thread for middle age to older Christian women.
Comments
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It might be good for you to try going off all of the supplements and then slowly begin adding them back one at a time to see if that particular one bothers you. I have never gone off the D3, but I did quit the magnesium and fish oil for a while until I determined it was the magnesium that was bothering me. Sometimes if I take the fish oil without food, it will nauseate me. My digestive system was never this sensitive to medications and foods prior to treatment for BC. Grrrrr.
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Dear Rocket,
Thanks for your reply, I read about it and just wanted to check...My chemo starts on 25th, planning not to take any supplements...6 months seem like an awful long time...pls pray for strength and endurance..
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Hi, snrise,
I had six months of chemo and finished on Feb. 1. I had weekly infusions and a daily Cytoxin pill. I never threw up and I didn't lose the hair on my head, just everywhere else! I drank tons of water. I was nauseous but not all the time and it was bearable. I was given Zofran with infusion. I also had Compazine at home, which helps some people. I was tired but I expected that. I made it through, with God's ever present help, and I know you will, too. The ladies here encouraged me and prayed for me and it will be a privilege to do that for you, too!0 -
Dear Jeannie57,
Wow..I am so happy to read your reply, it helps me a lot to hear from somebody who thru the same experience..Thank you! Great to hear about your hair too..My onc has ordered Zofran and Ativan (both pills) and I do not know if they'll give me an antinausea med thru IV prior to chemo...I will know it soon..had an appointment with physical therapist today for arm movements..she gave me a pulley to do bunch of exercises @ home...
Thanks a lot for your prayers...I am honestly surviving each day just by the LORD's Grace...Its amazing to have a Christian website like this, we know there is a special bond because we are all connected by the love of GOD...
Take care my sister, have a wonderful day!
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JO-5, as I read through all the posts I also thought that maybe it would be a good idea for you to stop the supplements. After awhile you don't know which is the culprit. Perhaps stop for awhile, let your body recover from the med onslaught and then introduce them back if needed. You are eating well so you may not even need some of them as there are nutritionists who way we need to get our vitamins from food sources as much as possible.
snrise, yes, you will be well prayed over during this journey.
Hi Rocket, Kindergarten, Mini1, Jeannie57, bestock and anyone else browsing through.
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snrise, just to clarify, the Zofran was given to me just before infusion in pill form, not iv.
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Dearest Snrise!!! I will pray for you daily, Our Lord is Our Refuge and Strength!!! I am so glad that you joined us here on this wonderful thread! By this time next year, you will will be the role model for others and giving much needed advice, support and encouragement. God bless you!!!!
Hi, Patoo, hope you are doing well.
Jo-5 I quit using vitamin supplements, except Vitamin D, over 6 months ago. When my tumor markers went up, I decided not to consume anything over the counter. At my next blood work up, tumor markers came down considerably and I have actually felt better since quitting the supplements. I use more cinnamon, tumeric and apple cider vinegar, and I follow the Weight Watchers Program, more fruits and veggies. I hope you continue to feel better. God bless you, Kathy
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I need your prayers my sisters. CT scan Monday. Looking for liver mets. Pray the test is clear and no other serious issues are found.
Since I've had stomach issues, I've not been able to take fish oil. It kills my stomach. I take ubiquinol now. It's a more easily digestable form of Co-Q10. I can take it with no problem. It takes your stomach at least 6-12 months to heal, but if you continue to eat irritants it may feel better, but it won't heal. If I were to eliminate anyting from my diet it would be gluten. It was like night and day for me. I still had to be careful and go slow, but it is amazing how much of a difference it made.
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Snrise and Mini, I am praying for you. I am praying for all of you dear sisters. I'm so thankful we all have each other for support, prayer and fellowship. I would feel so alone without you ladies.
I went to my LE water class today and met several other ladies - all older than me. They were very warm and welcoming. Three were breast cancer survivors and the rest had fibromyalgia or other conditions. It felt good to get in the pool again, but tonight my hand, arm and foot are throbbing. I did have fun though.0 -
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Dear Rocket and Kindergarten--
Thanks so much for praying for me...
Meditating on Isaiah 26:3 this morning..."You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stedfast because they trust in you".
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Psalm 100:5 "For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever."
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Thanks, Patoo!
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Dear Mini1, praying for a clear scan. Please keep us posted.
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It's mainly because my Alkaline Phoshatase levels have continued to rise (over the last 9 months) and are now double what they should be. Also, I have a low white count and my sugar levels are off again. I have some pain, but nothing unbearable, and some nausea. I don't feel good, but I've felt much worse. I don't want it to be anything, but my gut (no pun intended) tells me it's my pancreas not my liver. My bone scan was clear, so it's not my bones and my gall bladder appears to be clear.The CT scan should show anything in either my pancreas or my liver.
