MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Gitane

Hello,  

I was looking for a way to say to Dianarose that I was sorry we didn't respond to her on the "What's your ILC story?" thread.  I followed her here.  I know having ILC makes us feel different (at least it seems to for some of us).  Well, Dianarose, I'm sure sorry to hear that your tumor was overlooked like that.  Mine was too.  It happens with ILC.  It's too bad they couldn't have been following you more closely given your diagnosis in 2004.  My oncotype score was a lot higher than yours and I'm still O.K. if that's any encouragement.  Your story about the mastectomy bra script was a kick.  Feels good to laugh about stuff like that.  Hope you are going well now.

Butterflylady,  I'm glad to read that you are feeling better lately and that the rads are finished.  Those early times are really tough for most of us, lots of emotional times.  The treatment wears us down, too.  You seem to be doing well for someone diagnosed only 3 months ago.  All the best to you.

Paula66

Congrats Janis on your cancerversary!!!  Heres to many many more.

Well I went to my 3 month Onc visit last week with some concerns I was having.  I get so confused anymore on what to bring up to what doctor so I waited until I saw her.  Well anyways I started to have a funny filling in my neck that felt like someone was chocking me.  It didn't take my breath away, but it is rather annoying.  Well long story short he felt a lump and I went for an sonogram Monday and it does show a mass.  So I'm off to have a biopsy the 25.  I can't stand having to wait that long, but I have been reading up on things and its not a terrifing anymore, so thats a plus.  I have calmmed down a bit since they called me yeaterday and told me about the mass.  I then talked with my oldest sissy and she's had a few nodules biopsied and so she was a big help on easing the nerves.  The start of the week was a nail bitter for me, but I've calmed down as I get more info under my belt.

Bev_22

Paula66

I do not post often on these boards but I love allthe support and information.  I wanted to tell you my sister had someone notice a lump in her throat that she had not noticed.  We have a lot of cancer in our family so we went into panic mode.  After several test we found that the mass was nothing to be concerned about.  So get your test and follow up with any concerns you have but at the same time try to have some peace that this mass could be several different things besides cancer.

I will be saying a prayer for you that all is well.

Bev 

Paula66

Thanks Bev.  Oh yes I'm for sure staying on top of it.  I told myself yesterday that I wasn't going in panic mood, but I did for awhile.  I then looked at some information out there and the numbers for it being cancer are very low, so that calmed me a lot.  It just the wait that gets to me is all.  If they had me in as fast as they did with the BC then I would have more answers by now for sure.  Thanks again for the prayers Bev!

elimar86861

Paula66, By nodule, do you mean this is something near or on the thyroid gland?  If not, where is the lump?   There are a lot of B9 conditions, as you know, and I hope your is one of those.  I see Barbe has rejoined us, and I know she had surgery on her thyroid, so she might have more info. for you if she check in again.  Or you may want to PM her.  She had the surgery earlier this year, remember?

Welcome Bev_22 & Gitane, whether you post a little or a lot.  

Dianarose, All you can do is laugh at stuff like that.   

Paula66

Eli the Onc PA says its on my thyroid.  They are calling it a mass.  Whenever I do a www search using the word mass, the info I have read calls them masses but puts nodules in parenthesis.  So that why I said that.  Now my sissy says hers are called nodules, but she has had them taken care of.  I'm really positive about this not being cancer.  All that I have read that the chances it being cancer are very low.  Its about 5-10% of them being cancer.  So I've dedided that I don't need to be in that catagory so thats what I'm sticking to for now.  yes my mind does wonder a bit, but I choose not to go there right now because there is no benifet in me thinking this way.  I'm starting to get back into the things I did before BC hit, and I'm not going to let anything take that away from me.  Thanks for the reminder of Barbie.  I thought it was her, but couldn't remember for sure. 

Butterflylady2012

Gitane, thanks for the support!  Just a quick clarification though, I am not done with rads yet.  Wish I was!  I have done 3 so far, 22 more to go.  One step at a time.  I feel like I am making a lot of progress.  For the most part, I do feel like I am doing pretty darn well.  I still havent felt affects from rads as of yet, heard that takes a week or two to kick in.  Enjoying it while it lasts! I'm adjusting to my "new norm"...some days are better then others, but I keep on keepin on! 

barbe1958

Paula, I'm here!!! I had my first nodule biopsied 19 years ago. Inconclusive. I HATE that word...sigh. But iodine uptakes and tests like that weren't ringing any bells so we all let it go. They tried me on Thyroxin at the time, but I grew 2 more nodules for a total of 3. So they took out half my thyroid (nodules were benign) and I continued on without meds until last August. I noticed a swelling above my clavicular bone on the right side of my neck last summer and had an ultrasound. Immediately the radiologist came in and said "we have to biopsy this NOW". Scared the hell out of me listening to her and the tech talking about "these two mashed together" and "this one wrapped around the jugular", etc. The radiologist even said that if the test came back inconclusive, to come back again in 3 months.

