Oregonians With Breast Cancer

jons_girl

Hello Fellow Oregonians!

I thought it would be helpful to have a thread where those of us can go to support our neighbors from the state of Oregon.

Also this is a place where those of us from Oregon who are new to breast cancer can ask questions like: what drs did you use for surgery and treatment?did we like our dr? what hospital we might recommend and why, etc, etc

I've wished for a place where I could chat with other Oregonians about their breast cancer journey, so I'm starting a thread

Warmly,

Jons girl

jons_girl

I will start out....maybe we could sorta introduce ourselves if you want to do so.

I live in the Northern Oregon/Portland area. I am in my 50's and have a wonderful husband and two very loved kids. My gma died of br ca. My aunt dx with bc shortly before my dx. Did genetic testing...no positive genes.

I have extremely dense tissue and my cancer was not seen by a 3D diagnostic mammogram. I felt my tumor(by a miracle)which I am thankful for, and ultrasound saw it clearly. Very small tumor I believe it was 4mm...invasive ductal carcinoma. Stage 1a, Grade 1.

I had a great surgeon if anyone is looking for one. And also have a great medical oncologist although I am not following with him anymore, instead following with my BS's colleague. I am continuing to have ultrasounds every 6 mo going forward and may have a mri at some point as well.

I also met a great radiation onco doctor but chose not to have radiation. But I can pass on his name. If my cancer ever were to come back I would choose him if I needed radiation.

I am looking forward to meeting other Oregon breast cancer survivors. I hope you all are having a wonderful summer!

Jons Girl

jons_girl

Hoping others will join this thread from Oregon!

jons_girl

anyone from Oregon here!!!

wtf_is_going_on

Also from Oregon!

jons_girl

thanks for sharing! Can you share a bit of yr story? You haven’t shared yr dx in yr signature line. If you want to share....

I hope all is going well in yr journey

ksusan

I'm in Oregon and doing well. My surgery and radiation were at Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and my chemo and the MO who follows me at OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. I'm 4 1/2 years out from surgery and doing well.

jons_girl

Hi Susan: Thanks for sharing! I had my lumpectomy through Legacy Good Sam. Had excellent br surgeon and loved my med onco but am not taking meds so am just following with my breast surgeons office with another dr since my surgeon is so busy! All is well for me as well. Two yrs out....June will be 3 yrs for me. Good to hear you are 4.5 yrs cancer free. Glad all is going well for you! I hope more Oregonians will chime in!

Goldfish4884

I am from Portland area. Doctors are all in the Providence system. Two years from diagnosis this month. Had a great breast surgeon, now seeing oncologist, been on all 3 aromatase inhibitors and tried Tamoxifen for 7 weeks, just stopped all meds 1 week ago, too many side effects. I'm not too happy with my reconstruction after mastectomy. Anyone recommend a good reconstruction plastic surgeon, thinking about a revision, would need to be a Providence doctor. Great idea to start this thread for local recommendations, thanks.

jons_girl

Hi Goldfish! Thanks for joining the group here! I was in the Legacy and OHSU system with my team of drs. So unfortunately I don't know really any drs in Providence system. Anyone else here know of a good reconstruction plastic surgeon for Goldfish.......???

Hoping more ladies chime in on this forum. I am sure there are alot of Oregonians here somewhere!

jons_girl

bumping

hikinglady

Hello, I live in NE Portland; just found this thread. My DX and TX are mostly in my signature, and my Biography (if you click on my moniker-name) tells more of my story. I'm 62, retired after teaching high school for 37 years, and I'm busy with many hobbies and volunteering.

My providers:

I am very happy with my breast cancer surgeon (Good Sam) and my oncologist (Compass), and I'm glad to discuss and share their names on private message.

My plastic surgeon (Good Sam) is great at what he does (implants after tissue expanders, Alloderm pockets sewn to pecs, on the inside and behind them), but my case had some challenges.

