Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

DaraB

Peggy, I just googled anastrozole in UK and found this site. It appears to still be in use.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cance...

Molly50

Hi Trin, welcome to the lumpy lounge! I have a friend who is from Missoula! Change your settings to public so we can see your diagnosis. Glad to have you join us.

Molly50

Judy, sorry about your brother. My prayers are with your family. Poodles, continued prayers for your mom. Why is it medically trained people are the worst patients?? Tunegrrl, welcome.

Molly50

I got this in my email this morning. It is the most comprehensive and easy to understand information about breast cancer I have yet to read. Breast Cancer

DaraB

Thanks for the article Molly!

mustlovepoodles

Molly, nurses indeed make the worst patients. I have tried to overcome my tendency to try to diagnose myself. And of course breast cancer was a huge wake-up call.

ArtyMom

re-excision of two lesions done and home in four hours!!! No narcotics, no throwing up! I had a seroma which was removed but she didn't have to take any muscle tissue, just fascia! Feeling good!!

PontiacPeggy

ArtyMom, Yippee!!! So glad that you feel good. What a relief. Take it easy!

HUGS!

Caligirl55

ArtyMom....great news!!

Positive...my surgery was 11/10 and I'm still sensitive and wonder how radiation will feel on incisions?

Peggy...that's good news along with what to be aware of news. Are you the one that suggested fabric of some sort when lymph noid incision rubs on bra?

Dara...darn that part of rads...my RO & BS both have me already using the Jeans cream to help prevent that. My head is getting more little hairs each day it seems..yay! 7 months..!!?? You got me with that one..haha

Poodles...glad your mom is thinking smart now ..yes nurses..doctors...any medically trained person is the worst patient. My step-dad is a retired LA City firefighter for about 30 years but he still thinks he knows it all when it comes to firefighting..lol I hope there are some new techniques after all these years.

Trin...Welcome..this is a wonderful group for support. I find its the unknown that gives me fear & when is it going to happen? I have the radiation fear and wonder will it start mid December or the first of the year??

Judy...sorry about your brother and it is good he is getting 24/7 care now.

Molly..thanks for the article.

Dizzybee

Peggy, the article is not referring to women who already have breast cancer. They're discussing licencing Anastrazole as a preventive treatment for women who do not have cancer but are at high risk. At the moment only Tamoxifen is licenced as a preventive. I don't know whether it is already used as a preventive treatment elsewhere. We have a body called NICE ( The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) who decide what treatment standards apply. I suspect they're probably slower than elsewhere to licence things, maybe because once they're approved, the national health service will be paying for it, so they have a vested interest in being sure that the evidence demonstrates effectiveness. So they demand very high standards of evidence.

It's a subject I've had issues with, as the only adjuvant hormonal treatment I can have for DCIS is Tamoxifen despite being post menopausal. I'm told that there is insufficient evidence of the effectiveness of AIs for DCIS because not enough studies have been done. So if I stop the Tamoxifen due to the side effects, there is nothing else I can take.

tbalding

YAY ArtyMom! So glad you are doing so well

Caligirl, I used a piece of fleece pinned to my bra at my underarm to keep it from rubbing my SNB site.

Katzpjays

ArtyMom-Hurray! So glad. The surgery (and after) went smoothly!

Judy-so sorry to hear about your brother, but glad he has round the clock care.

Dara - Yea hair! You can also check out YouTube for how-to videos on makeup for cancer patients who have lost eyebrows and lashes. There is some great instruction out there

tatatootsie62

I'm glad that I'm reading these posts regarding Anastrazole. I'm making a check list of

questions to ask my oncologist when I see him this Thursday. HUGS Gals !

Katzpjays

Molly - thanks for the article. I agree....it's one of the most comprehensive and easy to understand

614

Happy Holidays. Good luck and hugs to everyone. I wish that I had more time and that I could be a "regular" on this site/thread again. I am working way too many hours now and I am walking 10,000 steps per day after work. No time for sleep! I miss all of you and welcome to everyone whom I don't know on this site. Hi to everyone I do know.

I had 2 lumps removed that were not near each other (11:00 and 2:00/3:00). I had 12cm of tissue removed in my double lx surgery in my left breast. I had a medically necessary breast reduction and lift. My P.S. did the reduction/lift to both breasts on the same day at the time of my double lx surgery. This was prior to my whole breast rads. My P.S. knew how to adjust for radiation shrinkage so my breast are even 2 years post bc tx. My P.S./B.S.'s made incisions around my areolas. I have scars down the center of each breast and scars in an upside down sort of wide/horizontal V shape under both breasts. However, the scars have faded and are barely visible.

A weird aspect of radiation is that radiation serves to diminish the redness of scars. The scars on my radiated breast are more faded than the scars on my non-radiated breast.

My breasts look wonderful.

I did not have complications from radiation and I am not suffering any side effects from Arimidex/Anastrazole. I recovered from my double lx/reduction/lift quickly. My oophorectomy was done laparoscopically and it was much easier for me than healing from the double open right side inguinal hernia surgery that I underwent years ago, and much easier than my 2 C-Sections. My sentinal lymph node surgery was the hardest to heal from. However, I only have partial feeling in my left breast and left underarm 2 years after tx. Luckily, I have 100% sensation in both of my nipples.

