November 2009-Starting Chemo

micheleboots

Just got home from my DIEP yesterday.  I have cleavage now.  It was hard the first couple of days, but every day I feel better.  The only sucky this is that I woke up with a numb leg.  It feels like pins and needles.  Doc said it was most likely from being strapped to the table and it might have caused some nerve pinch.  It should go away.  Luck for me all my docs were so hot to look at.  Although my roommate sued a commode and the room smelled of shit.  My other roommate and had to escape a few times.

suzieq60

Yukk - I would have run out of there. Hope you recover from the surgery quickly

(((((((HUGS))))))))

Cafelovr

Ewwwweeee. What, no private room?

They week after my surgery, my shoulder blade felt like someone was stabbing it. They have you in so many different positions!!

JustmeAlicia

Michele ~ glad to hear you are doing well.  Congrats on the cleavage.  

I am trying not to freak out.  I had my ct scan and blood work for my 6 month check up.  Lung nodule is stable no change in a year now.  So that was good.  Blood work all good, tumor markers etc.  BUT on my CT scan it showed a compression fracture on my spine.  WTH?  I do have some lower back pain but I blame that on tamoxifen and no estrogen.  It is never constant and debilitating. I now have to have a bone density test and an mri of my spine.  I go from freaking out to calm.  The good thing is my alkaline phosphates were well within the limits, that usually goes out of sorts with bone mets.  I am praying for simply osteoporosis.  But if it is the dreaded C ~ I will do battle again. Send up some prayers girls.  Also been freaking with hubby and a blood disorder but all his tests and scans are clear.  Thanks be to god.

Hugs girls.  Hoping you are all doing well. 

micheleboots

Alicia, take a deep breath then another....keep going.  I hope all this will be done soon so you don't have to worry for long.  Always praying...

Linda, I was in a semi-private room but I had to be changed out of there because at one point four doctors couldn't find a good Doppler reading on my breast.  There was talk of taking me back into OR.  But then my surgeon remembered he had trouble with the Doppler the week before in that same room.  They moved me to a room with two other women and it worked well.  I guess there was some interference in that room.  Beinbg there knowing that the machinery worked was better than the semi-privet room.

Melinda41

Alicia: Hope you get some good news soon, I hope that your good blood work means no mets. How frustrating and scary, keep us posted.

Michele: hope you are recovering well. Doppler intereference? How weird, glad that figured it out before that put you back under the knife!

micheleboots

Linda, me too.

doronet

 Can you imagine??!!  Hopefull, this will "come true..."

New treatment targets early stage breast tumors at the source
posted February 3, 2012
While its widespread use as a standard treatment is still a decade or more away, physicians at Johns Hopkins Cancer Center report they now can successfully inject cancer-fighting drugs straight into a breast tumor. Their research shows that in addition to killing the tumor, the treatment can spare patients surgery and side effects from more radical treatments.

The thinking, according to Dr. Vared Sterns of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md., is that "since most cancers originate within the breasts and the cells that line the milk ducts within the breasts, can we possibly eliminate those dangerous cells, and by doing so, eliminate breast cancer?"

The treatment is surprisingly simple. Patients would receive a small dose of a chemotherapy drug directly through the nipple and into the milk ducts where cancer cells or even pre-cancerous cells are forming. Trials showed this technique, which takes only about 30 minutes, to be more effective and less toxic than the conventional method of intravenous chemotherapy.

In traditional chemo, drugs given through the veins are concentrated in the blood system but less so in the breast - the very place they are needed most. In these trials, the opposite was true.

"What we found was that the concentration of the drug within the breast was very, very high, while the concentration of the drug within the blood system was very low," said Sterns. "It is my hope that the treatment can be delivered in just your usual mammogram suite. This has been done in our study quite easily on an outpatient basis. It doesn't take very long. It's not painful."

Still, researchers must determine how much of the drug is needed and how often it must be given to eliminate the cancer. If continued work shows as much promise as these recent trials, it may become standard early stage treatment.

For additional information, review this article at the Cancer Cure Coalition, and this story at ABC News.

Cafelovr

I wonder! I wish there was a cure even for metastatic bc.

suzieq60

So do I Linda - I hate that you are in that situation!!!

(((((((((HUGS)))))))))

JustmeAlicia

NO CANCER in my back !!! woo HOO ~~  lots of orthopedic stuff, need to see a specialist but it's all good.  Bone density test tomorrow to check for osteoporsis.

So relieved ~ 

suzieq60

Great news Alicia!!! I wish my back would get better, I've been in pain since Tuesday in spite of 3 physio treatments. It's been dodgy for many many years and I just have to put up with it.

Melinda41

What a relief Alicia! Yeah!!!!!

micheleboots

WEEHAAA, Alicia.

doronet

Excellent news, Alicia!!!!!!  

Cafelovr

Hot Damn, Alicia! I am so happy for you

I have scans coming up next week...Echo, MRI, chest x-ray, CT. Please wish me luck!!

Love you girls!!

suzieq60

Linda - I just know you will be fine - those scans will be clear - you hear!!!

(((((((((HUGS)))))))

Melinda41

Fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed for you Linda, keep us posted.

JustmeAlicia

Linda ~ keeping you in my prayers for an all clear !!!

micheleboots

Linda, good luck...but I know you are good.

Melinda41

Linda: just checking to see if you have results yet, keep us posted.

JustmeAlicia

HI girls ~ found out via Facebook ~ Linda is all clear ~ NED !  woo HOO.

Great news.  

Happy Friday !

suzieq60

THANKYOU Alicia - I've been very worried and was just checking last night when Linda had last posted. What a releif.

Cafelovr

Sorry Sue!! I haven't been on the boards lately.

Yes, Ma'am, I AM ALL CLEAR! No evidence of Disease...complete remission. He's keeping me on Herceptin, Zometa, and Zoladex. I have to have my ovaries out come summertime and I get nipples and revisions in two months!!

Melinda, how are things with you?

suzieq60

Linda - naughty girl for not letting us know, but I forgive you. Best news ever!!!!

micheleboots

Linda, sending you big old happy NED kisses.

Cafelovr

Just checking in. Hope everyone is doing good!!

suzieq60

I'm exceptionally good - had my hair treated (Cacau - a brazillian keratin treatment) - I no longer have chemo curls!!! I've been on cloud nine for 2 whole weeks since I had it done.

Hey Linda - how are your boobs?? Hope you love them.

suzieq60

I'm exceptionally good - had my hair treated (Cacau - a brazillian keratin treatment) - I no longer have chemo curls!!! I've been on cloud nine for 2 whole weeks since I had it done.

Hey Linda - how are your boobs?? Hope you love them.

Cafelovr

Looking good, Sue!! I love your hair