After Radiation
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Are you taking any hormonals? They also make you a little foggier I believe. So I can blame it on all three!
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Kay I am not takin hormonals.lol...imagine if i did...what a wacko i would be.i only did rads.
are you ok????you did 3?????God bless you and everyone else who did all that.
Damn when i had edema in the breast i thought the sistas would strangle me....im not a good patient....i whine a lot....
im just not the strong one anymore and it bothers me....so i jump all over anyone who says the wrong thing.anyone....there is something wrong with this picture...i have so much to be thankful for and i am but the least little thing sets me off.did from the beg.and its still here..last stop everyone.......i wanna get off this train!!!!!!!
boy when i read this i really sound nuts...i think i stayed with the babies too long!!!!!
foggy and anger...not a good combo!!!!!!
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And I had a mastectomy with DIEP reconstruction. I am still on Herceptin (actually I am on a hiatus right now because it showed some heart damage on my last echo). And I got lymphedema from all the treatments. Sometimes it feels like there is almost nothing anyone else had that I didn't have too. But you do what you have to to fight this beast. And I know there are lots of people on the boards who have been through a lot worse than me. Cancer really sux. I am doing good though, but definitely have chemo brain. The word I want will just not come to me sometimes. It is so annoying! It's nice to know I am not the only one.
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Kay I love your quote! gonna steal it for facebook!
Granny last Christmas day I forgot where my pants were, all of them. I had washed but didn't put them back up in the same place and for the life of me i couldn't remember what I did with them. I sat down on the sofa and balled. My DH said try to think back and I told him that's the problem with chemo head, there is no thinking back....there is a great disconnect. Spelling was very difficult for me for a long time, and seems to get a little better, but some words I will misspell every single time. Hang in there.
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Yeah Barb, Gina and Sandi! Such wonderful news to hear! God is good...I am doing the "chair" happy dance for all of you!!
Welcome back Granny! Glad to hear you are back, safe and sound at home...
Tori
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Gina I have the same problem with spelling. Sometime I spell something and then take a long look and I know it is wrong but it is like my brain does not connect to spell it correctly. Big pause and then in comes to me. I hate it I was not like this before.
On this day last year I started rads. I can actually say that I hate this journey. Started hurting the very first day of rads and I think they all thought I was a whinner. Well a year later and I have just finished 6 weeks of PT and have 6 weeks more all because of rads and how it has messed with my pec muscles. The GOOD news is that PT is working and I am no longer having the sever pain that I was having. Not pain free but so much better. I almost have my range of motion back, working on getting it all back. I want to be the way I was before BC. Can't wait for the day I can go to yearly onco visits and live a normal life where I don't think about BC so much and not so many Dr appts. I am hoping by this time next year I can graduate to every 6 month visits, guess we will see what MO has to say about that.
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Sherry - It doesn't feel like a journey to me. It feels like an ordeal or something. I haven't found the word for it yet but I know journey is not the right word to describe all this for me. There, I said it. So glad to hear the PT is helping. My pec is still tight and I am 10 months out but I think I got less rads in that area than you did. My feet are what bother me the most from the chemo neuropathy. (((hugs)))0
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Omaz I think I must have gotten alot in that area. For my rads they did four positions. It was my left boob and the two outer positions I think must have been stronger because I still have discoloration under my arm and under my breast and on that side of the breast. Up by my clavical area is just slightly discolored but I think I am the only one that really notices it.
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Sherry - I still have a 'tan' over the whole breast and under the arm. They didn't do anything above the armpit line. Mine was on the right.0
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Omaz- here is my description-not a journey for me either, more like a major derailment from my path into a slow, miserable and terrifying crawl through hell called chemo. The exit doors are aflame and require you to stand in them for about 30 days before they let you out despite the fact that your legs no longer work due to the crawl you just finished.
I have however spouted new wings and am flying in a totlaly different life direction that feels much more in keeping with my life goals and pricipals.
Hmmm... for some reason the phrase "Bat out of Hell" has a new meaning for me! LOL
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Merilee - Bat out of Hell - can relate!0
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Tori---missed you....get out of that chair and dance with me.no chair dancin.lol.
Sherry..sista/friend...how well i remember your trip throu hell.yeah from the very beg.of rads you did have problems....one of the selected few.