On the plus side. I found an awesome Christian nutrishionist that is right here my town. She is very knowledgable and she sees doing it as a ministry. Everyone else has been 80-100+ miles away. What an answer to prayer!
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Hi snrise,
I'm not sure if I've greeted you here yet. If I have forgive me for repeating myself! I'm so thankful for these ladies here and I can see you will be too. I take curcumin but it's like Rocket said...you shouldn't take anything during chemo which I didn't learn until I was almost through chemo.
I have been forgetting to take my supplements lately. I haven't done that since my last surgery.
I did much better than I expected on chemo. It wasn't easy but not nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be. I homeschooled my twin sons. They took classes one day a week about an hour from our home. I wanted to get treatment on Mondays thinking they would be at class on my worst day and not have to see that but my most difficult day was usually on Wednesdays. Then due to all the holidays they changed mine to Tuesday. I was so stressed because my sons would often stay up all night cramming for tests and I had told them if they did that I was driving them. One week I did and slept in the car while they were in class! Then when they changed it to Tuesday it would be so stressed knowing I was an hour and a half from them and they were often driving with little sleep. That was one of the hardest parts of my treatment as my husband was out of the country and it was just me and the boys. My mom did come and help but she couldn't drive there without getting lost.
But with all that I never missed a Sunday at church and I had to get up at 5:30 because it was also an hour away and my sons played on the worship team. Some Sundays I would sleep during the second service (in the car - not the service-lol) It was a crazy year. Church was an hour north, classes an hour south and I had my last radiation treatment the day before their graduation. I found out the day before open house for the classes! God was so good to get us through as He did.
I'll be praying for you as you go through this journey and so thankful you came here.
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Mini, I will sure be praying for your scan on Monday. That is wonderful about finding the nutrionist! I know how nice it is to have something close. We drive to about everything but I also know if we lived in Atlanta we could easily drive an hour to go from one side of town to the other depending on the day and time!
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Hope everyone and your families are doing well. Bestock and Kindergarten I continue to pray for your children's families. I hope things are still going well with yours Kindergarten and improving with yours Bestock.
Rocket, I hope your pain is better.
Jo5, I hope you are feeling better.
Patoo, I love seeing the scripture you so often share. Hope all is well with you.
My heart is so heavy for the families impacted by the bombing in Boston this week. I'm so thankful they captured the young man involved tonight but my heart is so heavy for him too. He is so young. It is such an evil act he has done but I keep thinking how sad to be so lost. I prayed today for God to have the mercy for this young man that He had for Saul. I would hope that if one of my sons heart ever became so hardened that someone, if not many, would pray for his soul. I was so thankful he was still alive and pray that someone will share the gospel with him. I also pray that all impacted by this would be drawn to Christ and grow in their faith if they know Him and come to know Him as Lord if they don't.
Love all you ladies and keeping you in prayer.
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@mini1, I don't know if a rising Alkaline Phosphatase level means anything at all regarding mets. I have liver mets, confirmed by biopsy. I had monthly hepatic panels during chemo and have had a few since then to monitor the mets (the biopsy was only a month or so I finished CMF) and my alkaline phosphate level fluctuated all over place. It has not showed any continuous trend in either direction, and as far as I can tell the liver mets are completely asymptomatic. I hope this difference in our readings and the fact that you do have some symptoms means you have something different than I do, i.e. no mets.
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Mini, I had increased Alk phos levels too and no liver mets. My onc said that Arimidex can raise the level in some people. I am praying that you also have increased levels for the same reason and not mets.
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I forgot to add that if your Alk phos is the only liver panel value that is increased, it would be more suggestive of bone mets and not liver mets, and you had a clear bone scan.
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Hi, Curveball,
I live in Western WA, too, and had CMF. Are you going to SCCA?
How did they discover the liver mets? Blood work?
Praying for you, for comfort, strength, faith.
Hugs,
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Hi, Mini!!! I just had my blood work done and my ALK has been consistently high , ever since I ended chemo over nine years ago. No doctor has been that concerned since the levels were not over the top. However, my new PCP wants to check now for parathyroidism and was so surprised that I have never been checked before, for that. I guess it also relates to my low Vitamin D levels. We shall see. I hope everything works out great for you. Thank goodness we can come here for prayers and support.
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Thank you everone. I'm just praying he's being an alarmist and it's an anomaly instead. I don't take Arimidex, and I do take Vitamin D. I'd be fine if I didn't have to eat. I'm still waiting for that pill they took on the Jetsons. :-) Anyway, all I can do is put in God's hands. Say an extra prayer that I can keep that stupid stuff down you have to take for the test. I'm not good at drinking stuff. Blech.
Blessings everyone
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@Rocket, that's interesting about Arimidex. I started taking anastrozole (generic Arimidex) when I finished chemo mid-January. My all-time low Alk Phos level was Jan 29; the one after that was higher, and the most recent one higher still. It will be interesting to see if it keeps going up (assuming the anastrozole is working and I stay on it) and reassuring to know that med can have such an effect.
