Radiation recovery
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Thanks for checking in Nancy.
So you guys are having snow and cold temps and we finally get a break from the heat with 70 degrees yesterday. I love Fall weather and in fact love Fall period. Colors and pumpkins and holidays to follow.
I bought mums yesterday so I hope the temps remain steady.
Annual physical Wednesday. Ugh.
Have a good week ladies!
Diane
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Hi Everyone, Well, we're going to need a pocket party for Joan811 for tomorrow. she told me I could post this and I knew you would all want to send her well wishes. She had abdominal pain and spent 5 days in the hospital with an intestinal blockage that required surgery. They could not find the source of the blockage however. Her surgeon did blood work and her cancer tumor marker is elevated. It's not BC-pelvic so the suspicion is either ovarian or uterine cancer but not conclusive. So, Tuesday (tomorrow) she will have a laparoscopic exam to see if there is small cell cancer and to find the blockage. She's been home for the past week on small liquid diets and will go today up to New York and then in to Sloan Kettering Hospital for the procedure tomorrow. If they find cancer then will go ahead and take care of it tomorrow. She says the pain is there but intermittent. Needless to say I'm sure lots of thoughts are going thru her head and I'm sure if we all send her good wishes it will help.
Hope everyone else is well.......
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Oh my Sew...that is not good news. Have not been here for a minute and so wanted to stop by and say hello and then I read this. I am so sorry to hear. Prayers going out to Joan and anyone who has any medical issues going on these days. I am kind of out of the loop lately as far as BCO. Sending best wishes to all. My grandbaby Aubrey is turning 4 this month believe it or not!
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So sorry, Joan. Here's hoping they find the source and can clobber it with whatever magic potion is called for.
Thinking of you!
Also thinking of a couple of other who have posted non-medical bad news. Hoping for strength and resources for everyone.
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Sew - Thanks for letting us know about Joan. I am so sorry she is going through this.Please keep us posted and let her know we are all thinking of her and praying things turn out okay. I know she must be so scared.
Diane
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April - thanks for dropping by. Your granddaughter is just precious! I can’t believe she is 4 already. My twin grandsons turned 3 September 18. They are growing up too fast!
Diane
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Hi April, good to hear from you. My goodness, Aubrey is 4? Time sure passes fast. Good to hear you’re doing well. My grandson just turned 14 and is in High School. my mom just turned 💯. Lots of milestones being passed.
I will keep everyone informed about Joan as I hear mor
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omg! BIG HUGE virtual hugs for Joan. I will be on pins & needles pacing the floor all day waiting to hear what the results are. Fingers & everything else crossed for her.
April!! been awhile, such a cutie, so nice to see.
My granddaughter just turned 15 & her brother 9. Lots of birthdays this month. My Aunt is 103.
My other grandson (12) broke his foot a week ago, stepped on the dogbone & rolled on his foot. When it hyperextended it broke.
Take care, Fran
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Gosh this waiting for word on Joan is killing me!!
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Me too Fran. Just got word one of the ladies inour group at church has a daughter who just had a biopsy. We were all waiting with bated breath on the results. Good news no cancer. Hope it’s an omen for Joan.
Diane
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hope so too Diane
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yes, And tomorrow I will contact her. She said her daughter would update me via email, but that hasn’t happened yet anyway). I know Joan doesn’t like messing with emails etc. but she certainly will know something tomorrow. I’ll let you all know...
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So glad you've gotten that promise! I'm so hoping for good news.
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everything crossed for good news, Thanks Sew.
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Thanks Sew.
Diane
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Sorry Ladies, I still haven't heard from Joan. I believe everything's probably OK, but will continue to reach out to her and will let you know as soon as I know something.
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Hi friends,
Thank you for all your good wishes. I do not know how the email list broke down unless there was an error in Sew's email I sent to DD.
I had surgery on Tuesday, Oct. 2. I was expecting laporascopic and to go home. However, while my family was out getting food during my 'short' procedure, the update nurse called my phone and my family heard I was having the full abdominal surgery - about 5 hours. I was asleep...never knew.
The bottom line is that all my digestive issues from the past year were misdiagnosed. So much precious time wasted. But no looking back....
My amazing surgeon found ovarian cancer tumors which had obstructed my intestines in two places. He removed all the visible cancer cells and all female parts, and reconstructed my intestines without requiring a bypass.
Everyone referred to it as a 'big' or 'huge' surgery. I awoke to my family surrounding me telling me it is OK...me apologizing for putting them through this. I also apparently expressed an expletive about cancer.
I have not processed the disease part, as I have spent the past 5 days in recovery.
