Starting Chemo May 2019
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Mightlybird, having wrestled,boxed, cowboyed and was an LEO for 25+ yrs I can hardly move in the am!! So I’m betting with all your lifetime activity and your “moshing” at the concert 😜 you probably tweeked it a tad. I betting and praying it will be back to normal soon!! Keep us posted!
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Hi All and Happy Sunday!
Jrominger, we did two easy hikes this weekend; my stamina is not where I'd like it to be, but it was so nice to be out! Good luck with next week appointments!
Mightlybird, I agree with Jrominger- sounds like a bit of overuse:) Hopefully massage and some rest (and gentle stretching) will help.
Oh, and I am bold again! My hair has been growing in such an weird, spooky pattern, that I decided to hit the reset button and buzzed it all off. Loving it, better bold than patchy
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Hi everyone!
Just wanted to let you know that I am thinking about you all.
Palmetto, you're especially on my mind pending your surgery tomorrow. I'm two days after you. BMX with TE for me.
My resting hr is nearly back to normal without meds! I'm grateful. I have enjoyed time with my family. Trying to make the most of my time before surgery.
Praying for you all!
❤️
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Happyanyway. Fantastic on your resting HR. You and Palmetto will sail through your surgeries!!! Please keep us posted!
Lacombattante Natalie loved your hair boldness!! Good for you. Her is growing fast in the back so she might trim it up to match the rest! Good for you on your hikes. Keep em going. Driving down for pre-op appointments tomorrow!
This is the red mountain trail on the way to the Grand Canyon. We’ll do it next summer when you visit 😜
God bless everyone.
Jay
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Good luck with your surgeries HappyAnyway and Palmetto!
Yes, I have buzzed my hair once a week too, to encourage it to grow in uniformly. I also finally pulled out my last hanging on eye brows yesterday. They broke or pulled out easily. I just thought it looked weird to have some dark long hair there and the little blond hair growing in underneath.
I have ordered this book now:
https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Shoulder-Handbook-E...=pd_bxgy_14_img_3/137-1466426-3109016?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1569757380&pd_rd_r=88643fe8-63d0-4156-86e1-d6c9a67f4912&pd_rd_w=wx42v&pd_rd_wg=lFn87&pf_rd_p=09627863-9889-4290-b90a-5e9f86682449&pf_rd_r=D7PB88EBNRP16NMGH80H&psc=1&refRID=D7PB88EBNRP16NMGH80H
The shoulder pain is evolving quite a bit. It is definitely an added layer to my usual overworked shoulder. For example, there is some small area that feels numb right behind my shoulder blade. I found out that this is where the nerves project, that can get injured during lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, both of which I had 6 months ago. It is not that bad. I can and still do all of my chores, just by the evening I get a bit sore. And overall it is getting better but it may take a while to completely heal.
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HappyAnyway, always good to hear from you, even better to hear great news on your HR:)! I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers on Thursday.
Palmetto, thinking about you, sending healing thoughts and prayers.
Jrominger, those are some serious boulders! Hans and I will need to get back in shape to keep up with you guys:).
Mightlybird, yes, numbness well could be associated with surgery. It's been almost 7 months in my case and I still have numb spot in my armpit. And, of course, chemo, esp taxol, didn't help.
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LaCombattan, I agree on the boulders!! I should better get a lesson from a goat :-)!
Jrominger, good luck to you and Nat tomorrow, on the preops. We are going to walk through the same process tomorrow. My appointments start at 10am..
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Hello May family! I had my surgery yesterday and am recovering fairly well. Chest is very numb due to the blocks they used, and abdomen is only in mild pain. I haven’t taken any narcotics so far and that is great!
I did find out that they found cancer in one of my nodes they biopsied, so the doctor took more and sent them to pathology. Ugh. My oncologist is now recommending 6 weeks of rads after I heal.
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palmetto- great to hear you are feeling good! That sucks about the lymph nodes. I too will have rads but need to get expanded first. Always here for you
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Palmetto, congrats on completing surgery. One step closer to the end!! Yes, that lymph node sucks! But you will manage the rads too. Many healing vibes to you.
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hi Palmetto, thank you for checking in!
Good to hear that your recovery is proceeding well, without much pain.
Really sorry to hear about the lymph node, these HR+ cancers are sneaky bastards, indeed! The rads will clean up any stray cells that might be left behind, you can be sure of that.
I am almost half way through my 5 weeks and so far it is very doable.Love and prayers
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hello everyone
Been thinking of all of you.
Happyanyway, you will be in my prayers for your surgery tomorrow. Wishing you all the best and hopefully it will be smooth sailing. So happy that your resting hr is back to normal. How was your daughter's trip to France?
