Calling all ladies in their 20's

MelBell07

Well, I just found out my dog was diagnosed with cancer I got him as my 16th birthday present, the best present I've ever gotten. It's too far along for any treatment, and even if he could have surgery, they predict 9 months. Can't cancer JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!?

shiramg

mel, i'm so sorry!  i feel your pain - my grandma just got diagnosed with lung cancer.  why can't it leave us all alone?

keep your head up.

MelBell07

thanks shira. i'm very sorry to hear about your grandma. 

NannaBaby

I'm so sorry to hear the bad news SHIRA and MELBELL Chin up and stay strong!

My moms 10 year loss to colon cancer is coming up soon.  March 20, the first day of spring.  My mom loved the changing seasons... so do I.  I miss her so much!  And this time of year is particularily difficult for me Especially since I'm going thru cancer treatment!

I have anxiety +++ and none of my doctors will give me anything for it!  I'm crying at anything stressful!  Yesterday I broke down crying at the doctors and left!  I am having some healing problems with my rad burn on my neck.  So I phoned my nurse to ask her if I can use polysporin on it, she said no.  And I should go in and see the rad onc (not my reg. rad onc. - a replacement).  So I drove 1 hour there, paid for parking etc etc.  What did the doctor tell me to use?! POLYSPORIN! I drove 2 hours for nothing!!! So that pissed me off and I cried and took off! I was sure to thank the doctor before leaving, I tryed my best not to be rude.  It's my anxiety! It's out of control!  

Is it my age?! Do they think young people are drug seakers?!?!  Since my diagnosis, I have only had 2 prescriptions for Ativan! A total of 120 pills! That's it! I'm getting sick of it!  Sometimes I can't sleep at night, because my mind keeps wondering and going on and on!  I take sleeping pills a lot to help me sleep.  Do the doctors prefer that I self medicate and buy crap from over the counter?!?!

I finished my rads last week and have NO prescriptions for anything!!! No cream, no anitmicobial cream, nothing for pain, nothing for anxiety!  I had some betaderm prescribed cream, but have finished that.  Rad onc. I saw yesterday wouldn't refill that for me either.

I start chemo next week and if my rad burn isn't healed by then, I'm really going to lose my cool!!!

The shitty thing about "free" healthcare in Canada, is that you take when you can get.  If it sucks, too bad.  There's no where else to go!

 Sorry for the rant ladies  

WarriorPrincess24

 Alicia-Rae, thanks so much for sharing...it does serve as encouragement to know that other "babies" are making it through this mess! I'm sorry your sister is feeling that way; I've def had my share of younger family members getting butterflies now. But good luck with school. I'm actually getting back focused on studying for GRE and applying for some programs now. It sucks that I've had to put it on the back burner for so long and b/c of admission deadlines, I wouldn't be able to start until next August...

 I have a question about tissue expanders...I'm done with my fills (started in Jan) and have my exchange surgery scheduled for late June. Have you all noticed that they get significantly softer over time? I just had a check up w/ my ps and he said everything looks fine (so I'm not sure why I'm worried) but I think I've gotten used to them being hard as rocks and now certain areas are actually squishy. I guess it's a good thing, but in my head I'm thinking "this expander thing is plastic (or whatever it is) and shouldn't be changing texture."

 Ok, on a completely unrelated note. I recently reconnected with an old friend from high school who now lives about 4 hrs away and I am sooo smitten. I delayed telling him about all that is going on until I realized that he works at one of the local colleges teaching hospitals at the cancer center. Fast forward: He's amazing and I'm optimstic! I drove up and spent 4 days with him and I'm sooo happy I found a good friend through all of this. He even confessed later that he spoke with some of the nurses/admin about me receiving treatment at their clinic if I'm in town so that I won't have to drive back home (like this time) just for a one hour appt. What an angel! I'll keep you all posted! 

NannaBaby

Hi Ladies!

I had my first Navelbine/Cisplatin infusion on Wednesday. So far so good. I am taking stoll softners am and pm to avoid the dreaded navelBIND! I feel some nausea... they gave me emend, zofran and stemetil AND decadron!

Melanie_Ann

Hey Nanna, how many do you have to have? I'm halfway through chemo of TAC every 3 weeks. It makes me soooooo nauseous, and I get many of the same things you do. I'm not sure what else they can do for me in that department so I might just have to dope myself to sleep through it all...like I've pretty much been doing.

