CALLING ALL STAGE I SISTERS
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bren and melmes...sorry you had to join us but glad you found us....
i am sitting here freaking out becuase I have to get PET/CT scanin the morning to have for my onc appt on wed- three month followup visit...FREAKING OUT...orginal CT before BMX ad spots too small to identify on my liver...orginal onc and BS said B9- but this onc wants to rule out any growth...i will have it done since I will freak if I don't with worry...but I am pinballing all over the place....so damn scared...i feel like i was tempting fate (oh the mind games we play with ourselves) today as I felt really really good...and it showed...so of course it follows that I am scared that something horrible will be there...i think i need a bath
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Hi Brenda....Good Luck tomorrow with the Oncologist.
RE to how sick Would you get it all depends on the individual and what type of chemo you will be getting.
Please come back tomorrow and tell us what the DR is saying.
Hugs
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Annette....firstable i understand your anxiety.
How did you find out about the liver issues. Usually they don't test those staff on early stages.
Are you clean yet?
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(((Melmes)))0
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Brenilea and Melmes-sorry you guys have to join us here but it is a great place for support. I can't help you with chemo as I did not have it. Did you get an oncotype dx done? and if so what was your score that will help you alot in making a decision. It is a very personal decision to make.
Annette good luck on the Pet Scan tomorrow I will be praying for an all clear for you.
Had my mammo done today and everything is clear. The original calcifications that started all this last year have not changed. Some were removed when they took my tumor out but not all of them. So all is good for now. Also had my yearly gyno appt today. I was kinda wondering why I keep having to have pap smears when I have had a hysterectomy. Anyway she says new guideline if you have had a non cancerous hystectomy you no long have to have pap smears. BUT since I have had BC I get to continue to have them. gee what a nice present!!! So I talked to her about the whole nerve damage thing going on in my breast and the mammo and mri screening every six months yada yada yada and that my BS wants me to consider having a MX now. And she tells me she totally agrees with my BS. She said if she were in my shoes and with my risk ect. she would have a MX done. So I guess that kinda seals the deal that I will go through with it in probably July or August. I'll have to see when my BS wants to do it after I am in the post rads safe zone. Otherwise life is good and I am still feeling great from the Tamox now that body had adjusted. Don't know if I will every be able to not take melatonin but my gyno said if I have to stay on it to sleep don't worry about it.
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Sherry....Happy Dance for you.
Your body must be exhausted my friend.
Hugs♥
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Sherry- I read on a nother thread that all went well today. YAY!!!!!! you are the first of us (I think) to go and have your post rads mammogram done so you are paving the way sister! I will try the ice thing..I took the wire out of a damn bra this morning and No SHAPe left to it and OMG my breast hurt tonight when I took off the bra..back to the sports bra for me...but will try the ice. Don't want to do any more medication so the anti-inflammatory ..maybe not..but will try the ice...
Annette- breathe my dear...breathe!!! a bath..a glass of wine?...a smultsy magazine? a sappy tv show?.....breathe...
Bren/Melmes- my best gal pal went through this journey 6.5 years ago at age 37. They whipped her through as fast as you folks....;umpectomy, chemo, rads, tamoxifen ...hey did chemo on her because her margins on one side were not as good as they wanted but like you she said "I am 37...I have two young daughers at home. Give all to me"....she worked right through chemo and rads...drove 1.5 hours to and from the hospital for her rads for about 22 sessions....she was tired the first chemo weekend, a bit nauseated the second, lost her hair this third so shaved her head as a family event and stayed in bed her fourth weekend ...and then she got on with things....so it is doable. I think it really depends on the chemo cocktail....and your own system.
As for rads...keep a huge bottle of aloe vera handy and soak yourskin the morning of, as soon as you get out and whenever you pass by the bottle. I did not have any reaction until after rads was over...none at all with 16 sessions .....aloe very has worked beautifully for many of us.
In the meantime, welcome to a very supportive group.
Sandee
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Wow Ladies this has been one busy thread over the last few days, I had pages and pages to read to catch up. Ya'll are a crazy, wonderful bunch of ladies that I am proud to call "friends". What fun you had in and out of jo's pocket... lol! Granny sorry to hear about your breast I pray that all works out fine.
For all the new ladies that have joined you could never meet another group that is as wonderful as these women are... Sheila big hugs sent your way!!
