Class of 2009 - Sisters in the same time frame
Comments
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Good for you, Michele!!
Onward!
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Michele - are some of the 25 you're getting boosts? I was told I won't know until my simulation how many I'll be getting aside from 5 boosts. My radiation onc also explained that in Canada we get fewer but higher dose treatments.
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Woo Hoo Michele! One down 24 to go... for me the boosts were the worst part of rads. The other wasn't too bad. Good Luck!! I hope and pray you have no probs at all :=)
Renee
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Not sure about the boosts..I havn't seen my rads onc in a couple of weeks and I had my ct scan after that...I will see him next thursday if i remembert I will ask.
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Hi Friends! Oh you are all so wonderful.
JoJo, Sherri, Alicia - so happy you have finished chemo. Way to go - you DID it!
Michele - sounds like radiation is going well so far. Go, girl!
M360 - hang in there, my friend. Hope you are doing OK. Have you thought about contacting anyone at MDAnderson? They are oh so helpful and in the know there. PM me if you'd like to know more. I sure am rooting for you, tough girl. You can do this.
Jen - Doggone that lymphadema. It needs to take a hike. Hope you are doing well following your surgery. How did it go? Thinking about you. Listen - you have earned you mileage points at the hospital. When are they going to send you on a trip to Paris?
Lilah, Pam, Renee, Juanelle - howdy, friends. Sending love.
I am cruising along with ups and downs. Glad to be through with rads. Developed lymphadema before radiation was over. Doing massage and wearing a compression sleeve, which is fetching. Maybe I'll get a bedazzeler and load it up with rhinestones. Got a cold about two weeks ago, and the thing just won't go away. I am so tired. The old ticker feels like it is pumping peanut butter instead of blood. Goodness, I look so old and tired. Resting lots and waiting for better days. Went in for a follow up with the onc, and was told to get rid of the cold and gain a few pounds before starting tamoxifen. Came home with the prescription in hand. Blech. Watching the olympics and thinking of my wonderful Canadian friends on this board! It really has been fun to watch.
Take care, dear friends. XO, MG
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Hugs MG! Well all I can say is: I WISH my doctors ever told me to go gain weight lol (my problem is always in the other direction). Sorry you have a cold and hope you rest up and feel better soon! WOO HOO on finishing rads! (That is always worth repeating
Watching the Olympics here too... just watched the American Eric L (can't recall the last name) skate his way to gold in men's figure skating. It was so exciting to watch ALL the skaters!
Lilah
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Jen: Hope all goes well today. I have been on tamoxifen for 2 months with no major problems except nausea for a couple hours after taking it. I am having a hysterectomy on March 2 and then will go on arimadex. I am kind of scared of that drug because of the bone and joint pain.
I can not wait to recover from this surgery and then I am hiring a trainer because every treatment and pill I put into my body has caused weight gain. Nothing like being bald AND chubby. : )
Jewels
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HI ALL
MG
Hope the cold goes away real soon for you , good though that rads is all over ,wow i wish the doc would tell me to put on weight as well Lilah, I'm now on a goal to loose 1 kg a week with a friend of mine ill go for the low carb diet and walking , WISH ME LUCK !!!
MICHELE
MMMM how quick has time gone by, before we were talking about starting chemo now were moving on to rads, i start mine the end of March having a good rest and enjoying it Ive been heaps busy and feeling great .
I seen my Onco today and got the results from my CT scan Ive got a cyst on my liver he said he isn't to worried about it and will keep an eye on it and do another scan in a couple of months .should i be worried about a cyst ???
JEN
Hope your doing ok
HI to everyone else keep on enjoying life
PRINCESS JOJO
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Hi MG (Mary), sorry you have a cold, hope you feel better soon! Those can sometimes be real stinkers to get rid of. I haven't personally seen any of the Olympics this year. I guess I need to tune in and watch some of it. I hope that lymphedema clears up for you as well.
Jen - hope all is going well for you today and the lymphedema troll go away! lol!
