Starting Chemo September 2015; join us!
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Wishing all you wonderful women a happy and peaceful holday season, and a new year full of Hope and all things good
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Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year filled with peace for all!
Octogirl
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I hope all is well with every one
happy new year!
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happy new year sisters!
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Wemade it! Happy new year ladies! Xo
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I think I am missing from sept group
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Great picture. Hope you are doing well.
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Great picture. Hope you are doing well.
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Hows everyone doing?
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trying to not think about bc but I still do everyday. Glad to. See everyone from the 2015 chemo group doing well
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I still think about it everyday but Im feeling well and getting on with life. I say yes to lots of things now....Ive had some great holidays, seem wonderful things and treasure my friends amd family even more. Im off to Japan to see Cherry Blossoms this year. Happy to be alive smd well.
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I'm here and good, having a few reconstructive surgeries this year
I'm glad people still check in on this board,
I think about it everyday, my tight pectoral muscles remind me. Also to be thankful and do things outside of my comfort zone
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I had my 2 year check up mammogram in September 2017. Everything looked good!! Advised me to wait on MRI so that's scheduled for February 13th (that way I am having a screening every 6 months) I get so nervous and anxious with every appointment, test and pain. Not sure that will ever go away. Just so thankful to be alive!!! Everyday is a gift from God!!! So happy you guys are doing well and are still checking in.
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I am still here I like to read how everyone is doing . I started effexor ans that is helping with the night sweats and improves my mood as I was getting a bit down.
The goal is to stay busy and work to get eating healthy and get back to work as my career stalled during treatment.
Big hugs to you gals stay strong.
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Greetings to all! Nice to check in. AI side effects are a daily reminder for me - mostly hair loss and weight gain. Boo. Otherwise feeling well and grateful. Mammo and MRI alternating every 6 mos for me. What a help this thread has been to me over the past 2 plus years. Thanks to all of you! I do think about the others who don’t check in. Praying they are well
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My two-year checkup and the extra abdominal scan afterwards were both ok. Next bloodwork and ultrasound are the end of March. I had hoped to be switched to yearly checkups, but doc still wants to keep me on a short leash because of such aggressive pathology and those initial treatment delays. Oh well. Have pretty much gotten used to Letrozole side effects (morning joint stiffness and aches). The bone-strengthening pills (Fosavance) have caused no SEs, despite all my doc's warnings that the infusion-type med would be so much easier (sorry not to someone who is still Infusion-Clinic-phobic! My lymfedema is in pretty good control; I wear sleeve and glove or gauntlet all waking hours, but only have to nightwrap about once a week. So glad I learned wrapping - gives me a sense of control, which I strongly need. Except for low-grade but fairly persistent headaches, now I'm just dealing with older problems (back, neck, shoulder) acting up as I try to get into better shape. In a way it's pretty cool to have non-bc worries!
I never was able to return to work, husband is fine with that. Trying to do the handycrafts that work never allowed time for. Our local bc support group has been very active, meet-ups several times a month, last major one was a flower arranging classs
I traveled my b*tt off last year (after oncologist said "Go NOW"...) and have some more tripson the calendar for this year. Still wishing for a new dog (still mourning my last one) but because of the travel plans, the earliest could be next autumn. In the meantime I've been petting everybody else's dogs on walks and at local agility events Wishing everybody here a fun and healthy start to the year. When I joined this group, I honestly did not expect to see 2017 let alone 2018. Life is such a precious gift.
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Hi ladies! After having some heart troubles ending in an echo and a referral with cardio oncology, I stopped all meds but my Arimidex. Doing well, feeling.. well. That's my answer and I'm sticking to it!
My girls turned 5 last week and my son is having surgery on his elbow which is broken and dislocated, ouch! Life keeps rolling along and god has been so good to me.
I'm happy to see you ladies periodically checking in.
Xoxo
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Hello Cajun!
Sorry to hear about the heart trouble and glad to hear you are now feeling well. I get an occasional racing heart beat. Have even woken up to it. It is unsettling but doesn’t last long. I put my hands on my heart (a yoga move) and breathe slowly and it eventually eases. I’m not sure it’s what a cardiologist would advise. 😏. It sounds like you had something far more serious going on.
I wonder which meds you have stopped taking? It seems you are finding Arimadex to be tolerable. So glad. I’m currently on Aromasin but am contemplating a switch -due to hair and weight side effects. I’m just not sure the others would be any easier on me.
Happy bday to your girls and good luck with the elbow surgery. Poor little guy. There’s always something huh?!
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I was taking adderall for fatigue, valium to sleep, and lamictal which is a mood stabilizer. I feel stable and not depressed but I am definitely not sleeping and I'm exhausted. I have only had one heart issue since I stopped my medication. It was during a period of extreme stress in court so I suspect that the medicine was stressing and already overworked heart. I gained 8 lb. gained 8 pounds. I think the cardiologists will put me on a beta blocker.
On the plus side when I created my account my twins were Toddlers and they start kindergarten in the fall. So much to be thankful for.
I hope you ladies are all doing well if you get a chance please check in.
