August 2010...anyone starting chemo besides me?!
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Lizzy- Yup. I get Charlie horses often. Sucks. Did you try that lip stuff I told you about, it was very soothing if nothing else. Take care.
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Good morining Sabes!
Well, I'm still shaking from a phone call that came in a litle while ago. I was just being awoken by my sweet little puppy, Minco (who is actually eight months old, but still acts like she's two months!). She wakes my up by coming into my room and putting her paws up on the side of the bed right by my face and gives me a thousand sweet little kisses all over my face. It's a nice way to wake up. Anyway, I heard my cell phone ring from another room, and decided not to jump up and run to catch it. So when I got to it, there was a message from "Private". Of course it was my doctor's office saying they had some results to give me. That's when I started to shake. You may remember that I saw my GP yesterday about all the symptoms I've been having and about the liver enzymes that were elevated according to labs my psychiatrist did last week. (And Lizzy I am right with you on there needing to be an "after chemo doctor" who happens to know something about the shit we go through after chemo. My onc also became very dismissive when chemo ended.) So I couldn't call back right away. I needed to be more awake. I took the dogs outside, took a shower, and had a cup of coffee while staring at the old lab report. Finally I got up the courage to call the doc's office back. The first nurse I talked to, when I told her who I was, started looking for my report, then said, "Okay I found it. Um, Can you hold on for just a minute?" Sure. The next nurse came on the line and said, "Whitney. We got your x-rays back, and they're clear. There's no pneumonia." Now, that might sound like nothing, a little good news. But THEY HAD GIVEN ME THOSE RESULTS YESTERDAY! I am waiting on the lab results, which will indicate whether there really is something going on in my liver that needs to be explored! THAT"S what I'm waiting on. So I'm trembling, and more nervous than ever all becuase they called to give me news I already knew! What a way to start the day!
It seems like we're all going through the same pain-in-the-ass thing. All kinds of stuff wrong with us, weird things happening to our bodies, and doctors that either don't care about what's going on because it's not clinically interesting anymore, or don't understand how devastating their precious chemo is. Maybe I sound a little over-rought, but come on! I have liver enzyme tests indicating that something is going on in my liver; I have symptoms that very closely match the symptoms of liver mets, and I can't get any of my doctors to draw a liver panel to check it out! And in the meantime, I'm scared to death, partly because I am pretty darn educated when it comes to the body and medicine. No, I don't think I know more than my doctors do, but I know what liver enzyme tests mean; I know what the specific symtoms of breast CA mets to the liver are, and I also know what symptoms call for further testing! I'm spent! It doesn't make sense.
Anyway thus ends my rant for the day. (Well, more might come later. I can't promise anything.:)
Lizzy, I'm so glad you seem to have figured out what's causing all the dry skin and cramps and charlie horses, etc. I feel very relieved, and I'm sure you do too. By the way, you're right that AI's are used more often than Tamox for post-menopausal women, but I just want to mention that Tamox is used too. There can be a variety of medical reasons for this, but of course, having a dismissive oncologist can be a reason too!
Another thing, you're scaring me a little when you say you're drinking that much water and nothing else. You could really be hurting yourself by doing that. Not that water's not good for you, of course, but too much water can dilute your circulatory system so that the concentration of electrolytes in your blood will drop relative to the concentration of electrolytes in the cells. This can cause hyponatremia and/or hypokalemia, which essentially means that all the water you're excreting through your kidneys is taking with it vital stores of sodium and potassium. Sorry to go on if you already know all this, but it's very dangerous, because it can disrupt the electrical signals that your muscles and your neurological system need. When this happens your body tries to find a balance between the two, and water will seep into your cells from your blood, cause your cells to swell. Eventually, this sweeling affects your brain causing elevated intracranial pressure. Okay, Okay, I'll stop.
Except for one last thing. Hyponatremia (low sodium levels) can also cause musle cramping. Nope, one more thing, and I don't mean to sound lecturey here, but drinking more water than your body needs also increases your total blood volume which puts extra strain on your circulatory system, including your heart and blood vessels, and also on your kidneys because they then have to work harder which can cause damage to the capillary beds that are responsible for filtering fluids through the kidneys.
