Stage 2 Sisters Club
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TabzIsMyAngel - I love your story of Tabitha! She's beautiful and I can totally see why she'd be your guardian angel.
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TabzlsMyAngel
Just like moth said, what a wonderful story. I'm sorry you lost her. She did live a long, and I can guarantee a happy life. Your love, and devotion to her, I feel is why she lived longer. I do believe she is looking out for you, and will always. Of course, no cat can replace Tabitha, but if it's ok to ask, did you adopt another kitten? When my ex-husband and I lost our beloved cat, Sonny, it was so hard, and cried for days. We got him as a kitten, however, he only lived 10 years. He was our baby, and when Reece was born, he guarded her nursery. He died on December 26th 2007. It seems like yesterday.0 -
My former boyfriend & I adopted an absolutely adorable 12-wk old brother & sister duo who were also part Maine Coon last October. But when we split up in July (a week before my diagnosis) I had to move back home to northern NY to be near family (and a local cancer treatment center only 5 minutes away) since I had no support system in Michigan. We didn't want to split them up because they were SO closely bonded & in addition to not having room in my vehicle for them & all their stuff, I didn't want to subject them to a 12 hour drive. So unfortunately, I had to leave them behind.
I miss them terribly and do want to get another at some point, but right now with no income I can't take on that financial responsibility at this time. But I *WILL* have another cat (or two!) again as soon as I can.0 -
(just lost a whole post)
Voted.
Jaymeb- I found out about my lung being in the radiation field about halfway through rads when I started to know which questions to ask. My RO worded it as, "We ran three different treatment scenarios and this one gives the Least dose to your lung." (Because I'm thin and had a mastectomy.) I was overall unhappy with my RO and the heads up on side effects even before the pneumonitis. But I knew enough to know that stopping rads partway through was a Really bad idea, similar to stopping antibiotics partway, you just leave the strongest cells to breed. So I sucked it up and hoped for the best.
Ruthbru- I'm with you on getting back to eating better! The amount of sweets in the house and the steroids I'm on are NOT my friends! I don't watch the scale, but I don't normally snack on junk either. Looking forward to getting off these things and back to normal. We did the "eat the leftovers" from Christmas, but then we had New Year's Eve here too, so there's more!
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I actually just threw some cookies & donuts in the trash (now I need to get the bag out of the house before I dig them out again
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I posted this under another topic but I'm not getting any responses so I thought maybe it would get more answers in this topic. I'm kinda new to the board but was hoping to find someone who was doing the stage 2 Afinitor/Letrozole clinical trial. Was just wondering how you were feeling which if any side effects do you have and when they started
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Many time I think about the effectiveness of chemotherapy before surgery. I read a lot of books agree with that but I feel not good about it, especially when I remember the cancerous mass inside my breast all these time during chemo, around 4.5 months, 6 weeks gone.
STAGE 2 with nodes involved make me worry all the time, if cancer break my breast tissue and goes out. can chemo guarantee to find out and kill each single cells after nodes? really I'm worry about that. in addition, how can I know if the chemo works well in my body? maybe I will waste more time with chemo and cancer spread more and more. I don't know anything except crying all days.
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So sorry hope. I'm in the same boat had a positive node darn it. Don't know if chemo killed any floating circulating c cells. Only time will tell. I'm trying to forget how serious it is and live on and enjoy whatever time I have left, may it be one or many years. I am good at denial, probably why I waited 8 months to get my lump checked out. You need an activity to keep your mind from wandering in dark places because....simply it won't help. Check out a exercise called mindfulness in the web. It has helped me stay in the moment and keeps the bad dark thoughts at bay.0
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Hope - I had surgery before chemo. My MO told me that the chemo was to destroy any wandering cells that might be in my body. It was a long course of chemo lasting 6 months followed by 29 radiation treatments. I cried a lot during that time. Now, I am 6 months post treatment and crying much less. Reading on other threads here that people with a lot more node involvement than I had are doing great years later is always encouraging.Try to keep busy as much as you can. It helps take your mind off things.....
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hello tpralph, hope you will be right. many doctors said that we should take stage 2 seriously. what seriously they mean? at the same time, doctors said stage 2 is early-stage even if you have positive nodes and the prognosis to treat full cancer is 80-90% ! also they said if you have positive er/pr like your case, your treatment is more easier than other receptor status.
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well ladies here goes nothing walking into the MO office #Cancersuck
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WorriedMe - hope it goes well, you click with your MO and you get a good plan together.
