Australian Sisters
Comments
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No I'm not working, finished as soon as I was diagnosed as I was in for my first of two surgeries the following week. I don't go back until I finish all my treatment and am fully recovered.
Are breast care nurses supposed to initiate contact with us first when we're in hospital and is that the normal protocol? Mine missed me the first time around because I ended up being put in the maternity ward. I took it upon myself and went and introduced myself to them at Choices, they apologised for missing me which at the time I wasn't expecting so I was none the wiser.
I'm also seeing a naturopath and living a holistic and organic lifestyle. Was doing this already and wondering if anyone else here is doing the same?0 -
Im with Suzie, I well remember the constipation as being hell on earth. If I have to do chemo again at any stage, I'll be taking the laxatives from day 1.
I can vouch for Nicole Mccarthy. She was my primary oncologist, till she started having babies (2 i think since I started chemo) I also have a lot of faith in her and she's a pretty good people person too. I was very comfortable seeing her and more than happy to accept all her recomendations.
Lia if it hasnt already, the fatigue will set in soon. Please dont try to push thru it, only thing to do is to rest and on the days you feel decent you can get a bit of gentle exercise. Foodwise, very small meals and you may also find yourself eating things you wouldnt normally eat. I lost my taste buds throughout (in fact everything smelt and tasted putrid to me). I ended up eating a lot of tiny portions of rice bubbles as they were one of the few items of food that didnt offend me, taste and smell wise. I was lucky and have my mother living in the same suburb and for those days when I was too ill, she would cook up a teaspoon of peas, carrots and mashed potato and about an inch of a sausage and though it didnt taste great, she kept me at least eating something healthy during the worst of it. If you find yourself in that situation too, please see if someone near can do the same for you.
With the mouth, please make sure your rinsing regularly with either warm salty water or warm water with bicarb of soda in it. It will help keep the mouth sores and ulcers away. Not sure if it always works, but it did work for me. Sound odd but oral hygiene is pretty important while doing chemo.
Main thing to remember is your immune system is being hammered every 3 weeks, each time it recovers so you can get the next dose of chemo but without wanting to scare you, each time it feels like it recovers that little bit less. So theres an accumulative effect on the fatigue in particular. Dont be polite, if friends want to drop by and they have the sniffles, tgell them to stay away from you. Get thru these treatments in the best shape you can by taking all care to keep infections and illnesses away and get plenty of rest and good sleep - its the best advice I can give someone doing chemo.
I love in Camira btw, about 3 mins from the Goodna/Gailes exits that you travel past on your way to the Wesley. Nice and close to my shop at Redbank Plaza too, a godsend not to have to ever deal with peak hour traffic heading into the city.
Hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend. Ive got work again tomorrow sigh, why oh why do I keep giving myself the weekend shifts lol.
Editted to add, I met my breast care nurse at the RBH when he introduced himself to me before my first chemo tx. I did meet someone the day after my first op at the wesley (like you I had to go back for lymph clearance due to positive nodes) but all she did was give me a little pad to use as a fake boob.
I also have been seeing a naturpath in the last year or so, she visits regularly at the redbank plaza health store. I went to see here because I was feeling 90 thanks to the arimidex Im on. She changed me to green calcium and gave me a few other things and now i feel my real age @46. I am firmly a believer in conventional treatment for cancer, but Ive found the naturopathy to be complimentary in helping to maintain quality of life.
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Lia, breast care nurses usually contact you first, but sometimes due to human error, eg paperwork or different routine, we may slip through the net, which happened with me as well. My breast care nurse was so apologetic, and I was like you, I was none the wiser. I found her so helpful and full of information, which helped my treatment and my journey immensely.
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Breast care nurses rock.
I also missed mine at the start due to being in a pathetic hospital for my initial surgery, but she found me during chemo.
I am a repeat offender, nearly 4 years having some sort of treatment, and Jenny has been fantastic. She talks with me about anything. If you need to seek one out, definitely do. I by-passed the one at the surgery hospital and connected with the one where I was having chemo. I spent more time there.
