Ladies in their 30s?
Comments
-
Casino, hope you are doing well! I agree, seeing others achieve stable gives me hope
0 -
Thanks all! I got a call from my onc last night and platelets are good for chemo today. Scans are good, too. Will have more details in a few hours.
0 -
Just a few mm of shrinkage but still moving in the right direction. I like to compare the start to now. We had 7.6 x 10 and 6 x 9.8 cm tumors in liver and many more at dx. Now it's 4 x 1 and 2 x 0.9 cm (and still many more unmeasured tumors). Yay shrinking tumors!!!
0 -
Congrats Kaayborg! Yay to shrinking!!!
0 -
that's awesome! 👏🏻 Congrats.
0 -
That is great news!!! Congrats and I'm so thankful for this! Praying for you often!!!
0 -
Bump
0 -
Hi Ladies. I'm joining the club. Just turned 31 and was diagnosed with stage IV mets to the liver (only two small spots though). My tumor load is low so my oncologist is really optimistic. I had a screening in November since I'm BRCA1+ and my next screening was scheduled for May, so I'm still a bit in shock that not only did I develop BC between November and now, but stage IV de novo. I start a TCHP regiment next week. I have a 4 year old and 1.5 year old. The thought of not getting to see them grow up and of them losing their mommy breaks my heart. But I'm going to fight with everything I can to keep that from happening. Wishing you all the best and lots of strength.
0 -
dear MommyErin,
MBC is more of a chronic disease these days, with many treatment options, so do keep your mood up. I was dx'ed with many mets, yet have been just on the second line chemo for the past 5 years ( not really doing well on AIs so far).. so can say you can be optimistic to get to see many years ahead. Read on and you'll be relieved how many of the sisters have been doing fine so far!
Hugs
Ebr
0 -
Dear stagefree,
Thank you for the reassuring words. Today was rough, but I'm committed to being positive moving forward. You're right. We do have many options. Here's to hoping and praying they work for us!
0 -
and that's the mood.
We all have rough days, then somehow get used to the new normal and move on.. and thanks to the many great sisters here, we are NOT alone
)))Hugs
0 -
Welcome Erin, we all hate that we are here but nice to have the support. I'm fairly new to this also. Just 4 months. I did start to feel better once I got on treatment. It is a roller coaster that we can't get off. I am optimistic that with new treatments and research that we will be here for a very long time
0 -
Hi ladies. I just posted this on the "Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer Long Survivors" thread but thought I should post it here too:
Although I have met many Stage 4 women since original, early stage diagnosis over 10 years ago through the Young Survival Coalition and BCO, I have only met two at my cancer center, whom I met 10 years ago. Both were originally diagnosed with aggressive, Stage 3 in late 20s. One went from Stage 3 to Stage 4 very quickly (and developed brain mets pretty early on). The other didn't become Stage 4 until 10 years after original diagnosis, which started in her abdomen/peritoneal cavity. First one lived 15+ years with Stage 4 and the second has lived over 12 years and is still kicking. There is hope, even with aggressive cancer.0 -
JFL thanks for sharing it is always good to hear about hope.
Cheers
Ziz
0 -
JFL, thank you for sharing. We can do this!
0 -
Posting an essay by my wife relevant to the thread.
http://www.health.com/menopause/early-menopause-metastatic-breast-cancer-treatment
0 -
hi all, new to this forum. Diagnosed with relapse on 1 March 2017 with extensive mets to bones and lungs. Tiny dots as doctor said
I'm 37 this year. Currently on 3rd cycle palbociclib and Femara. Glad to see this thread and to know I'm belonging somewhere0 -
welcome Jlim. Nothing really to say but I wanted to welcome you to the thread. It doesn't get too much activity these days but itis full of smart and very supportive women that are here to listen if you wan to talk or have questions. This group has been very helpful to me!
