CALLING ALL STAGE I SISTERS

jo1955

Hi Mostlymom and Welcome.  I had my lumpectomy on a Monday and took a week off.  I did not feel I needed to but did it anyway as I have a great boss and he told me to take all the time I needed for recovery.  I did not do chemo but did do rads.  I worked the entire time I did rads and scheduled my treatments for late in the day so I could go home right after.

FireKracker

gosh i missed MIMI birthday...happy birthday

Sheila...so sorry about your dad.by the time you read this I sure hope he is better.prayers goin up for you and your family.

wishing everyone else peaceful days,pain free days and lots of huggggggggs.God bless K

bombaygal

hello all,

just finished my first week of radiation...other than the hours of trying to lay absolutely still, till they got the right positon, it was not too bad ... very doable. But, nobody mentioned how sad, discoloured and out of shape the poor breast start looking. I have been applying the lotions - Calindula and Aquafo - will they get their colour back

Poor things, we cut them, nuke them, scoop them out and still want them to look good...

BTW, Mostlymom,I took a week off, after my Lumpectomy, but went back in 3 days, as was feeling fine and getting restless, was hiking a week later...just listen to your body, rest when it wants and eat well...  

BarbaraA

MostlyMom, I had my lumpectomy on a Monday and was back at work (I work from home mostly) on Tuesday. I had the luxury of taking a break whenever I wanted but I really was fine. Just hated the drain.

Sherryc

mostlymom I had my lumpectomy on a Thursday and went back to work on Monday, took Tuesday off for Dr. app and worked Wed-Friday taking a long lunch for a nap.  I had a great boss who would not have cared if I took the week off. I work in a small office and sit at a desk most of the day.

mimi1964

grannydukes thanks for the belated birthday wishes!!!!!!!!!  I had the best birthday ever

sheila888

Hi Sisters and Welcome Newbies.

I'm not on the boards as much since I'm spending time in the hospital with my father.

He was moved to Extended care. And more paperwork.

I'm doing fine but tired.

Hugs♥

Meece

Woohoo!  It looks like the problems on the boards has been fixed!!!

o2bhealthy

((((Shelia))))

BarbaraA

{{{SHEILA}}}

Meece

We miss you, Seyla.

jo1955

Sheila - I miss you (((HUGS)))

duckyb1

Hi Ladies.............My tumor was 1.1cm, so I guess I kind of qualify for this thread.......I will be starting Rads in a couple weeks......had my lumpectomy on March 14th..........I am 75, about to be 76 on April 24th, so I am one of the oldies...........Saw my BS yesterday, and he was pleased with what he saw..........Told me to call the Rad Onc, and make an appt. with her.  I have already met her, and liked her a lot, just don't like her profession..........Have another appt on April 7th with the Onc ,although they say "no chemo", already met her too.................However they are saying hormone therapy...........Not happy about that..............have heard the SE of that crap can be ugly..........Not sure which one it will be............As far as node involvement goes according to the BS he was not happy when he did the sentinel  node biopsy, so he took 10 nodes which included the sentinel node, and they all came back "clean"..........Great news, but just wish he didn't have to take any...........According to my children who spoke to him after surgery he said to them "I had to be sure"............Well no need to "cry" over lost nodes, right...................Instead be glad they were all clean..........and I am............Well ladies hope to talk to you all again.........hugs.

raincitygirl

Hi Ducky B - Congrats on the clean nodes and the no chemo!  Those of us who are post-menopausal generally are given an aromitase inhibitor (Arimidix, Aromisin, or Femara) but some are given Tamoxifen.  There is a small group of us who started an Arimidex March 2011 thread and we seem to be mostly ok with it after the first month.  Maybe it won't be too bad for you either

jo1955

Ducky B - Congrats on the clean nodes and no chemo.  I am post menopausal as well as was originally started on Arimidex but had too many problems, then it was on to Femara, that did not work.  Would not do the Aromasin but have been on Tamoxifen for 3 months with minimal SEs.  I don't want to alarm you, there are many who have had little, if any SEs with the first two.  Each one reacts differently to the medications.  Like raincitygirl said there is a group on the Arimidex thread and it would be well worth your time to read some of the postings.

Good luck to you. 

duckyb1

raincitygirl...........I hope so, and yes it was good news...waiting for the oncotype, but BS says he expects it to be good.........but I've heard that before..............

Had to add this P.S............Back in 1957 I lived in Washington State............My husband was stationed at the Yakima Firing Center, in Yakima, Washington..............Oh you lucky lady....I loved that place..........Had it not been for me being an only child, and my mother taking a trip to yakima to personally kill me for deciding to stay,.............I would be there now.............I said, and still say to this day..............It is like it doesn't even belong to the U.S.A.  It is so beautiful....I have traveled all the "passes", and have sat in utter amazement looking at Mt. Ranier.......I have crossed Snoqualmie (not sure if I got that spelling right) when the snow was so high you could only see the top of the telegraph poles...........