I have to say, my 69 year old body has been amazing...I never felt sick or nauseous, no glitches...and I progressed quickly to eating solids and showering and getting up and down and walking the halls. My family was so surprised. I was sooooooo sick for the 2 weeks before. The pain was awful and i felt full all the time and could not eat. Now, I can eat normally and even started digesting through my newly stapled intestines. I am amazed.
I went to Sloan Kettering. The hospital is "old" but the care is state of the art. I got better every day. They serve a lot of low-sodium fresh organic food including salmon and chicken that was so delicious. I nearly cried when I ate without pain.
I could spend my days being mad at myself and other health care providers, or i can put my energy into being well.
I am off from work long term and it is unlikely that I'll go back. I have to call tomorrow to complete my paperwork to be out for awhile.
I gave up my classes for the semester. I have over 100 days of sick time and can apply for short or long term disability - I just have to investigate my rights and requirements.
From all this I have felt surrounded by love from my family and friends...and I heard about your concerns.
I will have chemo, but will not think about that until I get my pathology and oncology reports.
What I come away with is that PAIN IS NOT NORMAL OR ACCEPTABLE. I was sent on my way last winter with pain management pills and digestive aids. This is not OK. I dragged myself to a gyn for a pelvic scan. It showed nothing. I spent 5 days in my local hospital where they just wanted to cut me and fix my blockage. But my husband hired a private surgeon who just felt my symptoms did not make sense. He did cancer marker tests because of my BC history. I do not have BC elevated markers. It was all pelvic. If the other hospital had gone in, they would have destroyed the chance for the removal of the tumors.
My Sloan surgeon is pleased he got the visible tumors. For the invisible, the chemo will have to take care of it.
Ironically, I did get sick on Monday night, 9/17, at the end of my 15 hour work day. I could hardly drive home and laid in pain for 3 days before going to the ER. No food, little water, and no sleep for almost 2 weeks before I finally saw the doctor from Sloan. I had to wait in discomfort for 5 more days to get in for surgery. I had to take a car service into New York since DH did not want to drive and have a car in NY.
My family was always there...cheering me on, making me laugh a lot. I went into surgery without fear or nerves. I cannot explain it.
I will try to live each day I'm given to the fullest, as my BCO sisters do here.
Love to each and all of you for always being here.
I will try to keep in closer touch with you, my extended family.
If anyone has undiagnosed digestive pain or disorder, bloating, fullness, anything, do not accept it. Demand more tests. See more doctors. Seek help.
We are worth it.
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Wow Joan you have certainly been through it. So sorry but glad you are on the mend. We will definitely take your advice if we experience similar symptoms. It’s outrageous you had to endure so much unnecessary pain had the doctors just done their job. Good for your husband not accepting their DX and hiring a private surgeon. Gone are the days when we unconditionally accept the doctor’s DX. They aren’t infallible as we once thought.
If I have learned one thing about having BC it is be your own advocate. After all it’s our body and our lives.
Take care of yourself. We are all with you in spirit and storming the heavens with prayers for good reports and a speedy recovery.
Diane
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HUGS(((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))
SO good to hear from you! SO happy you are out of pain & healing quickly, you got this!
Can't believe nothing showed on your tests & that you had to wait so long.. You have been through so much, Wow. You are one strong one!
Thanks for taking the time to update us, to say we were concerned is an understatement.
Rest up my friend, fingers crossed for good results on pathology.
Fran
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Joan, I'm so sorry to hear about this new cancer diagnosis. Thank goodness you were at Sloan Kettering so they could give you excellent care. Your mental attitude sounds quite strong and ready to fight this new battle and that's great and so important. You know, we've all been telling you to retire for years now since you work such long hard hours, but in the long run I think all that work has kept you in good physical shape and now you can put those energies into getting thru chemo and healing. And I'm so glad you're now out of pain. That alone must have been quite hard this past year. Yes, apparently your daughter doesn't have my correct email address so that was a glitch, but it was a good plan to start with, lol. Keep up the high spirits and do please let us know how you're doing and feeling. Hugs ((((())))) my friend.
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So glad to hear from you, Joan, and delighted the ol' (not old) body responded so well to your surgery. Yep. Sloan Kettering rocks and I'm so happy they were there for you.
Probably nobody who knows you is surprised to learn you have over 100 sick days all lined up and ready to be collected. Knowing you, I wouldn't be surprised if the number might be closer to 200! With all those sick days, you'll have plenty of time before you need to address the disability paperwork, so kindly relax and recoup and take really good care of you, you, and you.
Sending prayers and good wishes of every sort.