Sorry folks. When I get started talking about physiology stuff I can't stop myself. The point, Lizzy, is please don't just drink water. Drink Gatorade or Pedialyte. That's all.
Lizzy, I shouldn't have said that you were frustrating me. I was just trying to get across how strongly I felt that it's important for you to share your stuff, feelings and all, with us. I understand you and Tex, when you say you don't feel comfortable being that open, but I hope you both will try, because it helps. And we want to know that you are getting all the benefits of this group that the rest of us are. Of course I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but neither do I want for you to hold back just because you are our leader. We can take it! And think for a moment. Hasn't it actually done you some good lately to share your frustration and your fears with us?
Okay folks, I gotta go, and I hope I haven't frustrated you all with my rambling!
Have a godd day, everyone. I love you all!
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Good morning, warriors!
Omaz got me investigating last night and realized some things about tamox. Since I started tamox I have been getting hate letters from the mail order pharmacy prescription drug coverage I have about filling with them instead of the local pharmacy. Obviously this mail order business on drugs is heavily tilted in favor of the house and they can maximize their margins. About 4 months ago I gave in and got it through them. I just reordered therefore I had been on it 90 days, which is about how long tamox takes to come up in our systems. It turns out there are a number of different companies manufacturing tamox because of the enormous market. What's more is the allergic reactions many of us have are due to "filling" agents used in manufacturing. My sense is I am getting the cheapest crap on the market through the mail order jokers and that could certainly be why, over these past few weeks, all of this stuff I am going through has reached critical mass because I just crossed the 3 month mark about 2 weeks ago. I read on these boards something about "Nolvalex" but have yet to do more research. I don't think I am allergic to tamox but rather this brand of tamox because I was fine for the first 3 months.
Adey: thanks for letting me know about your horses!!! I guess this is the new frontier for us...!
Wherria: yes, I agree with you that I need to start drinking something besides water. I read last night something about "bolus" being caused by drinking too much/exclusively water. Did not see that coming! The only thing I like is water so I guess Pedialyte is in order. I always forget about the value of Pedialyte.
Good luck to you on the coming results. I would have been a wreck making that call only to find out the news was redundant. They have no idea what we go through.
Gadzooks, girls! What a wonderful life!
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Wherria: I am glad you are back, woman!
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_drinking_too_much_water_be_bad_for_you
I know professors don't consider "wiki" anything scholarly reference but this wiki-answer pretty much sums up what you were talking about. How could I forget about electrolytes?!
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Lizzy i am so glad you mentioned it because I just requested the 90 day supply my 30 day supply came from TEVA and I will be super interested to see if it changes!!!0
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I asked God how much time I have left,
and She replied, "Enough to make a difference."0 -
5 year old Max said to me a couple of months ago, "god's a girl right?" I answered that I wasn't sure. We're catholic but I'm pretty open about the particulars of defining God. "what makes you think that Max?" max answers, "because I think god is a mama." I'll admit it made me tear up...:)
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Wherria I should probably remember this, but how is it that you have all this random (and very useful!) medical information???
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Speaking of the gender of god, I love the song by "Dishwalla" called "Counting Blue Cars" in which some of the lyrics are "many questions like children often do..he said tell me all your thoughts on God and tell me am I very far" ....."tell me all your thoughts on God cause I'd really like to meet HER!" Sweeney: that is adorable, what little Max said! So cute!
Omaz: Geesh...you sent me off like a whirling dervish into research land! Between the Gatorade (thanks Wherria!) and the trip to CVS (thanks Omaz), I am finally discovering some things about this tamox switch I fell victim to. Omaz, if you have Medco you should remain on Teva. I have them and ended up on Teva tamox. CVS was giving me Mylan. I also posted on a "hormonal therapy" thread here asking some further questions of our community experts! You have no idea, I am so grateful for this site, I just can't even state it enough. The support here has been great since the day I found out I had bc. It almost makes me feel badly for the other "Cs" that don't have such vibrant and strong communities to count on for information and support. We are truly blessed to have this site and each other.
