Calling all TNs
Comments
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I took BCPs from age 19 through age 27 with breaks for childbearing and nursing. I stopped 13 years before BC.
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I hadn't heard of this. I went to the original study abstract as the link didn't seem very reliable (describing TN BC as "often fatal" - uh, no!). Pretty interesting, but I wonder.... we do know triple negative tends to strike younger women, so they would tend to use OCs more - that makes a correlation, but a causal factor? Needs more study, imo.
I took OCs from age 20-30, then ages 32-33. Have been off them for 20 years!
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I am 49 and used oral contraceptives for only about 3-4 years, starting when I was about 24 years old. I also nursed both of my children for 12 months, so much for that helping to prevent breast cancer----arghhh! Also, I have never smoked and am not much of a drinker--maybe a couple of drinks a month.
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Never took birth control.
Hodgkins at 17 pretty much put me on the "no contraceptives" list.
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I took birth control for about 15 years, but hadn't been on them for about 8 or 9 years when my BC was discovered.
mtmon - welcome and glad to hear that you're almost finished treatment - June 30th will be hear fast.
kitty - glad to hear the chemo was uneventful, the others have given good advice.
Chemo brain was terrible. I was a big reader and found that I couldn't read books, but short articles in magazines and the newspaper were okay. I too play a lot of brain games, my favorite is Hidato. I saw that y'all were discussing when the blah days came, mine always came on the 3rd day and lasted for about a week (doing DD AC) on Taxol (weekly)it still came on the 3rd day, but only lasted for about 2-3 days. I stayed home from work, but if I had been working I probably would have done chemo on Wednesdays so that I could work on Monday or Tuesday during DD AC.
Hope everyone is having a good day.
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Jenn - how is your chemo brain now? Did you find the games helped? I think fatigue has something to do with the brain fog, too.
Sherri
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Dx October 2,2003 with grade 3/3 IDC 2.7 cm @ 41 yrs old.
No previous breast cancer in the family.
I elected for a lumpectomy with lymph nodes removed. Lymph nodes produced a 1.4 cm lumph nodepoisitve for carcinoma, and 1 lyymph node with suspicious micromet cells.
Margins were not clear, but Oncologist wanted me on chemo immediately due to the aggressivenesss. FEC 21 days cycle 6 x.
After 2nd cycle started on neupogen shots tokeep my Neutrophils up. Followed chemo with a re-excisoin, which produced clear margins, followed with 16 radiation treatments( no boost since I just has a re-excision). My veins are ruined in my right arm from the chemo, and apparently I have leaky veins, which makes my arm and hand puff up in warm temperatures. I highly recommend aPIC or PORT, no matter how wonderful your veins look going into chemo, I'm a poster girl for what happens to your veins on FEC.
I was never really on any birth control. I tried 3 types back in late 70's early 80's, none agreed with me. I nursed both children, had my first when I was 20, 2nd at 23. Tubal Ligation at 24 since my body didn't like BCP.
Almost 7 yrs out from Dx.
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Pamela...good luck with that last "red devil" treatment! Like my onc nurse said..just imagine that it is little red soldiers marching through your veins eating up cancer cells...well...whatever...I think I just stared at her when she said that but it did stick with me!
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kittykat, I have TN and was put on dd carboplatin and taxotere for 6 rounds. Significant shrinkage so far. I had my last treatment last week yaaaay! and dealing with some SEs but nothing bad. Sooo happy to be done and looking forward to surgery and radiation and to be done by October.
On chemo - I worked full time all throughout my treatments. I'm 41. I could've taken time off - and took it easy and worked from home sometimes the second and third day after, but my onco and bc support team at Mayo said I was young and 'healthy' enough to tolerate it so if I wanted to work, I should do whatever keeps me motivated and focused. It certainly helped me from dwelling too much. I know it's not for everyone and although chemo was tough sometimes, I wouldn't have done it differently. I even went on a few business trips. Good luck with your SE's... you'll figure out your groove pretty soon. I got a port and incredibly happy with it; esp since I had to have transfusion this last final round. Much easier!
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I've been on and off Birth control since I was 19. My obgyn told me to stop taking them, esp since I got BC again. I wonder sometimes if it contributed to my BC.
Still no SE's from chemo. I hope it stays this way.
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No birth control pills and always refused hormone replacement during perimenopause and actual menopause (which was horrible!). Go figure.
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Thanks Titan
Cannot WAIT to get to the infusion center and get this deal done! Look out Taxol, here I come! So sick of fighting this damn disease. My cancerversary was the 16th. I've been doing this crap for a year. Ugh!I took HRT for about 8 months after my hysterectomy, only because I was going to kill someone if I didnt. Serious rage issues. LOL Weird though, I always heard myself inside my head going "chill out mama"....right in the middle of a tirade, but was helpless to stop it. Sooo, I took some premarin for a few months and got through it.
