CALLING ALL STAGE I SISTERS
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samsue - Congrats on the one year cancerversary.
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Teal, I am thrilled that you had a opportunity to get away from 'cancer journey' .. Makes all the difference in the world.
Granny .. Continued prayers .. great news!
Samsue .. Congratulations .. on this milestone, 1 year. Thank God for sites like this, otherwise, many of us would be walking around in circles .. and hitting walls. I know, I've met these women in my Oncologist office and Plastic Surgeon's.
Vicki Sam
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Sorry .. I just wanted to add .. ... . that I love this site.
Vicki
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Congrats.Samsue---they say the first year is the hardest.I wish you many more healthy years.God bless.
thanks for the prayers.I love my sistas.where would we be without them?????hugggggggggggsK
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Jo, Sheila and VickiSam: Thanks! It was so nice to have a break and now I'm learning to be patient about waiting for rads to begin. Trying not to get frustrated--It will start when it starts.
Samsue: Happy Cancerversary!!!! Woohoo!
Granny: Happy 3-month parole!
Catbill: How did things go yesterday? Hope all went well.
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3 months parole.ha.is that for good behavior????i dont think so.i made them CRAZY.Thanks for the chuckle.xoxoxoK0
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Teal - You will be so surprised how fast rads goes once you start. Crossing fingers for no problems along the way. You will have to keep us posted.0
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I was recently diagnosed with benign cysts in my breasts. I am 23 years old and very fit. This lead me to wonder what life style choices I may have made that increased my risk of developing these cysts. Being a graduate science research student, I decided to start a short personal survey to see if there is any correlation with particular life style habits and breast abnormalities. Please take 2 minutes to complete this survey if you are interested to contribute to research in this field:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/B9G27B6
Thanks!
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no pic now, but a big CONGRATS on a year without the BEAST!!!! 3jays
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Well...this is my first post! Just got the word today on the pathology from last Friday's lumpectomy that I'm Stage 1, Grade 2 with clear margins and nodes. What a hellish wait it's been since that first call in early January where I learned the term "architectural distortion" and started this long-ass diagnosis process! I had a core needle biopsy in late January but just had them hold the results until I finished a trip abroad...I knew that was a bell I couldn't unring and the Dr. said no issue with waiting. The bell was rung on 2-11-2010 and it's been my all consuming thing ever since as I knew it would be!
Feeling positive and grateful that it's not in my nodes, that I don't have to go through more surgery and that chemo isn't likely in the cards for me. Learning to embrace menopause since stopping my HRT (no ovaries since I was 34) and now awaiting radiation and Tamoxifen therapy fun!
I've haunted this site for a couple of months in search of information and am grateful for what I've been able to learn here. I hope I can help those who will have their bells unrung in the future with my experiences. At the same time...my heart goes out to those who's road is so much rougher than it appears mine will be...
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atjina ! you are welcome. You will get all the information you want through this board as all the members besides struggling during treatment , after treatment have come together from across the countries and sharing thoughts, experiences and many more or even family matters. I am from India.. totally different from all of them, I never expect what I am on today because of wonderful co-operation which I never get from my country people. I am able to know about the BC and now quite relief on how to tackle it in future. I found this thread after completion of my treatment.. say after a gap of 5 years. Can you imagine how I tackle it by myself with only my doctors advice. You are free to share everything , and wait and see huge response will pour on your posting.
Sneh,
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ajtina-sorry you have to join us here but it is a great place to get support. You and I are similar in diag. I am 48 stage 1 grade 1.Did you have an onctotype dx done. If not ask your onco about it. It was very helpful for me in deciding on doing chemo or not. MY BS, RO and MO did not recommend it after having the oncotype dx done. I was questionable before the test.
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Thanks for the welcome Sneh and Sherry! If I gotta do this, I'd like to think I can help someone else at the same time. I look forward to learning from you both!
As a lurker, I was surprised to see what looked like my potential diagnosis (pre-pathology on the full tumor and lymph node) on women who were having what seemed like very extreme treatments (I'm learning the lingo, so forgive me if I use it incorrectly): BMX and chemo and such when they were 1cm masses with no node involvement and ER/PR+ and HER2-. I also noted these same variables and small tumor sizes on the signatures of Stage IV folks which was alarming to me! I still find that somewhat confusing so hope to learn a bit more about whether that was more a personal choice to throw the book at it or what the variables are that lead to that treatment regime. I think it would really help lurkers and newbies!
My lumpectomy was Friday and I just got the verbal read on the pathology yesterday (Weds). I meet with my surgeon on Monday and my Med Onc on Weds so I expect to know more by then. I asked about the OncoType test in my multi-disciplinary meeting with them and they seemed willing to do it; I plan to discuss when we next meet.
Oh...as a side note: I'm on Kaiser (Northern CA); my experience with them has been good overall...highly organized and they seem to communicate well between the various doctors so far but I've felt a bit like one of the cattle on occasion. I liked that they put me in a room, all the docs came in for a free feel up (it's NON-PALPABLE people!) and then they met with me all together after they agreed on a treatment recommendation, after which they gave me written notes (which weren't perfectly accurate unfortunately...the "cattle" effect I think) and a cassette recording of the meeting (of course...how the hell am I gonna play a *cassette*? LOL). They also gave me an RN and a PA who are more available for calls and questions as they come up.
