A place to greet and meet newbies to stage III
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Thanks for the encouragement, 2Tabbies and OrlandoPark. I will stay in touch for sure! Always good to hear when survivors are doing well. Enjoying my last week before chemo!!
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dstar, justkeepswiming, hey there. Sorry for not replying sooner. Just came back from vacation. Chemo finished for me in dec and I took off like a bat out of hell!!! You will get through this. One day at a time. I finds the loneliness the worse thing. I had to look at everything that was going on as the adventure of the day. I still work at it. I have2nd surgery coming up....another challenge. Sometimes a it does feel good ton use cry. Then do something fun. Hugs, we all need them
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It's great to hear you're doing well, Orlandpark. Gee, my oncologist has only had me come in every 6 months starting 3 months after I finished active treatment. Maybe he doesn't love me!
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Three years ago today I had my #2 AC. I never thought I would live for 3 years, so I am thrilled I am here and thriving! Just wanted to give hope and encouragement to those who need it!
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A year ago today, the port was implanted and I had AC #1. What a year it has been! I let the anniversary of biopsy/diagnosis pass unnoticed, but the start of treatment was momentous in a memorable year. I believe I may celebrate tonight at our favorite steak place. I may even have a glass of wine with dinner and let my husband drive home. Living dangerously!
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Hi Shy and all other newbies.
I come on these boards every so often just to give encouragement. I am coming up on my ten yr anniversary of a sucky stage IIIC dx and all's well. The early days are tough, but we can get through it. It all does become a memory and not so flippin life consuming!
There are so many of us stage IIIers out there living life large.
I wish you all a gentle ride on this road.
Shy: congratulations on your anniversary and enjoy the dinner & Vino!
Belly laughing and grateful for every day!
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Congratulations to all of you who have reached an anniversary!
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I felt a lump in early December and requested a mammogram (a year and a half since the last one.) I realized during the diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound (same day) that something was really wrong when the radiologist also came in to do it (and then the breast navigator came in to talk to me.)
Had to wait a couple weeks through Christmas holidays and had biopsies in early January diagnosing IDC. Met with oncology surgeon this Wednesday, scheduled surgery yesterday and then today, met with the radiation oncologist. He said he feels that I should have chemotherapy first and that the tumor wasn't as concerning as the much bigger cluster of malignant lymph nodes and feels I should be a Stage III.
I had just watched the radiation video (with the intent of going just to radiation and hormonal therapy) and I had no idea that the cluster of tissue was so large and concerning to him (who was also head of the oncology dpt there.) I just thought it was one (small) malignant lymph node. A lot has changed in just a few short days. I'm feeling numb mostly. It's all just surreal.
So, here I am...
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lkc - thanks so much for posting. It's like a ray of hope out there.
wrmbrownie - sorry you have to join us. Hope you can get all the docs on the same page soon.
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Brownie, sorry about your ticket to the rollercoaster. I had neo-adjuvant chemo, because of a huge tumor, nodes, bla-bla-bla. Since there was no possibility of breast-conserving surgery in my case, I suspect the docs wanted to do chemo first to help them get clean margins in surgery, but also to make sure that the chemo was working. Thing is, we didn't really discuss it all that much, because that whole period was such a whirlwind. It was not fun exactly, but I lived to tell the tale and I am still going strong almost 4 years later. We are here to help, if we can.
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I also had a large tumor, but had surgery first. BMX with no recon, ever. Just wanted em gone. Don't miss em at all, and no one ever notices – although I was a 44DDD. Now I just need to figure out what to do with old bras.
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Wrmbrownie, sorry you needed to join us here, but welcome. I had a large tumor. I'm not sure why nobody suggested doing chemo first to shrink it. I think because from what the MO told me, chemo doesn't work very well on this type of cancer. He wasn't even sure he was going to do chemo until he got the results of the oncotype test back, and that test was done with tissue from the mastectomy. Hang in there. We're here to offer support so feel free to ask questions, rant, whatever you need to do.
madalene, burn them? :-) I am having recon, but the one upside of all of this is that I won't have to wear a bra.
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2Tabbies, I would very much agree with that for most of the daily wear items, but the special ones – there's one I had just bought, special ordered it, wore it once to formal night on the cruise (the last day of which was when I found the lump). Very expensive, black, lace etc. Although now I think about it, since it has those formed cups, I could probably wear it without foobs and no one would be the wiser.