All the best to those ladies having treatment and scary scans.
Cheers
Angela0 -
Ha ha Lia, I was in maternity too :-).
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I try to follow the 'foods that figh cancer' diet but I'm not too compliant. I did see a naturopath a few times whom Janine recommended.
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Hello everyone and welcome Lia
Melp - so nice to hear from you, you've been in my thoughts :-)
Lia - everyone has given you some great advice so far, what chemo regime are you doing?
We went down to Milton (near Ulladulla on the NSW south coast) yesterday to shoot a wedding. What a lovely day it was too. The weather was pretty good - only 27 degrees, but the humidity was a killer, I never stopped perspiring from the time we got out of the car till we got back in it to go home. Drank 4 lts of water in 4 hours and didn't go to the loo once lol - all came out my skin. When we got home the temp gauge showed it had reached 40 here, so I guess we were better off perspiring in 27 .... I think lol
This Aussie sisters thread has certainly grown lately, which is lovely (although not the reason it has), I'm starting to have troubles remembering everyone! My memory isn't up to it I guess lol. Lia - I know that you would enjoy meeting with the lovely ladies in Brisbane if you get the time, we had a get together last month and I can tell you they are all so lovely, you'll feel like you've found a new family of long lost sisters where you feel very much at home.
Well, I should run and start on processing the images from yesterday and answering all the phone messages left yesterday to book portrait shoots, it's going to be a busy day I think, but I'm not complaining :-)
Love to you all
Trishxoxo
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Good morning Girls, hope you all having a good day, jenn have a good day at beach, you are probably there now. You sound alot better within yr self, that is great.
Gosh the fires in Tazzie sound very scary, man i donot envy you guys with the heat. Liv and all you ladies experiencing this diabolical heat, my heart goes out to you. A nice day here, and not too hot, just nice, very easy to handle. Trying to motivate these guys here, they wanted to me to organise to pick up this seed drill used for farm work that we brought off trade me, and man it is hard to motivate them. i keep telling them, there are other people in the i world beside them and that the people may have plans, the people are hay making, but hey some men think the world resolves around them, my BIL a classic example. I have told him so many times he is not the centre of the universe, others have lives too. he stuffs around so much. so hopefully they will be on their way soon. Are all men basically selfish or only the few. think they worse when they single. enough moaning, i had to have a vent sorry, really cheeses me off. well i am going to have a drink and clean up.
have a good day girls, sorry for my moan. but needed to get it off my chest. some men really p---s me off, lol yay they gone to get it and i have rung the lady so at last it all go. gosh. i feel like their mother at times. lol
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Hello all - I've been away from here a very long time, apologies. Not for lack of caring about all of you, just holiday nutsiness. With my hubby away working in Perth, the Christmas and New Year holidays were not exactly fun (especially since his side of the family is... well... I'll just say disappointing!). Back to normal, glad the holidays are over. I'm not usually a scrooge, but I was this year!
Lia - Hi, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I'm not in Australia (as you can see) but I used to be - I went through the big BC in Perth. To answer your question above, yes I also enjoy a holistic, organic lifestyle and saw a talented naturopath the entire time I was going through it all and it helped me immensely. Some don't believe in it, and that's fine. I'm of the opinion that the more you can do for yourself holistically (including meditation to keep stress away) the better off you fare. Hope this helps in some small way.
Sending hugs to everyone down there in the heat. Meanwhile, I'm shivering in my office with the heater on!
xox
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Arion - hurray for you - that's great news from your pathologist. I'm just catching up on reading BCO, so I'm a bit behind the fair, but congratulations. You must be so happy
Chrissie - so sorry about your mum. I think we never really feel fully grown up adults until our parents go. It's very traumatic. {{gentle hugs}}
Lia - welcome to BCO. I'm sorry you have to be here, but this site a really wonderful community and has been a huge help to me. I'm also a relative newbie being dx on 21/12. I just read your dx and saw you are actually well ahead of me having had your surgery already. It seems there is lots of help and advice for you over there in Brisbane.
