MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

carolinachick

Pauldingmom - I was diagnosed two months before I turned 45.  I had hoped to go to the conference in Atlanta, but I'm not going to make it this year.  I'm sure it will be awsome!

Meece - So sorry to hear about DS and DIL - that is such tough news to hear.  I am praying that the adoption avenue works out smoothly and quickly for them. 

Meece

Thank you so much, CarolinaChick.  They hadn't even let on to me how "bad" it was until now.  I mean I knew there were issues.  Just didn't expect the door to be closed.

What conference are you referring to?  Have I skipped over some posts?

Meece

I have a question, I had and MRI, blood work, a Dx Mammo and a CT scan on Monday.  Yesterday afternoon my back, the base of my head and neck and my collar bone started hurting to touch.  edited to add : It hurts to have the strap of my purse over my shoulder or my coat rub against the back of my neck.  Not like muscle aches, but the skin hurts deep, like it was bruised.  Is this a reaction from one of the tests?  I also have tingling in my lips and tongue.  I had contrast injected for both the MRI and the CT, but cannot find anything that mentions these symptoms as reactions to contrast.  Just wondering if I am falling apart or not.

ReginaR

Hey Girls, A nurse friend e-mail me this Article ,  Now  I am total confused about Treatments.I know i need to change my diet It consist of lots of Choc & sweets!    Hope you all are doing well, I am still having headaches,( think it the tamoxifen) HugsGinar  John Hopkins Update - Good article  AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKIN S IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.  Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins:  1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.  2 . Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.  3 When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.  4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors..  5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will stren gthen the immune system.  6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.  7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs..  8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.  9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.  10.. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.  Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.  11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.  CANCER CELLS FEED ON:  a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.  b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.  c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.  d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).  e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine.  Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.  12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.  13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.    14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.  15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.  16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.  1. No plastic containers in micro.  2. No water bottles in freezer.  3. No plastic wrap in microwave.  Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Cast le Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc..., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper.. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.  Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.  This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life.

---

.

suzwes

Hi Regina,

This sounds like the same email that was sent to me a few months ago and it isn't from Johns Hopkins.  It's an email hoax, I've included the link to the actual Johns Hopkins Cancer website that states the email is a hoax - They have some good info on the actual website. 

http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/index.cfm/cID/1684/mpage/item.cfm/itemID/1016

Talk with your oncologist about treatments and any information you get from other people just to make sure it's correct, there's so much misinformation floating around.

Warm regards

susu1976

Thank you for that link, Suzette!  I'm printing it out to read later. 

carolinachick

Meece - The Young Breast Cancer Survivor's conference is this weekend in Atlanta.  In order to qualify, you should be diagnosed by the age of 45.  Pauldingmom was dx'd at age 46, but since she bloomed late, I think she still qualifies ; )

ReginaR

Suzette, Thanks for clearly that up. Duh, I feel so bad that I shared it .Sorry Everybody!

I was worry about that diet, I knew i couldn't give up my sweets (Comfort Food)

Hugs Gina R

suzwes

You're welcome.  When I got it that email a few months ago and I read it, I felt the same way.  I was so worried I did the wrong thing to get this beast.  Then my "research nursing" mind took over and I looked on the Johns Hopkins website and found the correct information.  Also researched everything about breast cancer on reputable sites.  It's so hard to know what to believe and what not to believe.

barbe1958

As soon as I got to #2 I knew it was wrong. #1 says we always have cancer cells. #2 says we get them 6-10+ times in our lives. So which is right???

Then it added that stupid line about a positive additude and no stress. Who has no stress?? Tell me??? WHO???  Okay, I'll shut up now....

ReginaR

Hey gals,My Husband found this article wow I got find some of theses Melons!  Hope all of you are doing well! Hugs Gina

 Chinese Folk Remedy Fights Breast cancer!

Odd Vegetable Kills Breast Cancer Cells

PrintEmail More

Getty Images

By Marrecca Fiore

A vegetable used in Chinese and Indian medicine to treat diabetes may also destroy breast cancer cells, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of "Cancer Research," a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Lead researcher Ratna Ray, Ph.D., a professor in the department of pathology at Saint Louis University, uses bitter melon in her stir fries but was surprised to find the vegetable's extract also appears to "kill" breast cancer cells and prevent them from multiplying.

"To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the effect of bitter melon extract on cancer cells," Ray said in a statement. "Our result was encouraging. We have shown that bitter melon extract significantly induced death in breast cancer cells and decreased their growth and spread."

Bitter melon gets its name because it's among the most bitter of all vegetables, although it's also called African cucumber, balsam pear and bitter gourd. It is widely grown and used in India, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the Caribbean. It resembles a shriveled cucumber or gourd and the texture of the vegetable is described as being similar to both a cucumber and bell pepper. It's high in fiber and vitamin C. It also contains the B vitamins, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin and B6, as well as magnesium, potassium and zinc.

