Starting Chemo March 2015

shaz101

jumbled. I'm so saddened by your bad news. It's shit and you don't have to be brave or pretend you're dealing with it. 😢

I haven't caught up with post so I apologise AGAIN for being absent.

I've just heard the horrific news about the shooting in oregon. My thoughts are with you all as you deal with the senseless killings. Xxx

DavisD

Good luck w/the mammo Theresa. Take it easy on yourself

Way to go Katy! When I have the energy again I may follow your lead.

Allison-You are such a bright young woman and your own best advocate. I only hope my daughter would work as hard as you have should she be faced with such tough decisions.

Thanks for all the support today! MRI was a piece of cake and I tried to just detach from the process...I should hear if it's bad news tomorrow and good news if it's next week...at least that's how it's happened in the past.

Trying to stay positive, you all help

SpecialK

Just to clarify - the 60% figure was for me personally, not a general figure regarding chemo and rads - and that was for chemo and rads to clear a positive node the size of a stage 1 breast lump - NOT a micromet.

Jackbirdie

Theresa- thinking of you tomorrow with your mammo.

Diane- glad it went smoothly and waiting for the good news!

Shaz- hey girl! 🙋🙋🙋

ksusan

Thanks. It's been a hard day.

Jackbirdie

KSusan- I wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to. I know you're involved in education and like me, live about an hour away from the events. I thought immediately of you today when I heard, and hope you are not personally affected in any way. But knowing you just a little, I suppose it would be impossible for you not to be deeply affected. You have had a very difficult couple of weeks. I'm sending healing, comforting thoughts to you and your wife on this sad day.

ksusan

Thank you, Katy. My thoughts went right away to you, Sloth, and our other Oregon friends.

Trvler

Aww…thanks, Theresa. It's nice to have someone who wants to beat someone up for me.

Trvler

Katy, you are amazing as usual.

Diane: Thanks. I will be thinking of you today while you await your results.

Theresa: When is the mammo?

IndyGal35

Eileen, I'm sorry you are so sore. Do you know what your final volume will be?

Anxiously awaiting results for Theresa and Diane.

Allison, I'm sorry that you are getting such mixed recommendations and having to advocate so hard for yourself. It makes being a patient sooo much harder than it should be. I feel like you should be billing yourself for a co-pay or something. If I could bill $139.00 for every 15 minutes of research I've done that led to more information than what my docs gave me, I'd be in Paris right now

Trvler

Lee: I like it!!! I will give it a try. I do like when I meet a new doctor and they comment on how I am well informed on something. I guess it was my way of coping. But I will never be in the same league as Special K.

I just read an article that said that kids and their moms (specifically moms) with ADHD (my almost 12 year old has a very bad case of it) have shorter life spans as a result of the stress of parenting them and the disorder aging their cells faster. It specifically mentioned cancer as one of the resulting conditions. I am trying to do some stress reduction but the stupid cancer center just changed the time of the stress reduction class so all of them are in the mornings which I hate. That's my workout time.

Leighrh

Just poping in to say HI! I do read pretty much everyday and think of all of you! I usually read in the mornings... but I have to make myself get off of here because I somehow end up reading threads that I shouldn't. Does anyone else do that? Go down the rabbit hole when there is no real reason to? I want to be positive and look forward, I still have rads on the horizon but I feel good and I just want to move on and forget these past 6 months.... but then I start with the what if's? Then I obsessively look at the threads I shouldn't analyzing all the people who looked to have the same size and stage as me and they had a recurrence...... I am purposely driving myself CRAZY!!! LOL

On another note... only something I can say here..... Do you heads SWEAT like CRAZY!!!! LOL I am really noticing now when I exercise, of course I have on my polly's ponytail... but my head literally pours water... LOL! Hair is VERY slowing coming in.. still white fuzz but I can see some dark hairs with the magnifier

Jumble, Eileen, Theresa, Allison... thinking of all of you and the decisions/scans/fills you have to go through!