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Trish that is wonderful that your photography is doing so well. How is your other job going? My DS is at Summernats this weekend and it is so hot up there I expect he will be very sunburnt.
Welcome Lia.
Mel - I have also been wondering how you are getting along. Wishing you lots of positive thoughts.
Seriously girls breast cancer sucks. I haven't put on much actual weight since starting tamox, but I am still 8kgs more than pre BC. weight and my stomach has expanded and I still feel ill all the time. At what point do you give up and throw out 90% of your pre bc wardrobe?
My hair has gone curly and feels like steel wool, so it just looks thicker and not longer. Suzie you had your hair chemically straightened didn't you? What was it called and how long did it last? I got mine thinned but it didn't make much difference - I still look like a muppet.
I hope everyone is coping with this horrible heat. Too many names to mention but I am thinking of you all. xx
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Kylie - I had my hair straightened but no chemicals (can't because my hair is streaked) - it's a Brazillian treatment called Cacau - google it and check it out. It is supposed to last for 4 months but mine lasted 6. I totally love it.
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Thanks Jan so much! I can't quite believe it myself.
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Great news Ariom!
Having a break from hot weather in Melb...its just lovely. We had a gettogether with the Melbourne girls from the Aussie breast cancer forum today. Its wonderful how the friendships develop over the years...some I have known for 6 years now...some newbies as well...great to meet them! A very nice Vietnamese lunch in Richmond.
I am originally from Tassie and still have rellies there. One nephew was off fighting fires...terrible but the community spirit that shines through is amazing in times like this.
Midnight..I can't believe what bad luck you've had with your staff...there must be some good guys out there somewhere!
Love to all
jezza
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Thanks Jezza!
That sounds like a lovely day. I moved here from Melbourne at the end of June. I was from Williamstown.
I looooove Vietnamese food too, and used to go to Richmond often, also have some favourite places in Footscray.
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wow suzie cacau lasts up to 6 months, sounds brilliant, a must when my hair grows back, luckily for me i love wearing all my wigs., now ive got 8 of them.. just recently have been brave enough to go wiglesss down the park for my power walk. suzie do you know if hair is straitened with cacau can you curl it with a wand and then back to straight?
midnight over here in the west it hasnt ben too bad this week, today now its 31c.
think ive been reincarnated from a very hot country as i strive in the heat and shrivel up and become a corpse in cold climates. spent 5 months in india 18 months ago, was out every day 47c and loving it, even all the locals were having their afternoon naps on the side of the roads and there i was pounding the streets.
my skin doesnt love it tho, have to be all covered up, im so sickly white.
and yes kylie CANCER SUCKS -
to you cancer.xx
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Some how I managed to turn off my email notifications without knowing it so apologies for not reply back earlier. It's a military thing, we're very timely creatures. A habit that would be very hard to break especially after serving for 13 years now.
I'm still getting used to this forum setup as it's a little different to what I've used before in the past. I'm terrible with names so please forgive me ladies whilst I get to know you all.
I'm having TC Chemotherapy? It's Docetaxel (Taxotere) & Cyclophosphamide. Does that sound right? I'm reading straight off the paperwork they gave me.
Side effects so far have obviously been the constipation but that has settled down now. My mouth and teeth are a little sorer and senstive today. Guessing I'll be saying goodbye to the good old electric toothbrush for a while and changing over to something less truamatic for my mouth. I'm already brushing my teeth after every snack/meal and then rinsing my mouth with salt water. So far no ulcers.
Feeling a little weary but managing that okay so far.
So tell me about what we're calling the "danger zone" period when our immunity is at it's lowest during treatment. What do I need to be aware of or do for that to make things easier/better for myself?
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Lia as your treatments go on, your recovery diminishes and leaves you open to infection and virus so the best thing is to try to avoid anyone who has a bug or the sniffles and definitely try to avoid crowds. Your immune system will be really badly compromised. If your have friends who want to visit please make it clear to them that you are not being awful but if they are under the weather to please stay away until they are better.