Princess JoJo - so glad that life is good now. Good Luck with that weight loss. I always want a quick fix myself of course there never is one. I plan on starting a diet if my med onc gives me the o.k. to start a weight loss plan when I see him on Tues next week. Think I'm gonna see a professional though, I always seem to do better when I pay for it. LOL!!!
Renee
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Jojo - I see you're starting rads in March. A few days ago, I set up a thread for MARCH 2010 Rads Group that you might want to check out. I know there is at least one other person on that thread already. Let me know if you can't find it and I can send you the link.
Sherri
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OK, so I posted a question on a post surgery thread and didn't get a single response so I'm going to toss this out to my "Same time frame" sisters.
I had bilat in April 2009. All went well, did chemo, rads and am on Tamox. Aside from the tightness of post surgical tissue, my incisions have been smooth and flat. I have regained most of the range of motion I had prior to surgery and rads. Over the past few weeks I have a very distinct caving in just below my incision on the side that did not get rads. It appears to be sucking in between my ribs. It doesn't hurt and if I lay my hand flat on it and move the skin around, it seems just like the skin on any other part of my body.
I have heard the term "adhesions" after surgery. Is this the same thing or am I way off the mark on that? Has anyone else noticed a change in the tissue around their mastectomy site this far out?
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Kimberly ~ thanks !!! Hoping your exchange goes smoothly. WOO hoo for soft foobies. I can't wait. I have my surgery on 3/16.
MG ~ hope your cold goes away and you start to feel better.
Echo ~ I don't know about that sucking in skin thingy. I didn't have rads. Hope it works itself out for you.
To everyone else hoping you are feeling good !
alicia0 -
Echo, sorry can't help with your question...I find sometimes you do have to ask the same question a couple of times...some of us are regulars and read all the posts, and some just read a few and chat occasionally..
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Echo -- I too am sorry but don't know about this. Can you ask your PS to look at the area? That would be the best thing to do.
JoJo -- good luck with the new diet! I am thinking I will have to do something drastic like that myself (sigh).
Mimi -- LOL re: it works better if you pay for it!
Jewels -- alas it's true... nothing like going through ANY of this!
Jen, Magob, Sugar -- Hugs!
Hope everyone is feeling good/better today.
Lilah
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I have to tell you all, I just love reading this thread! Your all's friendship and comaraderie is palable and gives me warm feelings! I don't know you all well enough to comment much on anything particularly, but I did want you to know that you are all in my thoughts, and I'm hoping for the best for all of you, through the good times and bad times!
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Michele! We are all equals here and being in this "club" means you get all the same hugs and good thoughts as anyone
How are you doing? I see your diagnosis was just a month ago.... are you reeling still? I remember being on information overload in the beginning.
Cheers,
Lilah
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Lilah, yes it's a little tough. It seems like every time I take a step forward, I get nudged backwards with some new information.
I was just told yesterday that my scans indicated 2 lesions on my liver and that my oncologist wants to re-stage me from Stage II to Stage IV. That was just before my first chemo treatment started and I felt like someone just punched me in the stomach.
He assured me that we were going to be doing more tests and that the chemo regime he has planned for me for the breast cancer is exactly what I would be getting for the lesions, if they turn out to be "bad guys."
I just don't feel like I want to change my Stage on my diagnosis here just yet. I want to get the MRI and biopsy back first before I will accept that we have an issue there.
So sort of down today, though the chemo actually went well and not really feeling any side effects just yet! (fingers crossed)
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Ezscriiibe (Michele)... I'm so sorry you are down
and that your onc wants to re-stage you to a 4 without even having the results yet. As a nurse and a lay person that doesn't bode well with me. I also totally understand feeling like you were punched in the stomach. He should wait till he gets all the results in before he does that. Yes, the treatment may be the same "chemo", but he needs to wait till he has all the information. The lesions may be B9 and I will be praying, as I'm sure everyone else here on this board will also, that they are. Sending you {{{{Hugs}}}}. Just so you will know when I was 16 I was dx with stage 3b Hodgkins and it was very advanced, but I am here today and I've made it through Breast Cancer. You will to. If you ever want to talk Michele feel free to PM me. Renee
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Michele, everything about this journey is scary and then add something else into the mix just makes it that much worse. Sorry you are having to go through this extra stuff. I will pray that it is B9.
mary, hope the cold is doing better. I have been very lucky since starting treatment, I haven't been sick with a cold or anything. My DH keeps getting sick and bringing it home, but I seem to be able to dodge the bullet each time. I certainly don't know how since my WBC was always so low during chemo.
