MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

CherylQ

rajkumari, I love Indian food because so much of it is vegan.  I cook alot of Middle Eastern food since my husband is from Jordan.  The nice thing about this culture is since I started treatment, all of our families cook for us, but I usually cannot eat much of it.  My daughter-in-law cleans for me.

(((((Hugs to all)))

Peace and laughter,

Cheryl

elimar

Barbe, maybe I should have told you that I pretty much paraphrased everything you said there to various doctors, especially when they got all "excellent prognosis" on me but they, of course, stopped short of actually guaranteeing me anything despite my submitting to the old "slash & burn."  Yep, those tales of the women on here who go directly from Stage I (do not pass go, do not collect $200) to Stage IV are very poignant to me. 

Sorry to hear you have a situation as well.  You haven't mentioned any current check ups or worries on here lately, so I am wondering what your scare is and how are you having it checked out?   Maybe we will be waiting for our results together.  (And if that scan does pop my balloon, I'm going to need a whole bunch more to come and fly me off somewhere!!!) 

chrissyb

My original DX was stage II and as of May 2009, I am stage IV.  I agree with Barb, you are really only one DX away from stage IV so take care! Even my BS says from my original DX he is surprised that it reared its ugly hed once again.

brazos58

Meece  and Valjean  thank you for your kind words today....

Elimar and Barb.... strength, light and prayers to see you Thru.....

raeinnz

Brazos - IMHO you are in one of the hardest stages of BC recovery - dealing with the emotional 'stuff' that has been pushed to the back when you were having tx.  The 3 to 9 months after active treatment finished was the worst for me and I found it hard to deal with people one on one let alone in a huge group as you just did. That took real guts!   As hard as it was, it sounds as though you were surrounded by love that day and you can take that forward when you see these people in the future.

Eli and Barbe - I'm holding a balloon for both of you if you need one.

zogo

I've got a balloon bouquet for all of  you ladies.  

When I was a teenager, I worked for a business called Balloons Away and delivered balloon bouquets .....and sometimes I had to go in costume and sing a song....I remember one time was dressed as the lone ranger and had to delivera bouquet to a person at this huge mexican restaurant.

Have an uplifting day all 

elimar

Forgot to say, thenks mumayan for your comment about getting scanned.

I was hoping to hear from more women, their experiences getting a bone scan, and the accuracy of the results.  It was hard to find very much info. on the threads, since it seems to be mixed in with other topics and not a subject on its own.  I'm still Googling.

Also, I wonder if Tamox. is part of it all.  That is supposed to give some women joint pain.  I always assumed it was wrists or knees, etc., but can it affect the back?  I forgot to even ask my MedOnc this yesterday.  I mentioned that my ribs were sore at the breast bone, figuring it was radiation after-effects.  He said that was the chondrocostal joint.  Does Tamox. affect those joint?.  He didn't mention it, and he's the one that prescribes the Tamox; then again, I never asked that specific question. 

sheila888

elimar...My ribs on the radiation side are not always sore but when I carry something or I use that side of my body. it gets more than sore. Actually i was in pain couple of weeks back.

I did have a bone scan when I was first DX. They give you that dye whatever you call it I believe you have to wait for a while and they scan you. The technician asked me if I had arthritis or injured my ankle during the test if they see something they always ask.

And if remember correctly it was a long test.

mumito

I was complaining about neck and rib pain so my onc ordered an entire body bone scan and CAT Scan as well.After the ct scan came back he ordered liver ultrasound as well.Everything turned out okay spots on the liver were  just fat deposits and ct scan showed I have arthritis everywhere.They never really explained the rib pain but it is on my radiated side.I may be sore but life goes on.

elimar

Now I'm reading that decreased estrogen in menopausal women can cause joint/bone aches.  Going into the whole B/C lifestyle, I already had some back pain issues, already had some joint/hands/feet pain (like how people describe fibromyalgia.)  It's all getting worse, but it is hard to separate out what could be drug related, or just menopause related.  I'd feel a lot better if a doctor actually knew what was at the root of the pain (which is why I'll submit to that bone scan...to rule out the worst, but also to possibly identify arthritic areas associated with pain.)  I just wish there was a light at the end of the tunnel instead of new things cropping up all the time.  I am not ready to be 80 years old yet.  (No offense to my 80 yr. old sisters who might be lurking.)

Thanks S-888, I did go bowling and that's a one-sided type thing too.  Maybe I have to add that to the list of things I can't do anymore.  The ever-growing list.  Where's my brown paper bag?

sheila888

Do you get Bone Density test every 2 years?

elimar

Mum, you make me feel better...that sounds similar.  I know that my ribs have been sore on the treatment side ever since I got the rads, but that's only if I touch them. 

