TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
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Oh, and Thanks for the encouragement, Sheila! And many more years for you.
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Go and enjoy Italy, Chachamom! A friend of mine told me "remember, the surgery removed the cancer, the rest of it is to ensure it does not return" You are cancer free, enjoy your trip!! The rest of the work will be waiting for you after you return, no need to think about it. Worry is a misuse of the imagination and you'll need your imagination for Italy!
Thank you for sharing, Sheila!! Wonderful, wonderful news.
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Thanks moonflower! Among most of my friends, I'm considered the "young kid"! Lol. I guess I have more to get used to than BC! I love the quote NWArtLady! CIAO!
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Chacahmom, that initial phase of feeling overwhelmed and trying to learn information will pass. It's rough, though! Once you start getting your head wrapped around it all, and have a plan in place, you will feel MUCH better! This thread does have more younger gals, but I think I read that HER2+ diagnoses tend to happen in younger women (all, I do not remember the source - please correct me if I am wrong on that). In general, though, breast cancer is much common in older women. Only 10% of women under age 45 are diagnosed with bc each year.
So glad you found this thread and the FANTASTIC women here. They have been a huge help to me and will be to you, too! Italy sounds AMAZING. Hope to get there myself someday.
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Chacahmom bring paper and bring notes. All this info IS overwhelming. Dancetrancer is correct more premenopausal women are triple positive (luminal B)… in premenopausal women tend to get more aggressive cancers. But you are not alone. There is a woman in my building diagnosed just a couple of months after me that is also triple positive. She is in her early/mid 60s. Although I was diagnosed at 49 I'm 49+2 now. Your just 49+8. Only 6 years difference.
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Dragonfly Congratulations on the "deportation"!!!
I will be "under" when I get mine out. 
but your description of the procedure didn't sound bad at all.tonlee--you have inspired me to get going and cut out the sugar as much as possible and do more strength and weight training. Your explanation of how to get rid of belly flab was spot on!!! Now I just have to do it!!!
Ashla---We can do this!!!!
Fluff--Do you have to wear a compression garment "girdle" 24/7? I am having the same surgery that you just had the beginning of next month and have a trip to Vegas planned 3 weeks later. I know I can fly 8 days after surgery but was wondering how you are feeling now? It has been 2 weeks right?
Sheila-- you made my day!!!
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A joke....I hope no one thinks it insensitive. Figured if I could laugh at it it's safe....
A 54 year old woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table, she had a near death experience....seeing God, she asked "Is my time up?" God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live".
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color and brighten her teeth. Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of it.
After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.
Arriving in front of God,she demanded , "I thought you said I had another 43 years? Why didn't you pull me from out of the path of the ambulance?
God replied: "I didn't recognize you."0 -
I just found out that my cancer came back. I am triple neg. I had a lumpectomy 2 years ago. What can I be expecting surgery wise? MX? I just got the news today.
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Veggy....
So , so sorry to hear about your recurrence. All I can tell you is what my bS told me as I was trying to decide between BMX and lumpectomy . He said he tells all his patients not to panic if they experience a recurrence. I'll him tomorrow and ask more questions.
Wish you the very best in this journey......0 -
veggy...for local recurrence they will recommend a msx. Did they test the tumor again to see if the receptors have changed, could this be a new primary not a recurrence? I have met 2 women on this board who had a new primary after a lumpectomy (both within 2 years of the first cancer) had msx with no further treatment and are doing fine.
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Haha! Lago!....I like that! 49+8!! I'm preparing my "book of knowledge" that fluff queen recommended today! Everyone on this thread has been amazing! Hugs all around!
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Dragonfly, woo hoo! De-ported. Isn't it awesome? Just makes this cancer thing that much further BEHIND you.
Omaz and SK, I am on the generic and it is pinkish orange. I will tell you this though, I'm already have MUCH MUCH harsher hot flashes, after one single day. Last night I woke up several times sweating more than I ever have, even on chemo.
Ya know. I don't think the Tamox was working for me. I think that was why my periods came back, and came back stronger than ever. I also stopped having hot flashes after chemo. Even though this is no longer considered a reliable indicator that the Tamox isn't working, my Onc was very concerned when I told him I wasn't having hot flashes anymore. So much so, he approved the Ooph so I could go to an AI.
