Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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LG, what a cute wreath! Neat idea.
HUGS!
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Lovinggrouches, can you direct me to the online calculator to which you refer? I'm not familiar with that. Is it on this site or another? I've calmed down a bit today. Yesterday I was digging in my medicine cabinet for that one ativan I had left over from my bmri! Never did find it. Would have settled for wine, but had several things during the day.
I do understand about your worry with genetic history. It's why I so readily had as much genetic testing as possible. In just 2 generations, I'm the 6th person to get breast cancer, and my mother died of multiple myeloma, one aunt had lung cancer (who never smoked a day), and another aunt had kidney cancer. All maternal side. Even though I never smoked (ok, 1 cigarette, hated it) people my age were constantly subjected to side-stream smoke, we were out in the sun all sumer and never used any sunscreen, and were exposed to all sorts of environmental carcinogens. The geneticist said it's common to see clusters of cancer in families since they all were usually in a common geographic area, living in the same house, and exposed to many of the same issues.
614, I' so impressed that you are volunteering at the doctors. Ignore the manager. Some people are just unhappy with their life and nothing can be seen as positive. Sad that she landed in a job where positivity, compassion, and empathy are so essential. If I may ask, are you a teacher? You mentioned something about "before school starts" so I wondered.
Sandy, I can feel your pain with the thumb. When my knee was so bad, I also developed a trigger thumb. It would get in one position and I had to physically straighten it. When I had my first arthro surgery, the ortho did that surgery at the same time. It was such an easy recovery and the thumb is perfect now.
Beezaboob, are your boys younger? Look at the bright side... no housework, vacuuming, lifting, etc. for a couple of weeks! :-) Let yourself be pampered.
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LG, and yes, I love the wreath also. You could even use pink and white and put Hope, Love, Strength, Hero in the middle. Even use a couple of different prints in the same color for variety. Love it.
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Dara, Google magee equation. They don't go by this but it was close to my oncotype score. From what I read, your oncotype usually comes out slightly higher. You have to input all your info and it gives you a prediction.
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Thanks, I did find that, but my ER, PR scores are in % rather than H numbers. How did you calculate those?
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Poodles, in you pocket today. Hope you are doing okay.
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Dara, so glad your genetic testing didn't reveal anything bad. Your family history sounds about as bad as mine. When I mapped my family medical tree I was shocked to find >20 persons with cancer, just in the 1st & 2nd generations--breast, lung, male breast, thyroid, colon, pancreatic, lymphoma, and leukemia. Unfortunately, I had two gene mutations which caused my breast cancer. The breasts had to be sacrificed.
Lisey, this is the right group for you. Most of us here have at least had a lumpectomy. Some have had mastectomies. I started out with a lumpectomy and re-excision but when my genetic testing came back positive I had to have a double mastectomy. And when pathology came back I ended up being ER positive PR negative her2 negative ,which is a more aggressive cancer, closer to triple negative. So I ended up with chemo too.
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Dara, I found the info on my path report.
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Poodles, how are you and DH doing?
HUGS!
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Checking in and saying hi, and when people refer to MLP, I hate to admit that I get MLP and mustlovepoodles mixed up. #Justsayin
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:-) I'm never quite sure how to shorten (or if I should) a person's screen name. I'm one of those who didn't unite read all the guidelines before joining and saw I wasn't really supposed to use my real name... oh well! I trust those on this site and find there are more important things for me to worry about. Thanks for all the support and empathy over the onco score. I guess in the big picture, another 10-11 days won't make a huge difference. The MO has decided he wants to meet and have my initial consult anyway (relieved at that!). Poodles, had the genetics come back with a different result, I'd be scheduling surgery as well. I think you were smart to take the more aggressive path.
Thanks again Lovingrouches for the info. My path report just lists the % and ascension rate but no H value. I asked my BS' nurse about it, but she had never heard of ERH scores.
MustLovePoodles, we're all thinking of you today and hoping the day's results are good.
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I think there is also a UK site called LifeMath? And there may be a lay version of Adjuvant Online. I remember using one of these to compute my score to see how it tracked with my OncotypeDX--and the site called for ER and PR percentages (among other things like Nottingham score, mitotic rate, HER2, node, tumor size, etc). Mine computed out to 15.5, which closely correlated to my OncotypeDX of 16.
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Sorry Dara!!! I guess different path reports are different? I had trouble finding mine at first but found it on last page of my report. Prayers for good score! You're like me, I played around with all the stuff I could find online to keep me busy while I was waiting lol!!! I have done a lot of research these weeks I've been out of work, that's for sure lol!
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Dara, Re: Shortening names. If some uses initials only, that's what I use. However, if there's a name or actual word, that gets used most often. Thus MLP3 stays that way. While MustLovePoodles has become Poodles to me. Mine is usually shortened to Peggy (my real name) or Pontiac. I'm sure this clarifies everything for you
HUGS!
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Yes, please call me Poodles.
DH went to surgery at 1pm EDT. He has another hour of OR time, then 2 hours recovery, at least.
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Poodles, a very long day for you. Hope your tablet/books/phone/Kindle are well charged and you're loaded with snacks. Fingers and toes crossed for DH and a successful surgery and uneventful recovery.
HUGS!
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Yep, I found one of only two power outlets in the waiting room. There are at least 50 people in here, so I am guarding my outlets with my life. I had a bunch of work to do today, so I've had about 4 hours of just sitting here getting the work out.
