Calling all TNs
Comments
-
Question: Anyone hear ever take their temperature and find it's quite low? Mine was very low when diagnosed and I notice I am having a hard time maintaining a normal body temperature now.
0 -
Michelle67- I don't think this sounds too ominous, but I understand your worry. I've had a few scares like this and keep having to remind myself that they are/were just being properly extra thorough due to the BC Dx. That's a good thing, even if it does put us into another scared phase.
This too shall pass.
0 -
HeidiToo: Amen to that!
0 -
I haven't come here for a few days, been really busy. Had an MRI done. Everything seems to look okay, although I am not sure, this is what it says on the MRI "extensive enhancement in the region of the prior surgery in the left breast. The enhancement presumably relates to both surgical change/fat necrosis, as the surgical margins were clear on the reexcision".
On the right breast - "an area of nonmasslike enhancement is present in the upper-outer aspect of the right breast which measures approx. 1.9 X 1.4 X 1.8 cm. The significance of this enhancement is indeterminate in view of the history of prior surgery. An intramammary lymph node is again noted in the upper-outer aspect of the right breast".
I am supposed to get authorization in the mail today, to go get diagnostic mammo and ultrasound done. I hope both enhancements are something to do with the prior surgeries. I had a really large area taken out of my left breast, and a biopsy excision in the right breast.
Does anyone know whether it is normal for post surgical scars to show as "enhancements"?
Another thing the MRI says is "no other suspicious enhancement or irregular mass is seen in either breast".
The impression says : "Postsurgical deformity of the breasts bilaterally, left greater than right, with areas of nonmasslike enhancement in both surgical beds (BI-RADS 3). Suggest correlation with bilateral mammography and breast ultrasound. If the imaging findings are consistent with postsurgical change, suggest followup breast MRI in 6 months."
What do you ladies think of this? Should I be freaking out? I feel these are just postsurgical scars showing as enhancements. What shows up as enhancements? Cancer? or can scars show up as enhancements too?
0 -
MBJ- my temp has always been low since start of chemo. I thought maybe my thermometer was not working correctly. It usually shows normal at the doctor- maybe I am just nervous there?0
-
Lovelyface: not you, you guys are going to send me into deep depression. Claim it as nothing, but push for ANSWERS.
I would say after any surgery the scar will be viewed as something abnormal by any type of x-raying device. And it said no suspicious enchancement in either breast. Call back and ask what does 'enhancement mean in your case'. Don't let it wait that's what their job is to serve patients and asking questions is apart of that.
0 -
kelben - I am so sorry you are going through this stress and worry - I will keep you in my thoughts, and hope that at the very worst, it is a local recurrence. We are here for you.
lovelyface - I'm not sure how to read that, but I think it sounds like surgical changes. But be sure to press your doctor for a full explanation of EVERY line. That's their job!
Michelle - that definitely sounds like changes associated with your sinus surgery.
Ugh this disease SUCKS!!! It takes our lives in so many more ways than just the obvious...
Welcome TexasKaren and Waves. I am so sorry you had to join us this way, but thankfully there is so much more being done now to treat mets.
I had my 9th chemo yesterday, and have to get the Neupogen shots again this week. My doctor really doesn't want me to skip a week, so she is dragging me across the finish line, so to speak. She upped the dosage this time and is giving it across 2 shots, so a little less inconvenient, but probably more pain. She did say I could take Advil, and if that doesn't work, Oxycondon.
I do plan on adopting a low-fat, anti-inflammatory diet once I'm done with chemo, as well as amping up the exercise. I was on Atkins off and on for 2 years prior to my diagnosis, and I often wonder if the high-fat contributed to my cancer. I think there is something to the idea that evening out insulin levels (through a diabetic-type diet) will reduce chance of recurrence...it can't hurt, right?
I hope everyone waiting on answers gets them quickly!
0 -
Hi guys, I've been off the boards for a few days...have finally got my treatment plan! Starting chemo on Thursday, seems strange to feel happy about that - but I need to get started on kicking this crap out of my body.
I have done a major 180 in terms of my lifestyle since given my diagnosis. Stopped smoking (cold turkey), started walking three times a week, cut caffeine by half, increased my intake of fruits and vegtables, going for only whole grains and all organic, and only dark chocolate when I'm feeling the need! I refuse to allow this cancer to cut my life short.
Please Keep Fighting This Disease!!!
0 -
Kelben- my prior surgeries/fractures all showed up on my bone scan, so please don't worry too much.
On another note, I found a sore spot on my chest and poked at it for 2 weeks and it was still sore, so saw my bs and she ordered an xray and another bone scan. Seems as tho I poked it until it really was a big sore spot!!!...found out today that the tests showed no bone cancer! But the waiting was not fun.
I also had 3 pea sized lumps on my 'breast skin' and bs biopsied it and turned out to be fat necrosis. yeah for that too!