In the East, bitter melon is often used in stir fries, soups, and stews, as well as for pickling.

In the U.S., bitter melon can purchased at specialty grocery stores, especially Asian and Indian grocers.

Ray told AOL Health she purchases the vegetable in either Asian or Indian grocery stores and cautioned that the taste may take some getting used to.

It's very bitter," she joked. "I don't mind because I like the taste, but some people might need to get used to it."

Supplements have become very popular with Americans due to the vegetable's widely touted blood sugar benefits and can be purchased in both health food and health supplement stores such as GNC, as well as in drugstores. It can also be purchased as a tea. To date, Ray's research has not included the use of supplements and teas.

"We've only used the extract straight from the vegetable," she said.

Ray decided to test bitter melon's ability to fight breast cancer because it has been used for diabetes management and to lower cholesterol, .

She used human breast cancer cells in a controlled laboratory setting to conduct her experiments. She said the next step would be to test the extract in animals, which she plans to do within the next several months.

"Cancer prevention by the use of naturally occurring dietary substances is considered a practical approach to reduce the ever-increasing incidence of cancer. Studying a high-risk breast cancer population where bitter melon is taken as a dietary product will be an important area of future research," Ray said.

Ray said bitter melon will probably not prove to be a miracle drug as women in places such as Asia where the vegetable is widely eaten still get breast cancer.

In the meantime, she said eating bitter melon does have many health benefits and certainly wouldn't harm anyone who wants to start adding it to their diets.

More on Breast Cancer From AOL Health:

Breast Surgery: Treating Breast Cancer

Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

elimar86861

suzwes, Thanks for sharing that link to Johns Hopkins.  My friends also send me emails with cancer fighting tips, that they get from who knows where.  They just want to support me and help, but sometimes it's that dubious stuff circulating on the internet.  You are so right that we should check the info. with trusted sources.

Also, congrats to you for the new grandbaby on the way!

suzwes

Thank you Elimar.  We're very excited, my DD and SIL's first baby.

Have a nice evening everyone!

Kleenex

Regina - there's an awesome website called "Snopes.com." Whenever I receive emails full of "helpful tips" or "things your doctor may not tell you" or "why chocolate might kill you" or whatever, I always go to this site to check the veracity of the information before sending it out. Especially if I receive it from certain people and it has that "forward this to all of your friends!" line in it. Not sure who whips up these compilations of questionable information, or why they would do that, but there's LOTS of misinformation out there and we are often so gung-ho in trying to deal with our cancer that we fall for these sorts of things...

It's always an option to delete something you posted if you decide you don't want it out there.

Snopes.com is also good for entertainment purposes if you're having a slow day...lots of good information and pictures that are "true" to keep you busy.

C.

NativeMainer

I like to go cruise the Snopes site from time to time when I have time on my hands.  Very odd and amusing stuff there! 

Congrats for the new grandbaby! 

Prayers for those who will become parents by saving a child instead of creating a child.  An equally valuable way to become a parent, IMO.  

I was diagnosed at 48, so I didn't qualify for any of the support groups/services for Young women with bc, and also didn't qualify for any of the support groups/services for Older women with bc.  So here I am, 10s of thousands dollars in debt, with a ruined credit rating to remind me that I didn't have enough money put aside to cover everything insurance didn't during treatment becuase, as one social worker said, I was "lucky" enough to be diagnosed while I was 'in your prime" had a job and health insurance, so there's no need for any support services for my age group. If this is "lucky" I kind of wish I had been unlucky,  

ReginaR

I am so Bummed , I didn't get my darin out  I had 49 cc last 24 hrs., So Another weekend with the drain. I need to get it 25cc.Now I will have to wait til my suregon next office day Monday March1st, That 4 weeks & 3 day post-op. He still won't do the 1st filler until all drains out! I Thought you could have fills with drains? But My Suregeon won't.

I will  run out of vac days Feb 28, so I need to get back to work. I think maybe it may be taking me so long to recovery is I had the Biopsy Dec16th,1st Lumpectomy Dec 28th, & Reiexcsion Lumpectomy Jan 8th & then Mastectomy & reconstruction On Jan 29th. Maybe because I am older (52) I am  not Bouncing back  as fast after all the surgeries!

Hope all you all are doing well, make me smile reading the post & good news !

Hugs to all of my Middle -Age Sisters! Gina

Meece

I was dx'd at 40, but nobody ever told me about any programs.  My only link t a BC sister was my 73 yr old friend who has had two bouts with the beast.  She had her tx elsewhere, and because of our age difference, I had no hints and tips for assistance.  There was a social worker who sat in the lobby of the cancer center, but who wants to go talk to her in the middle of a bunch of people?