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My 2.5-year ultrasound was clear! One lymph node on the operated side (the one left after the others were removed) had grown a bit right after chemo, so it’s been scanned every 6 months instead of yearly. This time there was a new radiologist who said it looked ”fine”, and since the size hasn’t changed at all over two years, it doesn’t need to be followed anymore. Yay! Have to wait until the end of next week for blood test results, though. Trying to remain positive, but still get nervous before every check-up
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That's great news Tessu. Scans are nerve wrecking but this one is behind you and all good. Keep well.
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Congrats Tessu!! Positive vibes coming your way! (hugs)
Alicia
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Happy Spring to everyone. Not sure what the weather has been like where you guys all live...But Virginia just had another snow storm! Rain, Snow, Sleet, Cold, Hot it doesnt matter as long as we are all here to see it!!!
How is everyone? I had a clear mammo in September and clear MRI in March. (no biopies required) Which was absolutely wonderful! My doctor has not order blood work in almost a year? I was wondering if thats the norm? What tests, scans, etc. have you guys had since completed treatment? I like all my doctors but sometimes my oncologist doesnt seem that concerned with whats next. I dunno, i pray to God 2, 3, 4 times a day for NO reoccurance. And of course I thank God for each day he gives me. But if it does come back I want to know as soon as possible. I was just wondering what tests, scans, meds precautions you guys are having/taking? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
I am scheduled to have my port out on March 29, I had gotten use to it being there, but having to drive 1.5 hours each way to have it flushed once a month has become a hassle and my insurance didnt want to pay for having it flushed. Everyone else already have their port removed? How was the surgery?
hope to hear back from you all
Thanks for being here through the hard times...
Tina
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Happy Spring from here in California where it has rained a LOT (much needed) but is finally looking like spring out my window...
My onc does blood work every time I go in (was every three months till recently, which I thought was too often, now down to every six months). Other than 3-D Mammo every six months, no scans. I have no idea what the norm is, though....
I never did have a port: MO said I didn't need it with my regimen, and he was right...
Stay well, all!
Octogirl
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hi,
I go in every 6 months and I am on a trial so i get blood work every time as well. No scans though it is a wait and see thing with OHSU.
I got my port out last July....love the free feeling!
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Greetings!
I get blood work every 6 months, mammo every June and breast MRI every Dec. No scans other than DEXA to check bone density. I ask for Vit D check with blood work, too as I have read we should have it in the upper range and I tend to run low. I take 4000 mcg of D daily to keep it there. I’m in MN so not a lot of sun hitting my skin. It’s my understanding that the blood work (cancer markers and other readings) if out of wack are just a tip off to do further testing, not a determinator themselves
Best to all!
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My bloodwork was luckily fine again this time
I’ve had extra because I started on biphosphonates for thin bones around Christmas, but I think now I get switched to the regular schedule because that one lymph node was deemed ok now? Mammograms and ultrasound and bloodwork once a year, no tumor markers or PET scans or anything searching for non-symptomatic mets because docs here say it doesn’t change prognosis. I’ll get another bone density scan after I’ve been on the bone med two years - so about Dec 2019? I never had a port; unfortunately my veins got burned pretty badly from chemo, so if I need more chemoI will probably have to get one. I have lymphedema on my operated side, so no ivs there - but the LE is pretty minimal now, so long as I wear my sleeve and glove and night-wrap about once a week.
I’m only lately feeling I’m getting my stamina back; I no longer get out of breath exercising like I still did last fall. Doc said the Herceptin stays in the body almost a year, and that’s why I felt so worn out for so long. Hoping its anti-cancer effect keeps going!
Wishing everybody a happy spring
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Hey everyone! As far as tests and scans, I'm all over the place. I see my surgeon every 6 months, and he has me do a breast MRI every January. I see my radiation oncologist every six months, and he has me alternating between screening bilateral 3D mammo and diagnostic 3D mammo on just the right (cancer) breast every six months. I graduated to every 4 months of blood work including tumor markers instead of 3 with my oncologist, but now I'm back at every 3 months because he wants me to start new drug Nerlynx since I was HER+ and I'm under the 2 year mark from finishing Herceptin. And guess what the side effect is? Yep, my favorite, the big D. I hate the thought of 6 pills a day of Nerlynx for a year! That's 2190 pills in a year plus the immodium pills which did nothing for me during chemo. But I don't want to look back later and think that I didn't give it my all. Guess I'll go back to having extra clothes in my car. LOL.
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Tessu - that herceptin thing explains a lot. They didn't even tell me it stays in the body for a year.
I am on Zometa for mild osteopenia and I take At least 5,000 UI of Vitamin D a day. Last Vitamin D test I was a 64.
Fidget - now that's a lot of pills!
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Ouch fidget, so very sorry you’ve got so many pills. I hope you’re one of the lucky ones who do not get Big D from the new med.
Just had a lower back MRI because of new left-sided pain/sciatica that’s been getting worse over several months (not through oncology). Expected yet another blown disk, but there is nothing new, nothing to explain the pain that at times prevents sleep. BUT there is also no sign of mets. That to me is a win.
Going to up my vitamin D dose since everybody here is taking a lot more than I do. And I don’t get much sun on my skin either
Wishing everybody a fun weekend
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