Ladies in their 30s
Comments
-
hello hopeful and karban and anybody else new I missed!
I hate admitting this outloud but I am overweight and was wondering if I would still be able to have DIEP? I was told by my first consult that to have the tram flat I would need to lose 80lbs!!! Yes I would love to lose the weight. Any thoughts about this?
0 -
Hi to the new ladies... wow, how can there be so many new girls every few days?! This disease is out of control! I'm so sorry we're meeting this way, but so glad we can be here supporting each other.
Yan, I'm so glad Olga's pain is manageable. It's an incredible weight to bear caring for her and your children and working. I hope coming here gives you some comfort and support. I've seen many of your posts and you are always so kind to others. Being in your 30's and having cancer is bad enough, but being stage IV just downright stinks.
Tiffany, I only had a lumpectomy but on one of the other boards my friend was saying her surgeon told her she was too skinny-?? Hmm, it seems like you're in a better position to start with. We are all imperfect, don't feel bad; you can meet with a nutritionist and find out how to safely lose the weight and you'll have the skin you need for your surgery. I'm sure some other women will have more info about the DIEP.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
0 -
TiffanyF4 - WTH? I couldn't get the DIEP (or TRAM, or any of it) because I didn't have enough body fat! I guess they must be concerned about blood vessel survival or something??? I am curious about this. Does anyone know?
0 -
I don't know much about DIEP or Tram either, because my PS also told me I didn't have enough tissue to go that route. (That was fine w/ me, because I wanted implants anyway) However w/ my 10+ lb weight gain from Tamox, I'd bet he'd say I'm no longer too thin
Check out the reconstruction forum. I'm sure you'll find a lot of info about DIEP there.
0 -
I guess it does have to do with the blood vessels. I always used to joke about if I could just move my tummy to my chest I would be a hottie!!! Well once again be careful what you wish for I also used to say I would like to shave my head and start all over when my hair would be a mess! Needless to say I watch what I wish for now :{ . I carry most of my weight in my tummy unfortunatly. I am still doing some research and I am planning on getting some more opinions from surgeons who do DIEP my surgeon doesn't do that surgery. So I will keep you posted. I am doing my best to get the weight off but it's hard when I don't have much energy level back yet.
0 -
Hi Karbarn,
Did you just have your lumpectomy on Sep 27th when you were diagonosed? Was it under general Anesthesia? If it was, it seems you will only wait a week for the next surgery. My lumpectomy was on Sep 13th, but the surgeon said I wont be ready for mast until two or three weeks later.
0 -
Tiffany, think of it as a twofer, you'll be making a healthy change which will decrease your chance of breast cancer recurrence and preparing your body so you can have your DIEP. Plus you'll look like a hottie!! Won't it be nice to have something good come from all this?!
0 -
Tiffany and tougherthanithought- I didn't have weight issues, but they couldn't use my stomach because I had liver surgery in 1980 and a c-section in 1996. And the PS said I had too much scar tissue to go that route. I can say I have enough stomach to spare though. Tiffany, you are right about one thing, Be careful what you wish for. I always thought I'd like bigger breasts and while I am not gonna go any bigger...you couldn't pay me to have an elective surgery now. Anyway, it sounds like you have to be in almost perfect shape to have the TRAM/DIEP procedure. It must be pretty risky the reason they have so many requirements.
0 -
Tiffany... I am a little overwiehgt and I was told I was a cindidate for either one I choose, if you are skin and bones then you can t have the DIEP because of lack of skin.. I went with expander then saline implant just finally put in on 3/10... very happy with the results but the largest then can go with a saline implant is 1000 cc's which makes my real boob a little bit bigger but not a big deal.. just glad to have one... lol, best of luck to you on your decession... HUGGS!!
0 -
goodmorning ladies,
it is a lovely sunny and a bit frosty morning here in ireland today, i have my reconstruction meeting on the 27th where i will get my options, i was wondering about the diep but may try to get pregnant after (please god all things going well), so was looking at the strattice and implants also. my skin was very stretched already due to extra large tumour and modified radical on the left side had a extra long scar to get clearance and not helped by rads for 7 weeks.i dont like the idea of the lati dorsi due to suffering with my long back already and have mild lymhodemna.
i dont have the excuse of tamoxofin for my weight gain just plain overeating and low metabolism but starting this evening on a diet and exercis regime, tiffany you are welcome to join me, i want to lose 28lbs and am starting the system 10 exercise and diet plan, i have a consultation this evening with a nutritionist so we will see how it goes, hope to have a Jessica Rabbit body next year although would settle for betty boop.
have a lovely day, take care.
b
0 -
Hope2 I wish you all the luck on your new diet plan and I as well am doing my best. I felt the same way about the lati dorsi because I have alot of back pain from my previous job. Our DX is really close except my tumor was 5.25. I would be curious to what your Oncologist has planned for you.
