TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
Comments
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Ooohh, poutine is fries topped with cheese curds (protein, right??) and then gravy poured on top. A lovely French-Canadian invention...in moderation!
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Mmmm, then add some green onions, and bacon bits. Delish!
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My birthday was last Thursday on the 7th… but Happy Birthday to you Shore!
Foreverchanged Yes I really do live about 2-5 minutes walking distance from the Wiener Circle. I actually only ate there once. I'm from the east coast. I want relish on my dog and no tomatoes, no Kosher pickle spear, onions OK. But I do love the hot sport peppers. I also prefer the buns that lobster rolls come in rather than the steamed poppy seed bun. I never put ketchup on a dog though. source info
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I don't think I would make a good French Canadian - poutine does not sound like something I would enjoy....
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Happy Birthday, shore1!
Re: poutine - I know a guy (online) who lives in British Columbia and he loves that stuff - that and Tim Horton's coffee.
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Lago, happy belated! Shore, happy birthday.
Welcome Seakos. Foreverchanged, congrats and enjoy your poutin! I have to admit I do put ketchup on my hot dog. So sad, aina Hey? I'll just get a drink from the bubbler. (Sorry, pure Milwaukee-ese) much love to all.0 -
Hot dogs.....at a ball American, never at home. They just don't taste the same, with catsup, mustard and relish. And I don't want the fancy all beef ones, I want the cheap skinny ones. Went to a high school basketball game the other night and ate one. It was sooo good! I had to force myself not to get another one.
That pouting stuffs sounds awfully good. At Outback Steakhouse, there is another couple that has to order thier mound of fries that are smother in cheese, bacon. Bits, and then ranch dressing on the side to dip. I try not to go to outback so I won't be tempted.
Happy belated bday, Lauren!0 -
My husband loves Sabrett's hot dogs (the ones they sell on the street corners in NYC - and other places as well?). His entire family loves hot dogs. I told him it should be part of their family crest (a string of wienies wrapped around some pasta).
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shore - Happy B-Day too!
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Ok, if you've got a Costco, gotta get one of theirs. It's a buck fifty for a hotdog and a soda. It's a Hebrew national hotdog, really good, and you can buy just ONE. That way you get your craving covered with no lonely ones hanging out in your fridge! LOL
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LeeA: too funny...I had a Tim Horton's coffee (albeit decaf) on the way to chemo!!
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Congrats forever changed!
Happy B-day Shore!
Oh Moon I just love Costco. With all the samples they give, I have never bought any of their snack bar food though. One thing I discovered, for myself any way, it's much easier to stick to moderation with things you have to cook. So I don't mind having hot dogs in the freezer. But if I start eating from a bag of pretzels, watch out. Better just not to have it in the house except for my DH, DS and DD who insist.
My oldest son is in school in Minneapolis. I love the Dunns Bros. coffee there. We only have Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks here, no good local coffee shops, that I know of any way.0 -
Moonflower: I also have a weakness for the Costco hotdog special!!
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Moonflwr912 they put ketchup on hot dogs and say bubbler in Boston too. Never did pick up that ketchup on hot dog thing. I've actually heard the dogs are great at Costo. Granted all the salt in a hot dog would put on 2-3lbs on me since I retain fluid now. My dad loves them.
Kay G I'm the same way. Try to avoid buying things packaged in boxes and bags.
Thanks again for the additional birthday wishes.
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Happy belated bdays to Lago and Shore! I so agree with the questions related to breast cancer research priorities in this NYTimes article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/health/report-faults-priorities-in-breast-cancer-research.html?_r=00 -
For all you wonderful ladies who have been through this already, I have a question for you. I am scheduled to meet with 2 different surgeons over the next week about ALND surgery. I am fairly sure I do not want to have the surgery since they want to do rads too. But I want to get all the information I can to make an informed decision. So my question is: What are some questions that I need to ask the surgeon?
On my list already are: Does it need to be a complete ALND, what is the recovery time, what are the dos and don'ts during recovery, what are the risks of axillary web syndrome and LE.
I am sure there are many more questions I should ask so any input would be most appreciated.
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Bren I had axillary web syndrome in my right arm that only had 4 nodes. With PT it was worked out and I never got LE. Now the left side I had 10 nodes, no axillary web syndrome but got minor LE.
Many surgeons don't really know a lot about LE. My BS told me my chance of getting LE was less that 5% and because I was so thin probably 3%. I didn't even get Rads and I got it. Now the studies do show if there's a family history (my mom & her uncle have/had LE in their legs).
