MAY 2009 Rads

jrgolomb

Wonderful celebration deb!

Deb-from-Ohio

Thanks to all...now I gotta hang around and help the newbies out...I know how I felt at first..and i look at the new threads "Starting chemo in July 2009" and it breaks my heart...Gotta go back to the onc on the 12th, guess he will start the armidex then, next day the radiation onc, to check my skin...oh boy...

Hugs to all!!!!

barbiedahl

I'm going to the onc on the 18th and not for a few months to the rad onc. They will see us less and less as time goes on and all this will start to fade to a distant memory. I'm looking forward to a time when doctor appointment are very far apart.

I think Deb was our last radiator???? Can you believe we all did this? When I was looking at 7 weeks it seemed so daunting, and now.....

The focus is on diet and exercise. I'd rather the focus be on pedicures and cupcakes.

Anonymous

Good morning, my fellow former radiators.  Had my one-month followup with the rad onc yesterday.  Skin is in great condition, healing well.  He was concerned about what he thinks is cartilage swelling/tenderness - still healing internally from the rads - its the area near my chest towards the center, and then some swelling on the outside of the breast.  Wants me to see him in a month to make sure that's all it is.  I told him I'm a very slow healer, so I'm not too concerned.  He also mentioned that he was reading notes from the med onc about the side effects / starting / stopping Femara.  He's going to contact him and discuss what other options I have, since I seem to have issues taking anything systemically.

I am also working on setting up a consultation with the holistic/natural oncology team at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America to get their opinion of what alternatives I might have.  My insurance will cover it, they fly me out to one of their facilities and I only am responsible for hotel.  I am waiting to hear back from them on some questions (logistical) that I have, and then I'll get with their scheduler to work something out. 

Good news is that I lost 3 lbs from last month.  It's not much, but it's a start, and means that the efforts I've made with my diet changes and starting to exercise more and more are working.  I'll stay the slow and steady way, that seems to be better for me than the crash and burn.

Hope everyone is doing well - and Deb, you've recovered from doing the rads finish dance!

Cruise4life

WAY TO GO DEB....from Ohio...aka DOLLY...You will look back at all of this and celebrate your success....YIPPEE...

All the Radettes are done!!!!   Like Deb says...we must cheer on our newest sisters...they have some healing to get through and we can hopefully help them.

Chelev...good luck with your consultation...we want to hear all about it...sounds interesting.

I am still dealing with a family crisis/situation...and hopefully I will have some of it resolved today...You know the hiccups in LIFE is what makes us stonger....and now we can start LIVING....

Bold

Thats a great idea. I am off to hercptin sites to help some newbies. Your right about the heart break. Geeeze enough already!

Today will be a great day!!!!!!

americanpinay

Hi ladies...

Thanks IVORYMOM...

I also saw med onco today for one-month follow-up...the CYP2D6 test results are in...supposedly, I am an "extensive metabolizer" so I got my RX for tamoxifen...med onco said I could fill it today but, if I prefer, wait until I get back from a two-week vacation (starting tonight...woohoo...) to start taking it...I think I'm supposed to take 20 mg daily...not sure if "extensive metabolizer" also means I get the SEs right away??? ...I check back with him in one month...

I see rad onco for a three-month follow up in October...I'm not sure how I feel about the diminishing number of doctor appointments...I want to move on but at the same time, at least for now, these doctor appointments give me comfort...just like this board, with you wonderful ladies, does...

Be well everyone...

americanpinay

CRUISE...I hope your family crisis/situation is resolved soon...

CHELEV...when I mentioned aches and pains to med onco, he said with what we've been through (not sure if it was chemo fog or not...but I thought he said with all the "trauma" from treatments)...it's pretty normal but should be less and less as we get farther away from being done with chemo and rads...

Take care...

ajlive

Hello everyone!  This must be the week for follow-up appointments with our med onc.  I had mine today.  After discussing Femara SE's, Estradiol levels and the crap our body has been put through med onc decided to have other blood work done (Thyroid, Hormone, etc.).  He kept trying to rush out after not even being in with me no more than 5 minutes.  I had to tell him he wasn't going anywhere until he answered my questions.  Think he was happy to see me go....  Darn I hate doctors.  Fist mammo will be Mid September then every six months for 3-years.  Med Onc appt. every 3-months.  I see surgeon and rad onc end of August.

I am so glad to have been part of this group.  You ladies are wonderful.  Hugs to all.....

PrincessKauai59

Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone here for all your support during this Rads process. You were my daily (sometimes hourly) support and you made such a difference in my life when it got challenging!  

It's great to be finished! I wish you all health and happiness in your lives.  Love & Light, - C

Anonymous

Hi, my fellow radiators!  Just wanted to see how you all are doing post rads - how is everyone healing and feeling? 