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Joan,
I am so shocked about you new diagnosis. I’m glad you have relief from your digestive symptoms finally. How scary is that. And your so brave for all you have been through 😕. I have always admired you for what a hard worker you have always been and so dedicated to your career. Now is the time to relax and enjoy your family. And recover, let them take care of care of you. I know we have only met once in person but I care so much about you Joan. Please keep us posted and remember we are here for you .
Love Josie
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I'm a radiation after....my last treatment was Sept. 5th. I am so tired I can't hardly do anything. It's a month out and I returned to work (desk job) 2 weeks ago but I have no energy. I'm having pain in my right back rib area, they did an x-ray but nothing showed, blood work is ok. How long does this take? 2 months, 6 months? Very weary.
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TrailDweller, when you add in the arimidex, the surgery and mental assault with the diagnosis, it adds up to a fatigue the hangs on for awhile. It will get better but my femara never gives up. J
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I am finding that out JoE777! I felt ok the first week back to work and then on the weekend I hit a wall. I felt like I hadn't slept in days, and that's how I've been since then. I'm angry that it's taking so long and that's not helping a bit! Random Boob Pain, rib pain, general crappiness all around.
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TrailDweller, Hand in there gal, it will get better, I promise. Your body, mind and soul have been thru a massive onslaught starting with the cancer diagnosis, and most of us here on this thread ended up feeling like we had PTSD by the time we were "through" with active treatment. I used to hate the term "new normal" but there will be one, it just takes time to get to that. So, some suggestions that might help get you thru this last stage to wellness are: drink plenty of water, lots and lots of water; eat lots of protein - a minimum of 60 g to 80g per day and spread out thru the day i.e. protein with each meal; eat healthy----remember the estrogen positive cancers like sugar so sugar just became your enemy; remember to get some exercise in daily not a big gym workout but at least a walk or climb some stairs at work several times, just get up and move throughout the day. It seems counter-intuitive to exercise when you're so beat you feel like you can't walk across the room, but it will help.
Good luck, I think what you're going thru is normal, at least it was for me. The random breast pain was the strangest and when it happened my reaction was to grab my breast --- not a good thing to do out in public. I found out it was the nerve endings healing. It just takes time for them get get back to normal.
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Thank you MostlySew for letting me know that I'm being "normal" for this situation. I cried all last evening because I was so frustrated with myself. I've been drinking a lot of water and trying to stay on top of the protein but I admit that's been a struggle. I think people around me think I should be okay now since the treatment is done and I don't want to draw attention but I don't have the energy to fight my way out of a wet paper bag! I am raising a granddaughter who is now 10, my house is a mess and it's driving me crazy, my husband helps as much as he can but he has health problems, oh yea and Thanksgiving is supposed to be at my house! I decided this morning that October was for healing and then we will see how I feel when November gets here. Thanks for the message, I appreciate it very much.
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Oh Traildweller, you've got a lot on your plate. People are funny about breast cancer and since most are scared to death of it, they won't even say the word and are quite happy to pretend you're "all over it". You're never all over it, but it does go to the back of your mind and eventually isn't consuming you, but that part will take a few years. Your first mammo will be totally scary but then by year 5 they become old hat or at least not as scary. You already know this, but really, take it easy on yourself. Those dust bunnies will be there tomorrow whether you clean then up today or not. Your granddaughter probably is feeling this too, so let her help with the housework. She'll feel good that she can help in your recovery. And yes, take October for yourself, treat yourself to something just for you....an afternoon reading in bed? A house cleaner for the day? A lunch out? A bag of candy...oops forgot about the sugar thing! You get the idea. Keep on trucking gal, you'll get thru this
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TrailDweller, please, please do not be frustrated with yourself: Your fatigue is absolutely normal and absolutely predictable. You did go back to work awfully early. Most of us took at least a month to recover (I took way, way longer). I'm surprised they didn't warn you that we all recoup differently and that your fatigue will fade away on its own inconvenient schedule. I know you have your reasons for wanting to be back at work, but do keep in mind that your doctor (rads onc and/or onc and/or pcp) will be happy to put you back on disability if you ask. If you really do want to be back in the world of work, maybe there is some way you can modify your hours on a temporary basis.
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Thank you ladies. I am just so overwhelmed. I was off work for 2 weeks for the surgery back in May and 5 weeks from mid- August through September during the last 1/2 of the radiation. Ive been crying like a baby because I can't do much. I thought I would feel a little more myself by now and that is just not happening. My girl and husband help out as much as they can, the important stuff (food, laundry and keeping the dishes done) is being accomplished so I am just going to rest and give myself a little more time. Thank you again, I knew I could come here and find someone to help me understand all this stuff.
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