MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
Comments
-
Nebraskagrandma, and any other travellers -- have a safe journey. CU when you get back.
Eph3_12, Hiya! Always glad to have a rads buddy join us here. I met a lot of the Aug., Sept., and Oct. women and some of the Mids find there way here, and I still post on those now and then for some others that might not be in this "ish" age group.
My kid is kicking me off the computer. Something about college essay!
0 -
Welcome Karen your story is inspiring-Love to read it. My Dh shaved his head also so we just walk around like the coneheads from sat night live, do you middies remember them? Valerie0
-
Elimar - Love your idea about helping where we can on other posts. I know exactly where I'm headed. Thanks.
Valerie - Oh ya...loved the coneheads!
0 -
ELIMAR!!!
Priceless suggestion!
God Bless you and yours!!
0 -
I was diagnosed on December 10th last year and had my double mast on the 16th....not a great Christmas sitting alone. But I was able to join everyone at my DD's house for New Years. Still had my drains in....
0 -
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and may God bless us all with no bad news through the holidays. I had my biopsy done last year on the 26th of December. I am not looking to repeat that again! Barbe I am feeling a little anxious about the holiday as well. May God keep you safe and well this year!
0 -
Val - what a great memory -- coneheads and "those wild and crazy guys" of SNL !! It brings back good college Saturday nights with friends !!! So long ago.
I am not sure if I mentioned in this thread that I am still close to 6 women from college days. Over the years we have multiplied. There are now 7 women, 6 husbands and 14 teanagers!! We girls get together every 8-10 weeks and have big family get togethers at least once a year. These people have been such support to me with the B/C. (I am the first peer to get ill, before this we dealt with issues of our children or aging parents).
We got together last week and one girl made me a pillowcase. They signed in with their good thoughts. They wanted me to have their support with me even on bad nights when I felt alone. Now that is a sign of friendship.
Jean
0 -
Jean, that is special.
Wild and Crazy guys. I think that Steve Martin is where my affinity for men with grey hair begain.
0 -
I'm feeling good for the week ahead. I had my Rad-Onc 6 wk follow-up this morning. He said he could not believe how great my skin was looking, not just getting over the rads but from the surgery too. I knew he would say that, even tho' I have a new "sewn-in" nip-wrinkle and still a "bullet hole" from my failed mammosite. The bad news is that he informed me that he likes to do six month follow-ups for the full 5 years, alternating with my BS. I thought after today I was downsizing from 3 physicians to just the BS and Med-Onc. Dang!
0 -
Just out of curiosity, just what benefit will you be getting by seeing the rad onc every 6 months?
0 -
The benefit of getting a clinical breast exam every three months, I suppose. (Which the new guidlines claim is of questionable benefit anyway.)
I have heard that most women are getting follow-up mammos every six mos. for the first 2-3 years, then yearly. I am not sure what is customary as far as follow-up visits with physicians, like, which ones and how often?
My BS wanted me to come to his office after I get my first follow-up mammo in Jan. He has been kind of the "team leader" as far as my treatment goes. I actually thought this would be my LAST visit with the Rad-Onc. What kind of doctor follow-up are some of you scheduling????
0 -
I see the Med Onc every 4 months for lupron injection and arimidex refills. I see the BS yearly, she orders my yearly mammogram. I fired the Rad Onc when he told me that I had truncal lymphedema and that it couldn't be treated (which is totally wrong, but my rad treatments got really screwed up and I'm still fighting to get info about that). I see my PCP at least every 6 months, sometimes a bit more frequently depending on my lab work--she's the only one who checks any blood work and I've has some problems with anemia since the mastectomy.
I'm adding in a PS and yet another BS for reconstruction. I don't plan to see the second BS after the reconstruction at all unless there is a problem. I don't know what the PS follow up will be like after recon. I suspect I'll stop seeing my original BS as I won't have breast tissue and won't need mammograms after reconstruction.
0 -
Sounds like follow-ups can be pretty varied. My PCP was not officially part of my B/C team. Neither was my GYN Doc, but I'll see him yearly more or less, and he always does a clinical breast exam and basic blood work. My Med-Onc has never SEEN my breast, but is good at dispensing the pharmaceuticals nonetheless. I'm supposed to see him and/or get blood monitoring in about three mos. since I just started the Tamox. It made sense that the BS would want to see me after my first mammo, about 6 mos after the surgery. He never made any statement that HE would even be following me for 5 years, but I had assumed it would be him and the GYN Doc. I'll have to sort it out.
Other Mids, please post the kind of follow-up you had/are having. Seems like it can be handled a few different ways.
0 -
My Gyno did my CBE annually, my PCP has not been part of my cancer followup, I now see my onc every six months and get a CBE every visit. My radiologist was the only member of my original BC team who ever saw me after tx ended. I thought he was a creepy DOM, and was happy to stop seeing him when I got my new team.
