2013 Survivors!!!
Comments
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I rarely post these days but lurk often and keep myself in all your pockets. I have to say, Juneau - I LOVE LOVE LOVE your post! Love your tough love attitude. I am doing great - I'm 64 years old, working full time, back to running (did 10 miles on Saturday) with two half-marathons coming up. I started Aromasin 3 months ago and have the occasional hot flash. That's it. I looked at the research and found that the endocrine therapy is the single best thing you can do for hormone + BC. I told my MO I was happy to take it and that I planned to not have any SEs. She said she wouldn't be at all surprised! The mind-body connection is powerful. While it can't control everything, focusing on the positive is almost always a good idea. No matter what - seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty will make a difference.
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ok ladies I hear you loud and clear ...juneau thanks for also being so blunt but I understand. I am not that over expressive in E+ so that research I have done on the percentage of E+ was not usually showing any result with hormone therapy. My doctor was also on the fence line with this percentage but suggested to take it because it was a standard of care. We did talk about it and she suggest to go ahead and take it but I was a lot percentage of this type of tumor. So I am playing a little with fire but also with some educated reasoning behind it. Same as I did with Rads. I am one that when i am putting somethign in my body I read read research items on the studies and talk to doctors as well. So this is why i have been waiting to take that step because I needed to understand the percentage of rate of reoccurance for my type of tumor and Hormone therapy with the low percentage of E+ receptors . So understand I did not explain this when I wrote that message. But I will talk again to my doctor next week and get some more facts and make an educated decision after that:)
I hope no one you knew was near or hurt in that explosion in texas? My prayers go out to that town and families!
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Iwood, welcome to a great group. Saw where you are near in location... My hometown! Cheers to Hall's onion rings and Atz's ice cream
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McCook, I get it about not wanting to take the Tamoxifen if not much %wise so good idea to get more info from your doctor. I find I am constantly trying to keep up with what is going on and what is next. My MO took me off Anastrozole a few weeks ago and I will go back on once rads are over and I have not worried much about the gap. I have enough to worry about it seems though it helps to read some of these posts!
Juneau, thanks for the "thoughts" and wow 301724, you are really an inspiration for me. I am also 64 but not working and walking 5 k a day and back at yoga and thought that was OK but now I feel like maybe I could push the envelope so to speak a bit more!
Believe, I will be in your pocket tomorrow and I am so glad you don't have to wait the weekend.
Websister, you and your mom have done some serious moving this past year! I saw my mom this week and she knows absolutely nothing and no one. It is too sad but she has been in an amazing nursing home for many years and gets the best care.
I saw my PS yesterday and he did what he called a baby fill of 30 cc. I had half my incision which was necrotic cut out last week and the new suturing looks good but he did not want to take any chances. He will do one more fill on Monday which meant rescheduling my CT simulation again but only a day. My RO called yesteday as he wanted to know how it was going~~guess he saw all the rescheduling. He says he won't know exactly what will be radiated until after the sees the CT. Looks like radiation will now go into June. Today is the start of month 10 since I found the infamous lump.
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McCook,
I with Juneau, take the damn medicine, as said already if SEs are too bad you can stop it. As a triple negative BC person I wish there was a medicine directly for us TNs. They just throw the hardest chemo meds at us and hope for the best. Please do what the doctor's want you to do.
My best to everyone, blessings and prayers.
Hugs, Sheryl
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mcook, I don't know how old you are, but I'm 46 and pre-menopause and I've been on tamoxifen since my birthday back in November. The first month sucked. I went thru hot flashes and my joints were so achy. By Christmas time, I felt so much better. Now I don't even think about it. It just goes in with my daily meds every morning and down it goes.
I have a friend who is hormone + and she is not taking the tamoxifen. She has done the dietary changes milk, meat, refined sugars, etc. I just don't have that kind of will power
It's a choice we all must make for ourselves and you have to make the decision that feels right for you.0 -
I am here everyone, please forgive me.. I am ok.. Just have been trying to heal mentally as physically.. I put all my hope into having this amazing response to chemo and was so crushed When I didn't, I went to a really dark place.. I wanted no positve nodes after chemo and still had three and basically assumed I might as well just wait for the other show to drop... I spoke with my onco and she said my odds are still great, I may need radiation but with that and the tamoxifen, my recurrence rate is like 12% to 14%... That's like 87% in my favor.. Problem is I don't believe it.. The Internet has poisoned my brain and as u all know I at my parents recovering and had them very worried...I promised my mom I would stay off the Internet for a bit and that included the boards.. That's why I have been MIA... I am back but really am just trying to move forward mentally.. Physically I am doing well and I know I need to not live in fear in order to move on .. I just want my life back.. I am sorry I disappeared on u all because u guys r so important, I just needed to take a break for my sake and or my parents.. This is so hard on them too.. It breaks my heart.
