Ladies in their 30s
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Melanie, I'm with you! I can't stand that I still have the extra weight since diagnosis. I blame it on tamoxefin, not getting to the gym enough AND aging. I feel like I can't blame it on chemo anymore, since it's been over a year since I finished, but I am no less determined to drop a few pounds! My husband and I, along with another couple, are going to Napa Valley for a few days in December, so I want a little wiggle room in my jeans to allow for wine drinking and a few nice dinners!
I downloaded this free iPhone app called My Fitness Pal, and I love it. It basically is calorie counter and exercise tracker. I've been using it for about 10 days, and it really makes me think about what I am putting in my mouth!
Good luck!
Sherrill
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Sherrill, I'll have to get that iPhone app- sounds great! Thanks. I have a HUGE sweet tooth so I need all the help I can get
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Hi, I'm 31 years old and live in NC, I have 2 boys 6 and 4 and a wonderful husband! just found out Fri that I have breast cancer...this weekend has been a world wind. I found the lump 3 weeks ago and had a core biopsy on monday and results by friday...I go tuesday for a CT scan, and waiting for the BRCA 1 and 2.
Im so confused and have so many thought in my head..I don't know where to turn to get answers. I live in a very small community, it has a cancer center, but i wonder if i need to find one that specializes in BC? Where do i get this information? Should i get a second opinion? Who will lead me in these choices? Any suggestions would be great!
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Hi moe, Glad you found us but sorry you had to join us
This is a crazy time, and many of the decisions you make now will start an irreversible chain of events so it's best to take your time and yes, definitely get second or even third opinions before making those decisions. Your most important piece of the puzzle right now is your pathology report. Get it from the lab and become familiar with it. You need to know if you're er/pr + or - and Her2 status. Also the stage, grade and size of your tumor. There is a wealth of information on this report and although your surgeon will probably review this before referring you to another doc (maybe an onc, maybe rads onc- depending on your results) it's good to be ahead of the game.
Don't necessarily just go with the doctors you're referred to. The more information you have the more questions you can ask. There is so much information and support here on this board. We're here for friendship and advice!
Best of luck with everything, and keep in touch!
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Hello Moe 0279, I am so sorry you have joined our club. However we are here to help answer questions, Vent, share stories and build new friendships. Feel free to send me a personal message if needed. I will do my best to help or find someone who can.
Well ladies wish me luck CT (chest, abdomen, Pelvis) in the morning. Keeping my fingers crossed.
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Tiffany- You'll be in my thoughts... here's hoping for all great news!
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Tiffany - Good luck with the CT - we will all be there with you in spirit!
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Thanks for the welcome...Ive just had the core biopsy, should the pathology report have this information on it...Is it normal to have trouble sleeping...I find my self going to sleep thinking about it, dreaming about it, and waking up thinking about it...
I want to call some cancer center's tomorrow in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, but will they talk to me or do i have to have the referral first.. Thanks for listening to my rambling...i just feel like i need to get everything out so that I can move on to the next step...I know talking to others with the same questions, concerns, and who have walked in my shoes will help me take the right steps in the right direction..
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moe, not to sound crass but there are big bucks to be made off cancer patients so most treatment centers will want to talk to you- of course they'll want to know your pathology. Just tell them you're exploring your options.
It's totally normal to eat, sleep and breathe cancer right now. That's what this site is all about!
Tiff, hope you breezed thru the CT. Those things are never fun.
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Ladies I too was 34 when DX (june 09) and I have done everything to keep this cancer at bay but I even have a hard planning for a future for my family with me. my girls are 11 and 9 and I have a great supportive husband but since the DX I have been let go from my job and financially we are having problems now and I sometimes wonder if it is not all my vault
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Moyarscs - I totally understand. We are in a financial mess right now as well. I feel very guilty that I have put this burden on my family. However, if the tables were turned I wouldn't blame my Husband for cancer and everything that comes along with it. so living with guilt will only make you sad. I remind myself it's just money and there are far more important things in life.