@Jeannie57, I am in Group Health, but I've been approved for a consult at SCCA and will be seeing one of the doctors there in May. The liver mets were discovered sort of by accident. If you have seen the thread about "Lumpy Chain Under my Arm" I had something similar last fall, and the mets were discovered in an ultrasound to check out the "chain". Then I had a CT scan and finally a tagged red blood cell scan, but neither of those were conclusive so after that was a biopsy. But the mets were also visible on the angiogram I had as part of my pre-surgical workup for DIEP reconstruction (which is now on hold) which was done later the same month. So even if I hadn't had the lumpy chain, they would have been found as a result of the angiogram.
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Curveball, I did not know that You had liver mets.... I have liver mets too. started weekly abraxene on March 7th. Missed a chemo because of low counts.
I feel pretty good most of the time. I was just wondering if you still had mets after chemo and if they shrunk.., or if you are on a chemo right now. I am just wanting to know If I can possibly reach the point that I can do something else besides Cehmo.
the Mets were found by PET and biopsy,as well... first clue was rising Ca-27-29. How high did your CA-27-29 go. I first found it at 67 January then by the time I had tests etc it was 132, then 119, I should have a test in a week or so..
I am trusting The Lord to carry me, and I know He will you as well.
FONDAK my son's marriage is still bad, they live separately and co-parent, but they are not looking for their own faults but only their spouse's...they had 2 yrs of counselling at a great Christ-centered church, but no real change. I hurt for my granddaughter..Keep praying and thanks for asking..I liked reading your story The Lord has been with you and ALL of us..
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@bestock, my liver mets were found about five months in to a six-month chemotherapy course. They weren't actually identified as mets until a month or six weeks after that, but they were definitely there. I suspect they were there already at my original dx in March 2012, but they weren't causing any symptoms so they didn't get found. I only had one scan at the time of my original diagnosis, a breast MRI, and unless the original radiologist missed something, the liver mets aren't visible on that. So I have no idea whether they grew, shrank, or just sat there during chemo. I'm going to ask for a radiologist at SCCA to take another look at that MRI to see if they can see the mets at all on it. I never had any tumor marker tests until after the mets were diagnosed, and since then one marker (CA 15-3) has gone down, and the other (CEA) has gone up. I think I will see if I can have a third set run before my consult at SCCA. I have a CT scan scheduled for May 8 and then I will know how the mets are responding to current treatment, and also if either of the markers matches the scan and can be used to monitor how the treatment is working. Right now I am not doing any chemo, but hormonal tx with anastrozole, and will continue that for as long as it works. Did you have anti-hormonals as part of your original treatment in 2006? I am also looking into the possibility of surgical removal of mets or zapping them with RFA or chemoablation. So far the liver mets are the only two I have. They make me feel like I am the terrorists' hostage wearing a vest filled with explosives--I want them gone before they blow up!
After the biopsy, my oncologist requested a PET scan for me, but it got denied. That's currently under appeal, but I've decided if the appeal gets turned down I will pay for it myself. I want to know if surgery is an option or not (it isn't if there are any other mets) and the only full-body scan I've had since dx is a bone scan, which wouldn't show if I had mets in some other organ, outside the area covered by the scan done to look at my liver. I also had an appointment last week with a plastic surgeon. What was to have been my pre-surgical appointment for DIEP on April 29 turned into "what are my reconstruction options now that I'm stage IV?" Clever PS suggests, even if the PET scan is not covered as part of cancer treatment it might be as part of a pre-surgical workup for liver mets removal, so I will ask my onc if any of the appeals have come at it from that angle. I definitely want to look into the surgical/RFA/chemoablation options.
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I did take arimidex too,
I did not have chemo just lumpectomy 06 and bilateral masct. in 08. According to one test my cancer was only 10% chance of returning in 10 years. WELL...I also I had Ovarian cancer stage 4 in 2003, and had a lot of chemo and debulking surgery.(no recurrances of that PTL) I had been so tired of chemo..drs. agreed I did not need it with low stage, grade BC. I have a lot of mets(in liver) It is serious, but I keep on trusting.. I hope I can get a clear scan after the chemo is over and go on something milder. I do not know much about Surgical RFA Chemoablation??? God Bless you.0 -
@bestock, I don't know much about chemoembolization or RFA either. In fact, I don't even know if they are available under my current coverage. I'm still checking out all my options. I also want to go back and read the chapters in Anti-Cancer about chronic inflammation and cancer. IIRC, wound healing and inflammation are two sides of the same coin and use some of the same biochemical pathways, and it's when these pathways go awry that cancer develops. So I have been wondering, is creating a big need for wound healing (with abdominal surgery) and activating those pathways something I really want to do?
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