2013 Survivors!!!
Comments
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I've been ignored, so I'll ask again... When might some you consider new avatar photos?! It's time ladies. At least four months. And Websister.... Need to see the new Do!! Pah-lease?
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Shari- congrats on all the great news. Make sure you do celebrate all the good things right now!
Juneau- I will have to try and find another "great" picture of me. haha Hope you are doing well.
Scottie- hope you are feeling well better today. love ya
Websister- we do need to see new pics of you too.
Ramols- how are the arms today after being stuck so many times?
Mcook- did you have a good time last night?
Had my last iron infusion yesterday. Had to get stuck yet again twice yesterday. But we did find ANOTHER good vein we can use for next time. whohoo! I did ask about possibly getting a port or picc line placed for the just incase of another infusion. I was told absolutely not, because it would be too much for a "what if" i had to have another. I'm waiting for the iron to set in quick so i have some energy. I'm tired of being tired. I did sleep great the last couple of nights. It felt great. My arms are not bruised thank goodness. I go see my PS this coming friday, and hopefully discuss nipple process. Thinking about stopping by Nordstroms to get a Postmastectomy fitting so I can know what "size" these girls are. Because obviously my size 38C bra is not the right size. lol Hope everyone is having a great day.
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Juneau, my avatar accurately depicts my post-chemo fuzz-face.
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Congrats Sharri. I had 3 positive nodes after chemo.... BS took them along with righty. That was in August and I am doing hunky dory. I had a full check up at my GP's last week and she said all feels good. Have CT/Bone Scan/Mammo and chest x-ray coming up in the next 2 weeks. Dont foresee any issues... why would I. Its an impatient time as you just want the bugger out.
Websister - happy that rads are being pretty kind to you.
Hi everyone - off shopping with DH and then out for lunch... then over to friends for supper tonight - will see my friend/boss who has her bc lumpectomy on Tuesday.
hugs all xxxx
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OK missed this page when I responded to Sharri?
I will get DH to take a picture of me.
Hugs all xxxx
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Actually can my new pic wait until March 13-14. I am going for a first haircut on the 13th so will be interesting to see how that turns out.
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SHARI!!!! That is fantastic!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!! Doing the happy dance, on a table of course for you. Lol
Stride, that is too funny!! I finally got up the nerve to use DH's electric razor to shave mine off. I've heard it may take two or three shavings but it won't come back. And I've always thought that cat is so beautiful!!!
Did anyone watch the show The Doctors last week? There was an episode about a 6yr old who had leukaemia that was chemo resistant. She was treated with a crippled HIV virus and within 2 weeks she was NED!!! Apparently it's being tested in other cancers now. Wouldn't that be fantastic!!!???0 -
Thanks tazzy.. Thanks everyone for encouragement.. Glad u r doing well and gives me so much hope!!!! So scared right now.. I want that sucker out!
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shianne: that's incredible news - wow, everything crossed.
Sharri - hugs... the being in 'limbo' is really the worst time.
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Shari, so happy for you! Now stop going to the dark places, and celebrate this good results. Yayyy!!!
Websister, glad you're doing well with the rads. It is not far to go now!
Chrisrenee, glad your infusions are going well. Soon you'll be dancing on the tables.
Stride, post-chemo fuzz face - HAHAHAHAAA!
My weekend kicked off in high gear with the rock and roll show - what a blast. I have not enjoyed something that much in a very long time. Just let loose and had such fun. Nothing like rock and roll to make you move. The good old friends made it even more special. It was so good. Scottiee, just have to report that I had three different kinds of dessert at the dinner buffet last night. It was delicious, and I refuse to feel guilty.
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Just got a phone call from a first cousin I have who lives in California. Yup, she was just dx with BC. She is having her surgery on March 18. I told her about the wonderful
People here, so I hope she will join us at some point. She just turned 50 and from her blood work, is officially in menopause . Interesting to note that she will become part of a fifteen year study regarding a different kind of radiation therapy. It is being done in Europe now and it is a one time shot, so to speak. I don't have all the details yet, but when I do, I will let you know. It supposed to save any other organ from being radiated
like the heart and lungs. Stay tuned for more updates.
Shari.....like Liefie says....celebrate the good result.
Shianne....thanks for sharing the info....wonderful news.0 -
Scottie- I'm so sorry about your cousin, my thoughts are with her and with her family.
