Joining the Stage IIIC club With a Fearful Heart
Comments
-
What a relief for you. I know everyone here will share your joy at this news.
0 -
Clear ultrasound 10 months after recurrence in axillary. Surgery, rads, chemo, zometa...long scary road but looks like huge round of rads and surgeon did their job. 4 rounds of taxotere despite clean scans in January...my pectoral muscle and ligaments so screwed up I asked for a baseline ultra sound. Having a good quality of life, ambien and attivan, exercise and more milestones with my seven year old. Life goes on for now!
0 -
yay for you and me both 7of9 - that's two of us with scary recurrences in nodes, cleans scans this week and more time with both our 7 yr olds!!! Celebrating with you - well, not sure i quite dare a celebration - but breathing with you anyway.. Clinking a virtual glass of wine that I don't really drink any more!!!
0 -
SSinUK - have to laugh, I have only had 1 1/2 glasses of wine in 3 years....I sure miss it but not worth the risk. I am saluting you this morning from my desk with a cup of hot tea. Hot damn for us, here comes Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and we can maybe put this on the back burner for a bit!!!
0 -
Hot damn back at you! Back burner is right!. We just got the treat not the trick...so let's enjoy
0 -
Great news, SSinUK and 7of9!!
0 -
So I dont want to be here. Had UMX Dec 9th 12 of 12 nodes positive mass larger than dr thought skin involved. Found out today III C she gave me two choices to make a decision agrresive tx Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin Paclitaxel for 16 weeks or docetax el, Cyclophosphamide for 18 weeks.
The 16 week she said could cause heart problems or leukemia later but at 5 %.
Any knowledge on what choice? This is so hard
0 -
Goincrzy8, before you make a decision, find out if you have IBC due to your skin involvement. If so, go to the IBC Longe thread and pose your question there. You have time to make the best decision, so do the research properly first.
0 -
Hi Goincrzy8 - I - too - was given the choice of 2 different chemo plans...and picked the more aggressive plan... My MO made sure that I was healthy enough BEFORE treatment thru blood work and ECHO.
Only time will tell - as my last chemo was on October 14th...but I feel that my chances of overall survival will probably be better from the more aggressive chemo plan.
I'm sorry you are going thru this!!! (((Hugs))
0 -
Thank you Scared, I have been leaning toward the aggressive. Your words helped me so much. On the way to my surgeon appointment to get Staples out, we drive by a building that has a large red sign ACTS so I am a believer in signs from above. This just sealed the day.
0 -
Here I go again - four days before 3 monthly PET scan, trying to act normal, but secretly terrified in a way only you kind peopleunderstand. Just reaching out. Not much to be said really.
0 -
3 monthly scans would drive me crazy. I currently see the oncologist every 3 months during herceptin and all she does is checks my LVEF and feels for any enlarged nodes. They assume we are fine unless we report symptoms that indicate further follow up. No bloods or scans.0
-
Hi, SSinUK, sorry about the scanxiety. It's a very real thing, and pretty miserable. Are you having such frequent scans because of the new diagnosis last year?
0 -
Hey SS it's your buddy seven of nine from October ! I hope you get good results this time around too. I had a clean CAT in January though I hate it when they note small oddities in their notes, but just trying to cover their asses I guess. I will say a prayer for you right now on our way home from a road trip hang in there
0 -
Thank you, good to hear from you. Yes it's because of the IM 'recurrence'. The horrible thing is ny Onc is clever kind and sensitive, he knows how anxious making this is but on balance he still thinks we must do it. He is concerned there's a high chance there's more disease we haven't seen ye as all early imaging missed what was in the breast the nodes and the recurrence. It's excruciating. He is wise and his concern is terrifying. He looks serious and kind and says 'we need to have done all we can....'. I hear what comes after those dots... Thanks for the prayer 7of9 I could use it. Glad for your clear scan x
0 -
I'm really glad your oncologist is being so thorough. It is terrifying. Wishing you all the best.0
-
SS - as Elizabeth Edwards said, getting tested (tests) doesn't make you have the disease, it's either there or it's not. Getting tested just gives you more options. (I don't want those even most days!) I met a lady who's son plays basketball with mine. She was stage 4 over 6 years ago. Had a lung tumor and a tumor on her spine removed and has been on Herceptin ever since. My primary doctor has at least one patient who's been stage 4 for 20 years. I hope neither of us EVER goes that route but thank goodness you have a doctor who is so thorough. My doc (is it just standard in most US now?) to not scan and go look for anything without symptoms. This method saves us so much worry....and gives us that dreaded feeling - why wouldn't we do something sooner? You don''t wait to have root canal if you catch a cavity sooner... This messed up disease gets us coming or going with all the stress. If you like Tom Hanks - Bridge of Spies is a good movie to take your mind off things. Also Imitation Game was good. Ambien and Attivan away for the next few days...
0 -
will be keeping you in my prayers as well SS. Sending love & hug
0 -
I just had a repeat bone scan last Friday as I had a grey area around my hip that they wanted to re check. I was told that I'd get the results in my next clinicvisit which at this stage is every six weeks. if anything was to show up they would call me. So here I am feeling agitated every time the phone rings. Funny thing too I work my way into other symptoms with the stress. In the past I was the most logical of people now definitely not. I go straight to "headache must mean brain tumour" not the fact it's summer and stinking hot so I might be a bit dehydrated. The herceptin or femara might cause a head ache, but no I head down the doom road.