Reconstruction challenges after radiation:

I am glad that I had reconstruction, because my goal was to not look obviously like a "Hi, I had Breast Cancer" person for the rest of my life. My new Foobs are small, because my right side just didn't stretch well because of my 2003 radiation, which had caused (invisible) scarring on the pecs and in the skin, as is usual. My two Foobs are quite different in size and shape as a result. Reconstruction after radiation always has these challenges. My Foobs are Just Fine. They look okay in a bra, and in clothes. In fact, I get in the city pool every morning (Dishman), and shower naked with those huge horizontal scars every day. They don't look great in anything low-cut---there's kind of an abrupt change from FLAT to ROUND MOUND. I now have a wardrobe that accommodates this; same with swim suit.

I am glad that I had the type of reconstruction that I had, as there was no disruption of other back muscles, nor abdominal muscles (as is the case in the flap-type). I do have some vague discomfort in my pectoral muscles, just in certain positions. I've regained reasonable strength all over my torso, by working very hard at exactly that with my exercise routine.

Maybe Tattoos in the future, not sure yet....

I do not love the fact that I look so weird naked, but Oh Well, it's part of life. There are many things I could choose to do as far as revisions, tattooing 3-D nipples, etc., but I think I'm finished going through traumatizing medical interventions at this point, unless they're ones that save my life. I possibly might do the 3-D tattooing, and my plastic surgeon gave me two or three local referrals for that. Final implant surgery was January 2019, and I feel still quite emotionally and psychologically raw after my year of health challenges.

2018: Year of Health Traumas

I had just a few months of being retired before a string of difficult health stuff started for me. First, I had a bunch of foot surgery in February of 2018---5 fusions to solve mid-foot arthritis pain, fix a bunion and more. It was a big deal, because of 14 weeks of non weight-bearing required for healing. Immediately upon moving into a surgical boot and starting weight bearing, I got my breast cancer diagnosis. In August, right in the middle of chemo, our daughter was married, near Parkdale, where I grew up. I was Cold Capping, and kept my hair, so no wig for Mother of the Bride, which was nice!

Family Breast Cancer History

My paternal grandmother had breast cancer in 1950. Treatment then was a Radical Mastectomy, with no follow-up and no reconstruction. They took a lot of chest wall muscle and other muscle tissue, and she had quite a scar, and wore a little 'falsie' in her bra. She also lived for 34 more years! Although this family history correlates with a higher rate of breast cancer, I am negative for all known genetic markers. So far, no one else in this grandma's gene pool has had breast cancer, but her other descendants (my aunt, my daughter, my cousin and sisters) are all very vigilant about mammograms, etc., because of my health history. My sister, age 56, has had LCIS and an excision, so she's especially vigilant.

Going forward after Treatment

I still feel vulnerable, don't quite have my pre-2018 energy stamina (maybe chemo took a chunk out of me?), and I live with some uncomfortable side effects from being on an Aromatase Inhibitor. However, mostly, I'm doing very well, and I am lucky to have really good mental health as my baseline. And a wonderful husband, family and friend group to support me through it all.

This year, I've been back to an active life. I'm in the pool every day doing an hour of exercise (deep water 'aerobics') with resistance equipment. In 2019, I went on dozens of hikes (foot works quite well now), I biked in the San Juan Islands for a week and on other biking adventures a few times, I swam across the Columbia River (Labor Day event at Cascade Locks), and I had a couple of lovely kayaking days on trips. I do volunteer work, and I am a busy amateur/hobby musician. I certainly live with quite a bit of anxiety about a possible recurrence, but I'm also trying to move forward with a good balance of appreciation and engagement.

slh1952

Hello, all. I've had a much, much easier time of it than some here! Almost through with radiation therapy -- have done #14 of 16 at Good Sam. So far no serious side effects. It was the right decision for me to go there. Staying at the Green Gables House weeknights, instead of driving back and forth, I've been able to take advantage of the open art studio afternoons, Yoga, Pilates and Qigong/TaiChi classes. The latter I've found especially useful and I'm planning on following up with the second Saturday Mindful Movement and Meditation classes that start in January. They are open to any cancer survivor no matter where treated, with q physician's release. I'll post info about online registration here when I get it.