Radiation is much different than having an MRI. As long as you can keep your arm over your head and remain motionless for approximately 10 or 15 minutes, you may not have difficulty. If you are worried, please ask your doctor to prescribe anti-anxiety medication. Good luck and try not to worry. (Easier said than done.)

The ladies on this site are awesome and Peggy is our adopted mother. ChiSandy gives us all of the pertinent information that we need to know. Everyone else is absolutely terrific.

I am sending positive thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

614 (who has ghosted all of you since returning to work after summer break in August!)

PontiacPeggy

Molly, thank you for the great article!

614, thank you for the update. I've missed you. Your life sounds crazy but I hope you're happy as can be and life is good. Happy Holidays to you!

HUGS!

614

Dear Peggy:

Thanks for your kind words. I have missed you too.

Dear Molly:

Thanks for the article and hi.

Sincerely,

614

Molly50

So good to see you , 614!

Nash54

Welcome Trin....this is the scary part. It gets better. Hang in there. (((hugs)))

ChiSandy....your wealth of knowledge amazes me and your ability to explain is incredible. I enjoy reading your posts!

JShannon

Surgery tomorrow - remove sentinel lymph node and resection lumpectomy site. Not as anxious as I was with the first surgery, but not looking forward to being sore again. Thank you all for sharing your stories and answering questions. It has given me so much peace finding this site.

Have a Great Day!!!

PontiacPeggy

JShannon, good luck tomorrow! No one wants to be sore and comfortable but it is worth it to get rid of the cancer, so that thought may make it less crummy.

Answering questions and being supportive is why we're here. Glad we've helped!

HUGS!

Lorri70

can I ask I'd my 2nd op for dcis on 10th November all clear and it's not sore all going well, just have to wait to see the oncologist and have radiation after. Christmas I've no dates for either. I was wondering if it's worth my while putting something on my scar whole way across my breast or is this a waste of time and money.

Caligirl55

JShannon....Hugs and prayers tomorrow ...glad your ot having to wait anymore.

Lorri....I'm not sure what your asking? Do you mean put something on for radiation or now?

Lorri70

HI Caligirl I was wondering if there was any point putting something on the scar to make it better now while I'm waiting the few weeks till I get radiation or will radiation make the scar worse

PontiacPeggy

Lorri, from my experience, I think your scar is going to fade nicely on its own. Radiation didn't make mine worse. And for radiation, my RO said to use Aquaphor, which I don't think is what you have in mind. Perhaps others have used scar-fading products and will chime in.

HUGS!

Lorri70

thanks Peggy that's good to know I suppose I just want to be doing something while I'm waiting for my radiation to happen, my scars all the way across as I had my nipple removed very neat and thin so isn't as bad as I thought it would be but still like to be doing something.

Tunegrrl

Lorri, i did a bit of scar research recently, and it seems the most important thing is keeping it hydrated. There is also some evidence that silicone scar sheets are useful. Nothing else seems to have enough evidence to make them worth bothering with (incl. vitamin E and aloe).

I found a box of silicone-based scar sheets at the pharmacy in my neighbourhood for about $30. I've been using tiny snips of the stuff on four little biopsy scars. Two or three weeks after surgery, i plan to use them on my incision scars as well, PS permitting

Tunegrrl

613, your post about your lift scars was really helpful and encouraging, thank you. It is great to hear yours have faded nicely and that radiation actually seems to have helped that along. From the sound of it, what you had is called an anchor incision. Same as lollipop but with an incision under the breast as well. It did me good to hear you are so happy with the results you've had, thank you!

Tunegrrl

kdtheatre, it is so interesting to hear how your treatment has gone so far. It really is a variation on how it is going for me. Thank you for sharing about the risk of mastectomy if the margins are not clear and they do a lift right after lumpectomy. I did not know about that, but it makes sense. Tomorrow i will ask my surgeon to aim for a 95% chance of clean margins. I can live with that. Going for more confidence than that would mean taking out more material, of course, so it is a delicate balance. I'm comfortable with 95%.

Yes, i started Lupron shots two weeks before chemo (not Zoladex, but comparable and Lupron was not an option in the menus for my deets here). I am hoping that by turning off my ovaries temporarily, chemo will not have pushed me into premature menopause. I feel too young for that yet. I want another ten years first, and the hope of another child (even if it is only a whisp of hope).

I kept my hair by using a Paxman scalp-cooling machine during chemo infusions (and 30min before, 1.5h after). I learned about scalp-cooling in this article http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/keeping-y...

(I'm hooked on the NYTimes app, so when i was beginning to research breast cancer prior to diagnosis, i did a search for breast cancer articles there and that popped up. I knew before diagnosis it was something i would want to try, if possible.)

There is a whole big thread about scalp-cooling (aka cold-capping) here. Seriously, it is a pleasant distraction from the serious business of breast cancer. (The worst that can happen is you lose your hair!) It is a hopeful act, and for me has reduced the trauma of breast cancer because i look less altered. I also appreciate that i get to go about my life with no one making sad faces at me for looking like a chemo patient. People only know if i chose to tell them. I feel triumphant about how well it has worked so far.

ChiSandy

To fade my knee surgery scars, my PTs massaged them with Vitamin E oil. No need to buy the stuff in bottles—much cheaper to just puncture a capsule and squeeze it out on to the scar. Haven’t tried it with my lx scar, as it’s not visible unless I’m naked.