Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Boobie (I refuse to call you annoying!), they gave me valium or something prior to the wire locators. Honestly, I remember very little about it, and no pain at all. The LX was a piece of cake. Hopefully, that will be your experience too.
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Poodles, definitely sounds like a stroke; or it could be a sudden exacerbation of a previously diagnosed dementia. My mom was in the hospital once being treated for acute “cor pulmonale" when she suddenly started talking gibberish. Hit the call button ASAP, and the nurses rushed in and found her nasal O2 cannula was stuck under the wheels of her bedside table, cutting off the flow of oxygen to her brain. As soon as they freed up the tubing, she snapped back to normal.
Bob says he’s feeling better and—traffic willing—should be home any minute (10:30 pm is an early weeknight for him). He has been wearing masks & gloves when seeing patients. I immediately threw the hand towels into the hamper—just as when I had that MRSA scare, we will be using paper towels to dry our hands.
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Boobie, Poodles reminded me, I also was offered AND took a Valium. I remember everything (well, not the surgery itself). But it was okay.
Sandy, I'm glad that Bob is being careful (I'd be surprised if he wasn't). Smart to use paper towels. I wouldn't have thought of it. Even for drying off post-shower? And that was awful with your mother. Glad it was easily rectified.
HUGS!
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I use a terry bathrobe for drying off post-shower; and once a towel gets used by anyone after a shower, into the hamper it goes.
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Sandy, I don't think it's dementia. She wasn't like this yesterday. In fact, my sister says mother wasn't like this at 4pm, even. Some dramatic is going on.
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Sandy, very wise.
Poodles, that certainly is dramatic. Makes it even more unsettling, doesn't it?
HUGS!
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awww, thanks poodles. its not ME that's annoying, its my boob, lol!!! im so sorry about your mom - def sounds like a stroke, but great there is family nearby to help!! thinking of you and sending good thoughts!!
thanks Pontiac - I updated my profile, but not much to say so far - surgery of lx and reduction/lift jan5 so will wait on that path to see how to proceed. im leaning towards eventual bilateral mx bc im not a good candidate for xrt or tamoxifen.
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Boobie, Many gals even with bilateral mx take hormonal therapy. If Tamoxifen is not an option, then you could be put in chemical menopause and take an AI. At least there are options if your tumor is ER+/PR+. Is that known yet? BTW, we have a rather large contingent of N. California gals.
HUGS!
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Boobie, welcome! I was offered Valium too. I'd for sure let them know what happened during biopsy and see what they can give you too keep it from happening again. Also, I can't see your diagnosis. Did you make it "Public"? Sending you positive vibes
Poodles, oh no! How scary! Glad you have family close by to help with your Mom. Sending prayers
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Thank you PontiacPeggy, I have read that book! I have read, researched and researched some more till I'm dizzy and cross-eyed and all this stuff is floating around in my head waiting for the next steps so I can apply what I might have retained! My BS did say onc will probably do oncotype test. She seems to feel chemo will be recommended due to my age? I'm 43...not sure why my age factors but that is what she said. Thank you for the wonderful support and I am feeling much more at peace today with the lumpectomy. Still not at peace with the WAITING part but I supposed I better try to get used to it!
How did you all fare with radiation? Side effects? Lingering effects?
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well, it appears that my mother has not had a stroke but rather is in acute renal failure. This will be the third time since August that she's been a renal failure. Obviously, we are very concerned. She has had diabetes for about 15 years so honestly, kidney failure isn't really a big surprise. The one bright spot is that acute rental failure can be reversed usually.
Mother is still confused. This morning she was not able to give them her middle name or last name. White cell count is very low and her kidney numbers are off the charts.They have given her morphine for pain. I am almost 100% certain she's allergic to morphine but in her state she probably couldn't tell them that. So I've got my sister and my niece on it.
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Poodles, so sorry to hear...prayers and hugs!
