modjadje

Hi all, I've posted in the Get Togethers forum that a few of us had the chance at short notice to get together on that Sunday, in the Newport area. Anyone who feels like joining us, and lives close enough, is most welcome to join us. For those who will be accompanied by a significant other/husband, let's carve out a window of 3 hours or so when it can be girls-only, so we can talk freely about our shared experiences.
I posted this little notice here, because I know that I for one was completely oblivious of the"Get Togethers" forum until now :-) ... see you there!
Delina

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While reading this thread I heard my name being called by my half-full tub of old-fashioned tapioca pudding in the fridge ... and oh did that taste good. Yes, I am also not so focused any more on being as svelte as I was before. At almost five foot eleven, I was a size 10 for a very long time, then after menopause became a size 12, and now after bc it has crept up to size 14. I used to walk for exeercise, but now my knee prevents me from doing that.

Just yesterday I decided to make peace with size 14 and to gather the nice, too small clothing and donate it to a local women's shelter. Somehow that specific cause makes it possible for me to part with the stuff. Elsewhere on the forum is the thread about "de-cluttering" or :-) de-crapization ... and seeing that I just moved house and saw so much stuff that I could live without, I am inspired.

Yes, I was on hormone replacement therapy for about 7 years, loving how it kept the wrinkles at bay. At age 59 that study came out that refuted the "good-for-heart-health" benefits, and I dropped it like a hot potato. Now research is showing a drop in the numbers of menopausal women developing breast cancer, and it is stated outright that it is ascribed to the lower number of menopausal women who take hormone replacement treatment. Yes, I figure that my looking young for my age at 59 definitely had a hefty price tag :-( attached to it ... bc.

After having gone through chemo like so many of us did, is it a wonder that we now savor tastes and aromas again? Like hoghedge's croissant and coffee in bed ... LIFE smells and tastes GOOD!

Delina

Way to go, Kelly!
I want to say thank you to all of you, Hanoria, Sue, Kelly, Jackie ... did I leave someone out? It was so sweet of you all to include me when I needed support so badly. I have since learned that the tissue removed during the re-excision tested all benign; surgeon says it was a large hematoma (blood and scar tissue). I now jokingly refer to my boobies as Miss and Little Miss ... poor Little Miss got even smaller after this second surgery :-) but she seems to be much happier, even while healing. Let's hope that it will now settle down.

Also, because of the rib pain which oncologist swore can't be from Herceptin (several bc sisters on Herceptin has mentioned rib pain as a side effect) I went to a chiropractor. He sent me for extensive x-rays at the hospital, to be interpreted by the radiologist, to make very sure that there are not metastases to my ribs. All that came back clear. Wonderfully reassuring.

I have realized that I had just jumped feet first into your little group, and I want to say Sorry for intruding so rudely. I found your thread title "Mammosite Buddies" in a search, and didn't know that it was in the "Growing our friendships" forum ... thank you for the support and for not chasing me out with a broom :-)

I've actually gotten a little initiative today, and am working on a painting, so I'm saying 'bye for now.
Love and Light to us all,
Delina

hi girls,
I feel somewhat depressed, and my left breast is still painful. I'm looking for a spot on our beloved bc.org where I will be relevant; it seems my current misery is an outflow of my MammoSite experience and thus perhaps i will fit in.
Had surgery day before last to re-excise the scar tissue from MammoSite radiation and subsequent very persistent seroma. In Jan - March it was aspirated by needle 3 times, 35 ml. 25 ml. and then only 7 ml. Seemed to do better, even though there was still a LOT of tenderness.
Had surgery on 08/23/06, radiation from about 08/27til 09/05/06, then DD A/C until 12/04/06. Started Herceptin 12/14/06, every 3 weeks the big dose.

Two months ago, just after a Herceptin infusion, I got a very sharp burning pain across the ribs under the affected left breast, which the oncologist brushed off as "just a muscle spasm". It calmed a little after 3 weeks, but was still very bothersome after 7 weeks. So, in the 8th week of dealing with the "muscle spasm", I experienced a sudden escalation in pain in my longsuffering left breastie (poor thing had been through so much!) Six nights ago, as I lay down in bed and became horizontal, I felt some painful movement within my breast, then sharp pain. Whole breast became excruciatingly painful to the touch, (as though nerve endings were involved, in some way). 5:30 a.m. I couldn't stand it any more (even with painkillers) so i call my primary care doc, who is an internist. Saw him 9:30 a.m. but no diagnosis, he vaguely thinks my ribs are involved, perhaps a ligament. Very vague. So I ask him to order an ultrasound, as i have a scheduled follow-up appntmnt with my surgeon coming up, and ultrasound might help.
Rest of day in very bad pain, and thru the night. Owie, the breast does not want to be touched. Showing redness along the lumpectomy scar, and a mass can clearly be felt. Next day, Wednesday, I go for ultrasound and has a chance to look at seroma diagnosis ultrasound of 12/06, and compare. Then it showed a clear space with clean edges, filled with fluid, now it shows very jagged rough interior "lining" so to speak in this seroma space.
See surgeon the next day. Thursday. Large outer area is swollen hard, with redness on skin spreading, but my temp remains under 100. As much as i dread, surgeon rationalizes that we need to attempt a needle aspiration which might bring dramatic relief, as well as liquid to send for lab analysis.
His assistant give me her hand to hang onto, and he used an ultrasound machine in his office to guide the needle. Oh my. Sweet assistant says It's Okay to cry ... It's just, there's been so much pain already!
doc gets hardly any liquid and doesn't like the cloudiness of it, so decision is made. Liquid goes to lab, and they schedule surgery on outpatient basis at local hospital for re-excision.
So Friday p.m. I had that surgery, and surgeon decides to keep me there overnight, which feels very good to me (isn't a bit of morphine a wonderful thing) :-) He put in a JP Drain (or someting close-sounding) and I empty it and record how much, take my Kephlex antibiotic which was started by IV in the hospital, and bringing my Coumadin levels back up (using that because a clot formed about 10 weeks ago around the stem of the catheter of my port).

