New To BCNA

@GavinCh Wonderful to hear from you & to read that karen has finished her rad treatment. I hope she is doing well & remind her that the rad peaks around 3 weeks AFTER treatment finishes so it is important to keep the lotions applied & keep out of the sun. She may continue to feel tired but that is normal. Rest when she needs to but take a nice walk together in the sunshine when she feels up to it.
A HUGE congrats to you, Gavin for your continual support & love to Karen. Some partners find it hard to deal with their loved one going through this disease, as you have probably read on others posts, but you are an inspiration. I know karen will make a full & quick recovery due to the strength you have given her & the unconditional love you both share. Love to you both xx 

Impressive Tat!!

Congratulations to Karen for getting thru her active treatment - It will probably take weeks for the 'hot feeling' to settle down - and being weary & is very much a part of this.  Sometimes I would soak a facecloth in salty water & leave it in the fridge & put it on some troublesome spots, to cool it down.  It was glorious!   I hope her skin issues clear up soon - just make sure she keeps any lotions up to the whole area (with advice from the nurses in conjunction with the meds) & to make sure that she wears 'sun proof' clothing - as the area will be very prone to sunburn, if exposed to it.  

And a HUGE congratulations to you too, @GavinCh  for your wonderful support of Karen.  She couldn't have done it without you.

You've both found strengths that you didn't know you had & faced this together! 

Onwards & upwards -  hopefully Karen's meds won't give her any side effects - if so, drop in now & then, to let us know how she is going - better still - get Karen to jump on & join in & see just how beneficial the blog can be, for support, advice, a laugh & sometimes, a cry.

Take care & all the best for Karen's continuing treatment xx

Hi All, so sorry I've not been back to update this post until now, life has been very busy as you could guess. Below are some comments I posted our Karen's private FaceBook Journey and I thought now would be a great time to let all know on where things are with Karen.

Last Friday (30/08/2019) was Karen's last day of radiotherapy, she has done very well considering where this all started.

Karen is very tired and very sore these days and we keep being told that even though treatment has now finished things will get worse before it gets better. I was lucky enough to be with Karen for her last week visiting the Hospital and was able to help out during the week by driving her in and out each day but also to provide support for her as this week would see the treatment intensified for the last week.

The Hospital staff have been fantastic and we cannot say one bad thing about the people or the hospital, one of Karen's nurses (Lena) has looked after Karen so well, she even remembered us the first visit to radiotherapy for the introduction visit and today Lena handed Karen a card she purchased as she recalls how scared Karen looked on that day and wanted Karen to know how proud she is and how strong Karen had been over this period.

She also reminded Karen to head to the ED Dept if she needed, as it is their job as nurses to help and look after her and that Karen (or I) should never to feel we're putting the nurses out.

Karen has done well but if I reminded friends that if they don’t see us out and about as yet not to panic, as mentioned things will get worse before things settle.

Thank you to the hospital staff for all their wonderful support, to all our family and friends thanks. A special mention to Karen's mum, Daughters Emma and Tiana and her best friend Colleen for the continuous calls, support and conversations with Kazza as it has been very helpful to allow Karen to vent, talk and just having people who were willing to ask and listen to her.

Love to you all.

And to my wonderful wife Karen, love her the most xxxx

From what we know now, Karen does have some skin issues and will need to keep an eye on the area, then she'll be looking at a visit in the next six weeks then a program for the next few years, Karen has commence her long term medication as well as some antibiotics for the current skin infection.

But I would like to once again thank the team here on the BCNA forums, the support shown has been wonderful not to mentioned very helpful. I would also like to let you know that the journey to this point has indicated that Karen should not see a return of breast cancer in the same area in her life time and from my point of view, the tattoo I got to remember that "My Wife's Battle is My Battle"  can now have the wording "Survivor" added.

I would also love to remind those still new to this terrible disease to stay strong and remember this forum is one of support, recommendations, friendships so be sure to return, say hi, ask questions and open up allowing other in.

Thanks you to all

Kind Regards
Gavin



Photo when this was still new

@suburbangirl Thank you for your thoughts, appreciate it.

I can only image the struggles some may have with the situation in hand and very little family support, it is wonderful your daughters are able to provide some support but please keep your close / good friends in the loop, I found it a bit hard to let our closest friends know but after we did, the support from them has been wonderful. I don’t think Karen or I would be where we are today without them.

It no doubt can be difficult at times fighting such a battle without a partner to support or lift you but please suburbangirl be sure to continue to use these forums as this is another area allowing us the vent, seek advice or even to make a friend or two. I have found this place to be a good friend and have seen how those in similar situations find support with each other. I’ll take your advice and will continue to provide the support my wife needs and share any good news stories in the hope others are lifted in such news

I see your Perth based if you need to talk please feel free to private message me and I’ll be here to listen, I may not know it all or say the right things, but I can try.

Hi @GavinCh,
I commend you on the support, care and love you are able to give and share, with your wife.
Not all of us have partners/husbands and are doing this 'on our own'. I divorced in 2001, and brought up my two beautiful daughters with no family help and working full time, since they were 3 and 1. They are now 24 and 21.
I still work full time, as I have to financially. I sometimes feel a bit envious of others who have the close support from a partner, not to mention perhaps another income, but of course, we all walk our own path, and I am so lucky to have my daughters and amazing friends.
So those with kind and supportive partners (and friends), cherish them!

@youngdogmum thank you for your message, nice to read such comments.

@GavinCh if we were on the same side of the country I’d love my husband to meet up with you. You are such a fantastic role model of a supportive partner; not that my husband isn’t, I’d just love you both to meet 😊 
Best wishes for the rest of treatment. 

Hello everyone,
As you all know, the online forum is open to anyone affected by breast cancer with the main aim of providing connection and peer support.  This includes partners and carers who post for a variety of different reasons and concerns. As @GavinCh has mentioned his wife did not wish to join the online forum and he needed support which he has been able to obtain from our online community members.

Different people deal with things differently.  I needed to connect and find out things for myself but I found it almost impossible to update friends and family about what was going on.

@GavinCh. Thanks. I did read your original post. 
Obviously some people deal with their various conditions in different ways. I just find it difficult to relate to having someone speak on my behalf.