Starting Chemo in February 2016?
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hi Ladies. I have been missing my friends!,
I hope you are all doing well. Sitting in treatment today and thought I would take a pic.
Started tamoxifen for the 2nd time as I have some severe reactions the first time. I have gained so much weight I don't feel like I see me when I look in the mirror still. I had my period for the first time since jan and wow, that was crazy!
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Just look at your fabulous hair Frances! Were you Miss Twiggy prior to weight gain? You look great, I think. Good luck with Tamoxifen this time. I'm doing fine on anastrozole so far. So good to see you!
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Frances! Great to hear from you and see you!!! You look great! I hear you on the weight gain, I think about 30 for me so I am juicing this week for the first time ever. Had my Hercepton and my Mammo today! Back to work Monday on my gradual return plan. Hopefully all the extra movement will help me lose some of this before my annual Mexico trip in january!
SO nice we are all getting our hair back. Happy my purple faded a bit so it is not as shocking lol.
I still have blue on my boob from the dye. 10 months since surgery. I think I'm stuck with it! Also still get painful stabbing or something in my breast. I was told it probably won't ever go away. Oh well, the new me!
Miss our chats on here. I try to check every couple of days! Take care
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Hi everyone, just wanted to check in back here and say hi andI hope everyone is doing well, for me it's been nearly 3 months since finishing treatment, and some days are better than others, but in general I'm still waiting to bounce back properly. I've taken a week off work this week, just to try to get some rest and to get my energy levels up a bit! Karen I still get weird pains in my breast too. Also really stiff painful joints, especially hips and elbows. But mostly I'm tired. Hoping that it gradually comes back. One day at a time! Love to you all my friends. XX
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Hi Scotbird, how great to hear from you. I'm sorry you haven't recovered more energy. This really is a marathon and not a sprint.
I have 5 more rads tx and I'm done with the major stuff. Very sore armpit and just got silverwhatever cream for it. Really tired, I have to drink coffee before rads (at 3 pm) in order to stay awake on the drive home. I'm working 5 hours a day and hit the couch as soon as I get home! I need to get back to FT soon because those bills aren't going anywhere. Happily, Arimidex is going fine for me.
Many of us here in the US are worried about changes to health care law and what it could mean for us. Scary--like we need another worry? I am happy for friends in countries where there is national health care.
Hugs to all of you. I miss our chats. The other threads are not the same. I am so grateful for our Fab Febs.
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ScotBird - Good to hear from you! I read fatigue can last several months, but hopefully soon it will go away for you. Get lots of rest!
reflect - I wish you didn't have to worry about insurance. That's the last thing you need. Glad you're almost done with rads especially since you're working! Hang in there!
I finished rads 3 weeks ago. My skin is no longer sensitive. Tamoxifen seems OK. My sciatica got worse over the course of all treatments. I'm trying to rehab myself. Not fun. Got a little cording and a little lymphedema. Feel like I'm stretching all the time! I'm trying to exercise every day, but it doesn't take much before I need to lie down.
Thursday I have a survivorship session and another session for some research on managing care after. They will pass my records to my PCP, and they provide training to PCPs such as symptoms to watch for. I can also get a consult to their pain management clinic. Next Monday I see MO, RO, and kinesiologist. Then monthly port flushes in case I forget about cancer.
Be well everyone.
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ScotBird- I am still waiting to feel myself again but I am not sure if this is what I am now to be. I've returned to work, my third week now and due to standing on concrete for my current 4 hour shifts my back is so sore. I need to get over this as next week I graduate to 6 hours and then Dec. 12th full time. I have also just come down with a cold (and allergies!) so am feeling pretty blah. My first time having these allergies was last year in the fall. I hope your energy returns to you soon. I know all too well How it feels! One thing about working, I have been feeling less zings in my breast ...probably because I am so busy there.
Reflect- I am glad to hear you are almost done. Rads was awful for me, in fact I would have had more chemo than ever had those rads. I hope yours clears up with your new cream. They only gave me one kind here and that was it. My breast surgeon commented on how much he could see where my rads were and said I was the second person that day to say how burnt we had been. So glad it is over and I hope that your new leader can improve your health care for all, it is a very scary position when you've gone through all we have. I too, am so grateful for our group and our chats!
