3 week diary 3rd July - 25th July

3rd and 4th July

Chemo Tuesday and no problems to report.The cold cap was uncomfortable but the nurses were really pleased with the lack of hair loss so far. Am back on the steroids and buzzing again mind you cooker is now clean, cupboards are all clean well to be honest the whole flat has been cleaned. Tomorrow I have to go back to the hospital to have the Herceptin and how I am going to sit still for 6 hours I have no idea! 

5th July 

Had the Herceptin today and felt okay there were no reactions which is what they are watching and waiting for hence why you are kept there for 6 hours to make sure that you don't have any adverse side affects and if you do they can deal with it there and then. It was a very long day hanging around with drains in my arms bit I think Im getting used to that being the norm now.

6th July 

Felt tired today but I had several visitors which kept me busy. my chest was the only thing that was hurting an I felt very breathless but It did get better during the day. Its funny but it sees that for some people who haven't seen me for a long time are surprised to see me looking so well and having a full head of hair as well as a positive attitude about everything - i think they were expecting to see me bald, thin and ill. 

7th July 

A good day today only a slight tightness in the chest but that is nothing isn't it? Having a quiet day today as john wants to watch the motor racing and it's raining outside. Have felt tired today so did have a nap but sometimes I just have to give in and sleep. 

8th July 

Woke up very tired today so I sent John to the allotment as I didn't have any energy to go with him. When he came back though I wanted to get some fresh air so we went to the Framers Market in town and picked up some bits and bobs. I felt really unwell when we got home we weren't out for very long but I went to bed fully clothed as I was so cold and it took me ages to warm up. At 3pm John started taking my temperature for the next hour it continued to go up and so it was a trip to A&E. We spend 4.5 hours there having all manor of test done then they finally moved me to a ward where I was to stay overnight for observation. They decided to move me from a private room to a open ward at 0530 which was really nice!!! 

9th July 

Stayed in hospital until 2:30pm when they let me go, it was an infection of some kind but they couldn't tell me where or what type. Due to having the Hickman line they have to be extra cautious as an infection in the line can mean game over as it gets straight into the blood stream and can take a down turn very fast. 

10th July 

have been naughty today. Touched up my roots as I couldn't bare it anymore. I know i am VERY lucky to have my hair still but I couldn't bare those roots anymore I just did the top parting just so it doesn't look so bad. I think I can get away with it as my hair does seem to be very resistant. Still got hairy legs too! 

11th July 

Well today I decided I was going to see the Olympic torch today but my body had other plans. This has really knocked my for six this time round. the last few days have really shown me how vulnerable we all are. So instead of cheering on the torch I have had a very exciting day resting on the sofa but I don't mind as I am going to get better no matter what it takes, I've still go to much to do! 

12-22rd July 

Well I have been doing really well plodding along have had a few ups and downs not mentally just physically by not being able to do what i used to do but it this is the road to getting better then i don't mind. 

22nd July

Just such good news today we went and saw the oncologist and he told us that the tumour has shrunk by one third in size and I just can't believe it. I thought it was smaller but to be honest I don't like to touch it. I'm not sure if that is a natural reaction to it. I spoke to the breast cancer care nurse after the consultation and she said that i will have to wait 6 months after the mastectomy to have the reconstruction which is a bit of a downer as I am not sure I can cope for that time with one boob! I think I would rather suffer to have it all done at once. 3 weeks time I have another CT scan to see if the cancer is anywhere else, If it isn't I think I maybe be on cloud nine after todays news anyway!!

Thats all which mother wrote so that means the last few days were good which is what we like to see!

I know this post is very late but you have no idea how crazy its been getting. A lot has happened so I will try to get back on track!!! 

Thanks for reading xxx

3 Week Diary 12th June - 2nd July

Right so after much deliberation we have decided that it is best to do a Chemo to Chemo diary. That way we can put all the information from one treatment to the next into one post. Also time is tricky to manage as I have to write the posts for mum and some days she's busy then Im busy be it on evening shifts of what ever but we realised we could commit to one post for definite every 3 weeks! We may post between those times if we see if that something deserves a post on it's own or if a significant change happens. So here we go, only again I will write these in Diary form so theres a perspective of time with regards to the treatment and how it's been affecting her.

12th June Chemotherapy Day - First treatment 
Appointment was at midday and we were all asked to sit in the waiting room by the nurse and after about half hour of waiting and getting very angered by "Bargain Hunt" on the giant plasma TV, which was driving me to distraction as each seller went straight down to half the original price within the first haggle. Anyway I digress, we were finally called though to one of the treatment rooms which had space for 4 people to have treatment at one time. In addition to a giant lazy boy chair they get each there were two beds in the room incase any patients aren't feeling well and want to be laying down for their treatment. 