Anyway, the upshot of all that was while they were checking my neck, they found more tumours on what was left of my thyroid. Everything I read said that thyroid cancer is VERY slow growing and VERY contained and once the thyroid is out the cancer does not spread. So I was very cool with the whole surgery. Again nodules were benign, BUT they've had to increase my Synthroid every 6 weeks ever since!! I feel so much more 'alive' than I have for the past number of years and wonder how many women are suffering from low thyroid that get mis-diagnosed as "hysterics" or whatever. You know what I mean.

So, anyway, you are now firmly planted in my thoughts and prayers. Please keep us posted and know that this is not a panic situation even if it is cancer, as it would be so slow to grow. My sister has had surgery as well, and her nodules were Hurthles cells once, and benign again the next time.

Now I have to get my neck nodes checked again, but first my onc (saw last Wednesday) wants an brain CT which I get this Monday. I hope my cancer isn't on the move, as that was a gap of a year!! 

barbe1958

Meant to say that my surgery was finally done in February of this year! That's how little of a panic it is. Seriously. Even though at the time they didn't know if the nodules on my thyroid were cancerous or not, there was just no rush. It was a tiny bit stressful wondering, but their calm approach made me feel better. Thyroid cancer is one of the curable cancers.

Anonymous

Praying for you, Paula......B9, B9, B9!!!!

Butterflylady2012

Paula, I had a partial thyroidectomy in 1995 due to "nodules" which is the only term I've heard for them, but I'm sure there are others.  My remaining side has several more nodules, but they are all benign.  Yes, a majority of the  time these are b9....I'm praying for you too, B9, B9!!

Paula66

Thanks Barb.  I did read up even though they haven't confirmed anything yet.  Just the wait is what gets me.  Just when they called it a mass that threw me for a loop.  I told myself I wasn't gonna do a search on the www but I ended up doing just that.  Thats when I found a lot more positive then negative so thats a relief. I figured that since they had the biopsy scheduled for the 25 it wasn't a huge concern.

Meece

Praying for B9, Paula.  God for you for being able to calm yourself.

justmejanis

Paula I too feel all will be well.  I went through all this in November.  The needle biopsy was inconclusive, so they ended up taking the right lobe out completely.  The nodules were all benign.  The recovery from that surgery was really easy and not very painful at all.  Please keep us posted!  I will be waiting right along with you to see the outcome! 

cmbear

Paula, I hope you follow in Janis' footsteps---B9-B9--B9!!!!!

marlegal

Hey buddies. My job has been draining the life out of me recently - big project that I'm managing for the next 3 months. Not much energy left after I finish dinner, so not much "fun" computer time! I do stop and read though, just don't post much. Think of and pray for you all daily, especially anyone having tests or undergoing treatments.

Eli - love the confetti blower page topper

Happy Anniversary wishes to all for whom that applies - love celebrating those milestones with everyone. And if we're going to have a proper celebration, we need a cake. Yes, I'm busy, but cooking up a little something for my friends is never too much trouble   (Looks like we can do shots after our cake ... just noticed that!!!

Butterflylady2012

Wow, Marlegal, what a cake!  That is a Cheeto's Cake Supreme!!! Here's to all the anniversaries and to all of us who look towards those days with hope in our hearts.  Love to all!!

Butterflylady (Sharon) 

fmakj

Just popped in to say hi to everyone!!  Wishing Good News to all having tests or concerns!!  Keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers, even if I don't post often!