Serenity-so glad you are finished up. Are they not removing your port yet? I still get Hercepton so mine will be in until April anyways. I hope no longer! I am glad you have lots of follow up,with your care. As tired as I am of all this the follow up sure is worth it to me! Wishing you well as we continue along this new path in our life.
Will keep checking in. Am off tomorrow and don't plan on doing much with this cold making me feel knocked out! Chat again soon xo
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Karen - Yes, the follow-up care is comforting. They gave me a surveillance plan that will be sent to my PCP. My MO would like me to keep the port for 2 years. I have horrible veins, and I have no discomfort from the port anymore. I can go to a clinic close to home instead of the hospital for the port flushes. Soon I'll start monthly injections and will schedule them at the same time. Hope you feel better soon!
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Same here, keeping my port for a couple of years. I would hate to have it out and then need it. It does not bother me, and I forget it's there. Since i'm TN my treatment ended with rads. I would rather have more chemo than rads like Karen. I had a horrible time. I still have tender spots that remind me of how badly burned I was.
I too was given a surveillance or survival plan as they call it. Basically any pains more than a few weeks, and to vigilent along my scar line as if there is a local recurrence it usually is there. So I see the surgeon every 3 months for a year then every 6 months for 2 years, due to my insurance covering it. He said he really thinks I only need 2x a year for 2 years. So we will see. I will only see my MO 2x a year.
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Valstim - I was so exhausted the day I received the plan that I haven't looked at it in detail. Will look at it soon.
Today it's been a year since diagnosis. While it generally sucked, I'm thankful to have found this site.
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Hi Ladies,
I do miss you all. I hope everyone is doing well and had a nice thanksgiving. I still do treatment of Herceptin every 21 days until next March. I have so many breast pains and I hear you about the fatigue. I have also started gaining a LOT of weight from the tamoxifen. This s*cks!! As my one year is coming around, I am doing my first mammogram on the 7th and I will be honest I am so nervous. I am trying to be positive about it all but last year on xmas eve I had the biopsy and new years eve received the dreaded news. What a whirlwind it has been. Everyone assumes that since you have hair, everything must be done and it is back to business as usual. I wish that was the case.
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Frances I'm totally with you. Everyone thinks it's all over but I still think about breast cancer at least 10 times per day! I've still got the fatigue but it's getting better day by day, I am managing to work, and really looking forward to Christmas now, and to seeing the end of this horrible year and a new start in 2017. Love you all. XX.
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It bothers me so much when people talk about getting back to my old self or back to normal. I'm having a hard time wanting to get back to work. Part of it is that I'm afraid to get back to my old self who didn't practice self care. I'm working on it now hoping the good habitswill stick.
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hi all, nice to see your posts. It's been a long year for all of us. Can't believe it's December! one bright spot in the sea of disturbance this year is we got a puppy!
He's a ray of sunshine and has captured our hearts. I'm starting to get some energy back but still having dehydration/ heart palps so I try and drink more water than usual. Hair is happening slowly but it's nice to have full coverage. I can actually run a brush through it. Still doing Herceptin till next March but I don't seem to have any side effects from it. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season as we wind down and end 2016.(Finally!)
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Myra - Great picture! Puppies are good medicine. Glad you're not having side effects.
I hope everyone is recovering well.
Happy Holidays! Joyeuses Fêtes!
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ahhh a puppy!!!! My little guy was my lifesaver through my treatments, always by my side! We sure have had quite the year!!
Had my first post Mammo and it was clear. Didn't hurt eithrt, even though my boob still pain s me on the inside...luckily not as much.
Back at work and have horrible back aches from standing on the concrete all day working ...well fatigue mats but they don't do a lot. I graduate back to full time hours next week and am slightly dreading it. I'll have to speak to my oncologist about it. Apparently Herceptin can cause lower back pain. I never like to read the symptoms/side effects because I don't want to think I am having them...if that makes sense...so I just read that today after 6 weeks of being back at work.
Here is Harley, I rescued him but truly...he rescued me!
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Karen, what a snugglebug! He's too cute. I'm glad we waited to get a pup. I can't even imagine trying to house train during treatments.
So glad your mammo is clear! I'm nervous to go in Jan.
