You know youre a cancer patient when....
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YKYACPW you see breasts everywhere......... and I wish I had a photo. But there is a boob tree decoration near town they light up every holiday. It is a huge round tree with white lights halfway up the limbs in perfect symmetry and the trunk has a little bit of red lights on it, just enough to look like the nipple. Thus an upside down breast. Now I don't think they think of it as a boob tree, but sure looks like one.
for those who asked, edited: update on my health, responding well to Irance / Femara, so hopeful to be gardening this year.
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Bluebird---so funny about the Boob tree.......Hope you are gardening soon. I was Iam) a Master Gardener, but the combination of B.C and treatment in 2014 and a sever wrist fracture in 2015 has impacted what gardening activities I can enjoy. My right wrist just won't let me dig in the dirt like I want to....but I'm not ready for a condo without any garden space yet.
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YKYACPW you're sohappy to have a fever ---- because it means that dry cough you've had for a couple days which suddenly got worse is probably your husband's bronchitis and not IT in your lungs
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I hear that!
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Isn't it amazing after BC the things we are grateful for, when before BC we would complain to have that ailment!!!
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here's one for you, how about the "look" you get from your kids when you stop a strange guy to ask if he has been checked for breast cancer? guys get it too.
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Cliff I can only imagine it must be an extra layer of difficulty to be a man who receives a diagnosis of BC
Best wishes to you with keeping the beast at bay. XX
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My brother had a lumpectomy... fortunately it was benign, but they have to go through the mammograms too... ouch
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1. When you post on BCO and most here assume you are a woman.
2. When you wear blue at your local town's breast cancer charity day and get asked WTF?
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looks like another guy behind you.I have been pestering guys at work to get checked, in line in stores and generally any where. I used to be real shy, but this is important to me. important enough for two interviews on a local tv station so far. I plan to be there in blue when they have their pink days. at least doctors check for prostate cancer, how do you get them to check guys for breast cancer?
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Cliff, we can't expect to have a public bc screening program for guys since it would involve needless testing for 99% of the male population.
However, men with a genetic predisposition to the disease should enrol in a regular screening program.
Which men should consider genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2
• Those with personal or family history of male breast cancer.
• Those with personal or family history of at least two men with aggressive prostate cancers (Gleason score of 7 or greater).
• Men with a family history of ovarian cancer; a female relative who developed breast cancer at a young age (earlier than 50) or developed multiple primary breast cancers; or three or more female relatives with breast cancer at any age.
• Men of Ashkenazi Jewish descent and personal or family history of breast, ovarian, or pancreatic cancers, aggressive prostate cancer, or melanoma.
• Those with known family history of a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.And if we can persuade the pink charities to raise awareness of male bc then men will learn to check themselves the way women do.
Good on you for speaking out on the topic.
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there actually is a public screening program run by the state of Kansas. on tv its advertised for women, I called them and asked, they will do mammograms for men too, up to 60 year of age, but not change their advertising. even an educational blurb on manual lump hunting would help. but nobody seems interested. couldnt the doctors do manual exams on men of the likely age in their offices? surely my lump could have been found before it got to 1.2 cm, if anyone had tried.
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That's great that Kansas will do mammograms for men up to age 60. Unfortunately 65 is the average age men get this disease (55 in women). The fact that they don't advertise this means to me that they don't want the system overrun by males getting needless mammograms.
Like you, it took several months for me to persuade my PCP to send me for a scan, despite having benign lumps noticed 10 years previously and having a family history of bc. Doctors just aren't trained to look for it. As soon as my regular PSA screening results showed a concerning rise I was sent off to the urologist and was treated for prostate cancer in a timely manner.
Your 1.2cm lump would have been found if anyone cared to look for it. Often, though, these are dismissed as gynecomastia and valuable treatment time is lost while the disease spreads to become more apparent. As in your case and mine.
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YKYACP when you go for your MO check and instead of being excited by a 9lb weight loss....you're concerned it could be cancer again. *sigh*
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Clif, Travetext--thank you for pointing out the gender discrepancy in the way bc is thought of/looked for. Too true, and not right.
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My brother had a lumpectomy... found his was benign.. but just as scary for guys, maybe more.. and you have to have the mammograms too... totally understand
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Good heavens, it just occurred to me how horrifying it must be to be a man in a mammogram waiting room. I cannot imagine how much harder it must be for a guy to go through that process that is so geared to women.
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Redheaded - maybe the left hand will suffice? I had a broken wrist, fingers and ankle from a head on back in 2015. Was in the garden anyway even with the walker, not so good but we love it right. Next summer the cancer was active and I didn't realize, no one did and not enough time in the garden. This summer, I need my garden! But don't know if I can even walk to it.
YKYACPW some peace of mind is found on breastcancerr.org
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YKYACP...
When the color pink makes you want to cry.
When you're excited for Halloween because you'll look no stranger than half the people on the street.
When you've watched half of every bad movie on tv (because you keep falling asleep before the end) and it takes you an hour to read 5 pages.
When you almost cause a guy in a delivery truck to go off the road when he whips around for a second look, mouth agape, clearly trying to figure out if he's seeing a man in full makeup and earrings or a bald woman.
When your kids joke about how they've never eaten as well as they do on chemo nights (cause all your wonderful neighbors are pitching in to feed them).
When you step on the scale at the doctor's office and say "Crud! Lost another three pounds."
When you have a favorite vein.
When the two things you swore you'd never get were tattoos or fake boobs and now you're happy to have both!
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Good ones!
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Lulu---------on mark hahaha
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When you joke with your surgeon about leaving too much side-boob...
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Well I'm getting better but I sure identified with this one Lulu: "When you've watched half of every bad movie on tv (because you keep falling asleep before the end) and it takes you an hour to read 5 pages."
This topic needs the like button.
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YKYACP
when you're in tears from back pain and sciatica, but happy because x-ray showsIT'S NOT CANCER!
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Good news Tessu.
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Tessu0
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*black humour*
YKWYACPW Your dad is being recovered from a surgery to remove his prostate in a room with me, mum, my sister and SIL (who all have been through BC of various stages).
The Dr looks grim and says while the operation was a total success, they did discover throat cancer when they were inserting the camera. We ask, is this a prostate met or is a new primary?
A new primary, says the Doc and looks mortified as we sit about high-fiving that it's not metastatic.
(Dad is now cleared of both cancers and is finding his new normal after chemo and radio)
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ROFLMAO blondedoris! Would have loved to see that doc's face! So glad your dad's ok now
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