TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
Comments
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Sorry I had to post this, it so cool! This is the effect of Huricane Sandy in the Midwest- This is our Lighthouse in Port Washington WI - taken by Fox 6 News. We are on the West side of Lake Michigan about a half hour north of Milwaukee, WI! 0 -
Um, did you notice I finally figured how to post pictures! LOL Much love
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moon - go you with the pictures, lol! I like your hat/hair and the lighthouse pic is amazing - just wish the storm didn't do so much damage. I am worried about everyone in the northeast!
mstori - glad you liked the port name ideas!
all - my hot flashes would be categorized as "severe" since I get lightheaded if I am standing, and I would LOVE to only have 15 a week! I am in the 15 per day category! Mine pre-date BC, they started at total hyst/ooph, and I had them even when on HRT. I can't get through putting on makeup without losing the foundation/blush and having to start over.
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Moon- love the pictures! You look awesome! I was thinking of what I could do with my almost bald head for Halloween.
SpecialK- thanks for the name suggestions for my port! :-)
Oh, and joy! So hot flashes in my future. On a personal note- is it normal for my monthly to be all whacked out this soon after my first tx?0 -
Moon good hat--I said before this is our time of year. hahaha
Ms Tori--good name so u'r saying it's pretty hmmm interesting.
This has been busy today. BTW I put my pics in small size like isial and they come out big--screwing everythin up. So until I figure things out no pics. just me.
And Sol why didn't u add my name for explanations of u'r test? I wondered. (Yea right)
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Moon lovely photo. The waves were quite high in Chicago. Too windy to walk through the park. Worried about tree kill falling on me. Driving to the club (workout) I could see the waves of lake Michigan as I drove down LDS (Lake Shore Drive)
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moon - nice lighthouse pic! wow!!
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Jenn! Love your hair!! It's gorgeous.
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Kitchen,
Well it is always great to "see" you! Glad you checked in.
Solt,
Most of that was Greek to me. My docs are good about putting "A summary for dummies" at the bottom of my heart reports...lol....so I know what they actually mean.
YES! One of my very first symptoms was what I called a "racing heart." I'm very in tune with my heart rate, as I am sure you are as well being a swimmer. I noticed my heart would race, and whenever I mentioned it was told it could be chemo, it could be blah blah blah.
Could have been. But wasn't in my case.
Just keep an eye on it. If you find your heart rate up for any significant period of time you might want to push for an ace inhibitor.....I think, looking back, my heart rate was up because my heart was just starting to get damaged and it kicked into high gear to try and counteract it.
An Ace Inhibitor may have helped...as I've mentioned before there is a clinical trial right now using them for women before starting Herceptin to hopefully stop an potential toxicity.
Pbrain, unless it's changed recently, there are a lot of SSRIs that can't be taken with Tamoxifen.
MS Tori,
You are on the prayer list with my Bible Study Group
Jack,
At one point they measured Tamoxs efficacy by hotflashes. I remember reading that somewhere....several somewheres...but then they discovered that is not an accurate measure of it is working or not.
Moon I love that hat hair! Especially the stripe! Did it come with the hat?
The lighthouse pic is amazing. Nature in all its glory!
RE Steroids....Um, they made me super aggressive......I took pills three days, and got a bag of steroids with chemo....I didn't sleep usually the first few days after...lol...but I had a REALLY CLEAN HOUSE!
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Moon, you look cute as a button!
TonLee, I had no idea about Tamoxifen and SSRIs. Man alive, I hope they don't make me take that drug because they'll have to pry the Paxil out of my boney dead hands first! I wach all of my friends strip down to camisoles in the winter and turn on those little fans and I'm like "no friggin way, people"
And maybe I'm getting a little more excited about the steroids. Yeah, I'll have a moon face and talk like a man, grow more chin hair and beat up someone in my office, but I'll have a spotless house? Hmmmm....
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pbrain - your bald head will distract from the moon face, you actually won't grow chin hair because you won't be growing hair anywhere, not sure about the deep voice, I am sure whoever you beat up will have deserved it, and yes - you will have a clean house - life is full of trade offs, lol!
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You guys are funny!
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kayb - I've been off about 3.5 weeks now. I stopped actually due to sexual dysfunction - unable to achieve the big O. I am reluctant to try an antidepressant (Effexor is the one usually recommended when on Tamoxifen) b/c it can cause loss of libido and who knows what other side effects. So although it likely would help the hot flashes, I suspect it wouldn't resolve the "O" issue for me and could potentially make it worse. That issue is better now that I have stopped the Tamoxifen, so that is definitely what the culprit was. I'm still not 100% decided on this - may change my mind - but since my tumor was really small the actual reduction in my recurrence risk due to Tamox would be so small (~ < 5%, if that) that I'm not sure it is worth the side effects. We shall see. I feel like I went above and beyond doing chemo and herceptin, which is controversial for tumors < 5 mm...and so hoping what I did was enough.
Jenn and moon - love the pics!!!
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Steroid ladies… could you please come to my place and clean?
