ColleenWard

A little tired today, but still getting out and about!  No nausea.  My meds were zofran, and ...forget the name, but a steroid in the AM.  Still hoping all stays well!  I go to work tomorrow!

Thanks so much for all your words of encouragement!  It means so much to hear from survivors!

Thanks for all your help and kind words.  I'm now nervously waiting the results of the PET scan.  I have also been thinking about my surgeon's visit and think I want to change.  She was more interested it talking to me about what a "bomb" this must be, and less interested in talking to me about my surgical options.  To be honest, I'd much rather her have focused on my options. Also, during my exam, she stated, that her assistant would now exam me.  You know, I'd think that would be a question.  Is it ok if my assistant also exams you?  Then she asks what my onc has said and I tell her he was waiting to see what she had said.  She said she would call him, which she did, and then came in and proclaimed the plan would be that she would install the port as soon as possible, and that the onc would try to shrink the tumor with chemo, and then we would do a mastectomy with immediate reconstruction.  No discussion, not we think this would be best because blah, blah.  I'm not even sure I want reconstruction, but for her to just proclaim that decision, as well as assume that I would want a port instead of a hickman or PICC, just seems to go beyond her bounds.  I didn't appreciate that she didn't even present the options. To be perfectly honest, I didn't need her to give me an education on dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis, when I really doubt she has ever had to, and then make decisions that I should at least have been informed about the options.

 Anyway, I talk with my onc this week, but I think I want a different surgeon.  One that discusses options, rather than just makes the final decision without even saying why.  Does that sound too unreasonable?  It just seems it is my body, and I should be given all the info to make my decision, but ultimately, the decision is mine, not hers.  What do you think?

 Thanks again for holding my hand through this!

Currently, I'm stage 2.  Tomorrow, I will have the PET scan which will show if I am still stage 2 or stage 4.  There is such a big difference.  I'm so scared!

First bit of good news.  The ER/PR are positive and the HER is -.  So I suppose I at least have a good set of options!

Actually, every bone marrow transplant is a stem cell transplant, but not every stem cell transplant is a bone marrow transplant.  It all just depends from where the "stem cells" come from.  They can come from umbilical cord blood, they can come from the bone marrow (usually the hip bone), or you can even take medicine to stimulate your body to "dump" stem cells into your blood stream, and then harvest the stem cells from your blood stream.  Each one has its own pluses and minuses.

I know, more than you wanted to know, but lived it for way too long. Just like breast cancer, there is a lot of misinformation out there about bone marrow transplants.

My son is a bone marrow transplant survivor, so I know more about this topic than I care to.  There are several different kinds of bone marrow transplants.   In an autogenic transplant, it is more of an immune system rescue, meaning, because they have your original immune system on ice (so to speak), they can blast away with the heavy chemo guns, and then give you your own bone marrow back. It usually takes these patients awhile to recover and you essentially get your own immune system back.

 In an allogenic transplant, you get someone else's immune system.  Your counts bounce back much quicker, but there are more side effects.  The good news is that, if successful, you get a new immune system, that you hope will work better than yours, and kill any residual cancer cells (recognizing them as foreign).

 In our travels, we came across two young girls that were trying a bone marrow transplant as a last resort.  Neither child made it.  In both cases, the cancer just came back.  I can't honestly remember which type of transplant they had, but I think auto.  I know that is far from statistical, but bone marrow transplants are quite ...can't think of a good word for it...but the TV shows make it seem much simplier than it is.  Dealing with the side-effects of a bone marrow transplant, were worse than my son's original diagnosis, and subsequent relapse.  It is not something to be entered into easily.  I admire my son for all he went through, and he is alive today.  However, I'm not so sure I could go through it all...

You may want to try agave nectar.  You use about 1/3 cup where you would have used 1 cup of sugar.  It is plant based, and doesn't spike your blood sugar.

 I actually switched to it earlier this year, and haven't used white sugar since.  Funny, I was getting my health in line (just lost 20 pounds - thanks Wii Fit!), when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I'm hoping it all helps me get through it better...

OK, maybe it isn't 8cm.  My primary said 8 cm on the phone, but when I picked up the results, I realized she was reading the biopsy report which said the sample size was a .8.  I got the radiologist's notes.  She says at least 3cm.  So even if I round up to 4, that's a bit less than 8.  I have an appt with the oncologist on Wednesday, and the surgeon on Thursday.  I finished up the Breast MRI today.  The radiologist also mentioned lymph nodes, with the largest being 3cm.  So either she is stuck on 3's or the lymph nodes are the same size as the tumor. 

embmom, I have an appt with the surgeon, but the onc seems surprised I want to see them before the surgery.  Does that make sense?  Shouldn't I have a PET scan?  Tomorrow I go for the MRI.

Don't have stage/grade yet, but confirmed IDC with a 8cm tumor.  Anyone else have a tumor so large?  Lymph nodes are also involved, but haven't had surgery to confirm how many.

Really need advice.