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am having a ct scan , and a scan of my heart on Jan 11th. Jan 15th will be having surgery to put my port in and on Jan 18th will start 6 months to 1 years of chemo followed by 6 weeks rads followed by hormonal therapy. They want me to have my ovaries taken out 😫😳 MO said I'm high risk for tecur
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These are the 4 medicines I will be taking..0 -
Legally, they have to tell you all the 'worst case scenarios'. Usually people don't find chemo as horrible as they expect going in. It is not fun, that is for sure, but doable for most. Hang in there. It will get better once you get started, waiting is the worst!
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Grandma .... done!
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Worriedme, as Ruth said they have to inform you all the SE they aware of. You won't get all of them but there might be some hidden ones also. Everyone are different, also it really matters on what kind of actions are you going to take. For me I pretty much stay away from crowds and I picked weekday as my shopping days so I don't have to deal with crowds. That help me to stay away from bugs. When I heard coughing I usually put my face mask on. During chemo, I tried to get more rest and do more walking. The daily walking really helped my joints pain, fatigues, SOB and emotionally also.
I agreed with you Cancer sucks!
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My last chemo was in mid-October, and now I'm on letrozole. Are any type of scans or testing done to make sure the cancer's gone?
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Hi Ladies
Have any of you heard that any woman with early stage breast cancer has a 30% chance that it can recur at anytime, even many years later? Just when I'm getting less fearful the further out I am, now this!!!! I'm so confused, stage 2 breast cancer, as I'm sure many of you know has a 5 year survival rate of 93%. Probably a little higher. If this is accurate, to me 30% is scary. Hope I'm not scaring anyone, but this bothers me.😳0 -
Jaymeb, there is another thread somewhere devoted to this very topic.
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Thanks Runor. I pretty much stay up every night. I wonder if there is a thread for insomniacs.
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Jaymeb- yeah, there’s a lot of scary stats out there, and every time I come across some, I freak out over it for a few days, then realize the sky isn’t falling Yet. There’s one I found about how being postpartum/ nursing has worse outcomes that sticks in my head because I finished breastfeeding a few months prior.
I know this won’t work for everyone, but for me it’s, “When it comes back, I’ll deal with it Then.” It’s not an IF. That takes my mind off that hamster wheel.
And yes, there is a thread for insomniacs!
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I woke up today and I’m so depressed. People that I really thought would be here for me aren’t I’m worried I’m not gonna be strong enough physically or emotionally for this shit!!!! Mannnnnn I guess today’s gonna suck for me. Idk why I’m n this mood I’m usually a pretty positive person with a optimistic outlook on things.
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WorriedMe, we all have those days. Have you asked your MO about anxiety meds? I had never taken anything in the past but was having such terrible anxiety and panic attacks he put me on Zoloft and it helped me so much.
Jay, sometimes I feel like this is going to come back. As I have said before, the two nodes for me is what gives me the most worry. However, my mother-in-law is my inspiration. She was diagnosed Stage 1, had a lumpectomy with clear margins and no positive lymph nodes so had no chemo and just rads. Her breast cancer metastasized to her lung 2 years later and for the past 9 years she has been living quite well. She will be treated for the rest of her life but so far she is NED. If it comes back there are lots of treatments available. I hold on to that.
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WorriedMe77- you got a Lot of stuff tossed at you yesterday! Give yourself a few days to process it all and come to terms. You don’t have to make a decision on the ovaries right away, so just deal with first things first. We’re here for you, especially on those bad days!
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worriedme77 , I agree with OCDAmy when she said that we all have those days. Sometimes I feel that we are so busy trying to be upbeat , stoic and positive for the benefit of our family and friends , ( so that they won’t worry!), that we put our fears and worries on the back burner but eventually all these feeling find there way to the surface in the form of sadness, depression and anxiety .
Like you, I was disappointed to find that those whom I thought would be there for me weren’t in my time of need. However I found that the ones who did step up , went above and beyond and I can’t thank them enough for all that they did. You will get through this and we are all here for you.
Jaymeb, the thought of reoccurrence is always going to be a worry but I remember reading a post on this forum, ( cannot remember who posted it), where the poster said that by worrying about something that may or may not happen in the future means that you are putting yourself through the trauma twice. For some reason that has always stayed with me and now whenever my mind goes to that dark place I always remind myself that I don’t want to put my body and mind through that and that if the worst does happen then I’ll worry about it then.
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PingPong: I asked the same question once I was done with chemo. There's really no test to say it's gone. There's always a chance that cancer cells could be in us whether it's breast or other kinds. They could decide to activate tomorrow, next year, twenty years down the road or never. I was told that if I think something is wrong then I need to get it checked out. My radiation oncologist will see me every six months for a mammogram for the next three years then once a year after that for the rest of my life. I'm also on the Letrozole.
