Starting chemo July 2014
Comments
-
hooray just had my diagnostic mammo and ultrasound - all clear!!!! YAY
Nancy
0 -
Yay, Nancy! Awesome news! I won't have my next mammo until late August. We shall see.....
0 -
Congrats Nancy! Breathe easy and sleep well.
0 -
Congrats Nancy!
0 -
thanks ladies!! Elaine I'll be thinking of you come late August. Let us know
Nancy
0 -
😄 Nancy
0 -
Yay, Nancy! I just had mine and am all clear as well - what a relief! Hoping for good news for everyone else, too.
0 -
congrats boxofrockstar!!!! May we all forever remain Clear!!!
Nancy
0 -
CEA tumor marker came back 6.5 should be 0-4.0... feeling a little icky... oh, my iron is low too. Happy 50th to me.
0 -
knmtwins ~ What is the plan regarding the marker abnormality? Don't accept "wait and see" until your next scheduled check up. Some MO's will try to do that. (My 1st one) This is an important issue. I imagine they can re-do the blood test sooner, but if that doesn't work it out, you want a CT scan with oral and IV contrast of your abdomen and chest. My current MO says that can be done as frequently as "we" feel it is required. PET's are limited in number by insurance but CT's are not.
My iron hasn't fully recovered either. I don't think that is especially unusual. My port is going to be removed July 31st unless my iron is too low.
Sending positive energy to you.
0 -
I have no idea what the plan is, I emailed him last night. I only had my lab report because I was at the plastic surgeons the day after chemo, and he had run an iron panel because I've been complaining of nightly leg cramps. He was at the other office yesterday, so hopefully today he will call or reply to my email. My last Herceptin treatment is on July 15th, and that is his last day at my center. He is moving closer to his aging parents.
0 -
knmtwins ~ ok. It sounds like you will be looking for a new MO. Is there one associated with your current Dr. to whom he will refer his patients. I'm pretty sure he won't just set you adrift. It sounds like this might be a good time to be aggressive about meeting the new prospective doc. I suggest you do some checking and see what are your alternatives in the area. Changing MO's is not terrible. I adore my new one.
Don't panic yet. My MO says that markers are not all that proof positive that there is an issue and too frequently sends a false message. Just continue to follow up.
Hugs.
0 -
knmtwins - I agree with Coyote. - don't panic yet. I believe there could be other reasons for the CEA to be elevated. Tumor markers aren't always reliable for everyone. Hugs
Nancy
0 -
Hi All!
It's been a while since I've posted or even checked out the boards. With July about to start I wanted to say hi and hope that most everyone has recovered from chemo last yr!
My last post, I was very frustrated b/c my Foobs were lopsided again after a 2nd surgery. Good news is 3rd time was a charm!!! My round Foobs look great and if they shifted, I wouldn't know. Also my insurance did pay for the hospital!! My PS didn't charge me....
Other good news for me, I finally found a new job...working at Project Mgr/BA at JP Morgan. Also my echocardiograms were normal so don't have to be monitored monthly anymore. Infact, I think I only have 1 or 2 more Herceptin's....and then no more hospital except for 6 month check ups. Woohoo!
But the best news is my wedding is in less than 2 weeks away! Thanks to cold caps and extensions, I will have long pretty hair for my wedding and not the 3 inches of the rats nest that is growing in where I lost hair (I lost @35% of my hair).
Knmtwins - my MO does not do blood tests for markers - said they often wrong.. Though I wouldn't mind mine getting done... She also doesn't do any yrly resting like MRI's since I had a BMX...unless I complain of bone pain. Anyway, just saying don't panic...it could be another false positive!!
Life has forever changed for us, but I truly hope that everyone is happy and healthy now....and forever!!!
-Jennifer
0 -
Congrats on your successful reconstruction, your new job, and your upcoming wedding! So glad you retained most of your hair -- that makes the cold caps worth it.
I don't know if my MO does tumor markers. But, she's a scanner. I have recently had a heart scan (still more Herceptin in my future) and a dexascan (started ovulation suppression and an AI in February). I'll be having a mammo in late August, and she says I'll get an MRI once a year. But, I think we'll be starting the every six months thing soon, once Herceptin is OVAH.
Glad to hear that things are going so well for you, Jennifer, and I hope you have a beautiful wedding (and marriage).
0 -
Jennifer so glad to hear you are doing well. Congratulations on the foobs, wedding and new job. Sounds like everything is falling into place for you. You certainly deserve it and I am very happy for you.