Mum was asked to sit in the squishy seat and was given a blanket, pillows for her arm and a table which the nurse put a bucket of warm water to bring the veins up on the hand. Now due to the previous cancer Mum cant have anything done to her left arm as she's had radiotherapy and the lymph nodes removed. After a few minutes or so the nurse came back over armed with a trolly of goodies (they weren't really good but it sounds nicer) and she sat down with Mum to put in the cannular into her right hand. Now thanks to the Monday trip to A&E that previous week they had pretty much ruined all the veins in her hand so they put it in the cephalic vein which is the one that runs up the the thumb and towards the index finger. I have to say from my perspective It looked like it hurt, no offence to the nurse as I think it was a struggle to get it in anyway but she was prodding around and boy did it look horrible. All being well once it was in it was ok. John at this point had to go sit in the waiting room whilst the lines where being put in, he's not very good with needles.

So the first bag they attached was Saline, which is to plump up the veins and prepare them for the Chemo. This took about half an hour to drip through, whilst this took place the fun "Cold Cap" was installed and I think that may be the worse part. Basically the cold cap is to help reduce the hair loss that can occur during Chemotherapy. It freezes the skull to minus 5 degree's and it takes you about about 15-20 minutes for your head to go numb then you don't notice it after that. This is what mum said about the Cold cap...

"The first 15 minutes where a total brain freeze I had to concentrate really hard to keep it on. But after that it was fine, it was heavy and slightly uncomfortable and after taking it off I needed to take some painkillers for the headache it gave me that was it really"

The cold cap needs to go on 30 minutes before the chemo starts, all the way through and then 30 minutes after. It seems to be a love hate thing if you can get through the first 20 minutes or so then it's okay but some people can't stand it which is fair enough. They do give you a heated blanket to help keep your body warm whilst you have the cold cap on so thats nice, in fact mum wanted to take it home with us at one point.

One the first bag of saline was through the next bag went up which was Steroids and this is to reduce sickness and help healing. After that finished it was onto the Chemotherapy. Now you are not meant to feel anything when having the treatment (other than maybe a cold head) if you do feel anything you are told to tell a nurse immediately and they are always within eyesight so it's never an issue. Personally I have never seen a ward with so many staff on it which is great! Once that had dripped through it was a final bag of saline and the final 30 minutes with the cold cap on. 

Now the whole process took about three to three and a half hours and after Mum felt..... fine. 

13th - 16th June
Slept well that night after the Chemo woke up early around 6am but didn't feel at all tired, it was the complete opposite she had an abundance of energy. The day involved a walk, 4 hours on the allotment, cleaned the windows and weeded the garden. Basically we had to take the wheel out of her cage to slow her down! It was a bit crazy. 

For the rest of the following days mostly sleep was un interrupted but she would wake up early and have a lot of energy. Breathing was fine as nothing really was different other than the change in waking up time, as mum is normally a good late sleeper (i.e. 9am if John lets her) 

17th - 19th June 
Sleeping pattern still the same as mentioned before the only new thing was diarrhoea   which started in the early morning and then would be gone by lunch time. This would make you feel not right and weak but like I said would go by the late morning. Started taking Anti sickness tablets which where given by the Nurses just incase she needed them. 

20th - 21st June
Fine and Dandy :) Went for a 3 mile into town and back on the 20th, no discomfort in breathing. 
Got to see the WIG we chose today - Will do a separate post on this as there is so much more to discuss!!!

22nd June 
Hickman line was put in today. As i mentioned on the first Chemo day Mums veins in her hand have been ruined so they have put in a permanent line on the chest which will stay for the duration of the treatment and for life as far as we are aware as Mum will have to have the Cancer drug Herceptin every three weeks forever. 

Mother says "Having this line put in was more weird than anything, I was awake but under Local anaesthetic. They had scanners and x-ray machines all standing by, I think it took more to time prep everything than to actually put the line in."

The most annoying thing after this operation seemed to be that Mum had to roll up a pillow to rest her body on and to keep her right arm elevated so there was no pressure on the line. So the only trouble has been sleeping with the thing. Other than that no worries. It was lots of tugging and poking but it's in now and that's that. 

23 -24th June 
Been feeling really good. Stopped taking the anti sickness pills. Taste buds back to normal and appetite has come back to what it was before. 

25th June - 2nd July
No problems at all this week, lungs have been drained once again by the lung man and this time they took 120ml off so breathing has massively improved. All has been a far better week. 

So that is all from one treatment to the next. If you liked of disliked this post please tell us as we want to be able to write it all in the best way possible. Any feedback will be great as we want to know if this is worth writing or not. Any questions please ask we would love to try and answer them if we can.

Final thought from Mother.....

"The whole thing has been really surreal. I think with not being able to breath I have found it more debilitating because I feel that if I didn't have the problem with the fluid on the lung I would be able to carry on and in some ways forget the whole thing is happening. I have had one really dark black moment and that was not long after being diagnosed, after being told that my life would be cut short, he can't cure me but he can control the disease. However having the chemotherapy has given me a sense of relief as I am now fighting back!" 

An Introduction...

Hello there, 

This may be considered by most people to be a very strange topic to actively blog about but a problem shared is a problem halved... no? Well either way I have set up this blog to help my mother and mostly me however if one other person reads this and finds a piece of information useful then it will be worth it in my opinion. 