Anyone having cartilage/rib cage tenderness combined with breast tenderness still?  Saw my rad onc last week and he was palpitating around and boy is it still tender.  I notice it mostly when I am laying down and need to roll over or get up, or if I am bouncing around. 

Hope you all are doing okay!!

Bold

I am still tender too. I also have neropathy that is hurting on the bottom of my feet. And aches and pains like a old lady. I guess that is from the Herceptin. But I thought I would be more of myself by now. DH and I started weight watchers this morning. I look forward to about six  months from now maybe longer. Maybe by my birthday in March I should hit my goal. YIKEES! If I workout like a animal I could shave a month or 2 off of it.

I now have my new computer. Yippie!!! I can get back to work. I am building a wesite for my photography. this should be interesting.

Texas357

My hands are especially sore from the Femara, and I'm dying for my eyebrows to become visible, but other than that I'm doing great.I love having my stamina back. Not looking forward to November. I understand my LD Flap surgery will be a long recovery. I'm enjoying my health!

jrgolomb

ajlive----Good for you for telling the doc he needed to answer your questions.  I hate it when they try to rush you out.

Anybody still have fatique issues?  I have them off an on.  I gotta say though, I 've made it through complete sessions of a work out and havent' wanted to stop.  that feels good.

Anonymous

Jess, I have fatigue off and on too - and like you, I push through it when I get home from work to try and get some sort of workout in.  I've been having a sore throat allergy thingy the last couple of weeks, so it is an annoyance on top of everything else and makes me a little more fatigued.  It's been raining a lot here in sunny Florida, and I'm allergic to mold, and there's a lot of wet moldy places, especially at work, so I am on my antihistamines, which I don't like to take, but need to.  Once it stops raining, the sore throat (from postnasal drip) will go away.  I think 90% of my energy level is back, I feel fine but do get the fatigue from nowhere all of a sudden every now and then.  If the breast / bone tenderness would just subside, I'd say I feel almost like I did pre bc.

Anyone working out with light weights yet?  I've been going through the workouts without them, but think I might start with my lightest hand weights - wasn't sure if I'm supposed to at all because of the SNB in February. 

Texas357

I've still got some fatigue too but that's also a side effect of Femara so I have no idea why I'm tired. And yes, I've been working out on my home Universal gym equipment. I use 5-10 pound weights with no problems.

Bold

Hi:

I went yesterday for my follow-up and will not have to see the rad onc for 6 months. I do not get a mamo for 6 months either. I guess this is the norm. I hope everyone is healthy and happy. The boards are very quite, thats a good sign that everyone is getting on with there lives. I must say that I do miss reading about everyone. But like I said sometimes no news is good news.

Peace and health

Genia

Hey everyone.

I posted this on my chemo thread....didn't wanna type it all out again so I copied and pasted it here.

I went to see my RAD Onco today and got some very good news. She told me I'm in complete remission! Those words were so sweet to me I can't even begin to tell you how it made me feel. I told her about my Med Onco telling me I had an 80% chance of recurrence. She said if I can make it to the two year mark without a recurrence, I would have a 90% chance of survival. After 5 years it will go up to 99%. So my goal is to make it to that two year mark!!! I'll be getting another PET scan in 3 months.....SHE wants it done. Then it will go to 6 months. She made me feel so much more hopeful than my Med Onco did. But I'm sure he was just trying to prepare me for what could happen......but boy did he shoot my mood down that day. He said I didn't need routine scans done.....they really didn't help detect anything any sooner than symptoms would appear. I disagreed with him. I feel more confident with her decisions right now. Plus he has moved.......God put him there for me when I needed him and now he has gone.

In all reality.....it's God's call. I just need to turn it all over to him and let him work it out the way he wants.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love ya

Bold

Genia what smashing news. I love it!!!! I was turning of the computer for the night and saw you post. I bet you get a good sleep tonight. Just out of curiosity how do the know that you are in remission.

Did anyone watch the finally of so you think you can dance? The Breast cancer routine played again and the woman that it was written for is NED!! Cool huh?

Goodnight

Genia

My Dr. told me Bold.  All of my scans have come back clean........so I guess that means it's gone......for now!  Hope it never comes back.

lisalisa

Genia - AWESOME news!  congratulations!!!

I'm home from the hospital....hyserectomy and vaginal repair are done.  Ovaries, uterus and tubes are gone and I'm feeling better than expected.  I was told to wait a week before going on arimidex.  Let's hope that goes well too!

I'm trying to lay low at home....can't lift anything more than 10 lbs for 6 weeks.  yikes!  guess I can't clean the house!

I'll check back soon!
Lisa 

PrincessKauai59

Great news Genia! 

Lisa, I hope that you have a quick recovery; it'll be hard not to pick up your little ones.

