i have had enough
only into my secodne week of radiation therapy, as the radiologist said im a beginner, i was told it would be 5 weeks of it but possibly more. and that contact type stuff they use just comes off . I its a long trip by mini bus to the rbh and back specially with spinal /hip /shoulder issues . my issues read like a shopping list. anyway, now the NDIS my daughter and I both qualify but i just cant deal with it , meanwhile niether of us get any help and daughter continues to do nothing. I was talking about needing transport to medical appointments etc and ozcare and centacare both said they couldnt do it god only knows why. I am worn out /burned out and I hurt that bus trip is agony, and to top it off this last weeked i spent battling the flu I darent ask what is gonna go wrong next
Moving to Canberra-public or private?
Good morning all, we we will be moving to live in Canberra in approximately 8 weeks. This is for a new role my husband has just been offered. I have both a medical oncologist and surgical appointment prior to this and will ask for referrals. I am currently 4 months post op and have just completed radiotherapy. I have so far been treated privately, but have found this extremely expensive. Therefore my preference is to go public, but I would like some input if possible on the public system in Canberra please. I still have significant follow up, fr the next 5 years so it would be helpful to know my options. Any information would be helpful about both systems and your experience. I’d love to know what you think of living in Canberra too and some of the ‘must do’s. I like yoga, camping, hiking. I see they have a Dragons abreast, dragon boat race team there which I would be keen to look into-is there anyone on here in the team? Thanks in advance 😊 Michelle xMedia call-out: The Age looking for a Melbourne woman with radiotherapy tattoos
Hi there, Online Network! A journalist from The Age is looking to interview a woman in Melbourne who has had radiotherapy and therefore had radiotherapy tattoos. It's for an article about a new process at the Alfred Hospital where radiotherapy can be carried out without the need for tattooed markings. If you're interested, please email me (Sophie Benjamin) at sbenjamin@bcna.org.au. Thanks!
Navigating the minefield
I fall outside the norm. I live in a motorhome with no fixed abode. I had a GP in Maclean, first mammogram in Coffs Harbour, biopsy at Sydney Breast Clinic, 2 x surgery at Lifehouse, scan and drain at Goulburn then referred to Canberra for radiation. I chose Canberra because they have accom attached to the hospital and caravan parks in the city as a back-up. After reorganising my life to stay put for 2 months, I've just been told that the waiting list for Canberra radiation is 6-8 weeks so they have shunted me back to Sydney. Does anyone know which hospitals have accom attached to them as there are no caravan parks in the city. Has anyone stayed in the accom? What's it like? (the rooms in Canberra looked like cells).
Mixed meeting pre surgery
I had an ultrasound after the 4x AC and have now had 4x taxol (1x Herceptin and Perjeta) an undetermined area was picked up on the ultrasound. So my surgeon appmt was Brough forward...He was really happy with the response from the main tumour, that makes him lean towards lumpectomy. He ultrasounded the new “lesion”, but unsure what it is, I have to have another mammogram to see how close it is to the clips they placed. If it’s far enough away they want to do a biopsy. If it’s close they will leave it and remove it with the clips, this may mean that they have to take around 20% of my breast tissue, that may not cosmetically be good so may have to do mastectomy anyway. He is leaning towards sentinel node biopsy in nodes despite the node being originally positive because of the risk of lymphodema and node has gone now. Overall it means definitely Radiation to Breast/chest wall + axilla and probably Scf. I have mixed feeling as originally I was told by sonographer “yay it’s shrunk by 50%”
Winning the booby prize!
Hi lovelies, I have started a new facebook group. I've been tossing this idea round for a while and finally sat down to do it. As there was a bit of a discussion the other day about the word "Journey" and some more comical names thrown around, one being the "my Journey kit" should be renamed the booby prize, that's what I decided to call it "Breast cancer...winning the booby prize". I thought it might be a bit of a fun way for everyone to share some of the more light hearted stuff and good times that happened along their treatment road. Kind of a bit of inspiration to those just newly diagnosed suffering that awful fear of the unknown that life goes ahead and you can still have a lot of good times along the way. I put a little video I made on there to kick things off. I made this two days before radiation finished. I was just sitting there thinking about everything that had been happening while I was sorting out some photos and I thought wow, all this happened between 3 days after my diagnosis and the end of radiation. It is a secret group so that if anyone searches they cannot see who is a member until they join. I have allowed members to approve other members so nobody is sitting around waiting for approval. Just search on facebook for the name and hopefully i've done it right and you can find it. I would be delighted if any of you would like to join or if you think the idea sucks let me know how to improve it. I am not real techie so hopefully it works ok.