I think no one knows what causes breast cancer. I think there is a lot of speculation and assumptions, but no one really knows. If we stop doing everything some scientists decide might cause breast cancer, eventually, we'll be filter feeding, getting fluids through osmosis, and living in dark rooms with air purifiers humming all around us. Their suggestions, or at least some of them, take the joy out of life, and frankly, I'd rather have a joyful short life than a long unhappy one. It's like Hodgkins. No one has ever been able to tell me why I had it, what caused it or much else about it. I've lived with that. Didn't change a thing. Bottom line is, a healthy lifestyle is good for you regardless of whether you have had BC or not. Do what is good for you, and forget the rest. I would rather concentrate on what damage the treatment has done to me and find ways to counteract/cure that. There is substantial data out there that teaches me how to recover from treatment.
I'll give to the researchers my money, tissue and time. They've got the brain to figure it out. Mines fried from chemo. A cure is out there....... but until they say "we've found the cure".....it's all a theory.
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Hi All -
Need Advice or encouragement?!
Finished last AC treatment last Friday and it has taken until this Friday to finally feel 1/4 normal! It was really hard last time - no vomiting but always sick to my stomach even when I think of it now - it is more in my brain than anything - what to do? Also, it took them 4 trys to get a vein and now I start 12 weekly Taxol's July 5th. I really truely do not want to do these. I am so tired of feeling sick and tired now that I am supposed to be getting healthy - what the heck! I know what everyone in my family says to do it but you girls have all gone through this - what to do? Should I quit? I have no energy anymore and want it back! People say T's are easier but it makes me sick to even go to the building and now even when I get in the car and my husband is driving (he takes me to all my treatments)! What to do? thanks for listening - it helps!
Kelli
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kad22 - When I was on AC, I felt nauseous even when I knew I "shouldn't". It would just come on. My onc said that AC can cause damage (temporary) to the lining of the esophagus. I think she called the condition esophagitist. Anyway, she told me to take a 14 day course of Prevacid. It worked. Good luck.
Lorrie
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kitty your gonna do grate be for you know it it will be over iv had 4 rounds every other week of the devil and Cytoxan and started the taxter only two left yes we have bad days i just try to remember ill feel better soon. i only have two taxter left i didn't think i could make it the last time this one was not as bad. we can fight this girls.
talked to surgeon yesterday gonna do a double mastectomy looking at august hoping to be able to use my tummy for new booby's find out in August Dr going on vac.
pamelojo you gonna get through this.
i never tookbirth control have 3 children had a hard time with breast feeding.
i think we are hear for one perpus gods work. he never said it would be easy i dont belive he gave us cancer. but he alows us to help others and grow stronger for the things to come.
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Kad55 - I missed the end of your message. I am 8 weeks PFC and can't believe so much time has gone by. When you are in the middle, it seems like it would never end. I did find Taxol better than AC. I was on DD Taxol so my experience might be different. The only issue I had was that the bone/muscle aches made it hard to sleep. I had some pain killers left over from my MX and I took them on those bad nights. Worked great. If it wasn't for the lack of hair, physically I wouldn't know that I had chemo a few months ago. I am pleasantly surprised at how I have bounced back.
You can do this!
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Pamelajo: You said it very well. That's a lot of what I've been thinking the last day or so. Some people confuse correlation with causation. There are many factors out there. I have no idea why the BC popped up, and choose to look forward and concentrate on the things I can control that will improve my life, without getting hung up about unproven ideas.
I think about you a lot, Pjo.
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You said it well, Pamelajo. I did live in a house on property that had a sign posted on it that said the State of CA has recognized that there are chemicals on the property which were known to cause cancer. I lived there for 19 years. I didn't eat the soil or anything, I didn't even keep a garden. Other women had lived there before me without cancer, so I think it was CA's way of CYA-ing.
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I' haven't really been able to keep up with the posts as I have been gone quite a bit lately but I just want to again thank Titan for starting this thread and to welcome all the newcomers.
Kad22: We all have to find our inner strength in this battle, don't we? I did tons of research while undergoing chemo to take my mind off of things. I found a great site breastcancerchoices.org and I do many of the things on there in addition to standard treatments. I go to the alternative threads to get help with supplements because I think they are necessary and also think that we need tons of protein while going through our treatments to help keep our energy up. Hang in there: you can do it!
