Hi Jane
Just spoken with mum today and she's feeling less tired and not so sicky, so that's good news. 🙂 It's been three weeks since she had her breast biopsy and the lump area is still painful which is a bit worrying. Think I'll speak with her breast care nurse tomorrow for advice. She starts taking her breast meds tomorrow, so on top of chemo hopefully will start to work. It's a bit worrying that her breast is hurting as it wasn't really before they did the biopsy, and also now she still has a 2nd little lump which she didn't have at all before the biopsy.
Trying not to worry but this is now concerning me more than the Myeloma.
Love Sandie x
Hi Jill
Haven't spoken for a while, but I am glad to hear your mum is doing so well on her treatment. I hope she continues to get better and better.
Take care.
love Sandie x:-)
Hi Jane
Thanks for your best wishes. It's like 'how much more can God throw at you'. In saying all that mum is handling her illness/ess very well. Had a bad week last week as she felt sicky and tired. Trouble is as well as the cancer she is 87, and on lots of other meds which all add to her tiredness. Still, she hasn't had any more infections since she started taking penicillin so that's good news.
I believe you are newelly diagnosed, so I wish you well in your treatment ahead. Let's all look forward to some sun and heat. It's just got to start soon, hasn't it?:-/
Love Sandie x
Hi Tom. Sorry not to have got back to you earlier. Mum is doing fine on her chemo at the moment, although last week she had a 'sicky, tired week'.:-S Hoping that this week she will feel better. Took her third course of Cyclo. yesterday and we go back for results on the 15th, and she will have her first infusion of Zometa. With regards to the breast cancer, she had a phone call yesterday to say that her meds were ready for collection. Don't think it's Tamoxifen, but I know the BC Consultant was going to speak with Haemo to discuss the best treatment to go with Cyclo. After the biopsy the lump (or should or I say lumps (another one popped up next to the main one), got huge, but then went down again. Don't know what happened there. We'll just keep an eye on it over the next couple of months and hope the new meds added in with chemo will shrink it.
I'm very glad to hear that Elaine has done so well with the BC treatment. It's good that you can be there for each other.
Best wishes to both of you.
Love Sandie x
Hi Jean
Thanks for your best wishes. There are four grades, one being the least invasive so we are thankful for that at least. I had a bad feeling when they got the results back so quickly (which just goes to prove they can. Test done Wednesday afternoon and results back by following Monday afternoon). The news could have been a lot worse though so we are grateful for that. Mum is wonderfully strong and doesn't let it get her down, which makes me strong also. We will continue the appointments, the treatments etc., and just get on with life. I hope your husband's treatments are doing well, and that you can both look forward to a nice summer, if we ever get one of course:-| Love Sandiexx
Thanks Mavis. I think there must be someone up there who is giving us strength as we are not stressing out after the news. Just taking things day by day and hoping that everything will just be contained and hopefully the lump will get smaller with treatment. It is quite large at 28mm and once mum starts on Tamoxifen (or alternative), we've been told to keep an eye on it's size as if it doesn't respond with one med. they can try it on another. Mum's breast is black and blue from the biopsy so won't be able to feel it until that has gone down. I've read a Macmillan book on DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ), and generally it is a contained cancer, but can spread out into other tissue. Let's hope that with the chemo and Tamoxifen, it will shrink it.
Love Sandiexx
Great news Peter. Have a lovely Easter.
Sandie x
Dear Gill. I am so sorry to hear about Stephen. I didn't notice the date and you are right I hadn't read all the posts. What can I say apart from I am very sorry. I hope you are coping. Take care. Love Sandie x
Hi Jill, hope your mum is doing well now. How is she with her current treatment and has she seen her Consultant for results yet. I hope her MM levels have come down. I posted in the treatment forum as well so you have probably picked up my news on mum's breast lump. We are meant to be going for results on Monday, although everyone says this is very soon as it wouldn't have even been a week. It's snowing here so I think I will ring them before we set off as I don't want a wasted journey if the results are not back. They have already warned us we will probably have a long wait for that clinic. Am hoping it will be a benign lump or something to do with the Myeloma rather than another cancer!
