Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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I don’t know what my Luminal is, but even with chemo, my chance of reoccurrence is 8-10%. Now I’m 68, with heart disease, so I’m not likely to be around in 20 years. I would rather die of heart failure than I would cancer. We are all prone to other cancers anyway besides what breast cancer causes. Life is a gamble when it comes to different health issues.
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It's all a Crap shoot anyway. Many don't ever recur. My sister had breast cancer in her 20's and died at age 56 of early onset Alzheimers. We just need to live our lives while being just vigilant enough without being obsessed. It's not living if all we do is worry about recurrence.
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Cindy, I hope you get those results soon (the waiting is absolutely the worst!) and that your margins are clear this time. We all seem to be able to handle just about anything as long as we know what we’re facing.
Please keep us posted on your results. We are all here for you - and one another!
MJ
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Cindy good luck. Waiting till you know what you are up against is really hard.
Ellyn27 thanks for the comic relief about your hubby in the room. Good stuff.
Def heard of soap at the feet to make cramps feel better.
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Poodles, why the heck do you have SOAP in your purse? That's hysterical.
HUGS!!!
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Poodles - I do take magnesium for leg cramps but I still got cramps occasionally- severe in my thighs - so after much research I started taking apple cider vinegar tablets (2 a day) and they have helped the most... originally I was taking a tablespoon of vinegar when I got a cramp but I hated the taste so when I found the tablets I was happy.
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Blair, "Luminal" is not a numerical value, but rather a type of breast cancer. Luminal A is ER+/PR+/HER2-, and that's what you have. It's the most common type of invasive ductal carcinoma and has the most favorable long-term prognosis. If caught early and treated appropriately, it usually takes decades to recur if it recurs. Most women diagnosed with it at Stage IA after menopause will probably die of something else that is age-related before it would have recurred.
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ChiSandy - glad I’m an “A” then, but none of this is any good. If my Oncotype had been 20 - 22, I would have tried the Mammoprint test and avoided chemo like a plaque, 27 was just too high. I hope I’m making the best decision, but I don’t feel great about it
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Blair, chemo works with fast growing cells so with you being grade 3 I think you should be able to sleep at night knowing you are doing all you can to fight the cancer. Hugs!
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LOL, Peggy. The soap goes with the three pairs of dull scissors and the flashlight bulb that are also in there. Because someone might need them...
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Oh Poodles, you brought laughter to a morning sorely in need of it. I'm in a desperate dispute with ADT over non-performance and them charging me $1458 to cancel the contract. Nobody seems to be able to help. And dealing with ADT is like punching marshmallows. I'm ready to have a good cry.
HUGS!
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Aww, peggy. Im sorry. I'll be right over with my dull scissors and my little 13-lb demon dog. We'll lob bars of soap at their heads and Tiki will gnaw at their ankles. That should get their attention!
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Poodles - GREAT!!! All help welcomed!
HUGS!
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Hi all-I just got home from the 2 week check-up with the surgeon.He said I was cancer-free after the ex-cision,yaaaaaa!! He wants me to do radiation & take a hormone pill for awhile.He explained that the radiation is used to prevent reaccurance of cancer. I'm not sure I understand. Can you help me please? Thanks.....Dianne
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Hi Chips. There is some good reference material elsewhere on the website but I'll try the explanation that I was given. While the tumor is gone, it is possible there are still stray cancer cells in that breast. So to kill them off the general recommendation after lumpectomy is 3 to 7 weeks of radiation to that area. Then because cancer can also jump to other areas of the body, the general recommendation for women whose cancer is ER + (meaning more like normal breast cells and needing estrogen to grow) is to take a hormone pill daily for five to 10 years.
You will want to get a copy of your pathology report, which tells you a lot more about the cancer cells, and see a radiation oncologist next. But congratulations on the good news so far!
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Thanks Georgia1....Asked for a pathology report,they gave me the # for hospital records.......Dianne
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Dianne, that's crap. They should be giving you that report. No extra effort required. But as has been said, the radiation is to kill any stray BC cells floating around in the area. They would be undetectable by conventional means so this is the method. And then either Tamoxifen (if you're pre-menopausal) or an Aromatase Inhibitor such as Arimidex (if you're post-menopausal).
