiroides y está tomando tiroxina, lo que pensé que es por problemas de baja actividad de todos modos.
Felicitaciones por hacer la marcha nórdica. Estoy segura de que debe hacerte sentir bien.
Puedo entender lo deprimido que te has estado sintiendo. Cuando estamos acostumbrados a ser activos y enérgicos, no nos gusta sentirnos cansados.
Es triste que los amigos y la familia muy a menudo no entiendan lo que atraviesan los pacientes de cáncer. No entienden que es como una cadena perpetua. Para nosotros, siempre es la vida antes y la vida después. Tengo dos hermanos menores y ellos no entendieron esto. Tenemos que rodearnos de personas que sean amistosas y comprensivas.
Me interesó saber que no tienes la Noche de Reyes en Colombia. Las tradiciones siempre varían un poco en diferentes países. Estaba interesada en saber sobre novenas.
Creo que los rastreos probablemente sean los mismos que llamamos alfileres y agujas. Lo he experimentado levemente en la parte superior del brazo, muy ocasionalmente, y también un poco después de la cirugía. Probablemente tenga algo que ver con el linfedema o tal vez con un poco de neuropatía.
Continuaré siendo positivo acerca de ser triple negativo. Estoy tan contenta de no haber tenido que tomar ningún medicamento desde que terminé mi tratamiento estándar para el cáncer de mama. Me alegro de que no haya tenido que tomar tamoxifeno o inhibidores de la aromatasa durante años. Las mujeres que conozco a mi alrededor con cáncer de mama hormonal han sufrido bastante por los efectos secundarios de estas drogas. He mantenido mi cuerpo libre de drogas y lo he comido saludablemente para fortalecer mi sistema inmunológico. Creo que solo mi sistema inmunológico me mantendrá libre de cáncer y no de drogas.
Gracias por el enlace. Ciertamente lo veré.
Estoy de acuerdo con lo que dices sobre el sentido de no pertenencia. Todo cambia y el Reino Unido ha cambiado mucho desde el país de mi infancia, pero el sistema en el que se ejecuta es arcaico. Cuando miro al gobierno en acción en la televisión, creo que está desactualizado.
Gracias por el video. Voy a ver eso también. Entiendo lo que dices sobre los negocios y cómo la economía puede prosperar, pero no ayuda a la gente común ni a los pobres. La riqueza no se derrama. ¡Nuestro gobierno necesita una buena patada en el trasero y necesita entrar en el mundo moderno!
Voy a tener que terminar ahora, pero escribiré más mañana. Sé que mañana necesito comenzar en la parte de tu publicación donde hablas de las resoluciones de Año Nuevo.
Haré eso y también responderé a Kathseward.
Abrazos.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Marias,
I am still going through your recent post. I can understand that you do not make New Year's resolutions. It is just another piece of nonsense. I just believe in doing what I think is right, fair and ethical and needs doing. I also believe in being true to myself.
With reference to bacteria being a cause of breast cancer, we all have bacteria in our gut, which is there to keep our body healthy. The problem is that if we do not eat a healthy diet, we kill off the healthy bacteria and our gut becomes full of bad bacteria that can take us down the path to chronic diseases like cancer. We are told that we need a mixture of probiotics and prebiotics. We can get them in our food. Lots of people believe in taking probiotic tablets, such as bifidus and lactobacillus. I try to help my gut by eating natural soy yoghurt with live culture. This is supposed to help. There are other fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and tempeh.
Exeter and Exmouth are not that far apart but the roads are narrow and always busy. We need to leave a lot of time to get to the hospital in time and enough time to drive around to find a parking space. Appointments are not always on time and all these factors make the day very long. A journey of 24 minutes is a fiction!!!
I was glad to know you have been having a look at Devon. It is a lovely county. It is getting too busy as lots of retired people are moving here.
It is true that Francis Drake came from Devon. I have been to the cafe with his name some years ago. I think the cafe used to be his actual house. I think all the Europeans in the past did bad things in North and South America and all round the world in fact. Yesterday I was thinking what these countries would have been like today if the Europeans had not 'discovered' them and carried out genocide on the native peoples.
With reference to lymphoedema, I am going to put the paragraph about varicose veins and lymphoedema on the thread as soon as I can. I have been concentrating on chapter 4 which is all about the causes of lymphoedema. I have already posted about how cancer treatment causes it, as well as trauma and injury.
With the fashion in clothes being extra tight, I suspect people will end up with lots of problems.
I do know that people who have had lymph nodes or lymph damaged in the groin area can end up with compression garments.