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Thanks Chrisrenee.....another poor woman starts her "new life".......PS...how are you?
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Scottie- it's unfortunate, that someone else has to go through this. It's so not fair, I know life isn't fair, but still. This whole BC thing fucking sucks. I'm doing good, slept all day and haven't felt bad about it at all. ha Are you feeling better?
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I'm getting there, but that bloody infection knocked me for a loop. The antibiotic makes me nauseous....can't wait for them to finish.
Glad you slept....obviously your body needed it.0 -
I guess Scottie, I slept all night I guess I was more tired than I thought I was. I'm so ready to have some energy back. I was told it could be 2-3 weeks the iron starts working. I wish it were sooner.
I'm sorry that the meds are making you sick, how many more days until you are finished with them?0 -
Scottie - so sorry about your cousin.... this fucking disease sucks. Just got back from supper with my friend who has her lumpectomy on Tuesday... naturally she's nervous, but she said she looks at me and said she knows she can get through it. So sad though.
Hugs to all xxx
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The disease itself sucks... the toll it takes on every part of our live and our family and friends sucks...
I am so angry sometimes, not why me... because well why not me? But it's all just so head bangingly anoying.
I'm one of the lucky ones, so far. I had a seemingly not very aggresive cancer so the fact that they bungled my diagnosis for a couple of years seems not have hurt me too much, I grew several decent sized tumors, but... I healed well from lx surgery, tolerated rads and am doing ok on Tamoxifein other than my eyes and some hot flashes that should count towards my time in purgatory...
I've got a friend who is having a much tougher time of it and there's not a thing I can do for her, and that sucks too.
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Scottiee...hope you are getting past this last "chit". Sorry to hear about your cousin but what a wonderful thing if this radiation thing works. Would be great for all our future sisters!
Would be fun to meet your cousin although the circumstances suck! I wish her well. Glad to see you back!
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Dear Scottiee:
Sorry to hear about your cousin. Sounds like she is having IORT (intra operative radiation therapy). It is a new therapy, approved by the FDA only in the last 3 - 5 years for tumors under 3 cm that don't appear to have spread. How it works is that when they do the lumpectomy, while you are still under anaesthesia, they put a probe into the hole left by the tumor, and blast it from the inside with radiation. Then they take out the probe and sew your wound up. The idea is that you get the surgery and radiation in one blast, and don't have to do several weeks of whole breast radiation. I had it, but ultimately my tumor was too big and the margins, though clean, too small to avoid whole breast radiation. But I think it was worthwhile anyway just because it increases the likelihood that all cancerous cells right in the area of the tumor got whacked when it was removed. The downside is that only a few doctors, even here in the LA area, have the specialized and expensive machine to do this procedure. I found out about it when I got my second opinion through City of Hope: they don't have the machine, but the doc with whom I consulted said that IORT would be the best therapy for my cancer & referred me to one of the few doctors who does it. (incidentally, I thought that was great -- highly ethical, as the other BS I consulted didn't explain that option apparently because that doc does not do it.0 -
Continued: the only major downside of IORT is the expense as many insurance companies won't pay more for it than they pay for one shot of conventional whole breast radiation. If you do IORT, they ask you to participate in a clinical trial which tracks it's effectiveness over 5 years, which I am doing. The more we track this info, the better future treatment options will be. Apparently to date the track record with IORT is as good as, if not better than, conventional whole breast radiation in preventing local recurrence.
So I hope your cousin's tumor is small enough to justify doing that -- much less hassle and less exhaustion for one's body to recover from than 6 weeks of rads.
Greetings to all -- hope all you ladies are having restful and fun weekends. Great news, Scorchy!
I have been slammed at work, so not able to post much & working on some writing today for a deal that is closing this week. French exchange student arrives today (what was I thinking to agree to host ?) but only stays 10 days, so it should be fine. Daughter got into her top college pick -- we are celebrating! Carleton College, in Minnesota (I went there too, 30 plus years ago). Now that she is in, high school is almost unbearable for her. She can't wait to burst out into the world! All I have to do is figure out how to pay for it.0 -
Scottiee, your first cousin too? It just sucks! One of mine was also recently diagnosed at 36. She has two little boys - toddlers - and she reminds me of Ramols with the similar circumstances. So sad that women seem to be diagnosed younger and younger. She's getting aggressive chemo, 6 cycles of Taxotere, Cytoxan and Adriamycin, to shrink the tumour before surgery. Seems to be doing okay, but I wish none of them had to go through this. For us older women it is scary enough. Can just imagine what it must feel like for these young ones who still have their whole life before them.
