Calling all TNs
Comments
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Okay, Ron's Rum mystery solved. I called the pharacist to ask if I should take it in shot form or mix it with coke? Her response, " what can I do for you".... what a prude!" Anyway, it's a mixture that includes Mylanta, Benadryl and Lidacain (spelling?).
Odd, but it works. This along with the Biotine Toothpaste, chips during treatment, watermelon and all the other suggestions helped! Thanks,
Congrat's on making it through your first on Melissa! Sounds like you are right on par.0 -
ANNIE - Please don't leave us!!! Love your sense of humor and the wonderful way they make us feel. As many have stated, we all have different opinions, but we all have many things in common too! The perfect recipe for freindship!
TifJ - We disagreed? :-)0 -
Annie.. WTF ? Who have you offended ? Dont you dare go anywhere - we need you, you need us (whether you like it or not). Surely we are all adult enough to know we can have differing opinions - as Michelle said 'agree to disagree'. How boring if we all bloody well agreed with each other... that's just bollox.
OK - I am going back to read the other posts now.
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Annie, what? Where are you going, girl? I don't know about anyone else, but I completely get all your humors, and totally connect with you all the time. I loooove the way you write as you give me a chuckle each and every time. You are not only a great writer, but a humble one at that, joking always at your own expense. I know that you are a damn good looking, very strong woman and a great grandmother, but in your humility to make us all laugh, you don't care to even mock yourself. There are very few such good people, so I consider you an amazing person. We have all faced the worst thing ever in our lives, all our egos should be gone by now, no one is better or worse than the other. Honestly, I love all you ladies with all my heart, just because after going through this diagnosis, I know that in each of your heart of hearts, you are a more compassionate person than someone who hasn't faced death right in the face. Annie, please stay and amuse us, while we are on this journey. I hope you won't go.
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Inmate... doing all the happy dances in the world for you - what wonderful, uplifting news. Your post has brought tears to my eyes it is all we on these boards strive to hear - they are ‘relief' tears and happy tears for you. And also the paragraph about your friend. You made me realise how dismissive I may have been with some ‘friends'. Thank you for your words of wisdom.
Navymom... your late night swim sounds so tranquil and perfect.
To any I have missed - sorry and hope that you are enjoying your days with minimal SE's.
Take care everyone xx
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Inmate - your post made my day! I'm dancing some Salsa in honor of your NED! You have had a roller coaster of a journey and I can't express how happy your news made me. You are a warrior! I'm glad your friend was able to understand and overcome her fear and reconnect with you.
Doris - great advice and you reminded me of something I forgot to tell Melissa.
Melissa - some doctors (not all) give Steroids during some chemos. If you do get them you will find they give you a burst of energy, make it hard to sleep (and can make you very emotional) but the downside is that when they wear off you will feel very fatigued. Just a tip in case they do give them to you.
Mags - Amen to being "family"
Tifj - still laughing at your "fat roll" comment. Picture one old original 42DD next to her Walleyed C sister (nipple points right) over a spare tire that would work fine on a tractor-trailer!!!
NavyMom - I hope some skinny dipping was involved???
LuvRV - you have a wonderful day too!
Annie - again, please stay. (I sent you a PM). One thing I learned when I first started blogging, was that it was easy to say something that someone took offence too. It's because, with the written word, people don't get to see our facial expression, hear the tone of our voice, and also all the clues we give off when we are teasing someone. If someone is offended, they should be able to voice their hurt, and clear up any misunderstanding, without fearing the loss of their friends, One of the things I love the most about this thread is when someone voices a different opinion, because I learn something from them. When Fighter recently posted that she chose to keep her dx private, my first thought was that I did the opposite. I chose to tell everyone because I felt this would make them more comfortable as they saw me going through changes. But Fighter taught me something, and also saved me from possibly being insensitive in a similar situation. (Thank you Fighter!!!).
So no matter what, group hug and kisses, and get you bloody arse back here please, Annie.0 -
Bloody ell! I type for 5 min and somebody sneaks in. *smooches Lovely and Tazzy*
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ha ha ha - I'm a fast typist
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Jazzy- Did I get the wrong person? I thought I had mentioned that I thought we were not brave, but scared sh*tless! You then said something to the effect that you did feel brave. You then posted you were sorry if you offended anyone by your comment. I thought you meant me! Disagreement was a poor choice of words maybe just a difference of opinion. Maybe it wasn't even you! I can't remember squat!!