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Solt u have to know I was teasing, but when I had my muas I srayed steady at 70 for the full year. OK now I can never get my mag. and pot. up to normal and when I was in the hosp. over the summer 2x they were both ctritically low each time I was in 5 days with IV's that when the card. got involved and I take loads of meds for these 2 things but I'm always low and whne they saw I was on hercepton for a full yr. Tey seemed to be more concerned so I do get blood work every 2 weeks now and it' still low, but I also have alot of Diarhha so that's depleting my levels for a lot of things. Now I've had every test poosible for the D and it shows nothing wrong--I even watched my colonoscopy and it was fine not even a polip and every test came out fine. Now they want to do rhem again cuz according to them my heart can get damaged--zi had a couple of tests they were concern about my blood press. It started going up, it has been fine all this time---but I think sometimes when my legs hurt even when u touch them and they have to use the cuff on my le and it hurts so much --so right now I'm in limbo with all tnese new things going on. I ad D all the time I had chemo and Herc. and it has just kept going so my heart is getting involved now. Whic I never thought about and zi really don't know if it's herceptin related and they don't know either---But I did ask the Dr. to see his license--Drivers license he looked about 13 to me. So I'm learning alittle about heart stuff and the relation to blood levels.
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Ok, Sol, good to know. I'm post-menopausal at 52 so I suspect I can keep my Paxil in my boney dead hands. You guys crack me up to the max. I so wishing to lose my chin hair...for good.
So a high heart rate is mainly about chemical stimulation of the heart muscle, which mostly happens from the "fright or flight" chemicals like the catecholamines (epi and nor-epi). It is usally caused by stress. Athletes have a lower heart rate because the heart is a healthier muscle that pumps less often, but more strongly. I dated a guy who played sandlot softball and basketball in a lot of his free time, and his normal resting heart rate was about 40 (tee hee, we were young puppies in Philadelphia). That meant that he didn't have to beat so often to pump blood because he was so good at it. But normal is about 60-100 BPM and it gets a little higher as we age because the heart muscle weakens.
A higher heart rate usually means stress (I want to fight or flee) or poor heart function, but the MUGA/echo will see if the actual heart muscle is not doing so well. If it isn't that, it could be adrenergic (epi or nor-epi) stimulation of the heart, or anemia. If the heart is pumping some pretty pokey blood that isn't doing enough, it will actually kind of know that. The kidneys chat with it all the time.
Sol, PM me with your hematocrit and your RBC count. I just found out a few months before my diagnosis that I'm also anemic. I haven't been for years, so I was amazed since I haven't had a period or donated blood for about 2 years. My blood work wasn't too low, but I'm watching it during chemo whether they want me to or not. Sometimes I nag the doctors because they think something is normal when I don't.
Oh, as a side note, I bought about 100 pairs of false eyelashes from some Chinese guy on eBay tonight. I'll post a picture of me with no hair (chin or head) and eyelashes that reach up to my forehead!!
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kayb - I'm definitely intrigued by what I've been hearing about it. I need to do some research on it...I'm glad to see there is another option to consider.
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kayb - Where did you find out about the ActivaMune - it looks interesting - any intestinal upset with it?
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Just a note on eyelashes. As long as you have a few you'll be fine but if you have no eyelashes you won't be able to use the falsies. They need something to stick to. My eyelashes were sparse on chemo but twice as long as they are now. They are definitely thinner than on chemo thanks to Anastrozole.
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Good Morning Ladies!
Thanks TonLee for putting me on the prayer list. Friday chemo is fast approaching.....and I'm feeling soooo good now that I don't want to go, but I know I need to, and check another one off my list. Booo!
Okay- on the false eyelash front- their is a utube video by a ladie with alopecha and she shows you how to put falsies on and make them stick without eyelash base. Also, she shows how to create realistic eyebrows and how to wear head buffs, tye scarfs. Pretty amazing! In utube, type this in: Eyelineher tutorials.
Also-- still wondering....can chemo stop my periods this early in the game? Only going to my 2nd one this Friday. Sorry to be personal- due Yesterday...nothing. Last week tho- spotted 2 days.0 -
Jenn- love the hair!
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Solt,
I was not anemic, and am not anemic now.
It's hard to say when the racing heart started....because of the other SE from chemo...I'd say I noticed it after my first and especially SECOND Herceptin alone tx.
For several hours, while I sat on the couch and watched tv it raced for up to 160-180 beats per minute. My resting is usually between 46-52. That happened the night after my second only Herceptin.
My MUGA dropped, but because of a switch in equipment and software they didn't catch it until an Xray showed my heart had "enlarged" from original baseline. It enlarged because it was working harder..and that's what muscles do...except it's not good for the heart.
My cousin on the other hand, had a normal MUGA....but the ECHO and HOLTER caught the discrepancy. So in all honesty, if they're saying everything is good for you after all three...then I believe that to the best of their ability, it is.
My Onc allowed and will prescribe ANYTHING that is in trials. Which is how I got the DHEA vaginal cream.
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Wow.....one hurricane and look at all the interesting, informative posts I've missed. Gonna take awhile to catch up. My very own adult education class!