Well, two days post tests and no call from the Dr. I call that good news!  I see her in person on the 11th, so hopefully I won't hear a peep until my visit.

suzwes

I agree, no news is good news.  I'll keep praying that you don't hear anything until the 11th.

elimar86861

Once again, I looked at my Cancer Center calendar and noticed I forgot about going to the B/C support group meeting.  I have never gone.  Yet.  Never say never.  I kept thinking that I would go after I finished rads, but then it was Winter and I could not motivate myself to go at 7p.m.  B/C.org has surely spoiled me.  I don't remember anyone posting on here about belonging to a local support group.  Are any of you doing that?

I did go to one group one time.  It was for cancer patients and their caregivers and I went because I was both.  There was only one other breast cancer woman.  She and I were the only Mid-Age people too.  I felt too much like I only had "cancer-lite," since theoretically my cancer is now removed.  I didn't go back. So that is my limited experience.

suzwes

I do belong to a BC support group and I'm the youngest member of the group (at age 49).  I've gone almost every month since my diagnosis and they've been very supportive and helpful.  The caveat is that it is very easy for me to attend the group because it meets at noon in my building at work.  I work in the building that houses the medical schools at Michigan State University and the group was started by one of the physicians/professors who is a 14 year survivor of breast cancer.  If I had to go to a support group at night or to drive very far, I know I wouldn't go, I'm totally fatigued by 7 at night and I hate driving in winter and in the dark! 

I also get a lot from this website and thank each and everyone of you for being here for support.

cookiegal

Hi all, weather allowing I am off the the conference tomorrow!

Hugs to all

OG56

Silly me I thought you all were my support group

You are of course, and your the best a woman could ask for. I have even met some of you in person. Thanks for all the support. 

Hugs and Love,

Linda

Meece

Ditto that, OmahaGirl.

Anonymous

I am part of a local support group, but I've only gone to the monthly meetings a couple of times.  The location is fine, but the meeting time isn't good for me.  There are other activities connected to the group, including a yoga class, general exercise class and evenings out having fun.  They also field teams for the Komen Race for the Cure and the 3 Day, and they have an online group to keep in touch between meetings and for prayer requests. 

Eph3_12

I agree with Omaha-y'all have been my support group, weaving in and out, but strongly built;  I love coming here to speak to those who truly know.

Joni

NativeMainer

I checked into all the local (up to 2 hours' drive) support groups back when I was first diagnosed.  Every one of them was focused on chemo, which I refused.  A few actually require members to be actively recieving chemo to participate.  A few others were for women younger than me, a few more for women older than me.  I gave up looking after a few months.   A year or so ago I ran across a  Look Good, Feel Better (or something like that) session that was nearby and at a good time, called to register, and the first question they asked was "where are you getting your chemo treatments?"  They offered to put me on a waiting list in case there was "room left over after chemo recipients registered."  These boards are the only support group I've found in 3 years of looking that isn't totally chemo focused and accepts women of all ages.  I've rarely run across a local support group that accepts women AFTER treatment--they all want women currently in treatment (not counting  anti-estrogen therapy). 

carolinachick

I attend a local bc support group.  I am the youngest person in the group at age 45, but it's a fun group and I enjoy the women.  We have women who are long-term stage IV survivors and those who are more newly diagnosed, some have had chemo and some haven't. Last month we had a registered dietitian come and talk to us which was great.  But for the day-to-day support, I turn to you ladies.

Cookie - I hope you have a great time in Atlanta.  Wish I was going!

Meece

There is a support group at our church, but they only meet once a month and are focused on those facing dx and those going through chemo.  Not much for those of us who just live with the "residue" of going through it.  People think that if you are finished with treatment (which happens much sooner with TNs, no hormones) you are finished with cancer.

elimar86861

I guess I owe it to myself to check out the local support group one of these days, since it seems they can vary in the manner of support they offer.  I might have gone already but, like I said, I am a little spoiled by the support I have right here at my fingertips.  Once I got onto this site, I never felt a sense of isolation or of going thru' it alone.  (Really, the opposite was true...like joining a club with a whole lot of members and always someone to relate to whatever situation I was in.)   Eternal thanks for that my B/C Sisters!

Hey, Cookie, you will have to report back on that conference, for those of us who don't make the "Young Women" cut.  Please do share what you learn.

one-L

meece, my DD and DIL couldn't have a child naturally either and we now have a little 10 month old granddaughter that is the sweetest thing in the world.  I kept her last weekend and she always has a smile  on her face.  Good luck to your DD and DIL and hope that there is a baby in their future.  It is a life changing experience.

This is the support group for me.  There isn't one in my area, but I didn't need one when I started posting here.  Thank all of you for making my experience easier.

Juannelle