MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
Comments
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How is everyone this weekend? Been quiet over here,,,0 -
glennie19, I can't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but when I was doing chemo and for some months afterward, I did not notice my fibromyalgia flaring up or even bothering me really, like I was in FM remission if there is such a thing. After chemo, I did get neuropathy (CIPN) in my feet so they were feeling bad because of that, but I was not having FM in them...and the two do feel different. Weird.
Also, during chemo, I never got a cold or virus, even with a lowered white count. Guess chemo killed off any viruses.
My seasonal allergies were hardly noticeable (maybe that was from the steroid?)
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Yes, Eli - and I'll add that the chemo killed all the pre-cancerous skin damaged places that the dermatologist has always had to freeze or biopsy every 6 months. Unfortunately they're growing again now.
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Eli: I must say,, that is so interesting about the chemo and the fibro,,, someone needs to do a study on that. Makes you wonder if it is from a strange virus that the chemo was killing off.
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Well, it was about the only good thing about the chemo, and even since the chemo, I have only noticed FM in my hands 2-3 times. I don't know if my FM is like other peoples or not, but I used to get a disturbing vibration of nerves in both hands and feet when the FM was really active. To me, it was not a "tingle" but like the nerves were just humming in a bad kind of way. It never gets up to a full strength vibration anymore, but when my foot FM kicks in, I get "restless foot" that sometimes extends into "restless leg." Does that sound familiar to any of you FM people?
The one other kind of good thing about my chemo (besides keeping the FM at bay) is that I think it killed off my armpit hair. Or is that regular menopause that does it? I don't know. I've given up shaving my pits...I can just tweeze out 5-10 hairs once a month and I am good to go.
Other than the neuropathy, which continues to improve at a snail's pace, I feel like I have made a wonderful short term recovery from the onslaught of all my treatments; and without getting into too much fear-mongering I just hope I get some good years in before any long term effects start to show up.-----------------------------
justmaximom, Good luck with your surgery tomorrow. I didn't have additional reduction with my Lx, but I have to say that the surgery was not too terrible. I was on the couch the following day with an "anesthesia hangover" but the pain was not bad. As for the bruising...I got more purple from that vicious "leather punch" biopsy I had than from the actual surgery. So, rest up tonight if you can and then tomorrow get that cancer gone!
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still hoping that menopause will kill the armpit hair,,, not yet,,,,7 months now,,, LOL,, I guess I have tough hair.My Fibro isn't like that,, it is achy pain,, like you have the flu,, that never seems to go away.
In the bag for you, Justmaximom,,,, hoping you have a quick recovery.
Edit to say, love the new picture!
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Hi ladies! I've been busy tearing my house apart from top to bottom to find everything I want to get rid of. I'm planning to open a little store and sell all this darn stuff.
My son came home over the weekend to help me. He went back to Seattle yesterday so we worked like dogs the last 4-5 days. I woke up in so much pain today. It was a gigantic fibromyalgia flare. When I do a lot of physical work with very little sleep I can count on my fibro flaring up. But it has to be that special combination of not enough rest/too much physical exertion. It does feel like achy pain all over, especially the long muscles in my arms and legs. After I was up for a few hours today and the pain was still extreme (plus, weirdly I couldn't stay awake) I went back to bed for about 3 hours and felt much better but still in a lot of pain. There's nothing you can take for it unless any of you ladies know something that makes it quit hurting. I just now tried a 325 mg aspirin, the wonder pill. All I know is that I can't wait to go back to bed.
I'm getting excited about opening the store. I think I have enough things around here to keep it open for about 9 months. At the same time I'm nervous. I've got to negotiate a good deal on the rent or I might find myself barely breaking even. I plan to open June 1st. I need to make some business cards because wherever I go I basically start conversations with whatever unlucky soul is next to me - haha. So I'm sure I'll hand them out a lot. Make flyers to hang on mailboxes. If any of the grocery stores around here had community bulletin boards I would use those but it looks like they've taken them all down. Make a few signs for street corners and put balloons on them. Hmm... I have a lot more to do than just worry about the stock. Now I'm tired.
Elimar - my armpit hair never came back on the radiated side so I always forget to shave the other side. There is no way I could tweeze armpit hair - OUCH!
I noticed that I never got sick while I was doing chemo. Someone speculated that maybe while chemo was killing our immune system only the strongest white blood cells remained so we had Super Immune Defense. In fact, I STILL haven't caught any bugs going around. Well, if there's any truth to the Super Immune Defense theory, that's a pretty good side effect to have.
Okay, see y'all later. Try to be good, but if you can't be good at least have a good time!
EDITED TO ADD: Well, the aspirin had no effect whatsoever. I figured it wouldn't but it had been so long since I tried it I thought why not.
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Oh, I have a question for everybody. Would you price items like you do with a garage sale, expecting to negotiate? Or is it your experience that sellers in actual stores have it priced at what they'll sell it for?