When I reminded him yesterday (haven't seen him in awhile) of the no hot flashes until after the Ooph but they aren't bad at all....he frowned and said I should be having "significant hot flashes" since I don't have much body fat. I poo-poohed the ones I've had since the Ooph because they are so wimpy (and kinda wondered if women freaked out over a little sweat...lol)
Well I am here to tell ya....NOW I KNOW...lol...last night I sweat more than after an hour of cardio! (Do you think hot flashes burn calories?)
I don't think the Tamoxifen worked for me. I really don't. And I don't think my Onc believed it was working for me either. He said that some studies suggest 50% of women don't metabolize Tamoxifen effectively....but those numbers come from aggregated recurrences and conjecture because as of yet, there are no reliable tests to determine efficacy.
I know it's only been a day...does it make me weird that I'm HAPPY (for the moment) to be getting hot flashes enforce??
Tomorrow might be a whole nuther thing
And SUGAR WITHDRAWAL SUCKS !!!!
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Asha I love that joke. I think my mom sent me that years ago.
Veggy sorry about the news. Do let us know if it's local or distant mets. Big difference in treatment.
Saw my onc & NP today. Seems one of those liver "lesions" has gone away. The other 2 they are assuming are cysts and unchanged but still too small to tell. My onc now wants me to have another scan in 6 months. WFT. I asked why so soon. The other was 1 year. She stated I was further out from treatment. Also now they can't give me the results over the phone or email. I have to come in due to HIPPA law. At least I can do that on the same day.
I was told my eyebrows thinning are not from the estrogen sucking drug which I will now call ESD (anastrozole). Not sure what to do about the nails that are still lifted either. Not sure if I'm going to see a dermatologist about these issues yet. I'm trying to cut down on doctors visits not add them.
So my NP says I only have to keep the port 2 years not 3. She was going to check with my onc. Forgot to get that answer. I figure when I do the liver scan I can find out. That will be 1 month shy of 2 years. I might be getting deported sooner rather than later.
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Woo Hoo Lago!
That's great about the lesion and port removal.
My port pulled and pinched which wasn't a big deal when I was sick and didn't do as much, but once I started feeling better...it was a daily reminder and I was SO HAPPY to see it go. I think you will enjoy it too.
The liver thing worries me for you. Why don't they give you a pet? Cysts (from my understanding) tend to dissolve and reform over time like an "internal pimple"....why are these not following that pattern? I may be a little paranoid because of personal experience with medical care that calls everything "ok" until well, it's not.
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Bucky....yes, I am wearing a compression garment 24/7. It is a Veronigue abdominal thing. Now that I am used to it, I might be getting addicted! It makes all my clothes look fabulous. From a compression standpoint, I like it better than spankx.
Age wisw, I am 56...must be young at heart, cause definately not young. Lol
Ton....hot flashes were so bad for me the last year. Almost debilitating. Finally gave up and went on effexor a couple weeks ago. What a difference. Still have them, but they are much, much milder. I can live with these.
Lago..great news on the port. I feel like none of my nails are growing. They just stay the same until they break.0 -
Fluff With polish my nails actually look great. My NP asked me if they were acrylic nails. I laughed. I said I have enough polish on there that they fill in most of the ridges. I'm sure having polish on them all the time helps them from breaking.
I still don't know for sure if the port can come out this fall but I ask again in a few months. For me it's having to deal with the flushing visit and being sure it's hidden when going on interviews etc.
TonLee I feel my onc is following this appropriately if not a bit overcautious. Since there hasn't been any change in those lesions since before treatment (first scan was before surgery) they are probably benign. This can be a problem with scanning with no symptoms. They find stuff that is really nothing but once they find it they have to watch it or test it. I'm sure if she really thought it was something she would be ordering the more detailed and costly pet.
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Your nails look amazing with the polish! I kept mine polished with shellac french all through chemo and herceptin so that I could keep an eye on them. Just starting to use color again.
