Snazy

lol yeah credit where credit is due, the line was a good one, but it fell at the first hurdle lol.
Dont blame her for being afraid. Guess im a bit normalised to drugs these days, the amount I have been on over the past few years. And of course these are pretty serious ones too.

She has gone to work this morning, after taking some last night and some this morning, so lets see how she goes. Hopefully no side effects will develop. I want to be in Wales on Wednesday, so fingers crossed

Leslie

Very glad to hear she is taking it now Snazy, hopefully when she finds the effects are not as bad as she might think she will stick with it.

Les

Snazy

She is still moaning about having a cold. I said if the side effects are over shadowed by a cold you have nothing to worry about

Bless her it was her turn to worry and come see me in hospital today lol

Snazy

Well I knew this was coming I guess.

Guess who has decided NOT to go to Wales to see her sister !

Snazy's Space

Leslie

I am sorry all that happened Snazy. She really is giving you a hard time.

I think you may have to have a session where you have to give her the facts straight from the shoulder. Of course she is on the back foot but she is causing you trouble and anxiety which is doing you no good at all. I think you have to make it clear how her attitudes are affecting so many and you really are only trying to do the best for her. She also really has a duty to let her sister know what is happening of course.

Only you know your mum well enough to know if that approach would work, but somehow she has got to be persuaded to take the treatment properly to give her the best chance.

On the other hand, I think that you should also try to get the doctors to sort out your personal health properly as soon as possible too.

Les

Snazy

Oh trust me I am spending half my life at the doctors, hospitals and physiotherapists these days!
Im keeping tabs on my health the best I can

Suprisingly she is fine today, and in great health again. Dare I say a little smug about wriggling out of it. So I have been very to the point about telling her of the impact its caused. And the plans its blown apart.

While she is now fit enough to come up there, she is strangely fit enough to come to Leighton to get the tattoo tomorrow. Go figure.

When I get a chance over the coming days I will make sure I speak quite openly about the whole matter, and impress upon her the whole issue of her sister.

To add to it all now, I have just received an artist impression of the planned building next door, following the collapse.
The stress of anything else happening there now would just be too much I think, for us both. So I am trying to get my head around things,... FAST !

Leslie

You could do with a good night out with some mates Snazy, to take your mind off it for a while and to help you relax a bit.

Les

Snazy

Is that a polite way of saying "get out a bit and get a life"
Just kiddin. I know what you mean, and I do from time to time, just not as relaxed as I could be.
Knowing how useless my sister is does not put my mind at rest to relax enough.

But I do go cinema etc, and Florida cant come soon enough. Just wish the stubborn cow would come with us.

Leslie

Yes you do know, roll on Florida then. Maybe she will decide to come eventually.

Les

Snazy

Well after a rather stressful day yesterday with money worries, today my focus is back on mum.

Back to Guys Hospital this morning for the end of chemo checks.
Then Lewisham Hospital for me this afternoon for physio...

Snazy's Space

Leslie

Hope the chemo has been successful Snazy. I imagine she will have to keep on with it anyway.

Like the ink, does it hurt when they did it?

Les

Snazy

Yup chemo has been "quite" successful, with the lump shrinking 2cm's in one direction, or 1/3 of its total size. They are happy with that.
However due to her having a cold and chest infection she is not allowed to carry on to the second round of chemo yet.

Back to the hospital this time next week for a full check up and to see if she can start round 2.

Today was full examination, blood tests and spinal xray.
A carrier bag full of meds too.

Now im off to hospital for myself this afternoon. What a depressing day !

Love the ink , nope cant say it hurts really. 3.5 hours and no "pain" as such. Just a bit of discomfort and a twitchy achey leg (left side lol)

Leslie

That is very good news about the shrinking, thats a lot in the time. That is more or less what happened to my good friend whom I mentioned. His original tumour has just about disappeared but he still has the ones in his liver which they are controlling successfully.

