MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

butterfly14

Eli- glad you are feeling better.

On the MO ordering tests, I am Stage IIB and my MO will not do a PET scan, bone scan or tumor markers unless I have a pain or concern. When I told him after my last chemo that I do have lower back pain, both my MO and his nurse practitioner shrugged it off that I gained weight on chemo and since I was petite before chemo that had to be the reason. I think I will make an appointment with my GP and get her to order the scans.

Momine

Butterfly, there is a good argument for avoiding scans as much as possible, because of the nuclear load.

However, it seems silly to me that they won't do markers.

carollynn79

Dianarose, I agree a new Oncis in order, if nothign else you get an idea of what another has to say.  I am Stage 1 and get bone scans yearly, blood work once a year, mammo once a year or lately more due to infections and lumps but my Onc seems very aggresive looking at things.  Last year I said I had lots of cramps and leg pain and was sent immeditaly for a scan of my legs to make sure there were no clots, so my thought is different Doc means different ways of handling things.  We all know that a lot of the cancer is a mind game but our minds are what drives all else! I am also a thyroid cancer surviror and see and Endo, it depends on how ofter it was 6 months and now back to 3 months as levels are off but I get an US of my neck every year and she checks my bone scans and does blood work all the time but that is normal as my thyroid was comeptley removed a 2 years ago. Hope you are able to recover from your tests and enjoy a much desirved vaca!

El glad you are starting to feel better, have a snow day so working from home, sending you some home made spelt bread and tomato soup for my home canned tomatoes!!

Sherryc

I am so far behind I think I have about 10 more pages to read.  I have been so very busy at work and after work.  I don't know if I am coming or going but at least my life seems to resemble my pre bc life which is a good thing.  DH and I started up a new ministry and it is keeping me quiet busy.  God has put some amazing people in our lives.

Eli from what I read you got back on your chemo and started back at rads but by now I think you must be finished with rads.  Guess I'll come across that as I read.  Even though I have been busy I have been thinking about you.

Walker (cuz) good to see you on the threads.  You do need to take care of mind, body, spirit.  Taking a break from work and doing temp might just be what you need

annemarieh

Carollynn~ I to had thyroid cancer, DCIS, ovarian cancer, and just happened to dodge colon cancer. Had my BMX, and I refuse to take Arimidex due to SE's. I'm reading everyones posts, and saying, wow!! Are there tests'/scans that I should be getting?? I need input from ya'll......

Sherryc

Well I am finally caught up on my reading.

Joan-what a scary chemo day you had so glad DH was with you

Dianarose-woohoo for finishing rads, I agree with the others get a 2nd opinion.  My MO is more agressive with me.  I have been having tumor markers every three months.  Will be 6 months now.  When I had the pancreatitis over Christmas he ordered CT scans of my chest and abdomen area just to be sure not mets.  When my arthritis was so bad in my neck last year he did a MRI just to rule out mets.

Carollynn--woohoo on the B9 test

Heartnsould-glad the bone density was good but gee a long wait for the results

journey-sorry you are going through cancer again.  I agree I HATE CANCER!

valjean-happy Belated birthday

Annemarie-congrats on getting your E-Day scheduled.  Hope the wine was good

Eli-woohoo on finishing chemo and rads.  This has been a tough journey for you.  Rest and heal and get ready for that surgery.

DIL's mother just found out she has stage IV, TNBC.  She also has parkinson's so they are only offering mild chemo just to give her more time as they put it.  She has had two opinions.  Her local MO and she also went to MDA Houston  and they said the same thing.  She is going to do BRCA testing as her sister died of BC as well.  I pray for my DIL and for my three granddaughters that it is negative. They always say there is positive in the negative.  So the positive in me having BC is that I have been able to help my DIL with info.  I have done so much research that I have been able to share with her which has cut down alot of what she has had to researched.  Just the fact that I have been through it all she has been leaning on me alot.  Her mom is also wanting to protect her from her feelings so I have been very honest with DIL about what her mom is probably feeling and the fears she has and she says that has helped alot because so far her mom is kinda careful about talking about her fears.