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301724, you are indeed amazing! 10 miles? Wow! I am over the moon if I can manage 3 miles a day run/walk, and hoping to be able to run a 5K one of these days. Just love your positive attitude!
Marian, sorry for the setback re your incision, but good for you on the baby-fill. It's much better anyway to go with small fills - it's less painful too. Still remember that feeling/sensation of my skin slowly being torn away from my breastbone. Best wishes, and I hope that incision heals soon so you can get on with the rads.
Dear Shari, welcome back! So good to hear from you! Yes, we warned you against dr Google. He is a NO GOOD scoundrel, and your mom is such a wise woman. Take that 87% and RUN WITH IT! It's a conscious decision you alone can make to turn your back on the negative. The odds are GREATLY in your favour, my girl! All of us here are doing the exact same thing, you know? You are so young, and just can't live your life as a cancer cripple waiting for it to strike again - no way! Take charge, and simply refuse to be a victim of this beast any longer. It has taken enough from you already. Don't give it any more power! Instead, begin to focus on what you can do to get better, like exercising and eating healthy. Do some research about that. You are the most important player on your team. Set some goals. Exercise is so good for you, and helps you to feel hopeful and stronger, and in control of your destiny even if you start with only a short walk outside every day. Once all your treatments are done, and this drama moves to the background as you get back to normal and further away from it, this fear will fade. I promise! ((((BIG HUGS!!!))))
Juneau, thanks for saying what the rest of us were too polite to say. Gotta love your courage, and gotta love you!
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Shari nice to see you back and to hear you are recovering. Yes the internet can do it to you-think we have all gone to posts we shouldn't have gone to at one time or another and scared ourselves. We forget that often times only the women with major problems or those that have just gotten diagnosed and are going through treatments dominate the threads. But just remember how many people are out there that have had cancer and have done great, that have moved on and either never ever got on the boards or just post on occasion.Your mo gave you great odds and she wouldn't lie to you. As a daughter I understand what you mean about watching your parents go through this, and as a parent I understand howincredibly scared and hard this must have been for them to see you go through this. But now that the big bad C is out of you, I hope you can all sigh a breath of relief as you go through your prophylactic treatments. Imagine if you had an 87% chance of winning the lottery-wouldn't you play it all the time? Hang in there though the 1st year is definitely the toughest not only physically but emotionally.
Chrisrenee prayers for your family and that eveything is going along ok.
Believe- Stay positive as it most likely is scar tissue like mine was found to be last month, but it is so un-nerving after all we have been through already to have to go through more testing. You'll definitely be in my prayers and I'll be in your pocket (with Tazzy and the dark chocolate). Like Aruba pointed out, we will all be with you for the celebration too. YOu and I both had surgery May1st and they found this crap in both of us around the same time-if mine was scar tissue, yours is scar tissue too and thats all there is to it!
Websister- Glad your mom is back and prayers that things go smoothly. You should be fast at packing and getting her moved as many times as you've had to do it; bless your heart! Like someone posted (I can't find who to save my life) you are a wonderful daughter, wife and mom.
Aruba, I keep those same weight watchers "pills" in my night stand and take a handful faithfully every night! (Love the cartoon) Dang, do you always have to talk about some kind of yummy food- Hall's onion rings and Atz's ice cream Don't know the brands but onion rings and icecream sure sound good followed up with that gooey cake you talked about the other day. My mind is always going in the direction of food-definitely my weakness.
Scottie- You broke it but it looks like you fixed it as well so that makes it ok ! Did it have anything to do with your wine consumption?