HUGS!
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So happy to report another clean 6 month check-up. I wasn't having any problems, but I was surprised at how relieved I was. I wonder if it's always going to be this way?
OTOH, I've been thinking about my mother all day. Last year, on the Monday before Thanksgiving Mother was hospitalized with severe bleeding from her bladder. She was due to fly to Atlanta the next day to spend the holiday with us. Mother fought the doctors tooth and nail to leave the hospital, but of course she was very ill, so she had to stay. I ended up going down to the Gulf Coast on Thanksgiving day to take care of her for 2 weeks. And thus began my mother's 6 month death spiral. I knew she had cancer. I knew it. They couldn't find it, but I just felt it in the pit of my soul. Her stage 4 kidney cancer wasn't discovered for another 4 months and there was nothing anyone could do about it. It was only a matter of weeks for her...
Oh well, I didn't mean to get off on all that sadness... I guess its going to be this way for every holiday this year. Thankfully, my sister is bringing her family to meet with us for Thanksgiving in Georgia this year. Nobody's cooking. We're all going to a resort. So, just a time to gather, watch movies and parades, and eat in the restaurant.
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Poodles, Hooray for the good report. Yes, it will always be like that. We think we aren't worrying until we get that A-okay report and can start breathing again.
It will take time but in the years ahead, you will supplant the depressing memories of last year's Thanksgiving and all the hard times with your mother with happier memories of your mother. But not for awhile. Enjoy being with your sister and family and not cooking!
HUGS!
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Although i went to a big Hospital Center, the charges for co pay was to the Dr and to the Center on the consultation visit. This is highway robbery, $40.00 for each. When I asked the Hospital/Cancer Center what's that about, not only they bought off the BS, he works for them, BUT they charge us - the people - for the previlege of seeing him there. Can you imagine what a racket?
Dianne that's one lazy office you got there. What about a portal? The office really should send you the report, it was just done it's not like they have to go to the basement and look for it jeez!
How is everyone doing weeks post op. I still have pain, much better of course, i believe it's a matter of time, but the nipple it's still sensitive, and the skin area ( a big area) very sensitive and the whole breast, what can I tell you, but i would like to know if e/o has this experience, I am going on 5 weeks.
I'd be curious to know how many of you ladies, had ALH or ADH diagnosed prior to images finally showing DCIS/LCIS or ILC or and IDC? I am doing a lot of homework on it, and the truth is there are no certainties. My ALH was the proliferative type, so there is a bit of an added situation there and family HX, but i was wondering what's the consensus from experiences here.
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Mustlovepoodles - congratulations on your clear report! Don’t regret talking about your mom - it’s an expression of love you had for her and she will always be in your heart!
Chips530 - I agree with PontiacPeg - that report should be a given to you as you paid for it - it’s your record.
Momallthetime - My Breast reduction is almost 6 weeks and is much better. Still wearing sports bras as I sleep and can sleep on my front pretty much. Since my cancer side was torn up by bs, the ps had to remove nipple, and it doesn’t completely match the other breast. They really thought they weren’t going to be able to save it, but it’s healing and alive, so I guess I’m lucky. I originally imagined myself having “cyclop boobs”. The skin above it though points out from some existing swelling and I’m hoping by the time I have radiation that it will flatten some. During surgery, they discovered (or maybe it was a spot on my images they needed to look at), a hyperplasia spot they removed from my other breast. It was located within the tissue they reduced. This was good, but it kinda makes me feel my breasts could continue making new spots. However that’s why the follow up treatments should put it to a stop. My bs didn’t discuss my surgery at all. Her communication was terrible, and I’m not sure if this hyperplasia was questioned from images or something they discovered during surgery. I will be mad if anything new grows in future. My bs was so gun whole on breast reduction
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Momallthetime - I had my lumpectomy on October 3rd and I'm still having twinges of pain and my entire nipple is numb and hard, but not it a good way...LOL I didn't expect this at all. If I had known, I would have had her move the incision from around my areola to somewhere a little more distant. I'd rather have a scar than this numb nipple.
