CALLING ALL STAGE I SISTERS
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Renee...I'm so happy for you and even happier when you use the word son.
I'll be following you on FB.......
I'll be leaving for the wedding on Wednesday......also praying for a non rainy day since it will also be outdoors.
Congratulations my friend
♥
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Congrats on the wedding. And praying for good weather for you
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Renee, Countdown to the perfect evening for your daughter! Small weddings are wonderful and memorable. Hugs and prayers for you and all your family.
Sheila, time has flown and your trip is around the corner! My daughter had her wedding in Turks & Caicos...it was perfect....nobody had to do anything except pack goodie bags. Hugs and prayers for you and family, travel and weather too!
Carey...you have a strong family core and your mom will get through this. So glad to hear that she is willing to give up smoking. I did it too...though I was a social smoker.
Wren, it is really good to hear your story and how you live with your decisions....love the humor too. I know you have and will help others to find their paths.
So, I traveled upstate NY overnight...turns out my sister in law is having surgery Friday, my other sister in law broke her thigh bone (Fosamax history) and is in hospital for at least a month....my DH has a badly bruised knee and leg; and my brother jut recovered from a heart arrhythmia and diverticuitis...know what that means? I am the healthy one in the family!!!!
Go figure.....
Whenever I travel my drugs get thrown off....I forgot my feel good drug that counteracts Femara....I ate the wrong stuff and did not exercise....so today wasn't so great....and a friend's betrayal did not help.
Tomorrow will be a better day!
HUGS to all,Joan
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Wow, somehow ths thread fell off my radar and I was so many pages behind, I just skipped up to today and will try to keep track. Congrats, Mimi, on the wedding. Have an enjoyable time and soak up all the memories of the day. Thay goes for you, too, Sheila. Enjoy every minute of it.
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Renee - I am so happy for you you all will be in my prayers.
Sheila - prayers safe travels for you too.
Joan - that really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? What a great feeling to be able to say that I am the healthy one :-)
Happy Friday everyone!!
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Hi everyone!
I introduced myself in this forum on April 26 but life became such a whirlwind from there that I havent' posted since.
My chemo started on May 3, which happened to also be the day that my Grandma died. I found out about her passing about an hour before leaving for my first chemo apppointment, however she was 94 y/o had lived a full life and was very sick. It was a bittersweet moment for our family. My Mom was feeling quite torn between caring for me and her Mother. It was also a tough week for my DDs, having to find out on the Saturday that their Mommy will be going through breast cancer treatment and then finding out on Thursday that their Great-Grandmother has passed away (aka Momma to them).
I am happy to say that we have gotten through all of these hurdles. My Grandma is gone but not forgotten and I had my last chemo infusion yesterday!!!! YAY!!!! I am going to do my best to keep my SE's to a minimum, lots of water and activity. I really want to put this chemo stage behind me. I am starting radiation in August and my treatment should be done early to mid-September. I will be receiving 16 treatments with 5 boosters. Does anyone know the difference between regular treatments and the boosters??
I did notice an earlier question from April asking why my MO decided on chemo for stage 1 BC. Her explanation to me was that after entering all my cancer information into a computer software that helps determine the rate of recurrence, they found that I had a medium risk of recurrence. With that information and my age, which was 37 at the time, the MO decided that a short cycle of preventative chemo would help significantly reduce my risk of recurrence, along with radiation and hormone therapy, I believe, if I remember correctly my rate of recurrence falls to below 7%. She also went on to explain that if I were 57 chemo would probably not had been adminstered but because I was so young they wanted to be very cautious.
Well hope everything is going well for everyone! I will definitely try to come back to the forum soon, it seems to be very busy and fun!
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Rachel, it funny that you chose 57 as the age they would not do chemo for, LOL. I am 57, with a stage one Dx. LOL I did a full TCH x 6 for it. My MO was going to push for it if I hadn't agreed right away, but I , and I know this is hard to believe, WANTED it! My mom died from BC, after being told that a BMX was all she needed and I know that was not enough for me. Much love.
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Hi Moonflwr912 - I guess I wasn't very clear... my MO said that if I was 57 rather than 37, she would forego the chemo but because I am 37 she would prefer giving me a short cycle of chemo as a preventative measure. I certainly didn't pick that age out of thin air.
