MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
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Jryan my hot flashes finally became unbearable and Onco put me on 37.5mg if Effexor. Very few hot flashes since then.
Backers I also got very neauseated with tamox but mine was at the very beginning. I am now on Prilosec to combat the neausea0 -
Thank you Marlegal and Sherry for suggestions to help with nausea. It seems to be worse since first started 3 weeks ago. :-/
Mumito, so sorry you were alone with no one to turn to. :-( I was in my car driving when I got "the call" and pulled over. The radiologist was so nice to call. Even though I was birad5, it was still a shock.
Hope everyone is doing well and feeling rested.0 -
Sort of on topic, I am four years out today. The day the it was removed from my body. My anniversary date. { According to Merriam Webster: anniversary: The annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event. } Notable event, damn tootin' it was!
Four years.....where did it go?
That time in my life. I have lived that four years as a different person. Born as one, now another. Sometimes I feel like I am looking down from above seeing someone I don't even know doing "life" like I used to do, but yet....different.... I am not the same me anymore. Sort of sad in a small way.
But, I am still here. Just a new me.
I do want to thank all my dear sisters for being here day & night, when I need you and when I think I'm doing okay. It means more than you realize.
♥♥♥♥
Val
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JRyan- I have between 25-30 flashes a day. They suck. I use a satin pillow case at night as it is my head that feels like it is going to come right off. The pillow case stays cool and when I have a flash I flip it over to the colder side and it helps.
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Neurontin (Gabapentin) in small doses works well for hot flashes, at least it did for me. Easy to wean off when the arimidex was done, too.
When I wrote that rads was a piece of cake for most women I was reacting to the comment I got over and over again from medical people--"Wow, that reaction to rads is really unusual!" It made me feel like I was the only woman who ever had trouble with rads. I know that isn't the case, that most women have some discomfort and some side effects. I didn't mean to imply that rads was easy for anyone or minimize any one else's pain and discomfort. I just wish I had been told that the rad onc's definition of "sunburn like rash" meant all the skin peeling off my breast, huge amounts of smelly drainage, constant burning pain, dressing changes every hour or two around the clock from half way through rads to 3 months after. That "fatigue" meant that I would not be able to do anything, not even cook meals or clean house for the entire time plus 3 months. I wish he had told me I could stop whenever I wanted to.
My apologies again, I have got to get off this memory. I just cringe when I think of any woman going into rads without knowing what it really means.
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Congrats Val, great to hear of people who are way past the stage where we are currently and are living life to it's fullest.
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Dianarose, a satin pillowcase may be adding to your heat!!! Satin sheets are notoriously HOT!! I sweat right through pillowcases and rot the guts of the pillow. When you take off the case you can see exactly where I sweated! Gross!!
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Native - Rads IS a piece of cake. It's just that the cake is burnt, fallen and lumpy.
The "process" was a piece of cake for me. I live just 5 minutes from the rads center, undressing and getting dressed again was a pain. But the after effects, which for me have been mild still linger 6 months later. I had awful skill burns, just finished a course of pt for the muscle tightness and on and on...
I think I'd rather have a piece of any of these cakes.
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Sherry: I was so touched by your son's demonstration of his love for you. You raised him to be a good man!
All, I'm one of the lucky ones who had no problems with rads. My skin turned red and felt warm to the touch, but it never felt painful like a sun burn. Then it faded to a blotchy tan, and it's mostly back to normal now. I did have a bit of cracking around the nipple (my apologies if that's too much info), but it didn't hurt and healed quickly. I didn't have fatigue, and kept up with my 5x a week workout schedule. I think these things helped me:
- I appled aloe generously twice a day.
- I ate huge amounts of protein (~90 gm) daily to help my cells heal.
- I'm half Mexican, so I tan easily.
- I did upper body stretches every day.
Having said all that, I agree with others who suggested that rads aren't needed if you're having a mastectomy. I knew I had to have them with a lumpectomy, and I accepted that to keep my breast. I wouldn't have had them if I was having a mastectomy.
Usual disclaimer: This is my opinion, and everyone is different. We all make the best decision we can for our own treatment.
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NativeMainer, No apologies needed. You have to write what happened to you, not to scare others away but just because it is your true story. Some don't suffer thru chemo that much, others really get laid low by it. The whole spectrum of reactions are out there. The trouble is, someone has convinced the docs NOT to realistically tell us the severity we MIGHT go thru, then for those who do have the bad reactions, they are even more frightened thinking it does not happen to others. So sorry you were made to feel you were some kind of anomaly, but you were on the far end of the S/E spectrum for sure.
Valjean! Woo-woo-woo to the hoo-hoo-hoo! Keep marking those cancer-free days off!
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TAB, sometimes rads are needed even after a BMX. My cancer was advanced, and the onc was concerned about the nodes in the clavicle as well as the remaining nodes in the axilla. They were also concerned about recurrence in the scar line.
Native, I am sorry you had so much trouble with the stupid rads. For me it certainly was not a piece of cake. I got very tired during and after for quite a while, but it was nowhere near as bad as what you had to suffer through.
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This is way off topic AND I REALLY DON'T WANT TO GO INTO IT ON THIS THREAD which I would like to remain focused on Breast Cancer, and our middle-aged lives without becoming a catch-all for every possible middle-aged horror out there. Please do not write to me in a sympathetic way, but if you are one who has experience and knowledge about this, then post or PM and I may like to get info. from you at some point, if you don't mind.