jpmom so glad to hear from you and that you are feeling great. You look great too. I thought you had already bought your car but here you are still terrorizing the car salesmen with test drives. lol
McCook I take arimidex, not tamoxifen -but I was terrified to get started because of the side effects. I just let mine sit on the nightstand for a good month. My MO was not happy- then he told me to "slow start" them and that way my body could slowly get acclimated to having a new substance in my body . He told me to take one then wait 3 days to take another. Then after taking 2 the 1st week , the 2nd week take them every other night then the 3rd week go to every night. He also said that there are so many women taking them and that the majority have no issues; we usually just hear from the ones that have problems. Maybe it was a psycological ploy on my MO's part, or maybe he has something there, but the slow start got me going on the pills and I haven't had any side effects. He also said that some times if a patient does develop side effects, he will have them take a break and then try them again and sometimes the 2nd go round they have no problems at all. Anyway I ask a couple pharmacists about the slow start before I did it and they told me that a lot of times doctors will do that particularly with older patients who take alot of meds to allow their system time to get used to a new medicine and make sure there is no immediate type reaction. They assured me that a slow start of 2 weeks sure as heck wouldn't hurt, especially since it had me taking them like I was supposed to by the 3rd week. I m so glad that I finally got started on them and infact if I forget one, I get paranoid now. But I agree with Juneau- you can start slow or you can just dive in and start taking it every night, but give it a try. Heck even women just prone to develop bc are taking it now; you would hate yourself if God forbid it came back and you hadn't tried everything you could to keep it away. What are a few side effects (IF you have any at all) in comparison to all you have been through. (I just saw what you added so do hope your doctor is in agreement with whatever you decide)
Juneau great post and like Tazzy said hope you too are able to practice it. By the way, what are pellagrinos?
301724 great post, great attitude
Beautiful sunny day in central Florida. Just outside puttering in my flower beds and feeling pretty dang lucky to be alive and moving on.
As Ramols says (and it always sounds better coming from her!) hope you find your happy today!
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2Fried, you're so lucky to have sunshine. We've had a few nice days, but it is again dripping from above - sigh! But like you, I'm also grateful to be alive and well, and to be back to my normal routine. Alleluia! Feels so incredibly good to be part of the human race again.
Jpmomof3, we are dying of curiosity about your car. What is it, and have you bought it yet?
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Shari - you've been missed by all. Check in when you can!
2fried and Liefie - from your mouths to Gods ears!
Chrisrenee - praying for your little guy! I hope you and CMBernardi are far from West, Texas and safe.
We seem to be going from one disaster to another.
New car? I anxious to know what it is too. And of course the important part, what color.
Juneau, you are wise beyond your years!
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Ok JPmomof3 Last August you wrote "I have it narrowed down to two cars, the Mercedes slk 250 or the Nissan 370z. Very different cars. Both are fun as hell." So are you still thinking along the same lines or is there some other fast car now that is calling your name?
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2Fried, I think she mentioned Porsche too at some stage if I remember correctly?
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Liefie you are SO right. January she wrote " I finally ordered my fast car. April 27 i will get my Porsche Cayman S." and added she was ready to get some tickets LOL OK JPmomof3 and the winning car is........dut dut da dum.......(thats a drum roll lol).............
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2Fried, now and then my brain suddenly fires on all cylinders, and I have a flash of brilliance - LOL. Hope JPmom will post a photo of that car once she gets it.
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Shari take that 87% and party with it! We all go to the darkside sometimes but that's why we come here. To type it out, get it into the universe and move on. You are young and beautiful so enjoy life.
Juneau - I agree its sweet but every once in a while I get a bottle at Wegmans. I've also poured it over fruit salad with fresh mint. BTW I love the quotes you posted. I borrowed "When I look within, I will discover that accepting myself and being myself are far more fulfilling that expected" and sent it to my sister. She always says how she wishes she can be more free spirited like me but she is awesome in her own right!
Ok time to make dinner. Enjoy your evening ladies!0 -
This is the image I found of the Porshe Cayman S......if this is it no matter the color...WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JpMom...you go girl!!
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2friedEggs.....I will be visiting your nightstand....👀
Ok, I'm dyslexic.....I'm really 56, but what do I do in June when I turn 66😋
Chrisrenee....❤0 -
Scottie thats funny about the age-when my hubby was 38 he "stood" on my sons skateboard and went down like a sack of potatoes and broke a bone.Since it was near his hip and he couldn't move, he had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. When they got him in the hospital all these nurses were peeking in the room and we couldn't figure out why. Here the paramedic accidentally inverted his age so all the nurses wanted to see the 83 year old that had been on a skate board. (don't get me wrong though, as a 38 year old he still shouldnt have been on it!) lol
If thats "the car" Aruba, you can tell JP is "Mom of 3" instead of "Old Mom like me" because while I might get into it, I sure don't think my new chubbby,creeky self could climb out of it! But what ever JPmomof2 gets, I'm so happy for her as it's been a long time coming. I love when people get something they want, something they deserve, good news, etc etc-it makes me happy! I hope to hear about a lot more coming from the rest of you . Us BC girls need and deserve a few extra "treats", right?
Liefie, I'm jealous, I think my brain has completely quit firing on all cylinders so my brilliant flashes are a thing of the past!
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I'm having a colonoscopy next week, how bad is the prep?