Mary - my temp is still in the 97's....unusual for me since I run about 98.8 normally. Probably from the chemo.
Kadorazio- Good For You! That is wonderful and you are going to feel so much better! Remember to take your nausea meds pre and post...stay ahead of it
Good luck!0 -
MBJ - I've found my temperature to be low - sometimes by 2 degrees.
I thought it was weird also.
I've never thought to ask about it.
0 -
tnbc - awesome news on your results!
I have been prescribed zofran for the nausea - any other meds you recommend? I have someone going with me for my first treatment - but will likely not have someone available for every treatment - do you think this will be a problem? Hospital is about a 30 minute drive.
I already feel "healthier" and have lost 2.5 pounds despite quitting smoking (am still 25 # overweight though!). K
0 -
Hi everyone. I took my Oncs advise and stayed off of the boards for a while. About a month. I've really missed all of you and don't really see how it helped me much to stay away. No one can understand what we are going through unless they have gone through it. If one more person that does not have cancer and never has tells me to "Think Positive" I will scream! It's not that I'm not thinking positive I'm thinking realistic. I had total confidence in the last two chemos I did and my fear with this round is great. Every ache and sudden pain sends jolts of fear through me. I have two more to go and then what? Hopefully they will give me a pet scan and it will be clean. The plan is to do radiation next.
I look forward to catching up on all of the posts. My withdrawel has been great. Missed you all and hope you are all doing well. I'm looking forward to sharing laughs, jokes and of course any advise I can give any of you from past experiences. Wow! i was diagnosed last May but in some ways it feels like a life time ago.
The best thing that happened to me this week was when my grandson said 'Gramma", he used to just grunt when he wanted me to pick him up, kind of like I do when I do pick him up. LOL .
0 -
Welcome back LauraJane. How is this chemo treating you?
0 -
Hi Mitymuffin- How are you? Wow I really, really missed all of you. As far as my chemo goes when I'm feeling not so great, I just keep telling myself over and over it's not as bad as AC, not as bad as AC, not as bad as AC. LOL
0 -
Laruajane - it's so nice to hear from you again...we all missed you!
0 -
LJ-
Nice to see your smiling face again - we were all getting a little antsy as to how you were doing, happy to hear all is well (well - in as "well" as it can be under the circumstances!). And the loving first words of a grand-child - nothing can compare!
Linda
0 -
All,
Heard this report on NPR this morning and googled it. We can only hope!!
(Reuters) - British scientists have discovered a "rogue gene" which helps cancer spread around the body and say blocking it with the right kind of drugs could stop many types of the disease in their tracks.
By Kate Kelland
LONDON | Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:12pm EST
Researchers from the University of East Anglia said their findings could lead within a decade to the development of new medicines to halt a critical late stage of the disease known as metastasis, when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body.
The culprit gene, called WWP2, is an enzymic bonding agent found inside cancer cells, the researchers explained in their study, published in the journal Oncogene Monday.
It attacks and breaks down a naturally-occurring protein in the body which normally prevents cancer cells from spreading.
In tests in the laboratory, the UEA team found that by blocking WWP2, levels of the natural inhibitor protein were boosted and the cancer cells remained dormant.
Surinder Soond, who worked on the study, said it was a "novel and exciting approach to treating cancer and the spread of tumors which holds great potential."
"The challenge now is to identify a potent drug that will get inside cancer cells and destroy the activity of the rogue gene," said Andrew Chantry of UEA's school of biological sciences, who led the research.
He said this was "a difficult but not impossible task" and one that would be made easier by the better understanding of the biological processes gained in this early research.
Chantry said in a telephone interview the findings mean drugs could be developed in the next 10 years that could be used to halt the aggressive spread of many forms of cancer, including breast cancer, brain, colon and skin cancer.
If a drug was developed that deactivated WWP2, he said, conventional therapies such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy could be used on primary tumors with no risk of the disease taking hold elsewhere.
He said his team is now working with other scientists to try to design a drug which could interrupt the gene's activity.
0 -
Laurajane- welcome back! I'm glad to hear all is as well as it can be, and that you were just taking a break. I find it better if I limit my time here rather than an all out ban...some days I just focus on the TN board alone. Maybe that's the sort of thing that could help you?
Chrissy - that is exciting news!! And 10 years isn't THAT far away...I'm always thinking of my young daughter.0 -
Hi Laurajane, nice to have you back. It is so good that you are done with AC, the red devil. I hate that stuff. It did a number on my skin and fingernails.
Fighter_34, sorry for my MRI stuff. I most definitely don't want to depress you guys. I am not worried, as I am convinced it is all post-surgical stuff. I am sure it will be all fine. I don't expect this cancer shit to come back into my body. It is all out and I have clear margins by 3 cm.