My MO checks tumor markers every 3 months. I don't know about that though as I had them checked right before my lumpectomy last year and they were perfectly normal yet I had a 2.8 cm tumor. Does that mean tumor cells weren't circulating in my blood? Who knows. I did have one positive lymph node. I still am not comfortable with a yearly mammo only, but I will discuss that with my MO next time I see her . I'm alternating with seeing my MO and RO. I just saw my MO earlier this month and in September I will see my RO.
Nancy,
0 -
Jennifer ~ All that wonderful news is great to her. Best Wishes on your upcoming marriage. You two have already been through the "worse", so enjoy the "better".
0 -
Congrats on your upcoming wedding, Jennliza! Post pics!
0 -
Good to hear from you Jennliza, wish you all the best with your wedding and marriage, you certainly deserve it
0 -
I had my last Herceptin on Wednesday... my MO is leaving, so I'm switching to my 2nd opinion one, who I love, but was too far a commute... No more chemo center for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
0 -
Congrats, kmntwins! I won't get my last Herceptin until September/October.
Hope your new MO works out for you.
August will be scan month for me. I'll be having a mammogram, another heart scan, and a PET scan (to look at something that might be a bone met). If the PET scan is positive, I'll have to get a biopsy. A kind Stage IV sister explained the procedure as follows: "Usually a local is given and then the skin and flesh is pierced with a scalpel and an instrument is placed through the piercing and a small amount of the bone is removed. This then is sent to the path lab and you wait for results. Some people say it is uncomfortable and others have said it is quite painful but if you have any real concerns on this side of things you can always ask for sedation." Hoping the PET scan results are clear so I don't need a biopsy!
0 -
ElaineThere - I know it is Elane Therese, but I never used to see your whole name, so to me, you will always be ElaineThere... YIKES don't like that, but better to know than not and better to catch soon, if it is something! I'm guessing the symptom is bone pain? When I told the new onco I'm having headaches, she said if still there in a week, do a MRI of the head. She also pushed down on my tummy (normal physical type stuff) and didn't like that I scrunched my face. She asked why and I said, feels like you are pushing on gas... again, if still present, wants an ultrasound of the tummy. Hopefully this is just to be on the safe side. We are going to a wedding this weekend, so I'll schedule them for after that. My husband has not been holding up well to all this cancer stuff, so I haven't even told him, but I'll have to for the MRI, because I have to be drugged for them... claustrophobia...xanex baby... Old onco sent instructions to remove port at my exchange surgery on 8/27... better get the scans first. Cancer sucks.... never knowing what is around the corner, but I'm sure we will both be fine!
0 -
knmtwins and ElainTherese - I'm sorry you are both having these scares and I hope that's all they are. You both have been through enough already. Please know that I'm thinking of you both and am hoping that everything is ok. Hugs to you both
knmtwins congrats on getting finished. What a great feeling, eh?
Nancy
0 -
kmntwins: Nah, there's no bone pain. It's this "thing" that lit up on my two previous PET scans. It's in the hip area. My MO and her partners thought it was a weird place for a met, but they couldn't definitively say that it wasn't one. MO wants to look at it again because she's trying to be careful and rule it out as a met, once and for all. Hope your headaches stop and there's nothing wrong with your tummy!
Thanks for the support, Nancy! I'm one of those people who would rather know than not know if something is wrong. That's why I don't mind getting regular mammos and other scans. Not too much scanxiety here.
0 -
I'm glad you're handling it well Elaine. Really hope it's nothing. Has it grown any between the previous pet scans or remained the same? Keep us posted. Thinking of you.
Nancy
0 -
Nancy,
The thing seems to be about the same size. Whatever it is, it survived five months of chemo while the active cancer in my breast and compromised lymph node were wiped out. Of course, as MO notes, when cancer finds a new home, it often mutates. So, the thing could be cancer with a different profile than my triple positive primary cancer. We'll see!
0 -
knmtwins and ElainTherese, thinking of both of you and hoping everything works out OK
0 -
Thanks for letting me know Elaine. Sounds like it could be something other than cancer to me. Could it be arthritis? Thinking of you
Nancy
0 -
Hoping these thing turn up negative for you both knmtwins and ElaineThere.
I understand the hesitation to remove the port. I'm scheduled for August 7th, and the idea is wonderful, but there's that little nagging voice that suggests "Not yet." I'm afraid that little voice will be with us for a very long time.
Jana
0 -
I had that nagging voice too, and talked to the Dr who had placed my port. He convinced me to have it removed, said the longer it's in the greater the chance of developing an infection or it causing damage to the vein. He said better to take it out now, get everything all healed up, and if I ever needed a port again (which he said could be YEARS from now), they could slip another one in then.
0