Birth Control Pills: I was put on the pill when I was 14 because I had very long, incredibly painful periods and I was growing so rapidly the dr thought it would slow me down. I have been on and off of BC pills and later on HRT and I think that is the only reason I have breast cancer. I think there is a class action lawsuit against the makers of Premarin because they knew it could cause breast cancer. I also understand that the clinical trials were cancelled for HRT because all of the participants were getting cancer. Some of the natural bioidenticals don't cause cancer at all and can help with menopause. There is a great book about it: What Your Dr. Won't Tell You about Breast Cancer that is quite informative. I am still reading it. It just makes me angry, you know? All of these young, incredibly amazing women having to go through this it just seems wrong.
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Meece: Where in California did you live? I see those signs warning people about chemicals on buildings every now and then, mostly lead paint related, but it's kind of scary.0
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I've lived in Indiana my entire life. I spent the first 16 years of my life in a small town, clean water, home grown foods.......hell, I didn't have hamburger till I was 12. Farm raised chicken once a week before then and the rest of the week, veggies. We were poor. My mother and father worked at the naval base just a few short miles from our home. I work there now. Our home was approximately 7 miles from the demolition range, where the US government exploded used ordnance. Who knows what was floating through the air all those years and landing on our ground, on our fruit trees, seeping into our water sources.
When I was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma, a new treatment plan was developed. Remember this was 22 almost 23 yrs ago. Scientists came to our town and tested our water, apples from our tree's, the soil....... they found nothing that mutated cells into cancer cells.
I worked as a demolition girl on that exact same range up until a year ago. When it rains, the dirt turns green. I've seen orange toads, 6 legged skinks, bugs I've never seen and cant find reference to.......and every "dozer dog" (guys who stand on the range and direct the dozers where to dump dirt to cover explosive shots) over the last 20 years had come down with some form of cancer. Many have died. There are signs posted in every break area stating that our pipes are covered with asbestos.
Did that cause me to get breast cancer? Did it something my parents carried home on their clothing from working with explosives for years give me Hodgkins? Who knows. No one, thats the answer.
I choose to believe that it is something so simple......no one has really taken the time to look at it because it seems to stupid to throw money at. Fact: Cancer victims blood is thicker than non cancer folks. Fact: we are more acidic than those without cancer. Fact: Our bodies immune systems are damaged from something so therefore cancer cells are not killed by natural killer white cells like normal people.
I take Purple Mushroom defense (four capsules daily) to boost my production of Natural killer cells. I took the Neulasta shot after my first two A/C treatments. My WBC was 11. I didn't take it last time. My WBC was 9. Neulasta is out of my regime by my choice. I'd rather do a natural boost than take a synthetic. I also take astragulus root which is also a wbc builder. Haven't had a cold in years. I take cal-mag for the ticks i've developed from chemo. I take biotin to grow hair. I drink ginger tea to quell the nausea. I take an herbal B supplement to boost my RBC count and build healthy platlettes. I eat organic when I can. We grow our own veggies fertilized with cow manure and fish carcasses right of the farm and out of our ponds. I cook from scratch, not out of a box. I do what I can because after three go rounds with this damn disease, I do not intend to do this again. My body likes to make cancer cells......I have to fight that everyday.
When it's all said and done, I just want to be healthy. I know my body. I know when something isn't right. I also know that there is a natural way to cure most of what ails us, and when there isn't, like with chemo, I know there are ways to fix what those synthetic poisons do to us.
Hang in there girls, and dont let the why's and how's and what if's consume you. Do what you can to be happy and live healthy. This disease will be cured. We get closer all the time. I want my daughters daughters to never ever know what we went through because it's been eradicated.
God bless you all and have a wonderful weekend.
Took my last big bad treatment yesterday, so I'm on the couch catching up on DVR'd shows and eating popsicles.0 -
MJB, I lived right in the middle of an oilfield up in the San Joaquin Valley. There were oil wells a couple of hundred yards from my house.
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Kad - I did 4 DD AC with 12 weekly Taxol. I had a terrible time on AC, while I still had SE's to deal with from Taxol, it was easier than AC and I didn't have nausea with Taxol. Hang in there.....
Sugar - chemo brain is much much better. It's been six months now and I am doing better with the scattered brain feeling and the memory is getting there. My concentration still isn't where it was, but I suppose in time it will get better. There were quite a few times that I can remember where I started something like making lunch, walked away and an hour or so later made it back to the kitchen to find food on the counter and suddenly remembering what I was doing. That was awful........and funny.
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Oh, Jenn, I've done that, too! Walk into rooms and see what I started long ago. Good thing I haven't left the teakettle on the stove and burned up the bottom, or anything dangerous.
You can believe some additive or exposure caused your cancer, but since you can't do a double blind, you'll never know. The folks who come from areas where there are tested carcinogens (such as the down-winders in Utah, and some places you gals have mentioned) and there are pervasive cancers, that's different.
