MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

OG56

Happy Birthday to our two firecrackers Joni and Regina! 

NM I so glad to see you posting, how are you feeling? I know it is a really tough surgery but now you will have beautiful TaTa's and a flat belly too, and I am jealous. I was going to do the DIEP last August but let my BS talk me out of it for now. Anymore biopsies and my breast will be empty.

Hope everyone had fun yesterday I just vegged out until it got dark and then watched the neighborhood fireworks. Don't tell E but I am going to mention the weather briefly (:  I can't wait for winter to be over but I forget how summer brings on the worst hot flashes for me I even have to switch my coffee over to iced, even in the air conditioning!!!!! So, now I can't even tolerate the beach so whats the point of living 15 minutes away? Has anybody found anything that works well besides the SSRI's? I have some wierd metabolic thing that can't handle the serotonin uptake.Have a good week girls.

Oh I forgot to tell you the important stuff, my DD is having a boy the first one in our family for 63 years ( if I said this in an earlier post forgive my dementia) I am a little shocked, but a boy will save me a little money in clothes, and trucks aren't as expensive as doll's.

Eph3_12

KeepingtheFaith: Elimar mentioned it, but I too am wondering about all the CTs.  Ask questions tomorrow; take someone with you for an extra paiar of ears....that's very important!  Remember, no question is a dumb question & you will keep having them, so write them down so you will remember to ask! 

OmahaGirl: good to see you. Wow, 1st boy in a long time.  I have friends going just the opposite for probably close to that many years;genetics are amazing.

sheila888

KeepingtheFaith.....Ihad several scans but they were all done after my lumpectomy.

I had bone, abdomen pelvic and chest scan. But not brain scan.

I thought that was done routinely. Don't they have to rule out if its metastasize or not?

Good luck tomorrow.

Sheila

KeepingtheFaith

When the doctor was telling me that I had cancer he had said that it wasn't an aggressive cancer and he said it was the size of a grape. I asked if there was other material around it then, because it felt much bigger than that to me. He asked me what i meant and I showed him where I could feel the borders. He then felt again and said Oh, I wonder why that didn't show up on the sonogram. I didn't say anything, but I have an idea why it didn't show up on the sonogram. I think it is because the sonogram operator found a lump and then quit running the sonogram "tool" over my breast. She didn't do the entire breast. I am afraid that he has ordered all the scans because he thinks it might be elsewhere too. He conferred with an oncologist before he ordered all the scans. I am keeping a brave front, but truth is I am scared. If it is in the breast, I will deal with the surgery and the treatment, whatever it may be. Won't like it, but will deal with it. I am so worried that it might be more extensive and what if it has gone too far and they can't stop it.

I guess it will do me no good to worry because worrying won't change anything. I haven't told anyone of my concerns because I don't want to worry them. That is why I am so thankful to have found you all. I can tell you all my deepest thoughts and worries without feeling I need to protect you.

Eph3_12

Sheila, my understanding (which could be way wrong) is if there are 0 lymph nodes involved then no mets.  Would one of the nurses please verify that for me

sheila888

joni....I had no LN involvment. But all these tests were ordered by my oncologist after BS was done with his part.

On these boards most women had an MRI which they never gave me one. Go figure out.

Meece

I had my lumpectomy and CNB, no nodes involved, but then had CTs of head chest , and the one of abdomen and Pelvic area, also the EKG, Pet scan etc... after th BX.  They did know that I had the agressive BC, but I thought it was also to give a baseline before chemo.

sheila888

Meece..What is Pet Scan? Didnt have that either.

Eph3_12

Hmmmm-I had a breast MRI prior to surgery.  I had a bone scan for baseline prior to starting Femara.  I feel like I had sufficient treatment at the time & now I wonder.  A matter of trust in my team I guess.  No appointments until Sept with anyone, so I will just continue the way I have been.

Eph3_12

Digging the thread avatar Elimar!

cookiegal

 Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

Hi....good lord it is hot here in NYC...and we have not gotten new AC's yet. Not very condusive to unpacking.

My mom is doing a bit better. She was admitted to the hospital a few days ago, and it turns out she has a fractured pelvis. They gave her pain meds which made her happy. I still think the dependency could be an issue.

I even got to go to a 4th of July party!!

Strange q...are you more fungus prone? I have a nail fungus, and I get an arm fungus sometimes.

PauldingMom

Well Happy Birthday Regina and a belated birthday wish for you too Joni. Sorry I missed it earlier:( 

Thank you all for the well wished for my DD. She is doing great. She has a room full of flowers. I guess getting popped in the nose comes with flowers but I don't recommend it. Today we go back for recheck and little cast removal.

Omaha-63 years, ya'all ain't doin sompan right! 

