TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

[Deleted User]

That would be me! Just had my 6 month check and all bloodwork ok. Still, I worry about the big "r".  I guess it does get better over time, l am less teary now. I find that the trick, for me, is to stay busy!! Then I don't have time to think. There is an her2+ and 10 years out thread, too, that is very upbeat! It doesn't say on my sig, but I had Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin.

tucker

saralmom

Christean - I had a LAVH (laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy) in February.  I had 3 tiny incisions - one in my belly button and 2 on my abdomen on each side.  They are small scars now - barely noticable.  They do the surgical part through those incisions, and then remove everything through the vaginal opening.  My recovery was very quick, and I was up and around the next day feeling fine.  A little sore the day of the surgery, and then literally just some slight discomfort for a few days when I coughed or laughed.

LindaKR

Christean - my hair did that too, so had my daughter shave my head clean after my last chemo so that it would grow in a little more evenly, and on my bald looked better than all these funny little sticky up white hairs that were few and far between. 

As for the hysterectomy, you are probably in chemopause now and anti-hormonal therapy causes menopause type effects, getting a hysterectomy doesn't make you less of a women, but it would probably give you more peace of mind and if you still are having periods, they would be gone. 

 You are still a beautiful women without all those pesky girl parts.

Good luck on your decision,

Linda

lago

Christean I was so afraid before I started treatment of the same thing. Mostly not feeling good. I felt great before all this crap. I'm almost done except for the estrogen sucking drug, nipples and tats. The LE isn't bad. Have some stiffness from the estrogen sucking drug but I won't be on that forever. I do feel like me though even if I have numb larger boobie prizes… and I look pretty hot with them too. Chemopause and BMX hasn't made me feel less female. I will say if I had tested positive for BRCA the ovaries would be coming out no questions asked. I would just be sure this is the correct course of action. Once they are gone they can't put them back.

I too was worried about menopause or chemopause in my case.  I have 11 years on you so it might not be the same but I had a pretty easy time of it. Just had hot flashes during chemo usually between 2-5am. I slept through most of them. But at the time I was 49 and perimeno so that might be why. Also my mom didn't have bad hotflashes although my (older) sister did (and may still have them).

The hair does come back.

TonLee

Just wanted to give an update...

My cousin had her lumpectomy yesterday.  Kept her axilla.  They removed 5 SNs though.

Everything went exactly as planned and SHE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO HAVE A DRAIN!!!

She was back home last night.

Looks as if the SN were clear, and clear margins on the lump....will find out from the lab FOR SURE in the next few days!!

WOO HOO!!

omaz

Good news TonLee!!!

geewhiz

Yay!! I am sure she will sleep a little easier!!

specialk

tonlee - yay for the cousin!  Here 's hoping her SNB is indeed clear, great that they got good margins.  I am sure you are feeling relieved too!

pejkug3

YAY for Tonlee's cousin!  Good news is always wholeheartedly welcomed when trudging through all the BC crap.

Christean - I'm 35 and seeing a reprodictive endocrinologist (RE) on Oct. 3.  Right now, I'm taking the Tamoxifen.  But my gynocological history worries me with the Tamoxifen SE.  I have PCOS and I had a few days of low pelvic pain.  I felt it when I coughed or laughed.  And I felt a weird heaviness when I walked.  I'll be discussing the ooph with the RE.  My onc said that he'll do it, but he would rather me take the Tamoxifen.  But I can't help but be concerned with it.  Something just doesn't feel *right* about it.  Of course, I would probably feel the same way if I was up for an ooph.  I guess my point is that I really feel for you looking at such a big decision at your young age.

*sigh*

I'm not even sure where to post this...

Even after chemo and rads, I have clear nipple discharge in the BC breast.  Clear nipple discharge was what initially sent me for a mammo and started me down the cancer road. 

But I have mentioned this to my onc.  At that time, the discharge was blue.  He said rads would take care of it.  I think I was about halfway through chemo at that point.

I had the discharge cultured after that - no signs of infection of anything.

Now I've done 33 rads and I noticed it today.

I see the RE as mentioned above on 10/3.  I figure I'll bring it up then.  I see no point in making a doctor's appt for it.  I did have a mammo before rads - BIRADS 3.  I don't know what any doctor would do about this even if I went in to see one.

But I sure wish I didn't have any discharge.  I was pretty much banking on rads zappin' it right out of there.

 Grrr.....

Kay_G

((((((((((pejkug3))))))))))

geewhiz

Sorry pejkug3. That's a weird one. It's so frustrating isn't it?

I had pains in my hip...was fully convinced last year that I had bone mets...got scanned, knowing scans are bad if used too much...and got diagnosed with some sort of torn tendon from tennis and arthritis ...which frankly thrilled me. Then I got blurry vision, was convinced it was brain mets and got told I needed glasses a few months ago. About 2 months ago, my arm started hurting and being numb sometimes. Back I went, and got told it was tennis elbow. Iced it and now it's fine.

So, the point here is...we all share the same worry. All we can do is get checked if the issues persist and keep coming here to surround ourselves with others who understand : )

pejkug3

Thanks ladies. 

My gut tells me that the discharge is nothing to be concerned with.  I'm silently praying that my instinct is right on this one.  My mother and my sister have mipple discharge - but theirs is bilateral.  I'm slightly anxious because mine is just the BC side.

But, at this point, I've had a clear mammo in the past 3 months and I'll have another mammo in 3 months.  I'll bring it up to my doctors but I'm not losing any sleep over this.  It is, what it is...

