Oh Sam!!! That's pants!!! Fingers crossed you will be able to get back home soon!!!

caroline XX 

HURRAH!!  Finally had an A&E free day.  The temp stayed down and am feeling a bit better.  Was not happy yesterday but thankfully that's now behind me and can focus on festivities.

Thanks for the support there - I needed it!

Happy (and it is now) Christmas XX

Ladies I just want to say thank you for being so brave for sharing your stories which have really helped me to understand what my mum is going through.

My mum was diagnosed last week with early stage grade 3 breast cancer and is having her lumpectomy tomorrow.

Sorry if this sounds crazy but I feel like I'm seeing signs everywhere that something bad will happen during the operation.

Luckily my mum is staying super positive!

just wondered if anyone else experienced this seeing "signs" everywhere?

thank you from a worried daughter

Hi Seashell84,

so sorry to hear about your mum. But try and stay positive!! We are/have all coped in our own ways and breast cancer research has come on so much these days, that it's more of an inconvience than anything else!! I didn't want to be mollycoddled and wanted to carry on as normal. Try not to wrap your mum in Cotton wool - I am sure she will appreciate your support and help but let her get on without making a fuss.

We are happy to lend you an ear if you need us 

caroline xx

Hi Caroline,

Thank you so much for your reply ️
Yes that's really good advice to not make too much of a fuss and let her get on.

We do lots of things together so have just been trying to keep her mind occupied.

Just want to get to the point of tomorrow when she's come round from her lumpectomy.

Thank you again for the advice

Michelle xxx

Hi Michelle,

Hope all goes ok today, with your mum's op. Let us know how it goes. We have fingers crossed.

Caroline x

Seashell84

Please don't worry unnecessarily.  Us ladies are made of strong stuff and despite the gaddarn roller coaster of chemo and other treatments we endure.  Please do be strong for your mother as she may need you to have a positive attitude on her behalf at times (I have a very positive attitude but have still needed other's positivity to keep me grounded when it seems like the chemo devil was winning).

Hope the op goes well today, what a day for it! You don't say what your mothers treatment regime is but good luck throughout.

I have to say I've never seen any "signs" but as a blunt northener I have to say this does not surprise me at all...bear in mind that you may be misinterpreting signs and they could be positive though eh?

Best wishes to your Ma X

Hello ladies,

Thank you for the advice and support!

My mum has had the lumpectomy and three nodes sent to the pathologist.

Will get the results in 2-3 weeks so fingers crossed!

Pretty sure she will be having radio therapy too.

Have a lovely Christmas and I will keep updated on her progress.

Michelle xxx

Hello Michelle,

it is easy to forget that anyone can read what we write on here and it is so nice to learn that our ramblings can be of help to others, just as we were helped by people who were a bit further down the road than we are.

You may already know that I thought the mastectomy was a doddle compared with what some people have to go through (Sam) and I'm sure your mother will find it less distressing than imagined beforehand.

As the one in our little trio who has adult (middle aged but don't tell them I said so) children I know what you are going through. My one bit of advice for you is to let your mum do as little or as much as she wants to do during her recovery.  She may be, like I was, feeling that she could do more or less what she did before her surgery or she may need more support. My lovely son and daughter were so freaked out by my seeming vulnerable for the first time in their lives, that they smothered me to some extent.  I was forbidden to walk the dogs while I still had my drain in, even though the nurse said it would be fine.  I wasn't allowed to drive for three weeks, and only then because I lied and said I had seen it written down somewhere that it was ok after three weeks and I was barely allowed to take a cup into the kitchen while my son was there.

i have been really grateful for their help and support but I wish, sometimes, they would remember I was an adult, knowing what to do, long before they were.  My son is taking me to stay with them for the New Year, and he has told his sister I will not have to lift a finger. I can't imagine anything more boring than being a visitor in someone's home and not being allowed to help out. Still, that's what he wants and it would be churlish of me to complain, so I'm going armed with my Kindle full of reading books, my Audible books and my iPad and MP3 player so I can listen to my kind of music and keep I touch with this forum. 

I hope the news is good when you get the results of the sentinel node biopsy- that operation was a bit harder to bounce back from, I thought, although I'm fine now, eight weeks down the line.

Merry Christmas, to you and your family, 

Christine x

Sam and Caroline have a blast!  Merry Christmas!!!

Thank you Christine!

I hope you have had a lovely Christmas!

I've certainly taken that on board today and have let my mum get involved as much it as little as she likes.

She's been round my house with my dad most of the day enjoyed her Christmas lunch and playing with my 2 year old daughter. She did try and pick her up a few times and I had to remind her to wait.

She also apologised for not being able to help tidy up. I told her she was being daft and when she does help me I only end up getting all OCD about tidying anyway.

Going to give her a rest day tomorrow (unless she gets fed up with my dad)! Then we're going do something on Friday.

Sam and Caroline hope you had a good Christmas!

Michelle xxx