I haven’t posted for a few weeks because I told you that unless there was something significant to report, I wouldn’t say anything!
It’s been mixed…
I have had one horrible week of feeling nauseous plus the dreaded “runs” closely followed by a perfectly fine week – no nausea and no “runs”!
On 9th April, during the horrible week, I celebrated my 71st birthday – a much lower key event than the big seven-oh last year. Colin and I went out for an unhealthily large breakfast brunch, followed by a visit to The Lightbox, a local museum and art gallery which we enjoyed.
We also had a reservation for dinner that evening with Amy and Mark at “The Ivy” in Guildford but we decided to postpone it because I wasn’t feeling very well towards the end of the day (in case you wondered, that was down to the chemotherapy side effects, not the big breakfast I’d eaten earlier!).
I had a physiotherapy appointment on Thursday 11th April and they were very pleased with the movement I am now achieving with my ankle. They said I could gradually start to dispense with the support stirrup but they gave me much harder exercises to do, which I must admit I am struggling with. I still wear the stirrup if my ankle starts to ache but I have managed a few days not wearing it at all. I am looking forward to re-joining my “Walking for Health” group each Friday once my chemo is finished; the walk is normally only three miles long and one hour in duration, but I might have to go into training for that.
At the end of last week I managed to catch a cold which has turned into a chesty cough – there’s a lot of it about at the moment and Amy decided to have one too to keep me company. I have also been feeling rather tired and listless – on one day recently I slept for most of the afternoon, something I have never done before. I really couldn’t be bothered to do anything. Christine told me she’d had many “can’t be bothered” days during her chemotherapy treatment. I suppose I’ve been suffering more because of the cumulative effect of the weekly chemo sessions.
Colin has been away again in Cyprus for just 6 days and I am happy to say that we are delighted with our newly-completed pergola which will provide lots of shade for me later in the year. Of course, so far I have only seen photographs of it!
I was told a few months ago that my Consultant Oncological Surgeon was retiring and on Tuesday 16th April I met with his protégé and replacement whose official title is “Consultant Oncoplastic Breast and Skin Cancer Surgeon”. My immediate impression of him was excellent. He was very knowledgeable and informative; he inspires confidence and he has a very pleasant and friendly manner.
He said that he wanted to review all my ultrasound scans and mammograms, then speak to the radiographers and he will then be able to make a plan for the lumpectomy procedure which will take place on Monday 3rd June. He operates each Monday at Mount Alvernia Hospital and normally the procedure would take place four weeks after chemotherapy finishes; however, 27th May is the U.K. Spring Bank Holiday so it has to be a week later than I’d hoped for.
He explained all about the procedure he was considering and gave me some very useful, if rather scary leaflets to read. To summarise, he will insert wires into the breast tissue, remove the shrunken and hopefully now inactive dumbbell-shaped tumour, with a margin, and this tissue will be sent for analysis. That should be enough, but if the margin is insufficient then further surgery may be required a couple of weeks after the first.
The same sort of technique will be used on the lymph nodes in my armpit; he will take out a few nodes and then the tissue can be tested quickly and more nodes will be removed if necessary while I am still under the anaesthetic, on the same day.
I asked about the follow-up radiotherapy which is likely to start four weeks after the procedure, normally every day for three weeks. The plan is flexible depending on the outcome of the surgery so it could be extended to four weeks and/or it could take place every other day – I won’t know until we get to that point.
Today, Thursday 18 April was another very early start for us and a long 08:30 to 17:00 session as I was due to have the three-weekly targeted therapy, Perjeta and Herceptin (monoclonal antibodies) as well as the usual chemotherapy drug, Taxol. This session was the fifteenth of sixteen chemo sessions so only one more to go, then it’s “just” the monoclonal antibodies every three weeks until February 2020.
Anyway, it was routine – nothing much to say except that we had a visit from Elaine and a lovely breakfast and lunch to break the monotony! Oh… and also I had a very relaxing reflexology session given by a former student of mine at Guildford College.
Finally, we have been able to book flights to Cyprus for a couple of weeks of relaxation departing 2nd May and we’ll be back home in plenty of time for my surgery. Importantly, we also now know that Br***t has been delayed, meaning that the reciprocal medical arrangements under my European Health Insurance Card remain available, just in case.
We can’t wait to go, plus you’ll get a long rest from reading my blog!
A very Happy Easter and love to all; and thanks as always for your many lovely messages of support, I couldn’t do it without you!