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Amen to that, Sister!
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Hi Everyone! I apologize for my absence lately, have been very busy.
Wherria: Its great to hear from you again, but very sorry to hear you are having such difficulties. I hope you got good results and/or explanations from the doctor's office today.
Lizzy: I have been having those leg cramps too all of a sudden!! My calves are cramping up all day long, even in the middle of the day. I am glad to hear from Omaz that it could just be a side effect from the Tamox. As for the doctors, I am totally with you. Whenever I call the onco or tell him about a symptom at a checkup, they tell me that it has been too long since chemo and it is not a side effect of Tamox...so basically it is not their problem! So....exactly whose problem is it? I have an appointment with a new PCP in October, I am kind of hoping that he can be the in between man for me, because I often feel lost, and he comes highly recommended. Anyway, I am sorry to hear you have been so miserable...but I am glad you finally opened up to us. Thats what we are here for. I youtubed that act you mentioned....they were great!
Sweeney: That comment by Max was absolutely adorable...I definitely would have teared up too! He obviously thinks very high of his mom.
Omaz and Lizzie, how do you know what manufacturer your Tamox came from? I have been getting mine from CVS all along so I don't think it has changed, but I have been suffering from episodes of vertigo since the end of radiation and recently they have gotten worse. Maybe that could be the problem? I don't know, because I have no idea which doctor I should tell!!
Wherria and Lizzie: Thank you for the info about the water, I will have to check out that link. I have been drinking upwards of 7 (17 ounce) bottles of water a day. I mentioned it to my docs, but they didn't say anything about it. It seems I am thirsty all the time. I will def check out that link and maybe start drinking one bottle of Gatorade a day, the only thing is doesn't that have a lot of sugar?
The AntiCancer book is going great, but alas I don't know if I like having all the information in it. It has caused me to have a negative view on some of my favorite foods... I certainly will never touch a powdered sugar donut again...LOL..but that is not a bad thing. Anyway I am about half way through, very interesting. Going to have to weigh all I read and make some difficult decisions when I am done.
Lady: Hope your appointment went well today. Sending positive thoughts your way!
Well I hope everyone had a good day today. And Lizzie, Wherria, and Cal hope you guys got some answers and are feelng better.
Debbi
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Debbi - Mine says TEVA on the bottle.
Lizzy - Check out this thread about the tam producers
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Omaz: WOW! I just read a bit of that. You see, I believe Teva uses E464 in the UK and other countries across the pond. My suspicion is, as that is the most common binding agent that causes allergic reactions, they are manufacturing elsewhere using E464 and selling it here. I don't think, or at least I have been unable to find out, if E464 is ok to use in this country but I did uncover that common allergic reactions are due to that particular agent. This bc business is always interesting! Thanks so much for that thread. Bottom line, if the one you are in is working, meaning giving you hot flashes and not other side effects, stay on it! Sadly the hot flashes are an indicator it is working.
Sptmm: HEY WOMAN! I was just thinking of you today. Deb, you never, ever think you might be getting dehydrated when all you drink is water constantly but that can happen. I am stunned to read more about that. I don't drink only water for diet reasons or for any other reason except for that is what I like. I like seltzer and water only and no flavored or sugary waters either. I hate juice because of all the sugar (unless you boil cranberries as Adey alerted me to doing months ago!) and I don't like soda. Pre-bc I used to drink Diet Coke and water. Had to ditch the Diet Coke because of phenylketoneurics so now I am down to just water. In any case, I drank 2-32 oz Gatorades today and am feeling a bit better. I think I was just plain old dehydrated.