I'm sorry to hear about the rough times everyone has been going through!

texasrose361

Mel- so sorry hear about your dog

CiaoVino

Hello there, 20s. I was wondering what you all may know about grade 1 and chemotherapy. I had no node involvement and my tumor is 1.8. My family history is "compelling" as breast and ovarian cancer seems to love my family. However, I tested negative for BRCA and BART (I guess my family just has crappy luck...?). Regardless...seeing as though I'm 29 and have a strong family history ...is that taken into consideration when it comes to chemotherapy? Comments? (I may chicken out on rads as I'm having second thoughts on my lumpectomy and may eventually choose the BMX route...)

shiramg

CiaoVino,

I have BRCA in my family but I was NEGATIVE.  I decided to live as though I'm BRCA positive since i'm so young.  I had a lumpectomy but then became so paranoid that I ended up getting a BMX.  

 Regarding chemo: you won't know if you need it until you get your Onco Type score after surgery - make sure your doc tests this.

 If you have second thoughts about BMX, its probably your gut telling you to get one.  I had mine on Feb 17 and by 2nd week of March I was already on the treadmill and at the bars

NannaBaby

CIAO VINO - I would accept any treatment offered your way.  Chemo needs usually depends if cancer was found in the nearby lymph nodes after surgery... Chemo really isn't that bad, neither are rads.  It will keep you cancer free!  Keep us updated... Ladies I have spoken to about lumpectomy, have mostly regreted not doing mastectomy because of the cosmetic appearance.  I feel mastectomy is more beneficial and easier to reconstruct later down the road.

Melanie_Ann

I'm very happy with my lumpectomy, although, I was a little big to begin with so they had something to work with. My surgeon was very considerate. I'm not sure if others do this or not, but she ended up lifting about half of my breast tissue off of the muscle and did a little reconstruction of her own. She moved it all together so I didn't have a dent. I ended up with a small dent but it's not really noticeable at all. I am a little smaller now on that side and I wouldn't be opposed to one day being evened out. We'll see...I'm going to wait until after radiation to see if I need it. I'll probably wait at least a year.

Chemo sucks but since I know it's ridding my body of any possible cancer cells, I'm all for it. I'm halfway there and can't wait to be done, but I feel as though I made the right decision to go through it. However, I was grade 3. So I don't know if that helps at all, but for peace of mind, I was ok with chemo. 

CiaoVino

thanks, everyone for your responses. i met with my oncologist yesterday who, though Oncotype results are not back yet, is recommending AC+T regardless of my score. he said that the Oncotype only "predicts" risk of recurrence over 10 years. well, in 10 years i'm 39...i don't want cancer when i'm 40, 41, 42, 43, etc. so...10 years prediction just seems so insignificant being so young. i'm ok with the chemo...though completely terrified. i want to make sure that if for some stroke of bad luck, this ever comes back i can at least say that i did everything i could. in anycase, this "extra" 4 months buys me time to really think about a BMX. (both my surgeon and oncologist are STRONGLY advising against it...ugh. but... they don't have to lay awake at night thinking "if" cancer is going to strike again. such a weird feeling)

@melanie...my surgeon did something similar. i haven't noticed a dent just yet...and the incision is not as bad as i thought it'd be.

TreadSoftly

Hi girls,

I had a lumpectomy Jan 2010.  My surgeon said he moved the breast tissue around to fill in the space where the 2.9cm lump was.  It looked good for most of last year but now there is a definite 'dent' where the lump was removed.  I dont mind it too much, except when Im undressing, I look down and say 'uugghh'.  My surgeon mentioned that he could always take some fat tissue from my abdomen or buttocks and inject it to fill the dent but then I worry I might not be able to feel any small lumps if the cancer was to recur.....

CiaoVino - good luck with your decision re chemo, I had TC x 4, its not too bad, and like you, I wanted to be reassured that I did everything I could to prevent recurrences

selfmedicatinggirl

Hi everyone!

I'm a 28 year old from South Africa and it seems there is much less occurrence of BC in women under 35 here than in the US, so I have been feeling pretty alone since my diagnosis in Feb.

I had a BMX with TE's on 22 Feb 2011 and have since had my first chemo treatment a week ago. My regimen: FEC100 (5-Fluorouracil, Epirubicin, Cyclophosphamide) x 3 (every 3 weeks) then Taxol x 9 (weekly) and finally Tamoxifen for 5 years.

I'm struggling to find others who've been on the same chemo. According to my Onc is pretty standard here for pre-menopausal women but that doesn't seem to be the case elsewhere. Anyone know of others having similar treatment?

To CiaoVino: Choosing to have a BMX is a big decision. Just remember that it is your body and your choice. Some doctors are opposed to preventative mastectomies but the stats say that it does greatly reduce your risk for recurrence. I felt that I made the right choice for me, given my age and the aggressive nature of my tumor, but it might not be the right choice for you. Take this time to ask your doctors a lot of questions. Many of us didn't have time to really think about our options, so consider yourself lucky.

