Audrey’s Blog on living well with disability and breast cancer

It's Father's Day today and I posted a photo on Facebook of my Dad as a young man. Full of life, starting out in his career in the Royal Navy, with a hint of the twinkle in his eye that we all remember. He served his time during the Second World War and saw more than a young man should of death and learned things about an imperfect world which shaped his politics and in time my own. He was a miner when I was born but through my childhood he studied and became a safety specialist. He taught us (my sister and I; his two daughters), that education mattered, that we should believe in our ability and that family mattered. He taught us compassion for others and whatever else I knew, I knew he loved us all deeply. He was a man quick to give a big hug whenever you needed it. I still miss those hugs but I see his qualities in all his grandchildren and in my sister and I. He'd be proud of us all. I still find when there are big political moments I want to pick up

  Yup...about sums it up! One of my most read blogs is one I wrote on tamoxifen , a drug I took for 5 years, then declined 14 years later. But life never stands still does it? At the end of last year I was diagnosed again with breast cancer and immediately I was put on letrozole, I conceded fairly willingly as I understood this time was a bit different, although relatively early stage again. A month later I had a mastectomy and reconstruction. I've slowly been recovering whilst trying to deal with the side effects of letrozole, which was then swapped to anastrazole to see if the the joint and muscle pain would lessen. It hasn't. I've looked up what can help with that, the answer is pain relief. As I already have back pain, this combination for me has a serious impact on my quality of life. So much that recently I decided to stop it to see is it would help with the other issue I have which is breathlessness, since my surgery. It didn't help the breathless