0 -
Elimar,
I go to MD Anderson in Orlando and the BS, Rad onc, and med. oncologist all work as a team. The BS released me not that long after the lumpectomy ( can not recall exactly when ). My rad onc had me do a follow up visit either 4 or 6 weeks after my last treatment and also released me. I see my med. oncologist and have mammos twice a year ........ she always does a breast exam at these visits.
Pat
0 -
BS....... .. Once a year.
Oncologist Every 4 months for TM blood work ( until I reach 5 years then once a year )
GYN Once a year
Rad Onc 0 saw him as needed at the beginning because had bad burns.
PCP Every 3 months for cholesterol and once a year he does my annual checkup
Mammogram Once a year.
0 -
I love coming home from a long business trip to see what all you fabulous women have been up to and as usual it is alot! I didn't have internet access so it has taken me an hour to catch up!
Barbe you can have the 1st man, but I call dibs on the second, because I would like to know if my mojo would respond to someone new or if it is truly dead and gone!
Paula, have a safe trip and a lots of fun, I am not coming back to Omaha for TG.
Elimar, thanks for the reminder to pay it forward, I try but sometimes forget to go on the newbies thread, and I remember how wonderful others were to me.
In the last 6 weeks I am sure that someone has put a voodoo curse on me because I have fallen and broken my arm and Sunday night I was driving and hit a deer and wiped out my car, but not me thankfully...but if someone can reverse the curse I would appreciate it LOL
I am avoiding all family drama and staying home on Thursday wrapped up in a comforter with my puppy watching old movies and for that I am THANKFUL!
I hope all of you have a very enjoyable holiday whatever you are doing.
P.S. I postponed my next MRI until January after all holidays and I forbid my BS to call me on a Friday too irregardless of good news or bad.
Hugs and Love,
Linda
0 -
Hi ladies! Just found this topic and I think I may fit in here
My background: I am 44, single mom to a 17 year old son. I was diagnosed Oct. 9, 2008, 6 days after my mother was diagnosed. I had turned 43 about 2 weeks before diagosis. Had bi-lateral mastectomy w/tram 11/14/08 and implants 4/27/09. I'm an accountant so the implants had to wait until after "tax season". BRCA1 positive but believe it or not, I didn't get it from mom, she was negative (go figure). Started Tamoxifen 12/08.
I am currently at home recovering from hysterectomy & bi-lateral oopharectomy done 11/17/09. I don't think I have any extra parts for them to take now, the ones I have left are all pretty vital to my survival
. I am now in the middle of a battle between my GYN and ONC on whether I should continue tamox or take hormones. GYN says "no more breast tissue or ovaries, what's the harm", ONC says cancer was hormone positive NO WAY...yet he tells me to decide whether or not I want to continue tamox, there are studies that support both continuing and stopping...Isn't he supposed to be the expert??? I am so confused!!Mom lost her battle in September and this is the first holiday without her. Dad is coming in to spend the weekend with me and my son since I cannot travel. It's going to be a tough couple of days but I know that mom is with her Lord and Saviour and is much better than any of us down here.
Sorry to ramble but I really don't have an outlet other than on here, I don't have any friends that have experienced BC, not that they have not gone beyond and above what I ever expected but they really don't "get" when I am having a tough day.
I truly hope that everyone here has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!
0 -
Welcome, zachmomma. You have been through A LOT! Very sorry you lost your mom to B/C. I don't think that I have come across another woman on here who had a mom getting Dx and treatment at the same time as her daughter. I cannot even imagine the intensity of that.
Someone else is going to have to comment on the HRT issue. I'm clueless about it.
This is a nice group here. If you are pretty good at occasional serious questions, giving support to your B/C sisters, whining a little (just to keep it real,) and going off on random tangents once in a while, then YES, you just may fit in! ;-)
0 -
zachmomma, Even though you have no ovaries now you still have estrogen that is deposited in other parts of your body..at least that is what I think. I forget. I have been told so much it is difficult to retain it all. Since you had cancer, I would think the oncologist would be the one who makes the decision, but at the same time I do know estrogen helps with a lot of things. I don't think I have any left anywhere and I miss it. Maybe you need a third opinion....sort of a tie breaker. You will like this group.....a lot of nice support plus we often talk about things non-cancer related and actually have a good time. When my onco didn't agree with another treatment I was researching, I went to MDAnderson for a third opinion and am now following the recommendation I got there, but am under the old onco's care still.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
0 -
Elimar I see my BS every three months, saw him yesterday after calling with questions, my breast had gone to a tanned look, swelling gone and then suddenly red, hot, and ithcy again he could flare up like this for up to a year, I completed Rads on August 26. I see him every 3 months for 2 years. My onco score was 21 with no chemo so he wants to watch the incision sites closely, I see my Med Onc every 6 months told for 10 years, see my Rads Onc in April after my Mammo, then yearly after Mammo my Gyno once a year and also had to kick in the a Endo due to B9 thyroid nodules. Too much but am told this is protocol.