Speak soon. Love Sandiex
Thanks for posting this Peter. I may be put on Bisphosphonates not because of Myeloma (although my PP levels are 7.9 and are creeping up everytime I see the Consultant). I am being tested for Osteoporosis as I have fractured a vertebrae. My Haemo. did check my MRI scan and confirmed it was nothing to do with Myeloma. I am very concerned after reading about Osteocronosis as I have always had problems with teeth and my jaw is not brilliant. Am seeing the dentist next week as I have a problem with pain above a front tooth and certainly don't want to start taking Bis. until I get this sorted. I'll take a copy of this when I go back to see my Doctor.
Best wishes.
Sandie
Hi Gill
Very sorry to hear Stephen may have a secondary cancer. My mum is 87 and has been on chemo for just a month. She had an MRI scan because she has bone lesions and this picked up something in her breast. Hence we went off to the breast clinic and they were just cysts, but the mammo showed a lump in her other breast which they were concerned about. She has had a core biopsy and now we wait for the results. The Consultant said they would check to see if it was due to Myeloma or breast cancer. I can't believe I am hoping for the former, like Stephen my mum doesn't need another cancer as a primary. I only thought these lesions were in the bone so I was a bit taken aback when the Consultant said they can form in soft tissue too. I wish you and Stephen well in his treatment and hope the lump in his neck is part of the Myeloma.
Love Sandiex
Hi Dai & Jill.
I think the reason why mum's Consultant said drink 1 1/2 litres, is because she has two heart murmurs and poor circulation, hence the swollen legs and ankles. I think he felt that to drink more would put extra strain on her heart. I agree with you, I think the 'sicky' feeling is down to the chemo and not Clasteon, and I think mum realises this now. She won't be receiving her Zometa infusion until her next Consultation, and hope they can find a vein ok, as she had to keep having her canula moved around when she came out of hospital and veins were disappearing. Hopefully by another few weeks time they will have popped up again:-D. Forgot to mention to mum about taking Domperidone the day before starting chemo again. She re-started Monday and took 2 x 3 times a day Monday-Wednesday. Will check on her again later to see how her stomach is. I know they say to take for 2-3 days, but is there any problem in taking them every day?
We have been dealt a bit of a blow. Following mum's MRI for her bone lesions, it showed up some nodes in her right breast and they suggested she get them checked out at the breast clinic. We went yesterday and she had a mammo and ultrasound and the nodes were just cysts. However, the mammo showed a lump in her left breast which they were concerned about so they did a core biopsy and we go back for results on Monday. Obviously the MRI hadn't covered her left breast, and had they not found the nodes in the right we wouldn't have been referred to the clinic and they wouldn't have done the mammo. The last time mum had one of these done was about 40 years ago. The Consultant did say Myeloma can go into soft tissue and that's why they needed to do the biopsy, however I have googled this and it is very rare. I'm worried now that it may be a breast cancer and mum really doesn't need something else to contend with. Even it it was she wouldn't have surgery, but they did suggest putting her on Tamoxifen (another tablet to take to add to her many others…)
Trying not to worry too much until we get the results, but woke with it on my mind and just feeling quite down. Not made any better by picking up a voicemail from a friend to say her husband's mother had just passed away. Trying to keep strong for my mum as I don't want her to see me getting upset. We were dealing ok with the MM and treatment even after the sepsis, but if this is a separate cancer now it puts much more worry on the whole situation. I know mum is 87, but the thought of losing her makes me feel ill and my stomach is taking the strain. It sounds strange to say 'hoping the lump will be down to Myeloma rather than breast cancer'. My mum's mother died from breast cancer in her 40's and my sister died from breast cancer in her 40's. I guess the % of women who get this cancer is really high and of course the older you get the more chance you have of developing it. I had thought mum's generation had missed it when my sister was diagnosed. I am praying for some good news on Monday….