Palmetto- So sorry to hear about the positive node. Hope it is the only one they find. Sorry you need rads, but it will be much easier than chemo se wise. Praying that you will recover from your surgery with minimal discomfort.
Jrom-loved the boulder pics. You and Nat are very special people. Keep up the challenging activity. How did the pre op appt. go?
Lacombattant- You are almost at the rads halfway point. Wonderful. Glad you are feeling pretty well. Compared to chemo, rads were easy peasy. I eventually got used to the drive everyday. Do you have to drive very far for treatment?
Mightlybird01- how did your appts. go today? Hoping your shoulder will be feeling better soon. I have issues with my left shoulder. Can't attribute it to surgery as my tumor was on the other side. It all started after 3rd chemo. But, it is tolerable right now.
I had a busy weekend entertaining my identical twin brothers and their wives who were visiting from NC and MD. We did a five mile hike on Friday, spent all day Saturday together in my home &visited local relatives on Sunday. On Monday, had new quartz kitchen countertops, new sink and faucet installed. Busy few days for me, but loved every minute of it.
Love and warm hugs to all. 💞
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Palmetto, thanks for checking in after surgery. I have been thinking about you. So sorry to hear about the +lymphnode and rads. Glad you are feeling ok and healing is underway. hang in there!
I had a long phone call with my surgeon yesterday and as of now I've decided to NOT do the nipple sparing, I just don't want to take any chances on needing additional treatment or surgeries. She explained why I might need rads after the BMX so I feel better informed now.
NIce to hear from all of you and keeping you all in my prayers as we continue on our path to health.
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Upstate, good for you and the new kitchen countertop. That must be so much fun to have. And good for you for the hike. It must be nice foliage now up there. And sorry to hear about your shoulder. Shoulders are a delicate thing.
My pre-ops went very well. IN some ways I am glad I already had tumor removed my sentinal node biopsy before chemo, so I am less concerned on what they will find post op. My surgeon said that it will be an easy surgery, she does not expect much pain. I was fitted with a post surgical camisole which exposed my battle with bras, as my chest is a medium size but my breasts don't even fill out the small. I went with the small now, as the fitting lady said it should be tight. But I expect that may the most uncomfortable thing, having to wear this for 1-2 months.
My shoulder is getting much better. I must say that this camisole fitting was quite eye opening, as I realized that my shoulder pain could be from me never wearing bras even after lumpectomy back in April (because of the above stated problem). She described to me that the motion in my breast (even though they are small) aggrevates the healing. So the dancing, with a heavy handbag on my post chemo-post surgical shoulder without support of a bra was pretty stupid. Needless to say that I am now wearing a bra and for now no handbags on the affected shoulder.
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Palmetto. Thanks for checking in. Glad the surgery is over and they can jump on that node. Rads will knock it out!
Happyanyway I’ve been praying a ton for a successful surgery today. I know it will go smoothly!! Keep us posted.
April, we are with you with not risking any further treatments if it can be helped. We won’t know about rads until pathology. I am interested in what you learned about the possible need for rads. We want to go in completely informed if that’s possible.
UpstateNYer, family visit, 5mi hike, new kitchen look at you!! Living life to the fullest!! Love it!!
Mightlybird, glad that shoulder is gradually improving!! Sounds like a good pre-op day. Ours was good too. Lot’s of info. We’ll know more today on echo and ekg. Blood numbers all improved. RBCs are still low but moving up. One liver enzyme went up. Not sure what that is about. Hopefully it will correct itself. Ready to get this surgery behind us!! Next Tuesday!
Blessings to everyone. Love hearing from all you.
Jay
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Jay,, what I learned was pretty specific to my L breast cancer. The R side is basic small IDC. The L breast (from the lumpectomies that were supposed to just be ADH) they found a bunch of small micro-foci tumors, they were all different types of cancer, DCIS, LCIS, IDC, ILC and some odd ones that aren't frequently discussed. My BS has been doing breast cancer for over 30 yrs and has never seen anything like it. So, based on the relatively unknown predictability of that particular breast, she thought they would probably throw rads at it, and the fact that I have bilateral breast cancer. So, I'll still see what the RO suggests but she was fairly certain they'd want to do rads on at least the L breast. I'm glad she told me so I am getting mentally prepared for that next journey.
Heading out to Panama City Beach Florida this morning for my husbands Ironman. My dad and my cousin and their spouses are joining us in our beach front condo. My poor father has been terribly worried about me, so it'll be really nice to spend some time with him. Hopefully when he sees me he will relax a bit. He lives in Florida and has not seen me since my first AC treatment which was pretty awful.
good luck everyone and smooth surgeries and healing to everyone!
