MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
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Cngrats Marlegal!!! I remember when I came to the boards that you along with eli, barbe, eph, and native were a safe heaven for me. Thanks for being there for us all these 7 years!! It gives gals like me hope for sure!!
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Eli, strawberry shortcake is one of my favs, thanks!!
Teacup, that's what we "oldies" try to do for the "newbies" ... prove that not only can life go on, but it can be pretty damned fabulous, just in a different way. I've travelled more in the last 7 yrs that I had in the prior 25, not kidding.
Joni, Claire, Barbe, Janis, Sherry, Paula, Eli ... you are all instrumental in my well being. We raise each other up, we console each other, we laugh at each other ... I thrive on my girlfriends and our interactions, I really do. And I'm a firm believever that our mental attitude plays a key role in our healing and prognosis. I've always been a "glass half full" kind of girl, and I was never more grateful for that than in the last 7 yrs. I hope I've also helped in getting others to feel that way. Anyway ... it's my day to be mushy and retrospective and all that crap
I'm just immensely happy, and that always makes me ramble Catnz, I want to read posts of yours like this 7 years down the line
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Congratulations, Marlegal!!! You inspire hope .....so glad you are doing so well!
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I'm honored to be mentioned in such fine company! You gals are all the best, and I mean that sincerely & in such a happy tone, no sarcasm whatsoever! Pats on the back all around! Love ya! me
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Thanks Marlegal, I'm already one year down the line so why not seven or seventeen! It's always great to hear the success stories and I fully intend to do all I can in telling my story and encouraging other women I come across. Thanks for being a huge positive to those you meet, even those in another country and time zone. Cath
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marlegal......I am really happy you have reached this milestone. You are right about the glass half full...it is instrumental to healing. You have been on a very long journey and personally I appreciate all the cheerleading you have offered me along my way. You are a joy sweet lady! Many, many more such anniversaries to you!
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Congratulations, Marlegal. I love celebrating anniversaries.
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Joni, are you kidding me? To have not included you would have meant that I would have left out one of my all time favorite "friends I've never met in person"
I've felt close to you from my first days in this thread. (Apparently I'm still in mush mode!!) Thanks for all the cool comments - truly brought a tear or two to my eyes. I'll blame the hormones I don't have any more for that
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marlegal,
You really are an inspiration to those of us that follow the path behind you and are absolutely right that attitude can make a difference. Thank you for all you do for the newbies and may you have many more celebrations!!
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Did anyone's eye vision change with chemo? My Rx reading glasses became too weak in days. I can't see anything. Had to buy super strong readers to see again. I googled and it seems it happens. Anyone else?
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My MO appointment on 8-23 went very, very well! I honestly could not have hoped for better. Here is what MO said:
"Much of the original cancer is gone. There is no new activity, and there was NO uptake at the original tumor site. Slow and steady wins the race so we will continue what we're doing!"
We are doing daily Tamoxifen and monthly Zometa (which is causing me some pretty nasty bone pain for a few days afterwards).
So I am very happy! Thanks for all of your well wishes!
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What wonderful news Eff!! What a great way to start the weekend. So happy for you!
Juneau--my eyesight seemed to change to me. I can't focus as well. But it wasn't a dramatic change.0 -
Yoohooo, eff!!!!
my near vision changed for the better. I was +1.5 prechemo, now it's +1.0. I told my onc and he seemed surprised. Seemed to me like im really one of his weird cases.0 -
Yay effcancer! That's news we like to hear and I'm sure having entered the appt with much trepidation, you were floating out at the end of it. Hopefully the Zometa effects taper off for you - I had that bone/joint pain after my first chemo and it was definitely something I wouldn't wish on anyone. Good luck.
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marlegal - 7 years! WooHoo, YeeHaw and Congratulations.
Eff - so glad to hear of your good news!
Hope we can keep the good news train rolling!
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Hooray for good news for eff!
Hooray for 7 years for Marlegal!
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juneaubugg, It was hard for me to separate the possibly medication induced vision from my plain old middle-aged onset of farsightedness.
effcancer, Great news!
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eff, your tag line now says "mets". Where are you mets? I don't think I realized you were stage IV!!
Marlegal, you said it so well!!! There are days I come to the boards to take, and other days to give. Some days I do both!! This is a very important part of my mental healing and I truly care about the lives of those I've met here on this Forum. I've heard of births, deaths, weddings, jobs, love and hate and it means so much more than any shallow relationships I have in real life. I think we put our soul into every post. It's like having time to 'think' before we speak that we've been told to do all our lives. I know in the beginning I would always preview my threads to see if I had said anything wrong. I didn't always catch my social blunders, but it did give me a chance to! When someone disappears for a while we all go to the dark side in our thoughts, but it's not always what we think.
So cheers to you ladies!!
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Hi All,
I am pretty new to this, dx 7/16/12 with ILC at 44; considered high risk due to family history and I'm scheduled for a bmx 8/29/12. My BS and MO want to avoid radiation for me since I have lupus, and they have not said anything about chemo as of yet. I was told by BS that tumor is anywhere from 1.9 to 3.3 cm depending on legs and it is very near my chest wall. Because of location he is going to take some chest muscle as well.