As for your upcoming appt with a new PCP, I wish you the best. My GP (aka PCP) is excellent and a lot of support for me through this entire process, if not my life. More to this point, however, the cancer ball field is humongous and I can't very well put the onus of figuring out all this weird crap with me on his shoulders. I mean I can only expect so much from one person. The oncs, as you know, beat that drum long and hard about "nothing to do with chemo and tamox." In doing that, they demarcate. They draw a line in the sand that says chemo is over, there is no coming back this way. Between their fees and the cost of chemo, we should get a little more bang for our buck in the form of post-chemo assistance. We all say the same things about these oncs so you know it is not a very widespread, and worrisome, trend.
Wasn't "silhouettes" great? Did you 'youtube' Eugene Landau Murphy Jr? He was amazing! I have never heard someone sound so close to Sinatra. Being Italian and growing up in the Northeast, Sinatra was as respected as Sunday sauce, as coveted as the rosary and as much a part of our lives as the family itself!! I remember being at my friend's wedding and going from Sinatra, for the family(!), to Guns N' Roses for us!!!! All the Sinatra fans could not get to the door quickly enough as they barked and complained of our musical paganism!!!!
How are you feeling these days? Are you feeling stronger since surgery? How are you healing? I hope you are coming along.
Texas: any news? Did you find out what is going on regarding your scans?
CKptry: where have gone, woman?! I am sure you are busy but just letting you know I am thinking of you
I am so upset that it looks like the Yankees v Red Sox is probably going to be rained out. I bought a plastic poncho today and will go to the stadium just the same but the weather report just seems to be getting worse. I was so, so looking forward to this game. I call September baseball pre-October baseball! I will be so disappointed because a make-up game is not going to be of much interest as it will probably be Sunday afternoon AND the ACLS will most likely have been decided by then! WOE IS ME!
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Adey: forgot to tell you, yes, that day we were talking about it, I got it and nothing helps these lips. I can't wait to hear what the dermatologist has to say. I am so fed up with these cracked lips!0
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Hi Ladies Im still lurking around mostly trying to keep up on the reading. Life is so busy. Just got back from the Blackhills yesterday we rode the motorcycles out. Next Fri. I am supose to have a pet scan any thoughts on these scans? Is it worth the damage of more scans? Thanks, Sue
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What a great photo Sue - you both look terrific!!0
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Sue what a biker babe!!!
Lizzy- i just read an artical in CURE magazine (cancer updates, research and education) that chemos zap us of our sodium concentration in our bodies so increased salt may be needed, my onco reccommended gatoraid or one of those other sports drinks because it adds sodium along with other key things we need to stay hydrated. BTW not sure how true this is but my husband tells me drinking plain water isnt enough when you're dehydrated but something about the salt helps your body hold onto the water.... Dehydration can cause leg cramps (like in the calf)
Good luck!
My dr's nurse called me saying the scans were stable- i asked about if i needed an mri then because of my arm and she said he didnt mention that so she'd ask him, havent heard back... I think i might just go ahead and schedule an appointment with a nuerologist to check things out...
I STRONGLY SUGGEST Y'ALL WATCHING THE DOCUMENTRAY "FORKS OVER KNIVES"
i will be the first to tell you diet certianly helps us with our health but it isnt a 100% guarentee! I was a vegetarian before getting cancer, i didnt eat refined sugars often, NEVER drank soda- if it ever was in the news about this or that may cause cancer- i stayed away from it! Needless to say a whole lot of good that did for me! Part of my diet was soy meat replacements- guess what soy releases when breaking down? Estrogen! Guess what positive hormone receptors my cancer has, yup estrogen! So basically this healthy lifestyle was feeding my cancer.... SO THERE IS A WHOLE LOT TO THIS THAN JUST "EAT THIS AND NOT THAT"
stepping of my soap box
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just wanted to pop in. I hope everyone is doing well. Just busy here, kids and I have colds and busy with school. I feel pretty tired, I'm curious to see when my herceptin ends next month if my energy picks up.(maybe a maid and a nanny would help too,lol)
Sue nice photo
Lizzy and Tex, hope you are both feeling better and pain free.
Sweeney, so sweet about Max, he loves his mama:-)
Debbi - hope you are doing ok post surgery.
Carolyn
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Tex - I am watching that right now!0
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Morning Sabes!
Sue, LOVE the picture, and you are a biker babe!
