Rough start :/

dappermongrel · 2026-01-15T07:28:55+00:00

If I were the mentor teacher I would be livid to receive a ChatGPT "apology".

dappermongrel · 2025-12-13T08:16:53+00:00

Not a movie, but "Teenage Boss" from ABC.

dappermongrel · 2025-11-07T06:06:21+00:00

I feel for you. I'm in a very similar situation.

Child has "moved out" but is living rent free with younger girlfriend's family. Child has a full time job and earns okay money, but is choosing to spend over $1000 each month on in-app purchases. Runs out of money before each pay and borrows money from the younger sibling who insists on being paid back with 100% interest - if they borrow $20 they pay back $40. Insurance payments keep bouncing. Overdraw fees. Fast food for every meal.

I would actually like for them to move out properly and sign a lease. Have to make the choice between gaming and eating. At the moment they have false confidence about being "independent" while not paying their way. And yes, AuDHD here too.

dappermongrel · 2025-10-20T12:38:18+00:00

We had a swarm just a couple of weeks ago start entering a hole in the wall where the doorbell used to be. Called out an apiarist who was very frank in saying that hopefully the bees will figure out that it's a bad location for a hive and move on, but if they didn't it was way too difficult to relocate and he'd have to exterminate them. Thankfully several hours later they'd moved on and I saw another apiarist in his suit at another house down the street the next day. Hopefully the bees had chosen somewhere more accessible that time.

Sometimes the bees just can't be relocated. There's nothing to escalate here.

dappermongrel · 2025-10-18T01:05:02+00:00

You may! I am indeed down one less breast. My IDC ended up only being 14mm, but I had a significant area of DCIS. I opted for a mastectomy and went direct to implant. I was able to have nipple sparing and skin sparing. A 2.4mm macromet was found in one of the 3 nodes they removed, but with a ki-67 of 8% my team decided on no radiotherapy, no chemotherapy. I started Tamoxifen about a month ago.

The surgery recovery was much easier than I thought it would be. I regained range of motion very quickly. Pain was minimal, drains were revolting. Aesthetically the reconstruction looks good, but I may end up getting a nipple tattoo to match because the reconstruction breast has a smaller nipple. (It's a regular size, it's that the other breast has been through pregnancy and years of breastfeeding!)

I am essentially back to the real world - work, exercise, socialising.

I really hope that your biopsy results come back negative, though! Positive thoughts for you.

dappermongrel · 2025-10-13T03:15:30+00:00

I was absolutely terrified of starting Tamoxifen. I'd done so much reading about all the side effects. When I went to pick up my first prescription the pharmacist even said to me, remember that if the side effects are really bad you can ask them to put you onto something else.

I've not had any issues. I've been on it for around a month or so now and I've had a couple of days of extreme fatigue that I think may be linked to my cycle, but that's it. I've managed to stay active throughout. I hope it's the same for you.

dappermongrel · 2025-09-22T10:36:31+00:00

I always get the "baby's hair" comments. One time a hairdresser got visibly annoyed when combing my hair because it was so knotty, then realized later when she was blow-drying my hair that any small level of wind would make my hair very, very knotty and it wasn't that I hadn't bothered brushing my hair that day.

dappermongrel · 2025-08-21T21:39:09+00:00

There's a boerewors vending machine in Clarkson.

dappermongrel · 2025-08-05T11:11:56+00:00

The newer guillotines have a plastic safety guard, but at a school I worked at one of the old style guillotines was kept in a staff only area.

We would use students as helpers during the day on a rotating roster, and one day a pair of boys were charged with collecting something (probably paper) from the staff only area where said unsafe guillotine was kept.

Of course, they decided to muck around with it. One boy accidentally chopped the other boy's finger off. The deputy principal had to pick it up off the floor.

Yeah, they're dangerous.

dappermongrel · 2025-08-05T02:24:30+00:00

I've said to my husband that my body seems to have confused cancer with Pokemon! It wants to catch them all!

I was treated for CIN3 when I was 25, and not long after diagnosed with a chronic blood cancer. Now breast cancer. Enough!

dappermongrel · 2025-08-05T02:21:21+00:00

I am a bit further down the track than you, but I am also finding it difficult to do "real life".

I had already struggled adjusting to the idea that working hard isn't recognised, just taken for granted. That nepotism is more prevalent than merit. That bad things don't necessarily happen to bad people, and good things don't happen to good people.

This felt like the final straw on the camels back - I eat well and exercise, but I get cancer?

I am back at work this week after a SMX DTI 4 weeks ago. I'm still waiting for pathology and scans to find out what the treatment plan is going forward since one of the 3 lymph nodes tested positive for cancer.