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Hello sisters. I love the pups! They are the perfect companion.
I actually felt at almost normal energy today, and I worked almost a full week this week. It is good to be thinking about other things than cancer, treatments, SEs, the future. I am glad to be back at work. My dx took so long last year...started with mammo on 12/15, took multiple biopsies, mammos, MRI, ultrasounds to get dx on 2/2. So I'm saying 12/15 is my 1 year date! I don't have my follow up mammo until July--I wonder why everyone seems to be getting one sooner? Not that I'm looking forward to it.....
I see MO at Dana Farber for enrollment in the PALLAS trial on 12/23. I'll get (or not) Ibrance in addition to my anastrozole. I'm also doing a pain study and just did a very short survey re: surgery options/decisions. (Join the Army of Women and help!) I will also join a health study to see if bc patients benefit from additional support (nagging? a fitbit?). I read an interesting article about some research in pysilosybin (sorry about spelling!) mushrooms helping cancer survivors with anxiety and depression (John Hopkins and...NYU maybe). Very very interesting.
I'm looking forward to the end of this year, finished rads early Dec and got my port out Thursday. Like a period at the end of a sentence (lol). Happy, healthy, loving holidays to all of you.
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Hi Ladies -- It is very nice to catch up reading all of your posts. (While I've not posted much, I like reading how everyone is doing). Hard to believe it's coming up on a year next month for my diagnosis. I'm still doing herceptin every 21 days. Haven't had any problems with it and my energy level is much better than when I was on chemo. Will have my spacer removed and implant inserted some time in January.
Thought I felt some lumps in my remaining breast and mentioned it to the nurse during my herceptin treatment last month. He went right to my breast surgeon and I was in by the end of the week for an ultrasound and appointment with doc. Luckily everything was negative. What I have the most problem with is fear of getting cancer back or getting it some place new. Any suggestions on how you stop worrying and move on would be most appreciated.
I also find that I cry a lot still -- at times when I least expect it. I'm not sure what that is all about either. I will be really in a good spot and then a quick thought passes and I'm crying. Someone suggested I try saying "I'm getting better every day in every way". So I say that whenever I start feeling afraid. Seems to help. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year with blessed health, happiness and love!!
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It was 1 year ago this week when I got a call that I needed to go back and get another mammogram. There was an area that needed to be rechecked. I was pissed they were bothering me since I was super busy with work and holiday plans and I couldn't imagine anything being wrong. I was especially annoyed at having to drive 1/2 an hour to my old Drs office to get my previous mammo results from 4 years before since they had nothing to compare it to and wouldn't send it by email. What a waste of my precious time. I thought about how silly it was that I bothered to go for the mammo in the first place...I had a good mind to ignore the whole thing and just forget about it. Then if it wasn't bad enough, I had to drive over to the old drs office to fill out a request form just to retrieve the previous results and then drive back over a couple days later and wait at least an hour for the CD. I remember how frustrated I was about that little debacle (that alone makes me laugh now). I decided to wait to get the new mammo till after the new year. No rush since I was so sure nothing was wrong. Stupid tests. It all seemed like such a bother for nothing. I'd been told before I have dense breasts, it's often difficult to read. No history of BC in my family. I stayed annoyed at having to go back over the next couple weeks, through the holidays and almost cancelled the retest.
I rescheduled for Jan 4th and got a call back the next morning that turned the whole world upside down. Looking back now and seeing how much time I spent derailed over the last year makes me realize that I'm a lot more tolerant of life's little everyday inconveniences. I wait in offices as long as it takes. Lots and lots of waiting. I return to repark the car day after day in the same lot. I refill the various prescriptions and pick them up almost weekly. Everything takes time. Things have changed in ways I couldn't have imagined just 1 year ago. I feel like I've aged 10 years but with that aging came a little more patience.
I hope you're all doing well and staying warm! We've been on quite a ride together and I'm so grateful you were all here. Looking forward to an easier new year for all of us.
Xoxox
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HI Ladies,
December is one of those months. last week Wednesday I had my one year Mammogram and an Echo. YEAH - good news finally, that there is NO BREAST CANCER!. As I was enjoying my day, I was driving my two daughters to gymnastics when we were hit from behind. Good news we are all ok, frustrating that I am in pain from being hit while stopped to turn. Life plays cruel jokes on us some times. I really just look forward to a peaceful holiday with no drama. 3 more Herceptin's treatments to go and I can imagine a more normal life.
