CALLING ALL STAGE I SISTERS
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Welcome CTMom. I hope you will find lots of strength here, these ladies are so strong & are always here with open arms. I have read about Rads face down, it is very good for keeping the rads away from the heart & lung.
Charmaine ~ I had quite a burn from Rads as well. I continued to use Silvadene & Aloe Vera lotion (in fact, I still use that on the affected breast to this day) & everything healed up pretty quickly. In fact, I finished Rads on a Thursday & the next week I made a 7 hour trip to my DD's to spend my granddaughter's 2nd birthday with her. I just plain did not clean too much & had my DH vacuum for me! You are doing well, you are strong.
Barb ~ My oncotype dx score was 14, so I only had Rads & am on Aromasin. I think if I had wanted to do chemo, my Onc would have gone with it. I would check with your ins. co. to see if they cover chemo when you have rec'd a low oncotype score. Never hurts to ask, I always say.
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Welcome Charmaine... I healed up pretty quick from rads. It took about a week after I completed it. And by the end of 2 weeks my skin wasn't even red anymore. But it varies with everyone.
Renee
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Valerie...you were smart about the cleaning part.
This is what happened to me about 2 weeks after finishing radiation. I decided the floor needed a good scrubbing. I sat on the floor trying not to use the right arm too much I scrubbed every square of the kitchen and the dining room. That night my ribs were killing me couldn't even take a deep breath, next day I went to my radiology oncologist he was very concern sent me for an xray.
Thank God nothing was broken. But I learned my lesson.
Sometimes when you start feeling better you think everything is healed and you are the same person you were before treatments.
THE END
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Renee...how is your father/
Sheila
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Valjean - I had a Px for Silverdiazine Cream but was really reacting to it and previous to that the doc gave me a prescription to a cortisone cream and I thought I was reacting to that so I stopped and that is when he gave me a prescription to the Silver Cream. I have since stopped using the Silver Cream and gone back to using the cortisone cream to parts of the breast that are still a bit light reddish and stopped on the area of underarm that is now gone brownish and looks at though it will soon be peeling... am using mostly 98% Aloe on the underarm now and some other areas of the breast...
Thank you so much for the welcome!
Charmaine
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Renee thank you also so much for the welcome!
Charmaine
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Thanks for the Welcomes! I've been regularly posting on the MAR RAD board for the past 6 weeks and am glad I just found this group, too.
As far as the rads face down thing. I'd first read about it on the Sloan-Kettering site (although I go elsewhere, S-K's site has lots of interesting info.). My rad.onco. was very flexible when I asked about it and we didn't see any downside to being face down (ha ha).
"Radiation delivered in the prone position, in which the patient lies on her stomach instead of her back, and radiation is directed to the affected breast as it hangs through an opening in a special table. This approach reduces radiation exposure to nearby vital organs such as the heart and lungs."
I like this position, it seems safer and it's more private, and definitely worth asking about if your place offers it. When I start my boosts next week, I will for the first time be on my back, so right now I'm sporting sharpie markings covered by stickers both of my back and my front (no tats).
Have a healthy and happy weekend!
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Hello everyone I just turned 30 and was diagnosed with breast cancer on 11/16/2009 and I had a bilateral mastectomy on 01/7/2010 and began chemo on 2/16/2010. I am glad I joined.
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Welcome Tiffany....I'm glad you joined us to but not happy you have to join us at such a young age. I have a Daughter who will turn 30 this August.
We are here to answer any questions you might have or if you need to vent please feel free to do so. How many weeks of chemo you have left?
I hope your SE are minimal and soon you will feel like almost yourself again.
(((HUGS))))
Sheila
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CTMOM...that makes so much sense to me to be in the prone position...Before I was given rads I even asked my Rad Doc why they didn't do it that way....She seemed dumbfounded at my question and made me feel stupid for asking that!!!..She was really into selling her exceptional "Trilogy System" which delivers rads by the IMRT method.....Now, to find out that it is actually an option makes me crazy since I would have hunted that treatment of rads down because it does make sense!!!...I had left side and will always worry about damage to my heart and lungs...I also was allergic to tape so they used permanent markers on me with big black X's, at my final boosts days, they actually painted black paint on me which I had a bad reaction to and still trying to heal from....0
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Hi everyone!! I'm stage one also. Had mastectomy Jan 09. Finished 6 treatments of chemo w/herceptin. My heart function went down to 35%. They stopped everything. Seven months later my heart still hasn't recovered and I still need 6 more treatments of herceptin. Has anyone else had this trouble? Is more herceptin worth the risk to my heart? This is overwhelming.
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seyla888 (Sheila) - my dad made it through surgery and is recovering well - they had to go in and remove an arterial venous fistula from behind his right eye area. It is very rare and was causing blood vessels to burst. Thats the short version. His head and face is swollen today. They repeated his angiogram today to make sure they got all the fistual and they did. It will take 2 months for him to recover. He is stable right now but still in Neuro Intensivecare. :=) If he continues to progress they may move him to stepdown tonight.
murl653 - you were asking about the damage to your heart... I had chemo over 27 yrs ago and never had any test done to find out about heart damage, but I recently had an echo done I the bottom 1/2 of my heart isn't pumping at full capacity. I am only 46 and have never had a heart attack, etc or any heart disease and don't have high blood pressure, so the only logical answer is that it was caused from "chemo" all those yrs ago. The entire reason she did the echo was because my legs have swollen for the last 20 + yrs and my other doctor just gave me lasix for it without a test. Anyway she isn't going to do anything about it for now. Leave it alone and watch it. Hope it works out for you murl.