I also wonder if, due to rads, there is a micro-tightening that goes on all around the treatment area, to the point that you actually lose muscular balance between the two sides of your body.  One side always being "pulled" more.  There seem to be so many issues at hand...maybe I can't blame the doctors when they can't give me an answer straight away.

elimar

S-888, I only had my first DEXA scan last year. I think my femur was 89.5%, and they called it "osteopenia," but I can't get too jumpy when it's osteopenia by a mere .5%.

p.s.  Since then, I have been supplementing with the calcium steadily.

sheila888

Thats what I have. Another test is coming next March i think he wants to put me on Boniva.

leisaparis

I had a Necular Full Body Scan before treatment. It must be the same kind of scan cuz I had to have this stuff, wait like 2 hours then go back and get scanned. I haven't had any kind of bone hurting like you describe. My treatment side is weaker than the good side. I don't have the muscle strength I use to have over there. Before this last surgery I was getting the muscle back, but I also was having like fluricy(sp) pains over there. Very quick, little stabbing pains. I just figured it was from the muscles trying to stretch back out. I could look in the mirror and literly see the muscle difference.

brazos58

Raeinnz, thank you for your kind thoughts.

Elimar...  I am going thru reg Mentalpause, and have many more aches/ pains than ever. I am almost 8 weeks nursing my knee just from getting up on it wrong....that started after PT BOOT CAMP

also I was leary of RADs for that very fact that it can cause rib fractures in the radiated area...that was one of the reasons of many i did not go that route. And you are more prone to rib fractures if you fall.

Wishing you ease for your mind.

(( Blessings to All))

((PMOM))

elimar

Maybe it is not even possible to get back to feeling the way you did before B/C.  That's why the term "new normal" is floating around so much.  Not that my old normal was all sunbeams and Cheetos, but my new normal is worse.  Still, I just don't feel like throwing in the towel and just accepting it.  Sometimes I truly feel like screaming.

Then, when I think of how many get cancer and have to keep it, I know that I should just shut up.

brazos58

Elimar ....cross posting

This is a place I am firmly planted at my own moments of accepting my new normal... and it freaks me out that I realize I won't be going back to how I was before Breast CA.... I am forever changed on all levels of my being. There is always some sword dangling over all our heads.....I have screamed inside my HEAD and to God.....and all my Higher Powers.

I am going to be a long while sitting with accepting everything....even with having the best worst awful.

This whole Mortality In Thy Face is either going to make us or break us.

I had to face it in my 30's and it really lit a fire under my ASS....threw my Fear in the Trunk of my car and Followed my Bliss for the past 21 years.... So here I go Again.

Once you die ALMOST, write your Will, Plan your Funeral......you reinvent yourself and your whole life.

If it were not for knowing that My Spirit was just as Vessel for my Body, Breast Cancer could truely give me a Nervous Breakdown.

Rock ON.

(( Strength to See Us Thru ))

mumito

New Normal   thats about it

Kleenex

That was one of the hardest things for me with the original diagnosis: Plan A was to live a ridiculously long life and die of old age in my late 90's, as was the trend with the majority of my family tree. It wasn't so much that this initial diagnosis was going to be what got me: it was that it was a HINT of what might get me, and a reminder that something likely WOULD get me. Difficult stuff to process. I think I'm still working my way through my "stages of grief," and I am hoping to pass through into the "Make It Happen - Life Is Short" phase at some point and reinvent myself.



Elimar - any possibility that what you're feeling isn't bone pain so much as it is MUSCLE pain in your back? A little birdie told me you were heaving large pieces of furniture hither and yon in your home as you reclaimed your nest earlier this fall...



I had a bone scan prior to my surgery. It's about a 1 on the 1 - 10 scale of "Procedure Hideousness." Soft, comfy table, dimly lit room, peacefully humming scanner. The injection of dye is annoying, but not a big deal.



So who's going to see Harry Potter? C'mon - SOMEONE must be as big a geek as I am!!!!!

mumito

I admitt I watch them as well but wait until they are on the movie chanels to enjoy at home.I find movie theatres too uncomfortable.

elaineg

My sister had breast cancer 12 years ago or so.  She is past it, after masectomy, chemo, potential loss of fertility and all at 30.  She was told if it comes back it will be fast and deadly.  I hope there have been enough advances since that time to make that no longer true.  I have always admired her for how she handled everything, positive realistic outlook.  She has since been blessed with 3 little girls and continued good health running marathons and such.  If we could all have such wonderful results.  Anyway, I like something she used to say when people would ask what odds she was given.  She would just say same as everybody else, 50/50.  You are either alive or dead, and it can change in a blink.  So I am going to keep on chugging and eating cheetos and if I had the chance I would partake in the smelly stuff because for today I'm on the good side of the 50/50 chance

Onetoughwoman47

Brazos - WOW, another "pa gal"...where ya from chicka? I'm from Allentown area, Monrgomery county....pm me if you'd like

Marlegal - you too??!!! Awesome....what part?...pm me if you'd like

ENJOY your day ladies!