Keeping the Faith-Glad you found your way here. There is tons of great information and loads of caring women who have gone through what you are currently going through. One thing I have learned that I would like to pass on, is educate yourself, but don't worry about things until you need to. It's a waste of precious time. From your name I can easily tell you have the Faith and you already know it's all in His hands.

No scans here until after surgery and chemo. They did one CT scan before Rads. and I think that was more for measurements during radiation treatment.

Elimar-Love the pic. All dressed up on a Sat. night waiting for the phone to ring. They get tired of waiting and say to Hell with it and take off their girdles, pearls and silly hats and paint the town RED! 

Meece

A pet scan could be where you take your dogs and cats and have them looked at to see if they have BC, but it's not.

PET stands for Positron emission tomography.  They inject you with a radioactive material.  A PET scan measures important body functions, such as blood flow, oxygen use, and sugar (glucose) metabolism, to help doctors evaluate how well organs and tissues are functioning. In the case of cancer patients it measures the way sugar is metabolized because as I understand it, cancers use sugar faster than normal cells. After the injection, you wait an hour so the radioactive stuff can go through your body.  Then you go into a CT or MRI machine.  It takes an hour or so, but they scanned my entire body , tip to toe.

PauldingMom

and they found a cat hiding behind her left lung, a hairless rat in her hip joint and two squirrels and an English Mocking bird in her cranium. 

Meece

They always said I was a bird brain.

barbe1958

Paulding I LOVE your interpretation of those 3 chicks in the avatar! I thought of them as "Charlie's Angels" waiting for Charlie to phone....

ReginaR

 Thanks For My Birthday wishes! Love all the cakes! I ate some of Joni & now working on mine. That was so cool. Hope you all enjoy it too.

 a friend off face book sent this! I wanted to share with you all!

Hope you all are feeling Stronger evryday! Hugs Gina

On this day, God wants you to know ... that you've been driving yourself too hard lately. Sure, there is time to invest yourself fully into work, but there is equally important time for joyful resting. And for you, this time is now. What is the absolutely most wonderful little treat you can give yourself? Do it today.

cookiegal

They make me think of Charlie's Angels waiting for the sexual revolution! And the invention of the cheese puff!

elimar86861

PauldingMom, LOL and a hee-hee-hee!

OG56

hmmm,  "time waits for no man and neither do we!" Love it PauldingMom excellent interpretation!!

robbiedrums

They look like their husbands are late coming home from a fishing trip and the ladies are ready for a "promised" night out.  The phone is strategically placed in front of the door and the first words out of the ladies mouths as the husbnads sheepishly walk through the door won't be words at all.  It will all be said in a look with the phone for emphasis meaning - "You could have called, you're late, tonight we are ordering a la cart so bring your credit cards, Honey.  By the way, we will be drinking champagne and you are most certainly getting cleaned up, dressed up (and I mean in a suit), and there is no way on God's green Earth that you are bringing those fish within 30 yards of my kitchen.  Understood?  Good.  Let's go."

NativeMainer

HI, all!  I'm still working on getting the brain to track multiple threads, that's why I'm a bit behind here.  As far as the "reveal" I didnt realize I was looking at new breasts until 3 days after surgery! I LOVE the new girls, even if they do still have the Bride of Frankenstein look to them as the glue and ink and such wear off.  First, there are TWO breasts!!!! SEcond, they are the SAME SIZE!  Oh, not exact matches but I can't tell in a cami even without a bra (not alllowed to wear one yet, may never again!)  Third--they MOVE when I do!  Fourth--if I brush my hand or arm against my foobs they DO NOT FEEL COLD!  THEY FEEL WARM!  Oh, and I took 2 of the last 3 drains out today, too. 

cookiegal

NM...excellent news

Eph3_12

Wahoo NM-back on track; My vote for myself is no bra unless it's a situation where unrestrained may cause unintented focus.

cookiegal

so anyhow....the latest breaking cookie gal puffy arm news:

MD thinks my arm bubble was "probably" LE....says it can present as big blister bubble, though LE therapist disagrees. He also says the electrode test is not always reliable.

He says just be glad the swelling has gone down and try not to worry too much. However, he was very concerned about the red spotches popping up all over me, and almost sent me to urgent care. Must see derm tomorrow. Have already been twice in the past 3 months trying to get to the bottom of this.

I suspect the husband in all this, men seem to always have a fungus somewhere!

Sorry to be so freakin' whiny this week. I just want to unpack, and it's hard to rest the arm and just look at the piles of boxes!!

Good news though.... our bed arrived this morning, the first item of furniture we have ever bought together. Woo hoo!

Also can not wait for the new AC to arrive Thursday, the old ones barely work! And it hit 102 here today.

OG...have you melted yet? You will have to come visit sometime!

Still I am so happy the move is over, and glad the swollen egg seems to be going away. They do have a sleeve on order for me, and I guess I will need it. Might get it tomorrow.

Possibly drug-dependent mother is doing a bit better, and will be moved to a rehab for fractured pelvis soon.