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Heartnsoul--wow, that's a big project!Sorry about the fibro flare up.I can't imagine how much that hurts.Sorry the aspirin didn't work.I wish there was something that worked.My experience with small stores like you describe is that items are marked with a price, but sometimes negotiation happens too.Seems to be up to the individual store owner.
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Great topper, El.
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Hi ladies,
I was participating in an intense business training series of exercises and am finally able to have a bit of a respite.
I have developed a chronic pain from my sternum to armpit over a large area of my chest where my 2012 MX and saline implant foob was installed. I cannot for the life of me recall injuring myself. The soreness feels like it's below the implant and seems more bone specific than any muscle issues.
1. Does a foob change over time that it can mechanically cause pain to sternum & ribs? It doesn't feel like it's become "un-moored".
2. How long should I wait to have this be checked so I don't feel like an idiot with this general pain area? It's like the entire upper quadrant of my chest.
3. If it persists, and I do seek medical evaluation, do I see my GP first? Go back to my PS? I no longer have to see my oncologist (who recently retired from patient practice but still does research)?
Thanks.
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Deb2012, Well, you've written "pain" and "sternum" in the same sentence (followed by "soreness" and "bone" in another) which for us BC patients, usually gets you an express trip to the bone scan people. Either of those docs can order a bone scan. IF your PCP has done any of your follow up, you might want to check with him first, since he has a lower co-pay, but if your PCP is like mine (never really a part of the ONCO team,) then the PS might be the better choice.
I can't write any comparisons about recon or implants, but others here can so watch for more replies.
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NativeMainer - I guess you're right about whether or not to negotiate. I'll just wing it as I go. This is a huge task like you said, but I hope I never have to do it again. One and done! And I'm looking forward to everything finally being where it belongs.
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I'm sure you will do really well! It is a lot of work, though.
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heartnsoul7 - I don't know if you take any meds on a regular basis, but I take Lyrica for nerve pain. I have Fibro and autoimmune and a mast cell disease so I can have a flare from any of them, but the Lyrica does help. I take Plaquenil for my autoimmune. Since my surgery I have been taking Tramadol for the pain. I can't take narcotics, makes me sick, but the Tramadol works really well. I just adjust the dosage based on my pain level.
This is my second time with BC, so I am familiar with chemo and I also felt pretty well during it. It is good for your skin too! Lol I will start new chemo sometime later this month. I don't know how this one will go, the tumor was different this time so it should be a different cocktail, but I'm not worried. I just hope they don't have to put a port back in.
Good for you, opening your own store! I don't think I would have the stamina for something like that, but you never know. My main focus right now is trying to lose weight if I want to have reconstruction. I noticed your son lives in Seattle. I was born and raised there, miss it every day.
elimar - I do have neuropathy in my hands. I feel like there is a mild electric current going through them with numbness and pain in the tips. As far as the restless leg goes, Yes! I have had that on and off since I was a teenager and isn't it terrible?!! I get it most often when I am in the car and of course you can't move around. It is so hard to explain it to someone that doesn't have it, just like with BC. I did see it on a list of autoimmune diseases so I guess I have had one since my teens.
I am 5 weeks post surgery, BMX, so I still don't feel great but am getting stronger every day! One day at a time, right? Tired now. I think I will go lay down. Hope to talk to you all again.
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KJSUN, Having the FM in hands and feet made me paranoid of getting CIPN (chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy) real bad. I did get/do still have CIPN (feet only,) but strangely do not notice the FM in my hands much anymore, and feet only sometimes. You would think it might be hard to tell the FM from the CIPN, but it's not because they feel different. I never had numbness from FM, that's all the CIPN.
For all with FM, although it was nothing conclusive, I do think that anything with artificial sweetners or msg in it gave me a FM flare-up, and pretty sure msg brought on the restless leg too. RL does seem to strike on road trips, but think about it...the kind of food that you get "on the road" is more likely to have that kind of crap in it.
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hey, I have the real achy kind of FM also. Never really feel "good" I wake up with my thighs and hands and feet just throbbing. I use voltaren gel for pain so I can fall asleep if I need to.
Then right before I left for a week vacay, I decided I had to get a strap cut for a purse handle and managed to lean too hard over a counter while pulling the strap cutter along the hide and bruised my bottom rib really badly. I have been in agony for 2 weeks. The gel comes in real handy for that! But really, leaning over a counter?
I just got my bone density report and it was downhill some more. My PCP wants me to start on Fosamax. I am unsure, I am way too sensitive to any medications. So the box is still sitting on my counter and will probably remain there for a while.
I had a uterine biopsy yesterday. I guess it is mandatory if you mention spotting and cramping and tamoxifen. So lucky me, they sprang that on me at my GYN appt. I have an appt for an ultra sound next week. It's always something, isn't it?
Some good news, I got sprung from seeing my RO anymore. She is cutting back her hours and instead of me breaking in a new doc, I just had to promise to still see my MO and BS.
heart, good luck with your store. I have run my own business for 35 years and I so want to just be able to let it go. It's good that you have a time limit and a set inventory.
deb, I always start with my PCP and move on up the chain from there. She always tells me she wants to treat the whole of me, so to let her know whats happening. I also have not had implants. But it's always better to err on the side of caution.
