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Sunday 7th September 2008

I never imagined that my life would turn out the way it has.  Feeling really down at the moment.  It feels like I have been ill forever.  It's been a really tough couple of months with feeling so tired and ill all the time.  I feel for Mya more than anything else as she’s watched her mum either lying on the sofa or in bed most of her summer break.  I’ve also been too tired to update my blog on the website.

So a quick update as to what has been happening.

I went to see a surgeon in London to see if he would be prepared to perform a double mastectomy on me.  Dr Kopic has said that I need to have the operation as soon as I can.  The good news is that the surgeon said he could do it, but it would be tough as the cancer is creeping up to my collar bone on the right hand side.  He wasn’t prepared to commit until I had seen one of the oncologists that he works with. 

An appointment was made for a couple of days later.  The oncologist was lovely.  He listened to everything I had to say, examined me, and then said he thought that if I wanted a double mastectomy he could see no reason why I couldn’t have one.  I was absolutely over the moon.  I had been told by my doctor in Reading, for the past 3 years, that it would not be possible for me to have the operation.  When I thanked him, the oncologist replied that he’d never before been thanked for recommending someone have both her breasts removed.

I informed my own oncologist about my visits to the consultants in London.  He listened to what I had to say about their views.  Then after examining me he said that he was prepared to consider the surgery, but wouldn’t make any decisions until he had received the reports from them.

I have started a new chemo regime as the other one was completed on the 29th July.  I am now taking Capecitabine (chemo in tablet form), Lapatinib (monoclonal antibody drug that was licensed in the UK a few weeks ago), Herceptin and Avastin (both I.V. infusions).  Quite a cocktail of drugs.  I’ve had Capecitabine before, so wasn’t too worried about it.  It worked really well for about 9 months the last time I had it and, apart from slightly upset stomach, I didn’t remember having too many side effects either. 

Completely different story this time.  I’m suffering big time with diarrhea and nausea, so much so that I am too nervous to leave the house without having the anti-diarrhea and anti-sickness tablets and even then only go out when I absolutely need to.  I am also still feeling exhausted all the time.  I don’t know if it is just that I have had so much chemo or whether it is due to the two infections that I just found out about.  I was told a few days ago that as well as a urine infection, I have quite a nasty infection on my port site which is still weeping and hasn’t healed (it was inserted over 2 months ago).  I am having to have it cleaned every day and hope that it will clear up on it’s own as it is resistant to anti-biotics.  

I haven’t been to Germany in the past two months as I have been worried about flying and receiving the thermotherapy treatment whilst having an open wound.  I also spoke to my UK oncologist about the embolisation procedure that Dr Kopic had recommended that I have.  He felt very strongly that I should not have this treatment as, he thought, it would do more damage than good.  He said that it would rot my skin and would also stop the chemo getting to the tumours.  It works by blocking off the blood supply to the tumours.  The chemo is administered via the blood supply.  I am very confused.  Don’t know what to do.  Have contacted the Leonardis Klinik, but have not heard back from them as yet.

I also had a CT scan on my abdomen.  I requested the scan as I have been getting a lot of stomach pains over the last couple of months.  My oncologist thought that it may be related to having the port put in, but it is on the opposite side of my tummy and it just doesn’t feel right.  So I requested a scan.  I hate waiting for results.  Hopefully it will come back all clear next week.  Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

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