Reply With QuoteBTDT a long time ago.
My best wishes to your wife for a complete and speedy recovery and to you & the family as well.
R
As this is the place to have a virtual pint and a chat, I thought I'd tell you about the last eight weeks of our lives. As everyone I've asked to go for a pint today has mugged me off, I'll have a pretend one with you lot ;)
On Tuesday the 15th May my wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Stage 1/2. For anyone who has never experienced that moment of diagnosis, it truly is as horrific as you imagine it to be.
It all began some eight weeks ago when Lisa found a small lump in her right breast that felt as though it was just under the skin. It was a Friday evening and she booked an appointment to see a GP first thing on the Monday morning. Lisa has always been very good at checking regularly and getting anything she was worried about checked out.
The GP said she was almost certain is was nothing to worry about but she should come back in two weeks for her to have another check. At the two week check the lump was still there and a referral was made for a mammogram. Let the worrying commence.
A couple of weeks later we were in hospital having what turned out to be two mammograms and an ultrasound scan. The professionals on the day said the mammogram was clear; they could see the lump and the lymph nodes looked clear too. The ultrasound returned the same opinion. As they couldn't say 100% either way they did a biopsy.
What followed was ten days of anxiety and trying to be normal around the kids.
Then is was D-Day; biopsy results day. That wait in the hospital waiting room was terrifying. Those of you in the profession will at this point know that if the biopsy results had been clear they would have told her on the phone. You know that we were getting a cancer diagnosis because we were told to go in for the results but obviously we didn't. In hindsight we did but your brain tries to block it out.
The surgeon and Macmillan nurse couldn't have been better or nicer while giving such awful news. It's at this point where I will say that every single member of the NHS that we've been in contact with during this period, every single member bar-none, has been absolutely wonderful. Not just nice, not just pleasant, absolutely wonderful in every possible way. I thank every one of them from the bottom of my heart.
We're told that the next stage is an MRI scan that will tell us whether there are any more tumours. Now, if the previous bout of waiting around for results was horrendous, nothing had prepared us for this wait. Sitting here now I don't know how we got through it. Having the kids around helped as they didn't know so we were putting the brave face on at all times. You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only thing you can do.
Fast forward to last Thursday and we're back in that waiting room to get the MRI results. I know this seems stupid but neither of us wore anything we'd worn the day we got the diagnosis (yes I even wore a different watch!) and we parked in a different car park.
I lost my Mum to cancer when I was 24 and she was 43 but I can hand on heart say that sitting in the waiting room at that very point was the worst I've ever felt in my life. So what on earth was Lisa feeling?
I went to the loo and as I came out our Macmillan nurse was coming out of the surgeon's door on the other side of the waiting room. She got to Lisa just as I did and said "you're OK, you're alright, we're only dealing with what we already know about".
I will never forget those words or Lisa's face. Strange when you know you have cancer to be elated but that's the emotion she felt. Unreal, like an out of body experience.
So, where are we now?
Lisa has a single, non-aggressive, slow-growing, estrogen responsive cancerous tumour (I've learned so much in such a short time haha) of around 9mm that she will be having removed on Wednesday 30th May. Once healed, the current plan is to have a course of radiotherapy followed by daily Tamoxifen tablets for between five and ten years. No chemotherapy planned. She caught it very early thank goodness.
Lisa's checking regime has certainly helped her on this occasion and I implore you and your partners to do the same. There are loads of guides online for how and when to check correctly so please, please use them.
We've told the girls now and they've been brilliant, they're such great kids and are so mature and level headed for their ages (14 and 8).
I hope our experience helps you and yours.
Onwards to Wednesday and lets's get this little b*stard out.
David
BTDT a long time ago.
My best wishes to your wife for a complete and speedy recovery and to you & the family as well.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Well I think you both deserve a pint, ☺ my best wishes to you David, Lisa & the family.