I also just turned 37 and am starting my 4th round of ibrance(palbocilib) with femera. Sometimes I go the the ibrance thread for help and support too. 😊
0 -
I moved on from your ranks on the 25th of June. Wishing you all the best!
This is my and my beloved at my birthday party.
0 -
Ok, This is where I should post, is this an active thread? It should be. I went to the 30's with breast cancer just diagnosed, but I will post here what I wrote there:
Life story from June 2017 in a nutshell.
Hi everyone! RGC from Topeka, beautiful photo, happy belated birthday!
I'm glad and sad to see others here. I am 36, stage IV, mets to bones and lymph,ER+/HER+, and still in the prestage treatment planning. Not sure what to feel right now. I was diagnosed in June after they found metastasis in my broken hip, the femur was completely hollowed out due to lesion. My oncologist called me yesterday with the news of my biopsy, left breast. They put a clip in after in case they need to perform surgery, is what I was told. He Wanted to tell me early so I had some time to digest the news that the cancer is aggressive and he wants to start me on chemotherapy next week. I still know so little about the details and it's got me feeling like I've been left in the dark about everything but I'm impatient I guess. This has all happened so fast. Originally, after testing the cells from my hip they said I was HER2-. Breast tumor says otherwise. Still no talk of surgery, but my blood tests say I'm healthy enough to continue - I just finished my first round of site specific radiation to hip and shoulder. No plan yet for breast or lymph removal.
On the phone yesterday, my oncologist named some specific medications they are going to start me on chemo, and I have no idea what they were, I was in the bathroom when he called. I was worried, I didn't want to have him call me back but I should have so I could have written down what he was telling me. It's okay. I will see him this Friday, Jul 28th at 2:00.
I broke my hip by simply stepping out of my work truck, I'm heavy set but was very active until that.I had to have an implant dynamic hip screw with pins and plate, have been recovering from this for last 6 weeks. New aches and pains everyday are starting to eat me up while I'm helpless to be able to leave my house without assistance, I feel trapped. If there's anywhere I can be honest, it's here I hope. I have to believe that treatment will help. I haven't had much relief from radiation yet but it will happen, is what I have been told.
I am staying positive but I can't sugar coat it. My body hurts everywhere, I know I am not alone, I am lucky, in all sense of the word that it has not spread to other major organs. I had been misdiagnosed for past 2 years as having RA, had a high rheumatoid factor tested positive, was on drugs for it. When I first felt significant pain in the hip and shoulder in March, my first orthopedist says it was IP hip syndrome, i.e. inflammation etc and shoulder impingement. I work like a dog and I accepted this answer. He didn't image me at all. He would have seen the lesions if he had. I went to my regular physician about pain in my armpit and pinching pain in my breast in May, again no test, no imaging, no touchy feely, she said rub aspercream on it, and my bra was too tight. Yes. This happened.
June 7 while at work, When I got out of my truck, the pain was so severe I though I had a pinched nerve or a muscle spasm, I couldn't walk but I didn't go to ER. Instead I scheduled to see my orthopedist the next day. I stayed at work and sat in a char with wheels to get around the shop and kept doing my job. I got to meet a different Ortho, and THANK GOD! He was able to look back 4 years ago to a CT I had while in the ER for something unrelated, ovarian cysts have caused me many issues in the past. He could see the start of the growth from 2013 in the femur head. That puts me at age 32 going on 33. Then again, another CT from ER, ovarian cyst, 8 months ago, he could see the growth this time much larger. When he took the X-ray the 8th June, he said after, "Something is wrong with your hip". Aside from being broken and hanging on by a thread, which may have happened in March but was not properly treated due to something I will never understand, I had to have surgery 2 days later. Then the week after surgery, ortho had us come in, gave me the news that there was cancer detected but it had come from somewhere else, was looking like primary of the breast. It all spiraled down from there. I was referred to the cancer center, and got to meet the oncologist and radiologist. I have had a bonescan, and 3 barium contrast CT's and more recently, biopsy of breast, mammogram before and after and X-rays of shoulder. I see the orthopedist today for my hip. Radiation may slow the healing, it's been 6 weeks and we will see. Updates to come. I want to walk again gosh darn it.