My sister, my husband, ex-boyfriend,and my ex-brother-in-law all used to have bikes, and I loved riding with them. If you want a funny little story, I'll tell you about the day I learned to drive one.
First of all, you have to meet my Dad. He is the kindest man you will ever meet, funny, and everybody loves him. Makes friends wherever he goes. (For instance, in Ft. Worth, where my family lives, my mother, who is also wonderful, but a total couch potato, lives on fountain drinks from the local Qhuick Trip, so Dad goes about four times a day to get them for her. The employees at Quick Trip never charge him for the Cokes, or anything else he buys there either, just because they love him so much. In return, every month or so, Dad brings them a pizza.) Anyway, the other thing about my dad is that he is very laid back. Takes things as they come, mellow.
So the evening my sister and my ex-boyfirend, who also rode a bike, decided to teach me to drive. I was about fifteen. So we're outside on our street, and they tell me what's what, how to start, shift, break, everything. I already knew how to drive a standard car, so the idea of shifting wasn't new to me. (I learned how to drive at about 9 or 10, and was driving myself around town to choir, soccor, etc. by 13.) So it's time for me to give it a try. Their encouraging words did not conceal the anxiety I could see in their eyes. Meanwhile, Dad is standing farther back on the porch with a drink in his hand, not participating, or saying a word, just watching.
So, I stir up my courage, although I was much more confident about my abilities than anyone else in the scene! I start 'er up, with helmet of course, and start down the street. But when I say start, what I really mean is I stepped on it, cannonballed, ripped, flew, with no cognitive ability to remember that a bike had breaks! My sis and boyfirned are running down the street behind me, screaming, "STEP ON THE BREAK! STEP ON THE BREAK!" Finally, after about ten or fifteen seconds of my life flashing before my eyes, I remembered how to slow down, and miraculously came to a safe stop.
After walking the bike back to our house, and after a few minutes of catching our breath and eventually laughing about what a great biker I was, we looked to the porch to see if Dad was okay. He said nothing, had clearly not moved from his spot, seemed unmoved. Then he nodded his head, turned silently and walked back into the house. That was it!
That was my first day of driving a motorcycle.
I did eventually learn to drive, and enjoyed it after that. But everyone agreed that my first try, given my dubious talents at other, similar tasks, was not a surprise, just one more for the books!
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Hello again. I got so caught up in telling my motorcycle story, I forgot to tell y'all that finally, after begging all of my doctors, and getting nowhere, I finally talked to my onc and not his nurse, last night, and he agreed to run a liver panel. I kind of had to talk him into it. At first he said that his approach would be to repeat the labs in about a month or more. I said, "I understand that, and I know that my levels are not seriously high, but I am really nervous about this." (One thing I have learned is that when it is metastatic cancer affecting the liver, the enzymes might or might not be raised, and if they are, it tends to be only mildly, which is part of why this has been troubling me. That and that my symptoms are common symptoms of live disease.) Anyway, I said, "I don't usually walk around in fear of recurrence all the time, but this one has me scared. Would you mind doing a liver panel instead of just repeating the chemistry?" He said, "Well we could do that." Then he described how "this is the problem with these kind of tests. They're a little bit off, and then we end up doing all kinds of tests and scans, only to find out in the end, that it is all okay after all." This makes sense to me and at the same time infuriates me. So I didn't give up. I new that I was not going to feel resolved until I knew what the other liver values were, and I knew that I was going to have to advocate fiercely to get it. Then I just expressed again that I was really scared, and he said, "Okay, let's go ahead and repeat the labs next week." Errrr! And I said, thinking this might work ( and it did), "Do you meana liver panel or just a repeat chemistry?" And he said, "Well, okay, we'll do a liver panel. Do you want to do it tomorrow?" "YES."
So, whew, Im getting the labs today. It is still a mystery to me why my doctors have been so casual and dismissive about the lab results I already have, especially since I am also symptomatic. But, oh well, I'll just take what I can get at this point.