0 -
hi tiffany,
i was on the avastin trial to see how well it is tolerated with tc, so finished treatment in june and had one check up since then and not back until the 1st of november, they give me a physical exam and kind of do a questionaire, we are very simialar my tumour was over 8cm and presented as two lumps which were joined on chest wall. i really consider myself to have this beaten it might be naive but they tell me to consider myself cancer free as nodes were negative. i have an annual mammo on the right breast and as part of the trial i get bloods, urine, heart echo and ecg once a year for five years.
my tumour was on the move at the time of the operation and nodes were enlarged so they thought it was much worse than what it turned out to be, the lumps had encompassed most of my breast by this time, went to doc before my 34th birthday with a lump and was just gone 35 when diganosed eventually after five trips to the doc and two to breast clinic, they thought it was cystic or fibrodema, so breast cancer awareness month should include gp's that younger healthy women do get bc unfortunately, pl excuse spelling of some words are awful. what is your follow up plan? my jeans will fit me by christmas is my new mantra, now to remember it when i am at the cinema this eve watching the ben aflick flick.
0 -
hope2 other than getting my Vit D levels up and taking an aspirin everyday I am not on any treatment. This makes me nervous but with nothing being offered I guess I don't really have a choice. I was also diagnosed at 34 I turned 35 in April of this year so we ARE very similiar. My tumor was 5.25 cm and I only had the 1 tumor. They did try me on a biphosphinate trial drug for bone recurrence but I vomited it up every time so what was the point. I wish I would have lucked into the IV arm of the study but oh well I tried. I hope you enjoyed your movie and let your self enjoy a snack we all need to splurge sometimes!0
-
30s girls must have had a busy weekend! Where is everyone
0 -
I've definitely been MIA! The weather was in the 70's and 80's here this weekend
and then one of my little ones got the flu 
Hopefully everyone else was having nice weather too and they were all out enjoying it!0 -
That's the thing about us 30's girls, we're an active bunch!! Woo-hoo!! I did have a great, busy weekend with the family. The kids were off school on Friday so it feels like we had a loooong time off!
I've been on Tamox for a full week now and I'm feeling great- thank goodness! My radiation redness is almost completely gone and I'm sleeping pretty well (except for my DH snoring- ugh!) so life is good! There's light at the end of the tunnel!!!
I think the vitamins and supplements I'm taking are helpful. Now that I've got some energy I really need to get on a good exercise program tho. I know it's important, but I've always been one of those "I'll only run if someone's chasing me...and even then, only if it's someone with a really big knife!" kind of girls :P But I figured it can't be all that important, I'm a tiny little thing, do I really have to exercise?! (whiny, pouty voice...) Don't want breast cancer again- don't want heart disease- better get my butt moving!! Crap.
There's a support group tonight with a two-time onc of the year, can't remember his name, but he just moved to Las Vegas so I suppose he's trying to gather up new patients... anyway, I think I'll ask him- if I'm a petite person of normal weight who eats well do I still have to exercise? I'll let you know what he says!!
0 -
Tiffany~ I know that NOLA does not normally have a problem finding weight or doing the surgery on people who are considered overweight.
I was told locally that I didn't have enough fat for DIEP and NONE of the other free flap options besides lat. flap where given to me. I had hip flap in NOLA on Jan. 26, 2010 and I was 140-145 pounds and they were able to get me to a 36D. So don't give up if you would like to have free flap surgery you just have to find the right surgeon.
I wish I could say that I am still that weight but I have seemed to keep adding to that number and I need to see it go back down soon. I am exhausted lately and I think it is because of the amount of weight that I am carrying around.
0 -
Jaimieh _ Thanks oh wow I haven't seen 145 since I was like 20 hahaha! I will do some more research! I will check in to NOLA.
Lady_Madonna - I think if us chubby girls have to run you should too....I'm just sayin!!! (JUST KIDDING)
0 -
Yea, I need to- I'm with ya!! I have a "motivation" problem!!
And even tho I'm tiny for the most part I have this lovely ring around the hip/waist area that was NOT there a few years ago... the years are catching up with me! So... it's time to get moving!!! How do we get started? Now that I'm on Tamox I really want to make sure I don't let the weight slip up on me. I already gained 10 pounds since chemo ended. That's a lot on a small frame! 0 -
I just stumbled upon this group I am 32. I am the mother of 2 wonderful children age 11 (boy) 10 (girl) and I have a great supportive DH although at times I would love to kill him. I think sometimes I feel I don't belong and part of that is the fact I am younger than most of the people I am around.
Here is a little about me I was DX initially in 2002 at the age of 24. I had a lumpectomy at that time and did chemo. I was DX again in 09' Had bilateral Mastectomy on 12/1/09 and did the whole TE process had my first exchange on 4/28/10. The left implant did not stay where it was supposed to so I am going in for a revision on 10/27/10.
Well nice to meet you all,
Rebecca
0 -
rebetata - I had DMX with immediate reconstruction with silicone implants placed at the end of july. I can't imagine having to have a revision ... but a lot of women do. I hope that yours goes uneventfully and it is your last one for a very long time!
0 -
Thank you Dawn. I hope so too. I also had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder in May and some cancerous nodes removed from behind my left ear . This past month. I am so done with all of this I have had 7 surgeries in the past 4 years.
I do want to get nips but that is a simple procedure.