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mac, Hmmm, I wonder if you love or hate that I always refer to the core needle biopsy as the "leather punch biopsy?"
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lol, I love it. It really is basically the same maneuver.
Now, I had the fun vacuum (laying face down on the table with said body part hanging thru a hole) biopsy while the techs worked underneath.
But I've had core needle biopsies done during fun dermatology appts.
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They had me on my back. I felt just like cowhide.
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Morning!
I know a lot of us here might be smarter than my husband is, BUT (my but looks big!) he is a scientist and I was shocked to learn today that the grapefruit-drug interaction was something new to him. Geez! I've know about that for thirty years, passed down in old-wives tale fashion, by my mom. So, I thought I better bring up the topic on here just in case anyone here missed it as well. Don't worry, I won't do any scoffing, like I did with my brainiac mate.
It's important to keep in mind, because there are so many drugs that are do interact. Check this Wiki page:
That's in general, but you can find other BC specific articles like this one:
As always, if you want to find out more in depth info.---search a little on your own.
Won't go so far as to say it is the "forbidden fruit," but doesn't the danger make you just feel like having some right now.
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Oh boy - you are absolutely correct. I was eating watermelon as I read your post but now I REALLY want a grapefruit. Even w/ER/PR negative BC, I'm sorry to say I have been limiting my grapefruit exposure for many years. I really miss it.
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I am so sorry, I have 3 huge grapefruits in a bowl in my kitchen right now. I squeezed 8 of them for juice the other day, which I shared. As soon as they are gone, I will try not to have anymore.... my friend who just moved to palm springs found a tree and no one eats them.... and there are more coming today.... crap
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Fortunately Grapefruit has never been a "must have' for me
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So sad that such a good food causes such bad drug effects.Almost makes eating healthy bad for you!
And I LOVE grapefuit!
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Native-EXACTLY! Bring on the cotton candy, hot dogs & chocolate Milkshakes!
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Does Diet Affect Cancer Recurrence?
Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Previously published on Intelihealth.comResults of The Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) trial consisting of 3,088 women concluded that
eating more fruits, vegetables and fiber while eating less fat did not reduce a woman's risk of breast
cancer recurrence or death. (emphasis added by NM)* * *
The researchers found that the women who were eating approximately 8 to 10 servings of fruits and
vegetables a day had the same risk of their breast cancer returning and dying from breast cancer as
the women who were eating approximately 5 servings a day. While this suggests that eating more
than 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day may not affect breast cancer survival, it definitely should
not be interpreted as meaning that fruits and vegetables do not play a key role in preventing chronic
diseases, such as heart disease and cancer. (emphasis added by NM)Source: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Patients_Visitors/...
Diet and Breast Cancer Prognosis: Making Sense of the WHEL and WINS Trials
John P. Pierce, PhDPrinted in Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2009 Feb; 21(1): 86–91. Current Opinions in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Abstract
Purpose of Review
To clarify the role of dietary pattern on prognosis in breast cancer survivors.
Recent Findings
Observational trials show mixed results that do not strongly support an independent role for dietary pattern in prognosis. WINS and WHEL are two large randomized controlled trials that address this question. The Interventions from both studies achieved significant reductions in energy from fat and the WHEL Study achieved large increases in vegetables, fruit, and fiber. WINS examined postmenopausal women only and reported a not-quite-significant improved prognosis for women in the intervention group, with the benefit focused on ipsilateral localized recurrences but little improvement in the most important distal recurrences. This review considers only WHEL postmenopausal women to aid a direct comparison with WINS. The WHEL Study reported a convincing lack of association between diet and prognosis. However, a secondary analysis suggests that the dietary intervention reduced distal recurrences among the sub-group without hot flashes at baseline.
Summary
There is no convincing evidence that changing dietary pattern following breast cancer diagnosis will improve prognosis for most women with early stage breast cancer. However, it would appear to be important for some sub-groups. Further investigation of mechanisms for such selective action is needed. (emphasis added by NM)
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC263696...
Both studies, in the small print, indicate that dietary changes MAY help women with ER negative/PR negative bc decrease the risk of recurrence, which essentially disproves the base theory that decreasing fat intake and losing wgt decreases the metabolic syndrome effects supported by estrogen is a big player in the rate of recurrence of bc.
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AAARGH! Just listened to a news report about requiring TANF (temporary assistance to needy families) and SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) recipients to undergo a screening process (a questionaire) and if at high risk of drug abuse be subject to drug testing. The big argument against this is that it's targeting people who are poor. Drug testing just because someone applies for public assistance is unfair/unconstitutional. I can be randomly drug tested just because I have a job, a job that has a bunch of money that I earn taken out for taxes, money that goes to those programs! They can't be drug tested cuz it's not fair, but I can? Really? AARRGH!
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Welfare receipents should be drug tested. While they are collecting benefits, that is their job. If I can be randomly drug tested at my job, they should be also subject to that same invasion.
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We have 3 months and 4 days to hit 30,000 posts!!0