Along these lines, I'd like to ask y'all to describe what kind of regular tests or screenings your oncs are ordering. For instance, how often are you supposed to get bone density tests? Does your onc test for tumor markers? How often do you see your onc? What kinds of labs do you get, and how frequently? Etc. I would really appreciate hearing about these things from you, because I'm not comfortable with how my onc is treating the post-chemo testing/screening. Thank you.
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wherria - Good persistence - ! We have to follow our guts on these things. I don't see how the docs can give us too hard a time since so many of the treatment decisions ARE left up to us!0
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Sue, you look AWESOME!
Wherria- as for tests, I have had NONE. In Canada there is no standing protocol to test unless there are symptoms that require investigation. Apparently this is what the latest research calls for. Also re the chat about oncos being fairly useless once chemo is done, I have had the same experience. My onco is entirely dismissive of my complaints of cognitive dysfunction and the anger/hormone die effects from tamoxifen. Her advice to me? "Maybe you could try to find a support group of women who are going through the same thing? Others might have some good coping strategies." Gee thanks. So ladies my onco is offloading her job onto your shoulders! Urgh!0 -
Good day Warriors!
How are you all? I hope everyone is doing well today.
Texas: don't EVER get off your soap box! In this post-bc/chemo wasteland our soap box is all we have! I searched Amazon for that documentary and will watch it later. I really think cancer is caused by stress and then there are contributing factors. I lived near Yale University, in the Yale "ghetto!" (where houses generally go for $500,000+!!!...some ghetto!) and I was remember there are 3 nuclear warheads (or something to that effect) on the perimeter of the campus on Whitney Ave. Not too many people know that, as they are burried several, several stories underground. In any case, I lived within a mile of that. More to this point, at that time, fate would have it that I started hugging the "tap water" and foregoing the bottle (more on this in a minute!). I really think, as subsequent studies on New Haven tap water have uncovered, that is where my cancer began. When my first surgeon found the bc she told me it started about 5 years ago, at that time, and that is when I was living in that area.
As for bottled water, this little whippersnapper (!) at the grocery store told me the other day that the bottled water industry is completely WITHOUT regulation! I had no idea and did a little research and, sure enough, she was right. She had to be about college age. She asked why I was buying so much water and I explained it is all I drink and had divorced the tap long ago. She told me how her mom has (a "C") and how she has been on the tap for years, and in about the past 5 on Brita. As it turns out, tap water is more regulated than bottled water. Interesting little piece of info. The whippersnapper also remarked I don't look old enough for all this blah blah and I told her first, about you Tex, and second to take a look at me in a year when all this crap will have me looking cryptic!
Ckptry: good to hear from you. Healing vibes to the colds and may you get some rest and relaxation for yourself soon!
Iowa: looking hot out there in the Midwest! Your husband/trophy (!) looks like Kenny Rogers!
Wherria: my sister will never let me forget, and after I played on YZs as a kid, that I failed the moped test on Block Island!!!!! Witch! My inebriation caused the failing of the moped test but that part she leaves out when she tells the story! As for motorcycles, in high school 5 people died on bikes and I have been afraid of them ever since. I do ilke those "touring" bikes. Those are kind of cool. In any case, funny story on your first try!
As for the enzymes, between the mass they found in my liver, the anal bleeding and my enzymes were off as well when I got the last blood draw, it concerns me but I am the only one it concerns! These oncs are useless after chemo. I even looked up "oncology" to make sure the literal translation was not "study of patient during chemo and dismiss immediately thereafter!" In any case, it literally translates to "the study of tumors" and I guess they feel we don't have tumors anymore so we must not bother them anymore! A close friend has wanted to marry me for years (forgedaboudit!!!!) but I did tell him if I am getting near death, I will marry him so he can collect so I keep a journal of everything I am going through, daily, to pass on to him. Of course he was kind of sad to find out I would only marry him if I was dying! What can I say? I am not the marrying kind!