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moyarscs and Tiffany, get mad at cancer all you want but not at yourself! This disease sucks and it's a random, ruthless, nasty life-stealer. I'm so sorry you lost your job moarscs, and that both of you and so many others are financially struggling. Do what you have to do- fight for your lives and for your family. I hate that anyone has to even think about money or work while they're dealing with cancer!0
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I am so sorry that you are all going through this and I wish you all of the best of luck. I hope you don't mind me posting but I have a question for you all. I'm 34 years old and a few days ago, "something" told me to do a breast exam and I found a very hard lump that doesn't move and is hard for me to tell where the edges are so I'm not 100% sure how big it is. I went to the doctor yesterday and she also felt it and is sending me to a breast cancer center for a mammo and an ultrasound. I know the odds are in my favor but I'm just wondering how you all found out that you had breast cancer. I'm very afraid and have to wait until next week for the mammo and ultrasound.
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cory- i was watching TV in March and felt a lump- small but though it was glands. It was hard to find, but after massaging and really digging in, i felt it. I ignored it for about 3 weeks as at the age of 35 who thinks of BC. I would check it again in a few weeks and it was still there, few weeks after i was getting more and more of my patients (im an eye doc) that had BC in there very early 30's. i would walk to my fav kids store and the lady serving me had BC. Ok at that point I thought, someone higher up is warning me and i went to family dr who saw it and agreed with me its glands, and (since she was a colleague) said for peave of mind if i wanted we could get it checked out with a mammogram. I waited 3 weeks before iw ent there. an hr after the appt i got a phone call for a request for a biopsy.........the dreaded news!!!
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Moe and Moyarscs - I'm so sorry you have had to join us, but I'm glad you found this thread. It is so helpful to just be able to vent to people who are going through it too. Especially other women who are younger.
Moe - I highly recommend getting a second opinion before you make any big decisions. If you push, you can get in quickly almost anywhere. I had 2 surgical opinions and a PET/CT before I made any major decisions. Choices you will have will be whether or not to do chemo or surgery first. There are pros and cons to both, so just be sure to be well educated before you decide. You don't want to waste a bunch of time, but you also don't want to act too quickly and then regret your decisions. Even fast growing cancers won't change that much in a week or two. I pray that you will have some clear cut answers as far as how to proceed.
Tiffany - I hope your CT went well!
For the HER2 gals - I saw Dr. Slamon yesterday!! It was such an honor just to meet him, shake his hand and thank him for his tireless efforts in getting Herceptin out there for all of us. He was so gracious about me being a little starstruck. I got to take a pic with him, which felt a little silly, but I could tell he gets that alot. He totally surprised me by disagreeing with every doctor I have seen (and I have seen alot). Every other doctor thinks I need some sort of additional systemic treatment after rads. One doctor said more chemo, one said add Lapatinib/Tykerb to Herceptin, and a third said Neratinib trial. Oy! Dr. Slamon, however, thinks I should stay the course with Herceptin alone and have PET/CT's every 3 months since I did have alot of residual disease after chemo and at time of surgery. My next PET/CT is January 7th, and if it shows any cancer, then he would recommend adding Lapatinib to Herceptin. If it's clear, we wait until the next PET/CT, and so on. I trust him completely, and he made alot of sense. It's hard for me to let go of adding more treatment, but I can take some solice in the fact that I will be watched like a hawk. He truly believes in Herceptin, and since my tumor did shrink by more than half, he isn't convinced it isn't working. He also said he would have given me different chemo than I was given. I did 4 rounds of A/C before I started Herceptin. He favors TCH since Herceptin can begin immediately. Now I am upset that I wasn't given that option! I guess I'll never know if it would have made a difference. He did say that since my cancer did shrink (even the nodes that were heavily lighting up on PET/CT before chemo showed clear of cancer post chemo and pre-surgery), at least I wasn't progressing. I am really pushing to get into the UofW vaccine study now. I am pretty sure I qualify once I finish rads. Especially since I won't be starting Lapatinib quite yet.