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Hello all. This is my first post to share my experiences. I had a lumpectomy in April this year with all ancillary lymph nodes on the left side taken since one had biopsied as positive. Of the 15 luckily this was the only positive one.
We rented a hospital bed for me that proved very helpful as I had to get out of bed on my right side. The lumpectomy was a piece of cake compared to the node removal. I could not believe the size of the drain that was put in- it's no wonder it was so painful. I did all of the exercises on schedule and started walking soon after getting home.
June 9 was my first adjuvant chemo; June 17 I had a portacath "Power Port" installed.
Shingles The day before my 2nd chemo I started a terrible headache which was diagnosed as a tension headache. Had the 2nd chemo and 5 days later the continual headache was diagnosed as a chemo headache in ER although a male nurse suspected it might be shingles. My right eye started to be inflamed. 2 days later my skin erupted between my eyes and above my right eye. I suspected shingles and called a friend to drive me to the hospital. I have SHINGLES! I was hospitalized for a week on intravenous antiviral med. Sores spread down along my nose, on my right eyelid and back up along the right side of my scalp. The shingles also entered the eye. So here I am more than 2 weeks later still weak, lightheaded, light and noise sensitive, eyelid swollen and hoping to be well enough for the next chemo which has been delayed.
In hindsight if I had known I was at an increased risk of waking up the dormant shingles virus (that everyone has who has had chickenpox) I would have gone out and got the vaccine. I recommend it to everyone who is recently diagnosed.
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Moonbay57 - I'm so sorry to hear of your shingles. They sound so painful. Thank you for being so kind to share this with us.
Hugs to you.
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Moonbay, I hear a lot of us have shingles somewhere along this journey. I got all the way throough chemo, BMX, and months of poor healing, only to get shingles on Memorial Day weekend. Of course, mine weren't nearly as bad as yours--in fact, I think your case is the worst I've heard of! My heart goes out to you. I know how bad I felt. I can't even imagine having that stuff in my eyes.
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(((Moonbay))) Welcome and big hugs to you
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Moonbay, OMG! That's awful! Shingles in your eye? You poor baby. I hope that you are now on the way to getting rid of the shingles and can resume chemo.
Anyway, WELCOME! We're glad you found us. We're informative, caring, comforting, funny and a bit zany. It would greatly help us if you would fill out your profile and make it public (we also would love to know where you live - we're probably close by). We have a hard time remembering everyone's particular circumstances and when answering questions it definitely helps.
Take care, get rid of those shingles and go through chemo smoothly.
HUGS!
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Poodles, I'd horde those outlets too! How's DH? Are you tired of waiting by now?
HUGS!
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Moonbay, may things only get better for you (well, as “better" as chemo can be) from this moment on. I cannot imagine having shingles in, not just around, my eyes. I am so glad I got the vaccine four years ago--and wish my cardiologist husband would too. (Physician, heal thyself. Shoemakers’ kids go barefoot. Yada yada..)
Poodles, any word yet on DH’s surgical progress? Been in those waiting rooms too many darn times within the past year. If you can take a breather and go down to the cafeteria (or coffee bar if there is one), please do. Even some moments of fresh air can help. They have your cell number, right? And I presume you can text them back with his confidential patient # for an update.
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DH just got to his room about 15 min ago. He did great. They were extra cautious with him, due to his severe lung disease. He's pretty out of it. I'm staying with him tonight.
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yay, good to hear and sending HUGS, Poodles. Hope you both have as restful a night as possible!
Hugs to you as well Moonbay!
Octogirl
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Dara, glad you got a good genetics report. But sorry you have to wait for onco score, so aggrevating. I too did not read all the rules before signing up
Moonbay, I'm so sorry you have this on top of everything else! Thanks for sharing. I didn't realize that this could trigger shingles. You would think they would warn you. Sending prayers to you for quick healing of the shingles so you can get back to yourplan.
beezaboob, welcome. I am one of the new ones too. This group is the best, always positive & uplifting.
Poodles, glad DH is out of surgery.
FighterGirl, how are you doing with radiation?
I'm 3 days post rads & doing good. Still tired & & nipple is peeling but glad to have it behind me.
Told my MO that I'd start tamoxifen after radiation. I have a follow up with MO August 26 to see how im doing on it. Any reason why I shouldn't start tomorrow in your experience?
hugs to all
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Poodles- so glad DH is in his room and you no longer have to horde the outlets...hoping he has several in his room...Agree with Sandy- please remember to take breaks.
Moonbay- sending healing mercies your way~
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Wow! Miss a day and it's hard to catch up!
Poodles so glad things went well for DH! I hope you can get some rest!
LG love the wreath. Start the dreaded Tamoxifen next week. I hope you cool down. If I remember correctly you just had a hysterectomy. You poor thing have just been thrown into the fire! I'm hoping not to revisit those "personal summers" much as I had enough of them before!
Welcome Moonbay and Beezaboob I am fairly new here and the women are amazing and very welcoming it's a good place to be. Moonbay you are the second person I have recently read on the boards to be suffering with shingles. I am so sorry. I think our immune systems get fried between the treatments and the stress. Take care of yourself.
Went to visit my DD yesterday and fell in love with a lake house there. Dragging DH to see it on Tuesday. I have always dreamed of living on a lake. My mind is working overtime on how we could make this work. A much better obsession than BC
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Poodles, great news about your DH. Moonbay, I hope the anti viral therapy works quickly. I think I had my best ever fitbit day today. I am over 18,000 steps already.
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