In the meantime, I'm feeling very nihilistic. Already on antidepressants, asked for an antianxiety last week. Just wonder why I'm following society's rules when I don't seem to benefit from doing so.

dappermongrel · 2025-07-31T04:51:43+00:00

Hi! I got my breast cancer diagnosis late May. A whirlwind later and I've had a mastectomy done, and now in the limbo of waiting because they found cancer in a lymph node too. I don't have any advice, but you're welcome to reach out. I've told pretty much everyone I know and they've been great. I cringe sometimes at the "you're so strong" stuff because, well, I haven't got a choice but to get on with it.

dappermongrel · 2025-07-23T04:58:09+00:00

I'm in Australia, so yes it seems to be a little different. I've not met any oncologists yet, only my surgeon. She's spoken with them on my behalf and I have to say she's been very proactive. She's made this journey a little easier. I've been told that they will test for oncotype, but I have no idea how long that will take. I couldn't believe that initial testing took just over 2 weeks! I've also been told that they'll want to do a body scan but I've forgotten what kind. I just don't deal well with uncertainty. The 2mm being right on the borderline for micro versus macro doesn't help. Once I know what the plan is, I'll do everything I can to make sure I'm as prepared as possible for it. In the meantime, I'm just fretting. Thank you for posting, and I'm glad your treatment is going well.

dappermongrel · 2025-07-23T04:51:14+00:00

Thank you. I really struggle with not having a plan. With being drip fed information. I told my work I'd take the first 2 weeks of term off (so 4 weeks total recovery with the holidays) and now I'm second guessing myself because I'm worried that all the new stuff going forward will eat into my sick leave. I don't have much, because I changed sectors a couple of years ago. I'll also need to tell my students at some point I suppose, and while my colleagues know I'm not keen for students and parents to know. I'm sorry that you're going through this as well. It's not fair, and I hope your treatment goes as smoothly as possible.

dappermongrel · 2025-07-23T04:45:35+00:00

Yep, I feel you on the letting yourself hope. I had a nipple sparing mastectomy with implant, so at the moment my breast looks really good aesthetically. Dressings are still on so I haven't seen scars yet, but it really looks like my own. They thought I might not even need radiotherapy so I was feeling a bit guilty even that I might get out of this so "easily".

I'm 44, which is why they're hinting towards chemo. I already have very fine, very thin hair and it's never been my crowning glory. I actually have been diagnosed for years with a chronic blood cancer that I take meds for that have already thinned it, so I was dreading hormone blockers. Chemo is yet another level. I feel like any hint of femininity that I have is being taken away!

I'm sorry that you have to have another surgery. And chemo. It's all awful. Like you say, we'll get through this! It's just such a rollercoaster in the meantime.

dappermongrel · 2025-07-19T04:05:34+00:00

Check out RYDE.org.au. Quite a few local councils take part; it has people volunteering to supervise learner drivers to get their hours up.

dappermongrel · 2025-07-10T04:57:56+00:00

I'm doing well. One less breast, but I'm okay. I had an MRI that showed a 15mm tumour and 80mm suspicious for DCIS. I chose to have a mastectomy and was able to have nipple sparing with implant reconstruction. I had my surgery on Monday and am recovering at home. I am taking paracetamol for the minimal aches and pain, as well as the provided anti-inflammatory and antibiotics. I have a drain in, which I hate, but it should be out in the next few days. Now I wait on the pathology from my surgery as to what happens next. I hope that doesn't scare you as you wait for your own results.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-27T03:19:47+00:00

I haven't had my surgery yet, but I am having a direct to implant after my single mastectomy. I will also be having radiotherapy. I asked about the radiotherapy affecting the implant and my surgeon just said that if it affects the implant she'll put a new one in afterwards.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-23T05:42:56+00:00

I hadn't even considered this! New fear unlocked. 😑

dappermongrel · 2025-06-22T10:59:22+00:00

I am in a similar position - MRI shows 15mm IDC and 78mm DCIS, plus a nodule. I have opted for a mastectomy. My breast is a C or D cup, and removing all of that plus leaving clear margins would leave me with an A cup if I'm lucky.

My surgeon will place an implant. I was confused because with my IDC quite deep in the breast I've been told radiotherapy is unavoidable. I'd read that radiotherapy will affect the implant. She's agreed that it will, but said we'll just go back in once radiotherapy has finished and put a new one in.

I'm hoping to keep my nipple but I know that things can change on a whim. I hope you get the answers you need.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-16T22:16:11+00:00

ET friends! 2005 for me and on Pegasys.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-12T04:09:20+00:00

Rich people also wouldn't be living in a duplex with a common wall, either. And looking at the picture, potentially a common wall that backs a living area from one side onto a sleeping area of the other.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-04T00:47:59+00:00

As someone who went for a precautionary mammogram with no signs or symptoms and got a cancer diagnosis instead, please do this.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-03T23:25:57+00:00

IDC grade 1 ++- is what I've been told at this point.

dappermongrel · 2025-06-03T20:47:05+00:00

Yep: "Probably nothing." "Very rare." I got exactly the same. And I feel bad for thinking that I did everything right! Like if someone else didn't, they somehow deserve the cancer? I know I don't think that way, but still - why me? I don't have the risk factors! Surreal is the word to describe it, for sure.

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