Sherri,good to see that you seem to be doing so well since finishing your chemo. It is just a relief to be through. Good luck with the rads. I am doing very well with mine. Haven't had any skin issues yet, but keeping my fingers crossed. Also, I am not suffering from any fatigue yet. There is still time, as my Rad Onc said.
Pincess JoJo, you seem to be doing well also. I wish I lived close on the beach, so I could take long walks and do some relaxing. It has been so cold here lately, so unusual for Texas, that I haven't been out much to do any walking. Radiation is so much easier than chemo, you will do just great.
Renee, I guess you are enjoying all your extra time since finishing rads. Hope you have gotten all healed up from all the problems you were having. Just think in a year or two it will be just a distant memory. At least that is what I am hoping.
As far as the radiation is going I am doing great, couldn't be better. 22 of 33 completed, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I am having trouble with my left arm. Not the surgery side or I would be really worried, but the other arm. It hurts and has started swelling. When I went in for my tx today I told the Rad Onc about it and he sent me up to the Med Onc and she sent me for a ultrasound. No blood clots or anything, so now I will probably have my port out next week. If that doesn't make it better I don't know what they will do. I hope it is nothing serious.
Tomorrow is my 37 wedding anniversary. Seems hard to believe that I have spent that much time with one person. We will have our grandbaby tomorrow, so I am not sure that we will do much. She is 10 months old so we may just stay at home and play with her.
Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Juannelle
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Juanelle,
I can't think of a better way to celebrate your anniversary than sharing the day with your grandbaby! She certainly is the fruit of your life's work. Congrats on 37 years!
Ezcriiibe,
I am so sorry to learn of your possible change of status. It is the kind of news we all live in fear of getting. I do so hope it turns out to be a false alarm. I only know what I read on here but I think there are many false positives with liver lesions and wish further tests will prove benign. All this scaring us to death can't be healthy for us. It does seem in the first months of DX we are all slammed with bad news of one kind or another. I pray this turns out to be an overly cautious doctor. You don't deserve this! But then, who does?
When will you know more? You are in our thoughts.
pam
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Juanelle, I can't think of any better way to spend a 37th wedding anniversary than taking care of a grandbaby. lol :=) Right now I just want to make it to my 37th anniversary! :=) I pray everyday that I will get past this fear that I have inside of me and it will go away and I can continue to live my life happy and peacefully. Right now I have the biggest decision of my life looming in front of me (at least it seems that way to me), I can't for the life of me decide what I am going to do about taking the Femara. I know I keep coming back to this question over and over, but I am no closer to making my decision now than I was over 3 months ago when my Med Onc introduced the idea to me. I wish someone had a Magic 8 ball to give me the perfect answer. But I know everyone has to do what is right for them. I simply just don't know what that is for me. :=(
Hope everyone has a great evening
Renee
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Renee,
I can't quote what I read as funny as it was but someone on here wrote about telling her onc how afraid she was of Arimidex. He laughed and said, "You have been operated, poisoned, radiated and now you are afraid of a pill!" I put so much faith in my aromatase inhibitor. My doctor says it is the single most important step in my treatment. I don't like the SE's but they surely do beat a recurrence or mets! And you may get along fine. Give it a try.
pam
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Renee, I am with you on the meds thing. I have three choices, and I don't want to make the wrong choice...I guess we can always try something and then if the SEs are bad we can try something else..
Michele, I am hoping and praying all goes good for you...
Juennelle, 37 years wow...and I thought 23 was a long time..