I was very interested to know that you are listening to stories by Guy de Maupassant. He is a French classic of the 19th century and is called the master of the short story. I remember reading some of them when I was doing French at school.
You might be interested in novels by Emile Zola, another famous French classic writer. This time of the novel. He wrote volumes of novels on the history of the Rougon-Macquart family. I read most of them when I was in France for a year as part of my honours degree in French.
With reference to doctors, I feel strongly that it is up to the patient to take control of the situation and to be armed with questions. If we are to give informed consent for treatment, then we need to be informed and not have side effects that come as a surprise. Never be afraid to ask questions and get answers.
I am always interested in what you have to say about the history of Colombia. I was glad to know it is a secular country.
Here in the UK we do not have separation of church and state, but it is long overdue to happen. We should not have the church bigwigs in the House of Lords and the House of Lords should be called the second house and be fully elected by the people. As it is the political parties stuff it with their own political has-beens!
Thank you for the all the lnks. I shall try to look at them when I can and when I am not feeling so tired.
I am fed up with our dreary, sunless weather.
Take care. Let us know what is happening with you.
Abrazos.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Kath,
I was wondering whether you have been able to track down the Daily Mail article about the flu that I mentioned in my January 7th post to you. It clearly sates that the flu jabs we have been getting this year do not work on people over 65. Apparently a person needs a strong immune system for these jabs to work and the immune systems in the elderly are too weak.
Did you manage to track down the article from the New Scientist 2018, the year of the flu – how to survive the worst outbreak in living memory. As I said, this is on the front cover of the magazine. It is inside on the first page entitled Atishoo, we all fall down. This year's flu should shake us out of our complacency. The UK does not get a good report. The vaccine we are using is from the 1940s.
This month also marks 100 years since the outbreak the so-called Spanish flu, the worst pandemic we know about. This year's 'Aussie flu' is a descendent of that virus.
Inside the magazine the cover story is entitled Winter Flu – everything you need to know by Debora MacKenzie. There are four pages to this article.
I was glad to know that you are back at work.
Keep in touch and keep well. We could do with a bit of your sunshine here.
Fond thoughts.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi Sylvia, Mary and all
Sorry to be here late but unfortunately we didn't have access to the internet as the government slowed down the internet to the speed you could not do anything with it. I have installed 3 vpns to have access to the internet but they do not work all the time. The protests are continuing here but all the military forces are present to suffocate people. I sometimes feel really miserable to see how a biased minority are ruling over millions of people who just want to have the basic human freedom and have interactions with the world. These brutal politicians have made our lives miserable in a country which has the best resources to make a whole nation prosperous.
I'm sure they will not last long but I hope things change so soon that I can have some hope for the future of our generation.
Last week I had my second infusion. The side effects were better than the first session but I think I'm going through some hormonal changes that may lead to early menopause. I had two periods in two weeks which weakened me a lot but I'm recovering from that one too.
I try to be as much normal as I can but the recent events, the killing and arresting and the unknown future are the things that have been added to my physical problems a lot. We live in Tehran the capital which will have the greatest effects of anything that may happen. Yet, I don't want to lose my hope. I want to choose to believe some good days are going to come whether in my life or in the future of my country. People are really tired of our politicians and their sick policies. My financial state is not bad but I can see how people are suffering from poverty whereas we are possessing a lot in our country. My daughter 's biggest wish is to get rid of the imposed hejab, having to cover her hair and body all the time. I really feel sorry when she asks me why she should cover all her body just in Iran. Why our ideology and religion should be chosen for us. I have no answers to these questions.
I dont know whether posting these was safe or not but I think I have reached a point I think I'm scared of nothing.
It's me and my friend on our second chemo session. We got to know each other on the day of the surgery. She has hormonal breast cancer. I try to support her mentally as much as I can since it's her first and hopefully last cancer experience.
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- Hello Sylvie.
How have you been, how are you going?
the guy books of Maupassant, I've listened to you on YouTube, in Spanish. Here I send you this link in English.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=guy+d...
I will begin to read Zola.
then he travels from exeter to exmounth takes a lot of time especially for the traffic, I imagine how it will be.
Cali is a city 20 km wide and 20 km long or so, and one spends more than an hour going from one point to the other.
It would be very interesting to go to the "cafe" in the house of Francis Drake, I think that we as "conquered" countries have more knowledge about the conquering countries than about ourselves or our history. if it would be very interesting to see how we would be if we had not been "discovered".
