My Story

Hi, everyone just introducing myself. I have created this group for the benefit of women in the western Sydney area. I have advanced breast cancer and  have mets down my spine, ribs, hip even one in my right toe and one on the top of my head. My ribs are painful sometimes when I take a deep breath in or lie on something hard. But I cope with it and its really not that bad. My last scan showed that I was "stable"… . I wasn't going to do the whole "This is my story thing" on here ... . but now I've stated I don't think I can stop.  So sorry everyone but I think you are a great understanding group of people.

I had a sore hip / inner thigh for a while. Went to Physio for several weeks with no improvement. Had a hip xray which was clear and I was also checked for an inguinal hernia. At this time I could hardly walk, I had a bad limp and could just manage to lift my right leg off the ground. Honestly, sleeping and getting in and out of bed was terrible. It would take me several minutes to maneuver myself in and out and turning over was just as bad. So I resorted to using a crutch to relieve some of the pain and later moved onto a walking stick. To crouch down and then get up was impossible I had to go on all fours and get up that way. Physio continued with no improvement so the Doc sent me for a lower lumber CT scan.

So on the 5th Aug 2010my Doc gives me the news that the scans were consistent with metastatic disease in multiple parts of the lower vertebrae. A further mammogram, CT and bone scan confirmed breast cancer with 2 tumors and many mets mainly in the spine, hip and ribs.

"I am a believer in that things happen for a reason. Sometimes we will never know the reason. Even though I'm not happy about cancer - I do try and be grateful that it did not happen when I was younger, when the kids were small as I wouldn't even be able to pick them up."

So the next few days were taken up with tests, scans etc. They found several breast lumps HER2+ and widespread “hot spots” – mets on the vertebra, tip of each shoulder bone, problem one in the hip, one on top of the head and a few spots in other places. So lifting things and walking at this stage was a big problem. Now I suppose I am lucky in that I work from home (we have an Ebay business)  if this wasn’t the case then I defiantly would have had to give up work as it would have been impossible to get to work and walk around or lift things etc.

"Getting cancer must be unbelievably difficult for people alone or single parents, it would be so, so hard being in an empty house – I take my hat off to those people."

12th Aug 2010 was the first day of treatment: Monthly – Zoladex – Hormone treatment and bone strengthening IV infusions to strengthen the bone and reduce chances of a break. This went on for a few months and I had radiation to the hip area for 5 days. This worked wonders. Presently I am being treated with Arimidex, Herceptin and still Zoladex and Zometa. I had a 6 week course of Taxol so I would qualify for free Herceptin (in Australia it is $70,000 otherwise).

Presently I am doing OK – I can walk again and do 30 mins of aerobics every 3rd day – I believe this has helped my mobility immensely. I am not having chemo presently and my last lot of scans showed I was “stable”. I obviously have advanced breast cancer but my condition has improved drastically from when I was first diagnosed – so I am grateful for that.

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself but try and remember there are many people worse off like the souls who instantly lose their life in accidents, or who are murdered, left with severe disabilities, have strokes or heart attacks or those who are on dialysis and have only months to find a kidney. At least I have time and maybe many, many years. I think you have to have a positive attitude and try and be content with what life bestows on you.

My husband has left his full time job (he didn’t like it anyway) and we have expanded our Ebay business to make up for his lost income. So I handle the purchasing, listings, financial issues and he does the packing and heavy lifting. So far so good.

So that is my story, I would very much like to get a group started and make contact with ladies in a similar position.

Thanks Cherie