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JO left for vacation and the reality now sets in...the tests,scans yadda yadda crap is boack to rule our lives once again.
to all my sistas going for tests.Im with you
Sherry---Happy dance
Sheila----huggggggggggggggggggs
Annette-----prayin sista
My dr.is mailing me a script for the lymphedema therapy...And the beat goes on....
welcome back Mimi---
Goin to PA for Easter.leavin tomorrow.cannot wait.gonna leave all this crap right here in NJ>not gonna think about anything but my great grandson.ill be on and off the puter.huggggsK
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Breni & Mel welcome to this great group of ladies. ((((hugs)))) It seems like a whirlwind experience at first with all the app'ts and trying to figure out what they're actually talking about. It's a totally different language that I was ever used to. But, it's doable.
Annette hope the warm bath helped..... will be waiting with you for the results.
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Actually, I am very lucky that my husband knew I wouldn't schedule a mammagram, so he did it. So I have him to thank for it being caught early. I am so new to all of this, it's all happened so fast. I am so glad I found this web site. It's very comforting to know, that I am not alone.
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B TW--welcome Brini and Mel....theres a lot of love right here.Can you feel it?xoxoxoK0
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Thanks everyone for the kind words....Had a bath...felt good...now my gut is all messed up-i know it is nerves....argh
Sandee- the sports bras are the most comfortable...altough i wanted a beige bra to wear under white and found a wireless molded one in Marshall's for 6.99 (I like the bargains)= fits like a dream-with pretty good support on the sides...i change out of it when I get home and back into the sports bra though...am exhaling...............
granny have a wonderful time in PA with your family:)
Sheila-right after I was diagnosed with BC, the BS ordered a CT scan-normal procedure for her-then a bone scan. When the report came back about the liver spots then I freaked but they did not both said B9-fast forward to new onc who insists this should be done...so, I am getting it done since it has been in the back of my mind the whole time anyway.
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hang in there, glas.. the not knowing, waiting for the plans, tests, is always the WORST part!! once you here, annette, you'll feel clamer, no matter what. you'll get a plan together, and please GOD, the plan will be to "watch" it, cause its not progressed... to anything,,
girls, i so didn't want to do chemo, and had some really rough spots.. but, im two yrs out now, i lived thru it, and my latest scans show NED no evidence detected... so, it can be done, and we all find the strength, together.. annette, put me in a pocket of those overalls.. try to get some rest tonight, even if you need some help... you'll do better tommorrow, with some rest.
im gonna try too, tommorrow is my eval with the neuro.. the hot shot in Miami. i don't think he has any answers, really, but im going to make sure... 3jays
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Annette...I know....I didn't want the heart stuff either but my darlin' you CAN do this...they are checking ..it is preventitive....just breathe....it will be what it will be but in the meantime breathe
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Annette ~ I will be with you tomorrow as you have the scan. {{hugs}} ♥
Welcome Melmes & Brenilea - so sorry you had to join us but so very happy that you found us. I love this group of women, their support & love is available 24/7.
Sherry ~ I am so happy that your mamm came back clear. ♥
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Welcome Melmes and Brenilee.
{{{SHERRY}}} Happy dance.
GD, I have an appointment for the LE therapist for my suspected breast LE the first week of May. She is very busy.
(((ANNETTE))) I am so with you holding your hand! Prayers are up.
I have my one year mammo a week from today. I will start worrying on Monday. Trying to compartmentalize.
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Welcome, Brenilea and Melmes. As others have said, so sorry to meet under these conditions.
Annettek, can I slip into your pocket today? You can reach in and I'll hold your hand.
BarbaraA, I love it, Now I know that I can schedule my worrying. I have to rescedule an appt. with my NP, Iwas supposed to go after my bx, so when they cancelled it, I cancelled the appt. She still wants to see me as a follow-up on blood work. I would love to procrastinate, after all tomorrow is another day!
Sherryc, this one's for you!
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Thanks all you gals are great
Meece love the animation!!!!
Annette waiting for you.
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Hang in there, AnnetteK, I'm sure it is B9!! A bath is never, ever a bad idea, though.
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seyla - thank you for the ((()))
Sandee, Samsue, Grannydukes, valjean, BarbaraA and Meece - thank you for the welcome!