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Coryjm I found my cancer very early. I just have a fullness in my right breast and I thought maybe I had mastitis (even thro I never breastfed) I went to the dr and she she is did not think it was nothing but a mammo would be a good idea. I got the mammo and I knew I was in trouble when the 60 yr old lady got to go home after hers came back ok and I had to go for an ultrasound and then was asked to wait to talk to a dr. But I do have to say know your own body anything that is not the same should be looked at. You know your body better then anybody~~~~~~the worst thing a dr is going to say is that it is normal and you will have peace of mind
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I am looking forward to a lovely week with family and friends. I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving. I plan on putting my CT results out of mind at least until next week!
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deenah, thanks for sharing your experience with Dr. Slamon with us- how exciting! Wow, I can't believe he disagreed with all the other docs! That must have been a little frustrating to find out he would've done a different chemo. Darn. Oh well, no looking back. You got to meet the Herceptin guru- how cool is that?! I hope things continue to go well for you. It sounds like Dr. Slamon feels very positive- that's great!!
coryjm, I found my lump by accident, scratching an itch (redninrah, I was watching TV too!) Went for a diagnostic mammo followed by ultrasound, then referred to breast surgeon who SWORE it was nothing to worry about but did a fine needle aspiration just to quickly rule it out- SURPRISE!!! Hopefully you will be one of the 80% who end up benign.
Tiffany, it's always difficult to wait for results and lucky you, you have an extra long weekend. Well, good plan to forget about it. Do be sure to let us know when you hear anything.
Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Even though it's been a rough year I'm certainly more aware of all I have to be thankful for. Blessings to all my bc sisters. ((((Hugs))))
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Madonna- I hope your experience at least gave your doc a wakeup call on assuming "its nothing". I've read several times where a doc dismissed a lump in a young woman as "she is too young to have bc.." obviously not!
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I was diagnosed at age 29 at first the guy looking at the screen said the lump was just a hematoma in Dec. 07, I had ran into an industrial washing machine door twice, come to find out the hematoma was masking the tumor. Because of family history they ran the BRAC test and by April the knot was still their and the surgeon ordered another mamogram, this time a girl did and she took one look, and the next thing I knew they where during a biopsy the next day I was told cancer Stage IV liver/lungs mets. The next month is a blur my surgeon nurse had set up scans, appts. with onc, radiation, etc.
The first plan of Chemo was tossed when I had the fastest reaction to the least amount of Taxol the nurses and doctors had ever seen literally under 10 seconds. Luckily because of my history and State Health Insurance I was put on Abraxane. Port Surgery, Liver Biopsy, Chemo, Surgery, Radiation, Chemo have led to clean scans (NED) for a year this Oct.
They had plan to use the Cyber Knife on the liver spot that had remained after the first round of Abraxane, but it disappeared after the second round, since they decided to jack up the dosage of Abraxane as high as possible since I had no side effects except sinus infection until my fingers started tingling and then the dialed it back.
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Hydeskate- here's to NED!!!
I reacted to Taxotere immediately- my face flushed red and my blood pressure shot up but they were able to give it to me with benedryl doses each time.
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I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I have spent a wonderful day with my hubby and kiddos...I had my CT scan Tuesday and it came back clear except for the BC. YEAH...Did anyone still wonder even after the results..?I can't help stressing about it!
Deenah, Thanks for your info... I go talk to the oncologist on Tuesday and have plans on visiting some cancer centers and getting suggestions from the Dr.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to choose the best place to go? I know that I want somewhere that focuses on BC and Recon...Where can I find information on the center available here in NC?
Girls thanks for all you imput...im so new at all this..
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Moe, happy for you for the good results. I heard there are cancer centers you can look up in your state
https://cissecure.nci.nih.gov/factsheet/FactSheetSearch1_2.aspx
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Ok ladies..In advance, Thanks!
.im trying to compile a list of questions for the oncologist on Tuesday...I want to make sure I ask all the right questions and don't leave anything out... Anything that you wished you would have known.. I appreciate all the kindness and the wisdom...thanks!
