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Stage 2 Sisters Club

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Comments

  • Delvzy
    Delvzy Member Posts: 454
    edited October 2015

    I also walked through chemo and it helped a lot. I used to feel that at least it was something i could enjoy and control.! I also would have a warm bath each night and listened to a 20 min meditation cd all through treatment

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    Any amount of exercise you can do will help you get through treatment better and help you bounce back better once you're done. If you want to, check out the Lets Post Our Daily Exercise thread on the Fitness Forum for some exercise buddies in all stages of treatment on beyond. There is also another exercise thread for ladies who are in treatment right now. I still lesson the meditation CDs. They are great.


  • octogirl
    octogirl Member Posts: 2,434
    edited October 2015

    I've been quiet for a while but just wanted to pipe into say that I've found the exercise during treatment thread to be very helpful, and I am walking regularly through chemo. It really does help, even if I don't make it very far (did two miles today though). I am half way through chemo. A warm bath sounds good right about now...

    Octogirl

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    Good for you, octogirl!

  • catfurr
    catfurr Member Posts: 39
    edited October 2015

    I'm really impressed by those who've been able to stay active! I've had 5 rds of chemo and was finally able to ride my bike somewhere besides in circles in my driveway just yesterday. 2 weeks out so this is my "good" week! Did a yoga class this morning and tonight my face looks like awful! Red, ugly bumps everywhere😒 Can't wait for this to be over!!!!

  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited October 2015
    Carfurr - A yoga class sounds amazing to me. Congratulations! The impressive bunch that runs miles during chemo is likely a small minority. During my chemo I was walking the perimeter of my California (meaning very small) backyard with my adorable golden retriever following me. Maybe a few times a day. That was my best and moving helped, even with significant neuropathy (that over time went 95% away). I hope you are close to the end of chemo and that you give yoga another try when you feel better. But remember to pace yourself and keep hydrated! Hugs💚
  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited October 2015
    Kim - How was your weekend? I had 8-10 bottles of water a day plus water in the form of various teas and in juices. So many visits to the potty, it was crystal clear pee throughout chemo, lol. Hope your weekend was ok. Hugs, Nisa 💚
  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited October 2015
    Octogirl - you are doing great. Wow to 2 miles during chemo! I never did that during mine. My feet were killing me at the time, but any exercise/moving/walking that I did was immediately helpful. Glad you are seeing the benefits as well. Keep going and keep us posted. Hugs, Nisa 💚
  • octogirl
    octogirl Member Posts: 2,434
    edited October 2015

    Thanks Nisa! I am trying to walk every day...have had a touch of pins and needles in my feet, but honestly, just a touch. doesn't interfere with walking. Fatigue has sometimes interfered, but I find I have the energy first thing in the am...so I go as soon as it is light (meaning any minute now...). It is still quite warm here (temps hit 94 or so yesterday) so early am is the most pleasant time to walk anyway...Just around my little subdivision, but once around is a mile, which makes it easy to measure (I use the iPhone app also).

    The fatigue gets me in the afternoon. I walked yesterday am, then put in a full day at work, and even though it is a desk job (or maybe because it is a desk job), by four thirty I hit a wall. Fortunately, it is only a five minute commute home, and once I got there, I crashed on the couch, pretended to watch baseball, hubby made me dinner (bless him) and I was in bed and asleep by 9:00.....

    Off to walk again. It really does help me get through this. Hugs to all

    Octogirl

  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited October 2015
    Octogirl - I too am in CA dealing with crazy heat and doing my power-walking in the morning. Your day yesterday sounds like a very long day. Your comment about hubby making you dinner made me think of the meals I made and froze before my first chemo. It also made me think that even as we undergo chemo, we women expect extraordinary performance from ourselves. Can you imagine a man writing "wife made me dinner (bless her)..." Take good care. Off to my walk. Hugs, Nisa 💚
  • octogirl
    octogirl Member Posts: 2,434
    edited October 2015

    an excellent point on the difference between husbands and wives, Nisa! I should know better but I do often see it as my job to cook dinner (I am a better cook than hubby, I will admit, but he is learning fast!).

    Just did a mile and a half. Cooler today I think. I really want fall to get here to the Great Central Valley. Done with the heat!