Wishing you all a very happy holiday.
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Happy Christmas holidays everyone! What a year we've had. So glad we got through it together. You really helped me.
Myra I really identify with the aging 10 years and learning to be patient. Gentlebird I do worry too and the thing that helps me most is to keep busy. Working, going out, reading a book, meeting friends, whatever, just taking my mind to something else. Also I worry about cancer coming back, but I tell myself that the odds are in my favour, and that treatments are improving all the time.
My puppy helps me a lot too.
X
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....and me too. Last week, I realized that it was my exact 1 year "Cancerversary". I kind of just sat there, quiet, for a strange 2 minutes.
Myra, couldn't have given the description better myself. I DO feel 10 years older. And I had the same impatience last year as well... Not necessarily at the Dr...because I do have the strong family history. But more impatience with life in general in the past (especially driving!) Now, when I am waiting at one of my (at least one per week) Dr. appointments, I kind of look forward to sitting there and waiting. I crave the silence, and quiet moments.
I am 5 weeks out of my last phase of reconstruction. Now, I'm just tired. 5 surgeries in 11 months...I'm done. I used the Penguin Cold caps for chemo, and retained 95% of my hair. However, after 5 surgeries, it is now falling out from the anesthesia and trauma put on my body. Sooo....taking my Biotin, Silica, and special shampoo. Hoping it will slow down soon. I am still on Herceptin every 3 weeks and Tamoxifen
Frances-so glad you and your girls are OK from the accident!
I miss all of you! I think and pray for all of you💕
Hoping everyone can enjoy the Holidays this year.
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Boy...I guess we are all feeling aged! 10 years older is how I feel too! My back is doing me in at work. Left after 4 hours today. Never had this issue before. I'm wondering if it is the Herceptin causing it. I'm going to Mexico for 2 weeks Jan 19th and have 5 days off over Christmas so I hope that helps! I won't be doing much suntanning anymore ...my skin is showing it's age and more. I just don't feel "happy" anymore. I smile and laugh and all that but deep down I don't feel it. I'll see both my docs before I go away so I'll talk to them about all this. My surgery was a year ago last Saturday. I cannot even begin to imagine how you are feeling after 5, Nola.
I've had my first Mammo and it was fine. Didn't hurt at all but my nipple still feels awful from the rads. One firm tanned boobie and one that is larger and floppier. I still get pains inside too.
Frances I am glad you are all okay. What a year you have had too. 2017 better be good to everyone here!
Thank goodness for all our wonderful puppies! I thought mine would go crazy with me leaving hi, and going back to work but so far he has been okay. I'm going to go have a nap soon, my favorite thing to do still. I don't work normal hours at all so that wears on me too.
Thinking of each and every one of you and wishing you the best over the Christmas season. We've come a long way! A tough road but we managed it! If nothing else we all deserve to feel proud of ourselves for getting through it!
Love to you all xo
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HI Friends, Happy New year to all of you. I thank you for your support and appreciate your friendships. I feel the same way about aging and worry about the cancer returning all the time. Tomorrow - the 31st is my true "Cancerversary" so I am looking for a peaceful NYE this time around.
All my best, Fran
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Glad this year is almost over! I feel much older as well. At least mybone scan last week showed no cancer!
Wishing everyone a happier and healthier new year!
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Happy New Year my friends! Think of you often. I am relaxing in tonight!
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Happy New Year to all my lovely friends here. Karen, I stayed in too, for the first time I can remember, and didn't wake up with a hangover either. It felt good! Here's to a wonderful, amazing healthy2017 for all of us! X
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It's anyone on this forum still undergoing treatment?
I learned a new word the other day: antepenultimate. As in "I will receive my antepenultimate Herceptin infusion on Monday! That means I have only three to go!"
How have you been celebrating the end of your treatments? I'm buying champagne at the very least!
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Elise, were almost there! I have my penultimate treatment at the end of the month and then last one in late March. Cannot wait to get this port out and get it all behind me. How's your energy these days? I feel pretty much back to my old self other than a few days following infusion.
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