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Hi ladies,
Everything went well with the D & C on Thursday and I am feeling pretty good. I actually got up this morning and went for my first training walk for my Avon walk and I walked 6 miles this morning. I am not bleeding anymore and I am not cramping. But, my hand on my Lymphedema arm is acting up something fierce today. It is very swollen and hurts very badly. It feels like even my fingertips are swollen. I just don't know what to do. I hate this so much. I get stares and questions about my arm constantly. But I am not witty enough to make up some elaborate story to tell these strangers, so I either ignore them or I tell them my story. Which is getting very taxing.
Michele-Good luck to you I will be praying for you that you don't have to get re-staged, and that those lesions are B-9.
Juanelle-Congratulations on 37 years of marriage! That is so inspiring, and you deserve to have the best day ever! I am also glad to hear rads are going well for you! You are almost there
Renee- I understand your frustration with making the treatment decision. It is hard when it is up to you because you want to make the right decision. Have faith that you will choose the right thing and don't look back. Hugs to you.
To everyone else- hope you are having a great day!
Hugs
Jen
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Mary- I hope you are getting over your cold and are feeling better. I would like to PM you and swap tips and stories about the lymphedema you are experiencing. And if you bedazzle your sleeve, I will too! For cryin' out loud, we need to have some fun with this crappy situation
Gentle hugs to you
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Jen -- just tell people you had a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting
Shorter and sweeter and I'll bet 99% will leave it at that (with their sympathies of course). Michele -- that is so awful... my heart goes out to you and I add my prayers for benign news. I think your doctor is being premature and I pray that he is wrong about the staging. I think if it had been I would have thrown up (on his shoes) when he said that. I hope you are doing okay today.
Juanelle -- congratulations on your anniversary! A truly wonderful and amazing achievement. And thank goodness your SEs from the rads remain minor.
Hugs to all!
Lilah
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Wow Jen, you are a trooper. Walking 6 miles for a training! How far is the Avon Walk? Can you walk outdoors right now? Does allowing your arm in hang down and swing as you walk make things worse? It is so disappointing when we cannot exercise our bodies into submission. :-( I always think if I walk a little farther or loose a pound or lift 5 more pounds that I can fix whatever is bugging me but does not work anymore.
You need a really exotic story to go with the sleeve. I'd be afraid the bee sting story would bring out their experience with bees. You know how people, total strangers !, like to tell you what happened to them if it is remotely similar to your experience. Isn't it bad enough to have LE, now you have to explain it to everyone! I wish you were not going through this.
Sometimes, rarely, when someone asks "How Are Youuuuuu?" with a pained expression, I have said, "Do you really want to know?" It catches people off guard and I can always tell if they really do not want to know and I smile and say really, just fine. Once in a great while I will try to tell someone how hard it all is and my words fail me.
Best wishes to you and everyone here!
pam
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Jen ~ I think you should just show them how you did it ! Extend your middle finger, place the fingertip in your mouth, and BLOW!
No, in all seriousness...I am sorry for your condition. After my surgeries I had some LE, and I felt that sports bras made it much worse. Deliberate gentle stretching and self-massage, while very painful sometimes, did seem to help. I wish you healing and comfort.
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Jen, I'm so sorry that you're having these LE troubles. But I'm so impressed at your dedication to your training! My mother did the Avon walk several years ago (she also had BC) and it was a great experience for her. It's a little too soon for me - still kinda in the middle of treatment having just finished chemo and tired all the time still, but you go girl!
Michele, wow, what a scary thing from your onc. Here's hoping that your further tests show that the liver is benign.
Juanelle, congrats on the anniversary! What a testament to your marriage and the strength you find in each other. I'm so happy for you! I'm glad that rads is going well for you.
Pam, I know what you mean when you are at a loss for words. My hubby is ALWAYS asking me how I'm doing, and it gets tiring sounding like I'm complaining all the time, so I've taken to just saying "I'm OK." It's not a lie, but it's not the whole truth.
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txstardust,
That's why we all love this site so much. Everyone understands even when we can't find the words to complain!
Love you all!
pam
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