Class of 2009 - Sisters in the same time frame
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I was diagnosed in Feb2009. Had double BMX, chemo and have been on Tamoxifen since July of 2009. Found a lump on my scar recently that turned out to be a B9 cyst(thank goodness) I have three children and I hope I stay around for a long time to come.
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Welcome D4hope...you found a great group here.
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Pauldingmom ~ glad to hear from you !!! Get that chemo going and kill those cancer cells ~ nice to see you typing better. Hang tough sister.
Welcome D4Hope . Congrats on the b9 results. Thank the lord.
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Pauldingmom, so glad to see your note. Been thinking about you soooooooo MUCH! And sending good thoughts and love your way - put your hand out and stir it around in the air. Can you feel all that good stuff? Go, girl. Stay in touch, will you please?
D4Hope, nice to meet you. Tell us a little about yourself when you have some time.
To the rest of the usual and lovely suspects - how are you? Hope you are well. I just had my 6 month mammogram today. (Was a little late having it done this time.) All clear. HOORAYYYYY!!!
Started working on a committee and have enjoyed it. We are volunteers who work to get trees planted in neighborhoods and public areas. Juanelle, you may see one of our events on television this Friday. We're going to plant a bunch of trees in Arlington as a tie-in to the Super Bowl. It's a good way to get publicity and let people know we've got trees and we're not afraid to plant them!
Seems to be a little quiet on the board these days. Everyone must be hard at work making their valentines.
XO,
Mary
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PauldingMom: I too think about you a lot -- and was so pleased to see your post. Hope your treatment gets on track and does its work! Glad you are feeling well and checking in here. ((((Hugs))))0
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Hi Ladies - just checking in and thought you might like to know that I am two years post dx (last Sunday) and Mx (tomorrow). Had annual mammo today and everything was fine. Now that I am two years out I have been referred to a PS to discuss recon options. So I guess it's just a case of keep going forward....
Love to you all!!
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((((((PauldingMom)))))))))) Our love and healing vibes coming your way. You are akways in my thoughts and prayers.
Ainm, Love your new avatar. You look terrific!
What a great project, Mary. Plant one for me!
Wishing everyone well. Hi Juanelle and Renee and Alicia and all my sisters!
Pam
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Hi everyone my journey started friday the 13th 2009, im 1 year celabrating the week i got my results clear from my mamagram my son told me i was going to be a granma for the first time, and my daughter was proposed to which she excepted, my life has changed so much this last 12 months i just want to keep possative its hard at times, i work in a hospice so im faced with it every day .i want to carry on working how do i do this any advise, you have all helped me get through the last 12 months and i thank you all for that i just dont know what to do x x
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Junton, welcome to our wonderful group. Thes ladies are truly amazing and i am so grateful to have had their support over the past year or so...
Ainm, just love to hear these positive stories of women who are kicking cancer ass..
Hello to all the gals. I have been reading but not posting much, life is getting busy. I think of everyone every day..
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junton, all of our lives have been changed in the last 18 months. I take the positive from all this and hope I am a better person, more compassionate, more sensitive, etc. All I can tell you is live each day as it would be your last. Live, Love and Laugh. Your new grandchild will make so much difference in your life and give you much to look forward to. I don't know how you deal with a job where lives are taken each day or could be, but be strong, help them move on but it doesn't mean your death will happen anytime soon, so you have to be able to separate the two.
michele, I have been like you and only reading and not posting much. I know better than to get too far behind.
ainm, congrats on reaching your 2 year mark. Love your new avitar, you look so different.
Pam, good to see you on the boards. Hope you had a good Christmas and had a great visit with DD. I hear it has been cold in Florida.
pauldingmom, hope the treatment is going well. Keep us informed.
mary, I will be out of the state on Friday, so I guess I will not get to see you on TV. I hope the weather holds out for you.
Alicia, good to hear from you. The boards have really been quiet these days.
D4hope, we also hope you are around for awhile. Welcome to the group.
