TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
Comments
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meglove - I had a total hyst/ooph many years ago for numerous uterine fibroids - there were so many I looked pregnant, and I had been bleeding heavily for months. Actually, what prompted me to go to the doctor in the first place was that I had a number of the symptoms of ovarian cancer as well. Along with numerous fibrocystic masses in both breasts over the years I have also had many ovarian cysts, this is pretty common - one larger than a lemon that ruptured in 1985- OMG, pain worse than labor. They did a pelvic US (interesting experience is all I will say on that) and they did not have any comments on any issues with the ovaries. I tried birth control pills for the next 6 months trying to regulate the bleeding to no avail, so did the surgery. The doctor advised removing the ovaries because I was 45 at that point, not having any more babies. Post-op pathology revealed a 3cm mass in the right ovary of the type that can become malignant, so I was relieved that they were gone! I think lots of fibroids is pretty common, and I think the hemorrhagic ovary was bleeding at some point in time - may have been an old rupture. Sounds like it may be a good thing all that equipment is gone, although it may open the door to some SE for you - hot flashes, vaginal dryness, etc. - if you have not already been experiencing that. Honestly, I was happy that by the time I was diagnosed with BC one thing I didn't have to worry about was any issues with the uterus or ovaries.
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SpecialK, Thanks so much for the explanation. My gyn sounded like nothing wrong but I am glad I asked a copy of pathology report.
Good night everyone!
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Amy, I guess everyone says stupid things sometimes, but for an oncologist to say that to a patient just takes the cake. I think I would have drop kicked her. I do agree with the exercising helping though. Now on tamoxifen, I feel much less stiff on days that I get exercise and stretch. And I remember a nice walk giving me some energy during chemo. My youngest was 13 at the time. I don't know how women with young kids do it. I was pretty tired the whole time.
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cypher - was you MO ok with you swimming, mine said not to swim in a public pool, use a public hot tub, or swim in a lake or river during chemo. I guess if I had my on private pool I could have gone swimming. I think that it would have been easier than walking many days.
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Mine said the same thing, no public swimming pools or spas and no rivers or lakes.
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YES as an environmental health professional I'd recommend to stay away from public swimming pools during chemotherapy! They are cess pools of bacteria and seldom are the chemical sanitizers in the correct range. I know this because I supervise health (including pool) inspectors
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So I went today for my second post-chemo Herceptin infusion. A few days before the first Herceptin-only, I had an echocardiogram. The echo facility failed to fax the results to my MO as I had instructed them to do, so the MO's office had to call and have it faxed to them. They told me that my EF was 55 so I was good to go on Herceptin. That was 3 weeks ago. Today I asked for a copy of the echo report, but didn't really look at it until just now. It's for a woman with my exact name, but it's not my report! The first odd thing I noticed was that the date of the test was not right. Then I didn't recognize any of the doctor names on the report, and found the woman's birthdate on page 2 - she's 19 years older than me! So now I have to wait until Monday to try to get the correct report! Man, I hope my real EF is as good as that 80 year old woman's!
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Speaking of bacteria, I just saw this headline today. Pretty amazing.
Breast Milk Contains Over 700 Bacteria Species
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Breast milk is pretty amazing! I breast feed my babies since it is amazing for them not to mention its suppose to lower the risk of breast cancer. There are 4 woman in my family who have had BC including my mother. Anyway I still ended up with it and in my ducts wth!
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Amy when you read these "risk factors" they only put you at a slightly higher risk. I never had kids, caucasion, etc but with all my risk factors my chance of getting the disease at my age of diagnosis was still less than 2%.
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Cypher,
I had 8 cycles of chemo. Four AC and four Taxotere, every three weeks. Then started on weekly herceptin when i started the taxo.
Of late, i started going back to the gym, too. Doing 45 minute circuit with mostly kettlebells intrespersed with a few minutes of cardio on the agility ladder. Started with the lightest weight and now steadily progressing to heavier weights. Fitness goal is to lower my cholesterol and lose at least 10 pounds in three months at the most.0 -
Pbrain, Herceptin, bloody noses, and anemia? That’s news to me. I was anemic during part of chemo, not sure if I am now. I have definitely gotten more bloody noses in the last few months, though I occasionally had them before. I didn’t realize those were related. It sounds like you are doing better, very happy to see that!
Anyone heard from MsTori btw?
SpecialK, I find it interesting to read how many of us have had issues with fibroids and such. I haven’t read that as being a risk factor but it makes me wonder.
Linda, there are no swimmable lakes or rivers round here! I actually think a public pool is safer generally because they have professionals monitoring the water all the time. He said not to go at the low point in my cycle. I semi-ignored him – I went, but I went earlier in the day, before it became infested with children. The lap swimmers don’t worry me. They filter the water all night long so it’s very clean in the morning. I think swimming is a lot harder than walking! But of course with swimming you can get out as soon as you feel tired, so there is that. Hmm, interesting comments, Steiner. Well this pool is pretty clean and well managed, and in any case I got through chemo without any kind of infection so I guess it was ok.
Relda, hilarious! Did your onc think you were going to swim in the LA river? Blech!
Amy, I agree. Wth.
Bcbarbie – I must be confusing you with someone else, I’m sorry. I’m also sorry you had to do chemo, but you should get credit for having gone through it! Wasn’t there someone with a really small tumor who was not going to have chemo?
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cypher - you might be thinking of KimbytheSea. She had a very small Her2+ small tumor and her doctors said she didn't need chemo.