Now I want to introduce myself first before I get into the nitty gritty part of why I have set up this blog, so here we go. I am a young healthy 25 year old woman working for the Royal Navy now shore based and I live at home with my parent's Pamela (Mother) and John (Step Dad)

(yes, I know I need to move out but life choices have put me here and I am very grateful that I have a home and a room to come back to no questions asked) I also have a sister who is older than me (just in actual age though) and we are all going through this together so It may be just me who writes on this or I may be able to get the other's to do so also. Although Pamela and John are not very tech savvy so we shall see. 

Right lets get down to it. This journey actually starts 15 years ago when trackie bottoms where the in thing and I had no cares in the world except if I was getting that Spice Girls CD for christmas! My Mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer after she found a small lump in her left breast, which was dismissed initially by the first doctor, who actually called her neurotic. However she insisted she wanted a second opinion and luckily she did. After a biopsy we discovered it was a grade 2 malignant tumour. The options at the time back then were far more cut throat and it was more of a case of we either take it out or we take them off!!! The decision was made to have a lumpectomy and remove the lymph nodes on the left side. This was followed by a 6 week course of radiotherapy and taking Tamoxifen for 5 years as well as yearly mammogram's. This then went to every other year and she was given the all clear by the Radiographer and was told she would never have cancer in that breast ever again. 

This now brings us to 2012 and I think I will lay this section out in more of a diary to try and show you the progression of how things have panned out so far....

23rd March

Routine 3 yearly mammogram - standard at this point. 

27th March 

Letter from the hospital requesting a second Mammogram (to be honest we knew this wasn't a good sign but no one really wanted to say that out loud)

4^th April

Second Mammogram

At this point Mum said to the nurse and doctor that that wasn’t a cyst, was it? And they confirmed no I’m sorry it’s not.

19th April 

Appointment with the surgeon regarding removing the cancer. 

She confirmed that this was cancer and it was malignant and gave Mum the option on what she could do at this point we were advised to think on it.

26^th April 


Appointment to see the breast care nurse. 
Decision was made to have the Diep reconstruction which could only be done at Salisbury hospital which meant that we had to wait for another appointment. Pamela also had to have a full body CT scan to make sure that the cancer had not spread elsewhere this was after this appointment but we cant recall the exact date. This told us that there was fluid around the lungs which explained the breathing problems Mum had complained about after coming back from holiday in early March after 7 weeks away. 

9th May

Consultation with the "Lung man" to establish what this fluid was and why it was happening. A biopsy of the fluid was taken at this point. 

10th May

Appointment at Salisbury Hospital regarding the reconstruction surgery

16th May

Follow up appointment with the lung man where he told us the Tumour was causing the fluid on the lungs and that there was also fluid around the heart. The fluid needed to be drained before anything could be addressed regarding the cancer removal. So this was booked for that friday. 

18th May-22nd May

Admitted into Shawford ward in WInchester Hospital for the drain to be put in and she was going to be in for the whole weekend and it would be looked at on the Tuesday by the Lung Man to make sure he was happy. This was not a fun five days at all. Mother's comment as I write "It hurt"

22nd May 

Still in hospital, saw the Lung man and 2.3 litres had been removed in total. He was happy for the drain to be taken out and for mum to be discharged. 

29th May

Appointment to see the Oncologist - It was then realised that this fluid wasn't going to go away on it's own it was a secondary cause by the cancer in the Breast. This then changed the plan of action massively and the cancer would have to be shrunk first before they would remove it and do the reconstruction. So Chemotherapy would be the next step. 

4th June 

Not Planned - John took Mum to A&E early in the morning as she had complained of a chest pain that wasn't going away. She was Admitted to the McGill ward for observation and they wanted to establish she wasn't having a heart attack - She wasn't it was the fluid on the heart cause the pain. 

5th June 

Talk with the Nurse at the Chemotherapy ward in Winchester. Addressing what would happen, the treatment, how it worked, the side effects and the Cancer drug which she would be going on also. 

6th June

Another appointment to see the Lung Man again and he was surprised how much fluid had re accumulated on the lungs so it was decided that he would drain them again the Friday. 

7th June 

Echocardiogram to check the functionality of the heart - All OK :) 

8th June

Second drain of the Lung 1.2 Litres taken this time. This was done as a out patient and was completed within an hour if that! A much better experience than the first time! 

12th June 

The first appointment for the Chemotherapy (Docetaxel is the Chemo and the wonder drug is Herceprin which is to follow with the next treatment) 

#ChemoTuesday as Natasha and I refer to it now on Twitter! 

And that brings us up to date. I have just left is as facts for the appointments this year to give you a layout of how it has panned out. With regards the to First Chemotherapy treatment, this will be a blogpost on its own so that we can sit down together, Mother and I and go throughout everything in a longwinded manner! We wanted to go through all of the high's and the lo's with you as there isn't much information about personal experience of Chemotherapy so we thought we would start the conversation and you can join in as and when you wish.

So that’s our story. Thanks for listening xxxx

P.S. If you read this whole thing you deserve a medal!