Good to hear from you Sherill. Hope all is going well.
Renee, glad to hear that you had a good Dr visit. I know it is a relief. Have you gotten out of the snow and ice yet? I am also watching AI. I keep saying I am not going to, but here I am getting hooked again. OMG
I will be off the boards for a short spell, I am going on vacation with Sister and Cousin. We are going to visit friends in New Mexico and Arizona. Girl trip, love them.
Hugs to all.
Juannelle
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Hi ladies - just wanted to pop in and say hello. I hope you are all doing well. It's hard to keep up on everything here on bc.org but I think of you often and lurk to see what's going on. I really haven't had too much to report lately. Take care and hugs to everyone.
Sherri
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Sugar, amen for a not much to report.
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Hey sherri, good to see you. Love your hair and your new avitar. We have all been quiet and I hope that means everyone is doing well and living life.
Juannelle
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Hi. I am Peggy. DX: IDC July 2009; 1.1 CM; Stage 1; Grade 2; Oncotype-8; 2 -Sentinel lymph nodes-both negative; PR+; ER+; HER-
I am on Femara. I have not had too many SE's until recently. I have had awful hot flashes since starting Femara but, recently had some achy bones also. However I was also diagnosed with Osteoporosis Stage 3 prior to dx for BC, and had an anterior and posterior cervical fusion of the C-3, C-4, and C-5 vertebraes in my neck after a car accident in 1983...so sometimes I don't know what aches are Femara and, what are related to Osteoporosis, and probably arthritis stuff in cervical area or old age-
even! Anyhow the hot flashes wake me up sometimes 3x a night, where I am damp or drenched however, I recently started two things that I "think" have helped. One is: I started taking 1000 IU Vitamin E in AM, and another 1000 IU before bed, and I joined a gym-that does not cater to body builders. I use to belong to the YMCA just before and immediately after BC diagnosis. However the staff there thought they were training the next body builder for a competition...lol! Not really but, really now bench press 50 pounds starting off...not I.I and my family (hubby and 20 year old daughter) joined Planet Fitness, where they do not cater to body builders per say and, allow one to go at there own pace and work on individual exercise programs according to your needs and with your limits physically speaking. And there is no 6 month or 1 year contract, as a lot of gyms/fitness places require-so love being able to go month-month also.
Tonight I did 15 minutes on the tread mill, 15 minutes on the bike over there and arm strenthening exercises...and do thy bones know it-
! I was told exercise helps with hot flashes so, we will see now. If not, I still am getting exercise, which is a good thing....I think...lol!Oh yes forgot to say BC (IDC) was found in left breast, but I chose to have both removed. My decision was based on knowing thyself, and after being married 27 year's hubby has been very supportive. He said, "I didn't marry your upstairs, I married you and with or without your upstairs is not going to affect my love for you." This is always a personal decison for each woman, but for me this was the right decision. I know myself and, I would have worried, questioned ect. So no more mammos here. At least not that I am aware of.
I have had some stressful moments the last month or so. I have a history of Chronic Sinus infections, as does my Mom and daughter. I have been on 2 different antibiotics for this. However 1 1/2 weeks ago, I had one of the worst headaches I had ever had. I kind of thought this may be Sinus related, however I had never had a headache like that one. One week before this, my headache was behind both eyes, then it got so my left eye watered and headache was behind right eye with ear pressure, ringing and some pain. The headache was so intense, I ended up in the emergency room where they did a CT scan of Sinuses and gave me Percocet for the pain. CT scan showed some thickening/mucous of left Sinus. Well during this I started to stress big time, wondering if BC had spread to brain or another area...which did not help. Apparently 18 months has not been enough time to get past this fear; stress when something is not right. I called my Oncologist office and told them what had been going on. They called me back and said, "They did not believe this was a brain issue, but if it would make me feel better they could do a CT scan with and without contrast that day."
