Illinois ladies facing bc
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Hello friends! Been gone off the forum for awhile and hope everyone has been well.
I had a question that I was hoping someone may have some experience with.
I had a test last March that determined I was post-menopausal. I was then moved from Tamoxifen to Anastrozole. I have been on that for a year. I have been period free for 3.5 years.
I woke up yesterday to vaginal bleeding like a period. Happened again this morning. I reached out to my onco and she told me to get a gynec eval as there were many reasons this could be happening. so I am seeing my internist today for a pap smear. She said to stay on the Anastrozole.
Googling around makes me nervous about staying on it, as with some people there body is over-compensating for the estrogen inhibitor in the drug. So potentially doing the exact wrong thing to prevent reoccurrence.
Has anyone had this happen? Also wondering, with having two non-cancerous polyps removed during a Dec colonoscopy, if I should reach out to my gastro.
So frustrating not having one stop shopping for questions. Ironically, it is easier to get that when sick :0(
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you all SO much!
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Something like that happened to me a couple of years ago. It was bleeding from a polyp in my uterus. Not new, but slowly growing, and so far benign. Got it checked and it's behaved since. But this sent my MO into a tizzy insisting on testing my estrogen level to make sure I was still in menopause. Now really?? I'd not had a period in over a decade. And of course that status had not changed.
Your GYNO may send you for a vaginal ultrasound for more information.
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All are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Hi everyone,
I live in the Peoria area and was diagnosed last week with mucinous carcinoma. I am scared to death. I don't see my surgeon, Dr. Mammolito until May 30. If anyone is in the Peoria area and has local resources to recommend, I would love it.
Thanks
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Thanks Doxie - that's exactly what my internist said. She did a pap smear and blood work today. She got me in for an ultra-sound tomorrow and a see a gyno Friday for likely a biopsy.
Fun!
But at least I will get answers somewhat quickly! Which as we all know - waiting is the hardest part.
Thanks again!
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Back in 2010 the same thing happened to me, BoatinGirl—I was warming up before playing a concert and went to the bathroom, and darn near fainted when I saw copious blood on my Poise pad. Freaked out, because I was 4 yrs. post-menopausal. Next day, called the gyne: she had me come in for a Pap and pelvic…turned out to be hemorrhoids. (Confirmed by colonoscopy). Happens a couple of times a year, so I don’t panic. In your case, it might be that; or, because you only recently switched from Tamox. to an AI, you might still have some residual hyperplasia from the Tamox. You can have a uterine biopsy (yeah, it hurts, but it’s over quickly), and if it’s benign they can do a heat or laser ablation so you won’t bleed again. Used to be that any time a woman who was done with having children had fibroids or bleeding, she was advised to have a hysterectomy because “you don’t need your uterus any more.” But nowadays hysterectomy is recommended only if retaining one’s uterus is a cancer risk or seriously interferes with quality of life.
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Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the face of otherwise overwhelming impulses.There lies freedom indeed. - George MacDonald
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Kt...I am not in Peoria, but in Bloomington, so I don't really know any local sources. Are you referring to local "help or support groups?" If so, you could probably call the Susan G. Komen office (not the diagnostic center at OSF) but the regular business office to get info on support groups. The local Cancer Center should also have a breast coordinator that can supply you will all types of information. Also, this info should be available at your oncologist's office.
I do all my mammo's at Susan G Komen out at OSF in Peoria and my surgeon was Lynn Jalovec in Peoria. I loved her and you have a great surgeon, too. Several of my friends have had her and think she's the "top of the line." She will take good care of you.
This is such a scary time for you. First you have to process the diagnosis and then you have to make decisions about things that you don't have much knowledge about. You just aren't in control! After you have talked to your surgeon and know exactly what plan of action that you will be taking, you will probably feel much better and more at peace.
If you have any questions that you think I may be able to answer or if you just want to talk or vent, feel free to send me a personal message on this site.
Hugs to you!
Rita
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That best portion of good people's lives,
Their little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of love.
William Wordsworth0 -
Well, not so great news. My uterine lining is 28mm, versus the norm of less than 5mm. I was on Tamoxifen for close to 3 years and no issues. I was on Armidex for a year and then this. I would have thought the Tamoxifen would have done it.
Oh well, thanks for listening. Fun stuff ahead. Not.0 -
BoatinGirl, despite your having switched to Arimidex, the culprit is almost certainly Tamoxifen. Aromatase inhibitors cause atrophy of the uterine lining, which is the opposite of endometrial hyperplasia—a well-known SE of Tamoxifen. You might be given a choice between periodic uterine monitoring (via transvaginal ultrasound—with biopsies in case any growths pop up) and hysterectomy. Sort of like “what do you want on your sundae—anchovies or liver?"