I have colon cancer. Oh, by the way, much like my mammogram and B/C, the colonoscopy I had 1 & 1/2 years ago missed the C/C too. That's two strikes against those well touted screening tools, IMO. I don't know anything yet (and you won't read the blow-by-blow here either.) I'm already bored with it. Upset too, of course, but B/C has taught me that I know how to "put the big girl panties on" one leg at a time. I know how to "just show up." Did I mention being really, really angry? Because I AM!
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Reality my youngest son is 33 and lives in CO also. He has remained pretty distant from my cancer. Basically just wanted to know what it was and the treatment. But he remained fairly distant. Maybe your daughter has a difficult time living there and seeing the day to day grind of your treatments.
Barbe I sweat terribly at night. I keep extra clean tee-shirts near the bed, and fresh pillows.
Eli........:(
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Elimar: All I can offer is {{{{hugs}}}} to you. And, I'd be furious too!
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Was your first thought. "Well, she shouldn't have snacked on all those Cheetos?" Don't feel bad if it was.
Was your second thought, "The aliens could have inplanted it, when they did the probe on her?" If so, you should scold yourself on that one.
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Next week, Tues., is my 6 mo. appt. with the MO. It will be interesting to see if the routine bloodwork comes back normal. My MO never did TMs, If he did, I wonder if they would have registered as high, but aren't the TMs usually checked the ones that are specific to B/C?
Does anyone know about this: Would I have less of a risk for bloodclots (relating to surgery) if I come off the Tamox. now? I think a few of you take Tamox. & have had surgeries. Was it an issue? I'll be checking with the MO, and will try to remember to post his answer, since something like this might come up for someone else too.
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Nah. My first thought with colon cancer is "What a shitty disease!" Sorry...
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Snort, snort! ALL those puns will be intended from now on. I was like, "Oh, is that a brown ribbon?" (I should check. It probably is!)
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It would pretty much have to be a brown ribbon!
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You people!
Still, elimar, that sucks and I am sorry, even if you issued strict orders to lay off that kind of thing. Brown ribbon, tsk, tsk.0 -
Elimar...♥
Hugs
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Elimar: You called it; brown ribbon it is.
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Barbe 1958- I don't sweat with these hot flashes. Just feel like I am in an oven and turn red, especially my ears. I have never had enough sweat to even need deodorant unless it is like 100 degree's out. Just weird I guess. It is actually a pillow case that is designed for chemo patients. It says for Natural hair care while you sleep. It came with other stuff from an organization that gives out bags full of stuff that come in handy while going through chemo.
Today at work the kitchen crew and I did a toast while I took the last of the chemo pills. Done with that !!!!! Next hurdle is boob deflation
and on to rads.0 -
CONGRATS VAL on 4 YEARS OUT!!!! That is wonderful to hear. I can relate to the old me vs new me. So much has changed, even though I've tried to keep things as consistest and seamless as possible. I'm very fortunate to have all the blessings I do have, so I'm not at all complaining .... but there is obviously a part of me that wishes I would wake up from a deep sleep and that none of this had happened. Sometimes when I take a nap, I try to live that ... I think I can go to sleep, and maybe it really is not reality, but invariably I wake up from my nap and find that it is reality. I do try to dream this into a dream, but it hasn't worked yet, so I've decided to move forward and start living again.
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So long to chemo...Happy Dance for you Dianarose!
With the hot flashes, I always described it as my "head being trapped in a sauna," but actually there is not much sweating for me either. (Note to some of you who take Effexor for the Flashes. Effexor can have excessive sweating as a side effect. I noticed a lot more sweating the first two weeks I went on Effexor, then it settled down. I am not taking it currently.)
Welcome, InspiredbyDolce! We have to be content that we are still able to dream. Forward is a good direction.
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Thanks for all the hot flash tips! Today was a bit better.
Elimar, You can do this. My heart goes out to you.Obviously your head is in the right place, especially if you can find humor in the brown ribbon! Good for you, kick this s$#t!
Dianarose, Yah! Done with chemo! On to the next step. It feels good to complete a step in this journey.
As I crawled in bed last night, I decided that I needed to start 'living' again. I've been moping about, having a really difficult time pulling myself out of this sadness. I just finished the hardest fight of my life, thus far, and came through with a great life in front of me. Enough already! I did great until my drive home from work... the car in front of me had a sticker that said f%*k cancer, and i started crying. Ugh. Maybe tomorrow ...
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Valjean woohoo on 4 years
Diana good ad to chemo happy dance
Eli I really hate hearing the news. I know you have had so many problems here lately in that area. Couldn't Colin cancer have a prettier ribbon? Really brown. You asked about tamox and surgery. For my BMX I was off 2 weeks before and after surgery. For exchange I was off 1 week before and after. I have heard other docs don't take you off at all but I always go with caution and my MO said long term would not matter that I was off of it like I was. Oh and I would be down right pissed. Please keep us posted0 -
Sherryc, That was my common sense reasoning about going off the Tamox. before a surgery since, as you pointed out, taking an interval break from the Tamox. for a good reason like that is not a big deal in the 5-year scheme of things. O.K., it seems at least some docs think along those lines too.
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Eli :-(
Valgean 4 years congrats to you!
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Thank you, everyone, for the congratulations!
My hot flashes have finally lessened since I have been on the second-time-around Aromasin, thank goodness. (was off for three months on a different manufacturer & when I returned to the manuf. I wanted, the hot flashes returned tenfold!!) I always felt like I was going to implode - the heat was all within me & I didn't (don't) sweat. Just get HOT!
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Eli...(hugs).....I'm having my DIEP on Friday. My instructions at the pre-op were to take my Tamoxifen the day of surgery with just a sip of water.....only stopped the LD aspirin and multi-vitamin (due to the vitamin E) for the two weeks prior.
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