Australian Sisters
Comments
-
I hate ginger too.
Sue - did you switch from Arimidex to the aromasin? Or something else?
I'm still on the Arimidex, and some of the joint pain seems to be easing. Of course that could be from all the glucosamine etc that I've been taking to help it lol.
I am getting tireder though. I'm hoping that once Herceptin is finished that will help. It's keeping my red blood cells low. I had extra bloods taken this time, and my thyroid function is a bit low, I have a very low iron level and low vitamin D.
I've seen the results as they were with my normal blood results at the H treatment. Haven't spoken to my dr about it yet though. Not sure what he'll reccommend yet.
Trish
xoxo
0 -
Trish - I switched from Arimidex to Aromasin a few weeks ago. I told my onc I felt old, so he thought we'd try the other one. I'm still getting hot flushes, so it's working.
0 -
I swapped from Arimidex to Femara Oct. 2010 and it was the best thing I had ever done! I was not only old before my time on Arimidex I had almost no QOL. The only thing that slows me down now is my arthritis and that has nothing to do with the BC. I still get the hot flushes to the point I feel like I'm melting from the inside out but hey.......as long as this little yellow pill keeps working that's just fine with me.
Trish, the Arimidex made me want to sleep twenty four seven.
Love n hugs girls. Chrissy
0 -
I don't know what to do - I know the Arimidex is causing lots of issues, but I've heard so many good things about it - how it's one of the "big guns", so I'm frightened to switch in case whatever I go onto isn't as good.
I see the onc on 23 Dec. Do you think I should discuss it with him? I'm tired all the time, but if I don't take the melatonin, I can't sleep which makes me more tired.
Trish
0 -
Trish - I reckon I feel a bit more enrgetic on Aromasin but it's only been 3 weeks. I had been on Arimidex for a year.
Sue
0 -
Trish, I am on Femara too with minimal side effects. My onc said that Arimidex and Femara are very similar. I have read good reports about the efficacy of Femara. I take the name brand, not generic.
Ladies, I am reading here but too busy posting on other threads to post much here.
I want to let you know about a study that I am enrolling in so will try to post again soon.0 -
Trish, if you can't function reasonably well and it sound like you are having trouble doing that, I would indeed bring it up with your doc. As I said earlier Arimidec for me was nasty where as the Femara is fine. Also, a coulpe of weeks ago my doc gave me a jab of Vit K to help with inflamation and energy.....wow! A couple of days after I was no longer just sitting and I haven't stopped yet....lol. It might pay to mention that as well or go see a good naturapath.
Hope you feel better soon.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
0 -
Hi everyone,
I'm early joining here since my lumpectomy (wide excision) is only tomorrow. But I already know that I'll be part of this group in a few weeks when I start chemo...
My big question - did anyone manage to keep working their desk job through this?? I love my job. Today I received my letter of offer for the promotion (in name, position name and pay only but will still be doing the same job) that I have just been given.
I know work will be supportive since I work in oncology research and I will be able to do at least one day a week working from home and will have enough leave to have days off every few weeks. I don't want to give up/lose my job. It's my sanity break...
regards Jenn0 -
Hi Jenn and welcome. As for working through treatment, it really depends on how you tolerate them. Some girls have very few problems while others have many. It may just be that you have a day or two each treatment. Some girls have organized their chemo for either Thursday or Friday which gives them the weekend for recovery.
Sure hope you have few se's.... ...... Good luck!
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
Thanks ladies, I'll talk to him about it when I see him, it may be worth the change.
Jenn - glad you found us.
I worked through chemo - desk job - and it was ok. I had 3 rounds of FEC and was supposed to have 3 rounds of Taxotere.
Working during FEC was very doable. I'd have the day of treatment off, work for 2 days and that's when the side effects started to hit. They weren't too bad on FEC.
The main problem was the fatigue. I don't think anyone who hasn't done chemo can quite understand how tiring it is. I say I worked, but I couldn't work a full day. I'd start at 8.00am (I'm a morning person lol) and depending on how close to the treatment day I was I'd get to around 1.00pm or 2.00 before I hit the wall.
Taxotere didn't agree with me at all - I had some pretty nasty reactions to it and only did 2 treatments. I still did manage to work through some of it though, but generally only a few hours a day. I had to have a whole week off after each treatment of T though.
The side effects I had don't affect everyone though - you may sail through chemo with only fatigue and minor se's, so don't worry about it yet. I didn't have a job where I could work at home, and I live a good 50 minute drive from where I was working - so that added to the day.