Jaymeb: I think the thought of recurrence will always be in the back of my mind. It's scary to think that it might come back. But as my friend recently said to me: "Just don't go there." If the thought starts to creep in I tell myself I'm going to be one of the 80% who doesn't recur. When I drive by the Cancer Clinic I tell myself, I'm never going back there again.
Worried Me: It's going to be okay, really. It's all so overwhelming in the beginning. Too much to take in but as your treatments progress and you learn more you'll find the sadness, the depression and anxiety will start to fade. I still have my odd days where I can't believe this has happened. I find when I'm tired or stressed out it's the worst. Take a break from it if you need one.
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Hi Ladies
I'm just sitting here after reading these posts, and thinking. Why is breast cancer such a crapshoot, and unpredictable? I mean, I've seen on other threads, and by here say, that women can throw everything at the sink, including chemo, radiation, hormone, and targeted therapy. Some women do less, no chemo( very important, since it is a systematic therapy, and proven to save lives). Also, as we know, women who don't do chemo(normally if the onco says no need) and relies on hormone therapy. I have seen where BOTH situations, a reoccurance happens for some women, and some who don't? I've heard of women who only had a mascectomy decades ago, and are still cancer free. Yet, today research over the years has dramatically increased. I hate how this sounds, I'm not sure if I believe in "cancer free". I tell people I'm a breast cancer survivor, and in remission. Is there a difference?0 -
TabzIsMyAngel
I'm sure you'll get a cat, or two soon. Our cats were, and still great comfort for me. Both like to be around people. One is very fat, and weighs 22 pounds. She's so sweet. The other, I have a love/hate relationship with. She can be so calm, and sweet. She loves to lay on my chest. I think she can feel my tissue expander. Then, on a dime, she's crazy. Runs around our apartment, and tries to get out the door when she can. Of course when she flies out, she has brought us the gift of fleas. Gone through many flea treatments, and expensive. I get so mad at her. It makes me nuts, and I threaten to give her away. Of course, that makes my daughter mad, but she knows I would never do it. I wonder if she's bipolar. Can cats have mental problems? Hmmm, wonder if there is a pet forum?0 -
I hate how cancer has turned me into a spastic fruitcake. Every stomach pain, every lump on my shin, every head ache, you know where your mind goes. It's back! It's in my (fill in the blank). I HATE that! So I think, no, no, I am going to ignore you, you stupid lump, I am going to just carry on like you're not there because I will NOT run to the doctor for every little thing. But wait. What if it IS something bad? And I don't respond and get it treated quickly. What if I ignore it and let it grow and then I'll be one of those stupid people who didn't get help when she needed it. So cancer makes you a) a hypochondriac b) neglectful of your own health so you don't look like a hypochondriac. There is no winning. No good option.
I used to look at my husband and think, oh dear god, throw out that ratty t-shirt. Now I look at him and wonder if his next wife will tolerate his ratty t-shirts. And I am SHOCKED by this thought. It is about as pleasant as being hit in the head with a dead fish.
I think, okay, if these are potentially the last 'good' years of my life, I better do something with my time that really matters. Really matters. Hmmm. What really matters? ( silence as crickets chirp in the background). You would think that some Big Life Truth would have made itself apparent through all this, but no! I do what I always did: the shopping, the cooking, the dishes, the floor dirt removal, picking sticky things out of the dog, toilet scrubbing, snow shovelling, lawn mowing, wood chopping, chicken hatching, feeding, egg gathering and butchering. Gardening. Quilting. It's that same damn thing day in and day out but I try to be all Zen about it, all 'the magic of life is in the mundane acts of caring for hearth and home and loved ones' and OH MY GOD HOUSEWORK IS SO BORING! No. You must LOVE housework. Must embrace it. Every day of your life is precious and you should savour each second. True. But not true. Precious, but boring. Is this what I'm meant to do with my time? And if not, then what? I don't know! I just don't know.
If I could travel the world, would I? Nah. I'm kind of a homebody and I do, at times, find the peace and stillness here restoring and soulful. Other times it's unbelievably lonely. See? I even sound crazy to myself! Like make up your mind! But my mind, slightly dulled by tamoxifen, can't remember anything for more that 18 seconds so any decision I come to I immediately forget!
So I want to live my best life, but my best life seems kind of dull. I want to embrace that dullness and make it holy and special only that's not really working for me. I want to feel well, but then I have an ache, but damnit I am NOT going to the doctor! Like I said, spastic fruitcake.
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