But if you've already had SNB years ago why do they want to do ANLD now? Did they feel something in your nodes?
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Bren,
Have you had an MRI or Pet scan for the axilla area?
I'd ask for that. And if nothing showed up, I'd just take rads and leave my axilla.
But of course I don't know your situation as well as you and your docs do
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Happy birthday Shore!
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Sorry, I should have added more info. I had a lump under my arm that was taken out back in the fall. Before surgery it was thought to be scar tissue from the BMX or a cyst. It turned out to be cancer. After that surgery a PET and an MRI showed 2 other "hot spots" in the axilla but everything else was clean. So now I am doing neo adjuvent chemo (I have 2 more rounds to go) and will have to decide on the ALDN and RADS. I am hoping to have another MRI to determine if the Chemo has shrunk the tumors.
Hopefully I have not left anything else out!
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I am not sure they will be able to quantify a risk for you, but what I'd want to know is what are the chances that there would be cancer there that is not destroyed by radiation. That would be the only reason to have surgery. It's a tough decision, but I can tell you that my presurgery MRI (after neoadjuvant chemo) showed no cancer, but the pathology after surgery found some cancer, and still some cancer in two nodes. It's possible radiation would have destroyed that any way, I don't know. I did end up with LE, but I think I was going to get it from the rads any way even if I didn't have the ALND, but who knows. I was also told that because I was thin, I most likely wouldn't get LE, so you can't really count on that.
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I echo what Lago said about surgeons not knowing a lot about LE. The first surgeon I saw said he didn't know what I was talking about when I asked him about it. Needless to say, I got a second opinion and have decided to go with a different surgeon.
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Bren I would ask the "what if I decide to only do radiation and no surgery." But maybe that question might be better posed to your rad onc. You know the drill. It's such a crap shoot sometimes. No one can give you any guarantees.
I ended up with no cancer in my nodes and minor LE but you know what, better than no LE and cancer in the nodes. It's really such a crap shoot. When I looked at the stats of me having node invasion with my size tumor, etc it was like 80%. My BS thought for sure micromets. I did get out of rads though.
As far as LE, it's minor. I wear my sleeve, I exercise and really haven't had issues. I do wear rubber gloves all the time to do dishes so now I have nice soft hands.
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I hesitate to even mention this. I went to a BC survivor's group last night (the older ladies group I attend) and met a woman who had a lumpectomy with ALND in November. We had the SAME surgeon. He cut her thor. nerve while removing axilla.
It was her dominant arm, and after 3 months she still doesn't really have use of it. Though the nerve was "repaired." She is in physical therapy 3 times a week to try and get movement back in her arm.
Meanwhile, 13 nodes were removed. She already has LE. But they can't treat the LE (according to her) because of the nerve damage. She can't wear any kind of compression etc. So her LE is getting worse and worse.
Our surgeon didn't even recommend she see an LE specialist! So after the meeting I told her how to go about doing that (the hoops) because we are txed at the same place, same docs, same policies, etc.
All that to say Bren...there is RISK with ALND. Not just LE risk. Her (our) BS has done thousands of MXs, ALND, and lumpects. He says if you do something enough times, you eventually make ALL the mistakes.
But he gets to go home and forget about it. Meanwhile she is struggling very hard with losing her dominant arm and trying to get it back (and they're not sure she ever will).
I'd ask for another scan. In the absence of "Gross" disease, I'd ask exactly what Kay recommended.
This isn't to scare you....just know there other risks to ALND....besides LE.
Also, and I can't stress this enough. TALK TO AN RO!!!!!!! He will be able to tell you SPECIFICALLY how effective rads is in killing cancer. Most BS aren't up on that stuff. Mine wasn't. He wanted to rip out the axilla, when the RO said, WHOA....rads is good enough!
Women who get lumpectomies rely on rads to cleanup any left over cancer cells in their breasts that might be too small for imaging. And you know it must work pretty well on those small cancers since their survival/recurrence rates are equivalent with MX.
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My 4.5 mm macromet in my sentinel node did not show up on mammogram, ultrasound or MRI. I had rads but did not have an ALND and I have no issues with LE. My surgeon was adamant that the risks of LE were significant with an ALND and told me I might get resistance from other doctors, but my MO, RO and BS were all in agreement with my treatment plan.
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Wow, TonLee, I really had no idea something like that could happen. While it is scary and I am sure extremely rare, it is still good to know and be informed. I hope that woman will get the use of her arm back and be okay.