Shari, I think u have to believe the numbers your doctor gives you, not the Internet. It's so tempting, but I have to say, from sad experience, stay off the damn Internet! It's a well of misinformation, and will just needlessly frighten you.0 -
Susannah.....the prep is taking 4 liters of some kind of liquid and then spending the day
in the washroom.....you need to take the day off work for that one.....lol
2FriedEggs.....that's too funny about hubby.....I'm thinking 66 could be mistaken for 99
if the nurses are standing on their heads......lol....I'll be looking good too for 99. 💃0 -
Aruba, you found a photo of my car!. I am getting the 2014 Porsche cayman s, red red red. The launch date is April 27 so I can't pick it up until then. Vroom vroom!
I am still trying to decide on the license plate. Any ideas? my state allows 8 characters. My faves so far are I WON, VVROOM ( vroom was taken) , FASTER, KICK A55 (not sure if they will let that one through), NOWHINRZ, BRKINBAD, SNARKY10 -
hi my lovelies! I have great news, for the day. 1. We got the results of Taylor's biopsy, it was a benign cyst only. Not cancerous. So thankful for that, i thought i was going to cry in the office. So to celebrate Tay and I went to dinner and had ice cream. 2. My nephew has made it through the toughest part of his surgery the amputation. The orthopedic said he was doing great. It is now the PS's turn to make his stump all nice and pretty. He should be out of surgery in about an hour. I am so thankful for all of you being with me and on my side through out this last week. I love you all!
Mcook- That's great that you are doing your homework on your medication and understanding it. I did that too on mine before i started the Femara. I didn't like any of the SE's but I knew that if I wanted to take control of this dreaded disease, that i had to take it.
karenz- I'm the same way, i refuse to take anything without talking to my MO. It's strange because normally i would see something that might work and take it. Not anymore sadly.
Websister- Good luck with your mom and hope she's feeling better. Big hugs for you and your mom.
Believe- sent you an email! I will be with you tomorrow in spirit and in your pocket/purse/shoes, wherever you have space for me. Love you!
Scottie-love you mom! Thank you so much!
Embok- check in more often, we love hearing from you!
momof3great- NC is beautiful! Oh I miss the Carolinas especially this time of year. You will love it. Have fun!
Susannah- Good luck with your colonoscopy. The "colon blow" is not the best tasting stuff. Make yourself comfortable in the bathroom. Here's a trick that i learned when i went in for my hysterectomy several years ago. Before you have the first "run" to the bathroom, put vaseline or diaper rash cream on your bottom, because by the end of your experience you will be red and raw. Each time you go apply more after each bout with the toilet.
jpmom- so glad to see your beautiful face! How are you doing? hmm license plate ideas. I like kick A55
Aruba- it is 53 and freezing and rainy here in texas. I thought we were in spring. I guess someone lied to us. haha
Outdamned- My hospital offers a yoga class for BC patients. I've been real scared about going because of how i look. But I think a friend of mine who also has BC are going to possibly try it. Not sure yet.
301724- you rock 10 miles. i do good to do 1. haha
Iwood- welcome to our group. Lots of support and love here.
marianelizabeth- I must have missed the post where you started having issues with your incisions. I'm so sorry, but am glad you are doing better now. Here's to healthy healing!
Shari- Glad you are doing well. keep us posted on your recovery.
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Chrisrenee, great news
Believe-as always I am in ur pocket as u have been in mine...
To everyone else thanks for wishes and words of wisdom.. I know I should go with doctors saying but sometimes fear is so much easier...
Missed u all0 -
Chrisrenee, so good to hear all went well with nephew's surgery. My heart is aching for him and his sister though. YAYY on your daughter too!
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Chrisrenee....doing my happy dance for Taylor....💃.....what a relief!!!!....you guys have been going through so much lately....oh, the little fellow, I cry thinking about him, and his sister will be forever changed also, sadly.
Yes, Iwood, welcome here....crazy bunch, but ever so loving, kind and supportive.0 -
Jpmomof3. - great car! Love the color too. We are all excited for you. My entry for your new plates is : SOXCITED.
Websister - glad you have your Mom settled in.
Chrisrenee - wonderful good news about Taylor's results. More mega prayers for your little guy.
I didn't bother with the Beast today. I will be more motivated tomorrow - or not.0 -
Believe......will be sending good vibes for tomorrow.
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Thank you! I don't think she realized how scared i was and never will tell her. Quick update on my nephew. He is out of surgery and back in his room. They were able to use the skin from the non-viable foot to do the skin grafts. So it's going to be a good night.
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Chrisrenee....thank you for the update.....may he have a peaceful and pain free sleep.
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