    Hugs

    Octogirl

  • Kimmer33
    Kimmer33 Member Posts: 90
    edited October 2015

    hi nisa

    Having a hard time today coming to grips with this new reality. Getting neupogen injection training today so hopefully boosting my wbc will help me. So depressed at the overwhelmingness if this treatment over the next few weeks i can hardly stand it. Thanks for thinking of me, also still awaiting liver ultrasound and mri scans which has also continuously freaked me out. Sorry to be such a downer, it was a rough weekend.

    Kim

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited October 2015

    Hugs Kimmer

  • catfurr
    catfurr Member Posts: 39
    edited October 2015

    Kimmer--I don't know if this will help, but when I get the neulasta shot, I put Emla cream on a fatty part of my tummy (not hard to find😏), cover it with press-n-seal, then stick an ice pack over that. By the time I get to the dr, I don'tfeel a thing👍

  • jbdayton
    jbdayton Member Posts: 163
    edited October 2015

    I had to give myself the Neulaasta shot after each chemo. I went to my GP office and his nurse and I did the first one.

    After each of my flap surgeries I had to give myself 10 Luvenox shots to prevent blood clots. They came in a syringe like an like epicenter. I was able to give them in my thighs with no pain greater than a pinch or mosquito bite. My husband even gave me a couple.

    I would assume the Neupogen injections would be similar.

    Good luck that your shots go easy

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    When you are in treatment, it seems like there is no end in sight.......but for us, at Stage II, thank God it does, and eventually (and slowly) will recede into 'something hard that happened to me' in your life's story. Hang in there!

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    I thought this was good:

    image

  • Optimist52
    Optimist52 Member Posts: 144
    edited October 2015

    Hi everyone, I was just looking at my pathology report and something jumped out at me that I hadn't noticed before. Lymphovascular infiltration - present.

    This has upset me. Neither BS or MO have said anything specifically about this to me. I had two nodes with micro involvement but have only just realised lymphovascular infiltration is separate to this. Does anyone else have this or know much about it?

  • thinkingpositive
    thinkingpositive Member Posts: 564
    edited October 2015

    Hope everyone is doing well! I have come up on my 1 year.... Diagnosed Sept, Mastectomy Oct. When I was at the breast surgeon last year for my followup to my mastectomy, they had me fill out a reminder appt card for my one year. I still have not received that card in the mail, so I called the office today and they have no idea why I did not receive, but yes, I am due for my one year followup on Nov. 7th. But they have no appts available until Dec. 21st. I said that is unacceptable. First of all, is one year normal followup for breast cancer with mastectomy? What should I expect as far as testing. mammography/ultrasound ( i have a dense breast), MRI? Would like to know what others get for followup visits and should i have had a followup with BS sooner? I just keep thinking that things just get messed up for me. Never saw the Breast Navigator in the cancer center until after I finished chemo... no scans as they are not protocol, no tumor markers as they do not run them as they feel not accurate??

    Confused and worried...

    Any info to calm me down would be greatly appreciated!!!! I posted here as well as new topic hoping I could get some comments! Thanks

  • specialk
    specialk Member Posts: 9,261
    edited October 2015

    thinking positive - whether your checkup is at 12 months or 13 probably doesn't make much difference. You won't have a mammogram due to mastectomy on the one side, but who handles the check of the other - your BS or your OB/GYN? My BS checks have consisted of a physical exam and notation by the BS of where I am on the spectrum of treatment - that is pretty much it.

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    Optimist, this is what Dr, Susan Love says:

    "When a pathologist examines tissue removed during a lumpectomy or mastectomy, one of the things she looks to see is whether cancer cells are present in any of the blood vessels or lymphatic vessels. If they are, it is referred to as vascular invasion, lymphatic invasion, or lymphovascular invasion (LVI).

    A woman can have lymphovascular invasion but not have positive lymph nodes. This could be because the invasion hasn't spread to the lymph nodes or because it has bypassed the nodes and moved on to other areas of the body.

    When LVI is present, doctors assume this means that the cancer has acquired the genetic mutation it needs to create its own blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. Because a tumor that has the ability to create its own blood vessels may have already begun to spread cancer cells to other parts of the body, the presence of LVI is an indicator that treatment should most likely include chemotherapy or hormone therapy (if the tumor is hormone sensitive)."

