Hi girls,

Nice to hear from you both. happy birthday, Sam, I hope you have a lovely time. 
I'm sorry to hear about your dad, it's a horrible time to need to be in hospital. I don't know which is worse, being alone in hospital or being unable to visit the person alone in hospital. I wish him well. It sounds like you're a chip off that block from his attitude.

I know how you feel about your seroma/dog ear. I was disgusted to find the nodule in my right breast was just dead fat! I have knobbly scar tissue, too.  I feel a bit flatter, but don't know if it will improve any more. I'm back there in a couple of weeks. 
I got a letter telling me to go for a mammogram on Sept 10th, no info about further appointments- I think I'll just get a phone call with the results, eventually. Like both of you, I'm not worried about the result. I've had a conversation with my daughter today about my dangly DD. I could get rid of it when things get back to normal, my surgeon said so, but my kids have vetoed it on the grounds that they - repeat- they couldn't cope with a second round.  I said what if there is something there when I get my mammogram? My daughter has conceded that that would be different!  It's a good job I'm not getting a reconstruction. Speaking of which, I hope yours goes well, Sam. I couldn't face that. It would be ridiculous at my age, anyway, but if I was twenty years younger I probably would.  Sorry about not getting on the trial, better safe than sorry, though. You wouldn't want to make one condition worse by trying to cure another.

I'm smiling at your mothers locking the stable door after you both bolted, making sure you didn't get back in! There were still four younger than me at home when I went to teacher training, I met my husband, fell in love, got pregnant ( we were both very ignorant products of Catholic religious educational establishments so didn't know how to prevent that) so I got married and didn't finish my training for a few years. My mother cried when I first went away but I don't know if she was sad or just glad to have one less to worry about. 
Caroline, I love cockapoos, my neighbour across the road has one and she's adorable. I hope you don't have expensive puppy experiences similar to mine with Archie, who, I must say, is now adorable but it's been a long three years. 
 

I did the Road Safety course and just doing it meant I'd passed. I did one about twenty years ago that was really useful but this one was a bit pathetic really. Only two hours and no practical session, obviously. Still, it made me think about keeping my eye on the speedometer more often. He did agree that it's easier to slip over the speed limit in an automatic.
 

The rain this week was a nightmare, wasn't it? I had an SOS call from my daughter at 7pm Tuesday to ask me to come round to help her stop the rain coming in through the roof. She's getting a new roof but not until October. I had to climb half way up the loft ladder to collect full buckets of water that she dragged out from under the eaves, empty them and hand them back up to her to replace them. It did the trick and when we FaceTimed next morning she was happy to report no drips through the bedroom ceiling.  However, her apple tree in the back garden had come down with the wind and rain and could I help her to get all the fruit off before she could do anything else. I grabbed the dog and dashed round and I am still amazed to say that by eleven o'clock we had stripped it, cut it down, dug out the stump, bagged all the cut up branches and got them outside ready for the bin men to take it away. It was quite a big tree, too.  She did have a new electric saw that did make the cutting through the branches fairly easy and two pairs of hands made it a faster job than expected. She caught the bin men before they got to her house and asked if they would take it as there was enough for five bins. They were very nice and even took the trunk which was too thick to cut up. She gave them a tenner for the effort. It was money well spent, in the circumstances. Now we've got loads of apples for the horses up the lane, unfortunately not many are really fit to eat fresh but I might make some apple and strawberry jam over the weekend. 
 

Good luck for the mammogram, Caroline, and have a lovely time with Eddie.
Sam, have a fabulous birthday weekend and keep up the exercise.

love

Christine xxx

Love hearing from you ladies!  

Ahh PUPPY!!!  I'm so envious, I love dogs and their general stupidity (anything that makes me feel intellectually superior is good...only found dogs that do it so far..ha!!), my pal has Jaffa the cockerpoo, he's a lot more '***' than 'poo' though but is a loon and a delight at the same time.

I did have a fabby weekend, consumed a zillion calories (feel like the stomach fat roll could cope with a JJ reconstruction!) as last night the friend doing BBQ did me a lovely cheese platter (am not a pudding person...odd I know).

And Caroline I know how you feel re big birthdays, it was my 50th last year which conincided with blummin' diagnosis!  These diseases starting with 'C' spoil all our fun eh?  Am sure, like me, you'll manage to still have lots of fun though.

Christine, impressed with and surprised that your daughter let you become a temporary tree surgeon and water carrier...most impressive, you can add those skills to your already extensive repertoire.

Think my trainers ahve now (finally) dried out post last week's soaking ...just in time for today's cycling adventure...hurrah!  And no rain expected so think we'll stay somewhat drier this time.