ToniSkane

I too am HER+++.. 2.1 CM... No Nodes involved.. a year and a half out from diagnosis ( diagnosed 3/11/2010).. Finished chemo 1 year ago... TCHX6... No radiation... Mastectomy on my right side only... My onc told me I have a less than 10% reoccurrance rate... But I still cant shake the fears.... Every ache or cough I get scared.... I have a cough right now... Dry cough, not bad... and Im freaking out... How do I shake my fears.. I need to put this behind me and move FORWARD... All your stories are very comforting.... Any one out there with stage 2 no nodes.. HER+++ have a reoccurance?

meglove

SpecialK, thanks for the information about tumor marker. 

I have made a post on the recurrency site. but would like to post it here as well to see if anybody could have any information as this is my home site. Thanks.

Sisters, I need your help. I found I have a swollen lump under my right armpit yesterday when I took a shower and then the doc from a walk-in clinic confirmed it is a lump this morning. I need to call the onc on Monday to make an appointment. The lump is on my same side of cancer. Just wondering if anybody experienced swollen lump nodes when they diagnosed. Please provide some information, such as if the organs are involved and how many nodes could be. I saw onc three weeks ago and he did not find anything but he went through examination pretty quick.

had a cold in last four days. Hope it is related to my cold, but cold would not make my armpit lymph nodes swollen, isn't it?

A little bit about my history, I was dx in Aug. 2010, had double mx, chemo and now I am still on herceptin and tamoxifen.

Any information or advice is appreciated. I am so scared at this monent. Thanks so much for reading. Meg

lago

meglove because of our diagnosis we always get scared. I had a lump 1 week right after my exchange surgery. My onc felt it and said if my PS didn't know what it was she wanted me to see my BS. My PS felt it and said it was just some fat from fat grafting. It's now gone.

Lymph nodes can swell for a number of reasons. You might just have an infection or maybe its from your cold. When I was in my 30's I would always get swollen lymph nodes in the back of my neck when everyone else in the office would get a cold.

Yes of course you must check this out but don't jump to conclusions. As you pointed out you are still doing Herceptin so that is in your favor. My fingers are crossed that this is just your body fighting some benign thing.

meglove

Hi Lago, Thanks so much for the information and encouragement. I really need it.

omaz

meglove - I am sorry you have to worry about this!  I hope it is nothing.  I had a swollen lymph node from the breast biopsy that they checked with ultrsound to confirm it was a lymph node and not something else.  Yours could be from the cold.  Try not to think too far ahead.   We are all in the position of worrying about recurrence, it sucks big time!  (((hugs)))

meglove

Thank you Omaz.

One thing the doc I saw this morning at the walk-in clinic reminded me is I need a follow up plan after chemo. I am thinking to ask my onc to see if he could let me do blood work (but include which infor?) and ultrasound for abdomen (to check ovaries and uterus fabroid etc) and ultrasound for both sides of breast area and armpits. Just wondering if anybody has a such plan and please share yours. About the self-examination, I heard we could do it once every month but sometimes, lymph node are hard to tell if it is indeed lymph nodes, or just muscle tissues. I will check with my onc to see if I could have tumor marker test but heard it is not very reliable. Meg.

sewingnut

Meglove,

I actually had a swelling under the arm on the MX side.  Onc sent me to the radiologist to have it checked out.  They found a small fluid filled something under ultrasound.  It was aspirated and came back as cyst/seroma fluid. I was still undergoing chemo and was terrified.

My armpit is still numb 7 months from surgery.  Anyone else out there experiencing the same?

lago

I still have some numbness in my armpits and my BMX was over a year ago. Granted I did have my exchange at the end of June. My BS said there may be some numbness that doesn't go away. I have a lot of numbness on my boobie prizes. Numbness I can deal with as long as it isn't my hands or feet. Pain not so much. Rather have numbness.

meglove

Thank you sewingnut. I really hope that is the case for me.

Lago, sometimes I woke up during night feeling my hands were numb. I found open and close the hand to make a fist many time really helped. 

lago

Meglove that sounds more like stiffness than numbness. Are you taking an AI? I know my fingers & toes are really stiff in the morning from Anastrozole. Moving them around makes a huge difference although my toes are still a bit stiff. Only noticeable when I try to do lunges.

meglove

Hi lago, No I am taking tamoxifen. but that happened after the BMX. now I only occasionally had such problem.

LindaKR

sewingnut  I had my MX w/ lymph node dissection 4/10, my armpit is still numb, my docs all said it will probably always be that way, I also have numbness on my chest, upper back, shoulder and upper arm. 

carberry

Lindak  I also have the numbness under my armpit and outside of arm   I hate it..I will get an itch on the inside and itching does not get it cause you cant feel it.  Also get little twinges of nerve pains shooting down my arm...thought these were the nerves regenerating themselves, but maybe not...its discouraging to hear that because I thought I would eventually get some feeling back.

specialk

I have regained some feeling in the armpit, I can feel it now when I shave.  I do not have as much numbness in the area of my inner arm in the bicep area and also the back of that arm in the same area.  I still have an area toward the front of the armpit that when touched gives me a pins and needles on my back, which is weird, but doesn't really bother me - just catches me by surprise now and then.  I don't really notice the numbness all that much anymore.

lago

My BS said I would probably have numbness in the arm. I was quite pleased when the feeling eventually came back. I'm just really happy to be in no pain and alive. Granted I miss my right nipple

specialk

lago - Amen to the being alive - the rest of it is manageable!

omaz

I'm still reading the emperor of all maladies and those people who had chemo in the early days sure went through it.  I think the author does the best job of describing the darkest days of chemo very well.

Kay_G

Carberry, I have the same exact feeling as you.  Numbness in armpit and upper arm, but I feel an itch, but can't feel it if I try to scratch it.  So weird and annoying.  No twinges of nerve pain yet, but I am only 4 weeks out from surgery.