Why is this happening? My mom and her nine sisters are all still alive (!!!), and Mom is the second oldest at 82. None of them has or ever had any form of cancer whatsoever, but their daughters are getting it. One of my first cousins died a few years ago at 48 of an aggressive, very painful cancer in her mouth and jaw which disfigured her beautiful face, and made her blind eventually. It was absolutely excruciating to see what she went through. Another one also had bc, is 6 years out from diagnosis, and now the one I mentioned above has been diagnosed. It's like a wave coming on, and I am scared for my DD and DIL, whose mom also had bc. My SIL's mom had a BMX eleven years ago after being diagnosed with Stage 3 IBC . . . this is just too much!!!!
Embok, thanks for the interesting info re the new method of radiation, and congrats on your DD getting into Carleton. Yes, paying for their education is quite something. We just got the last one out of our pockets, and can now begin to dream of retiring sometime in the distant future . . . LOL.
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I want to say that BC is a crap shoot....I grew up in Glasgow, Scotland at a time where smoking was chic, a lot of booze and parties. My parents and their friends had parties almost every weekend and the air would be thick with smoke. Now let's not even talk about the food, where everything was high fat and fried, and a lot of it still is. I knew of no
one around us who developed any type of cancer....arthritis, yes, rampant....now here's
the clincher....a first cousin on my father's side who lives, yes, still alive in her 80's
has lived all her life up in the north of Scotland, non smoker, the odd whiskey, nothing but fresh, I mean fresh air, lots of walking as exercise and probably mostly organic food
as she grew a lot of her own stuff....developed BC more than thirty years ago, had a mx,
as was the usual tx of the time, then just got on with her life... Yup ...a crap shoot...0 -
Oh, one more quick story....our neighbour's father (Scotland) started smoking at the age of 10 and died in his 90's of old age, probably with a cig in his mouth because he smoked right up to the end....yup a crap shoot.
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Scottiee, yes, there is just no rhyme or reason as to who gets it and who does not. Russian roulette . . . you're lucky or not. However, to me it does seem as if the older generation did not get it as much as the younger generation. This thing is becoming rampant, and not only bc, other cancers as well. With my previous post I totally forgot that my mom has an astro cytoma, which is a slow growing brain tumour diagnosed when she was 78. It seems I still have chemo brain 9 months PFC.
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Liefie.....I totally agree with you.....we need that cure now!!!!!!
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It is a crap shoot, but I think there is lots of stuff going on. I think young women have always (rarely) gotten breast cancer. We just weren't good at diagnosing it... and in the days before bse what modest young lady would even know she had a lump? and if she did, she probably didn't talk about it. My Aunt died (at 42) in 1972. She had a lump that she'd been ignoring for 17 YEARS, so it appeared when she was 25... who knows what it was at that point. How many women have found and been treated for tiny cancers that might only have reared their ugly heads in latter years. Many more women are living to more advanced ages too. I'm 52 and don't think of myself as old, but 100 years ago, I doubt if I'd still be here to develop cancer. I'd have died as an infant. (Rh neg mom RH pos baby) or having survived birth, I suspect something else might have got me. Additionally, I think there are way more hormones in the environment, homone based bc, hormones fed to cattle... more women smoke and drink and do other drugs. We are fatter than we've ever been and get our periods younger all the time.
Sometimes, I'm amazed that everyone doesn't have cancer and I suspect they just don't have cancer, yet. OK. Enough Debbie Downer talk from me.
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Cindyl.....I agree with a lot of what you are saying, especially about young people and obesity.....however, when I read on these threads about young women who were vegetarians, marathon runners, non smokers, non drinkers, etc., you gotta wonder WTH
is going on!!!!!!!,0 -
I wonder if years ago, there was as much perhaps but not talked about out loud. I know when my Grandmother had stomach cancer, it was just "a bad stomach" all the while she was fading away. I must admit though, there didn't seem to be any mention of young women having any breast problems. I have read on here that many had grandmothers that had breasts removed and got on with their lives.
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Susan.....that's exactly what happened to my cousin....she had a mx and then just got on with "life".!!!!!
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