0 -
I had a heap of what looked like bug bites on my arm and no where else. Automatically think skin metastasis. I was pretty happy when the next day I had some more on my other arm and stomach. Crisis averted
0 -
A couple of years ago I banged my head on the hatch cover of my Prius. Big, sore lump. Later in the day I rubbed it and thought, breast cancer? Up here?
0 -
Helen - I hope you can get some answers soon...but I tend to feel that no news is good news...
xxyzed - Good to see your name here...glad you are doing well. :-)
SS - My ONC, also, feels I have a high chance of recurrence... She is, also, big on having tests, tests and more tests done. It's an agonizing way to live. But, she feels its necessary - as my tumor was very large and high grade. I recently had a repeat CT scan done on a lung nodule - to check for stability - that they feel is just an incidentaloma (just nothing that hangs around and is not cancer). It came stable. BUT - this week I had to go have more blood work - to check for (among things) tumor markers. I am very scared of this type of test - as I feel like there *must* be more BC hiding somewhere in my body as the tumor was so large and I had 3 positive lymph nodes (one bursting with extracapsular extension).
Anyway - I did the blood work - yesterday. And, taking Ativan - to help get me through this awful time. I feel like if I did have mets - I'd rather not know - or at least not know right now. I just wish I could get a break from having cancer and feel normal again...
AND - she wants a bone scan - once a year - for the next FIVE years.
I, also, feel like all these tests are taking years off my life - as the fear and anxiety they give me - is too much...
0 -
Scan ok. Am a bit wrecked by the whole thing. 4 moths to next one xx
0 -
Scared 67. You can have a say in your check-up regimen. But, it'snot quite a year since your dx and perhaps, after the first year, you will be put on a different plan.
0 -
SSinUk - that is fantastic news! It is exhausting to prepare for the worst. I hope you recover from the fear and anxiety quickly so you can enjoy the spring weather. I am going to try to give myself a cancer worry break and may not be on the sight the next few weeks. We are getting ready for a trip to Disney later this month. We live in Ohio and the weather is still yucky this time of year. I am ready to warm up...and forget this thing for a bit. Be well...
0 -
good for you 7of9 - trying to switch gear in my head and kick back into spying likewise. Thanks for your good humour and kind understanding
0 -
I meant to come back on here and post! But...bloodwork came back (including Tumor markers) came back normal...it took me a while to let it sink in that the markers are normal...still felt anxious about it.
Thanks Everyone for listening!!!
0 -
New here. I too was really upset after my surgery with positive margins and 4 out of 7 positive lymph nodes. The surgery was bil/mast and I was expecting clear margins and neg nodes similar to my lumpectomy nine months earlier. Yeah, the cat came back! Obviously the chemo didn't work the first time so I refused a second course plus the new onc said my heart would be at risk. I feel better now three months post op by fighting with as many anti cancer regiments as possible, including Letrozole. Lost lots of weight and feel so much better. I do pray a lot and believe in God's plan. Being positive helps...I visualize my self next year and looking back at what I did to fight the cancer cells in my system. My body has my full attention now! Oh and I refused radiation the first time because I personally don't believe in the risks of SE's and think due to my age, 65, can do without rad therapy after mastectomy. My personal opinion. I would love to have blood work done to see how the markers are but afraid of bad news. No news is good news!
0 -
Broomie, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear that the cat is back. What stage were you the first time round? And what were your ER/PR/HER2 stats? Looks like you had a lumpectomy and chemo then. This time, at Stage III, just a bilateral mastectomy.
Most of us with Stage III as the first cancer had neoadjuvant, trimodal treatment (chemo, mx, rads) then were put on a hormone blocker tablet (tamoxifen, etc). Since Stage III is a serious cancer, and your current treatment is very minimal, I wonder if you shouldn't get another opinion on the best way to?
0 -
Thanks Traveltext for the welcome! In June 2015 I was dx with stage 2 and underwent eleven sessions of chemo followed by lumpectomy in Feb 2016. Both my old onc and myself 'screwed up,' where he didn't order a followup until November. At which point my breast was so sore I didn't think a mammogram could be tolerated. I thought it was seroma at the time never thinking a recurrence could happen so quickly. And it almost seemed like since I refused rad therapy....I was kicked to the curb, so to speak. The doctor actually walked out of the room! And I mistakenly went back to old habits of eating bad food, alcohol, and letting stress take over my life. Long story short, I didn't get followed up after the lumpectomy thus my request in having a new onc this time around. Yes, chemo was discussed but the new onc states that it would require a strong dose that could damage my heart. I really don't want it anyway as I had to have two blood transfusions the last time. Rad therapy was suggested but the 50% success rate doesn't sound that promising for all the suffering of being barbequed. Just my opinion. Ultimately I want to turn a negative into a positive by eating well and a healthy lifestyle. By changing oncs is as good as a second opinion I suppose. My experience with the clinic here has been less than stellar and I just don't have the desire to go out of town to another cancer clinic. After my lumpectomy I was waiting for my hormone Rx when the old oncs nurse found me and said the doctor didn't want to see me in a months time as proposed earlier to see how the meds were being tolerated...so I didn't bother taking the Rx. Staff knew I didn't have a family doctor, as we had just moved here and no one was taking on new patients. Ultimately the walk in clinic I was going to took me on and if I manage to survive this, then that doctor saved my life by being proactive in ordering the MRI at that time.
0
