Sunday 4th September 2011  ~  17.00

There was a wonderful gathering of people today.  Musicians and some wonderful singers too.  George and Jennie held a raffle and  £104 was raised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.  We played some good tunes together which was such fun that I forgot all about everything else.  What a tonic!  :-)  Thank you George and Jennie for organising it and thank you to Sheila for booking the tables for our splendid Sunday lunch!  :-)  Moyra

 

Sunday 28th August 2011  ~  22.50

On Sunday 4th September 2011 from about 12.30pm to 3pm there will be a special folk music session for me. It will be held at the Hardwicke Arms 96 Ermine Way, Arrington, Royston, Hertfordshire SG8 0AH

Telephone 01223 208802

 

 

 

 

Monday 1st August 2011   ~    14.20

I've now had the results of my full body scan.  The cancer has not spread anywhere else. It is just in the lymph nodes in my neck on my 'good side'.  I have started to take the chemotherapy tablets, which are a long term, low dose.  I was told when I saw the consultant that I now cannot be cured, so the treatment from now on is 'palliative'.  I wasn't that shocked as I'd been searching for information on Google and had read something similar.  I wasn't upset, but I left the room, asking the consultant to answer my friend's questions. I didn't want to know how long he thought I would live.  I'll try to live my life to the full, however long I have.  I will prepare for a short stay, yet hope for a long stay.  :-)

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Saturday 9th July 2011  ~  16.45

This is something that I hoped would never happen. I felt a lump in my neck last week. I saw the consultant in Addenbrooke's who thought it ought to be biopsied. The results came back yesterday and were not good news. The breast cancer is now in the lymph glands in my neck, on my 'good' side. This means that it has crossed over, probably using the lymphatic system.  I am shortly to go for a full body scan presumably to check out where else it may have reached. After this I will be put onto a low dose of chemotherapy for a long time. I will have to take it as a tablet, over six to nine months.  I will not lose my hair this time which is a blessing. (I now have quite a lot of hair, but  haven't got an up to date photograph to display on here yet.  I have had almost three full weeks of radiotherapy, but this is to stop.  My last radiotherapy session will be on Monday 10th July. 

I am feeling quite exhausted following the radiotherapy. I've been sleeping on the bus going to the hospital and coming back.  I've slept in the waiting room at the hospital and on a chair in a friend's garden. I was so looking forward to all my treatment ending, but it is not to be.  I feel quite weak and lacking in optimism at the moment, though everyone tells me I must be positive.  I'm working now, doing two hours of sorting the post every morning, which is doing me good and keeps my wage coming in.  Please say a prayer for me if you will, or think of me as I am in need of help. 

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Sunday 29th May 2011

A very skilled surgeon took out all my lymph nodes under my right armpit, the tiny titanium tag in my right breast and a small area around it where the cancer had been and my port which had been put in to receive the chemotherapy drugs.  I was in the Spire Cambridge Lea hospital for four wonderful days. There I was so well looked after it felt more like a hotel!  The food was delicious and the hospitality very welcoming to me and my many guests!  I feel quite well, but still get tired quickly and have to go and have a sleep.  My right arm is a little stiff and I don't have full mobility in it yet. I've been given lots of exercises to put that right.  My next and final stage of treatment is radiotherapy.  I've been told that it will start in the next three weeks or so.  I will need three weeks of daily radiotherapy and then a further week to round it off.  I'll be going to Addenbrooke's for that.  I've been told that my radiotherapy may make me very tired, but then it may not. I'll just have to wait and see. :-)   

 

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

Roll on Friday 25th March 2011. That is the date of my sixth and last chemo dose. I'll be given a last shot of Taxotere. I felt remarkably well when I had my fifth dose, so am hoping that the sixth will be OK too.  I've found that if I don't drink milk, I feel a lot better. I think it clashes with the chemo or the anti-biotics I have to take from Day 8.  The date for my surgery is being planned. I think it will be in early May, not sure yet. After the surgery I'll have to have daily radiotherapy for three weeks. I'll have to go to Addenbrooke's hospital for that. I'm not really dreading having to go there everyday as the bus goes straight there from my bus stop. It only takes about an hour.  My hair is beginning to grow again! I can't believe it. It will be wonderful to have hair again. I don't care what colour it grows back or if it's straight or curly, it will be hair and will keep me warm. I'm living in different hats day and night, but usually wear a lovely blue one given to me by a friend. 

 

 

Thursday 3rd March 2011

Well, tomorrow, Friday 4th March 2011 is my fifth chemotherapy session.  I felt very rough on Day three of my Taxotere dose. I went to bed and felt miserable as my knees ached so much. The soles of my feet were so sore when I tried to walk on them that I felt as though I almost needed a walking stick. I seemed to have aged forty years overnight.  I spent a lot of time in bed as it was so cold as well. I'm hoping that March will feel warmer than February, though I'm not sure that it will!  This time I am prepared for what I may feel like.  I have stocked up in cat food and human food so shouldn't starve.  I only have two more doses to go now....dose number five and then dose number six on 25th March, then I'll be fully chemo'd!  I think that my hair is making an attempt to come back, though it feels very fluffy!  It's still cold at the top! ;-)

Thursday 10th February 2011

Time is racing along. I'm feeling on top of the world. The lump in my right breast is less than half the size it was and the lump under my armpit is a lot lot smaller than it was the day I noticed it! I'm going for my fourth chemo dose tomorrow, Friday 11th February 2011.  Its going to be essence of yew tree, so deadly poisonous and may make me feel rough and achey in the joints. Let's see!  The nurses describe me as 'robust'.  A good friend is taking me for my chemo and the nurses are brilliant so I'm actually looking forward to it!  I get a lovely lunch too!