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tlfrank i was reading about this areola business and i think docs are really wrong on it, the thinking is that a woman will prefer that cut as oppose to have a scar on the breast, they should discuss this with the ladies first and not assume what e/o could put up with. My scar pulls down my breast and it's really painful still, but i must say i am glad i am not dealing with what you are dealing with. The pain is not even on the scar but deep in the breast on the area above it, could be that was the trauma place. The nipple sensitivity is hard (no pun intended)to deal with, but very very slowly is getting better, i think.
Blair thanks for the explanation, NCBI actually and other sites are saying that proliferative ALH is really something to watch out for, but either way i think it's only a yearly checkup. what bugs me about this, it's the way it sneaks up on a person. I think you should also ask for a report from your surgery, you need to have it for your records anyway. They will always ask about the pathology from your initial surgery. And you will see if there was hyperplasia or not. Also i always ask that they send info to gyno and to primary care. This is what i do i could get copies from them easier.
I was looking for the info because i want to speak with Gyno (he is very nice to discuss with) but i would like to have some background first. Thanks guys.
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Momallthetime - My surgical pathology report says - Right breast reduction specimen: Focal atypical Ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH). Maybe I had both, but nothing said prolific anywhere on the report, and all my bs said was she got it all. (Well maybe) Again, my bs didn’t get into explaining anything other than they found that my right breast had hyperplasia within it. Again, it doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, but I hope the hormone therapy keeps anything else from forming in both breasts. Chemo will kill what’s there - maybe
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Blair yes, that's it. If they did not mention proliferative then it's not. You got plenty to deal with. From my homework, it's just another flag that if these are found it's something to be looked at.
I still want to find out what amount of women have Hyperplasia and that turns into C. Maybe i'll start a post.
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momallthetime & Tappermom38 - thanks for understanding the stress the waiting causes.
I met with my MO today for the first time. She had my pathology on the second surgery - BENIGN! So happy, I had tears. No more surgery.
So now I wait, once again, for the Oncotype DX results. Hoping for a low number. She estimates in 2-2.5 weeks we'll know if I need chemo or if I can go on with Radiation. I see Rad Onco next week, but she too will wait until the Oncotype results are in to set a plan.
Mustlovepoodles - congrats on a clean report. The holidays are rough without your mom, sorry for your loss. Surround yourself with family, it makes it less sorrowful.
Tlfrank - I had a re-excision on 11/14. I too get pain throughout the breast, like a sharp stabbing pain. By the time I react, the pain is gone. My nipple seems very hard, guessing trama from surgery. And my underarm, from lymph node removal, it itches, hurts, and generally bothers me more than the breast. My incision is high at 12 o'clock, and it causes me no problems.
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Momallthetime- my sister had a hyperplasia spot in her mid 50s (around 2001) in which her bs put her on the 5 year Arimidex. She has had no pre-Cancer returned since. The only reason her bs gave her that treatment, was because she didn't trust the biopsy report and she felt my sisters hyperplasia was a hair away from being invasive. So it was a precautionary procedure. At age 71, my sister has a small cyst that they are watching, but it's not related to cancer. It's perplexing because no other female in our family ever had breast issues.
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Cindy that's just wonderful news! Hope this time will past faster. I could see how 12 o'clock should not bother you so much, gravity has a lot to do with it. Mine is about 9 o'clock. but it bothers me that not so many ladies are complaining like I am. It doesn't look bad so there is nothing to go back to BS, i'll just give it more time.Well.
Thank you Blair. Your sister's cyst is it smple cyst, then it is fluid based and they don't touch it, but if it's complex is a different story. Thanks for the info, that was a smart move from Onco. I have Dr. Susan Love's book as my bible, I am reading and rereading it.
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momallthetime - my initial biopsy findings were initially ADH, bordering on DCIS - pathologist recommended a lumpectomy which revealed pure DCIS grade 3.
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tlfrank: My incision was around my areola also and I experienced numbness at the incision site and extremely hard nipples on both sides for some reason. My nipples were so sore I was convinced I was pregnant but luckily I was not. The nipple hardness took a few months to go away but I feel so much better now. The numbness gradually declines somewhat. I wondered if the nipple pain was from stopping the birth control pills after being on them for over 10 years
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