DIAGNOSIS OF SECONDARIES Sailed along until approx 1998/9 when I began to be troubled with right shoulder pain and back pain. Over the next couple of years visited doctor, physio and masseur several times to be told I had arthritis and early osteoporosis. In the end I was often extremely tired, could not sleep because of pain. One morning I awoke in extreme pain and could not roll over or get off the bed. Back to doctor whom at my request ordered a bone scan which subsequently showed metastases right shoulder and collar bone, spine, both rib cages, pelvis and neck.

Needless to say, I was devastated. Commenced on Aredia, tamoxifan, and MS Contin for pain relief. In Dec changed to Femara. Had to cease employment, as I was just too sick to work, most days flat-out getting off the bed. Took 12 months for the treatment to start having an effect and a further 12 months before I felt any real improvement in my general wellbeing. In addition, during this time I had radium treatment to my right shoulder, collarbone and right hip, this eased my pain considerably.

ABOUT ME I have been married to David for 18 years. Best thing I ever did. We live on a cattle property which I was actively involved in until this diagnosis and I was also in full time employment as Director of Nursing for Blue Care, Mundubbera-Eidsvold Shires. Have reached the stage where I have just commenced casual employment, 7 hours per week. TERRIFIC!!! Feel I have been given some life back and the cancer is not controlling everything. Have wonderful support from my husband am sure I would not be doing so well if I did not have that support.

Heard on the wireless about this group, rang up and have been part of this wonderful group since. Have just learnt so much. The understanding , encouragement from all and your inspiring stories help me cope with my lot. You also relieve my isolation as living on a property, do not have contact with anyone except my husband or when I go to town to shop.

Diagnosis of Secondaries – in April 2004 a lump appeared on my chest. This was removed, and I had 6 weeks of radiotherapy.

In the middle of 2008 I had a bad pain in my sternum. I also had a broken ankle at the time which didn’t help. Scans revealed cancer in my bones, and also in my lungs.

In January 2009 I started chemotherapy and Herceptin and Zometa, which seemed to be keeping things under control.

In April 2010 I seemed to be having trouble writing. An MRI revealed a brain tumour. I had an operation to remove it, followed by 4 weeks radium. The operation left me with no use in my right arm, but that has improved. I now still have Herceptin 3 weekly, and Zometa 6 weekly.

ABOUT ME: I am a trained nurse. I have worked the majority of my life looking after people and now people are looking after me. It’s been a roller coaster ride. I get up each day and try to do the best I can.

ABOUT MY FAMILY: I had 3 sons, but I lost one son through a horse-riding accident. I have 3 grandchildren.

The shocking news that I had breast cancer became my worst nightmare. I had a mastectomy and lymph node clearance. There was spread to 7/18 lymph glands. This was followed by 6 treatments of chemo with 5 weeks of radiotherapy in between. I was also put on Tamoxifen.

DIAGNOSIS OF SECONDARIES
Ten years passed with the usual blood tests, scans and sweaty palms when the time for review came along. I said goodbye to my Oncologist at the beginning of 2003 believing (hoping) that I had beaten this disease. I was off Tamoxifen after being on it for 8 years. Later in that year I began to suffer pain in my back which radiated down my leg. I had a lot of physio but it eventually got worse and I then had scans. Unfortunately the cancer had returned and I was quickly hospitalized and an operation ensured a few days later where 3 vertebrae were fused together and some bars and screws inserted. This was followed by radiotherapy.

All went well until late 2009 when a scan revealed spread higher up in my spine and mets in my liver. It also showed an abnormal uterus which was thought to be endometrial cancer and so a hysterectomy followed in Feb 2010. No cancer was found. But by this time my tumor marker levels had risen and it was time to start chemo.

In June 2010 I started chemo but had some pretty awful side-effects and had a break for a couple of months. I then started Abraxane and after 5 treatments all levels were within normal range so the chemo was stopped.

ABOUT ME: Most of my working life has been as a receptionist/secretary with GP’s and specialists. I loved the work. I retired in 2005. I enjoy quilting, patchwork, reading and watching movies and visiting with friends. Life is difficult at times when on chemo and when I have a break, try to get back to my usual pursuits.

ABOUT MY FAMILY: I have been married for 47 years and am lucky to have a very supportive and helpful husband. We have 3 children and 7 grandchildren. Our daughter is 43 and has 3 children; our son who is 41, has recently remarried and has one son. His new wife has a son and daughter. Both lost their spouses in very sad circumstances. Our other son is 37, married and has a daughter from a previous relationship. We are a close knit family and are all very precious to me.

On 21st February I had my mammogram and was called back for a biopsy, I was still thinking the lump would be found to be benign. However 2 days later it was confirmed as malignant and I felt my world collapsing around me. I saw my Surgeon 2 days later and we discussed the options of lumpectomy and mastectomy and I went home after the appointment to discuss with my family my options and make a decision.

DIAGNOSIS OF SECONDARIES
On the way home from my biopsy it suddenly occurred to me that an ache I had had since around November in my left scapular area was the same side as my breast, in fact it was just behind it. I mentioned this ache to three doctors I saw that week of my diagnosis, one of them thought it was probably muscular and not too worry about it, another felt along my spine for tenderness but assured me I would be scanned and finally the Surgeon referred me for an x-ray and blood tests. The next day, a Saturday, I went early for my blood test and x-ray and not long after I returned home my Surgeon phoned me and asked if he could see me. I said that I wanted my husband to be with me and that I didn’t want to bring the children with us. The Surgeon said he would come to me at home, I knew this was serious, having a house call from a Surgeon on a Saturday morning. My Surgeon told me I had a pathological fracture of one of my ribs and that it was due to secondary bone cancer. It was an incredible shock to hear it was incurable. On the Monday I spent the day at the hospital having a CT and a bone imaging scan, that night I saw my Oncologist for the first time, he checked the scans and said, “lesion on left scapular, legion on lower lumbar spine, lungs clear, liver clear, this is better than we expected”. From that moment I began to feel hope again.