PauldingMom

OMG trying to catch up!  
First I have no idea of this stinky stuff you speak of. But if the legalize it I want to be on the list.  

Second  Dang we have some serious party girls on here. Dead Heads, Jimi Hendrix. Do I dare mention the time I was dragged to the Osmond Concert? Pre-Marie even. So lame.  But since I have kicked it up. Styx, Kansas, Tom Petty, Fall Out Boy, Cobra Starship. Good to have teenage girls in the house.

Brazo and Ontoughwoman47- Lansdale PA for 4 years. Montgomery Cty. 1984 to 88. My son was born there.  I miss the great food and the Menonite farmer markets. 

Ya all are so great! Love every second I'm on here.

Pink Hugs, Lisa 

elimar

Kleenex, a lot of the vertebrae & rib soreness existed even before I began hefting large furniture around, plus created one new area or soreness. Thanks for making the bone scan sound like n afternoon at the spa. Spa-aha-ha-ha!

I find it very easy to go "split personality" on the whole B/C lifestyle.  One day I feel like a true survivor; the next I'm a wimp and feel that any one of the many check-ups will start the "circus of horror" all over again.  Can I at least blame the Tamox. for this moodiness?

elimar

Hey, P-Mom, how is the treatment going?  How much "detailing" did you get on your brain?  What is the chemo program going to be like?  Don't you just love how you start to get used to one "new normal" and then they make ya do it all over again?

JMW

Well, I have told my sons about my cancer. They took it well. Good thing as I have been upped from stage 1 to stage 2. My sentinel nodes were positive and they are also going back into the breast because of unclean margin. They are doing this tomorrow along with more lymph node removal. Will be in the hospital for a couple of days. Sure not looking forward to doing all this again! Start chemo at the end of Dec. Was first told I would be doing only the radiation but now its the chemo also. Kind of scarey!

elimar

JMW, sorry your surgery turned into a do-over.  I hope you will have a period of stress-free healing after the second surgery and will be able to have a relaxing Thanksgiving.  And you made it over the hurdle of telling the kids, so that's good news.  I notified one of my kids teachers and a counselor about the B/C, just in case I could not be as responsive to all the "action items" the school seemed to send home and just as a heads up in case my child appeared more moody in his classes.  I don't know if you want to go public like that, but I told them to keep it on the down-low and asked them not to bring up the subject with my child unless he mentioned it first.  I was just putting the awareness out there.

raeinnz

JMW - I hope you feel better now you have told your boys - not a nice thing to have to do but that is one stress off now that you face more surgery and recovery.  Chemo is usually standard if there is node involvement as they presume some nasties have made it out of the breast.  It is very scary but you want to be around as long as you can for your boys so, as one lady says on another thread, 'you don't have to like it, you just have to turn up'. Lots of ladies have had chemo and rads and they can answer any questions you have - just ask.

Eli - I had a full nuclear bone scan post surgery to check for mets.  It is a no brainer - as others have said.  Radioactive injection, wait a few hours then lie strapped on the couch for about an hour as the machine does its work (the worst part for me was that I was tied down and told not to move... excruciating because EVERY muscle in my body wanted desperately to move after being told not to.. ).  The radioactive dye soaks into your bones and denser areas show up brighter and if there is not a reason for that denser area, well ....  Mine was all good as gold except for a less dense area in my jaw where I had had a tooth absess a couple of months earlier so it is pretty sensitive I think.  Re pain in joints - I am on Femara and had had no history of arthritis but a few months after starting it I got a very sore joint on the side of my foot on both feet.  I asked my dr about it and he said it was probably the start of old age (hmmm... didn't think much of that description when I was only 52) arthritis BUT it hadn't shown on the bone scan a couple of months earlier so I am sure it is drug related.  I didn't have rads but I do now have sore ribs in places around the bottom of the recon area and it can only be from the bmx/recon surgery and the back pain is definitely muscle related - and different from what I have had a times in the past.  I too HATE my new normal but I am convinced a lot of my emotional turmoil and physical problems are HT related so I am hoping for some improvement when I finish HT in just over 3 years  

Hi Pauldingmom - hope the treatments are going ok and that you are not too uncomfortable afterwards.

Harry Potter fan here  haven't read the books but I love the movies!  My 20 y/o DD is going to the midnight premier tonight but I will go at a more sensible hour when the rush of people has died down.  I would prefer to watch them at home but I think they are one of the few movies that lose something when they are not on the big screen - The Horse Whisperer is another that has to be seen on the big screen to get the full effect of the scenery etc. 

elimar

Thanks for sharing raeinnz!  About your film comments...Uh, I remember this one little trilogy that had beautiful scenery...The Lord of The Rings, filmed in NZ!  Loved it!!!