Love to you both
Sandie xx
Hi Jill. Been meaning to reply today but had the BT engineer in for the afternoon updating my broadband. Thanks for letting me know about Dex. Mum was worried about weight gain as she is already quite 'round' to put it nicely. I would rather her be plump than thin though as she looks healthy and pretty, and at least if she is ill has some 'reserves' to fall back on. I'll take a note of what your mum is on when next we see the Consultant. I'm glad he's put mum on penicillin. Shame she wasn't given it at the start as she wouldn't have had the sepsis, but never mind, hopefully from now on she will be fine:-) Mum is already on Omeprazole, and has been since she had a bleeding ulcer after her knee replacement a couple of years ago. Hopefully this would stop any problems. I'm hoping that when we go back in a months time her PP levels may have dropped a bit. If she can avoid taking steroids as long as possible that would be good, but if they haven't dropped I think the Consultant suggested adding a bit of steroid in, which suggests a low dose. Mum always tends to be tired but then she takes various pills including Co-codamol for her arthritis, and I take those as well so I know they make you tired. Plus of course she is 87, so it is to be expected that she will be tired at times.
I hope your mum is keeping her spirits up and keeping well.
Have a good weekend.
Love Sandie x
Hi Tom.
Mum saw Haemo. Consultant yesterday and she is continuing with her Amoxicillan until Monday and then he is putting her on maintenance Penicillin of 250mg twice day for the duration. Makes sense as hopefully this will prevent further infections. She had only managed two weeks of chemo and her blood test showed that her PP levels had gone up from 32 to 34, but then I wouldn't have expected too much after two weeks. Mum is re-starting chemo next Monday and then we go back after a new month of chemo. He did say that if her PP levels hadn't gone down at all he may put her on some steroids. :-S. Not sure mum is very happy about that as she worries about her weight. Would steroids help her osteo arthritis pain do you think and what side effects could she expect if she goes this route? Anyway keeping fingers crossed the chemo alone will be effective. Our Haemo Consultant is really lovely and asked me how I was doing too. Good news my spine has nothing to do with Myeloma of course, but not happy that I have a fracture and one of my vertebrae has gone wedge shape. Still have pain into my ribs but not as bad as it was a month ago. Bit worried about going on Bisphosphonates as I've read about Osteocronosis of jaw:-( . My jaw isn't brilliant now, however Consultant said for Osteoporosis I would be given something milder to make my bones stronger. Wouldn't repair the damage but hopefully wouldn't get any worse. He did mention that if the pain got worse they could do Kyphoplasty? the same as MM people. I saw my Ortho Consultant today as my right knee needs a replacement:-( , but I've got too many other things going on this year to even consider it. I'm only 60 but osteo arthritis runs in family. Don't know anyone else in family with Osteoporosis, and I certainly don't fit the criteria, so don't understand why I have it. Anyway, waiting for a DEXA test to see if I do have it and how bad. Now I'm being a bit dim I know, what do you mean by R/T? I really do need advice on what exercise I can do now as I think I need to strengthen muscles as well as build bone. Hope you are well and in a period of remission.
Love Sandiex
Hi Tom. Well had results back and thankfully not connected with Myeloma. I would have been a bit shocked if it had been as my PP levels are only 7.9. Because Mum has MM, the Consultant was just being careful. However, I'm now being tested for Osteoporosis as one of my vertebrae had fractured which is not good news! This all happened after a bad cough, although I have had problems with my spine over a period of years, but generally only affected me in summer when I bent over a lot doing gardening. Still have pain spreading into my ribs and can't twist properly but the Doc says this is probably my body's way of protecting my spine. Looks like I will be put on Bisphosphonates to protect any further damage but the Doc doesn't think that will help the damage I already have which is a bit depressing. Will have to seek advice on what excercise I can do now. Mum is feeling well now and we see the Haematologist tomorrow to discuss re-starting her chemo after the sepsis. Hope you are doing well.
Love Sandie x