KittyGirl2011

Hi to All,  Took a long break from BC and a real vacation to Paris with my BFF.  This was our 8th trip and we would do it again!  I'll try to load some pics if I can figure out Photobucket.  Got past my one year cancer anniversary without any problems so I hope it stays that way.  I will see the Onc after August 1 when my new insurance kicks in.  So, I'm still around and just need this darn summer heat to ease up on me!  Just way too hot!  Kitty

KittyGirl2011

Ok, here are two pics, first one is of me at Chateau de Pierrefonds. Love this place outside of Paris because it is the set for a TV show I like (Merlin). Other one is of the Tour Eiffel just a short walk from our hotel.  I can hardly wait to return maybe next spring. Kitty

Momine

Kittygiel, that second pic is so funny to me, because when we where there in November, we stayed right on the corner of that little park, about thirty meters from that bench.

NativeMainer

Medical terminology can be a bugger to figure out, especially when the terminology itself is unclear.  Generally, a mass is a lump or collection of connected cells, often used synonymously with tumor.   A nodule is a solid lump of 1.0 cm or smaller in the skin or other soft tissue, or 30 millimeters (0.3 cm) or less if in the lung tissue.  So you can see where mass and nodule are interchangeable.  In usual practice once something is diagnosed as benign it is called a nodule to differentiate from something that is diagnosed as cancerous.  Said more simply, before something is biopsied and identified, it is called what ever we want, after biopsy and diagnosis it is more formally labelled (nodule for B9, mass for cancer). 

barbe1958

marlegal, is your swan pink or do I have a brain tumour? (Cancer humour, I'm going for a brain CT this morning.)

Native, best explanation I've heard! 

Meece

Prayers for you today, Barbe.

barbe1958

Thanks Meece, I never thought of asking, but I do need them! MRI of spine was on Saturday, CT of brain today, ultrasound of abdomen already done and surgeon picked to remove mass (too big to be a nodule), and bone scan for the 27th.

Ossa

Praying for you Barbe.. Wishing you all good news

barsco1963

Barbe - prayers and thoughts are with you as you go through all of your scans/tests. Wishing you only good results.

elimar86861

Kittygirl, You really know how to celebrate a canserversary in style!!!  It's a true vacation when we get a break from thinking about B/C and appointments on the calendar.  Thanks for sharing those pictures. 

Marlegal,  Don't know which I like better...Kitty's Tour Eiffel or your Tower of Cheetos cake.  Oh, who am I kidding?  That cake is FAB!

Barbe,  I'm a little worried now...Mar's swan is as white as ever.  Good Luck with the CT today, and may all your results be normal.  Wouldn't it be great to fast-forward to Aug. about now?  Have you been having spine and head pain?  You are getting such a series of scans...what's up?  What is the mass in the abdomen?  When will you have surgery?

NativeMainer,  Good definitions of nodule and mass.  The one that confuses me is lesion.  I used to think of it only as a cut or wound, like skin lesion; but it also seems to get used for unwanted cells in the body, usually when they are on something.  Lesions on the liver, lesions on the bones, etc.  One of those words is as bad as another.

I used to have a nodule on my thyroid when I was in my 20's.  One doc was ready to remove it, but all I could think of was Bride-of-Frankenstein-neck, so I went to see the Chief of Surgery and he was o.k. with monitoring if it did not get bigger.  He put me on synthroid to see if that would cause it to shrink.  It didn't.  About a year later, when I got a different HMO plan, I was able to get a fine needle aspiration and it showed to be benign so I stopped worrying about it being there.  A few years later it had disappeared on its own.

Looking back, I think mine grew from the estrogen in the b/c pills I was taking at the time, and the disappearance came after I stopped taking them.  I'm pretty sure the b/c pills also gave me a fibroadenoma in the breast at age 21 too.  The doctors never mentioned the possibilty of the estrogen being the cause, but these days I blame estrogen for everything.  I know now for a fact that my body can turn it into something evil.

I relate to these naughty neck nodule stories.

elimar86861

The pic at top has nothing to do with B/C or middle-aged women.  It's just a fish I like.  The parrot fish. 

Squaaaawwwwk!    How 'bout get your own d*mn name!

cmbear

Did someone say Pocket Party? 

an Eli inspired cheetos fish!

Barbe, will be thinking of you today. I'll be wishing for clear scans. You truly have been dealt a bigger hand than you deserve.

KITTY--so glad you've "come home"! and I love the Paris photos--now I can live vicariously thru you since I can't see us getting to Paris anytime soon.

My DH left early this am to go to Huntsville, AL to work on a proposal with the govt. He's up there on a "open ended" trip--so he could be gone weeks(at least 2) or months. So what do I do? Go and throw out my back last night. So much for driving him to the airport. Neither one of the muscle relaxants they gave me for my surgery last month have phased it. RRgghh.