MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

LovesChristmas-Barb

I feel bad about the name similarities....but I'm glad it's the excitement of your day reesie!

Teka

barbe1958,

OOPS!   Many BC patients feel their cured.

elimar86861

Teka, can't remember another thread I was reading about the concept/term "cured."  Kind of a paradox, isn't it, because both the statements below are true.

1. There is no "cure" for breast cancer. 

2. There are women who received treatment, and remained cancer-free their whole lives.  

In the first case, if there were a cure, women would not be dying from breast cancer.

In the second case, is it just splitting hairs that we say they remained NED?  Why can't we say they were cured?  Is the thinking that they just did not live long enough to have it reappear?  Well, we can't live infinitely to test that one out, so for all practical purposes they were cured.

It's a tricky one, no?   If I am lucky enough to have my cancer never return, I don't really care what label anyone wants to stick on it.  

carollynn79

I am on Tamox, am now menopausal, still ahve my ovaries and there was talk of AI in 5 years but since the thyroid cancer and the increase in arthritic pain issues my MO is not sure.  Figures we will cross that bridge later.  I cannot take celebrex and find I have to adapt to relive the pain, I have found that for my ankle pain a swedo ankle brace works well.  I agree with El I don't care what lable as long as I stay in remission I am doing hte happy dance!!

Sherryc

One of the things that stuck in my mind the first time I met my RO was that he explalined that we are never cured of breast cancer.  We can live in remission for the rest of our lives and that is the goal but we are never curable.  That was right after my surgery and it really scared me.  I have since gotten over it.  I don't care what they call it as long as I don't have it.

barbe1958

Yep, and with my sense of humour and fun, you know I'M not sitting here sulking that I'm not cured!

jo1955

If by definition we are supposed to be considered "cured" then why is it that at the back of our minds we live in fear of a recurrance?

Teka

I've found that most women are clueless when it comes to BC and BC treatments.   Confusing maze.

elimar86861

It's tough when the clues (information we get & even the studies themselves sometimes) contradict each other.

annettek

i so agree with the cured remission etc confusion...i will be more than happy to have no active cancer in my body...it made it once so the damn thing has the friggin recipe....just do my best to make sure the oven does not work

Went well today- only got the nips not fat grafting- he is waiting another month or two for nipples to heal so he can address any retraction and flatness resulting from making them and fill in ripples, etc at the same time -major point was he did not want to compromise blood supply to nipples- i trust and respect him so after i was done bitching at him it was all good

thanks for being here for me folks...means a lot.

Valjean

Just wanted to let everyone know, in case anyone notices I'm not around, that I will be gone for a little over a week beginning this coming Saturday.

I'm going to play with my Grandkids, ages 3 & a little over 4. Barbie dolls & trucks, swings & picking flowers, Candyland & Chutes & Ladders, Play Doh & dancing. I'm going shopping & hiking, I'm going to have some Margaritas  and try to find myself again. Or something close to the former me.

And I'm going to stick my feet in the cold, cold water of Lake Superior! Burrrr !

I'll be around tomorrow packing so I'll stop by.

Edited to add: good news, Annette! Glad it went well.

BarbaraA

Have fun, Val. {{ANNETTE}}

I like the idea of NED. That works for me.

cmbear

My DH has been home this week on vacation--while I work so I am way behind on my reading and my posting!! Annette- glad your surgery went well!! Love the analogy about recipes and ovens!! Val--sounds like a great relaxing time! I am jealous of the Play doh moment tho!! Have fun!!

When people ask about my cancer "status"--I refer to FB--"its complicated'" My chemo,BMX and rads got rid of this cancer. NED.  Who knows if I will get cancer again, but not going to sit around and wonder if and when. So its complicated.  

NativeMainer

Barb58--I am pre-menopausal, too and didin't get along with Tamoxifen.  I get Lupron shots every 4 months to put me in chemical menopause and take arimidex.  So there is an alternative to having your ovaries removed. 

barbe1958

I had a hysterectomy but they didn't take my ovary. I just had a transvaginal ultrasound and they couldn't find my last ovary (had one removed at 21 yo), so I guess it just shrivelled up and died...sigh.

I sometimes feel very vulnerable without any chemical interaction against recurrence, that's all.

Jo, we are NOT cured. That's the point. That's why there are "Race for the CURE" events going on all over the world.

elimar86861

Barbe1958,  What do you call someone who stays cancer-free their whole life post treatment?  (Besides lucky?) 