Take care,
Pete. ☺🍺🍺
I can only wish you positives go forward as a family as with Ralphy BTDT
Hope it all goes well for your wife, yet another BTDT unfortunately.
F.T.F.A.
Nothing prepares you for that moment of diagnosis, Macmillan are bloody brilliant.
This isn't quite appropriate language for the G&D (only the final line), so I'll post a link to the fabulous Fascinating Aïda performing Big C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFCSTUfCxTU
Wishing your wife and family the very best.
Matthew
Last edited by Mr Curta; 28th May 2018 at 14:26.
All the best to your wife and your family
Been there done that and hope everything goes well, i am sure it will :)
Best wishes and positive thoughts for your wife, you and all your family.
Best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery David and hope you and your family become even stronger for the experience.
wow. I can't imagine what it must be like for you all, here's to a speedy recovery. I'd be out for a beer like a flash if you were my pal.
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wow. I can't imagine what it must be like for you all, here's to a speedy recovery. I'd be out for a beer like a flash if you were my pal.
Crikey David, a brave and sobering post. My best wishes to you and Mrs Cannolli.
Thanks very much for the kind and supportive words and private messages, they're very much appreciated.
I ordered a new watch a couple of days ago that I can't really afford but you know what....f*ck it
Thanks for posting mate, food for thought, I hope all goes to plan.
Best wishes, I'll raise a virtual glass to you, your family, NHS and Macmillan, and hope your missus enjoys a speedy recovery.
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Best wishes, I'll raise a virtual glass to you, your family, NHS and Macmillan, and hope your missus enjoys a speedy recovery.
Best wishes to your wife and family.
I know exactly what it’s like, I had to have a biopsy last year and the fear of the unknown and the helplessness is the worst.
Best wishes to you both!
Although worrying it sounds like her regime has helped to nip it in the bud thanks for spreading the message
Went through the same with my wife and everything was the same, but 6 years later wife has been given the all clear with Just a check up once a year now and still on tamoxifen.
One good thing came out of it (if that’s the right way to look at it?) three years after it was all over we’d paid off our mortgage so rang to cancel our life cover that we set up to cover mortgage if either of us ever die. Turns out while on the phone the wife started to read the policy and it had critical illness cover so she put a claim in.
I kept telling her we wouldn’t get anything as it was insurance to cover the mortgage and as that was paid off early we couldn’t claim, how wrong was I? £67,000 that’s how wrong I was!
I really wish you, your wife and your children all the best, it really isn’t a nice experience.
I wish your wife and you all the luck in the world going forward, it's great she found it early. This b@stard disease is a scourge to all humans and the sooner we find a cure the better.
If any good can come out of it, when my father went through it, I realised what is important. (Not breast cancer but he is a bit of a tit).
I will raise a glass to you and your better half!
Last edited by Sinnlover; 28th May 2018 at 16:44.
Parts of your experience sound really terrifying. I wish you, your wife and family all the very best.
A very harrowing eight weeks - wishing you, your wife and family well.
All the very best
Jon
Very best wishes to you and Lisa, David.
It's so good that it was caught early x
Heartfelt best wishes to you and your family David.
It's a tough problem to solve but strength in numbers. You and the girls need to be there with Lisa and stay positive. And well done Lisa for checking regularly.
My wife's mum died when my wife was only 13 so she's always been right on top of checking. It obviously works.
Good luck to Lisa for Wednesday
Best wishes to you.
Heck, a very sobering read, stick together our thoughts are with you.
P&J.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
All the best to you and Lisa. Sobering post indeed.
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Wishing you and your family strength, David.
Jesus, buddy, I really don't know what to say to that.
Best of luck to you both, that is a horrific story and can be nothing short of a real life nightmare!
It is posts like this which really put our day to day trails and tribulations into perspective. My very best wishes to you and your family.
J
Wishing you and your wife all the best! Best of luck for Wednesday as well!