My oncologist upon first meeting, was straight forward and direct. It was a breath of fresh air. He got right down to it. You have stage IV breast cancer, and it has metastasized in your bones and has traveled to lymph, is nesting in my right knee, left hip, right side of rib cage, left armpit lymph, left breast, right shoulder, and lower spine. Go figure. I thought I was just pushing myself too hard at work.
I'm angry or annoyed that no one tested for this sooner but then having pain in these sites was misread and mis-diagnosed. Either way, it's too late to change it, it just is. It feels backwards though, the way the doctors are treating me, but I think it's because of the broken hip and just trying to get through physical therapy to be able to move forward.
I have a 13 yr old daughter, we just broke the news to her when she got back from her fathers for the summer this weekend. I didn't want to tell her on the phone. I have no idea how to help her with this either but I had her dad and step mom, my dad, me and my spouse there when I explained it to her. I didn't go into much detail but wanted to be honest with her. My spouse got an award for best care giver, having been driving me to and from radiation and doctor appointments etc, getting me in and out of the truck and wheeling me about. He has been to every appointment with me, listening to doctors with me, he is indeed a miracle.
Thank you for listening, thank you for being here. I know I'm not alone. I want to feel that.
0 -
Hi Dani, you are not alone. I'm sorry you are having to go through this, but the people on this site are great and understand. I'm sure right now everything must feel so surreal, once your treatment plan is in place you will feel like you have a little more control. Treatment sucks but for a lot of us it's very doable. Many of us, including myself, were able to work through it. You are very fortunate to have your family supporting you and you will find a great deal of support here too. I wish you luck!
0 -
Thank you Cali Metoo14, I am starting to see the support net as I read and read! Wonderful stuff here
0 -
Dani- So sorry you're in this situation but glad you found us. I was diagnosed stage IV de novo in March and just finished up chemo a couple weeks ago. It's very overwhelming initially, but the initial shock does wear off eventually. I'm Her2+ as well and chemo plus Herceptin and Perjeta are major power houses, which I'm assuming you'll be getting. My last PET scan was completely clear. Tumors gone. No active cancer (though there may still be microscopic). I'm hoping with continued herceptin and perjeta infusions I'll stay cancer free for many years to come. Cancer sucks. Chemo sucks. But there are some powerful drugs out now that for some make stage IV breast cancer a chronic condition instead of terminal. Hopefully that will be you. Hang in there. We're here for you.
Xo,
Eri
0 -
Mommy, I have been posting in Bone mets thread but yes, I start chemo Friday the 4th. It will be Herceptin, Perjeta, and Taxotere. Taxotere scares me a lot a lot a lot. I like what you said about the drugs making it chronic vs terminal. That's still in the back of my head, wondering if I am going to get to see my daughter graduate high school let alone college. Will I get to be a grandma? I'm 36 so I friggin hope not yet but you know what I mean. I told my girl that!
She is going to help me dye my hair fire engine red, and then we are doing an A-line cut to my chin. I have had very long hair, to my bum, all my life. So, we cut it to my elbows thursday. And I'm talking about it because Doc warned me about side-effects, says due to high doses of the taxotere, my hair is likely to start coming out within a couple of weeks.
Do you have bone mets Erin?
0 -
Dani- I have liver mets. I received taxotere and carboplatin with H&P. Chemo wasn't fun, but I was still able to go to the gym (starting about 5 days to a week after each infusion), go on a family vacation, etc. I lost my hair and had mild neuropathy, but that's gone now. My biggest piece of advice is to try to stay active. Even the day right after chemo, my husband and I would go for a 2 mile walk with our kids. For me, it really helped fight the fatigue and got me feeling back to normal between infusions.
