We are the Breastcancer.org Community!

Anonymous

Warrior, absolutely love this pic. Thanks for sharing.

duckyb1

Nice to meet you Patoo............

Anonymous

You too dubkyb1.

farmerlucy

WW! Wowza!! Amazing!

ruthbru

Awesome, Warrior!!!!

chrissyb

Hi! Chrissyb here (aka Christine Bout). I'm from a little country town called Burra in South Australia, Australia. I was originally dx in December 2003 at age 52 stage II grade 2. Did the usual things, mastectomy, was allergic to the chemo (nearly killed me), was allergic to Tamoxifen ( gave me a suspected heart attack) so no other treatment. Come May 2009.......while at my '5 year' (yes I was a bit late) and having pain in my arm and neck doc decided to do bone scan......Hellooo Mets!!! Yep, stage IV. I had other restaging scans and test and then had a rod placed in my arm to prevent shattering (yes, it was that close, all it would have taken was a hard bump) and then onto Aimadex. Oh the SE from that one thank goodness I only got to take that one for 15 months before a further progression and a change to Femara. To cut a long story short, I am still on Femara five years later and according to my docs, I am NED! Yay!!!! Living life to the fullest possible and have just arrived home after six weeks in France........yes, I did say I was living life to the full......lol.

I found BCO purely by accident in June 2010 while I was looking for some information and answers to a few questions I had......Oh! how glad I am that I found this site! It has kept me sane when I was at my lowest on Arimidex and has allowed me to help myself by passing on knowledge to others while hopefully helping to calm their fears. This site is just amazing!!

KiwiCatMom

ChrissyB - so great to see your smiling face and that you're still NED!!!

ruthbru

Yea, ChrissyB!

duckyb1

Hi Chrissy............finally a real good look at our Chrissy..........'hope your doing well Sweetie......so great to see you......hugs.........

Big hug to you too Ruth....will have to get back to our game playing..hugs

leftduetostupidmods

Hi all, I'm Day, diagnosed at the age of 48 in 2009 with DCIS, LCIS, IDC, ILC and cribriform in the right breast, 3 mm tumor in sentinel node, stage IIb. Had bilateral mastectomy (left was prophylactic), axillary lymph node dissection, bilateral LD flap reconstruction, chemotherapy (Taxotere+cytoxan) and AI for 5 years. I had to go through all three of them and finally finished on Femara. Had multiple issues of side effects from the treatment and surgeries, now I'm disabled due to that. But still going strong, celebrated 6 years NED on October 19th 2015. I live in SE Oklahoma City (Midwest City actually) with my furbabies, two dogs and two cats, and my main "occupation" is gardening. Once I was off AIs in January 2015 I managed to start shedding the 60+ lbs I had put on during BC treatment, got from 191 lbs at 137 lbs now - still 7 more lbs to go. I still have issues following the reconstruction and will go in January 2016 to get surgery for herniated abdominal oblique muscles caused by LD prelevation.

This is me during chemo and me now. Just to give ladies some hope that yes, hair grows back and we can get to a new "normal".

July 2010

July 2015

Anonymous

Wow seachain, what a great head of hair (though you looked great in 2010 as well).

annieoakley

Chrissyb, so nice to see your smiling face and a big congrats on NED. You and KiwiCatMom were the first to greet me on the bone mets thread and offer me encouragement. I'm so grateful for this site!

leftduetostupidmods

I actually cut it twice since 2010, each time about 8". I took 5,000 mcg of Biotin during chemo and a year after to help my hair grow. It used to be below my hips before chemo

Wren44

Seachain, I grew up in Midwest City and graduated from high school there in 1957 (a million years ago). I enjoyed growing up there. After marriage, we lived in Houston, TX and then moved to Seattle, WA. I think your hair is impressive. I was lucky enough to escape chemo, so I'm still dealing with my original baby fine hair.

leftduetostupidmods

Wren, I'm happy that it grew back - well, most of it. It looks nice but if I braid it, the braid is about 1/4 of the thickness it used to be before chemo. It also goes through cycles, from tight ringlets to wavy and back. And I had two episodes of it falling again since I finished chemo - apparently it's not out of the ordinary for that to happen - well, you don't lose all of it, it just thins out significantly then grows back. Hence me cutting it twice; when it started growing back after each episode it looked like a mullet.