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LeeA, you're right. Clearly no chemo brain for you yet! Btw, how are you feeling today?
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Hi cypher -
Admittedly, I had to do a quick search of key words to confirm the name (I remembered her mentioning Ventura so it was pretty easy to find).
First chemo was January 2 (Wednesday). I felt great Thursday (almost too great, if that makes sense - obviously steroid induced) and by late Friday afternoon I could feel the slowdown coming. Today, a bit queasy but I'm taking the anti-nausea meds and trying to drink a lot of water.
I haven't gone for my mile walk yet (if that tells you anything
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cypher - the bloody nose thing is more likely to be due to fluctuation in platelets, rather than low RBC/Hgb/anemia - the chemo and Herceptin are creating irritated tissue, runny nose, and then low platelets make your blood unable to clot well. Platelets fluctuate wildly during chemo because they have such a short life in the body - that is why some days you have a bloody nose, but not other days. The whole fibroid thing makes me nervous - I have had fibrocystic breast lumps - I had half a dozen in each breast according to the post BMX pathology. I had ADH and ALH in the left breast, a cancerous lump in the right breast, both ovaries had numerous cysts over the past 30 years, and along with the fibroids termed "too numerous to count" on the path report, a pre-malignant 3 cm lump in the right ovary. Two years before the BC diagnosis I had a benign 2cm tumor in my right calf muscle, of the type that is usually found in the torso or heart - WTF? I am very good at making lumps - everywhere! Where will the next one be? I try not to spend too much time thinking about it...
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LeeA, I think you should take a walk around the block. Forget the whole driving to the gym etc. thing. Once you've gone up a block, you might feel like you want to go another block. Or you might feel like you want to go home. But trust me, you'll feel better if you take that walk, even if it's only a 5 minute walk.
SpecialK, I'm lumpy like that as well. So was my mom. Don't you find it peculiar that there don't seem to be any studies linking this with BC, at least er+ bc? Or last time I googled it anyway. Or maybe there isn't a link, but all those benign lumps just give us a lot more to fret about and make bad lumps hard to find....
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I can feel lumps in my breasts since I was 10 years old. Had first period before I turned to 10. Started to see the doc for my lumps by then. I asked one doctor when I was 24 if I could have the lumps removed. He said since I haven't had kid yet, the surgery would destroy the milk duct so I should wait after I had kid. Then After I had my daughter, there was still milk coming out at each mammo from the right breast where the cancer was, even after two years I finished breast feeding.
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cypher - precisely the reason I did a BMX when I was a lumpectomy candidate!
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I agree wtih cypher LeeA, do what you can do, and if it's just a walk around the block, it will make you feel better.
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Walk Lee Walk!
Cysts in the breasts. I had a period in life when I had so many and was constantly having them drained and several scares but nothing. Had a solid cyst removed years ago and my onc said that was the normal cycle for BC patients. Hmm! I've passed that information on to my friends who have had any breast cysts so that they are very, very vigilant.
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cypher - I'm at the gym sitting in the car after walking a little over a mile. Waiting for DH to finish the rest of his workout inside. Then we're off to find Gin Gins (ginger candy). The steroids (IV only) seem to be gone. No more ruddy face - at least at the moment.
The nurse at the breast surgeon's office told me she once had a patient who didn't loose her hair because she used garlic shampoo. She thought the woman had bought it at a Korean market. Has anyone else heard of this? I need to spend more time googling it as it sounds pretty iffy to me.0 -
I had two or three different breast cancer cyst scares over the years plus had a pretty large uterine fibroid. I was definitely in the fibrocystic breast category. For years! First scare was at age 31 or 32. Same breast each time then eventually cancer. I have wondered if those cysts rupturing in the breast don't start some kind of precancerous chain reaction.
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I had fibrocystic breasts too and was getting mammos every 6 months for 3 years before they finally decided something looked suspicious. Of course the whole time they were telling me that fibrocycstic breasts had nothing to do with cancer. Go figure.
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Bren: I've always been told that too and I think they still say that! Yep, go figure - there has to be some connection!
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Heard the same thing. I had a cyst that I felt and got a mammogram and US on four years before the BC and in the same spot. And before that I had an infection while breast feeding in the same spot. I think there is some kind of connection. It's one of the reasons I didn't feel compelled to get a bilateral mastectomy. I've never had any issues in the other breast.
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SpecialK, that is a good point, it just sounds so traumatic to me, and the PS didn't give me a lot of good reconstruction options given that I'm a swimmer. Like Kay_G, it always seemed like the really lumpy stuff was on the right side, and the cancer turned up in the lumpiest part of the right side. And the lumpy part is pretty much gone now... so hopefully it will be ok. That's what I'll tell myself anyway!
LeeA, yeah! I'm glad you went. Don't you feel better now? SOunds like you do becasue you did a little over a mile. Garlic shampoo? Sounds pretty sketchy to me.... And wouldn't you run around smelling like garlic? I mean, probably worth it to not lose your hair but probably not worth it if you're going to lose it anyway!
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Ok I googled it -- looks like it might be worth trying when you're done to try to help it grow back faster. Not all kinds of chemo make you lose your hair as much as taxotere -- I think it's not necessarily a sure thing with taxol, but I could be mistaken.
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Arlene - walk, Lee, walk reminded me of run, Forrest, run :-)
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Bren58 - a radiologist told me at age 32 that I didn't have to run in for lumps all the time because I had fibrocystic breast disease!
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cypher, agreed - sounds sketchy and the smell might do me in!0