NativeMainer

What kind of follow up is done seems to depend on the MO.  Mine doesn't follow women with bc after estrogen blocking therapy is done.   I asked the same question, if mets develop how will I know in time to do something useful about it?  She said that regular scans only find mets a month or two before they start causing symptoms, so it isn't worth the chemical and radiation exposures of routine scanning.  She also never did any blood work, except a TSH to determine if I was post menopausal or not.  No CBCs, no liver function tests, nothing.  I had to ask my PCP to monitor those for me.  While I really don't want all those appointments in  my life, I am not comfortable with getting cut loose like this either.  But I've had to manage my own care from the very beginning, so I might as well keep doing it.   

Elimar--early detection of mets does not extend overall survival, which is the gold standard for medical care.  Early detection does increase the quality of life of that time, but medical research doesn’t use QOL as a measure because it is subjective, and not so easily rated and measured.  Did you ever notice that the reports almost never say how long survival is extended by a particular chemo regimen or treatment?  I dug into a lot of those studies and found out that they were talking about 2 months most of the time.  My father went through a year of chemo for stomach cancer.  It was "successful" because he lived 14 months after diagnosis instead of the expected 10-12.  The fact that he was miserable most of that time is totally ignored.  AND, my mom and dad were not told that is what "successful" treatment meant.  Dad said he would not have done chemo if he knew it would only gain him a month or two.  He would rather have been able to travel and do things.  OK, sorry to get off on a rant. 

Momine

Mainer, I am sorry your dad went through that and that was what I was getting at too.

elimar86861

Sherryc,  I am sure you will be extremely helpful as a knowledgeable advocate for your DIL's mother's cancer care.

That's a reminder that even if we are lucky enough to put cancer into our own pasts, the odds that we will experience it again through a loved one is still fairly high.  Just when you think you HATE cancer to the fullest, something comes along to make you hate it just a little bit MORE!

Dianarose

Eli- I hope you are feeling much better.

When I went to the MO's on Wednesday he ordered an x-ray of my foot. He called me yesterday morning to tell me indeed there were broken bones. I guess I can't multi-task anymore. I was watching TV while getting up off the sofa. I am just a hot mess lately. He also said I missed the Metformin trial by one day and that it was now closed. When I went to my primary he had called her about it and she prescribed it for me. She said some of my blood work showed high sugar counts anyways so it might be a good idea. I went this morning and had more blood work. She straightened out my bones and wrapped my foot. Last night I just had a melt down. I haven't had one that bad in awhile. Today my eyes are puffy and hurt. I think I will try to avoid future melt downs.

Nativemainer- I don't know about you, but I am tired of the cold weather we are having in Maine right now. It is hard to be motivated to go out the door in the morning when it is -9 out. Try to stay warm.

Is anyone else on Metformin? If so, have you gained or lost weight?

Eph3_12

I am-and I've pretty much stayed the same since I've been on it (since before BC).

Dianarose

Eph- I am glad to hear that. My muffin top is starting to look like a bundt cake. I gained 12 pounds with the chemo and it doesn't seem to want to leave even though I am not a big eater.

elimar86861

Dianarose,  It sounds as tho' the curse of the middle-aged belly fat is upon you.  A plague unto us all!

marlegal

Eli, I can't believe you found that pic of us to put at the top. I admit to being the larger woman on far left, and that was a few pounds ago. I did so love those shoes

I wish you all a weekend free of problems or side effects to any extent possible.

Hugs buds.

NativeMainer

DianaRose--yeah, it's hard to get motivated to get out when it's as cold as it is right now.  Fortunately this uber cold doesn't last very long, usually. 