Your post certainly puts everything into perspective. My best wishes to Lisa and your family, thinking of you all.
Best wishes to you both, hope it’s all good news from now on.
Yet another BTDT. Fortunately for us, it proved to be non malignant! But it's frightening until you know the result.
Best wishes for your wife, you and your family. Thank goodness they caught it early. Hopefully she'll recover fully and there'll be no further repercussions.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Very best wishes to you both - I hope that things go well. Horrible time for you all.
Been through a similar thing in our family, not wife thankfully but close relative- affects all the family.
Symtoms/ prognosis virtually identical but a couple of steps further on. Successful surgery and radiotherapy very recently. Tablets and hopefully clear check ups in the future.
Best wishes to Lisa and all the family. Sounds like you have some good kids which I am sure will keep you all strong through a difficult time.
Good luck.
I’m overwhelmed by your support, thank you so much.
Best wishes to you both and best of luck.
All the best for both of you.
Can relate to this at the moment as my missus has just gone through similar,lumpectomy and a 3 week course of radiotherapy starts tomorrow..as you've also experienced the Nhs has been amazing throughout,with huge compassion and care all through the treatment..I wish you and your wife all the best.
Good luck pal and wish your Mrs all the best.
Glad you caught it early as my family have had a few bad years with this in one form or another.
Onwards and upwards.
Sent from my [device_name] using TZ-UK mobile app
I do know how you feel, my own better half was diagnosed with an early stage breast cancer last year and the uncertainty is agonising. Fortunately it turned out to be non-invasive (stage 0) and was resolved by surgery with no need for chemo or radiotherapy but I must have read through the life expectancy statistics for stage 1 and stage 2 a hundred times, fearing the (realistic) worst.
The happier truth of breast cancer is that most women do go on to have a normal lifespan after treatment and I'm very happy to hear that the outcome sounds very positive for you too.
And since it's a good cause I'll allow myself another quick plug for something I'm doing in the next couple of months for Breast Cancer Care.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/twohundred
I'll raise a glass for you to both be strong and positive.
I've just had a glass of wine/or three for you both. Well done for being strong, & good health to your wife & the family going forward
Neal.
Sorry to hear this news but good luck with the forthcoming treatment. Everything crossed here for the best possible outcome from the treatments. Stay strong.
Talk about putting things into perspective.
Glad to hear there is now a clear diagnosis and plan of action. Nothing worse than not knowing.
Look after each other.
Dave
Horrible experience, but very good outlook under the circumstances. Best of luck, and hope my prayers will help.
Sorry to hear this Dave but it’s sounding positive which is good.
Take good care of her and most importantly, stay positive!
🤞🤞🤞
Good Luck with everything, stay strong.
My wife was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer 13 years ago, kids were 1 and 4.
It was a tough time for her and everyone involved, she had surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and then tamoxifen for 5 years. She is fine now, strong as hell and living her life to the full.
Virtual pint for you mate.
:)
All the best to you all.
Colin.
All the very best to Lisa, you and your family.
My girlfriend, after the most ridiculous accident in early January, has been suffering with all sorts of problems for 5 months now. They think it's sinusitis but the doctor looked up her nose the other day and, after we left, rang to say she'd spoken with a specialist about what she saw and they are concerned enough that there may be something cancerous going on so she's being fast tracked to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. Unfortunately, fast tracked means we'll be told when her appointment is in two weeks time and god-only-knows when it'll actually be. She's very good at thinking the best but I'm bloody worried - even though the doctor says it's probably nothing. As your case shows, David, nothing is certain until the tests are complete.
Thank goodness Lisa caught her's early. Horrible disease. Great to hear the care has been top notch - that's all I've ever known with the NHS.
Reading that really put a shiver down my spine. Been through a very similar experience.
The hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was explain to my two young girls about Mummy’s lump.
Five years later and all’s good.
Best wishes to you, your good wife and and all your family.
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