TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP

Thank you Ladies.

Jenn thank you so much for your input I will not call her I will give her space. My husband said she will be back.

Finally stopped crying after 6 hours.

PBrain,  My oncologist recommended that I take a supplement of COenzyme Q10 (ubiquinol), as it is something our bodies produce naturally, but production decreases as we age. It is an important enzyme for energy production.   Also, he advised me to take a zinc supplement as it has some impact on producing testosterone and is also good for one's skin.  I have to say that my energy level is quite decent, and I took these supplements one week after each chemo session, and since I have finished my radiation at the end of January 2013.   

GIGIF, you are having tingling in your fingers and toes due to that  hideous drug, taxotere.  Several of us who took it iced our hands and feet in ice chips/ice buckets while receiving it in order to prevent the loss of our nail beds.  Taxotere often causes neuropathy (nerve damage/tingling/numbness) in the hands and feet, but many patients (myself included) find that with the passage of time, the neuropathy disappears or is diminished greatly. 

Ang7894, so sorry to read about the situation with your 17-year old daughter. Some adolescents think they know it all at that age, and all you can do, as so many people have advised you already, is to be patient, to be there for her, and to let her discover whatever it is she needs to uncover before you and her can re-connect. Easier said than done, no doubt about that. 

Oh, and Ashla, 15 months?  Wow!  I will be more patient with myself.  It is so funny how once it is over, we don't remember how seriously awful we felt--walking to the parking lot to get in my car made me want to lie down.  Now I get annoyed with myself if I can't trim all the bushes in my yard in one day.

gigi - glad that your Hgb is 8 and not 4 - I was worried!  You may find that it comes up a little and then drops again with the cycles of treatment.  If you hold steady at 8-ish you should be ok - but if you start to display symptoms such as lethargy, extreme fatigue, dizzyness, shortness of breath, confusion - these are distinct signals that you need a transfusion.  For your family members with appropriate blood typing to do a "directed donation"  they would donate just like at a blood drive, but some additional paperwork will be filled out, and you will be typed and crossmatched as well.  Their blood is set aside for you and held in your name for 30 days at your local blood bank, or designated hospital.  If you think you may need a transfusion within the next 30 days, just have them donate and blood will be held.  If you have not used it by about day 27-28, the blood bank will investigate whether you will be needing the blood, and if not, they put it on the shelf with other donated blood and it will be given to another compatible patient.  Directed donations are not wasted if you don't need them!

Hi all! Been away for a bit. Just finished reading up on everything. Saw my oncologist for the leg pain I was/am having. He squeezed all around my leg, said if it was a bad blood clot, it would hurt a lot. said it could be a small one, although he didn't really think so and told me to take an aspirin a day for a couple weeks to see if that would help. Said even if it was a small clot, that is pretty much what they do these days. Not sure I am buying that, nor does it appear to be working, but I am giving it the two weeks.

CAmi....a few pages back, as i was skimming through, you had a post that said you monitored your POT. I missed the part on the magnesium and thought you were lighting up some doobies, lol. I had to stop to re read the whole post.

Thousands of patients whose breast cancer has spread beyond the initial tumour could avoid having to undergo further invasive surgery following a major trial involvingWelshmedics.



A team based at the breast centre at the University Hospital Llandough have lead the UK arm of a European cancer trial which found that less invasive treatment can be as effective as surgery for some breast cancer patients.



The findings mean that radiotherapy could be used instead of surgical treatment to remove cancer cells that have developed in an armpit’s lymph nodes.



Up to now, when it has been discovered the disease has spread to the lymph nodes, the only option has been to remove them through surgery."

.http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/breast-cancer-welsh-non-surgery-treatment-4405930

Me either, and I can't predict which days will be good days and which will not!  We are about to take a 2 week trip to Europe and I am very nervous that I will not have enough energy to enjoy it - it will be planes, trains and automobiles and a bunch of different locations. The planning is wearing me out all by itself!  I realize that I should not be whining because I am fortunate enough to be going on the trip, but I am worried that I will slow everyone down and ruin the fun!

ashla, wonderful advice.  I too do not schedule as much as prior to BC.  By being really rigorous about this I don't often feel that tired these days--and as a result of this I am able to appreciate what I do have in my life..the everyday things.