And the Father is fine, he was chucked out of hospital yesterday and announced on arrival home that he needed a shower!  His poor partner just left him to it and stood near the phone ready to call for an ambulance...he is an idiot.

Good to hear from you & that you're both well X

Ha - love that CRUK ***'d out the first 4 letters of the type of puppy you're getting!!

Congrats Christine, you finally got that elusive mammogram, hope you get the results and don't have to guess like I did.

I've just invested in some new bulbs too, planting this weekend I think, love them spring flowers.  But as a tight northerner not yet ready to uproot current bedding plants (which are looking vvv tired...bit like me!) given that another summer beckons next week.

So lots happening here, back at work 5 days from next week...we'll see how that goes as was absolutely shattered Thurs/Fri after quite a full on 4 day week..asleep on sofa by 8pm!  Not good, I should be drop dead gorgeous by now considering all the beauty sleep I've had over the past 2 nights, unfortunately it seems to be eluding me.

Had a wildlife adventure in the week - found a stupid and injured teenage swan on the cycle path, all the Surrey yummy mummy's were just walking past it, commenting and then carrying on with their days! I ask you. I decided to stick around to protect it from dogs until the ranger that I called turned up and took it to a local wildlife refuge...what was odd is there's no ponds nearby, I think it had been out on an illegal rave with fellow swans.

I've got my 6 monthly follow up appointment this week, expectations are vvvv low, found out yesterday its via phone (cop out!)...not heard any good feedback about these.  I'm also due to have a bone and CT scan soon in prep for DIEP, they want to check that am still cancer free before moving bits of body around and putting me on Dr Frankenstein's table (I'd actually enjoy a few jolts of volts, might wake me up).  And then, rather randomly, an oncologist follow up in Nov that seems odd but I'll take it.

So have a draft date for DIEP, 8th Dec (Happy Christmas & all!), not quite sure how my zolodex injection the week after will work but will find a way...and ask the chemo nurse when am there in a couple of weeks.

Father is recovering well and off oop north next weekend to see him & his poor suffering partner...yay!! Would like to visit the northern mother too but she's in a naughty area of west yorks so still in lockdown and not sure if it's warm enough to do much outside...she's just going to have to wait I guess.  Just hope my Friday drive isn't quite as challenging as last time was (over 6 hrs).  So am not really working 5 days but Monday will be hard work (not having worked one since January).

The southern mother finally managed to wrench herself away from the cricket to meet me for lunch at a lovely place near Winchester (handy as midway between us) ...smoked salmon then a hoooge portion of fish & chips, still managed to polish it all off ( I am such a pig!), just as well I'm doing all this exercise isn't it?  She gave me a large bottle of raspberry vodka for my birthday...let's see how long that lasts eh??

How are the pared down 50th plans (there must be some) going Caroline? Whatever you do they will be better than mine last year as coincided with diagnosis...timing always one of my specialities. Your mammo is the day after my follow up, hope its not too painful and is as quick as Christine's and mine were.  Have you got little Eddie yet?  Jaffa, the one my pal has,was called nightmare for its first year...

Tell us when you get your all clear Christine...did I tell you my middle name is Nostradamus?

X

Hi Sam,

congratulations on being back at work. I think it is a good milestone, even though you are cream crackered at the end of the day. 
We had a similar wildlife adventure this week. My daughter's house looks out onto a fishing lake with lots of different water birds. We were delighted to see that the Muscovy ducks had managed to keep half their ducklings. Some years they lose them all to the foxes and pike. We met a neighbour who is big into rescuing, one year she took a clutch of ducklings and reared them to adulthood in her garden pond. She was looking for "Gully" a seagull that apparently had a broken wing. My daughter looked down at the grass edging the lake and said "I think you"ve found him" there was this little gull all curled up, and I think he was breathing his last, but this lady grabbed him and carried him off in her arms to who knows where. We haven't seen her since to ask about him but I don't think it will be good news.

Welcome to the world of telephone consultations, let us know how you go on. I hope you get your DIEP, done. It looks very unpromising for the immediate future COVID  wise, so you might have to wait a bit longer. I hope not, though. 
 