Gina---your story touched my heart....I thought a lot of the memory loss come from age.I read somewhere that it starts at 50....not counting the beast....
ok ladies....CONDUCTOR-----STOP THIS FRIGGEN TRAIN AND LET US OFF....DID I HEAR LAST STOP!!!!!!!!!
hugggggggggggs K
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Marilee I love your description. Made me laugh.
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Omaz my life since last November does not seem like journey either. It was hell. There is a country western song that says, "If you are going through hell keep on going. Don't slow down keep on moving you might get out before the devil even knows you're there". I think this pretty much describes how I felt. At last after a clear mammo this week I think I got out of hell without the devil catching me.
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I have a question about follow-up care. Is/was your 6-month mammogram scheduled for 6 months after diagnosis or 6 months after treatment ended? The mammo/ultrasound center wanted me to come in next month (6 months after diagnosis) but my RO said it should be 6 months after end of treatment (radiation was my last treatment).
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dawmson - You will find that doctors do things so differently. My first mammo ended up being a year after the one I had that found the cancer. My MO said that an annual mammo is enough unless there is an absolute need. That sure works for me.
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My first one was about 6-7 weeks after the end of rads - note added: this was actually 10 months since the diagnosis.
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dawmson, mine was 6 months after rads, which so happened to be one year from dx. I did have one 3 months after dx but to see how much chemo shrunk my tumor - all the way it had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I had chemo, then surgery, then rads. I was very sore after the mammo a few weeks ago.
Bat out of hell - love it - we should all get shirts - would work for the rads burning portion too!
I did try to look at this last year as a adventure, you know the one, where you get to the most beautiful place that you dreamed of forever, even though the plane ride was bumpy, they lost all your luggage, your hotel over booked, your purse gets stolen, you smell, your feet hurt from standing all day, you turn around to go home, your flight was cancelled, you sleep in the airport, you get on the next flight the next day, people are staring at you, no makeup, no hairbrush, teeth are gross, you make it back, get in your car, dig change out of the console to pay for parking, get home, and a pipe busted while you were gone.....yeah, that about sums it up....adventure! lol
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Singa LOL sounds like that new orange juice commercial I keep seeing
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Morning gals! Merilee! How have you been girl? I just wanted to ask you, did your hearing ever get better? Did you get Hearing Aids? My ears are still the same....
And Jo! Our details are about the "same" if there is such a thing.... So you only get a Mammogram once a year? I only see my PC now, because I quit Tamoxifen, so I didn't need to see an Oncologist. But the hospital breast care center schedules me for one every 6 months....
I wonder if I could just NOT do this, and stay with my PC with the physical I get every year, with the full blood work & Mammogram??? Who says we have to get them twice a year? I said to my self. And the sky didn't fall when I "quit" going to the Oncologist either!!! I mean, I don't think my Insurance "requires" me to do all of this stuff.
Morning Princess Cantalope! You little hellion you! Sounds like you had a lot of work AND fun with your little GGrandsons! Wonder who they'll take after...
Have you been out dancin'? And playing poker with the boys? Do these gals actually KNOW how much fun we have together on these boards? Ha! There is just so much snow going on here now! One storm 3 days ago, and now another! The only one around here that loves this is Lacee, who with her full Winter coat on, just lays there & lets the snow fly. She stick her head in the snow, then looks at us like "what!" So I have to stay in & clean cupboards or closets or something....
Take good care..xoxoxo
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Hi Chevyboy-hanging in here but struggling a bit with aromatase meds. To answer your question, my hearing in my left ear has not returned. The audiologist said that a hearing aid will not help unless I get the kind where they surgically implant something inside my ear and then a magnet to my skull to attach a device to. I told him to go F%#$ himself and walked out and never went back. He had not even looked in my ear at that point and only looked at the results of a hearing test they did.
At times I can hear a bit so I have not lost faith that my ear will mend with time.
Lots of snow here in Michigan too, I am trying to focus on a new project that I have been inspired to reach for. It will be an animal rescue ranch that will be used to give special needs kids enrichment experiences. I would like to think that one day I can do recovery retreats for BC ladies as well once I get rolling. Just starting to get a blog and fund raising things going. I plan to liquidate all of my assets to use for the project as well.