My breast cancer is oestrogen hormone receptor positive and HER 2 negative. I have been on Tamoxifen since 8 March and the tumour had already shrunk by about one-third. I have had radiotherapy to the 2 bone lesions and have occasional pain in those areas when I have overdone it a bit. I have made changes to my diet and lifestyle; I am now on a vegan diet under the supervision of my GP and a Dietician. I have increased my daily serves of vegetables to 7 and am walking most days of the week. I am feeling well and hopeful for the future. I feel very fortunate that my secondaries were picked up at the time of my initial diagnosis of early breast cancer.

ABOUT ME: I am 43 years old, the eldest of 8 children and a wife and mother to 2 boys. I grew up in a large, close, loving family in Queanbeyan NSW. After finishing school in Canberra I took a gap year and went to Paris where I worked as an au pair. I then returned to Australia and studied at Sydney University for an Arts degree majoring in French and Japanese. After graduation I successfully applied for a place on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) and then spent 3 years as an assistant English teacher working for a prefectural board of education and visiting senior secondary schools. At the end of my contract, I and 2 British male friends cycled through South East Asia for 6 months. Starting from southern Japan, through China, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, ending at the Singapore Post Office. We clocked up more than 6000 kms and had many adventures along the way. I then returned to Sydney to work for a Japanese Government agency. I met my husband through an old Uni friend, fell in love and married. In 2001 we had our first baby, William. I returned to work part-time at the Heart Foundation when William was 14 months old. In late 2004 we moved from Sydney to Toowoomba seeking a better lifestyle for our family. In May 2005 William was diagnosed with Autism. In 2006 our second son Jack was born.

I love living in Toowoomba. I have made some wonderful friends here, who are being incredibly supportive during this challenging time of my life. Along with emotional support, they have organised a roster to prepare and deliver meals to our family. I am so fortunate.

ABOUT MY FAMILY: I am married to Graham, a former Architectural Technician and Interior Designer. Graham is taking a break from work at the moment to be home with me.

We have 2 sons, William, 10 years old and Jack who is 5 years old. William has high functioning Autism, his main challenges are social interaction, receptive language skills, anxiety and self-harming behaviour. William attends a special school and is very settled and happy at his school. Jack started Prep this year and is thriving, he has made new friends and loves learning.

My Mum and Dad and brothers and sisters all live far away, in Queanbeyan, Sydney and Singapore. We are all very close and keep in touch via the phone and email. I also have 2 Aunts who have both been treated for breast cancer and they are soul mates for me during this journey.

I have a beautiful family and so much to live for.

The irony of it all was that we were exercise and health freaks, and I still am. I don’t run any more but I get to the gym three times a week for Pilates, step and pump and walk lots during the week. The good news is that my son finished his university and is now an Aerospace Engineer in UK. And that gives his mother lots of opportunity to visit him. I have just returned from five weeks in UK, Portugal and Istanbul. I get on a plane when I am given the all clear by my doctors.

I also have another type of cancer called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei. It started as cancer of the appendix years ago and morphed into a slow growing, quite benign growth in my abdominal cavity. I had some serious surgery to debulk most of the growth but the mass around my liver was left because of a time factor. However complications arose when spots on my liver were detected on the CT scan as Pseudomyxoma Peritonei cannot metastasize. A biopsy revealed that the spots were metastatic breast cancer of the liver. So one can deduce from my healthy lifestyle and lack of genetic history of any type of cancer that I drew the short straw. Even though my grandmother had a mastectomy and radium in the 60′s, she died at 92 of old age.

I worked with Logan BAT (Behaviour Advisory Team) for 13years which I loved and was based at Marsden SHS. I miss the professional contact and intellectual stimulation that accompanies researching and implementing ways to better engage disadvantaged youth in their preparation for adulthood. However, I do have social contact with my colleagues and they are a wonderful source of support.

After my visit to the x-ray clinic in 2009 to diagnose the Pseudomyxoma Peritonie, I haven’t been back to work. I sold my town house and invested in my daughter and son in law’s renovation and I now occupy the granny accommodation downstairs with my two little grandsons living upstairs. They are a constant source of joy and a distraction from the reality of my diagnosis.

I have had three bouts of chemo in my life, two in the last year. I have never been unwell because of my cancer. It is the reaction to chemo that causes one to head for the bed often. I try to do everything I used to. Even when I had my chemo pump attached to my port, I did pump and Pilates classes. Working on my core strength enables me the mobility and agility to just live as an active grandmother and traveller. My daughters ask me to climb the ladder to remove the grapefruit from the tree. That is so important to me, to be able to live to the physical standard I was used to when I was well. Exercise and a healthy diet enable me to do that.

However, I do experience some long term side effects of chemo and one that seems to be getting worse is neuropathy, the numbness of my feet. In the cold, it seems to gets worse.

I, like all of us, live with the uncertainty of advanced breast cancer. Saying goodbye to my son in the UK was very difficult even though I hope to get back again, But we don’t know do we. The unknown has become part of our mind set.