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  • Hope60
    Hope60 Member Posts: 223
    edited December 2011

     Hi mccrimmon324  - thanks for saying that, and I think you're probably right.  That was what my BS led me to believe, too.  But it's hard to go to the scary place in my mind, you know? After having BC it's hard to believe we'll ever get good news, but very often we do.  I'm trying to remember that!

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  • TifJ
    TifJ Member Posts: 1,568
    edited December 2011

    Hope60- I had both IDC and DCIS. The DCIS was microcalcifications that were lines that branched out. The radiologist said those were almost always DCIS. He said he would have been less worried had they been clustered. I sure hope it's nothing!

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  • Suze35
    Suze35 Member Posts: 1,045
    edited December 2011

    I just want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!  I am going to take a break a bit from posting, as I'm getting ready for my trip.  I'm feeling the need to close my eyes and coast a bit on my raft down the warm river of DeNial.  I'll be back after the New Year, with new resolutions and a new resolve.

    I am thinking of all of you who are waiting on results, hoping all comes out well for each and every one of you.  For my new sisters, hold on tight, it is a bumpy ride.  But know that this horrible disease can be beat, and that YOU are in control of your care.  The holiday season often brings about amazing things, and my wish is that come the New Year, we will all have wonderful news Smile.

    For everyone in the NE Mass area, let's talk about getting together in January - it would be wonderful to meet!

    As for myself - I am feeling good, better each day, and look forward to a lot more time to share with my family, friends, and cyber-buddies.  Much love to all.

    Susan

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  • mccrimmon324
    mccrimmon324 Member Posts: 1,076
    edited December 2011

    Merry Christmas to you Suze, enjoy your trip.

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  • KSteve
    KSteve Member Posts: 486
    edited December 2011

    Enjoy your trip, Suze.  You deserve it!  Happy Holidays to you too.

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  • riley702
    riley702 Member Posts: 1,600
    edited December 2011

    Bernie, have you ever had back issues? I had sciatica from where a bulging disk was pressing on the nerve. I'd get pain and 'pins and needles' down the back of my leg, like I'd overstretched the muscle or something. It eventually got better, but then a few years later, the disk ruptured and I had surgery - a mini-diskectomy, to cut out the ruptured part and sew back together what was left of the disk. It aches in cold, wet weather, but that's a vast improvement, so I'll take it and be happy.

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  • minxie
    minxie Member Posts: 484
    edited December 2011

    Hope, I had the same thing - calcs discovered in BC breast right between finishing up chemo and starting rads. It turned out to be DCIS. I opted for an immediate BMX.

    It was tough news to hear at the time, but I am so glad to be rid of them. I am 3 year post DX, 2.5 years post BMX this month. Best of luck to you!

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  • TifJ
    TifJ Member Posts: 1,568
    edited December 2011

    Merry Christmas Susan! I look forward to hearing all about your trip in Jan.!

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  • Luah
    Luah Member Posts: 1,541
    edited December 2011

    Hi: Just popping in to wish all you wonderful ladies a very lovely holiday. I'm headed north tomorrow to ski and spend time with family - my younger son flew in from school last night, so we're all together for a brief time. Best Christmas gift of all is time together!

    To those of you new on the journey, I wish you some calm and peace, and the confidence that you will prevail over this awful disease. To those waiting on tenterhooks for test results, I wish you only good news... and the knowledge that you can face and surmount even bad stuff that happens. To those of you in treatment, I wish you strength, resolve and minimal SEs. And to those who are months and years out from treatment, I wish you hope for many many more healthy years ahead. And I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being such a tremendous support to me while I was in treatment... and so much fun and inspiration and knowledge in all the time following. May 2012 bring good things to all.     

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2011

    Had another 6 month medical oncologist appointment today. He couldn't believe how upbeat I was, and when I told him that I no longer felt like an 80 year old woman, that I felt like my old self, he *really* wanted to know what I attributed it to, as none of his patients had ever reported on such a positive turnaround.

    Unfortunately, I couldn't attribute it to anything in particular. Guess I just got lucky!

    I did mention that the only thing that felt "neither better nor worse" was my SNB area and affected boob. I also said that that didn't surprise me, as one boob had been through a war and the other one hadn't.

    However, he mentioned that scar tissue has a lot of nerve endings, so it's not surprising that things are still tender when 12 pound cats step on them. (Keep in mind that that 12 pound cat is the one who found the tumor, so I don't ever get mad at her).