Some of you know that I have a son with Down's and am a mental health therapist. I have been thinking alot about how I want to spend the rest of my life & how he and I can do a project together to make a difference in this world. I have a goal to be in a new property in 3 years. The name I have selected is Downsy Dude Rescue Ranch. Wish me luck
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Sounds like a great project! Good luck Merilee!
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A wonderful project to help rescued animals and special needs children at the same time. And they will help each other. I wish you luck and success.
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Merilee, Your rescue ranch sounds awesome. You are truly honoring the life you have been given.
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Can I just; say F--K cancer.................................and everything that came with it.............I think that about sums it up, doesn't it..........
Oh except meeting some of the greatest women on the face of this earth.........you care my friends, my confidant, and my shoulder, when no one else wants to listen to me "bitch" about something, they have never experienced............................Ok, I'm gonna go find the Vodka..........................at least cancer gave me a reason to drink.....................hahahaha.
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ducky.....love it!
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Chevyboy - I don't see why you could not get away with one mammo a year. My insurance would pay for more than one a year if it is a diagnostic mammo but obviously my MO does not feel the need. Again, that is okay with me. If you PCP agrees with once a year then go for it. I do believe there is such a time as overtesting.
ducky - I could not have said it better.....including the part about now having a reason to drink.
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Merilee....I didn't like the ENT my PC sent me to either! He just read the results of the tests the gal gave him, and said I needed hearing aids, & they set me up an appointment to try and sell me the $6000 ones...same ones they sold my girlfriend!
I went for that "fitting" and was so excited when she tried them on me, & "I could hear!" But I said to wait, that I would call back. At the same time my friends told me about "their" experience with Costco. Same aids but for 1/2! I made an appointment, took the test results...(they also give them for free) and that's how I got my aids.... And they are great! Wouldn't hurt for you to get another opinion.
I can't beLIEVE how giving and dedicated you are! God Bless you little one! I feel honored to even "know" you! Beautiful idea...and I love the name! I know you can do it too......I think you should even be able to get corporate help with your idea, once word gets out...I mean maybe even an empty property with grounds for your rescue animals? And a ranch-house? Maybe the National Down's agency would help you? Am I getting ahead of yourself?
But good luck to you!Hi Jo....I think my Insurance also covers the "diagnostic" twice a year, but my PC had also told me if this last Mammo was clean, I should be good for a year...like with my annual physical.
If I notice anything "different" I'll just go in..... I stepped backwards yesterday, off the top step on my step stool smack down to the new Laminate flooring! (I didn't even dent it!) Man, did THAT hurt! Books went flying, aLONG with me, and I just laid there for a minute, thinking..."well THAT hurt".... DH came running in hearing all the ruckus, and I said "oh wow, wait a minute"..... He helped me up, so scared that I was really hurt!
But NOTHING hurts this morning!! My shoulder hurt last night, but a lot of heat took care of that. I must be invincible! My little dog was sleeping, & she just lifted her head up, like "can you keep it down please?" Ha!
Does this mean I am getting old, and that I need one of those things that you can beep for help when no-one is around?
Or does it mean I shouldn't be so clumsy and be more careful?...
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Gina I love your description of the adventure.
Merilee good luck on the rescu ranch sounds wonderful
The weather is cold and drizzly here. Just miserable outside but we so need the rain. This Texas drought has been brutal.
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I need a suggestion from someone who has "been there." Fungal infections!
I had an uncomplicated 6 week course of radiation - made it through without have to rest, and had minimal burning. Some itching, burning, etc in healing. Four months after finishing and after all symptoms had disappeared, I began having painful itching under the breast that broke out into a fungal/yeast infection that was treated successfully with Econazole cream. Then the itching returned, this time toward the medial line. Econazole to the rescue again, but rapid return of the infection, this time a little further up. Saw my radiation oncologist who prescribed ketaconazole. This began the same cycle - clear up, come back, clear up, come back. Now ketaconazole doesn't work but nystatin is helping. The infection keeps coming back, even when I keep treating the area long after the itch and rash is gone. The rash is not in a moist fold. Why does it keep coming back? Anyone had the same problem?
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