Kathrynn- you have me beat!! My chest looks like it's winking- one with a nipple, one without!!
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Hi ladies, I am out of town. Leg is turning black.
Annie, I am so glad they stopped your chemo. Do you have radiation next? Hope your symptoms go away soon.
Best wishes to all in treatment. Love Karen
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kathyrnn - ditto on everything you said, lovely post.
Inmate - I wish I had your strength, you are my hero. I shall dance tonight for you, in my kitchen, a very special dance.
As for Annie, yes, get your bloody arse back here, we need you!
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OBXK - black as in bruised, or black as in oh sh*t?
Tifj -LMAO! You win. *winks back* in solidarity.0 -
Here we go again, 2 secs and someone sneaks in, thank you so much Lovely. Tazzy, try typing with 2 fat thumbs on an IPhone, and we'll see how fast you are, heheheheheheeh
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Kathy
You betcha!0 -
Interested in learning HOW you all made choices for chemotherapy - I am 7 1/2 weeks post surgery - I am TNS - stage 1, feel confident the bi-lateral mastectomy "cured" me . . . but reading about how the TNS is a bad thing . . . too many stats on-line - I'd like REAL numbers on recurrence rates and detection once the boobies are gone!!! Don't want to submit to chemo unless the numbers show a strong suggestion . . . I realize that my diagnosis is a light one - stage I, etc. . . I am so lucky . . but, the diagnosis WAS cancer, and I am now FLAT (by choice) . . this IS serious stuff . . . . Any suggestions are welcome!
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kathy - point taken. I do not text as it takes me so bloody long even without fat thumbs.
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FernMF -Welcome.- I don't have any stats for you, (Paging LUVRV, she has really great info for these type of questions), but I highly recommend you read this short article on breast ca from Dana-Farber's Turning Point magazine.
http://www.dana-farber.org/Newsroom/Publications/Holding-promise--Targeted-approaches-for-breast-cancer-treatment.aspx
The key paragraph I would like you to consider is as follows: "Back then we were taught that cancer begins in the breast and spreads through the lymph nodes to the rest of the body. Now we know that this is not true. Tumors that arise in the breast my spread through the lymph nodes, but they may also spread through the blood stream, both routes, or not at all."
Based on the above info, my personal vote would be for chemo to attack any rogue cancer cells that could have traveled.
Hope this helps you with a difficult decision.0 -
FernMF...your dx sounds close to mine but I see in your post you had 1 node positive? Wouldn't that alone have drs recommend chemo? I could be wrong but worth looking into. I also am stage I but no nodes positive. They took three in surgery. I did the DMX and since am TN my BS, PS, and MO all agreed chemo should be done for any rogue cells that got free from the tumor since we don't have any other meds available to us like er+\pr+ have. I started chemo yesterday. It was tough but I feel like i am doing everything I can to kill this thing once and for all. It's a tough decision and a hard one to swallow but it is your decision. Good luck with it!
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all my research and advice from doctors said hit it with all you have cuz that IS all we have, meaning no tamoxifin or other 5 year things to keep recurrence down. If you have not already check www.tnbcfoundation.org. It is a forum dedicated to us TN gals. The facilitators are so knowledgeable about TN and you can get some stats from them.
Maggie
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Inmate happy, happy dance for you!!!! WTG!!!!
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TGIF my dear...... No, I had the right person. I was just teasing you! Yes, I agree we disagreed, but that's what makes people, well.... people. You are so awesome :-)
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TGIF my dear...... No, I had the right person. I was just teasing you! Yes, I agree we disagreed, but that's what makes people, well.... people. You are so awesome :-)
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Jazzy- I am blaming my inability to realize you were teasing on chemo brain! I blame everything on chemo brain-so ladies, if I say something stupid or don't get something, that is and will always be my excuse!! We can use that excuse forever, can't we?!!
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FernMF - Along with the on line stuff, perhaps most importantly is that your Oncologist should go though the stats with you. He/she has all the statistical data based on your age, race, etc... that will help you decide what is right for you. Basically, how much risk are you willing to take and does the improved prognosis with treatment outweigh the risk with treatment? You can then have the same discussion with another Onc. For example, in my case, chemo improved my chances for survival beyond 5 years by 11%', so there wasn't much for me to think about. Good luck with whatever you determine!