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Thanks for the reply ChiSandy. Of course, googling my heart out, and found this crappy study that says the thickness of wall over 14mm shows significant likelihood of uterine cancer. I'm at 28mm.
Freakin' Tamoxifen. This sucks.
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At least it looks like you’re heading it off at the pass (it’s probably still in situ). Here’s hoping that the inguinal sentinels are clear and all you’ll need is a hysterectomy.
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We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working
with what we've got to make it as satisfying as we can.We can accept, bless, give thanks, and get going.Today, we can begin to call forth the riches from our everyday life.Procrastination has robbed us of too many precious opportunities.Call a friend for lunch, begin to read or even write that novel, organize your papers.Try a new recipe for dinner, smile at everyone you meet, sit and dream before a blazing fire, pick up your needlepoint again, act as if you're grateful to be alive, scatter joy.Think of one thing that would give you a genuine moment of pleasure today and do it.
Sarah Ban Breathnach0 -
You cannot believe in honor until you have achieved it. Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. -George Bernard Shaw
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Hey there. It has been a long time. Not sure why I received a notification today, but glad I did.
I would like to host an open house on Saturday, June 17th. All the Illinois girls are invited. If its nice, the pool will be opened. I can be reached by text at 630. 730.8027. I live in Lombard. Onward.
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Oooh—sounds perfect! What should we bring?
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onward,
Sound wonderful. There is an old list of emails and phone #s that lago may have. I'll hunt for it also.
In the meantime, if I were you, I'd edit out your phone # and ask that we send you a private message if we can come. I'm concerned you may get some unrelated texts months/years later.
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We can choose to gather to our hearts the thorns of disappointment,
failure, loneliness, and dismay in our present situation.Or we can
gather the flowers of God's grace, boundless love, abiding presence,
and unmatched joy.I choose to gather the flowers.0 -
I would love to attend, Onward!
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The highest form of praise you can offer to yourself, to God and to the world is to spend time each day expressing gratitude.It says to God that you are aware and appreciative of grace.It says to life that you are acknowledging its awesome presence in you.It says to yourself that you are worth the time it takes to be healed.Time spent in silence, contemplation and gratitude is time spent in devotion to a higher calling and a more loving state of being. - Iyanla Vanzant
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NavyMom, my buddy who had her BMX one year ago lives one town over from you in Minkooka!
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Whaaaaat? Channahon and Minooka used to be small little farm towns. But growing fast just like many communities in our area. We've lived here for 30 years and have no complaints.
I hope your friend is doing OK.
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The ideals that have lighted my way and, time after time, have given me new courage to face life cheerfully have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. -Albert Einstein
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My friend in Minooka is doing fine—she had DCIS and ADH, hormone-negative, node-negative; after her BMX incisions healed, her doctors consider her cured, with no need for any further treatment. (Her heart is another story—three stents in 18 years and counting, thanks to smoking until 20 years ago). She goes to the gym 5 days a week, loves to hunt for fossils, and travels to literary conventions at least annually (she’s one of the nation’s foremost amateur authorities on Edgar Rice Burroughs). And loves to drive her vintage Super Bee over back roads, with one hell of a lead foot.
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You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.
Woodrow Wilson0 -
Sorry that I didn't get a quote in yesterday. I had a very long day starting with a trip to the airport in St. Louis, Mo to pick up Dh from his trip to S. Dakota and then some lunch upon getting across the river and back into Illinois. Many errands later, it was time to be home, get re-organized here and I didn't even come to my computer room. Just parked myself in my recliner with some popcorn, watched a couple of programs ( only because I was busy trying to eat popcorn ) and went directly to bed afterward.
Sun it out today so there is a smile on my face. Hope the same sun is shining on all of you.
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Caring for one another, we sometimes glimpse an essential quality of our being.We may be sitting alone, lost in self-doubt or self-pity, when the phone rings with a call from a friend who's really depressed.Instinctively, we come out of ourselves, just to be there with her and say a few reassuring words.When we're done, and a little comfort's been shared, we put down the phone and feel a little more at home with ourselves.We're reminded of who we really are and what we have to offer one another. - Ram Dass and Paul Gorman
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The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross -0 -
The winds of grace are always blowing;
all we need to do is raise our sails.
- Anonymous0
