Best Of
Re: So...whats for dinner?
Minus, It's good that your water heater could be fixed under warranty. DD used to read horrible sappy YA novels featuring teens with terminal illnesses. She now reads decent fiction and is a PA at MSK so I guess there was some value in them. Your niece might become an environmental engineer someday.
Wally, I hope Fred Hutch has some good ideas for treatment.
Reader, Adding a bit of lemon juice helps reduce the salty taste but doesn't remove the salt. Cooking a dish yourself lets you control the ingredients but good takeout is great when you don't have the time or the energy.
Rischaller, There are always multiple ways of using up leftovers. Your fried rice dish sounds delicious.
Dinner tonight was stuffed peppers.
maggie15
Re: So...whats for dinner?
Wally: My brother is a big fan of Proton therapy for prostate cancer. No drugs, no surgery. He went to Loma Linda, CA where the procedure was originally developed - but I know there are machines through out the country now. Below is a link for their latest newsletter. Always some interesting things.
https://protonbob.com/nov-dec-2024-medicare-advantage-buyer-beware
minustwo
Re: When you're all done.........but still undone by cancer
@tigglewinkle, Yeah, I remember thinking about needing to take those meds for 5 years and how extremely long that seemed! I hope your doctor will consider all the options. We eventually tried arimedix (spelling?), which was the 3rd AI. To my surprise, it really did cause me much less pain that the previous meds. Also, I hope your doc will acknowledge the side effects that you do experience. In retrospect, I honestly wish I hadn't thought (virtually every single day!) about whether that pain I was feeling was real or just me being a wuss. Now I can see that it was, in fact, real— and I wish I had honored my own experience a bit more, you know?
Re: how about drinking?
@nativemainer, I wish you good luck with the review of the hospital treatment of your mother. The worst experience I had was when a nurse at a small country hospital told me I had bad indigestion and when I told her that I never get indigestion her response was along the lines of - "then you wouldn't know what it feels like, then". Bear in mind that I couldn't stand up straight I was in so much pain. 90 minutes later my appendix burst.
Kailua - so good. Did I see that Stoli vodka in USA had died for bankruptcy?
Re: Experience with choosing lumpectomy or mastectomy
We all have different experiences. I was recommended lumpectomy with radiation but I asked for double mastectomy for several reasons:
1. Lumpectomy comes with radiation and cancer was found on my left breast and I was worried about heart damage from radiation
2. I imagined myself I would be worried about every pain or breast change if breast tissue was left behind.
3. I was told I had very dense breasts and it was very difficult to read mammograms.
4. Another worry, if breast cancer happened once, could have happened again.
Most important, in my case, I am glad I did it because the cancer was found in both breasts while MRI didn't catch it.
However, there are many women who go through lumpectomy + radiation and do very well and have no problems. In the end, the decision would be yours.
Re: Tumor marker results and changes truqap
@Nin69
I have been on Truqap for 24 weeks. I have just stopped it for 15 days due to severe skin rashes and I will start it again next Monday (400 mg/day).
Before starting Truqap my CEA was at 225 and it went down to 27 and my Ca15-3 from 180 to 26.
The last Pet Scan did not show any active resumption of the disease and I was super happy with my lab values. Now after 2 weeks of break my values are already going back up!
I do not know what my oncologist will think but, as for you, he always tells me that the pet scan is the reference.
I agree with you that not knowing is difficult and I am waiting with apprehension for my pet scan in December.
Courage for the rest of the treatment. Give us news.
Re: vaginal estrogen cream and letrozole
Oncologists used to be against the use of estrogen cream applied locally in breast cancer patients with estrogen positive cancer, but recent studies have confirmed their safety, so they are more likely to prescribe it now. My MO was against it a couple years ago, before the latest studies were published, but now she says she is very comfortable approving a prescription from my gynecologist.
So I think that you can trust your oncologist, seems to be giving updated advice, whereas the noise you have heard against may be the outdated approach, but you can also consult with another oncologist or with a gynecologist-oncologist if you want to have extra peace of mind.