Sorry for the confusion.
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Rachel, welcome back! Congratulations on your last day of chemo. It sounds like you are ready to move on. I hope you are feeling well. Rads compared to chemo should be easy. The exhausting part is going so often. There is a fatigue effect for some, especially after all you have already been through.
I see you are having a shorter course of rads than is traditionally given. There are multiple choices now. The rads are given to the whole breast from multiple angles. It can also be given to the partial breast area of concern and wide margins. Rads are very quick. The boost are usually 5 or so treatments at the end; they are the same strength focused on the surgical area and margin. The logic is that most reoccurrences occur within narrow margins for primary single site BC.
It's like shining a flashlight at an angle so the light covers more area. Then for the boost, concentrating the beam on a much smaller area.
It is a good idea to join a current radiation thread for questions including skin care during and after.
Best wishes, and may you have a long wonderful life like your grandmother! She must be very special to you.
By the way, there i never good timing when it comes to BC.0 -
Oh, Rachel, I didn't blame you for picking that age, LOL. I would have had to fight for chemo if they had refused it. So either way, I am glad we both got what we needed. Joan is right, finding a RADS thread will help, doesn't mean you can't still follow this one too! LOL. Much love.
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rachel11-So gald you finished up your chemo, Just have a question about your preventative chemo since I'm at this stage where I get to decide if I want to do chemo or not and we're around the same age and our diagnosis around the same. What do you mean a short cycle? From what I understand a cycle is usually every 3 weeks and some do 4 and other do 6 cycles. Do you mean you did 4? And is Cytoxan and Taxotere less severe than other cocktails? I'm at a loss about he different cocktails and still waiting on my hormone receptors results but just wanted to hear about your experience since we're so similar.
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Mimi: Congrats on that wedding....I'm praying for no rain..we've had rain here on and off today and expect more.
I'm sure it'll be a lovely wedding and you are getting a granddaughter too!
Have a great weekend,
LaDonna
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Hi Soyaandpepper - I did have a four treatment cycle at every 3 weeks. I am not familiar with other cocktails so I am not sure if T/C is less severe than others. I know that I have heard that some people have had some severe SE's with this cocktai while others have had hardly any. My MO keeps telling me that everyone is different. They do give you a list of SE's that you may or may not experience. During my first treatment, I experienced extreme bone pain which doubled once my Neulasta kicked in, extreme fatigue, major headaches, I got a high fever which needed to be treated with antibiotics as well as having thrush. My second treatment was easie peasie compared to the first, except I experienced severe back and neck muscle pain. The third one was the second worst (so far) the fatigue lasted almost two weeks after infusion along with the muscle pain. I am just starting my SE's from treatment #4, right now the fatigue is starting to kick-in.
Not sure if I answered your question, but I hope I have helped a bit.
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@ soyaandpepper - also my chemo was preventative because even though my partial mastectomy removed all of the cancer, I had medium rate of recurrence so my MO recommended a short chemo cycle.
Oh and some other SE's that I forgot to mention above... constipation due to both Zolfran and chemo cocktail, diarrhea, numbness and tingling of the extremities, and hair loss. Nausea is also a SE which i haven't experienced it...knock on wood.
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Hi everyone... Well the day went off with a few hitches yesterday. LOL!! The worst the zipper broke in my daughter's wedding dress and 45 mins before the wedding my mom had to literally sew her into the dress and we were 10 mins late for the wedding. Go figure... I always said she'd be late for her own wedding and SHE WAS!!!! lmbo!!! it's funny now but not then.
The day was beautiful here in the park, a little windy. Luckily NO trains went by during the ceremony. Thank you Lord and there was not a drop of rain only sunshine. They made it safely to their destination for their 2 day honeymoon. LOL!!! I've never seen her look more beautiful or happy. (sorry I don't know how to make this smaller or I would)
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It's not very good quality with my phone and it was at the restaurant. The photographer took the pics at the wedding. I was so exhausted I actually forgot to use my phone to take any during the ceremony. I almost cried. Really had to hold back the tears. But I'm one happy momma now my baby is happy.
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Mimi, she looks lovely, they look happy too. I am happy you made it through the big day.
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MIMI---congrats...your daughter is beautiful.