I think ice cream(possibly sandwiched between two cookies) and a trashy movie in the theatre is in order! 

Have a good week!!!!

NM...wish I was on MDI right now! Yea for the new boobs!

Binney4

Cookie, lymphedema can certainly present as a single puffy area, and the "electrode thing" (which is a bioimpedance meter) is proving to be sadly inaccurate. How about a second opinion from another lymphedema therapist? Here's the information about how to find a well-trained one near you:
http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Finding_a_Qualified_Lymphedema_Therapist.htm

Goodness, what a struggle!

Hugs!
Binney

Baxter

Hi Native Mainer! PM me and fill me in on everything, I don't quite know what forums to find everyone all the time, so I am usually behind in all the news.

Ladies, while I have you here. Are any of you just not feeling well and trying to figure out if it's your body reacting to all the BC surgeries and/or maybe menopause symptoms are now thrown in? My oncologist tested my menopause status last fall and I was very close to menopause, but was still considered perimenopausal.

I don't think I bother my PCP much, but I feel like he thinks I'm a hypochondriac. I was in good health before my cancer. I had some set backs with my breast cancers, but I never had chemo or radiation and I'm not on Tamoxifen. I know most doctors hate it when they know you have been doing research, so I think they may tend to minimize how you're feeling or think your pains are  just stuff you have to live with.  

Months ago I asked for the 25(oh) vitamin D test and he insisted on doing the 1,25. It came back okay, but I still wanted the other test. About 6 weeks ago I began having real pain in my fingers and some muscle aches in my legs. I never had this before and it seemed to come on quickly. I met with his PA last week and asked for a Lyme disease test and she also ordered Rheumatoid factor tests. The RA tests came back okay, but the Lyme report wasn't attached and my PCP enclosed a letter stating the results had no clinincal significance to my health and that frequently these abnormal results are in tests reported by the lab which are not used in routine patient care. What the heck does that mean? I'm hoping the office will give me some clarification.

I know the tightness around my chest from the mastectomies and my LD flap will take some time, but is anyone else feeling frustrated by any of these other symptoms? Is severe joint and muscle pain common to menopause and if so, does it subside? 

Can some of you share if you have had similar issues? 

Candi

cookiegal

Binney, that is a good suggestion. Since the swelling is gone for now, I'm not sure how much the 2nd would do, I hope it stays away.

One concern, I have been wearing compression on my breast due to swelling there, it has gotten a lot better, but could the compression be pushing the fluid out into my arm?

It's a shame, this LE therapist is the department head at a big NYC cancer center, but I must admit when I told her I read that LE can present that way on here, she was dismissive, told me to stay off the web and relax.

Anyhow, she did order garments for me which I will get tomorrow....perfect for the heat wave!

Janathan

Hi everyone!  I'm new to this thread, but just reading the intro sure hit home.  I'm 57 but can honestly say this is the first year I've actually felt it.  It's been an exhausting roller coaster year.  I was first diagnosed with BC in October 2002 (left), then again in May 2009 (right).  Had BMX 7/22/09, made road trip with DH to Cali in Sept. 2009 to youngest son's wedding (painful trip 6 weeks out from BMX but beautiful, fun wedding), went to oldest son's wedding in Oct. 2009 here in WA an hour or so away, my Dad (79 and with early Alzheimer's) was hospitalized in 11/09 for emergency gallbladder surgery, I started the reconstruction process in 12/09, my Dad's wife died on 1/1/2010 of cervical cancer, DH had shoulder surgery 3/5/2010, I had exchange surgery 3/31/2010, and our daughter's wedding is this Saturday!  In the meantime, my Dad was put on Coumadin for his heart, and I've been taking him to his doc appts and taking care of his meds as well as going to my own appts.  DH is still off work from his surgery and in PT, but I've been working full time again since 6 weeks out from exchange. Our daughter and her 5-year-old son from her first marriage (our adorable grandson) have been living with us for the last 6 weeks until the wedding Saturday. We also have a rental house DH and I getting ready to sell or rent again.  It's been stressful, and I'm only 3 months out from my exchange and have a real tender spot in the left breast I'm concerned about.  Still have my Dad to help and worry about, but DH and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel...35 years last month we've been married.  I LOVE my DH, but I truly think men have it a lot easier in life than women and couldn't do all we do.  Men get to rent a tux and show up at the weddings!  Anyway, thanks for letting me vent a bit.  I know many of you have similar stories, too.  Thank goodness for BCO!  Next week I'll be able to relax a bit more! 

Meece

Welcome, Janathan.  I am sure you could fit one more thing in.  (Do you have another child to marry off?)You are woman, I hear you roar!  My unprofessional opinion on the tender spot is that you are still healing, but you certainly should talk to your BS about it.  Good luck his weekend, but take it easy.

Meece