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Welcome to all the ladies who are new here. Boy, I step away from the boards for a couple of days, and they go wild. Usually the weekends are not as active.
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Hi murl.... I took Herceptin for one year weekly, in 6 months it was dropped just a little bit.
But still was considered in normal range. Do you know the numbers when you first started? Usually it will reverse itself when you stop the Herceptin. Keep us posted.
Sheila
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Thank you, Shiela. When I first started my heart function was at 60%. It was the herceptin that causes it to go down - only happens to 2% of patients. When my heart does recover a little more I have to make the decision whether to take the six more treatments of herceptin. Do I really need them? I was stage 1 and no lymph nodes. Do I want to take the chance of the herceptin doing more damage to my heart? I would like to have everyone's opinion on this. Thank you.
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Hi
How is everybody?
murl....I don't think you can get Herceptin if your numbers remain low.
I was checking my journal last night I also started with 60% 6 months later it went down to 57%.
I was given Herceptin weekly for 52 weeks.
After that I didn't have any more muga test.
Sheila
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Hi, Shelia. I'm good physically but dealing with domestic issues... it never ends. I'm thinking about a vacation from my family but first I have a CPA exam to pass. Hmmm, maybe I could do that on my vacation...
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Hi AStorm....you know what I know exactly what you are saying. At some point in our lives I'm sure we needed a vacation from everything. Domestic issues are emotionally draining.
For me it was such a long time ago its in the past.
Are you still watching AI?
Hugs
Sheila
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Hi Gail,
I'm a CPA as well. Are you taking the exam in May? I hope your domestic issues are resolved soon!
Jennifer
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Jennifer -- I'm not a CPA yet... went back to school a few years ago but then HD got laid off right after I got my degree and I had to work lots of OT, then got dx and dealing with that. Things have slowed down a bit so I'm taking my 1st exam at the end of April (we have 4 exams here). MIL says teen drama resolves itself in time but I don't think she remembers those years! Anyway, you probably do remember studying for the exam ... I wish I had done this before kids.
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Gail - Just to encourage you...I went back to school to finish my degree when my boys were 1 and 2 1/2, then took the CPA exam when they were 3 and 4 1/2. It can be done, but it's definitely not easy. Hang in there!
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Thanks, Carolina. I think being a mom builds confidence! I got straight-A's the whole time I was in school when I went back and I am really motivated to pass the exams. Yesterday I went virtual shopping for a virtual executive tour bus. I found the perfect one and while DH and DD were yelling at each other last night I proceeded to "escape" in my virtual bus to study.
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Hello,
I just found this site when I was looking for info on recovering from TE surgery. Great way to connect with other ladies. So, decided to post today.
I am stage 1, Dx in October, 2009. Had lumpectomy in Nov, didn't have clean margins. Decided to have prophylactic bilateral...in Jan, 2010. PS could not do TE so just had that surgery April 7th. Had Brac 1 test, came back negative, had Onco score of 14, so did not rec chemo. E +, P-, Her2nu -, post menopause. Started taking Femara 2 mths ago with no side effects.
Have supportive family--husband, 2 sons 21 and 18. No extended family close by but have great friends. Have attended local breast cancer support group but many woman have much worse DX. Made me feel bad to complain....
Hope to get support here.
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welcome goodvibesonly. Much worse DX doesn't matter when talking about yourself. You're recovering from cancer and complaints are what we are about! This is a great thread and feel free to be crazy happy or deeply sad; we all are right there with ya. Joni
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I'm new here so bear with me. What is dx? I do have some GREAT news. Had my first mammogram today since my mastectomy in Jan 09. The other one is fine!
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Murl...Thank god for good news.
DX means Diagnosis.
There is a thread called Abbreviation for Newbies-Updated. You can find all the definitions there. Good Luck.
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goodvibesonly....We have all the right to complaint.
Welcome....Our BC is as real as someone else's in a different stage..
We are here to comfort and support each other no matter what.
Please feel free to say anything in your mind .
Sheila
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Joni--thank so much. It is good to share experiences and worries with other woman who are going through the same thing. Wish I looked into this back when I was first dx in October. Oh, well, better late than never.
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Welcome Goodvibesonly. This has been a very comforting place for me. It's so nice to talk to people who really know what you are going though! I hope you find comfort here.
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Welcome murl & such great news on the clear mamm!! YAY!
And a welcome to goodvibesonly! We send out only good vibes here but we are always here when the vibes get low, & then we get out the brooms & sweep them out the door.
Feel free, both of you, to discuss or vent on ANY subject at ANY time. We are here to help hold each other up when needed & to comfort each other. We are also here to laugh & have a good time to keep our sanity intact. Sometimes that is all it takes.
{{hugs}}
Valerie
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