File this in the Goldilocks file....
"
Body Fat May Affect Death Risk Among Breast Cancer Patients
Study found that those who were obese or underweight had worst outlook
October 29, 2012
MONDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Having a very high or low body-mass index or high waist-to-hip ratio raises the risk of death among breast cancer patients, but this association varies some by race and ethnicity, a new study suggests.
Body-mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio are both measures of body fat, and both affect overall and breast-cancer-specific risk of death, according to the researchers.
The researchers analyzed data from more than 12,000 white, black, Hispanic and Asian-American patients in the California Breast Cancer Survivorship Consortium.
"Overall, we found that patients with breast cancer who were underweight, extremely obese or had high levels of abdominal body fat had the worst survival," Marilyn Kwan, a research scientist in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, said in an American Association for Cancer Research news release.
Compared to normal-weight women, underweight women had a 47 percent increased overall risk of death and extremely obese women had a 43 percent increased risk. Compared to those with the lowest waist-to-hip ratio, women with the highest waist-to-hip ratio (highest level of abdominal fat) had a 30 percent increased overall risk of death and a 36 percent increased risk for breast-cancer-related death.
Further investigation revealed that the association between weight and death risk differed by race and ethnicity. Although this study found an association between the two, it did not prove a cause-and-effect link.
"Among non-Latina white women, being underweight and morbidly obese at breast cancer diagnosis was associated with worse survival, yet this relationship was not found in the other racial/ethnic groups," Kwan said. "Instead, African-American women and Asian-American women with larger waist-to-hip ratios had poorer survival, an observation not seen in non-Latina white women and Latina women."
The findings, scheduled to be presented Monday at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, in San Diego, support the common recommendation to maintain a healthy weight throughout life, Kwan said. She noted, however, that the long-term impact of weight on survival after breast cancer might not be the same in all patients.
Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal."
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Ms Tori my last period was 2 weeks before I started chemo. I got insta-pause. (age 49 when started chemo)
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mstori - I was 45 when I started chemo last year and my period disappeared after the first treatment. I believe I had one like a day or two after my first tx (lucky me) and haven't had another one since. So yes, it is normal!
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Ashla,
hahaha...I had to laugh when I read "...high levels of abdominal body fat had the worst survival..."
Um, I've been researching this whole "fat belly menopause" thing... From what I've discovered so far is...when we eat extra calories and fat that we don't burn within 4 hours, it is store immediately in the belly area and then later distributed to other fat pockets around the body.
One of the hormones that makes equal fat distribution happen is ...wait for it.....ESTROGEN!
So I talked with my endo about this. He said the reason women in menopause tend to have bellies is because:
1. They lose muscle mass with age, and then faster as estrogen decreases, which slows the metabolism (and caloric intake should be reduced)
2. When fat is stored after menopause, there is typically not enough estrogen in the body to move it EQUALLY throughout the body.
So for instance, if you eat 3500 extra calories one week. Before menopause it would first be stored in the belly first, and maybe half or more of it picked up later and redistributed to other fat pockets. After menopause, because of the decrease in estrogen, this process is hindered and often times the ability to move half or more of the fat to other areas is compromised.
All resulting in belly fat.
That's his explanation anyway. And right now that seems to meet with what I've found in some very scant research.
Now that I am in menopause, I can def. tell that my body is having a harder time distributing fat....but maybe that's just me..
All that to say...if my Endo is right...then BC tx will likely increase belly fat (because of menopause/chemopause) .... we can't win!
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TonLee - thanks for explaining what you have learned about the belly fat. That is so interesting. does it suggest that we should eat small meals with reduced calories but more often? What is basal metabolism, something like 50-70cal/hour? so if we eat 200 to 300 cal/meal we would burn that off by basal metabolism alone in 4 hours and avoid storing belly fat? What do you think? Doesn't include exercise.
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Tonlee I too have increased belly fat (and love handles) and haven't been able to get quite as tone as just before chemo (although working higher weights)… But I don't think they are talking about women like us. I don't know about you but I know many women that are pre-menopause would kill for my tummy. IMO the study is talking about women that are either very overweight or underweight with unhealthy BMI.
Seriously I'm 5'6" and wear a 6 or 8 pant size. At one time a 4 or 6. Going up one size after menopause is nothing to be concerned about unless you were overweight to begin with.
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Ton lee...
It's diabolical..
I was post menopausal when I got my dx but did not have the really flabby tummy and other issues until treatment. And it happened immediately. The muscles turned to mush and I started to look like Buddha while on chemo.
I think with me that despite being postmenopausal...I still made lots of estrogen . But that was then and now I'm checking to see if the hair is starting to grow on my chest...
Despite working out 5 times a week..I've still got more and uglier belly fat than before. It used to be a little rounded belly....now it's well...never mind!
This heart stuff is very interesting. I'm looking for a cardiologist in the area who may have some herceptin expertise. My gynocologist even commented on my heartbeat.0 -
Ms Tori- very normal mine stopped right after first treatment has not been back since. Its been since Jan 2012 before that at age 43 still was getting them and on time and regular. now nothing ever since.
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