You should be fine, and given where you work, I'm sure they will be totally supportive of you. They've given you a promotion knowing what you'll be going into over then next months, so give it a go - I'm sure it will work out for you.
Thinking of you today.
Trish
xoxo
0 -
Hi ladies
I hope everyone is well. As I said in my previous post here, I appreciate and read this thread but I don't always post as I mainly read the threads on my smart phone and it's not easy to type long messages using it. I do post to quite a few threads though, especially to help the newbies now that I am more knowledgeable about BC (unfortunately).
I have passed my one year mark since diagnosis, my hair is growing back and my annual mammogram and ultrasound were good. I feel life is almost returning to normal and should be in 2012. I haven't been working so have been doing a bit of travelling and generally relaxing since I finished active treatment in July, but I will be starting work again in the new year.
Just want to let you know about a study that I am participating in. It's a wellness program about diet and exercise and their impacts on menopausal symptoms and general health indicators. The study is being conducted by Queensland University of Technology and the Wesley (Hospital) Research Institute. It's a self directed program over 12 weeks. I have received a workbook and information to follow and implement about diet and exercise. My diet has been quite good already (I follow the Anti Cancer diet) but I am being encouraged to drink more water (2 litres a day) and exercise for 150 minutes per week. The recommended diet also stresses eating lots of F&V and getting 1300 mg of calcium from food per day. I am afraid I have not been exercising very much since my diagnosis so I am using this program as a motivator.
I am also involved in a longitudinal study being conducted by the Cancer Council Qld. I am definitely interested in participating in clinical trials and have registered for this with Wesley Research Institute.
I am interested in the news about Zometa from San Antonio. I am still not clear if it would benefit me - menopausal as a result of chemo - but will ask my onc about it when I see him in January. If any of you are on Zometa after chemo I would be interested to know. (I take Femara as I am 90% ER and PR).
Wishing you all happy Christmas and most importantly good health in 2012!
0 -
Hi Racy,
I've had 3 Zometa infusions so far - my onc lied to get it for me. I was several years post menopausal at diagnosis and on HRT at the time. My bone denisty was quite good for my age. One of my onc's other patients (who I'm friends with) has become osteopenic from Arimidex and had to stop taking it - he also started her on Zometa.
Sue
0 -
Yes Sue, I wondered whether it would be covered by insurance. I had the bone density test and my spine was fine but my hip maybe a tiny bit below normal such that, at the time, my onc said the bone strengthener was not necessary. I will see what he says when I raise it on January 17th.
0 -
Hi everyone
Racy - you'll have to keep us updated with how your wellness program goes. Sounds like it is a good motivator. I too eat fairly well - sometime too well lol - but don't exercise enough. I am starting to though, my DH has a home gym that he uses a lot and I'm starting to work out in it too.
I just wanted to let you know that I'm feeling wonderful! I realised late last week that my aches and pains have diminished a lot and I'm sleeping really well (mind you I'm taking the melatonin which is helping). I feel great! I've pulled myself out of the depths of despair that I was starting to drown in, and everything looks so much better. Sleeping properly definitely helps a lot, and having fewer aches and pains also helps a lot.
Hope you are all doing well too
Trish
xoxo
0 -
Good girl Trish - wish I had some motivation
Racy - I think it's covered under the PBS if you fit the criteria - hence his playing with the truth.
0 -
Trish, happy to hear that you are beginning to feel on top of the world.
I haven't been able to excercise much due to the knees not being what they should be so I've been a bit restricted but I have an appointment with the orth surgeon on the 19th so hopefully I will be looking at atleast one being replaced early in the new year...........I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The Vit K shot my doc gave me a couple of weeks ago sure has worked a treat for me and I will be lining up for another. The energy has been phenominal but due to the knees there have been lots of stops and starts. Sometime soon I hope to get it all working together!
Racy what you are doing sounds really interesting, please keep us updated on how it all goes.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
0 -
I just started reading the study materials today. There is a lot of info about prevention of cardio vascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis plus other women's issues.
There was a tip for dealing with hot flushes which involves deep breathing in and out for 7 seconds each (in and out) from when you feel a flush coming on and through it. I am trying that technique today.
I have started drinking more water and adding more veges at lunch to increase my overall intake.