I find the point of view of Hannie very interesting, saying that the dictatorship in their country has forced them to limit their freedom, their customs. But I think that most of the blame lies with the European countries and the United States, when they divided the territories that made up the great Ottoman empire without taking into account neither their population nor their religion. They imposed kings or emperors to some of those countries, and they even after 100 years are suffering the consequences of that.
I think it must be very hard to live in territories where all the time is in check. Alla in Iran for trying to maintain their oil, their wealth for themselves, the politicians have tightened so much that they are suffocating their population. Something similar is happening in our neighboring country Venezuela.
In Venezuela, Chavez and now Maduro, have tried to nationalize resources, businesses, to stop being conquered countries and create their own identity, with their own management of resources and not depend on foreign countries to survive. But I think it is very hard for them, especially because they try to keep things as they say they are suffocating their population as well.
In addition there is a great propaganda and news, that arrive to us that show us that that model of chaves and now Maduro, is ineffective.
CNN for more than two years, put in his ad "crisis in Venezuela, or Venezuela burning" taking to the whole world the desire to invade Venezuela by the United States.
There is a tendency to the right and savage capitalism that does not give up, and greatly increases poverty and inequality throughout the world. But the owners of the world show us only one enemy: communism
Here in Colombia, a country with a high number of poverty, more than 70 percent, one of our right-wing presidents, speaks of that enemy as the "Castrochavism." Referring to the castro of Cuba and to Chaves de Venezuela, with that word he scares Colombia, telling him that they will return as Venezuela and Cuba, that they will deprive of freedoms. But it is not observed that there is a very high proportion of the population without education, health and basic services living in high levels of poverty. Usually these people see the news that in Colombia, the chains are the businessmen, who say that communism or leftist tendencies are going to take away their freedoms, and these people without education, determine that enemy, the left and communism , they are also their enemy - and they do not realize the high levels of poverty and inequality in which they live. Is like the Joseph Goebbels´s teory.
Cali, for example, was for many many years, the first or the second most violent city in the world, but the news headlines did not tear their clothes as they do for Venezuela now. or with the news that there is about the limitation of the freedom of expression in Iran with the Internet or in North Korea-
In Colombia, children die every day of an indigenous community, which are called the Wayuu. But that does not matter here in Colombia, there is no outrage neither in the news, nor in social networks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayuu_people
This news that I am going to put here in English is from a Venezuelan news about the Wayuu children. They are still dying and we do not do anything in Colmbia for them -
Is all from now
Im using google traslater, is more easy to me
Abrazos
Marias
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Hello Hannie, you look great and still with hair.
well that your chemotherapies are not falling badly, I trust that everything goes better every day.
Your chemotherapy friend, she looks as good as you, I trust that she does not have more complications with her breast cancer.
I really like the colors they have in the chemotherapy room.
I play in a nice place, but the colors are quite pale.
I think that freedom of color stands out with the oppression of wearing black hejab when they are in public.
I trust everything in your country to stabilize. I consider your people brave, that after the fall of the Shah they have tried to maintain their resources in their own way.
The appointment of Reza Shah for France and England mainly, as leader of Iran. Like the limits, politics, religion of your country arbitrarily coordinated almost 100 years ago, it must have generated a lot of tension in your territory. Besides the fall of the shah, the Russian invasion, and then the Ayatollah ... many changes that I do not know if your people have managed to process.
Once when I was in Marseille-Spain, I saw what until now I think is the sexiest woman I've ever seen in my life. She was dressed all in black, and in the hejab on her head and veiled on her face. It is assumed that this dress seeks to prevent women from being seen and desired by men. True?. But this woman was walking through a pedestrian crossing, I was in a car, waiting for the traffic light to change, and to her with the breeze the dress was sticking and let see the fineness of his body and the shape and strength of his thighs. Well I thought that way to make a protest for the obligatory nature of this way of dressing.
I have learned that there is a movement to wear white on Wednesdays, as a form of protest by the imposition of the hejab.
I trust everything goes well in your country soon and each person can dress as he likes and talk freely.
I am struck by the number of people, the demographic increase that has occurred in your country in recent years. This implies that the greatest number of inhabitants has grown within the Islamic revolution and may already feel oppressed enough that they can make a change for the benefit of their own country and its people.
I imagine your anger at that pressure that the government has exerted for so long, I believe that you are very young and you have grown all your life with this regime.
your country is the cradle of the history of humanity and I admire all its history but I think it has suffered a lot too.
Abrazos
Marias
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Sylvia, Maria’s - I love the posts in Spanish. They are helping me with my studies
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