I was also petrified about chemo. Crying all the time  and having sleepless nights before I went, but my first one ended up being no big deal! Ask the chemo-nurse to give you a pre-med before your treatment. It really helped me relax. They also have really good anti-nausea meds these days which worked a charm on me! Good luck & feel free to PM me if you have any questions about my experience. I would love to help. 

NannaBaby

Hi Ladies!

 I am having pain below my picc line... no redness, no swelling, no fever, no heat.  Should I worry? Or wait till Monday to call my doctor?

hdangelbaby

nanna, are you sleeping on that side? i know with my port, when i sleep on that side, sometimes i have pain around the port. kind of like a pinching

LibraryJenn

Diane, I wouldn't worry too much about it.  I had a pinching when I slept on my picc line too, as well as the scar tissue would sometimes twinge after I got it out and my port in (still do.)

Self-medicating girl - glad you found us!  I have a friend of mine here who is 30 (a year older than me) that did that type of chemo.  We usually use Taxotere in Canada instead of the synthetic Taxol.  Here it's every three weeks instead of every week.  Her oncologist and mine work out of the same cancer centre and we had different regimens, so I think it's totally up to the oncologists opinion as to which is best.  My friend also gets MUGA scans every three months and I get echocardiograms instead, so again it just depends on the onc.

I'm having a heck of a time with rib and shoulder pain.  Ended up in the ER on Monday for a chest x-ray and ECG due to breathing issues and pain - both which came back fine, but the ER doc figured I have such major scar tissue from my surgery and following abscess that it is swelling and pushing on my rib cage (that and my toddler son who is TANK kicked me in the chest a few weeks ago.)  I'm short of breath because it hurts so much to inhale deeply.  It's like a stitch you get when running, but it just doesn't go away and damn it's really wearing me down.  I was used to being able to get on the treadmill three times a week and now I'm lucky if I can walk for fifteen minutes without feeling like I'm going to pass out.  I still have a hole where the abscess broke open, and I have a foot of packing that gets stuffed in it every day.  Now I'm reacting to the silicone dressing the nurses are using and have large blisters underneath the area

Sorry for the pity party - I'm just SO ready to move on.  It's been eleven months since I was diagnosed, and other than Herceptin, I've been done treatment since the end of January.   I have almost three year old that would like it if I could keep up with him!

NannaBaby

Thanks for the suggestions   I am not sure if I slept on that side last night... It's been a couple days and getting worse.  I now remember a few days ago I brought the dogs for a walk in the woods and I wiped out while jumping over a ditch!!  I think I hurt myself :S  The pain radiates down to my hand and when I press on the elbow crease, it hurts quite a bit.  I can't straighten my arm... hurts to much. Crap! I think I need an xray...  I can't tell if there is swelling or not. No bruising... i'm kinda poofy anyways from decadron.

selfmedicatinggirl

Thanks LibraryJenn! Did your friend experience any side-effects on the FEC100? So far I've been fine and am kind of waiting for the "bad" part to start. You hear about people that feel awful during chemo. I guess I should just be grateful that I don't (so far)!

So sorry that you're in pain! I know that stitch feeling. I had pain like that after my first TE expansion. My PS put in way too much saline & by evening I was in agony. Couldn't breathe deeply and got a shot of pain every time I twisted my body in the slightest. Can you believe that he said at our next consultation that he was sure that I would phone him to have some saline taken out! I wasn't impressed.

Don't apologize for venting. All of us have had days where we've just had enough. Hang in there!

NannaBaby

Hey Ladies!

You won't believe the bad luck I've been having!!!

1 - I sprained my right arm and it hurts like crazy!

2 - I've got a pulmonary embolism! Which caused the worst chest pain I have EVER felt!

3 - Chest and arm lymphedema!

The PE is a blood clot in my lungs.  They think it's from chemo (probably Cisplatin).  Now I need to give myself a needle everyday for 6 months of Fragmin.  SUCKY!  I am sooo glad that I have health insurance! the Fragmin costs $1200 a month!

hdangelbaby

on nanna!! talk about luck of the draw!!!

yeah, i said that today about the insurance when i went to go pick up my anti depressant (that i am just starting), an antibiotic, and some painkillers. i think i have strep, again!!!! so doc is loading me up on stuff just in case!

I hope you get to feeling better!