Oregon Ladies... My heart hurts for that tragedy! I don't know what is going on lately with all these people who go to schools/public places and shoot up the place. Why is this the thing for hurt/angry/mentally challenged to do now? I sat my boys down last night ( who are only 9 and 10) and had a conversation with them about the video games they play. They play those war games where everyone shoots everyone... I wanted to make sure that they fully understood that those were games and games only, that in real life, no matter what,it's never ok to want to shoot anyone. Such a scary world that they have to grow up in.

Trvler

Leigh: So great to 'see' you. I know exactly what you mean about reading here and scaring yourself. I have never gone over to St IV for that reason. I am so happy to hear your hair is coming in finally. I know how stressed out you were about it. It will grow fast now. I literally got my eyebrows in 3 days. They are getting bushy now.

I don't know what I think about the shooting thing. I think it's kind of the 'in' thing to do among angry, mentally ill people.

eheinrich

Leigh until my hair started coming in more my head would just drip sweat all the time. It was sort of gross at the gym I'd spend most of my time mopping up my bald head. I think with hair it can't run so freely. Also in terms of the boards I have a few selected as Favorite Topics and only look there - I don't scroll the active topics much at all. Too overwhelming.

greenae

Leighr

Ditto! I do the same thing and it takes me days to stop thinking "bad " thoughts. I read here and April and TNN, every day, just don't post much. But I am always thinking of All of us!

Hugs!

Arlene

eheinrich

I have an interview next week for a scientist gig w/ a small but rapidly expanding biotech firm. Very excited, twice as nervous.

TE question: my natural boob and my TE hump are not level w each other. My TE side of my "cleavage" is much higher. I noticed it a bit before but today, after yesterday's fill, it seems so much more pronounced. I've gotta hit the mall & find an interview outfit to fit my expanded ass & make my top seem less freaky.

Jackbirdie

great news on the interview E!

I'm sure nobody will notice your topside the way you do. And if you catch anyone staring I think you know a good lawyer. Sue and set up for life!

Seriously, it's always a good idea to have an outfit you are very comfortable and confident in. That way you can focus your very significant brain power on the task at hand. Get some nice shoes while you're at it! 😇

greenae

E

I had my TE on the left, and wasDDDD on the right. I wore tight high cut tanks under print cardigans, they camouflaged pretty well. My TE got filled to 600cc (400cc at time of MX). By the time I was done with fills it looked like my left boob started just under my clavicle! And it was Like that the whole month of June. Lotsa print tops. Lol. I got nice cardis at White House Black Market and the tanks from Steinmart. Good Luck with the interview-you will look Beautiful!

Arlene

Trvler

Eileen, I love you. Best of luck with your interview.

Saw this at the orthos office and thought you all would find it interesting. I think it is very relevant to our conversations lately. I wish BC.org had a General catch all category because unless we all post this EVERYWHERE, not everyone will see it.

http://time.com/4057310/breast-cancer-overtreatment/?xid=tcoshare

Italychick

Eileen, what about a suit with one of those Dana Scully (X files) shirts that has vertical pleating? Those seem to camouflage pretty well. So a nice jacket with one of those shirts would camouflage everything I think. She wore these kind of satiny/silky shirts under a business jacket. And I thought of her because she is short (like you) and the vertical pleats/draping probably gave her some elongation too, which always distracts from chemo fat

Italychick

okay, poisoned and radiated, Herceptin and mammogram done. Blood work all good. Now I wait for mammogram results. My breast doctor is usually pretty timely, but I see her next week. However, I expect she will call me before then

Jackbirdie

Allison- great article. On a number of levels. Very comprehensive and reported from both the patients' side and the medical side. Thanks for sharing it.