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This is my new look! My hair started to fall out so much that I decided to have it shaved off.  I can tell you it is very cold!  I wear my favourite hat most of the time and I even wear it in bed!  My chemo treatment seems to be doing its job. The lump under my armpit is shrinking rapidly so the specialist is pleased. I'm feeling OK at the moment. Next chemo dose is on the 21st January. It'll be last of my three F.E.C. doses. After that it changes to another chemical. Will let you know more when that happens!  :-)

 

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Wednesday 12th January 2011  ~  19.20

They have at last found where the Primary cancer is. It is a tiny lump in my right breast.  I saw it with my own eyes on an ultrasound scan!  It didn't show in the mammogram I had even when they thought there may be something there.  It showed up in the MRI scan though.  Today I went to have the lump biopsied and then it was tagged!  So Moyra is now tagged!  I can still go through an airport security scanner though so that's a blessing.  I'm still feeling good.  My next chemo dose is on the 21st of January 2011.  Having a port in my chest (it's under my skin so I don't see it!) means that I don't even feel it going in and I don't have to be jabbed with needles while they look for a vein. All the doctors and nurses have been so kind and brilliant at their jobs. I am full of admiration for them.  :-)

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Tuesday 4th January 2011 ~ 15.20

Well I can tell you now...it is very cold. I am wearing a little 'beanie' hat which makes me look as though I have a job on a building site! I don't like having to wear it but it is keeping my head warm.  I tried to have a bath and hairwash today, but call it a bath and headwash instead!  ;-) I feel sure that the cancer in my lymph gland is shrinking rapidly!  Chemo must be working. Every time a hair falls out I think a cancer cell dies!   

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31st December 2010  ~  New Year's Eve

Right, I've had enough.  I am losing hair so fast now that I'm going to go and have it shaved off this morning!  I will just have to as it is all going to come out anyway. If I don't then I will have to vacuum everywhere I've been told and I hate vacuuming anything! I'm going to my hairdresser to be shaved, so she'll be out of a job for a while!

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27th December 2010

Happy New Year 2011!  May it be a healthy one for us all!

Oh! To see if my hair is still fixed, I've been tugging on it and so far nothing has happened, but yesterday and today, when I tug, it all comes out. Waaaah! It is happening!  Soon I will not have any hair at all.  It will grow back I hope, but it is SO COLD at the moment.  Well, there's a saying which goes 'keep your hair on!' I have never said it and I can tell you now, I never will. What a stupid thing to say anyway! 

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I've still got all my hair!  It has grown a bit as it is now 17 days since I had it cut.  It is still so cold that I am wearing a hat most of the time!  I'm absolutely dreading going bald, but then it will grow back.  Vanity Moyra! Vanity!  My next chemo date is 30th December 2010, after which I will probably feel very tired again.  I have gradually picked up and am now feeling so much better as most of the chemo must have left my system.  I'm sure that the lump under my arm has got a lot smaller so I am full of hope.  Roll on the next dose! 

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Thursday 16th December 2010

I'm still feeling well, though by about 7pm I am absolutely fatigued. I go to bed really early and am usually asleep by about 7.30pm.  I've been taking all the pills I'm supposed to take every day, so I'm really rattling!  I've still got all my hair.  I'm wearing my Royal Mail cap to keep me warm and am enjoying having it so short...it takes two minutes to wash and dry it! 

I had some very generous donations in the Histon Post Office tub...they totalled £265! I have sent that amount off by cheque to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Thank you all very much.  The tub is still there should anyone else want to donate or you could do it online on this website. :-)

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Sunday 12th December 2010

I'm still feeling fine. I've been told that I will not be neutropenic for a few days. When I am neutropenic I will be prone to catch any bug going as my defences will be down...I will lose a lot of my white blood cells and therefore my ability to fight bugs and infections. I'm so glad that at the moment I'm feeling well. I've enjoyed a Methodist Christmas Party and tonight hoping to go to hear Choir2000 in action at Impington Village College. They're giving their wonderful Christmas concert tonight and I wouldn't like to have to miss it as it always makes me feel Christmassy.  :-)

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10th December 2010

Thank you for all your kind messages and your wonderful generosity.  Some good is coming out of all of this and that is keeping me cheerful.  The Breakthrough Breast Cancer jar is also full of kind donations by people who visit Histon Post Office. 

My chemotherapy starts today Friday 10th December 2010. I may not be feeling that chatty after it! I'll have to wait and see.  At least I don't have to comb my hair now!  I have a lovely selection of hats, but my favourite is the Royal Mail woolly cap which fits perfectly and even has ear flaps!

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First Message

I have recently been diagnosed with cancer. At the moment I know that I have cancer in the lymph nodes in my right arm and may have breast cancer. I'm going to have a full body scan.  I am about to have to undergo 18 weeks of strong chemotherapy, followed by surgery and then radiotherapy. I'm about to lose my hair, so thought I'd get it shaved off first!  I'd like to do my bit to help Breakthrough Breast Cancer so had my head shaved to a No 4 at Histon Post Office.

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