joining the network.
I decided to join the network because I am the carer of my 25 year old sister who will begin her 18 week chemotherapy next Thursday. We live together in Brisbane without much family as most are in other states or overseas. Hopefully we will meet some wonderful people through the network!
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Oh so young! It's really not fair, is it? This horrible disease doesn't discriminate on age or personal circumstances
I have found this network a wonderful support and feel like I have a whole new group of friends...I hope we can all help you too, Gemma (and your sister).
If you ever need someone to chat to we are always here for you and this site is such a wealth of information and personal experiences!
Take care and come visit any time,
Louise
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Oh so young! It's really not fair, is it? This horrible disease doesn't discriminate on age or personal circumstances
I have found this network a wonderful support and feel like I have a whole new group of friends...I hope we can all help you too, Gemma (and your sister).
If you ever need someone to chat to we are always here for you and this site is such a wealth of information and personal experiences!
Take care and come visit any time,
Louise
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Thanks for the welcome Louise!
I read your profile. Did your 2nd tumor show up on the other breast or where you had the mastectomy?
My sister eventually needs to consider having her other breast removed. She had a mastectomy of the right. She does start chemo on thursday. Her name is Tanya K on the network.
Take care, Gemma
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Thanks for the welcome Louise!
I read your profile. Did your 2nd tumor show up on the other breast or where you had the mastectomy?
My sister eventually needs to consider having her other breast removed. She had a mastectomy of the right. She does start chemo on thursday. Her name is Tanya K on the network.
Take care, Gemma
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Hi Gemma and Tanya
I will echo Louise in your sis is too young for this, but in saying that there are heaps of young ones here and I am hoping that you and your sister will find support from others in similar age. I thought I was young at 36 when was diagnosed. There are currently about 3 or 4 new members in the 25 - 33 age bracket and I know that one of them is also from USA living in Australia so maybe they could catch up online??
Feel free to ask many questions. I personally had a Left mastecomy in 2007 and chose to have my other breast off and reconstruction last year. chemo sux but is doable and there is a wonderful life after all the crappy bits are out of the way.
Take care and talk to you both some more. I used to feel for my sister when I was going through chemo, she was a rock (along with my husband), i think at least going through chemo and BC you are at least in the drivers seat, where as my sister felt for me but couldnt really do much to help and she suffered badly but we are closer than ever before.
Love Tanya
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Hi Gemma
My 2nd tumour was in the other breast and wasn't a secondary but a new breast cancer. When I had the left side off in 2003 I considered having both off at the time but wasn't in a position to make that decision - it was all so much to take in! In retrospect I wish I had and then maybe I wouldn't be going through what I am going through now.....but it's all very good in hindsight, isn't it?! It is a very difficult decision to have a perfectly healthy breast cut off and at the time I was told that my odds of it coming back in the other breast were not that high.
Good luck to Tanya on Thursday - I hope she copes well with the chemo. It is doable but make sure she gets some rest in the few days after each treatment. I found that each time I felt different. It wasn't a cummulative thing, just different each time. The first one made me feel really tired and a bit queasy (like morning sickness) for a few days and then I just felt really tired for up to a week after the treatment. The second one was really quite easy and I just felt tired. The third one knocked me for six! I felt really sick and really tired and it took almost 2 weeks to feel "normal" again and then the 4th one was much like the second - pretty easy, just tired. She will most likely lose her sense of taste for a few days (completely normal and it does come back!) and may feel like her mouth has been burnt (the roof of my mouth felt like sandpaper after about a week after chemo). If she needs to have Neulasta injections after the chemo treatments she may get achy joints.
Anyway, talk again soon,
Louise
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Thank-you Louise, Di, and Tanya. I just read out the messages you all sent. My sister is on day 3 after chemo. She is fatigued and lost her normal taste. She is getting rest. She doesn't have to have the neulasta injections. She said she felt 100 % this morning but it only lasted for about 2 hours and then needed to rest again. I will try to find the young American girl.
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