Having meltdowns isn't such a bad thing, really.  We all need them from time to time to help get the stress hormones out of our system.  The aftermath is kinda the pitts, though, I'll admit. 

journey4life

Good morning, middies! I too had a meltdown of sorts yesterday. I went in for my infusion (#3) and my platelets were too low. How am I going to continue on this regimen when, after only 2 treatments, I have to skip one?? I should be having weekly infusions...my MO is out until Wed so I guess we'll discuss a (new?) plan on Friday. If it was my fate to have BC and OVCA, then let me continue with a treatment plan! Grrrrrr...

On scans and blood tests - after BC, my MO wasn't going to test anything until I had symptoms. When I had the ooph and cancer cells were found, my GO immediately ordered blood tests for 3 markers and a PET scan. Since then, I have talked my MO into tumor markers every 2 months.  

elimar86861

journey,  Even tho' your interruption is with chemo, I will share what my RO said when I had to take a week off my rads and chemo (for my current non-B/C treatment.)  He said, "We are trying to kill cancer, not you.  Sometimes it is a delicate balance."  I think that to step up and even DO these treatments we put our blinders on, or do a little self-hypnosis as we learn the mantra of of "it's doable" when in reality these treatments ARE harsh and having your RBC, WBC, platelets, etc. start to tank is a serious condition that we are somewhat desensitized to because it is happening to so many of us around here.  LIKE IT IS NORMAL OR SOMETHING!   Try not to freak about taking a break.  I think a lot have to do it.

I was a little disturbed that taking a break would give cancer the upper hand, BUT the fact comes down to once you stray off the treatment path you have kind of left the realm of the known responses, but that is not to say that you cannot still have a VERY good response to treatment, it is just to say there have not been enough studied that have had your precise scedule of treatment/days off now.  Some people are able to follow the treatment plan to the letter, but simply are not good responders to chemo (or whatever.)  A lot of it will come down to individual response, maybe more so than day on/days off anyway.

In my own case, I deviated from the treatment plan, but think (based on symptoms disappearing) that I resonded well to the actual treatments.  Whoever sticks around here for a couple months will get to learn whether I am right about that or not.  Oooooh, isn't that a cliffhanger to keep you coming back?  (Maybe I am just going on my own heightened suspense about that.  Snick, snick!)

elimar86861

Hey, guess what?  I am going to learn Skype today.  My son is going to study away in Greece for Spring semester, so that IS the coolest way to stay in touch, right?  An old pink dog is going to learn a new trick.

                                                                 

                                           And then I'll have a little accident on the carpet when I am done.

Meece

Good marketing, Eli~.

journey4life

Eli - that helps alot. My thoughts have been that this damn cancer will win if I don't stick to the "plan." Thanks to you, I'll hike up the big girl panties and keep fighting. Looks like this journey will be a challenging one but a setback inspires a comeback! Here I come F'ING CANCER!!!

P.S. I'm going to share your post with my chemo nurse - she'll love what you said!

marlegal

Eli, you do have such the way with words. Journey, I'm glad they helped you

Skype - definitely cool way to stay in touch! I hope your son has an awesome experience while studying abroad (no phonetics allowed there!) Our youngest dd went to Ireland for a semester and really enjoyed/made the most of it. She travelled a lot while there - the school seemed to encourage that with the students from abroad, scheduling classes mainly Tues/Wed/Thurs, so lots of long weekends for travel. I wish the same enjoyment for him.

The #1 thing on my 'to do' list for today was to clean the bathroom. Now it's my #1 thing for tomorrow! Did lots of laundry, changed the sheets (that's not one of my fav things to do) and went food shopping. Somehow when I got done all that and went into the bathroom, I decided that I needed a rest! A beer and some guacamole seemed way more important than cleaning at that point! For better or worse, I feel no guilt whatsover. I wish you all a guilt free weekend

carollynn79

Marlegal must be the cleaning weekend, I did laundry, washed the bedding, mopped teh floors and then went to a wine and cheese tasting at the only local winery with my son, it was a great afternoon, now I am home enjoying the rest fo my Saturday.  Bought some very good Italian cheese, nice flavor.

elimar86861

journey,  Share away.  She's a nurse.  It's not like an editor will be judging me on number of typos or anything. 

marlegal,  Similar.  Classes M-TH, with 2 regional field trips, a 3rd one to Istanbul; plus they will have regular Spring Break there, so a chance to go further afield.  As you know, the whole deal is not cheap, but what a chance of a lifetime, eh?  Sounds like you ran out of steam today.  Me too.  I gave a haircut, then took a 2-mile walk, then had to conk out on the couch.  It is going to be a while til I am up to full power.  So what?  I'm re-popularizing THAT phrase...so what!