Sheila---so you are finally goin huh!!!!gonna miss you.Have a wonderful time and a safe flight AND take lots of pics.
Joan----i guess it feels wonderful when someone calls you the healthy one....great words to hear.
Me-my AC is really slightly cool and its gonna be 100 deg.so far so good...as long as i sit in my undies im fine.just another day in the neighborhood.
as you can see im still cranky!!!!!!!!
huggggggggggs everyone.K
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mimi1964-Great pic on your daughter's wedding!
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Mimi - beautiful daughter - congratulations!
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Mimi...your daughter is beautiful. I'm so happy y'all had good weather and no train, lol
Now maybe you can rest. Congrats to all.
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Renee..As i said onFB..Congratulations what a beautiful daughter
Wishing all the hapiness to both bride & groom....♥
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Renee, I am so glad to hear that the weather was good. And she made it, in spite of the dress.....she is beautiful! I hope they have many happy, healthy years ahead.
Sheila, You're next....are you packing?
Granny (K) - glad to hear you have a plan to deal with the heat. How's the physical therapy going? If you are expecting high temps, then I will be getting the heat too.
Have a good night, everyone
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Renee - Congratulations! Hooray for some answered prayers. Love to you all.
Sheila - happy packing :-)
Whew - the heat has moved out. We need rain so so badly here now.
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We finally got some badly needed rain this past weekend....not as much as we'd like but some is better than none.
We'll be leaving Thursday to go to Norfolk to attend a military reunion. We'll visit DH's family on the way up. I'm really looking forward to seeing old friends that live in Virginia Beach from DH's active duty Navy days.
And we'll re-connect with some of DH's shipmates that used to spend lots of time in our home back in 1988. Some have been to other reunions and some will come for the first time.
One thing I do remember about Norfolk.....in July....it's hot, hot, hot......
Have a great day y'all,
LaDonna
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Mimi: Beautiful bride! You must be very proud...congratulations
Sheila: Good luck on your upcoming wedding!
Just returned from a week trip to WI so must catch up on all the reading.
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Hi Ladies.......................I have no idea what happened..................I came home from the shore, checked right away "of course" with all my BC friends, and could not find you guys , my best sisters....................I had all the other threads but this one was gone........................so I scouted around, found it, and here I am..................
So much to tell, but right now, I don't feel like talking...................the Femara has got me down, tried to keep up with the "grands, and daughters" down the shore, and it was so difficult..............aches, pains, swollen legs and feet, and I do belive neuropathy is setting in..............................problems with falling into the "gap" with my medicine, and have to go to the "generic".................can't imagine what that is going to be like, but I said "if I can't handle it anymore, I'm done, off it, and taking my chances"...............not worth giving up the QOL..............I'm not sure how many years I have left..............but I can tell yo this...............I would rahter live a few more years with Quality, then many more years...........in agony.................just not worth it..............I don't want to be remembered as the "grandmother, mother, who did nothing but bitch and moan about her aches and pains.....................so we will see.
someone did tell me to try Krill oil............it worked for her................ordered it, and we shall see.............
I did have a great time while I was down the shore............our pool water temperature got up to 90 degrees.....it was like tub water.................felt great, but of course had to be careful in the sun..............even with the pain, I still enjoyed myself.............my girls, and grandhcildren are wonderful.......don't know what I would do without them......................hugs to you all.
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mimi so happy about the wedding. Too funny about the zipper and being later even though I know she must have been horrified at the time. But now she has a good story for her own grandchildren some day.
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Absolutely Sherry we've laughed about it now... and her new hubby had to "cut" the thread to get her out of the dress on their wedding night!! LMAO!!!!
I'm sure that was fun at 4 a.m. when they arrived at the hotel. Heeheehee!!! Anyway... a good time for all. Her beautiful wedding set belonged to his great-grandmother. She didn't have one and his mom found it when she was going through some old boxes. It is beautiful!!! Ducky I hope things get better for you. I totally understand about the pain of AI's. I am now back on Tamoxifen 10mg and if the Med Onc tries to increase it I may get really angry. Unfortunately the joint pain from the Tami has come back. I am having pain in my left shoulder and elbow it really sucks and some hairloss has started up again. Guess I can't win for losing with the meds. Ugh!!!
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Ducky, Mimi, so sorry you are having pain. Much love.
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