Trvler

Here we go again with the conflicting info: (from Livestrong)

Vitamin B-6

A deficiency in many B vitamins results in numbness and tingling, but taking too much vitamin B-6 can also produce those symptoms. According to Dr. Bruce Bistrian of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, large amounts of B-6 alter the nerves carrying information to your brain, causing a tingling sensation. Adults 19 to 50 years should get 1.3 milligrams of vitamin B-6 a day. After age 50, the recommendation rises to 1.7 milligrams a day for men and 1.5 milligrams a day for women. The upper limit is set at 100 milligrams daily. Fortunately, symptoms typically disappear after decreasing your B-6 intake, but it can take several months.

Trvler

Katy: Not only was it very topical here, my sister and I were having the exact same conversation yesterday regarding treatment of prostate cancer. My father died of it at 57 but it is the same thing with that. They were screening for it and over treating because they were finding it more and it was having a big impact on QOL. I think my BIL was diagnosed with it about 7 years ago and had his prostate removed, which may not have been needed. Apparently prostate biopsies are extremely painful so he didn't want to have to go through it more. He is young, around 60 now. So I guess it's the same with all the hormone related cancers. When to treat and when to do nothing? I was actually thinking I wonder how long I would have lived had I done nothing at all? I have often thought all the mastectomies were overkill, but I certainly understand the 'get em out now' mentality. I guess the burning question is why does it hit some people so aggressively and others not so much?

Italychick

in my opinion, b6 has to be taken synergistically with the right b vitamins. So no easy answer on the tingling. Yes, b6 can cause it, but not if it is in correct ratio to the b vitamins. But typically tingling with b6 would be if you are taking like 1 gram a day. The 100-200 mg range should not cause tingling. Also, taking the correct form matters. Just my personal opinion, I am no expert.

Also, another thing I figured out, if you have higher calcium, in the 10.xx range, before upping d3 you should do k2 for a few weeks first to avoid driving calcium higher. Again, another synergistic thing.

That's why it is so hard to just take a supplement, a lot of thought needs to go into how it will interact with other substances.

Jackbirdie

T- thanks once again for making sense out of things. I'm sure Allison and I both agree! Haha.

Good job getting all the crap out of the way and I wish you a beautiful and joyous weekend with great weather, great rides, and plenty of sticky hugs from you know who.

Allison- I know so much more than I did a year ago. I thought it was quite poignant when the article said that most decisions are made (too) quickly, when we are in the worst position to make any decision at all. I don't regret my decision, and fortunately there were no incorrect facts that went in to my fast decision. That would have really sucked. But it's a bit why I asked T the other day how do they know how long it's been in our bodies? And like the article said, how much time do we safely have to make a well thought out and informed decision Of course personality and personal and social culture plays into every decision and for the millionth time we hear "everybody's different".

Italychick

doing a bike ride this afternoon. Herceptin is not gonna stop me unless for some reason I start crapping myself! And it is beautiful here!

KBeee

Eileen, good luck at the interview.

Allison, great article. I do get upset at docs who say too many women are choosing mastectomies. If they are choosing them because their doc pushed them into it, I understand the concern, but when a woman makes an informed decision to do that, who are they up criticize? I can certainly understand watchful waiting for DCIS, but I can't say the same for invasive. I cannot fathom waiting a few months and then finding in your nodes, or who knows where.

There is more interesting info on the BCO home page. A new oncotype study where they used 10 as the cutoff for low, and 11-25 were intermediate. Interesting article. My lazy little oncotype 16 tumor last time was not so lazy after all, so this article was of particular intetest

Jackbirdie

and it made my borderline 30 a must do!

Allison I'd like to share that article in another thread

Trvler

I know, Katy! It's a whole world I didn't and didn't really want to know about. I just turned off during pink month. I had never known anyone or experienced it with anyone close to me. I thought since I had very tiny original breasts of my own, I was very unlikely to get it. Wow, was I WRONG. Good I am not a person who cannot admit to that. My husband. Not so much. Anyway, just rambling here. It's been a hard year.

It wasn't like I didn't feel bad for people who got it or had someone they knew who did. It just never came into my life. I guess I got my dose.

Enjoy, Theresa, but don't over do it again.