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magdalene, the problem I had wearing bras when I was flat was that they rode up. I was always tugging them down. The mastectomy bras with silicone prosthetics even did it some although not as bad as when I used lighter weight prosthetics. I can see where you wouldn't want to just throw away that expensive bra though.
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Don't think I'll have a problem with it riding up, as you can see. 0 -
Madalene, I see what you mean. I had an empty flap of skin like that on the side that didn't get radiation, but it had shrunk up on the radiated side. What I had left wasn't enough to keep a bra down where it belonged.
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Love when our sisters that are years out come back to cheer us on....thank you Jillian777 and congrats on passing 10 years!!
Justkepswimming44...you've got that right...just keep swimming, don't stop you'll make it through chemo! It is a hard mental trip to really live the uncertainty of the future. The fear is all consuming in the beginning for some..I was one of them...but I found after time the fear was just to exhausting to live everyday so I really started to work on releasing it. There are still days its hard, but time has made the distance between bad days greater!
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Thank you Hopefor. The fear and uncertainty has been all consuming at times. I will have my 3rd AC TX this coming Tuesday. I am going to make it through TX because there is no other viable option. I am working at releasing the fear and anxiety. Some days I'm more successful than others. Good to know someone else struggled too...not that I would wish it for anyone. Thanks again for the Encouragement!
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"I am going to make it through TX because there is no other viable option."
Exactly, JustKeepSwimming. There is no viable option. You'll make it.
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Thank you 2tabbies.
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hi! I'm totally new to the message boards but saw this group and wanted to join. I was diagnosed 4/7 and had double masectomy (left radical)scheduled for 4/24 then had it on 4/30/2014. Getting ready to schedule reconstruction surgery but want to wait till after summer. I finish infusions in July and want to get scan results before more surgeries. I Like to believe that the surgery was successful, that the cancer was removed, but the risk of spreading was so great the doctors weren't gonna do surgery.? So I don't like to list the diagnosis cause I don't like to look at it. (IDC ER+ PR+ HER2+ 4cm IIIa grade 3 7of10 lymph)
Looking forward to visiting with survivors that have gone through treatment, thanks, Amy
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I will be getting my last herceptin dose on Friday. The triple positive thread is a long one, but extremely informative. Click link above.The ladies there are very helpful and much farther out than I am.
I have had a couple pet scans since my initial surgery which were NED. (No evidence of disease) I will only be getting my 6 month MRI and mammos. If I am symptomatic then additional testing will be done.
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Now14/Amy - We have similar diagnosis but my tumor was larger. I had same therapy as you, but I only had 3 months of Herceptin because of valve damage and a heart attack during A/C - fun stuff.
I'm doing great 3 years out from Chemo! Never thought I would, but here I am! Keep going,girl!! There is life after
all of that treatment!! It's never the same kind of life, but good life!
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Now14 - Sounds like they did not do pre-adjuvent chemo? Since you're HER2+, there are a number of good threads here with several kinds of chemo treatments that include herception for a year (every 3 weeks) both with other drugs at first & later alone. And being triple positive you have more options for treatment.
We have a wonderful guru in Whippetmom regarding reconstruction.Be sure to read the entire header then you can dip in as you see fit. Link. https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/746448?page=1
Also several good threads about exchange process.Below is one of the more enduring threads. https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44/topic/728266?page=1189#idx_35658
Sorry you had to join us, but welcome. Good luck as you start to investigate the next steps.
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Always good to hear stories from others. To all the newcomers who have to join, you r not alone. And u will get through this. I thougth I was the most squirmish of people. Well I am! BUT I still got through treatment. u will too. We r all stronger then we think we r, more capable. 1 day at a time...one challenge at a time
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This is a great thread! I've been reading since I was diagnosed in may but only in the last month or so did I feel ready to join in. I worry by nature. About everything. Lol. I was so afraid of posting stupid questions or seeming too needy because of the reassurance I was and do look for but all of you have been so kind. Thankyou and thank you in advance for my worry wart questions in the future!😉
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Michelle - good to have you. I too read threads for a long time before asking any questions. Ask away. All questions are valuable.
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hi Michelle, fellow CDN!
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Michelle welcome!!! Where in Ontario are you?
And there is no stupid question!! We all go through ups and downs and worrying is normal and we are here for you!
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thanks for the links! This is a great resource!
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