I live in Pa. in a small town right outside of Phila......However, I was born and raised in Philly, as we call it...........Moved to the suburbs when the city was no longer a safe place to be.......Certain sections of Philly are not good, and where I lived was becoming a changing area............so we left and headed a  couple towns over.............My husband died in 1991 of Pancreatic Cancer, he was only 57 years old...  I have 6 children, 18 grandchildren, and twin great-grandaughters just 1 month old.

After losing their father, and grandfather to cancer the news I got was as bad as it could get for them, but since then, the news is better, and we can all live with this............

Well it is so nice connecting with someone from one of the most beautiful places in the world................By the way I have also driven Ellensburg Canyon...............Oh Lord this brings back some wonderful memories............Not to mention the fact that I was married on May 5th 1956, and left for Yakima on May 8th..............So they were happy times............Hugs to you girlfriend, and enjoy that beautiful place you live.

mom2westies

Just back from the oncologist. The mammogram report was not as ominous as I perceived it from the letter. He said the abnormality was probably related to the surgery and and a repeated  mammo in 6 months is recommended to better document stability.Bone density test results were great. My next hurdle starts tomorrow- my "Quit Smoke" date. Had my reports been bad today I would have not quit. That quit smoking forum is going to be busy ! Thanks for your prayers and support !

  Jane

Sherryc

congrats on an OK report.  We will hope the next one shows stability and all will be good.  Good Luck on that quit smoking thing. 

duckyb1

jo1955, thanks for the info.......I will do that.........Not sure what they are going to suggest, and your right each person does react differently to different drugs........however I worked for a pharmecutical company for 15 years in their Marketing Reasearch Dept.  I previewed all the drugs, the good side and the bad side........I was involved with most drugs before they even had a name....I would survey Dr.s to find out which name they liked the best for a drug, followed up on drugs verbatim to see what they were doing, again good and bad, so I am not a fan of drugs of any kind................We need good drugs, but I am not a fan of any of them..........Had I been onboard with medication I would not have had a heart attack (mild) in 2007.  Refused cholesterol medicine, and the rest is history.....Guess who takes it now..........yep.......your right........So even though I will hate taking this new medication they will give me.......I will take it, but I will not like it..................I'm just thankful my pathology was good.   As I have said before......I never thought there would be a "great" side to being 75...............I guess when it comes to BC the older the better...........I have already seen the Onc Rad, and the Onc, so I have an idea of what is coming down the road..............wish I could veer off onto a side road, and avoid the main highway, but I know that would be medical suicide, so I will as I say "put on my big girl panties", and do what I am told to do.....................Hugs to you all.

jo1955

Ducky - I was not thrilled to take any of these drugs but I gave it a lot of thought and read the different threads for each of them and decided that this is an added insurance policy.  I figure it is best to do everything I can to prevent a recurrence even knowing that there are no guarantees.  We just have to like you said "put on our big girl panties" and do what we are told.

Hope everyone is having a great day. 

sheila888

xgolfer good news

(((Sisters)))

(((Hugs)))

♥

mimi1964

xgolfer I am really happy for your good news!  as for the quitting smoking thread been there done that... I ended up not officially quitting myself until after I was done with radiation.  That's just how it worked out for me.  But the thread really became a place for me to vent of course my family was my biggest support system. 

Good Luck

elimar86861

Hey Seyla, congrats on kicking the Femara habit!  You did it, girl!  Got you a HOT PINK bouquet.

                                      

I did not know your dad was ailing.  So sorry to hear he is hospitalized, but lucky you are close by and can check on him and be with him.

Anonymous

Welcome duckyb; you have a great attitude and a wonderfully large family who obviously love you!

Congrats to xgolfer!

FireKracker

Glad to see you back Sheila.Hope dad is doin OK...sending strength your way sista

dogsandjogs

Jo1955

Why did you not want Aromisin?  That's what my onc wants to put me on, starting next Wednesday. Am very reluctant, but since I did not want radiation I have to take the pills----

chabba

srBCsurvivor - I tried Aromisin after finishing radiation.  I was on it for about a month and had severe pain as an SE.  My MO said he felt that all the Al's had similar SE's and did not let me to even try any of the others and switched me to Tamoxifen.  For me the SE's of it have very manageable.  The wierd thing about all of these hormone treatment drugs is the way the SE's vary from woman to woman.  Many women do fine on the Al's, many have problems.  The same is true of tamoxifen.  We each have to just find what is right for us.

I wish you a speedy solution to the problem of finding your best fit.  I hope that whatever drug your Dr. suggests first will be the one that works for you.

jo1955

srbreastcancersurvivor - After Armidex & Femara, my onc did not want me to go on Aromasin since the SEs are pretty similar.  I had terrilbe nausea with those and he thought I would do better on Tamoxifen.  So far, I have very minimal SEs and my hot flashes are almost nothing.

sheila888

Good Night Everyone!

Eph3_12

Sheila-LOVE that picture