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April. The trip to Florida sounds awesome. Thank you for the information on your status and the rads. Late last night we got our EKG results back. It said Natalie has a septal infarct???? What the heck. We did 4.2 mi as fast as you can walk. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from the cancer center as surgery is scheduled for Tuesday. We haven’t heard what the echo found. Hopefully it looks good. Geez.
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Oh Geez is right about the abnormal EKG. Maybe it was just user error. Hope the echo is clear!
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Jrominger, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read your update. Praying that all is fine, that the echo results are good and the darn EKG simply malfunctioned.
April, rads are unfortunate but they do up your chances to never deal with the beast again and they are doable. Your trip to Florida sounds lovely and I am wishing your husband a successful race. Ironman IS a serious undertaking! Keep us posted
UpStateNYer, what a busy weekend you had! Your energy levels must be totally back to normal, and it is not that long since you finished the active treatment . You are an inspiration! And you are right: by now I am getting used to my rads routine, luckily the hospital is just 10 min drive away.
HappyAnyway, you are in my thoughts and prayers.
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hi all
Happyanyway- How are you doing post surgery? I was praying all day for you yesterday. Please post when you are feeling up to it.
Mightlybird01-glad to hear your preops went well. Hope the shoulder continues to improve. I know sometimes so easy to over do it, then we pay the price.
April- Your Florida trip sounds wonderful. Hope you have a good visit with your cousin and dad. Hope your hubby does great in the iron man competition. Also, Lacombattant is correct, rads should go ok for you, best to hit it with all the arsenal available to us. Compared to chemo, it's a piece of cake.
Jrom- Sorry to hear about Nat's EKG. I was also told that my EKG was abnormal pre- surgery and that I may have had a blockage. Had the echo with the heart specialist and all was deemed to be normal. Hopefully, the same will happen for Nat. Positive thoughts and prayers coming your way. It is always something new to face , but we all seem to get through it somehow.
Lacombattant- Nice to hear your drive to hospital for rads is not too long. I was fortunate to be fairly close as well. I am doing really well after completing my rads Oct. 2nd. I see radiologist for followup on. Nov. 8th.
Happy 🎃 Halloween everyone. Pat
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jrominger, I hope this EKG abnormality is nothing... In fact, I am sure it is
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April, keep us posted on the big race. That's fantastic.
Lacombattante, UpstateNYer, Mightlybird, thank you for your prayers. I can sure get worked up when it comes to Natalie. Much to my detriment. We got a call from the cancer treatment center, stating that EKG and Echo were sent to the anesthesiologist. If needs be a cardiac consultation will occur this Monday. But the great news is the Echo that they did as a baseline prior to chemo was exactly the same and is well within the norm. We both always have abnormal EKG's due to low pulses but I've never seen the septal infarction which scared me. The center also agreed it could be a false positive or could have been born that way!? They are to call us this afternoon or tomorrow concerning the anesthesiologist's report but they felt that it is a non-issue. I'm praying so. UpstateNYer your message was very soothing for me!!
Happyanyway I am also praying all the time and anxious to hear the good news.
J
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Hello all!
Just a quick note to let you know that I am well. The pain is manageable and not as bad as I thought it would be. I haven't seen my entire chest, but what I can see looks good.
I took a hydrocodone just a bit ago and don't want to ramble.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I am praying for each of you, too.
Much love!
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Happyanyway PRAISE GOD!!!!!! Awesome thank you for reporting. Wonderful news!!
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HappyAnyway, so happy to hear from you and that the pain is not so bad. Hope you get a good nights rest, and tomorrow everything will be even better.
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Happyanyway, So grateful for your post. So glad that the pain is manageable. Prayers continue for a clean path report as well. Hope that you will get some good pain free rest at home tonight. I am thrilled that this part of the journey is behind you now. 😳👍
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HappyAnyway, thank you so much for posting, so glad to hear from you and that pain is under control. Praying for a smooth recovery, and - of course! - for a clean path report.
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Hi Jrominger, hope that Nat is doing well and all is ready for tomorrow. Praying for a successful surgery and for the clean path report.
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Lacombattante THANK YOU so much for thinking of us!! We are at the center now preparing for the big day tomorrow!! How are you??
Here is a hike we just did in Sedona.
J
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Jrominger, I'm praying that Nat's surgery and recovery are smooth and free of complications. Also praying for a complete response. Tomorrow will be a long day. Take care of yourself!
My BS called. There were some cancer cells remaining in the tumor, the largest group measuring 6mm. The margins and sentinel node were clear in addition to the sample taken from under the nipple. I'm disappointed that I didn't achieve a complete response, but am happy to have had the tissue removed!
I hope you are all doing well and think of each of you often!
Continued prayers, good vibes, well wishes and love to you all.
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