    Anyway, I hadn't thought about the nerve & scar tissue relationship and thought I'd pass that little tidbit along to you guys. Oh yeah, he also mentioned that he'd do a scan in another year if I wanted one. May take him up on it, as I do believe it's a good idea.

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  • mitymuffin
    mitymuffin Member Posts: 337
    edited December 2011
    Suze, Have a wonderful trip and feel at peace.
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  • naan1004
    naan1004 Member Posts: 520
    edited December 2011

    Wanted to share a sweet moment.  My 6yr old daughter slipped me a love note before she went to bed, it read, "From Heaven to mom I hope you get well and more happy living."  So sweet, so glad I had daughters, they can be so sweet.

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  • CharB22
    CharB22 Member Posts: 310
    edited December 2011

    Maggie (Mags20487) - thanks for the link to the tnbc foundation's site. I found that one a couple of days ago. I'm doing a lot of reading (probably more than I should have because I'm starting to freak myself out).

    I have a few of my appointments scheduled so I'm feeling a little more in control - genetic testing on 12/30. Med Oncologist on 1/4 and Radiation oncologist on 1/9.

    I've had about all the cancer I can take for one day...need to do some non-cancer stuff, like wrapping Christmas presents!

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  • christina1961
    christina1961 Member Posts: 736
    edited December 2011

    Susan,

    Have a great trip and fantastic holiday!  I'm glad you are feeling better. 

    Love,

    C

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  • Hope60
    Hope60 Member Posts: 223
    edited December 2011
    TifJ  - Thanks so much for your encouraging post and good wishes. You are all such awesome women, and I'm so grateful for all the feedback I've received from you. It's great to feel understood. I might have to come out of hiding (lurking) for good!
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  • ksmatthews
    ksmatthews Member Posts: 812
    edited December 2011

    Suze and Luah enjoy your trip!

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  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited December 2011

    Ya know..Hope..if "they" are thinking "it" is probably fat..it probably is..fat is a good thing lol...of course having BC we usually tend to think the worse possible scenario..of course we do..we have had the worse possible scenario...but sometimes...things do turn out to be just fat...let's hang on to that ok..

    Suze..have FUN on your trip...are you really going to NYC..I know you like it there..to buy shoes?

     Christmas is getting close isn't it...??? MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU..love you ladies..couldn't get through this without you all...

    Hey Char..come on over and wrap some gifts with me...we can eat chocolate and drink some wine..sound fun?

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  • Sugar77
    Sugar77 Member Posts: 2,138
    edited December 2011

    Merry Christmas to all. Those who are going away...have a great time and everyone enjoy time with your families.

    Heidi - great news of the good check up. 

    My email was hacked so I've spent the better part of the day changing passwords everywhere and resetting my BlackBerry, etc.  Lots of fun ;) Any of you who are FB friends with me or who I correspond with via email, please disregard if you received an unsual email from me today.

    Good night ladies! 

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  • bak94
    bak94 Member Posts: 1,846
    edited December 2011

    Susan-I am so glad you are feeling better! Go have a cancer free holiday!

    Christina and Riley-Are both of you weakly er positive? I am a bit forgetful! My mo does want to put me on tomaxifen (sp?) with 3% er positive. Not sure I want to do this. I could go get a second opinion, but if they disagree then I will have to get a third opinion. I do trust my mo and probably trust him more than most docs so I don't know who to go to for a second opinion. WHat did you find with your research? I have a bit of time to think about it because I still have to do radiation.

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  • riley702
    riley702 Member Posts: 1,600
    edited December 2011

    bak, I'm 8% ER+ and IIRC, they told me that anyone over 3% should take Tamoxifen or AIs. I wasn't convinced it would be worth it, and I'm still not sure that it was. I was switched from Tamoxifen to Aromasin after 11 mos, but I was already having troubling SEs, like my blood lipids going up even with 2 cholesterol meds added, which led to the development of fatty liver disease, which puts me at a higher risk for developing heart disease and/or diabetes. And I've gained 30 lbs that seems to be concrete-welded to my mid-section.

    I'm going to hope Aromasin doesn't turn out to be just as bad. I'd like to be able to start working on fixing these problems, but we shall see. I know not everyone has the same experience with Tamoxifen, but just know it might be a possibility, and that should factor into your decision. Good luck!

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  • LuvRVing
    LuvRVing Member Posts: 4,516
    edited December 2011

    Bak - I am 3% ER positive and not taking an AI.  There was no discussion about AIs with my oncologist this time (Dana Farber).  I took Femara between 8/2010 and 3/2011 (my MO in Kansas City prescribed it) and it did nothing as i had a recurrence or leftovers and progression to several nodes.  I didn't gain any weight while on Femara and tolerated the drug without any noticeable side effects.  It just did nothing for me.