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Oh Kelli...I certainly know where you are coming from..just wanting to be done! It seems to take a long time while you are taking treatments....reading on these boards during treatment and hearing the others talk about being done...I just thought that I would never be in that spot..but I am...45 weeks out from the last taxol..can't believe that it has been that long..it seems like a dream now..and that WILL happen to you..I remember talking to my DH the night before a treatment..telling him that I didn't want to go...can I just quit NOW...and he would say...you are almost there..you can do it...so I did..but I sure HATED every minute of it...I just didn't want to be there and I would just run out of there when I was done...you are perfectly NORMAL...but please don't quit...we are here for you...just keep coming on here and complain to us and we will listen..it will make you feel better to get it all out....
Oh yes..I was on birth control for approx 10 years off and on (before, and between and after 2 children)...I also did that shot depoprevara I think it was called for a few years also..but I haven't been on any birth control for 10 years...and now I'm in menopause due to chemo...I guess that is OK..but going through chemo and menopause at the same certainly isn't pretty.
And Pamelajo..I really enjoy reading your posts...and thanks for serving our country! Your posts are practical..and funny. and informative...enjoy reading them.
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Oh Kelli...I certainly know where you are coming from..just wanting to be done! It seems to take a long time while you are taking treatments....reading on these boards during treatment and hearing the others talk about being done...I just thought that I would never be in that spot..but I am...45 weeks out from the last taxol..can't believe that it has been that long..it seems like a dream now..and that WILL happen to you..I remember talking to my DH the night before a treatment..telling him that I didn't want to go...can I just quit NOW...and he would say...you are almost there..you can do it...so I did..but I sure HATED every minute of it...I just didn't want to be there and I would just run out of there when I was done...you are perfectly NORMAL...but please don't quit...we are here for you...just keep coming on here and complain to us and we will listen..it will make you feel better to get it all out....
Oh yes..I was on birth control for approx 10 years off and on (before, and between and after 2 children)...I also did that shot depoprevara I think it was called for a few years also..but I haven't been on any birth control for 10 years...and now I'm in menopause due to chemo...I guess that is OK..but going through chemo and menopause at the same certainly isn't pretty.
And Pamelajo..I really enjoy reading your posts...and thanks for serving our country! Your posts are practical..and funny. and informative...enjoy reading them.
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Oh Kelli...I certainly know where you are coming from..just wanting to be done! It seems to take a long time while you are taking treatments....reading on these boards during treatment and hearing the others talk about being done...I just thought that I would never be in that spot..but I am...45 weeks out from the last taxol..can't believe that it has been that long..it seems like a dream now..and that WILL happen to you..I remember talking to my DH the night before a treatment..telling him that I didn't want to go...can I just quit NOW...and he would say...you are almost there..you can do it...so I did..but I sure HATED every minute of it...I just didn't want to be there and I would just run out of there when I was done...you are perfectly NORMAL...but please don't quit...we are here for you...just keep coming on here and complain to us and we will listen..it will make you feel better to get it all out....
Oh yes..I was on birth control for approx 10 years off and on (before, and between and after 2 children)...I also did that shot depoprevara I think it was called for a few years also..but I haven't been on any birth control for 10 years...and now I'm in menopause due to chemo...I guess that is OK..but going through chemo and menopause at the same time certainly wasn't pretty.
And Pamelajo..I really enjoy reading your posts...and thanks for serving our country! Your posts are practical..and funny. and informative...enjoy reading them.
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Welcome dragonfli and the rest of the newcomers to the tn thread...7 years out! Awesome!
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Kelli, instead of trying to make it through the next treatment, look at it as you are working to the last treatment. I almost floated into the last A/C treatment yesterday because I looked at it as my last one.....even though I have 12 wks of Taxol left. First Taxol treatment will be 1 less to have, instead of 11 more to go
It's a lame mind game but it work for me.....
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Hi ladies , I am back. You will not believe what happened to me. I was not satisfied with my doctor. After asking many times why I was feeling so short of breath and asking for an exam , (since they did not send me for an Echo or Ekg at the beginning of my AC treatment) I kept getting an aswer that it was probably my anxiety.So I decided to go for a second opinion. The new doctor ordered an Ekg and 2-D Echo and I was immediately admitted. Turns out that the shortness of breath that my first doctor discarded as anxiety, it was indeed a blood clot the size of a golf ball inside my right atrium. Caused by the mediport. I spent 10days in the hospital. Aweful. I can't believe the first doctor did not do all the baseline tests knowing the AC can damage the heart. I am just very grateful to be alive. I am grateful for the new doctor. So my message is , if you are just starting your AC chemo make sure your doctor runs the test before you start and monitors your heart. Glad to be back girls.
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