Man...I'm long winded! Sorry...will work on brevity moving foward!
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Welcome, Parla and Ajtina.
Parla, fibro-cystic breasts are not neccessarily a precursor to BC.
Ajtina, my onc team also used the cattle effect, and in re-reading my med records, found many errors. During treatment (tx) you will almost disassociate yourself from youroffending bodypart (ie breast) because everyone seems to want to look at it/them and feel it/them. Yes, you NP/PA will most likely be the one you see, and only if they deem it neceessary will they bring the onc back in.
I think you can go to Walmart and pick up a cheapie cassette player to have in case you want to listen to the meeting again. I think that was a good thing to give you, becaus eit is such a whirlwind of info to process. I remember my NP wrote everything on the tissue paper exam table covering. If I had had the presence of mind, i would have taken it with me. But I didn't.
I believe that many women who have the BMX when the path report seems to indicate less, may be relying on the Oncotype/BRCA genetic testing to make their decisions.
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Atjina - I have the very same diagnosis. My oncotype was intermediate and that caused me to seek opinions from four MO's. I got a "you must", "you definitely should not", and two "I am 50/50". So, no clear recommendation. I started CMF and stopped after having done 50% of it because I felt the 1-2% gain was not worth it for me at my age. I stopped with full support from both MO and RO. I recently completed rads and am now about to start on the nasty pill. If I can just swallow it.
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ajtina: Welcome! What a journey we are on! My head is still spinning from the many variables and treatment options--all for stage 1!!!! So instead of thinking "Hurray it's stage 1," I was overwhelmed with "What's the RIGHT thing to do?" because there are so many reasonable options. My oncologists seem to use the word "reasonable" A LOT!
Granny: After treatment is over, I always felt like I was on parole between check-ups.
Jo: That's encouraging! Thanks! In a way, I like a kid waiting forever for Christmas, only there are no presents. No, wait--I get free tatoos!
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Atjina, welcome. Your dx seemed to be the same as mine, although I am Brca so I had a BMX. I have an appt with an onc next week, so I am hoping he will be on the same treatment plan as mmy onc surgeon.
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ajtina..Welcome to the group.
♥
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Thanks for the welcome Meece, raincity, Teal3Pink1, slinky and seyla! This is a hell of a process of guessing at risks and benefits...it's great to have others who understand the challenges since people around you really don't!
It's interesting that the "positive" pathology results yesterday around clean margins, node-negative and stage 1 status have resulted in some of my closest friends and family feeling like the process is over and the war is won! They seem to think I just need to heal from surgery and then live with a new lease on life. It's been stressful for everyone the last couple of months so I can understand that even they want to get back to "normal" life...but so sorry team - there is no "normal" to go back to!
I seem to be the only one that's breathing a sigh of relief and then taking a deep breath to do the research and face the challenges that come next! Rads and hormone therapy are no walk in the park! I am grateful for the positives...truly I am. But this is still war, people! I'm still fighting to win against a scary ass foe. We've taken the hill for this week but next week is a whole new battle!
Unfortunately, I don't get to rest on this week's results...so they're going to have to understand that I still am in a focused fight mode and there is no real rest in my near future. My entire 2011 became toast on February 11th with the words "you have breast cancer"...
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ajtina...Unfortunately well meaning friends and family members want to believe once you are out of treatment or you have your tumor removed everything is gonna go back to normal.
For us its a completely different story. i don't really like to hear comments like <Everything is behind you. < Why are you getting nervous when you see the Oncologist> or< you are thinking about it too much> the list goes on and on.My younger daughter who is a social worker she understands and listens and she agrees with me. My older one doesn't even want to talk about it she gets all upset.
What are you suppose to do/ Well explain to them that Oncologist is a cancer DR (they know it already) and you don't go to her or him for your cholesterol level.
I repeated myself few times and I know I'm more understood.
Good Luck to you my sister.
We are all here for you.
Hugs
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Well said Sheila- I just made out my schedule for my boss for upcoming Dr visits and between now and the First of May I have 5 appts of either doctors or diag test for follow ups etc. What is normal. They are all stressfull. The only Dr appt I every had before bc was my yearly Gyno and mammo now I am at a Dr every time I turn around.
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Hello all stage I gals
I was wondering how often you get mammos after diagnosis? Do you just keep getting a yearly one?
I'm not geting radiation treament and may not even do meds, so that might be a consideration into how often....
-Daisy
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Welcome MsChorlton. I got a bad boob mammo at 6 months post surgery, then a both boob mammo at a year. It will continue that way for 5 years I am told.
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I was told the same schedule for mammo's.
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MrsChorlton - Welcome to the Group. According to my onc, an annual mammo is enough. That is alright with me. If there are any concerns, we can always do more.
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MrsChorlton...welcome to the Group.
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MrsChrlton-Welcome and I only live an hour from you. I will be getting a yearly mammo and mri alternating every 6 months. But my onco told me that is not the norm. I have some other risk that cause me to have the MRI yearly. My MO does blookwork every three months and checks my tumor markers etc. that will be for the first two years and then every 6 months up to 5 years then yearly.
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annual both girls mammo in March; naughty girl in Sept., every year for 5 yrs (at least)
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