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  • christina1961
    christina1961 Member Posts: 736
    edited December 2011

    Bak, I am 5-10% ER receptors staining with moderate intensity.  There is a measure that includes both the percentage of cells staining as well as the intensity of  the staining - the Allred score for ER positivity.  If the Allred score is above 2 (I think it is 2), then there is a correlation between taking tamoxifen or an AI and a better outcome.  I think my Allred score is 4.  If you go to the mixed breast cancer topic, there is a post i started called ER+PR-Her2-.  Someone posted a lot of articles in that thread that pertain to Er+PR- - you might want to read through them and see what you can find.  I went to three oncologists overall - my local, Vanderbilt, and UNC Lineberger.  My local and UNC lineberger oncs are optimistic about the tamoxifen helping to prevent recurrence, but the Vanderbilt onc said to take it, but if I had side effects that I could come off because she didn't think that it would do very much as at best I have 10% receptors- that my cancer would "behave more like a triple negative." I was on Arimidex for one month and did not gain weight, lost a little sleep the first week, and had some joint pain (but I have worse now on nothing but chemo). I hope I will tolerate the tamoxifen well. I am nervous about taking it. I will try to find the Allred info and post it over the next few days. Sorry so choppy, I am half awake. And I was RCBIII (recurrence risk high due to residual tumor burden and 2 nodes following neo chemo.)

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  • Fighter_34
    Fighter_34 Member Posts: 834
    edited December 2011

    Sugar77-your profile picture looks great!

    Happy Holidays everyone!!

    Lauh & Suze, enjoy your time off. You guys deserve it!

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  • Hope60
    Hope60 Member Posts: 223
    edited December 2011

    Titan - you are right...I'm hanging on to the fat.....lol.  Biopsy not till Jan 6 and I'm going to try to put it out of  my mind if I can and enjoy the holidays.  Happy Holidays to you and everyone on this board!

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  • TifJ
    TifJ Member Posts: 1,568
    edited December 2011

    Michelle- did Dr. Monaghan prescribe the Femara? I am 3%+ as well and he told me no. He said the side effects would outweigh the benefits for only 3%.

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  • naan1004
    naan1004 Member Posts: 520
    edited December 2011

    Ok, time to vent, my DH is so annoying, he nags at me about what to eat and what not to eat, then he goes and eats what I can't eat right in front of me, ughhhhhhhhhhhh, so annoying!  Why r there so much diet restrictions!!!

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  • mccrimmon324
    mccrimmon324 Member Posts: 1,076
    edited December 2011

    naan - totally understand.  My husband is really good at doing the same thing.  I try to remember there aren't really a lot of diet "restricting"  just diet "choices".  I'm trying very hard to get into telling myself how much better I will feel by eating my fruit for dessert instead of the ice cream hubby's shoveling in.  Sometimes it works. 

    I made a really good fruit smoothie last night.  Banana, strawberries, no sugar added vanilla yogart, FF milk, ice and a couple of Truvia packets.  Really good.  Felt like I was cheating.  I have a terrible sweet tooth. 

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  • christina1961
    christina1961 Member Posts: 736
    edited December 2011

    Heather,

    Your babies are soooo cute!!!  I don't have any Christmas hats for mine this year - but I think I have some elf ears somewhere from a past Christmas. I'll have to take some photos.

    Your smoothy sounds delicious!  I too have a terrible sweet tooth. I do not feel I have done very well avoiding sweets since diagnosis although I have cut down but I plan to do even better after I am finished with this chemo trial.

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  • CharB22
    CharB22 Member Posts: 310
    edited December 2011

    Titan - chocolate and wine sound wonderful! I have some of both in the cupbard (my bestie got me organic chocolate and it is delish!!)

    Wrapping is getting done, but not fast enough. Yesterday was just such an awful day. I had enough cancer stuff for one day, that after I took my DS Christmas Shopping (our 3 year tradition that is going to last until he's 60 and I'm 93 - LOL), I put on my jammies, crawled in to bed and watched some mind numbing TV for a couple of hours.

    Thanks to everyone for posting...I'm encouraged more each day and I really feel like I've connected with this group!

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  • Kelley41
    Kelley41 Member Posts: 73
    edited December 2011
    naan1004 - your post made me tear up - what a sweet daughter you have!
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