Bucky....forgot....I am pretty sure this garment is what they wore in the 50's! Here is the link
http://designveronique.com/cgi-bin/ic/dv2/C5.html0 -
Hllck,
Yes the Onc explained it....said estrogen is stored in fat...so women with fat estrogen (ha!) get a more gentle step down because their body circulates small amounts of estrogen from fat after menopause....women who don't have significant fat don't get that little bit, we just go to nil, or really close to nil, which is far more jarring on the body, thus more severe hot flashes.
Just one pill and the hot flashes took off for me. Onc said I shoulda been flashing the whole time on Tamox....oh well.
I haven't really looked up the SE reported here for Femara because I don't want to fool myself...but I dunno how long I can keep from lookin
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TonLee - I am on the pink pill as well, letrozole by mylar.0
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Ok, I looked again and I think it is more orange....I'm too lazy to get up and go look at the manufacturer, but I will tomorrow, maybe....buwhahaha.
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TonLee my sister went through menopause naturally and she had terrible hot flashes. Her weight was up and down. No my hot flashes are so minor now I'm not even sure I'm having them. Even during chemo they weren't sweaty hot.
Now my mom had hot flashes similar to mine and she alway needed to lose about 10lbs.
I need to loose a few that a gained this winter but most still consider me thin… granted not quite as thin as you.
Now I read that women that are overweight seems to get hot flashes more. I really think this is a crap shoot too. No one really knows. Granted I do think the younger you are going into chemopause the rougher the flashes well be. I think it's just a shock to the system.
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tonlee - I think the Mylan one has a capital M on one side. I had surgical menopause 10 years ago, I still have hot flashes multiple times a day, and at night - before and after letrozole. Interesting on the low body fat connection - that would fit me, although unfortunately I have more than I want right now, lol! I had an appt with my PS and he has now cleared me for any exercise I want to do, including bench press and flys. I have an appt with the LE PT next week to design a program to rebuild muscle in the upper body that doesn't cause issues with the LE arm. Should be interesting.
dragonfly - yay on the deporting!
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I was 9 months post meno when was DX.
I am overweight 175lb 5'5''....walk a lot.
Was put on Femara for 5 years which was finished March 2011.
No significant SE at all. Just the nails
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lol@ ashla - loved the joke!
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Lago,
Yeah I am sure there are exceptions, but he gave me the "generally speaking" cover before he began...he also mentioned that the studies he was most familiar with on this were done on women over 60 and natural menopause.
Said there were some new ones out in 2011 about it.
I don't know. It does make sense to me as a rule of thumb because I understand estrogen is made in fat and muscle cells...but as I'm sure you know, there are various "estrogens"...and I don't care enough to research it at this point...lol.
Also the American Fitness Association recommends cutting 200 calories a day from the diet after menopause...just thought I'd throw that out there. heh
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I think I just ate 200 calories in unsalted peanuts.
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hillck - I also asked about testosterone and my oncPA said that the AI inhibits production of both estrogen and testosterone from the precursor.0
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I hate to admit it, but I finally couldn't take it anymore. My hot flashes were like 2 or 3 an hour and dripping. Made me nauseous and my heart pound. I had weaned myself off Pristiq that was supposed to help that, but didnt for me. I told the onc I wanted to try effexor, which is the older Pristiq and has a generic. Been on it for two weeks and it has worked wonders. I still have a lot of flashes, but not dripping wet. So much milder. I think today I went almost the whole day without one.
The Mylan brand is a white round pill with a big M on one side. It is what I take.
Lago, you are very healthy. We went to Olive Garden for dinner. I very healthily got pasta fagol soup and salad. Resisted the breadsticks until the very end and then inhaled two of them as I couldn't walk away. Good thing that was all that was left in the basket!
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fluff....I do inhale my food too. LOL
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Fluff, I know what you mean. I have been doing really well eating healthy and exercising, and I just inhaled the rest of the piece of chocolate tort cake and chocolate Easter bunny that my DD left sitting on the table. Oy!
Hmmm, I am pretty thin now, just 105 pounds, but no hot flashes. I really wish I would get them so I would feel like te tamoxifen was working. I haven't had a bad one with any sweating since my first AC treatment. But still no periods since last April, so I guess that means it is working. I think the 30 pounds I lost may be helping with that as well. At 49 maybe I'd be in menopause now no matter what any way.0