I am doing what others are doing, exercising 20 - 30 minutes daily, making sure I break out a sweat. I have been eating home made food, mainly cooked vegetables with rice or chapati. Haven't eaten out in a few weeks now. I haven't lost much weight yet, but will do once my mom leaves. I will try to make a 1200 calorie diet for myself with the same kind of food I have been eating. Trying to cut sugar out of my diet. Although I was always eating healthy and exercising most of the time before cancer. This disease came anyway. I am not sure what the hell cancer is, but I know that it is unrelated to food or exercise. It is something in the environment, which our bodies were unable to fight back.
0 -
Hi Laura Jane..good to hear from you!
Today I heard that a guy that had cancer in our community recently had it come back..my dh didn't want to tell me.(like I wouldn't find out anyway)..he thought it would scare me. I just told him that I hear good and bad news on these boards every day...I'm aware of the situations..here.. I know that this crap can come back and know that alot of times it doesn't.
I think that I'm a tough bird now...yes..scared alot but now every waking moment.
0 -
Hello LJ! Good to have you chiming in again.
FWIW, I check in daily, but only to this thread and the TN weight loss one I started. That's it. Pretty much always been that way too. A quick chat and then back to facebook, yahoo news, photo editing or whatever I happen to be dinking around with.
0 -
kelben, TexasKaren, waves: You're in my thoughts and prayers. These ladies here are wonderful to support and help with their vast knowledge. Sometimes I almost feel like I come to my own team of specialists when I come here!0
-
Heidi - I'm like, you...I check in here regularly but don't spend a lot of time..just enough to know how everyone's doing. The support is great.
I do love Facebook and rarely, if ever, talk about bc on there. If anybody wants to hook up on FB, that would be great. I can give you my "real" name or get your's via PM to send a friends request.
0 -
Welcome back LauraJane! your posts were some of the first I remember reading once I finally ventured outside of the chemo board. You are always so positive and friendly. I am glad you are doing well. I agree with your doctors about taking a leave from the board. If you are able to keep yourself within the positives of the board, it is great. But the news of deaths, recurrances, etc. can be overwhelming and terrifying. I am trying to keep myself limited to the few threads that have little in the way of really bad news. I know that is a bit of denial, but if it keeps me from breaking down into tears on a nightly basis, then that is what I need to do. As much as I enjoy many of the women here and find the information invaluable, I really hope that I soon get to teh point of not thinking about this every day. Although that seems impossible right now.
0 -
Laurjane: So glad to see your smiling face! You have been missed here. We just have to believe that the surgeries, the chemo, the radiation, the food, the excercise--all of it is going to help us live a long, healthy life. I think in a way there is power in facing your own death--it has forced me to take a good, long look at myself, my life, what's really important and I am making better choices because of having had cancer. I cannot imagine spending all day every day living in fear because I don't think that's living at all! Congratulations on being almost done with chemo and hearing your grandchild call you by name--Nothing better then that!
TNBCRuth: How nice to see your new avatar! Glad to hear your tests were all clear.
Lovelyface: I agree that it's probably just past surgeries showing up--but ask!
0 -
Welcome back Laurajane. Great to see you here again.
0 -
I spend way too much time on these boards and I am trying to wean my way off but then I miss you all and it's so hard to catch up and then here I am again, lol!
0 -
Welcome back Laurajane! I'm glad everything is going well for you! I'm glad you have the will power to stay away from these boards! LOL!
kelben - please keep us posted on your results. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you have a local recurrence that can be zapped with chemo. By the way, I had a bilateral mastectomy & recon and had rads after that. No issues other than looking tan on one side. Good luck!!!
I need to get out and exercise. I found these red velvet cookies at the grocery store. OMG! They are so yummy. I am going to have to stay away from them!!!! I need to reduce my sugar intake, but it's hard!!!!! Do you guys think that fruit is okay???
0 -
Thanks so much MBJ and Heidi and Lovely...and all you great women. It's so nice to have others really understand the worry of the waits and those two selves - the logical one and the one that wants to keep you up all night imagining the worst. I picure the angel/devil on each shoulder, like an old Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry cartoon! I wanna duct tape the devil's mouth
I am going to ask for some Ativan. So far, I've made it through the last two months since first dx with one Valium, so I can't shut that scary voice up as well as I might with some pharmaceutical assistance.
Does Ativan take a while to build up in your system and provide relief?
LauraJane: You don't know me, but I was following your posts when I was waiting for a dx and in the very first days after. I've missed your positive posts and am glad you peeked in to say hi. I hope you're feeling good and get that all clear asap.
Snowing like crazy (again!) today, so I may not get my MRI tonight at 6pm after all. *grrr* For exercise and frustration relief, I should install a punching bag - like boxers use - double benefit, right?
0 -
Michelle- Ativan works right away. I always take 2 when I need it. It helps me fall asleep, but doesn't keep me asleep all night. It works at least long enough to get a few hours good sleep which is probably more than your getting right now! Good thoughts to you on your MRI!!!
Tiffany
0