Hope your hospital visit all turns out well, and that your mum will change her mind about seeing her sister.

Les

Snazy

Right, another little update
After a week off the chemo, and another week with a cold type virus, mum has started back on the chemo today. Same oral one she was taking before.

Progress on the first course was good, they are happy with it, and monitoring her health. So far no terrible side effects as she expected. However she is getting aches and pains here and there. Particularly one in her wrist. A swelling where she can no longer put her watch on. I knew nothing about this until we got to the hospital and she mentioned it to the nurse. Needless to say she got a mouthful from me lol.

Due to power problems at the hospital an appointment had not been sent out to her, but phoning up on the day, they were helpful and told her the time etc.

So now the second course has begun, there are 2 long weeks on the tablets, then mum is back off for a day of scans, xrays and other checks to see the true progress of it all. Thats going to be an interesting time.

Im the meantime, im looking at returning to work for the time being, but making sure I have the time to be there every step of the way. When there is need, I wont work, really as simple as that. And in the long term if it all works out the way I want it to.... that ability to do that should get better.

I have realised the importance of me going along to each appointment is not only supportive, but also organisation too. She dont have a clue how to get round te hospital, but then Guys can be a nightmare anyway. And loses her appointment cards almost the second they are given to her.

SO thats that.....
Lump shrinking, prognosis pretty much the same as it was, she is still in good spirit, and pretty good health. What more could you want.
Oh and the fish are great therapy. Big pat on my back for that one lol.

Leslie

Really glad to hear the Chemo is doing its job Snazy. The side effects vary from one person to another, but worth putting up with when it is doing good. You are right of course, your support for her at the hospital is vital and makes a huge difference to the way she copes with it.

Les

Snazy

cheers.
Yeah she seems much more upbeat about the whole chemo thing now. I got the impression she was almost looking forward to getting on to round 2.

I have not missed an appointment yet, however in the same breath my sister has not made one yet! But prefers to send text messages. Nor has she been seen at the house almost since the diagnosis. Anyone would think it was catching!

I understand she is worried, and clearly not coping too well, but I just cant get my head around it tbh.
I wake up to hear mym mum choking away on stuff she brings up thanks to the COPD, keep an eye on her during chemo, and try to surround her with things to keep her entertained and occupied... My sister has done nothing!

Im gonna buy mum a lil DAB radio today, she has taken a shine to listening to LBC when in the car, so thought I would extend that ability

Leslie

Mrs Leslie looked after her senile mum for a good few years, its unbelievably hard work but no doubt its a labour of love. You are doing well too Snazy.

Les

Snazy

Another big day on the hospital front.
After a week off the second round of chemo its time to go back to Guys to see how things have moved on.

Mum feels confident that the lump has shrunk even more. However amongst many checks today its scan and xrays too, so if there has been any spreading it will be evident.

So most of the morning and a chunk of the afternoon will be spent in Guys Hospital today, so I better take something to read or do lol.

Updates on our return

Leslie

Fingers crossed here.

Les

Snazy

Well, the results are in, but with her not paying much attention to what people say these days, its getting harder and harder to work out whats what.

It appears they have again requested to perform surgery, and again been told no. The next thing was radiotherapy but again, refused.
It appears they feel they can get rid of one of the lumps completely, but again she has taken so little notice of what they were saying, its unclear what this actually means.
However as this would require one of the 2 above treatments, its not about to happen anyway.

Terminal still? Who knows. From what I understood, the prognosis would NOT be changing, but with the patchy news from today, maybe it has.
I am going to have to wait now another 3 weeks til she goes to see them again, and this time go in with her, and get the low down once and for all.

She is getting tired of being on chemo now, starting the 3rd round of it from tomorrow I believe. But by all accounts she will not entertain having any more after this.

Spent from 10am til 5pm in the hospital today, and I have to say it drained the life right out of me. Selfish as that may sound.