I had to have my BMI and waist/hips ratio measured plus blood, saliva and urine tests. We all know about BMI but I didn't know it's unhealthy if your waist/hip ratio is greater than 0.86. This means you have excess fat stored around the middle which is a risk factor for disease. My measurement was exactly 0.86 LOL.
I am a petite person and my BMI is about 22 but I still have excess belly fat. After reading the article about carbs being a risk factor for BC, I am cutting back on carbs and this might help me lose the fat.
The advice in the program is consistent with my onc's advice - exercise and lose weight. Oh, and get back to work. He has been saying that since last January and I am still not working LOL.
So you can see ladies that it's a great program. I have goals to achieve so I will report back on my success.0 -
Racy, is that material available on the net do you know? I'd love to read it.
0 -
Hi there ladies, thought I'd pop in and say hello. I've been a bit shy about jumping in here. Racy had told me of this link (thanks) and then Trisha-Anne PM'd me, so seems to me like this is a nice friendly little place to come for a chat.
A little about me. Well I live in Bunbury WA. I've been here for a year. Prior to that I lived in Canberra for 20 years. Í was working at the local hospital in Administration and the Breast Bus was parked in the parking lot. I was asked to put some Breast Awareness flyers in the staff rooms and when I came back to my desk, I thought, heck, I'm 51 I really should go and have one done, so there and then I rang and made an appointment for a mamogram. That was back in October. Then I got a call back for another mamogram about a week later, then I went up to Perth for a core biopsy and within 2 days ... voila, Cancer!
I have some DCIS but spread to IDC apparently very small but agressive, so Grade 3 because it's a nasty little bugger apparently. Last Friday I had the lumpectomy and SNB and am now just waiting for my follow up appointment on Tuesday to get the results. My BS did say post operatively that upon initial inspection in the theatre, margins seemed clear and no node involvment, which is a big whoo hoo, but nothing definate until they could look at it in the laboratory. I will then also find out if the cancer is hormone receptive or not.
I am fundamentally a very positive person and I feel that I will be just fine. On the plus side, I was reduced from an F cup down to a C cup on both sides as the girls were way to big and bothersome and apparently they don't radiate well. At this stage I will be doing radiation once I have healed. I only had the drains in for 2 days and so far I am doing really well.
I must say I just LOVE my new breasts. I know there is an underlining reason why I now have them, but talk about every cloud having a silver lining hey?
Cheerio of now
Kate
0 -
Hi Kate, that is a fortuitous story about how your cancer was found... talk about being in the right place at the right time. It's fortunate that you were inspired to make an appointment.
I've never been to WA but I believe it's beautiful and would like to go there some time.
It sounds like you are doing well. I'm glad. Keep us posted.
I can't say enough that this is a great site!0 -
Welcome Kate!!
0 -
Thanks everyone. So where do you all live? I bet we are all spread about. This sure is a big country.
WA is beautiful. We had never been before we came over for a family wedding in 2009. We just fell in love with it, and all of my husbands family are here, so we thought why not make a big huge sea change while we are still "young" enough to resettle. It didn't go very well though. Within 3 days of moving here my husband got incredibly ill, to cut a long story short, I just thought he was going to die. It was such a miserable christmas as he was fading away in front of our eyes. He lost 9 kilos in 7 days and in turns out that he has Crohns Disease. Bought on by stress! Anyway he is fine now and just can't get too stressed or it will flare up again. Hence with my BC I have been really downplaying it, no biggie etc. He hasn't been to any of my appointments, which suits me fine. I have been with my wonderful sister in law who has been carrying all the worry for both of us. I then tell him the facts but not the implications. I really kept saying how tiny it was and how could something so little be bad (yeah I know, I know....)
Then he couldn't get work in his field (IT). So he went driving a front end loader for a couple of months and his last job was cleaning out the inside of cement trucks. When I say cleaning out, it is actually using a jack hammer to crack off all the dried on cement. Very hard work. Luckily now he has a good job back in front of a computer, so I am sincerely hoping that all the rough stuff is behind us. 2011 has not been a great year
OK, well I tend to babble - as you can probably tell..
Would love to hear your stories and how you came to be here and what you are facing.
Cheerio for now
Kate
0 -
Racy and I are in Brisbane, Chrissy is in the Claire Valley in Sth Aust. Trish is in Canberra - so were are all really spread out
0 -
Hi all,
What a week! At my follow-up yesterday we hit the depths when we were told that although my tumour came out last Friday with clear margins it was larger than originally thought (2 cm instead of 1.1 cm) and had moved up from Grade 2 at biopsy to Grade 3. We also found out that my one sentinal lymph node was 5mm, over-run with cancer cells that had grown out it. My tumour and lymph node both also had blood supplies :-(.