Eph3_12

So there I am, 2nd from the right, flashing my awesome eyebrows!!!!

elimar86861

When the going got tough, I just could not do my usual outreach on here and didn't get around to many threads.  So, tonight I was posting to Noobs on those "Just Diagnosed"-type threads. 

One woman wrote that she "felt better" after reading my post.  I felt helpful, like I "made a defference."  Win-win.  Fantastic!

marlegal

Eli, my first contact with BCO was the chat room and I still go in there on weekends. Nothing gives me more pleasure that meeting a newbie and being to show that 7 yrs later, I'm here and doing great. To be able to answer some of their questions makes it all worthwhile to me. Giving back is an awesome thing. And you, my wonderful cyber friend, do that in spades every single day for dozens of women in here ... know that.

MameMe

DianaRose, Your comments on your oncologist's approach caught my eye, as I just squirm when docs treat people like that. I also live in Maine. I agree with the others who urge you to consider finding a new doc who can follow you in an attentive and caring way. You deserve that. With the specific features you are dealing with, it seems almost like malpractice for your Onc to brush you off and be so detached.

All best to you, Mame

elimar86861

Welcome, MameMe!   Sorry you had to deal with a second primary.   Any big differences between the first and second time around?  Other than being more mentaly prepared.  (Other than meeting so many other unfortunates on this website now that it exists.)  Are you with same Cancer Team?

MameMe

Hi Elimar, Thank you for the kind welcome. I think that having a second episode has been Familiar, but it also has given me PTSD and a load of anxiety from the first treatment round in 2003. I had a painful stereotactic biopsy, a lumpectomy, an SNB and excessive swelling and draining for about a month afterwards. I finished rads with the usual unpleasant skin effects, then declined Tamoxifen, said goodbye to the med. onc that I met with once, and never looked back. I threw myself into several goals that were, "Someday, maybe's", like grad school, and a long distance hike with my sister.

I have been working as much as I can to pay off the school loans and to build up some savings eventually. When I learned I had this tumor in the contralateral side, I was very chill at first. As I got closer to treatment, I got very tense and just felt like RUNNING when it was time to meet with a provider. The radialogist, the bc navigator, the surgeon and the rad onc were triggers to me at a very deep level. I felt nuts, as on the surface I was not that upset.

I chose a completely different tx team and am glad I had that chance. Everyone was just lovely, and could not have been kinder or more professional. I just hated being in that role of cancer patient again. This team is located much closer to my home and work than the other group.

I am just now going back to work after having surgery on 1/15, which is longer than I wanted to be out. It took all of ten days for things to knit together and calm down where the incisions were, enough so that I can do my life without constantly being reminded of having just had breast surgery. As my neice reminded me, I am ten years older and that does affect healing time. : )

Not to be too repetitive, but my next step is to make a decision about cost/benefit of rads and anti-estrogen meds. I lean toward declining both, as I have fam. hx of heart disease and osteoporosis. I SO want my next decades to be vital and healthy. Hopefully a consult with the med. onc. at the hospital here will help sort this out. Last time it was having a stage 2 cancer that pushed me toward accepting rads. This time, the stage is a 1, but the grade is a 2. Have yet to see final path report, tho, which may influence that.

All best to you, and I look forward to following this most engaging thread!

Eph3_12

welcome MameMe.  Don't think I've seen you before.  Good luck with your up-coming radiation!