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Hello Everyone,
Can I join? I am 35 and was diagnosed 2 weeks ago. I have had 2 long, agonizing weeks. And 2 more to go until my surgery. I have 3 small children - one a couple of months short of 5, one who just turned 3 and one who just turned 1. I know I have such a hard journey ahead of me and I am scared. After reading a lot about my type of cancer and talking to everyone I could think of who can help, I decided to look here for people who are going or have gone through what I am going to experience. I read a lot of the posts here tonight. Personally, I don't know anyone who has gone through this, so I really had the need to see how other people are managing. And I am amazed at how all of you are handling life with and after breast cancer. Perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is hard to believe it now but thank you all for being out there and sharing.
VIS
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vis0121 - Welcome....you are in the right place girlie! I hate that you have to join us, but you will find support, answers and friendship like no other here. Dealing with cancer at our age and with small children presents unique challenges that is for sure. You can do this!!!! Once you get a treatment plan and get started. Just keep going and going and before you know it treatment will be done. Feel free to private message me with any questions you might have. If I don't know the answer I may know someone on here that does. Keep your chin up and your eye on the prize!
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Tiffany, thank you. I appreciate your quick welcome. I have a plan, I think. So hard to make this decision. I keep going back and forth. I think I want to have bilateral mastectomy because knowing myself, I will worry less later. My BS says it might be a bit extreme since I am stage 1 and grade 1. Don't know about the nodes yet. I could opt for lumpectomy but not sure I can take the agony tests and waiting to see if anything is there again every 6 months. My surgery is scheduled for Dec. 13 but I can still change my mind. I wish I could wake up and it all be done for me so I don't have to make any decisions. And I have never been bad at making decisions before!
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vis0121 - I totally understand. I had a BMX (bi-lateral mastectomy) oct/2009. I lost a cousin at the age of 35 due to BC (breast cancer) and after she passed I swore that a BMX would be my choice if I was ever DX (diagnosed). Little did I know I would be making that choice. I am glad I did it though I too would have been freaking out every 6mths. The surgery was the right choice for ME. The first surgeon I saw would not even listen to me when I told him that's what I wanted. I got a 2nd opinion and She is wonderful. I had complete control in the decision making process. The actual surgery itself wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was very fortunate that I didn't have any complications with the surgery. I would get a 2nd opinion and write your questions down that you want to ask before you go in. Knowledge is power! You will come to terms with what is right for you. You can do this!
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vis0121- are you thinking of having reconstruction right away? Personally I would hold off on the bilateral- you can always go back and do that afterwards. I think the gut reaction of so many of us- is what do I have to do to never have this happen again? (or worry as little as about it as possible?) I choose a mast bc of tumor location near the nipple- I read that central lumpectomies could yield undesireable results - I also asked PS about delaying recon and he said results would be better if I did immediate- sooooo I did. Lots of women go the bilateral route with no regrets, its a very personal decision. there are some threads on here that weigh the pros and cons.
for me, I justed wanted the whole cancer experience to be over asap and I thought having a mast with immediate recon would get me there- but the truth of the matter is- having a breast cancer diagnosis does change your life and even tho I am all done with treatment and surgery and everything- life is never the same anyway- sometimes I wish I had tried the lumpectomy and saw how it turned out before rushing in. just my two cents.
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Alyad - thanks. I do have surgery scheduled for 12/13 with immediate reconstruction. And you are right that my reaction was to get it over with once and for all though I know it won't be "for all". Life will never be the same. My tumor is in close proximity to the nipple as well and I am very small-breasted. A lumpectomy would be like taking out half of my breast for sure. And I am worried that if the margins are not clear and the BS has to go in again, then nothing will be left of it for sure. Then if I have to have mastectomy and I have had irradiation, reconstruction would be very difficult. The bilateral part comes because the PS thinks to have any satisfactory results, he'd have to put an implant on the health side as well. So, if I am going to mess with it surgically, I might as well remove it and spare myself agonizing tests every 6 months. I am not sure if my thinking is right at all. It has been 2 weeks since I was diagnosed and I have read a lot and talked to everyone I thought could help any. I work in a big hospital, most of my friends are doctors (and my husband is one) and I still don't think I have a clear idea about how to proceed!
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