This is about the end of my treatment plan, with follow-up with RO in a month; surgeon at the 6 month mark. HRT would only lower my 10 year recurrence rate by 1.5%, so my surgeon agrees on my decision to take a pass on it.

Because of the shape of the path of my DCIS, the amount of tissue removed during my lumpectomy was larger than I expected. It's at the bottom of my breast and I feel like a breast form would feel more comfortable. (And the two times I've been in a swimsuit for water aerobics, it looked noticeable. Not as active as Hiking Lady, but want to do more!) I've gotten a prescription from the doctor's office, and there is a place here in Salem. Do any of you have advice/information/resources about prostheses for lumpectomy?

For those who celebrate holidays at this time of year, may yours be joyful.

Suzanne

hikinglady

slh1952 I just looked up the Green Gables House---what a wonderful thing! That's really nice to know about, that there's a place to stay in Portland while you're going through treatment.

I remember very well that at the end of radiation I was exhausted, so be sure to rest up and give yourself time to heal during these next weeks. Have your doctors advised you on nutritional support for your treatment? My radiation oncologist and surgeon both told me to try to eat 75-100 g of protein each day during radiation and for 2-3 months afterward, to support cell repair and healing.

https://justlikeawoman.com/

This store in Portland specializes in bras for breast cancer patients, so you might ask them about inserts/forms.

After my 2003 lumpectomy, I had a different shape on the cancer side, for sure. However, in a bra, it wasn't noticeable, and I didn't need to add a form to be okay in clothes, etc.

slh1952

Dear Hiking Lady,

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been making sure I get enough good quality protein and have been taking selective supplements -- it may just be a coincidence, but I forgot to take them last Tuesday and Wednesday and have been wiped out. I made myself get up and take them yesterday and today. Not feeling like running any races, but I'm going to the pool, at least walk around in the water a bit, then enjoy the hot tub -- both are salt water with a very small amount of chlorine, and RO says use common sense, if it burns, get out. So far the calendula salve seems to have protected my skin pretty well, but I know I need to keep up with that for a while, too.

jons_girl

hi ladies. Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve chatted. I hope your all doing well!

Have a wonderful week!

jons_girl

I'm resurrecting this thread. Anyone new from oregon who would like to chat, support other oregonian survivors?

Hope you're all doing well since we last talked!❤️💐

Hope all is going well for wtf, Ksusan and goldfish also hope all is going well for hiking lady and slh.

Chat when you all have time! Hopefully more Oregonians will chat too!

melbo

I haven’t lived in Oregon for more than 20 years now, but I still consider it home. I grew up on the coast and most of my family still lives either in Eugene or on the coast. My mom also runs the clinical trials program for one of the hospitals in Coos County — at least for a few more months until she reitrrs

jons_girl

Hi Melbo

Yes I understand that. Whenever I leave oregon it neverseems like home til I'm back in oregon

I hope all is going well with your recovery.

jons_girl

just renewing this thread post in case others from oregon want to chat. Hope all are doing well! So far all is well with me

11heartbeats

Hi - it looks like this forum hasn’t been active in a while. I’m newly diagnosed & about to start treatment: neoadjuvent chemo, followed by surgery in about six months. I live west of Portland and have young kids. It would be nice to connect with folks locally who are journeying through this, too. Thanks.

jons_girl

Hello 11heartbeat. I'm on the other side of treatment. I still have diagnostics every 6 mo. But so far all is ok. My cancer dx was in 2017. I'm here to support you tho! I live east of Portland. Chat anytine

jons_girl

Hi all! I just want to say Happy New Year! I hope all your post cancer lives are going well! And if there are any other Oregonians on this forum who haven't said hi yet…..we'd love to hear from you! We are here to support you all! Have a great weekend, stay safe! Crazy weather this weekend!