Again, we all become our own advocates in this battle because there is such a huge disconnection after chemo is over, we are pretty much left stranded in the desert.Sweeney: across the board, on this board and others, there are just so many women that speak of the disconnect after chemo and dealing with these oncs. It is alarming but I thought in the US capitalism drove them to act like this. Glad to know socialized medicine breeds the same lack of concern!
Shower time! Off to the dermatologist to find out why I have this awful red rash on both forearms that makes me want to scratch my skin off and why my lips have been severely chapped since March!! I am sure she will be happy to know the onc's office said it has NOTHING to do with chemo OR tamox!!!!!!! Effin a-holes!!!!!!!
OH...one more thing on manufacturers of tamox: there are 5 but I think 2 are out of commission. In any case, they are as follows: Mckesson, Teva, Mylan, Roxane and Watson.
Good day, girls!
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Iowa: well, his beard makes him look like a very YOUNG Kenny Rogers!
Also, about the PET scan...it takes about 45 minutes if memory serves and it is designed for mets hunting in your bones. You just lay on a table and it is a huge machine, kind of looks like something out of Star Trek! I had one pre-chemo but not since. I am sure if I was having symptoms, I would be getting one.
Good luck with that-
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What are everyones thoughts on a pet scan?? Do you think they are harmful? My onc wants to do one because I have complained of bone pain for 6 month, even though I have told her I'm sure it was the herceptin. I am on the fence because on one hand I'd like to know I have no caner floating around in my body. Plus I have yet another lump in bc area that I'm sure is another fat ball, have not told onc. about this one yet. I have had 3 so far in that area the last one they removed when I had DIEP and sent it to lab before they did the surgery to make sure it wasn't cancer. I dislike all the health risks that comes with the scans. o I don't know what to do.
Thanks for the comlpiments.
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hello
i am on my 4th chemo treatment and sad.
I just want my healthy active self back.
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thereseA - I am sorry that you are sad. It is very hard to go through chemo, no question. Take good care of yourself during treatment, eat well, rest, drink fluids, exercise as best you can. Ultimately you will start to feel more like yourself again but it might be a little different. Cancer treatment kindof fast-tracks you into the future with much less time than normal to get used to changes. Best Wishes. I am not sure if you meant to post in our group - we all went through chemo last year in August.0
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Sue,
PET scans are now any more dangerous than a single x-ray. The scan looks for cancer by watching how the cells metabolize glucose. The stuff you drink before (starts with an F but I don't remember the rest. Sorry.) the scan is picked up by the cell and sort of enters it. Every cell stays alive by metabolizing glucose, and this stuff kind of labels the glucose inside the cell, or makes it visible to the machine (that's the positron emission part.). you wait for about half an hour I think, giving the solution time to enter the cells and begin metabolizing. Then they put you in the scanner and watch as they cells do their thing. Normal cells metabolize the sugar gradually, but cancer cells, because the are such restless little things changing and dividing all the time, "eat up" the glucose at a much faster rate. The image from the scanner lights up where there is cancer, and that's how the docs can tell where you have cancer in your body. The stuff you drink has a very short half-life and is excreted in your urine within hours. So really, the risk or possible damage really is about the same as one x-ray. The PET scan is not 100% reliable though. It sees a lot, but it is not as clear as an MRI would be, for example. So it gives a very good diagnosis of where there is cancer, but without much detail.
Sorry folks. Here I go, going on again, but I have to say one more thing
The PETscan is not very effective for detecting cancer cells in the liver. I don't understand it all too well, but it has something to do with the fact the the liver is not a "hollow" organ. It has other little organs and tissues within it which makes it very dense and not very revealing on a PET scan. Also, I think the live, for some reason is covered on the outside by a thin layer of these strange little cells that are resistant to glucose, so watching as cells metabolizes sugar isn't really relevant with the liver.0 -
Hi THERESA
I have been visiting the gals over in the August 2011 Chemo thread. You can find them here http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topic/771492?page=51#idx_1530 They are a great group of women who are all going through chemo right now. I know they support each other a lot and I'm certain they'd welcome you with open arms.
We've all been where you are right now and we're all proof that it does get better. Take care and PM me if you can't find that group.0