I have had a busy week, the first for many months. Last Friday I went for the mammogram, as previously reported, then on Monday my son arrived back from caring for his in-laws in Ireland. He told me he would probably go home and self isolate before coming up to see me, depending on how much interaction he had with others on the ferry. Anyway, he hardly saw anyone on board so made the detour to come North before going back down South. It was lovely just spending a couple of hours with him. Then on Tuesday, my niece, who lives as far South as possible, on the Kent coast, came to see me. She and her husband were staying at a holiday cottage just up the motorway from me so they brought their gorgeous dogs, a whippet and a lurched, and we had a lovely time catching up. 
Today I went to the Lympho clinic and everything is going well. I just need to carry on the drainage exercises. 
When I got home I had a couple of missed calls from a withheld number- the hospital with my mammogram results. Apparently that area of dead fat they found last year has shown up as calcification so they want to do a biopsy to check it out oh joy!  While I was writing this my phone rang again with my appointment for next Monday at 11 am. No messing about there. I don't have any reason to think it is anything serious. Last year I had been frighteningly fatigued for a couple of months before my diagnosis and this year I've been a roofer, a lumberjack and a removals person in the last few weeks. My daughter needed to move a big metal tambour unit from her porch to her garage. Unfortunately the garage is about ten feet higher than and twenty yards away from the porch up a series of steps. We managed! I think I'm going to write a new CV offering my services as a general handy woman!

Keep well, both of you! 
 

Christine xxx

Hi ladies!

So mammogram was today. I was worried to be fair, more because my "back flap" boob still hurts so I was worried about it being squashed. They were very good and did stop when I said it hurt. I found it pulled on my back scar too. Just got to wait now - 2/4 weeks for the results.  I'm not too worried about the results though. 
I met up with my 'cancer buddy'  for a cuppa as her mammogram was a couple of hours after mine. We met at the 'non stop' breast cancer clinic last June and were diagnosed on the same day. 
Then this afternoon I went and had a tattoo!! I will have to see if I can put a pic on!!
Christine, what a bummer re having to go back for a biopsy. Fingers crossed all is fine! 
Sam, you sound like you are mucking along, getting back to the normality of work!  I have everything crossed that your op will go ahead as planned. All this Covid increase isn't really anything we haven't been expecting but such a pain in the ***. 
I actually like staying in than going out nowadays!! 
We pick up our new puppy on Sunday! I'm expecting the hard work to come and have booked to work from home next week! My sleep is pretty crap now I'm taking my tamoxifen again, so I'm such getting up for a puppy will be a doddle :laugh: 

Make sure you both stay in touch - let's get through this first milestone without any major hiccups!! 
Love to you both.

Caroline

Hey Caroline,

Ouch! I forgot you would have to put your "bad" boob through mammogram as well as the remaining "good" one. I only had dangly DD to squeeze so no pain there.

I love the tattoo! Where is it? I can't tell from the photo.

You will have to put a photo of your puppy on here so we can drool. The one thing I did manage to train Archie to do was to go to the toilet outside. It involved l o n g stretches of time during the first week, in the garden saying "Weewee Archie" followed by extravagant amounts of praise when he did his duty. He cottoned on to what I wanted him to do after only a few days, in fact, I still have nearly a full pack of the one pack of puppy pads I bought, we had so few accidents. Any other attempts at training failed because Faith kept interfering, she wanted to be his boss, not me.

I am sure all will be ok when I have the biopsy, I'm just not looking forward to the event itself. The nurse said I will have to go into the mammogram machine again before getting an injection of local anaesthetic and then they'll do the biopsy. I read later that calcification only shows up on a mammogram, not on ultrasound so they have to put me in again to see where the chalk is,weird!  That's how she described it.  Still, the fact that they have got me in so quickly shows they are still working that end of the job properly, even if they are failing on the normal follow ups. It would be too ironic, if, after all the fuss I made about getting both breasts removed, last year and being refused,they had to do it anyway! I don't think so, though.

i know how you feel about staying in, after being sociable with my visitors, this week, my daughter suggested the two of us went to the pub for tea the next day. Then that night I saw that our local Covid infection rate had doubled in a week and we were now in the top fifty for cases, we decided to stay in!  So it came as no surprise when it was announced today that we were included with the rest of Lancashire now for more restrictions.  I'm so glad I got my visitors this week!

I'll let you know how I go on with the biopsy. You must let us know when you get your mammogram results, and you, Sam, must let us know how you go on with your DIEP plans and what your oncologist has to say.
 It's been a funny old year with one thing and another, 2019 and breast cancer has sort of faded into insignificance compared to 2020 and the pandemic! Who would have thought it?

Take care, stay safe,

lots of love

Christine xxx

Hi Christine,

The tattoo is on my right inter arm. Oh and just to make you chuckle - I was doing a good deed last week and went to pick a friend up, for a birthday meal and got caught speeding!!! 
Caroline xx

Hi Caroline,

So many people I know have been caught speeding, we have come to the conclusion there is a money making drive on, to compensate for the lack of people driving ( and speeding) during lockdown. 

I did chuckle! Horrible person that I am. :)

C xxx