I had my MRI last Sat. on remaining breast and it's all clear; I'll see my Oncologist every six months moving forward.  I'm glad not to be going in so often and to be getting back to life.  DS's b-day today and I'm exhausted now.  I'm having a hard time remembering to take my tamoxifen; kinda ironic since I'm a pharmacist.  I guess I have to get one of those pill boxes.  

Love & Light

Anonymous

Genia, that is terrific news!!!  I am doing a second follow up with my rad onc at the end of the month so he can check the bone tenderness / swelling from rads.  I need to ask him about the other boob - I don't clearly remember if back in February when we were in 'lump' mode if we did a mammogram on the other side - if not, I need to get one done, if for nothing else, but peace of mind.

Lisa, glad to hear from you - I was just wondering where you'd gone.  Hope your recovery is fast and you are spared from housework for just a little bit longer! 

Princess, glad your MRI went well.  It is nice to hear those words, isn't it?? 

I am meeting with a naturapathic doctor today to discuss hormone testing and what we can do outside of the traditional hormone inhibitors.  Then I'll discuss with the med onc and see where we are going from here.

Have a lovely day, ladies!!

Texas357

Way to go Genia! That's awesome news!!!!

And glad you're on the healing side of things Lisa!!

We're takin' care of business, aren't we?

barbiedahl

Genia- what wonderful news. So happy for you!

Lisalisa- rest rest rest. This is your one great excuse for lolling around and reading -Take It! Funny how surgery is nothing compared to chemo, huh? I fell and I think really needed stitches, but I was like "oh, it's nothing it will heal" Chemo has made me a really tough girl! It sounds like it's done the same for you since you just got emptied out and feel pretty good.

I was having a lot of leg cramps and thought that it was from over exercise, but I had a real vaca for a couple of days did nothing but read and walk to meals and I still had leg cramps. Funny, looked online and low and behold leg cramps can be a side effect from tamoxifen. Ugh. maybe I should eat more banana's any suggestions on what might help???

FACECRAFTER

Drinking tonic water may help.  Also there is a homeopathic medicine called  Leg Cramps which is available at Whole Foods or other heath food stores.  I'm not a crunchy granola type of person, but these do help.   JUDY

PrincessKauai59

Hi Barbie, It's always good to maximize the non-pharmacologic approach.  Keep hydrated and active, lots of stretching and yoga / exercise as you can (I'm talking to myself here too...)

Leg cramps, per se, aren't a particular side effect of tamoxifen, but muscle/joint aches can happen, so it might be related.  I'm not positive of the mechanism, but think it's related to the relative drop in our estrogen activity since this can also happen with natural menopause.  Quinine (in much larger dose than in tonic water) has been used for "leg cramps" but the use has not been proven effective and it has proven to have serious safety problems.  A glass of tonic water with lime over ice is safe and likely relaxing : )

I'm going to get serious about diet and exercise now, I think I'll migrate over to Cruises wt. watchers list.  Happy Saturday!

Debonthelake

Hi, all,

 It was great to catch up on everyone.  I just got back from vacation and a family wedding.  I spent 10 days in the North West.  We were in Seattle for the record breaking heat and then by the end of the week we were on the coast with highs in the 60's.  At least part of our trip was refreshingly cool. I'm so glad that everyone is finished now.  My energy level is good.  I'm jet lagged but that would be normal.  I'm ready to start a regular work schedule come Monday.  Have a nice weekend.

kt57

Hi May Radiators:  Just stopping by to see how everybody's doing.  

Genia: wonderful news!    makes the fight worth it!

Lisa: Hope your recovery keeps going well. 

Ivorymom:  Know what you are saying about staying off the boards.  Sometimes it's nice not to think about bc.  Between two weeks of vacation and then catching up at work after two weeks of vacation, I haven't had alot of time to read/post.   Scheduled my ooph for the end of the month. I learned my gene mutation is not in the "ovarian cancer cluster", so the chance of finding OC is very low.  Just want to get that done and move on.    Thanks for your PMs, helpful info and support.

Today I golfed 18 holes for the first time this summer.  The radiated side is a little tight and the other - port o cath site- is a little sore.   Makes me slow down my swing and let the club do the work -- actually has improved my game!!  Who would have thought???   I still get a little fatigued, but it sure is great to get back to living again.

Enjoy the rest of the Summer.  

carolinachick

Hello everyone,

I too just got back from vacation - a weeklong cruise in the Caribbean with DH and the kids.  It was wonderful and I found that I hardly thought about cancer at all.  One neat thing that Carnival does is "On Deck for the Cure," a one mile fundraising walk on the track onboard.  There was one other survivor there, plus about 25 other walkers.  Very cool.

Yesterday I had shooting pains in my treated breast.  It happened again today.  Has anyone else experienced this?  I had heard about rib pain, but this was definitely in my breast.