    Thinkingpositive, As Special K says, a month isn't going yo make any difference. I would think that a MO would be your main 'go to' doctor for managing your case & would be ordering follow up testing, mammograms on your other side etc. Usually, surgeons just deal with surgery and it's after-effects (at least that has been my experience).

  • thinkingpositive
    thinkingpositive Member Posts: 564
    edited October 2015

    SpecialK and Ruthbru...thanks for the info. Just got the call back and they are able to get me in on Nov. 21st. No mamo since I requested on from my OB/GYN and Plastic Surgeon in April prior to my reconstruction. Since PS was doing some work on the good side, I was petrified not to have Mamo and Ultrasound prior to that surgery.. So BS said that counts..and I just need to go in for followup..and if she feels the need she will decide if MRI of breast is needed. Never ends... but as of now, I feel I am healthy and want to continue to ThinkPositive...thats where my name came from!

  • Optimist52
    Optimist52 Member Posts: 144
    edited October 2015

    Thanks Ruthbru, I'm just feeling a little down at the moment with the uncertainty of my future health. The first time I was diagnosed in 2003 I didn't do much research and didn't look at this website. It's been a great source of education and help to me to read others' posts.

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited October 2015

    Optimist52, I had two positive lymph nodes and "extensive" LVI. Due to my low oncotype DX score of 13 and my highly ER positive tumor I am only getting radiation and anastrozole post umx. You however have ILC with with positive nodes and LVI which "may" require chemo. It again probably depends on your oncotype DX. Did your MO order one? If you do not feel good about your treatment plan why not get a second opinion? I actually sought out a second opinion because I had too many things that got overlooked early on and that is why I ended up with lumpectomy and then umx and looking forward to a prophylactic right side mx next year.

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    Well, it doesn't seem like they know exactly what it means (I am PR negative and they don't know how that fits into the equation either... not as good prognosis as being both ER and PR positive...but what can I do about that!). With your situation, I'd say taking your Femara religiously would be be super important.

  • Optimist52
    Optimist52 Member Posts: 144
    edited October 2015

    Molly, I did have Oncotype DX, it was 22. My MO insists that hormone treatment is the best for my situation, not chemo. I am going to trust her on this one. I'm just getting to grips with all the medical jargon and information and hadn't understood about LVI before.

    Ruthbru, I'm definitely taking Femara every day and so far no obvious side effects thankfully.

  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 47,698
    edited October 2015

    Good! I didn't have any horrible SE with Arimidex either.

  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited October 2015
    ThinkingPositive - Glad you got your appt moved up. Assuming you had your quarterly follow-ups, a month wait should have been ok. Not sure you are given the opportunity, but it helps me to make the "return appt" the same day I am at the MOs.

    Optimist - What I heard from several MOs 2 years ago was that LVI was not a predictor of recurrence and therefore it was mostly ignored. Hope they were right!

    JBDayton - Nice to meet you. Sorry you had so much happening with your reconstruction.

    Kim - The treatment is rough, no doubt about it. I am sorry it was like that. Sending you hugs and wishes for easier SEs next round. 💚

    I have no idea why my email notifications get auto-removed lately...any suggestions?

    Hugs to all, Nisa
  • thinkingpositive
    thinkingpositive Member Posts: 564
    edited October 2015

    nisavilla...when I first saw my MO after my surgery I kept bringing up the fact that the report said "LVI" and "ECN", he told me not to focus on that. I also hope he was right

  • NisaVilla
    NisaVilla Member Posts: 505
    edited November 2015

    Hello Everyone. Not sure if so much silent is good news or not. Sure hope it means everyone is having only mundane problems like car troubles and the such. All is well at my end except for a weird episode of sudden onset vertigo that resulted in a fall that freaked me out followed by 10 hours in the ER where a sweet doc wanted to keep me overnight but I begged-begged and she let me go home. The world spinning in my head is no fun and I want it to stop now. Of course now I have to undergo some testing as it is not clearing by itself. I am better than when this happen on Halloween Day and have returned to driving and working but, oh boy, if I make a sudden move, flying I go to the left side!

    Please send your updates. Hugs, Nisa

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