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Boobie, Glad you read Dr Love's book. It's so hard to learn what you don't know when you don't know what you don't know! Glad you are having an Oncotype done. As to why she thinks chemo is in your future: BC in younger gals (and that you definitely are!) can be more aggressive. Not always. They won't know until all the reports are in. There a lot of other factors that go into deciding whether chemo is called for.
I did just fine on radiation. I had 33 treatments, including 5 boosts. There was some pinkness on my breast but that was all. No SEs, nothing has cropped up since that I know of. They are very careful and able to target the tumor and surrounding areas. Most of us go into each treatment glad that it is available to KILL CANCER. Doesn't mean we are deliriously happy to have the treatment, but willing to do what's necessary. My DIL had colon cancer and needed chemo. She went into it with the most positive attitude I've ever encountered. She said at every infusion she told those drugs to KILL CANCER! And they did. She said it's doable; not fun, but doable.
Keep your mind open to all treatment options. Carefully weigh the pros and cons, discuss thoroughly with your BS and MO, and decided what is best for you. Then DO NOT LOOK BACK. Once you make a treatment decision, only look forward. Don't second guess yourself.
You mentioned Tamoxifen is not for you. May I ask why? Perhaps AIs combined with medically induced menopause would be an option.
HUGS!
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Poodles, geez. Your mother can't catch a break. It's amazing what lack of kidney function can do to the body. I hope they can get it under control. Sending lots of positive thoughts your and her ways!
HUGS!
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Poodles... you're hysterical! Wouldn't all the changes make you an IT? We're all right there with you! haha.
Peggy, I've never heard of the drunken raisins but they sound intriguing! I think I may just have to try them. Drunken raisins or Cannibis cream... hmmm what a dilemma! Looks like 2017 may be a lot of fun!!!
I've decided I'm back to being a real person now that I've finished surgery, chemo, and rads. Yesterday I signed up for pottery again. It's been 8 months since I left the studio in tears. This is the best part of treatment... getting to get back to the fun things we enjoyed before the sky caved in!
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Dara, I got the recipe from Puffin either on this forum or the Arimidex one. However, it has been around forever. Worth a try! And glad you've decided to return to just being you - fabulous person that you are! Enjoy.
HUGS!
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a’boob, whether or not you get endocrine therapy has nothing to do with the extent of your surgery, but depends solely on the hormone-receptor-status of your tumor cells. You can usually tell from the initial biopsy, but won’t know definitively until the post-op “final diagnosis” surgical path report. If your tumor was ER+, then you’d get tamoxifen if premenopausal; tamox. plus some form of ovarian suppression, followed by an aromatase inhibitor (AI) if peri-menopausal; or an AI if postmenopausal. You didn’t say if you have DCIS or invasive cancer—pure DCIS almost never gets chemo, even if ER-. You will likely get radiation if you opted for an lx—but not sure what kind of recon you’re getting (implant, flap, fat transfer, etc). If a flap or fat transfer, you can have rads before or after.
I didn’t get wire locs—just a radioactive seed implant a few hrs. before my lx. And I didn’t recon—my breast got bigger after rads. If I do anything further surgically, it might be a bilateral reduction.
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thanks chi. i know from core bx that i am er/pr+ dcis int-high grade. im getting a bunch of tissue taken out thursday bilaterally along with reduction/lift. so ill wait and see if any is invasive to decide final plan. but right now, im leaning towards a bmx to avoid xrt and tamoxifen even its just a little dcis. im youngish - 47 - and could tolerate (and hopefully afford) a big surgery now, and maybe in the future it would be more complicated. im pretty ok with the whole cancer diagnosis, but i get major anxiety when i think about them poking me and sticking needles, etc... whatever. i need to get over it.
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fightingirl and a'boob, welcome to you both. I do not regret my LX even though I ended up needing MX. Even with MX and levels l/ll axillary lymph node disection I still needed radiation and am on anti hormonal therapy. Tamoxifen or AI's cut the risk for your cancer to recur if you are ER +. Having a mastectomy has nothing to do with that. You can still recur without your breast.