I had planned to have my port removed but after talking it over just prior to going into operating room before this re-excision, doc and i both felt that we should focus on what's wrong with my left breast and re-appraise the status of the port at a later stage.

Oh, I am just so weary of the battle! A year ago I had just been diagnozed, and had definitely anticipated that by now it would all have been history (herstory :-) ? Delina's bc history. Written in a book, the word Finis at the end. Instead, I still have to pick up the pen, over and over, and write some more.

Please encourage me.
Love and Light to all of us,
Delina

Hi gals! I am glad to find this thread ... Janet, our diagnoses were pretty much the same (we've commented on it before :-) ... and heart damage is very much on my mind. I had DD A/C (and we know that Adriamycin can cause heart damage, especially when it is administered dose dense). You dodged that bullet, and I wish that my onc gave it the consideration that your onc did by giving you Taxotere and Carboplatin instead. Throughout my BC journey, the stuff that's supposed to be "rare" events have been happening to me, and I'm just a little spooked about the heart damage possibility, especially as we learned from Debbie's experience that the damage from chemo can show up so many years later.

Yes, it's rare to get a pneumo thorax during port placement, but my surgeon pierced my lung accidentally and there I was. Scary.
Yes, lots of patients get MammoSite radiation treatment without developing a big whopping seroma, but mine did. Needed to be drained 3 times and eventually subsided 8 months after surgery.
Seven weeks ago a blood clot formed in subclavian vein, around the catheter of my port. Needed ER care, and has been on Warfarin (Coumadin) since, for blood thinning.

Six weeks ago, immediately after Herceptin infusion no. 7, I developed a searing pain across my ribs, under breast and left arm (left breast had the lumpectomy and Mammosite radiation). Was still at onc's office, so the nurse suggested he sees me. Standing up, he pokes a finger in my ribs and when i go Ouch! that hurts! he says nonchalantly "that's good, it's not your heart or your lungs, but JUST a muscle spasm!"

Three weeks later, at infusion no. 8, I made nurse aware that it still hurts very much and she said oh, these muscle spasms can last very long.

It even hurts when i inhale deeply. Saw my regular doctor, who is an internal med specialist, and he thinks it's a ligament between ribs.

Mammogram of left breast last week says all is fine.

My, I am wordy today! But I have been worrying, and at last I can share my rationale with Herceptin sisters as to why I decided to quit halfway. My heart ejection fraction has steadily been drifting down from 70, it was 54 3 weeks ago after 3-monthly echo. So it suddenly dawned on me that I am convinced that the eight 3-weekly Herceptin treatments that I've had is ENOUGH FOR ME. My tumor was stage 1, and sentinel node plus one more were clear.
I called onc nurse to schedule appntmnt with onc at my #9 infusion, and told her my thoughts. She said, talk to doc, here he is. I explained myself, and asked him to confirm whether any other studies had been done re. number of treatments necessary for early stage bc. He said there has been a study showing that 6 treatments are beneficial. He then asked "how many have you had?" I said 8, and he said "okay, you can stop, and we'll cancel your no. 9 infusion for this Friday." Wow. Just like that. I was a little shocked, as i had emotionally prepared me for having the ninth one, and seeing it as a mile-post "halfway". Onc wants to see me again in 3 months.

So now i have an appointment with the surgeon, who will remove my port as an outpatient procedure, and then i can probably quit the Coumadin, and then ... perhaps the "spasm" thing will slowly fade away. I hope. And the joint pain and exacerbated arthritis (I'm really only 63, but the past year I went from feeling like a young 62, to very old 63 :-)

Lastly, I sort of feel (my own emotional feeling) that by letting the port go I am manifesting my belief that I will not need it again.

Gee! What a load off my chest! I don't usually "hog the airwaves" but today i just had to spill it all out.

Love and Light to you all,
Delina

Oh, Debbie! (( )) I appreciate that you shared with us that the heart problems can show up so much later ...

I received 4 DD A/C starting 6 weeks after surgery (had Mammosite radiation during the 6 weeks). Ten days after last A/C onc started my 3-weekly Herceptin infusions. I am almost at #9 infusion (4 days from today) and then I will be at the halfway mark. Onc doesn't do MUGAs, sends me for Echo every 3 months. Time before last it was 58, and most recent one 56, if I recall correctly.
The tech assured me that it was a "good reading" but now that I read about Karen's 72% and Sue's 60% down from 70%, I'm thinking mine needs closer watching.
I wonder whether an Echocardiogram is as reliable an indicator of ejection factor as is a MUGA? I'm going to read up a bit and ask a few questions on Friday when I go for H#9.

Hope you are all having a lovely Memorial Day with your families ...
Delina

oh thank you, Newter! and thank you to whoever sat down every week for a photo of her hair growth ... it is so very encouraging to see that my 16-weeks after last chemo very short and unspectacular hair is just NORMAL ... It bugs me that is so determined to go its own way, wrapping to my head in its own preferred sort of swirl pattern,and with these odd little bits that stick up here and there ... sort of like a licked calf ! Gotta laugh, as crying is not an option

From the pics I can see that another 16 weeks of growth will bring me REAL HAIR ... with a shine to it!
I've bookmarked that page, so that I can go compare whenever I get the "hair blues"
May the sweet Fairy of Hair smile upon us all ...
Delina