Leslie

Yes I can imagine how you felt after all that Snazy, it does wear you down alright.

I really hope you can persuade her to get the lump removed and to keep on with the chemo. It would increase her chances of course and the chemo may well sort out the remaining lump. They would only recommend that if they feel it is worthwhile. I fully realise how difficult it is to change someone's mind when it has been made up, but you can only try.

Good luck anyway.

Les

Snazy

Right, I just thought I would do the right thing and give some updates for anyone interested...

On speaking to mum last week she mentioned some bleeding around the lump, where its poking through the skin now, causing her a bit of discomfort, and lots of washing with the blood and other gunk coming out of it.

So, as you do, I contacted the hospital for a follow up check, as she has not been having any examinations since she stopped the chemo back in the spring/summer. I got an appointment for the next day, and took her to the local hospital, who referred her to Guys again, to discuss Radiotherapy.

Strangely she actually went along with this, and yesterday we went to Guys for a consultation, and check up. After a bit of a chat, and a Q&A session with the doctor, she has agreed to "try" Radiotherapy if she is suitable for it.
The worry for her, and the doctors is that the Radiotherapy will cause damage to the lung behind the breast. Problem there is, she has COPD too, so cant afford to lose much more lung function.

So im waiting on a call to arrange her next appointment which will be for a CT scan, to check lung condition and location of where they need to direct the treatment to the lump, and to see if its possible to do it at all.

If it is, then they have suggested 6 treatments, once weekly of a large dose, and are confident that she will respond well to it. What this means for the actual prognosis is really unknown at this time. But I do need to sit down with the doctors and discuss this in full some time soon.


In the meantime, my sister... Well she has found out she was pregnant about 4-6 weeks ago now. After a recovery and starting to come around, she has now decided that its too far to travel from the next street, so does not come around to see mum anymore.
On finding out mum was going to be having radiotherapy, she asked "is Michael going with you?"
Since finding out she was pregnant, she has been round....... ONCE! November 2nd........ Her birthday. Stayed 10 mins to collect cards and presents, then disappeared into the dark winter evening.
I saw her this morning outside the school she works at, and I KNOW she saw me, as the kids were all shouting about the dog (I was walking Tuvaaq).. her response was to walk inside the gates and avoid me. Nice eh.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

great news that your mum has decided on some treatment.........hope all goes well snazy

Snazy

Cheers luv, fingers crossed here. With the doctor feeling it will respond well to the treatment, I can only hope she is suitable.
The doc said if all goes well, they will give the other side a go too.
In the meantime she has to have once weekly consultations with the doctor too after each treatment.

Looks like I might be taking a day off once a week for 6 weeks.
Thankfully just got my new hours at work agreed, so I lose less for being off for a day. They have been good about it to date. But I think the legal case might have something to do with that too lol.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

i remember my mum having the radiotherapy on her chest and brain. it can cause further damage but you have to decide what you want out of it. they told my mum that the treatment on her brain would damage it but as she was terminal then it wasnt an issue. they said it would age the brain.

fingers crossed for you

Snazy

Same sort of situation here, with mum being terminal. But she wants to keep a little bit of mobility left after the treatment. That said, she is having trouble with her chest again. But in usual fashion, refusing to see a doctor about that either. Guess I will be sorting that out too. lol

Im hoping it will give her a bit more time, to hopefully see her 4th grandchild born, and spend some time with it.

RJM25R

iTrader: (1)

Good luck mate., seen this thread for the first time today.

Went through this last year with my dad. Sounds like your sister is in denial about the whole thing, usually an obvious sign of depression :-(

Try not to be TOO hard on her.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

I hope it all goes well Michael.

Snazy

Its a tough one, I have tried to convince myself thats all it is, but I cant help but think there is a serious selfish streak there too. All to happy to come and talk about it when the end game is to come away with something.

Cheers Sal

FlightMan

I hope it all goes well for you and your Mum Michael.

Keeping my fingers crossed.