He ordered the onco-dx test, is this the only decision for chemo or are there other factors to determine if chemo is needed?
Any information or guidance will be greatly appreciated.
Carla
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Carla, are they going to check your armpit nodes? If the cancer has been trapped by a node or two, they will sometimes do chemo then. Or, depending on your hormonal status, which will be found during surgery, you may take a daily pill to help stave off more growth. Does that help or did I just confuse you.
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Barbe,
That does help, they are taking sentinel nodes after he injects some kind of blue dye. The biopsy showed ER/PR+ and HER-. So many terms lately trying to remember and keep up with them.
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I knew if I put up a pic of some pretty flowers, I'd attract a butterfly. Welcome, butterfly14! If your tumor does turn out to be on the larger end of the sizes you wrote, and depending on the Grade (which is an indication of agression/growth) then they may feel chemo is something you should have. Especially, as Barbe said, if there is node involvement; and even having the OncoDx would probably just be a money-wasting formality if the doc feels it is straightforward that chemo is needed. The OncoDx is really a tool to help women with small/early tumors, that are ER+/PR+, and who are node negative (although, now it includes women with 3 or less nodes involved also) to determine whether doing chemo would have much benefit at all. Normally the ER+/PR+ are slow growers, and if that is the case, chemo is usually less effective. With or without chemo, having ER+/PR+ is going to put you into the hormonal therapy club.
I know you will have a hard time telling your mind to just sit still until after Weds. surgery, and that's o.k. Read up on whatever you want to. Ask us whatever you want to. But try not to get into a lot of the "what if thinking." You will know soon enough exactly what you will be dealing with and take it from there. If you want to hang out with us in the meantime, we are very happy to wait along with you. In fact, all you have to do is say the word, and you can have a whole load of B/C sisters "jump into your pocket" to go along with you on Weds.
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Perfect Carla!! You will know after the surgery so much more than you do know. And so will your doctor. Right now they can only guess. The tumour may end up smaller or even bigger than they think!
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Eff woohoo on the good news. I take Zometa every 6 six months. The first time I did really good with drinking water to flush my liver and I had no achey joints. The second time I was not as good and I had the achey joints. The clinic nurse had told me to drink lots and lots of water the day before, day of and day after. I'll have to do better next time.
Carla welcome this is a great place for information and support or whine and cry if you need to we all have at some point.
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That's good to see Eff!
Welcome butterfly! I didn't have the onco-type done so I don't know what that's all about. My Onc was clear with the fact that it did get to 2 of the 3 nodes, and she stress that LVI was extensive that it was something for me to consider about the chemo. I did do it and am glad I did. So much of this is a crap shoot and I wanted to make for sure that I was doing the best I could. I still have some issues to work out in my head with regards to how on earth I could have an MRI and a mammo 6 months apart and they show nothing. But fast forward a year later and I have cancer. I just want to make for sure that I did whatever was so if there were things going on that the chemo or the tamo hopefully will get those pesky cancer cells if they lingered hiding somewhere.
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Thank you all for the information. I am hoping the tumor is on the smaller side with no node involvement. With bmx, how long before you can shampoo or shower, someone had told me not until the drains come out. My PS told me she was putting in four drains that will be there for 7-10 days. Is it hard to get out of a regular bed? I am considering sleeping in the recliner.
Trying to keep myself busy, but feel like I'm doing some odd kind of count down, an end to life as I know it and onto the unknown.I am finding out who my real friends are, and it is really surprising the ones that stopped talking to me when I let them know I have breast cancer.
This is going to be a long learning process, I appreciate your advice and support.
Carla
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Butterfly-
Welcome. Sorry to hear about your friends. U will find lots of friends here.0 -
And not that I'm trying to defend, but lots of time people just don't know what to say or how to say it!
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Carla, I didn't notice when you joined hte thread, but in case you didn't see it ... I celebrated my 7th cancer-free anniversary on the 24th. I did say goodbye to a life as I knew it, but I am happy to say that I found myself in a great place when all was said and done. Yes, some friends seem to disappear, but like Joni said, some people just don't handle this type thing very well. Doesn't mean they're not pulling for you, and have your best interests at heart though. You can shower with drains by the way ... you need to take special precautions, and your surgeon will fill you in about that, but you can shower. Perhaps not hte first day after, but by 2nd day, and with no complications, you should be ok. Most of us found the drains annoying, but just keep telling yourself "this is temporary" over and over ... it helps! Gentle hugs to you for best possible outcome. Keep us posted.
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Carla my ps had me showering by the 2nd day. The drains at first are something to get use to, but once you learn how to get around with them, it is easier to shower.
Like marlegal says, life takes on a whole different meaning. Life for me has been so different. Things that would really get to me somehow don't. If they do it's short lived in my mind.
I think with some friends, they just don't understand what your going thru. Heck I was there for my sissy both times she had went thru surgeries and chemo. Her son came and stayed with us while she went thru all of her treatments and surderies, so she could do what she needed to do as far as healing. I never really understood what she went thru until I went thru it myself. I think some people just don't know what to do. Hang in there an know that your family and friends are there for you and in the end you'll come to find that you'll get what you need from them in their own way.
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