We had to make a decision within 5mins whether I was willing to go back into surgery today (the last available chance before Christmas) to have axillary node clearance! Both my husband I had been researching this all week to see what the stats were like and had already decided on no clearance since I have to have chemo and herceptin and radiotherapy anyway, but the size and extent of cancer in the node was quite shocking and we both left wondering if we'd just been really stupid.
Since I turned down the clearance my surgeon was happy to give me referrals for a brain,chest,abdo, pelvis CT scan and a bone scan...
This morning I did the CT and they found nothing :-) !!!!!! Not even any enlarged axillary lymph nodes where we were expecting some :-)
Today has been a good day...
regards Jenn0 -
Wow Jennt28 you''ve been on a roller coaster this week haven't you? But it's great that CT didn't find anything. A positive way to finish what has been a crappy week for you.
Cheers
Kate
0 -
Exactly the word I was thinking of - 'rollercoaster'. BC can be like that and you tend to seize on the good news to offset the bad.
I'm not sure about the node removal issue for HER2+, Jenn. The info on BCO didn't seem to mention it. Did you just have the one sentinel node removed?
You would think in Sydney the docs should be up with the latest protocols. Actually, I was surprised you had to have a prep the day before your surgery. I just had the dye injected and the SN removed at the same time as my surgery, which seems to be more usual these days. I imagine though that, working in the cancer field, you know how to access the best treatment.
At least you should have a chemo free Christmas. Let us know how you go with the oncologist.0 -
Hi Jenn - welcome. I agree with Racy - might be safer to get those nodes out of there. There could be more positive nodes - that's why they like to take them all, although opinions are changing on that I think. It's actually quite good to be triple positive because we have herceptin and the hormone drugs to treat us. Sorry you've joined the club though.
(((HUGS)))
Sue
0 -
Those nodes may have residual disease but if it's not enough to show on CT (when they were looking specifically at them) then it's at a level that should be "mopped up" by the chemo, herceptin and radiotherapy so I'm quite comfortable with my decision based on the published studies I have seen.
I never imagined that I'd be applying my stats and odds ratios knowledge to myself....
Have a good weekend everyone. I'm off tomorrow with my short wig to the hairdresser to get her to cut my hair to match the style of the wig. It's going to be hard to have this well loved length cut off.
regards Jenn0 -
Good luck with the hairdresser visit Jenn - I personally didn't get a wig - too hot up here in Brissy. I did try one on but it looked ridiculous. After the first treatment, when my hair started to fall out, I went to the hairdresser for a No 1 buzz cut - they didn't charge me for that visit or the subsequent ones. I just wore Buffs www.planetbuff.com - they were SO great. See if you can go to a Look Good Feel Good session - you come away with lots of free makeup.
I do agree with your decision to not have all of the nodes taken - who wants more surgery. I had noticed research implying it's not necessary. Great that nothing else showed on the CT scan.
Sue
0 -
Wow - I have a weekend where I don't check on here and look what happens, everyone turns up :-) I spent most of yesterday dead heading my roses (we have 55 rose bushes, so was a big job) and after that I didn't feel much like doing anything, so sat on the lounge and read a book lol
Welcome Jenn and Kate, this is a nice group.
Kate - you have been through so much this year - and I'm with you - I hope 2012 is a much better year. I understand how you don't want to worry your husband, and it's good that you have a great sister in law to talk to - but you can also use us to rant, vent, cry and celebrate with - we are all here for you.
Jenn - you have a similar dx to me - although I'm 12 months ahead of you. I also have ILC, I was "lucky" enough to have 2 different cancers in the same breast. so a lumpectomy wasn't an option. I'm a bit amazed too that your snb wasn't done at the same time as the surgery, that does seem to be the standard in Australia. I went in quite early in the morning, checked into hosptital, had the radioactive "stuff" injected and the sentinal nodes identified, then went into surgery - the blue dye was done while I was under.
I so sorry that you had a worse finding than what you were expecting. No-one thought I'd have a positive node either, but - don't stress over it, the chemo and herceptin will mop it up.
When both of you know what chemo you'll be doing, let us know - we'll hold your hand through it all.
((((hugs))))) to you both
And hello to Sue, Chrissy and Racy too lol - didn't want you to think I was ignoring you :-)
Trish
xoxo
0