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thanks, molly. if its just dcis on final path, ill choose mx and i won't need tamoxifen despite er+, which is great bc i am a high stroke risk. if its invasive, ill do whatever they recommend after i do my homework, but i still don't think tamoxifen is a good choice for me - will cross that bridge when we come to it. i have given up planning ahead and all the 'what ifs' and now try to live in the moment rather than project the future. im just doing lx now to get these cells out of my body, buy some time, meet with the right oncs and surgeons and then go forward with dmx. might seem silly for some, but its the right choice for me.
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yes Molly, i had asked my surgeon about the treatment following lumpy and masectomy. The answer was the same, I would need follow up care of chemo and or rads and hormonal therapy. I opted for a lumpy and let the chips fall where they may. It all depended on the onco test and other factors. My onco test was at the high end of the middle range (25) but my chances of recurrence was the same for either rads or chemo with rads. So I opted for rads. Second day of Femara and no symptoms yet. Taking it at night to avoid any symptoms that might pop up. Down with the flu but determined to start rads this Thursday.
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Hello eveyone! I'm Ani, 58 years old. Dx IDCIS in Oct 2016. Today I started radiation. I got this!! Very supportive boyfriend, met him 1 month before diagnosis. Arimidex (anastrozole) on board for 5 days now. Am having increased body pain and memory loss. I take care of my mother x3 years. I'm so grateful tumor was caught early. I have a dark spot on my vulva x 4 weeks that will be seen on Friday. I'm more concerned about that right now. I'm extremely optimistic about my breast cancer dx and having been dx early. I love reading your posts!!
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Anikinz, Welcome! We're glad you found us! You've probably discovered we are warm, welcoming, comforting, informative, supportive and funny by now. Have you had surgery already? What was your complete dx? Perhaps you put it in your profile but didn't make it PUBLIC. It is a very confusing thing since each item has to be made public through Settings. We also would like to know where you live since we could be close by. ( I see you just did that! Good).
BC causes both the SEs you mentioned (and Arimidex can too). I know from personal experience that 24/7 care of a loved one takes a huge toll on the body and mind. That's where I would look first for a cause. If you haven't had a break in that time, you need to take one. Put your mother in respite care for a week or two. I cared for DH for 5 years at home then 1 year when he was in a nursing home. It is grueling. You have to take care of yourself first now. I'm glad you have a supportive boyfriend. That helps so much. Keep us posted on what the dr. thinks that spot is on your vulva. Praying it's nothing.
HUGS!
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Anikinz, welcome! Praying that you get good news on Friday about the dark spot.
Fightingirl, for rads, I had 16 whole breast and 5 boosts. Other than itching & nipple got very tender, I didn't have any skin breakdown, but I'm small. At the end I started feeling fatigue that lasted several months after rads.
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Thanks tbalding! I've seen "boosts" mentioned several times...what is that? I guess I won't know my plan for sure until pathology back next week but my BS thought perhaps I'd get rad 2xday for 1 week. She never mentioned boost
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FightinGirl, boosts are targeted right at the area where the tumor was, more concentrated. Most of the rad treatments cover the general area. It will all become clear once you get your path report and Oncotype test back.
HUGS!
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I agree with what Peggy said. the initial radiation is like painting the entire breast from the middle of the sternum to the armpit in a big square. The boost is aimed specifically at the tumour bed(s) sparing the remaining breast tissue from the subsequent radiation.
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anikenz, welcome. I had similar issues with arimidex and my MO switched me to Aromasin. I feel much better.
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A Boob...Welcome... I can hope your wire experience is better than mine ..no drugs to help calm my antisipation of the event but it's do able. Sending prayers for all your decisions. I'm on day 11 of radiation.
Anikinz....Welcome...praying for Friday
Poodles...sorry about your mom. She has had a rough time of it.
Miko...hope you feel better for tomorrow.
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Peggy...how is your DIL's father doing?
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