Hipline

I realize it's way past when everyone else posted but I just hit 5 years NED and feel like posting

I was diagnosed with pleomorphic ILC at age 52 and just have to say that "This journey is best traveled with family and friends!"

Here I am biking in Australia just the other day!

farmerlucy

Woo Hoo! Congrats on five years Hipline

ruthbru

Great picture! Congratulations!!!!

DivineMrsM

Hipline, what a terrific comment: "This journey is best travelled with family and friends."

KiwiCatMom

Congrats, Hipline! Whoo hoo! And that is a great comment about family and friends. Thanks for the smile!

RonnieKay

Great to see you, Chrissy....and all the amazing Sisters!

Ossa

Woohoo hipline time to celebrate

chrissyb

Hipline, great pic! What part of Aus were you in?

Fe_Princess

Hi Denise here. I was diagnosed with IDC 2A no nodes. I was 51 when diagnosed (2-13-15). I live in Zürich Switzerland as of June 2015. I was diagnosed and treated in Portland OR. The nurse gave me three trust worthy websites and BC.org was one of them. I felt like I was never alone when in the discussion forums. When it was 4am and I was freaking out, I could get on here and someone would soothe my worries always. I always tell people if you know someone diagnosed, tell them to go to bc.org.

side note, I am having my implant removed and replace with SGAP FLAP on April 14th. I am so happy to get the implant out and curious to report difference between U.S and Swiss treatments.

Below is me hiking in the Alps at Säntis in August last year.

sensitivehrt

'

My name is Brandi. I am 41, will be 42 in June. I live in Sacramento, CA. I was just DX on March 7, 2016. Been more of a lurker here, with just a couple of posts. My first appointment since being DX is on March 31. I have found the BC a great place of information and a good place to find people going thru or who have been thru the same thing. I'm sure I'll be posting more once I know what my options are. So far I've been told ICD, Grade 2 ER+ PgR- Her2-. I also have Neurofibromatosis, not sure if that will play into my treatment plan.

Thank you for the welcomes I've already received.

(My beloved dog Chance in pic with me)

IamNancy

wow - all these wonderful posts ..

I was 62 when I was diagnosed and was shocked as I was just going for a routine mammogram and there is no breast cancer in my family... Dx 11/2012, IDC, 1cm, Stage I, Grade 2, 0/3 nodes, ER+/PR+. My oncotype was 25 so I went for lumpectomy (twice) chemo and radiation .. my incision burst while going through various treatments and leaked for the next 2 yrs .. I had surgery again this January to close the incision and stop the leaking - I now have a seroma it doesn't seem to bother me and the dr said it could take a yr to go away - I do have to get ultrasounds done on it to make sure it isn't getting bigger...

I was so happy to find this site after my diagnosis- to be able to join in with other people going through what I was going through - the same treatments at the same time as me- sharing our side effects, joys, fears and encouraging one another ..it helped so much and still helps.

I hated losing my hair - but when it came back I ended up loving it really short..

Anonymous

Hi there ,

My name is Diane and I live in New Jersey, USA.. I am just starting out on this journey. I was diagnosed on 2/11/16. I had my surgery on 3/22/16.

57 (almost 58) at diagnosis.. DX: IDC Stage 1 Grade 1 0/1 node. ER+ 100%, PR + 64%, Her2- ( FISH)

This website was in the literature I received from the breast surgeon.. I am so grateful for the encouragement, information and support I received here .. The friends I have made is just an added bonus..

This is a picture taken in November 2015 at the Grand Canyon... My husband and I took an helicopter ride and had a picnic.. It was the most awesome experience ever!

PatRN10

Hi, My name is Pat and I am a nurse from southern Maine. It has been exactly a year since I started my BC journey and BCO has been here every step of the way with up to date information and wonderful support. I was diagnosed at age 52 with IDC and Since 4/1/15 I have had surgery, radiation, chemotherapy , and hospitalization for complications. On the other hand, I also have almost completed my first year in a Nursing PhD program during treatment! This year has been a wild ride and am so thankful for family, friends and the BCO community. I celebrated my 53rd birthday March 6 with my hair growing back.

Anonymous

What an awesome thread. You all look amazing.

Dennyse

Such wonderful photos of beautiful, strong women!!!!!