Hope this helps.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
liv - I don't know if you can curl it. Cacau really just removes the frizz, probably not as drastic as chemical staightening. Actually, I do have a curl with it anyway (the ends curl up) - like my natural hair was. If you saw what it was like post chemo - now is fantastic. I hated it - I had to wash my hair everyday for 2 years - now I can 2 or more days if I like. My hairdresser said my hair had completely changed texture. I have grown it into a bob all the one length and obviously the weight would help keeping it calm. I last had it done at the end of September and no sign of needing it again anytime soon. Here's a pipc from our get together in early December - I'm the one on the left - you can see it's not dead straight.
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suzie thx for the pic, your hair looks lovely and love the colour. cant believe its lasted 6 months, maybe thats just your new hair after chemo & perhaps its just come back beautiful. whatever i will definitely give it a try and see what happens. never really liked my hair, thats probably why im enjoying the wigs.
xx
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liv - that pic was only 2 and a bit months after I had it done the second time. I had lovely hair before - very thick and naturally wavy but I did not look like I had just had a perm!!! I found old 80's photos of me with a perm and couldn't believe people pay to get it done. Post chemo, I hated looking at myself in the mirror - I saw my mother
. It was very very curly. I'll find a pic taken last year in Scotland, so you can see how curly it was.0 -
Here's me in London with my grandson in August 2011. Bear in mind I used to put on 'leave in' conditioner everyday to keep it calmer - in the mornings it was total frizz and not possible to go out without washing it.
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wow suze you look 10 years younger now, amazing what ever it is with the hair, lucky you now.
xx
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And the one in Edinburgh
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suzie no comparison to now
x
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Thanks Liv - lots of guys at work thought I looked 10 years younger too - I look in the mirror everyday and see the old me and I love it. Cacau is expensive but worth it for the huge lift it gave me.
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Suzie, I agree with Liv, you look so much younger now. I love the hair.
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Thanks Mandy
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Lia Taxotere can do awful things to your mouth - stopping the electric toothbrush is an excellent idea, I didn't use mine all through chemo. Add bicarb soda to your salt water to rinse with, tastes pretty awful but worth it. Also if you get a dry mouth rinse with Biotene, dry mouth will cause more problems.
Chrissy was right about not letting people visit who have a bug. Your immune system will be totally shot from day 10 to 14 (? I think, someone correct me here) and you need to protect yourself. Having said that I went to work (not full time) and would call into the shopping centre for bits and pieces, so wasn't overly protective of myself, but careful. Work was pretty good, if anyone had any bugs or weren't well they were told to stay at home so that I could come to work when I could and not be compromised. I found that Taxotere also altered my taste buds quite dramatically and found it difficult to eat, if you have that problem you'll have to find something you can stomach. Let us know and we'll all come up with the things we could tolerate.
Liv - the picture that Sue put up has a few of us in it from our get together in early December. From left is Sue, Kate (from Bunbury), me and Chrissy (from Adelaide). Sue I must remember to send you the other pics I took, I keep forgetting so they can be posted here.
Liv - Kate's hair has grown well - she did chemo early in 2012, so you can see how it's grown, she's still doing Herceptin. I finished chemo in March 2011, and have had several haircuts lol. My hair was always curly, but after chemo I had ringlets!! My hair's texture has changed too, but mine was always very, very thick and wiry, it's a lot softer and thinner now.
More hot weather expected here today and tomorrow especially. The fires in Tassy look awful - my heart goes out to those poor people.
Stay cool girls
Trish
xoxo
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thx trisha - what a fantastic bunch of warriors, big smiles, just beautiful you all are.
it is pretty amazing that suzie's hair has grown that much too, mine is only about 1 cm.
trish have you still got the ringlets? suppose if you had thick and wiry hair before you would be much happier with your hair since chemo, it looks very nice to me
great to put faces to names.
jennt - hows the trial going, what does it actually do, how often do you have to go and have tests to see whats happening? not good if there is mets but as you say they will be on top of them straight away.
take care,
xx
((hugs)) chrissy & yr mummy, whose peacefully looking over you.
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