Topic: Happy Anniversary...or not?

I'm in Canada, but on the Canadian Cancer Society website it stated that your a survivor from  the day you were diagnosed, so I guess you would be a year now!. I don't know why a Stage 3 diagnosis anniversary date would be any different than other stages.

I've been counting since my diagnosis Sep 14 2007.Almost 2 years...but hey, who's counting..

My onc uses the day of diagnosis since that is when it is first known you have bc.  Makes sense to me.  I never knew there were different variables used between the stages to determine your anniversary.  I believe those "wonderful" stats that we see on survival and disease free survival must use the date of dx in order for the stats to be accurate.  But, I could be wrong!

Going without the wig yet?

I was planning on it this week but I lost my nerve again - got about 1/2 inch of nice dark hair but not enough to look like I planned this...gonna give it a few more weeks....sigh.

Well, i am soooo bald, I can envy you guys at least having something to keep you warm up there! And Celtic Spirit - getting a whole year between you and your diagnosis is cause enough for celebration! Whatever those folks at John Hopkins might say...

Kerry Mac,

I finished chemo a year ago TODAY. I have about 4 inches. It took a good 6 weeks AFTER finishing chemo to start to see anything starting to grow. Although , I finished Herceptin in Nov 2008, and have noticed that it seems to be picking up speed. My hair never really grew fast anyways, thats why I got the extensions.

when I get to the point where it could look like I even possibly did this on purpose then the wig goes. 

Here is an alyssa milano style that I am hoping to have in a month or so...

bummer....It didnt like my pic...ok just google alyssa milano short haircut

* Dang!*

I had no idea about this difference in start time for the clock and am stage IIIa - - I'll ask my Oncologist next week.  I was diagnosed late last July, mastectomy 8/27/08, chemo started 10/1/08 and will finish week of 3/16/09, a month off, then radiation!  This is a marathon!

Celtic,

I use several dates...date of Dx, date of mastm dates of chemo, rads start and finish, ooph..  but mostly I use date of Dx as that is when this nightmare, umm, I mean journey began.  In regards to AI's  for me 5 years is  from when I started them. When I was first Dx, DH and I went to the local Komen affiliate and they told me that you are a survivor from the moment you hear the words, you have BC.  BTW, I have not asked my onc what he uses for dates, but when I saw him a couple weeks ago, just shy of 3 years from Dx, he still has me on a 3 month schedule.  I thought from the info he gave me at the start of all this, after 3 years, visits go to every  6 months.  I guess I will find out next visit if it moves to 6 months or stays 3 months. 

is active treatment chemo or radiation too - I think it is the end of chemo for some reason.

Wow - it looks great!

I'm just done my second treatment and am now really quite hairless. It isn't so bad - well, it isn't great, but its not the end of the world!

I'm in Canada too (Toronto) so I figure everyone else is wearing a hat outside anyway and it is less noticable. I haven't even got a wig yet....am making do with scarves and hats.  Don't forget to buy a Sleep Cap, my head gets chilly at night. There is a Canadian Web Site we used, but I also got stuff from the US for about the same price.

http://www.hairbeautycanada.com/ 

My Husband buzzed me when it started falling out. We thought our kids would be less shocked if they helped with the cutting, but they actually got bored half way through, and aren't fussed at all when I walk around all bald. 

What Chemo are you on? I am doing FEC100-T. It is OK, am a week out from #2 and starting to feel a bit human again.

Good luck with it, hope everything goes well for you!

You are right, the waiting is really the worst part. I was really lucky in that my Onc started me on Chemo three days after our first visit! So it was very fast, and I was relieved to get it going.

My kids are a lot younger than your son (3 and 5), and don't really understand the whole concept of "cancer" but it dosen't seem to be affecting them really at all. They play more "Mummy is going to the Doctors" but have adapted so well. They know I need to have medicine, and that I don't feel well after, but don't seem fazed by it. Hope it's the same with your son.