0 -
rebetata - good grief, girl, I'd say it's time for some good news and a bit of a reprieve. I'm undecided on nips ... I do have an appt to get them at the end of November, but I'm not sure. I haven't nearly been through what you have ... but I just want to be done and get some semblance of my life back. Hang in there!
0 -
Welcome Rebecca!
Lady_ Madonna -hope you know I was just teasing you! From looking at your profile pic you are amazingly beautiful and I wouldn't change a thing if I were you
0 -
Rebetata that is just awful, hope that you are doing o.k. i think we all feel that about dh at times, but in fairness i cant complain as he is a big softie. remind of that when i go home and the breakfast things are left on the sink even though dishwasher underneath it. But in fairness it has been a tough run and he has cried and laughed with me, even when i was going through my spongebob square pants phase (cotton boob and old fashioned loose trousers) and feeling miserable.
i purchased mittens yest in aid of breast cancer research and today was our first real frosty morn, aound 1 degree celcius, i think that is about 34 degree farenheit, i was glad of them, beautiful day though, sunny and frosty. i started my diet, it involves eating five times a day, 5 hrs of cardio ex a week and two toning sessions, 1st weigh in this eve, nearly killed me but first wk down, i never knew tigh muscles could get so sore. i have 19lbs to lose so fingers crossed.
0 -
Tiffany, thank you for the very kind compliment, I just know it's in my best interest to get moving. I'm trying to change some habits so I feel like I'm doing everything I can to avoid a recurrence. I have a really bad sweet tooth! My eating habits have never been the best, I'm just lucky to have a good metabolism.
So sorry for everything you've been thru Rebecca- how exhausting. Glad you found us, welcome! I can totally relate to occasionally wanting to kill the DH- haha! They are just clueless sometimes
hope2, what a great program you've started. Do you find that when you're doing cardio you're even more hungry? I feel like I'm starving to death and I swear I end up eating more and cancel the whole thing out. Ugh. You can do it~ the first one is always the hardest!!
0 -
Hard day. I don't know if anyone else on this board is really in the same place as me (post tx), but I just feel like whining anyway... It's so hard to do all the things I feel like I need to... the diet, the excercise, the supplements, all of it, all the time, and I'm just so tired and I feel so overwhelmed and it's just too damn much. I feel like I went through so much just to stay alive at any cost, and I still want that, but here I am, and I'm not even enjoying it, I'm just here. Making it through the days because that's what you do. I know, I'm depressed, I know, I have every right to be, I've been thru a lot, etc, but knowing doesn't help, you know? I'm just not enjoying much of anything. I feel like I should be so happy- no more chemo! Things went well, I'll probably maybe be ok! And I'm not.
All the stuff that I put off thinking about during tx is just huge now- my ability to have sex is all screwed up and everything's different! My fake boobs aren't settling right and I'm afraid they won't be able to fix em and maybe they won't be so great after all, even tho I waited and waited for the exchange cause then they were gonna be better, not all weird and lopsided! I'm still exhausted, all the time!
Just a bad day. Sometimes it's not so bad. Just felt like saying it all "out loud"...
0 -
Ladym thanks for the encouragement and it is true for Tiffany that you are beautiful. Rebetata i wonder if it was meds that caused problems with your gallbladder as i still have problems with mine and it shows i have no stones, they think it is just faulty, but this has been onging since i started chemo so they thought when i finished treatment in june that it would settle but this is not the case so far but i think this diet is helping it, also i think it may be caused by stomache acid and not gallbladder as my friend had similar symptoms and it turned out to be stomache acid and i am taking two spoons of omega 3,6,9 oil daily since last week and seems to be settling not agrevating it, also taking probiotic supllement and lots of low fat yougurts and a multivitamin.
Jessamine you are in the right place for support, i think what you are feeling is normal but it does lessen with time, i suffered very badly with stiffness and felt like an old woman could not even climb stairs in Jan and now am doing 5 x 1 hr sessions of cardio (treadmill) and 2 x hrs of toning a week, so it does improve, also it can be normal to feel tired for up to 12 months after treatment finishes. i think the hardest things for us really is such a huge change in such a short time, our weight has changed, our physical appearance has changed, our mental health has changed, we can see more lines, saggy skin, scars etc and we dont like them but for a time there is very little we can do about them and also our perceived desirability has changed but it does improve, i did angel reiki for a few turns as it reinforces positive thinking and visualisation that all the cancer cells are being sapped etc. it helped me anyway, i have no children which was hugely upsetting for me and my dad took a turn 7 days after i finished treatment and died, he had been sick for a number of years and was 71. So i wanted to have something positive, after a few sessions at 50 euro a go i felt better mentally, it does not work for everyone but it is worth a chance.
anyway the good news is i was 2.5lbs down so only 16.5 to go.
have a lovely day.
0 -
That place looks great. I'm going to order something from there this weekend, I think
GK
0 -
Hope all you sassy 30s ladies had a great weekend! Mine was jammed packed with my kids football games and then fall festivals. Lots of fun but I am exhausted! I just can't seem to get my energy back. My last chemo treatment was Feb 4th, last rad was I think last week of april, and I had my ooph in June. Good grief this is Oct. I should have more energy by now!!!
0