I feel very clear and positive about my insistence on the chemo, oncotype or no oncotype (apparently they are doing one, but I honestly do not care what the results are, I have made my choice on this). They found cells in blood vessels. they don't know if they have traveled elsewhere in other blood vessels. I WILL have chemo to kill anything in there, and I don't care what kind of a fit I have to throw at whom. Oncotypes can't predict everything, there's no way to know if there are cells in the rest of my body through the circulatory system, but cells were seen in blood vessels, and therefore I am all about preventative and proactive action.
Many women in this thread seem to be doing MX and DBMX - was this a personal choice, or doctor's suggestion? My doctor told me there was no reason to do the MX if it were solely for preventing recurrence, because there would still be breast tissue there, and that she feels lumpectomy followed by chemo/rads is my best course of action. I am wondering why others with "lighter" diagnoses (i.e. stage 1 grade 1/2 instead of grade 3) are ending up with MX. 9Which I have no problem doing if it comes down to it - just, why do some have it and others not, is that medical or personal in nature?)
I am heartened by the positivity so many women here are showing, and I believe I will have a positive outcome from all of this - but I am still scared, especially when I see people with better stats than mine having recurrent cancer. I thought for sure stage 1, grade 1, with a 90% full cure rate, wouldn't see so many return folks - so now suddenly stage 1 grade 3 sounds much scarier than it did last week.
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Melmes I think there are so many different reasons some personal, some doctors , some do not want to do rads. I had a lumpectomy with rads but ended up with nerve damage. That along with some other issues my BS is now recommending that I go back and do a MX. I figure if I am going to have to do the recuperation process I might as well do it for both. Of course that is not 100% certain as I still want to see what the PS has to say and talk to my BS again. I will not be doing it until July or August because of my rads.
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Melmes: It took most of Dec 2010 to get my MRI, ultrasound biopsies, then MRI biopsies of the areas they couldn't access on ultrasound. 5 suspicsious areas on MRI and so 5 biopsies. For a few weeks we were hoping there was "just" the lobular carcinoma. The breast surgeon spent a lot of time explaining how either a lumpectomy or mastectomy would be appropriate for a small single lesion (lobular is frequently mulifocal so mastectomy is not unusual). She said if I was a "nervous nellie" type who would always be waiting for the other shoe to drop that perhaps mastectomy was a better choice; if I could live with being on guard and good about follow-ups lumpectomy would be OK. I thought long and hard, but my natural instinct was to save my breasts so I thought I wanted a lumpectomy.
When the DCIS was found my lumpectomy option was gone....no double lumpectomies! So I was faced with unilateral or bilateral MX. For me, that was a much easier decision and I chose BMX with reconstruction. Somehow the thought of one "good" breast and one "cancer" breast was more upsetting than imagining a matched set of reconstructed breasts. At surgery I had more areas of lobular neoplasia and ADH sprinkled throughout the tissue of that same breast, but that was enough to convince me that I made the absolute best decision for me.
I am having post-surgical healing issues, but I believe that nipple sparing BMX has had a lot to do with my outlook since my surgery. I still have a long way to go with reconstruction, but I like what I see so far and I believe I'll be pleased with the final outcome.
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HI Everyone---I am faced with a decision--just hormone therapy or Chemo.?? I am single and have to work. My onc suggests chemo, but Dr. says she got it all. Chemo will improve my chances 9%. Confused and wanting some opinions. Talking to other Dr's as well. Anyone??
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Chemo will imporve your chances 9%? You have DCIS, I have IDC which is invasive plus a micromet in one node and my doctor said chemo would improve my chances 2-3%. I am confused.
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Im with you on that, I was told last Fri.--doing a bone scan thurs(because i can) My one node, out of the four that were removed) was micro---The onc. was telling me that the results(percentages) weren't accurate bcuz of the programs used on the computer aren't developed yet. SOOO, meaning that my stats are actually higher. Im waiting to hear frm my Dr. since she presented my case to the "tumor board". ? i dont really know, but im leaning towards the hormone therapy. Both my breasts are gone and in the process of stretching the skin.
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I have no idea which program they used. Its Vanderbilt and it has to be the most recent.....since its a teaching hospital, My onc has also sent the micro lymph for a "special" test and those results will be back the same time i meet her in a cpl of weeks. She also commented that it would probably put me right back where i am now, "grey" area. I believe I'll have more info by the end of this week, after talking to my Dr.--- When i was talkn to the onc--everything she was saying was "favorable" so, my confusion is why? she would recommend chemo
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