I am always lurking here but I did want to post that as of June 17 I am 4 years out from BC.  I also just had my annual mammogram and all is good with that.

I also wanted to share that it took me a long time to get my energy back after treatment.  I think it was at least 2-l/2 years but it did come back although at a new normal...so if its taking you a while there is hope!  That's the good news--

Btw..hi Tonlee and Lee A hope all is good. Think you surgery was to be about now.

Ashla, thanks for sharing the link about radiotherapy in place of surgery.  It appears that surgery is still needed, if I understand correctly.  I am facing a modified radical mastectomy and my surgeon informed me that all my lymph nodes would be taken,  which is standard procedure for a recurrent cancer which is what I have.  I would gladly trade radiation for surgery.

Ang, teen daughters are difficult, but there is hope if you hold on and don't criticize.  I speak from experience.  My youngest daughter was a very difficult teen whose life has worked out very well.  There was no moving out and moving in with boyfriend situation which makes the experience even more painful.  Some teens are more headstrong and rebellious, but most mature and realize that their mothers loved them and only wanted what was best for them.  Still, there is no pain like the betrayal of a child.

fluffqueen, is there swelling with your leg pain?  I had two scans to determine if there was a DVT.  First was negative, scond positive.  I am now on a drug called Xeralto to control my clotting.  I feel that leg pain should be taken very seriously.

To all of you, thanks for sharing.  You are such an inspiration for me.

honeybair-- Thank you.  your right my DD is so headstrong my husband said last night she is so much like you.   I am hanging in there much better today then yesterday.

Honeybair...

Think so too...good luck with it all!

Dragonfly:  We all know the waiting is the worst part.  Hoping all goes well!  Just never ends, does it! 

So, I had my mammogram and ultrasound today and guessing it will always be stressful forever.  So, the tech does my mammo and looks at my order and says, wasn't your BC in your right breast?  Yes, says I!  Your doctors order is requesting a US of the left breast.  So I have to wait while she calls the doctor to correct things.  Then I go in for the US and she does the right breast and it was more painful than the mammogram because she was pushing really hard through the scar tissue from my surgery so that she could insure nothing nasty was growing back there (a good thing for sure) and then says on to the left breast....now I'm worried because they never do the good breast and thinking they found something on the mammogram.  Then to wait for the radiologist who says ALL IS WELL and says I really don't need an ultrasound in the future but I know my onco, she'll order it.  Glad that is over for another year!

SpecialK:  Enjoy your trip!

For any Florida folks, GO HEAT!!!!

Thank you everyone.  I could just cry with all of the wonderful support here, especially with those so many months and years out from treatment.  I've been so hard on myself this summer because really, gardening is my only real passion.  And some days this Spring my yard looked like that of a house-bound old lady.  I always see all the imperfections although my neighbors compliment me wildly.  So I get so frustrated with having to come in the house after just pulling out a few weeds and sitting down.

It helps so much to know this is normal.  I need to give myself a break.  My Mom keeps saying "accept that this is the year of a not so great garden" and I think she is right.  K, I say you will enjoy Europe if you give yourself a break.  While everyone else wanders at certain times, tell them they'll find you relaxing in an al fresco pastry shop  for hours.

So another Q, I went to see my radiation oncologist today for my 1 month check up.  He was very encouraging, said I look great and that I did so well with the whole thing.  I asked him who would take out my port because I didn't suspect it would be my highly skilled breast surgeon.  He said whoever puts it in will take it out, so my BS Dr. Kim will remove it.  But he said in the cancer practice I go to, they like to keep them in indefinitely if it isn't bothering me.  It isn't and I don't care if it stays in.  I asked about risk of clotting or infection and he said that was extremely minimal. 

My cancer center (and Fluff's) is the first in the nation to be certified by MD Anderson, so I need to ask--were any of you told to hold on to your port if it isn't bothering you?  I was kind of surprised, but suspect that since all my doctors work together, that might be how they approach it.