0 -
Erin, I'm working on getting up and walking about my house once an hour right now, Ortho has given me permission but I have to use a walker. My goal is to be able to get enough strength to make it outside to go up and down the street then around the block. I live in a city but it's more rural city, suburb I guess, ands this heat wave has finally broken, it's been in the 100's and higher since May.
Hip doesn't hurt today!!! Go radiation!!!
0 -
Dani- Glad radiation is working for you
0 -
Dani, I technically graduated this thread when I turned 40 this summer but I still read. Your post caught my eye and heart. I never tire of hearing the details of each of our diagnoses. I have a daughter who is 13 as well (and two others who are younger). She was 11 when I was diagnosed and I constantly struggle with what to tell her as she gets older. For now, as my health has been good and our lives very normal, what she knows seems enough. All my girls know my cancer to be just a chronic condition that doesn't cause much bother. Sometimes I worry that as she gets older she will learn more of its life-threatening reality on her own and be alone in her fears. I hope that she would reach out if so but she tends to be rather private sometimes. Anyway, I very much relate to your desire to be honest but not go into too much detail. It's a delicate balance.
Also, where you are from caught my eye. Just after diagnosis I planned a family trip I had in mind to do when the girls were a bit older, wasting no time in getting to that bucket list. We stayed 9 nights in a cabin in Duck Creek and visited Zion, Bryce, and the North Rim. Some friends also gave us some money to do something extra as a family and we ended up in St. George on a family rock climbing trip. It was a great time. I'd love to go back to your neck of the woods some day, though hot it certainly is in the summer. Utah is one beautiful state.
I'm so glad you are starting to feel better and I hope that you soon find all of the peace and health and relative normalcy of life that is all still possible as a cancer-lifer.
0 -
Kaay,
I hope you do make it back here, August is when it starts to taper down into nicer temps and it pretty much ends up being a mild summer that blends right into fall. Winter literally came on overnight Dec.12th. Up until then, I was wearing shorts and t-shirts, painting bricks on my patio wall for something more festive, it was bland beige, now it looks more like fiesta, individual bricks colored in variations of my favorite, and random.
As an update, my bone mets have been giving me some trouble last week starting, rib feels broken, inflammation is bad and my patella along with my scapula. I start chemo tomorrow, and I go in this afternoon to get the port placed. The chemo 101 was great with my nurse nav, there was so much to cover but I have the packets, and I always have a resource to call if something comes up such as a bad side-effect that could be a sign of something serious. I will be on Taxotere, Perjeta, and Herceptin. Later on, if my blood work comes back looking good after treatments, we may start a bone growth injection, but I have to see a dentist first, a problem with that med is it can cause necrosis of the jaw? That scares me. I have my arsenal of anti-nausea meds, and all the resources of the cancer center for other amenities like wigs, scares, hats. People make items and donate them, I got a cushion that velcro to the seat belt so it doesn't rub on the port site.
My daughter did an at home salon day for me, painted my toes for me, as it hurts for me to bend over and side to side. She dyed my hair, did my nails, and we did facials. She bought me a little baggie of sour patch kids, and we sucked on them all day, she knows the chemo is going to make some problems for mouth sores and tenderness. The nurse gave me so many tips for this.
I have catching up with friends and family on Facebook, which I stayed away from for a long time. I debated who I would tell about this diagnosis, and wondered if it was appropriate. I am glad I did, and an outpour of support from people I love has been truly monumental at this time.
Thank you for everything ladies, I will post updates of scans and tests when I get them, I have faith that things will go pretty smoothly, I will do everything the nurse advises and find a good routine.
Dani
0 -
Will everything taste this bad after chemo treatments? How long does this last? The only thing I have found so far that doesn't taste bad and I don't have immediate burning in my mouth is milk. At least I can get calories from milk.
Today was nice, good weather, kids are at the county fair tonight, I learned how to play a new xbox game with them, and I might be getting married at the courthouse Friday
Happy Hump day everyone!
D
0