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Thanks . . . I had Breast MRI before surgery to SEE everything there was - the sentinel node was negative at surgery, but later pathology showed up a 0.83 mm IDC . . . the surgeon and his team said (yesterday) to see the oncologist, but that he didn't think we should "take more nodes" to make sure. First oncologist appt was a nightmare - the doctor misread the results as 8.3 mm and scared me greatly. Once I figured out she had not read the pathology correctly, and jumped in without thinking, I will NOT go back there. 2nd oncology appt is pending. Looking on line is a "CHOOSE" what you want to read thing . . .
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Cocker---I've been away for almost a week and haven't gone back very far in the posts, but Cocker if you leave, you'll be letting down a lot of people. Now that would be a shame for all of us! And if by chance I have offended anyone, please tell me and I'll ask for forgiveness. This CANCER seems to be forever, so we must stick together. Besides, we are all planning on having lunch at the old feller's cafe once he gets it going, and we need directions to it. Jan
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Fern - the site that Mags suggested is reliable and specific to this disease.
There is also www.cbcf.org which is the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (compliments of Tazzy)
Another is Dr. Susan Loves Research Foundation. This link should get you there.
http://www.dslrf.org/endingbc/content.asp?L2=1&L3=1&SID=3810 -
Tifj... couldn`t agree more on the chemo brain excuse.
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Ok, I'm back in after floating on the lake reading on my Kindle and ignoring the rest of the world for a couple hours! We had a little outdoor dinner party for friends last night and between cooking and cleaning, this girl was pooped out. Recovery well underway!
Now, Fern, let me tell you a story. About me. I was diagnosed with slightly ER+ stage 1 IDC in June 2010. I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy - everything looked just fine. Every oncologist I saw tried to convince me to have chemo. But I am diabetic and everything I read suggested that diabetics did very poorly on chemo. My Oncotype test (hopefully you will have this test) said I had a 30% chance of distant recurrence (mets) if I skipped chemo. In my mind, that meant there was a 70% chance that I would NOT have mets. So I passed on chemo, did Mammosite radiation, and went on Femara in August. Everything looked pretty good until January when my tumor markers started to rise. In February I developed a huge seroma that was drained in March. Cytology showed the BC was back in the same breast and it was triple negative. An MRI showed some axillary nodes also involved. And a PET/CT showed intermammary nodes along with three axillary nodes now involved. Talk about progression - the lesion on my breast was 4.6 cm!!! So, I went in for the BMX and full axillary dissection, followed by dose dense chemo Adriamycin, Cytoxan and Taxol. And I had external radiation to my chest wall, supraclavicle nodes and intermammary nodes. So that makes two rounds of radiation - I thought for sure I was done with this crap. A PET/CT scan in October showed me to be in remission. And then April rolled around and the tumor markers started to go up again. So I had another PET/CT in May and crap, now I have mets to my lungs along with some nodes scattered here and there. I'm telling you all this because statistics are nothing more than that...statistics. It really is not predictive of what will happen to YOU. If you want to check out what the statistics are for your particular situation, you can go to
http://www.lifemath.net/cancer/breastcancer/outcome/index.php
You can enter in your own information and learn what the statistics say about your own situation. You have a positive node. One thing I had said with my first diagnosis was that if I had a positive node, I would definitely do chemo. I am not looking back on the decision I made. I am just suggesting that statistics don't mean a whole lot where breast cancer is concerned. But doing chemo definitely increases your chances of beating back the beast. No guarantees, mind you, but then there are no guarantees in this life.
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*whips open closet door, whips out suitcase*
LuvRv- before I go any further with the packing, I want to ask a question? I looked up Oncotype testing here on this site and it stated it is for ER+ cases. Is that the reason they did it on you?
If not I'm packing up my suitcase, moving up with you and transferring to DF in NH, because I didn't have any Oncotype testing, nor have they ever looked at my tumor markers and I quote, "not our standard of care". (told you I was ready to scream if I hear it one more time). (To any newbies, this is a running joke between Luv and myself. We are both being treated under the same parent facility, but Luv is at an outside clinic. We are finding widely different standards of care between the two facilities. Since the only follow-up I will be
getting is a yearly mammo, I'm seriously thinking of transferring to Luv's team and facility)0