LibraryJenn

selfmedic - No, my friend didn't have any symptoms on FEC - made me jealous

Nannababy - NO FRIGGEN WAY!  What shitty luck we are having.  My surgeon also figures I had a pulmonary embolism on March 12th.  No kidding it's the worst pain you've ever felt.  I thought I was having a heart attack and it just got worse when I laid down.  I called the triage nurse at the cancer centre, who didn't even say anything to me about pulmonary embolism.  WTH?  It wasn't until Tuesday when I mentioned it to my surgeon at my follow up that he and his resident got all serious and had me booked for an emerg lung scan (nothing here EVER gets booked for the same day, so I knew it was serious.)  The scan didn't show a embolism NOW, but he still thinks that is what is was.  Freaky thing is that I started taking asprin right around the same time for pain.  It didn't freak me out that much until after I googled pulmonary embolism.  1 in 3 don't make it when it happens apparently.  Scared the crap right out of me.  I guess we are just miracle women Keep your chin up - we get that it sucks and are right there with you!

Alicia-Rae

Hi ladies, check out this website my sister made for her final thesis in University, she made a website comic about my cancer and how it affected my daughter its awesome. www.wmws.ca Let me know what you think.

redninrah

alicia- I just  saw the website, EXCELLENT! great job

texasrose361

No way Nannababy! Yeah when it rains it pours right!

LibraryJenn- i am in the US and i got taxotere in 3 week intervols

Alicia- i absolutly love that comic strip! Your sister is awesome!

NannaBaby

ALICIA RAE -  I LOVE your sisters website! Page number 8 is one of my favs! And I like the idea of the black cloud.  And you look gorgeous with or without hair Way to go!

 I'm feeling pretty good these days... I still have some chest pain... not sure if it's from the pulmonary embolism or the edema.  Thrombosis (blood clots) is a side effect from Vinorelbine. I can't wait to see my onc on Wed. I wonder if he'll adjust my chemo dosage.  I am taking the Fragmin shots daily and can't stand it! It friggin hurts!  And it leaves bruises on my belly.  It's starting to look like shit One piece bathing suits only this summer!  I am so worried about my prognosis!  I've been reading some negative articles about cancer patients who get pulmonary embolisms have a poor prognosis... less than one year! That they eventually die from recurrent clots!  I'm FREAKING OUT!  I need to get some questions answered this Wed!  ATIVAN!

LibraryJenn

Alicia Rae - I loved loved loved your sisters site.  I have tears in my eyes right now.  What power and inpiration your story can offer to others, and your sisters site is just such a lovely creation to accomplish the task.  It makes me curious about what my own son remembers (he was one when I was diagnosed, and will be three in a few months.)  So far the highlight for him was going with me to my radiation appointments where he got to sit with the rad techs and see me on the "TV" and then press the button to lower the table!  He sometimes asks when we get to go see the "machine."

Diane - I'm so freaked out for you too.  That's some scary crap.  I just couldn't believe it when I read it.  I'm not really the praying type, but I'll send lots of positive thinking your way!  My pulmonary embolism scare is still in my mind, but the onc today figures that it was very small if I did have one, and my echo came back with the results as being "low probability" because the pressure in the right side of my heart wasn't elevated.  Now he's thinking I have a bone infection that is causing the pain and irritating and possibily infecting my lungs - all from the abscess that I still have open since January.  Frick.  Still waiting for answers from a CT scan and bone scan though.  He mentioned bone mets but it was more he wanted me to know it was a possibility versus thinking that's what it was. I forgot my ativan at my parents - but for some reason my family doc gave me a prescription with 5 refills on it - might just have to get a refill!   

hdangelbaby

do any of you ladies struggle with pain killers?

i have been on them nonstop for abouot 2 months now. started with the tail end of taxol and the aches and pains from that.

i only need to take 2 a day (in the evening) but between taxol pains, then i got super bad strep (twice!), then i pulled something in my neck and back!! i swear if it's not one thing then it's another!

i went from percocets to vicodin and i have a few left. then i am done. no more, cause there will be no more to take.

ugh... i feel like an addict sometimes! but when i take them, the pain is gone for a while, and i can actually get things done!!

any thoughts?

Melanie_Ann

Last night, I decided to read up on these threads b/c I hadn't in a few days. I'm really glad I did! I had been having chest pain for 2 days and it wasn't going away. After reading everyone's problems with PE's I called my ONC and he had me come in for testing. Turns out, everything was fine, but that was one of his concerns. He thinks mine is costochondritis. I was a little concerned too and it was blinding pain at times. It's a little better today, but so far I've only taken some Tyelonol. I don't like anything stronger, mainly b/c I get constipated, so I really don't have any advice on the pain killers. Hope you're all well this evening! And I can't believe some docs won't give more Ativan. Anytime I have a problem, mine asks if I've taken my Ativan. Usually I reject the idea, but just to appease my ONC sometimes, I take it. And it usually does help. I just hate feeling like I'm floating on the ceiling. But then I have a good nights sleep and feel much better.