I had the CT of brain done on a Friday and had to hurry up and wait over the weekend for the results. Waiting is still so stressful for me and hard, which I suppose is normal. Monday my Oncologist's office called me and said, the CT done of my brain is normal. So this was a good thing. And...I could sleep again, and once again function day-day. Now I feel rather foolish about having this CT scan of brain done, because I am wondering if my headaches have been neck/cervical related, from car accident and cervical fusions done in 1983 and aging of course-
! When I turn my head, I have popping in my neck. Sometimes this popping relieves the headache, sometimes it does notSince the CT scan, I have seen a ENT-Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. He did a flexible scope/Endoscopy of my Sinuses/Nasal area and throat and said, he did not see anything. However he said, he may not have seen anything when he did this scope in relation to Sinus issues because, by the time this scope was done I had been on two different courses of antibiotics so, it is possible whatever infection there once was, was starting to clear up. So he put me on a Steroid nasal spray called, Fluticasone Propionate. I will see the ENT again March 15th, to let him know how it is going basically.
My Oncologist does not do scans as a normal part of my appointment's per say. However when I call with a concern, she is more than willing to do what is needed to put my mind, anxiety, stress to rest. Example being this brain CT I recently had.
In October, my Oncologist also did a Bone Marrow Biopsy. I had from an Oncologist point of view ,high white blood counts. I can't remember the medical term for it, but she said something to the affect that some people's blood gets too thick, and they have to like take some out and add some. I can't remember if she said this can sometimes happen with Femara or not? She also checked for something called JAK2 Mutation...don't ask me to explain what this is because I can't. But she did say, "I am also a blood doctor."
I have always run higher than what is considered to be the average/normal white blood count. I believe the normal/average range is: from 3-10 or so. Mine can run from 12.9-18. Eighteen is usually if I am fighting off something like a Sinus Infection or virus. I have run white blood counts in this range for many years, so to me this was and is normal. My family doctor was not too worried about my white blood count numbers either but, my Oncologist said to me: "What your family doctor considers okay for a white blood count, and an Oncologists view of this are two different things/ideas."
I had to wait almost 3 weeks on all the results to come back on the Bone Marrow Biopsy..oh-e-vay was I a wreck, to say the least! But this all came back okay.
Lets see what else can I share? I have been a live-out Nanny for many years and absolutley loved it and all my kids! Some of my kids were premies with special needs. One of the kids that was a premie, his parents were told he would never talk. (He signed.) Well I worked with him, and he started to talk verbally and to this day he talks a mile a minute. I made some wonderful friends with families I , I was Nanny for that I still talk to and see. It's fun to see how kids I was Nanny for from the time they were born almost, are now in middle school/junior high school and how they have blossomed.
However I do not think, I will be going back to work. My job required a lot of lifting, holding, cuddling, and being physically active with my kids. And now due to my neck/cervical issues, the Osteoporosis, and the achiness I have now I don't think I can do this anymore. At least not the lifting, and being as physically active as kids require and need!
I am now in the process of filing for SS disability. I know that SS pretty much denies everyone the first time they apply. It's almost a protocol with SS here in the US, from what I have heard and been told. So we shall see. I am prepared for a long process with this.
Well this is about all on me, mu diagnosis ect. Sorry this got longer than I intended it to. Have a good week all-
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Peg, welcome...wow you sure have been through a lot. Thanks for sharing everything with us. You will find this is a wonderful place to come and vent and get support....
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Hi Michele...good to see you here and your new avatar. Juanelle... your trip sounds like great fun! Sugar... you look great in your picture too! Wow!!! Peg, you have been through a lot. Headaches can be such mysteries and so painful. It's great your onc will do tests to relieve your fears. Is it hemochromatosis that your have? I worked with a girl who had to donate blood regularly for that condition.I saw my oncologist today for my 3 month check up and graduated to every 6 months now!!!! Hooray!!! It's been two years since DX so about time I'd say. I tried to talk her out of any more CT scans of my funny spot in my lung. I am ready to ignore it but she says one more. Yeah-yeah, every time they say one more
But all my blood work and tumor markers were good. And she did not fuss about me switching to Tamoxifen from Arimidex so I am happy. I am ready to pretend I am perfectly healthy. We've had company from Maine. They thought our weather was great even though we thought it was a little chilly. We went to Blue Springs State Park where the manatees congregate to stay warm. There were 268 in the springs that morning! Quite a sight We had a good time but glad for life to settle back to normal again.Wishing well to ALL.Pam0 -
Pam that sounds super cool...and woohoo agout the 6 months checkup...it is nice to have those checkups farther apart...makes us feel normal. Love normal.