NativeMainer

Hopefully she'll be called NativeMainer, and Barbe1958, and elimar, and cmblastic, and BarbaraA and Valjean and annettek, and Teka, and Jo1955, and reesie, and Barb58, and Sherryc, and Paula66 and by many, many more names. 

I know what you are asking, Barbe1958.  I say I am "cancer free."  I can elaborate or change the subject depending on who I'm talking to or how I'm feeling.  There really isn't a good term to use, is there?  

reesie

From your finger tips to God's computer monitor NM (felt I had to update from your lips to God's ears for the cyberworld)

jenn3

Just popping in to say hello.  The blood drive my friend threw was a huge success, so much so that the team there for the blood drive had to stay an extra hour and the people that didn't make it onto the bus had to go to the hospital. 

RE:  FM pain - I was given Cymbalta years ago when they thought that I had FM (later dx'd as AS).  Chronic pain is miserable and so hard for many doctors to understand. (((hugs)))) to all of you.

Hope everyone is having a good week.  Jenn

Paula66

I second that Reesie!

elimar86861

jenn3, You hit the jackpot with that friend!  That is really wonderful. 

I also was given Cymbalta for FM and it worked pretty well, but it used the same liver enzyme as Tamox., and was called a major interaction.  I stopped taking it for that reason, but now that article I just posted on the previous page has new evidence that it might not have mattered.  Who knows, if the Effexor doesn't help me, I may try Cymbalta again at some point.

reesie, way to keep it current...LOL! 

suzanneinphoenix

I  think I'm surviving....even if that's for another year or until I'm 95 .....I don't think I'll ever say I'm a "survivor" ....but that's just me talkin'

elimar86861

annettek, Glad it went smoothly.  To not traumatize the blood vessels in the area makes a lot of sense, so the waiting is a good thing.

Val, have a nice time girlfriend!

elimar86861

suzanneinphoenix, yeah, to say "I'm surviving" isn't quite as bold as stating "I'm a survivor," which always remains to be seen.  (Although I am o.k. with saying "survivor" as in "one in the act of surviving" not neccessarily as "having survived it.")

reesie

annettek - I think I forgot to tell you it was good to hear everything went well...sorry.

It's great what your fried did Jenn!

I ran the Good Friday blood drive at church for several years.  This year there wasn't one - I guess they couldn't find someone else to do it.

I think I'll see about getting something going for the fall.  I'll run it by Father Bill after mass on Sunday. 

Paula66

Well I have managed to be the only one outa 4 people to find ticks from our vacation.  Could it have been the healthy ones who had them, no it had to be the chick who finished chemo just a few months ago.  I did call both my doctors just to be on the safe side. They said to just keep an eye out and other sypmtoms as well.   Man I can remember a time when stuff like this didnt even faze me.  Boy how times have changed.  I hope that the 2 I found will be the last of them. 

reesie

Paula, you shoulda brought my son with - he would have gotten them for you.  One time they went walking on a trail and I found SIX on him afterward - and none on anyone else (and 7 people went).

Your nice freshly scrubbed chemo blood must've attracted them

BarbaraA

Oh Paula, I hate ticks almost as bad as I hate leeches. ICK!!

Paula66

Reesie they musta loved my fresh clean chemo blood, lol.  you would think they would have taken one bite and dropped dead. Tough little buggers.  Plus they were tiny ones. I just cant believe I was the only one who had them.  Barbara, I dont care for the dang things myself.  I havent had a tick on me for years.  Atleast its easy to spot the little suckers on my bald head, lol.

walker2222

Well I think it is 6 of one and 1/2 a dozen of the other.  Cancer free/full remission.  Ether one tells me there is so sign of cancer right now or your markers are within normal range.  I am just not gonna sweat it.  As Paula says "Fight Like a Girl".  I have a shirt that says "Fought like a girl and won".  It is my Friday shirt, but long sleeve, not comfy in hot weather.

Real tired after 1st week back at work post surgery but doing OK.  Every time I get home DS wants to go out for a drive, drive to the pool, drive to the store, drive anywhere.  Well I am not the driver so why not.  He is doing great, not anywhere like Fast and Furious or Driving Miss Daisy just somewhere in the middle, closer to Miss Daisy thank goodness.

Hope everyone has a "Fantastic Weekend".