Happy Healthy Thanksgiving to ALL.
0 -
To all my BC Sisters
0 -
Welcome, zachmomma--and don't worry about rambling, we all do that from time to time. About the hormone thing--hard place to be, hard choice to make. For me, even though I am going to have the other breast removed when I have reconstruction next summer, it makes sense to continue the arimidex. Even though I had a negative sentinel node, there may be stray bc cells elsewhere in my body. Since the tumor was ER+/PR+ blocking any estrogen production with arimidex (I didn't tolerate tamoxifen) gives me some protection by preventing those stray cells from multiplying. But that is what makes me feel more secure, and what makes you feel more secure only you can decide. A third opinion is a really good idea--give you more information to work from, or info presented a different way that will make more sense to you. Sorry to hear about your mother, and I will be praying for you and your family this holiday season. I can't imagine how hard its going to be for you.
Marybe--you are correct about estrogen without ovaries. Fat cells make estrogen when the ovaries stop, just not as effeiciently. Tamoxifen blocks estrogen receptors in ER+ bc cells, the aromatase inhibitors (arimidex, etc) block the enzyme that makes estrogen in the fat cells so there is no circulating estrogen to wake up any stray bc cells. Different approaches, same end result--ER+ bc cells that don't get the estrogen they need to wake up and multiply.
elimar--by PCP isn't officially part of my oncology team, but is the only one who is really paying attention to everything and making sure I get a clincial breast exam every few months and is the one monitoring my kidney function after I had kidney failure from severe dehydration while I was fightiing the after effects of radiation. My PCP is the only one who has a complete picture and the only one who keeps in touch regularly with the other. Actually, I don't have an oncology "team" and never did, I had to do all the coordination and arrange for all the information to be distributed to all the players. Consequently, I've had to do a lot of research about standards of follow up care and I pretty much set my own follow up schedule with each player based on what I want/think I need. I've discoverd an advantage to having HMO insurance--everything going through the PCP means the PCP gets ALL the reports, and I can easily get copies of everythring from my PCP office. My records are now into the second 4 inch three ring binder. When I see a new doc I can fax all the required info without ever calling a medical records department. It's made life a lot easier as I work on getting reconstruction set up. Sorry--didn't mean to go off a tangent.
0 -
Thanks Meece--and Happy Gobble Gobble Day to you and all my sisters here!
0 -
Elimar -
So glad you did well w/ the rads!
0 -
carollynn79, my pattern sound similar to yours then, where between the Rad-Onc and the BS, I end up getting a CBE every 3 mos on a rotating basis at least for the first few years. So maybe that isn't excessive, even tho' some women go less often. It's not that I have a problem to go that often, they are all 10 min. away and it's just an additional $20 co-pay; but mentally, I am ready to taper off from all the doctoring.
Thanks, everyone who wrote about their follow-up visits. No two treatments ever seem exactly the same. I have come to the conclusion that it's probably better to err on the side of caution and go with their "frequent feeler" program.
0 -
Just dropped by to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my sisters
Sheila
0 -
Elimar you crack me up but I love the frequest "feeler" program, that is where I am too, and really feel lucky that I can call ask a question and get seen in the same day. They also do not make you feel dumb for asking. I will cut out extras to pay my Dr fees.
0 -
carollyn--you have no idea how lucky you are to have docs that will get back to you without needing to be called 2 or 3 times or more. If I ever need to be seen I go to my PCP--I can count on getting in the same or the next day. To get in to see the med onc or BS is a minimum of 2 weeks if it's an emergency, twice that if it's not. When I do get in both the BS and the Med Onc are really good about taking time with me and answering all my questions, but they are both incredibly busy, to the point of being overloaded. Hey, it took 3 months to get in to see the BS to find out if the lump was cancer in the first place, so what else should I be expecting?
0 -
I have been blessed with an Onc and PS who work well together. I can usually plan my visits on the same day, since it is a 2 hour drive to get to the first one (in good traffic). My onc has called me on holiday weekends to check up on me, and my PS has actually come into his office on a Sunday so that he could see me within the time frame he wanted. My employers have been stinky about my time off, and my doctors have gone above and beyond to help me out.
My PCP has an awful staff and getting in to see her is like winning the Lotto. The Dr. herself is great and will see me when she knows I need her, it's her office staff that runs interference for her. Her staff put me in the wrong room once and I waited over an hour, so she wouldn't let them charge me for the visit.
0