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Hi everyone !
Pam, glad you got good news with your markers ! Enjoy your company.
Peg, wow... lots of tests and I am sure anxiety to go with them. Glad all is going well.
Have a good day sisters !
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Hi all, Sherri I love your new pic you look amazing. Juanelle have fun with your family on vacation and stay warm. As for us we finally dug out of the snow storm but they are giving another possible storm so I've heard for may this coming Monday into Tuesday. How strange this winter has been.
To all the newbies I welcome you all. I trully hate that you have had to join the ranks of BC.org but I am so happy you found this thread. All the ladies here are very supportive and will help and answer questions in anyway they can. For me I celebrated my one year anniversary of being dx and having surgery in Oct., but I am quickly coming up on the one yr. anniversary of completion of my treatment Feb. 4th. I also take Tamoxifen... which I hate, it makes it so hard to lose weight.
Pam I hope you do better on the Tamoxifen, I will say I had some initial aches and pains with it but they have gotten better and didn't stick around very long. The worse thing I have had happen with it is I have developed "crepitus" that's what my doc calls it. It's really just cracking and popping of the joints from lack of lubrication due to the estrogen that it being blocked and it's caused "ME" (key word) to have some arthritic pain in my shoulders that I never had before I took it. I hope in 4 yrs when I stop the med the pain will stop... maybe not the damage may have been done but I guess that's a small price to pay for my life.
Hugs Renee
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Pam, Congrats on the 2 year milestone......can't wait to hit my 2 year milestone as I am sure everyone else on this thread is!
Wishing everyone a wonderful week end!
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Hello to new friends and old.
Sherri - so nice to see your face here. Great Avitar - so pretty.
Peg - welcome to our group.
No real news to tell you all. Just here to say I luh-hove you!
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Hi Mary,
Is it cold in Texas? Seems like we are all freezing. How about everyone check in with a weather report....
Sunny and chilly in Florida, high mid 50s but the wind off of the ocean feels colder than that. I know I should be embarrassed to complain!
Pam
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Pam, my thermometer this am read 0.3 degrees (yes, that's zero point three) here in NJ! Sweet Mother, it's COLD! I didn't realize I lived in the Artic!
Sherrill
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Here in Ottawa we set a record...the colderst day in recorded history...-29..brrrrr. But then againI have lived in Winnipeg Manitoba where it was -50 for two weeks...
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Well, don't hate me, but... it's 59F and sunny, with a slight breeze here in San Antonio. I don't know how you're surviving, Michele! That is crazy cold.
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That cold weather makes me bones hurt more. We are cooler than normal still. 47 with light rain.
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So far Michele wins the "Worst Weather" sympathy award. Wow!!! Can you even go outside? How do you cope?
Pam
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Pam we are at 35 with rain and expecting it to start changing over to snow around midnight (so they say)... We are under a winter storm warning. Possible snow accumulations. We shall see.
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Pam, you get use to the cold. I usually isn't that cold here..normal is around -15 to -18. I have a super warm down long coat, and down gloves. I am a cold winter suck. At least this year we don't have that much snow. If I can i will post a picture from a few years back, the snow was up to the second story of our house...in the end we h ad no place to pile the snow so we just gave up on shoveling.
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Ok, so I tried to add a picture, but remember my brain is frozen, so I changed my profile picture. That is my daughter standing in the driveway.
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