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Thank you all for your input. I knew I could count on you
My list of questions has grown quite a bit and I feel much more prepared to meet with the BS's. I do know that there are other risks than just LE. Because it is my dominant arm I am very leary of having the surgery.0 -
Bren,
My husband said to ask the surgeon specifically how many nerves he's damaged in his career. Tweaked and out right cut. That may be a little too bad cop for you, so have whoever you take ask for you! lol
My husband asked my surgeon all that.
Kay,
I think it is a low percentage....I hope so at least. This woman told me that the plastic surgeon called in to try and repair it said he hadn't seen a nerve that mangled with ALND since the 1990s.
But our BS listed this possible nerve damage as "rare" but a potential SE in the paperwork I signed...as the #2 possible SE as a matter of fact....
As if she doesn't have enough to deal with.....they didn't get clear margins. She has to have a MX now. SAME SURGEON. Because that's how our healthcare/Insurance rolls.
She's scared...so much so that she refused ANY more surgery right after they told her they didn't get clear margins (a week after lumpectomy). So they went ahead and gave her chemo instead (which they do NOT do at our facility...frown upon actually..they are all about cutting it out FIRST)...she's in the middle of chemo right now. Just finished the red devil and c-something (she's says not cytoxin). Getting ready to do another round of a 3rd drug...she's ER+ but HEr2-..and 45 years old.
When she's done with chemo, MX and rads. She's undecided on reconstruction. She wants a double MX. Hasn't really discussed the mx with our BS. Unless he's changed his opinion in the last two years...he won't give her a double mx. He does not "remove healthy tissue." I tried to prepare her for that, but at this point, everything that can go wrong has, and the woman just needs a break. (If you pray, please pray for her!)
Which is also the way our facility rolls. Everyone in my BC group there is a unimx, except one person!
So now she also has a lymph node under her sternum that lit up on CT. But she was really sick with an upper respiratory thing at the time of the scan (which is why she got it)...she's hoping it was just the virus....went for follow up CT today. Haven't heard back (7 positive nodes and GUESS WHAT? We have the same Oncologist and SHE'S NOT GETTING A PET SCAN!!) Even the potential that she's stage 4....and no PET.
Mind boggling.
Rationed healthcare sucks. (Our military hospital only gets so much $ to run. When its gone, its gone. So they have to cut things and ration services to make it last an entire fiscal year. In short this means, unless we are totally eaten up with cancer, no PET. Too expensive. (Though I don't understand how expensive it could be when the machine is just sitting there not being used).....And because the service is available, tho not used, the insurance we pay for won't "authorize" the service at another facility (ie, civlian). They're happy to deny the claim, even if the Drs are saying "no pet" for financial reasons and not medical ones...On the positive side, at least the hospital sticks to a budget!
Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on that tangent. It's just very frustrating. I really feel bad for our newest member. After everything she's gone through....it's tuff.
Oh and as an aside. How weird is it that three of the newest members, (me and two others) all lived in Alaska within 2-3 years moving here and being diagnosed with BC?
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My BS told me that nerve damage was possible. I mean there are lots of risk. They tell you infection, etc. My mom ask her surgeon what she was signed when he gave her the papers. He said (of course kidding) that my mom was signing papers that gave him permission to killer.
There is risk with every surgery. Even going to the ER and getting a stitch can get you Mercer… and you can die from that shit.
My point is, as Tonlee points out, there is risk. Some risks are higher than others. Now you have both Tonlee and I say talk to the RO.
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Bren...if it helps, when I interviewed my PS, I asked him if the protocol he was recommending was because he thought it was the best option, or if it was the easiest and he got paid more. He just started laughing.
Doesn't hurt to ask those kind of questions, and I think it kind of let's them know you won't be walked on.
Tonlee....that is crazy. Even my scan hating onc uses them for suspicious symptoms.
I had my first PT for my cervical/shoulder pain today. Therapist has worked with bmx patients a lot, so she really understood which was nice. The ortho doc thinks it is arthritis in my neck, particularly since my PET was clean in September.
She feels it could be some of that, but that it is a lot of issue from all the surgeries. Said the middle back is compensating for a lot of muscle changes and overcompensation. She did some kind of deep tissue massage and found the spot really quickly and showed me the route it travelled . Then did some neck stretching stuff. It was exactly the area and felt really good when I left. It is sore now, which she said would probably happen. Hope it makes things better.
Then saw the OB/GYN for annual exam and an ultrasound. He can see a stripe which he said is uterine lining thickening from Tamoxifen, and fibroids appear to be about the same. So status quo. I'll go back in six months for another ultrasound.
I think I am doctored out for a few months now!0
