Chemo starting March 2019

Gratefulgrandma

Hello all. So glad to hear treatments are coming closer to an end for our group. I had my surgery, lumpectomy and two nodes removed September 5th. Amazingly I am recovering really well. So far nothing going wrong like before after my chemo ended. I will have 5 1/2 weeks of radiation starting in a few weeks. Then I plan on forgetting all this ever happened, do my check ups with the onc doc and live my life again. Well maybe not completely forgetting since my hair is about 1/4 inch of frizz and I have learned to appreciate how quickly a wig can change one's appearance lol, but forgetting as much as possible. Take care!!

LizzieAG

Good morning ladies! Just wanted to check in and say hi and see how everyone is feeling on the other side...I check the site now and then and hope that no news is good news and all are out living their lives trying to adjust to “life after...”. All is fine over here, trying to figure out how to style a mess of new short curls when I have never had anything other than straight hair, dealing with hormone meds side effects aches and moods and monthly shots, trying to get used to the feel of my reconstructed boobs and day by day keeping fears at bay as my one year anniversary of diagnosis in January comes up. Sending good vibes to all of you!!
Lizzie

Kamboka

LizzieAG: Good to hear from someone from the March group. Glad you made it through the year despite the continuing challenges from the shots and pills. I finished radiation in mid November and hesitantly started AIs around Thanksgiving. So far, minor joint pain but intense lower back pain (hx of LBP). I had a second opinion last week (10 months late) but I wanted to know if my MO's plan for the future was what I needed to go with. My current MO does not do scans or markers and I was worried that if there was a recurrence, I'd be late to find out about it. The second doctor explained that she, too, did not do these and discussed why she doesn't. I guess it made some sense. She did say that she likes to do a mammogram at the one year anniversary (January for me) of diagnosis no matter when radiation is complete. The RO said six months after which would be May. Her reasoning is that the unaffected breast would have to wait 1 1/2 years before a mammogram if we waited. I'm going to press my MO to move the date to February.

Wishing you the best!

SparkleGirl2018

Good Morning! I finished my radiation the first week of October. I am in my second month of Tamoxifen. So far so good. I am more achy when I first get up in the morning, I take my pill right before going to bed. But it goes away pretty quickly. I hope to have my reconstruction the end of January. I have about an inch of hair that is starting to get very wavy. It will be interesting to see what happens I am just glad to have hair at this point! Last week was my first week going completely wig free at work. It's very freeing!!

My MO does not do any scans or tumor marker tests either. From what I have read that is standard. They only start running tests when you have symptoms. It's scary to all of a sudden be done with everything. I just had my mammogram in November which was one year from my last one.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!!

Kamboka

SparklyGirl2018: Nice to hear from you again. I'm so glad things are going well in terms of the tamoxifen and a clean mammogram. That takes the stress out of things going into the holiday season. I do understand your 'freedom' when going to work iwht your own hair. The only thing is that it's winter (not so cold where you are) and that wig might feel mighty nice and warm.

Happy holidays!

Laurencl

Hi everyone! I hope all is as well as it can be. I finished radiation on 11/17 ( mastectomy, right, 8/8). My skin was a mess for almost a month, but now is ok. Getting my tissue expander filled again ( my RO wanted it de-flatec for radiation). Now comes the hormone therapy, but my MO has changed her mind on which one to use, so I haven’t started yet and so the fun continues

Kamboka

Laurencl: Congrats on finishing radiation! Glad the skin is improving. I peeled (not painful) and said it was like an expensive salon exfoliation. I have nice, new, young looking skin on one side. Good luck with which ever AI you get. I started letrozole right before Thanksgiving. So far, joint pain and hot flashes are the major SEs. I'm gaining weight but that was happening before.

Fallschurchgirl

hey,ladies.

How nice to hear from some of you. Life is definitely strange on the other side. I was cruising along on Letrozole and zoladex and was going to have a minor revision to my implants before year end. PS perforated my colon during liposuction. I ended up in the ER with emergency surgery. Spent 9 days in the hospital. I am home now with an open wound on my abdomen and a wound vac. It will take 6 weeks for it to heal.

I swear if it was going to be a complication it was going to happen to me. But this one almost killed me. I was going to have my ovaries out in January, but NO MORE surgery for me. I have been put under 7 times this year. I am done.

No matter what I look like this is it- pretty sure I lost my belly button on this one. Good thing I am already married!

A very happy new year to you all!

Jean

Kamboka

Fallschurchgirl: So sorry to hear about the rough time you have had with this last procedure. I guess when you are ready for more plastic work, that surgeon owes you some freebies. You seem to have a good sense of humor about this incident--I guess we should when it's out of our control. I had lipo done about five years ago and it ruined my waistline. All the fat went to my upper abdomen and it looks like i'm always seven months pregnant. Wish I had not done it, but can't change the facts.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and a happy New Year!

Laurencl

Happy New Year to all! May 2020 be a better year for all of us!

Lauren

Adhoney

Hi everyone,

It's good to catch up & read how everyone is doing.

Fallschurchgirl: I'm sorry to hear you've had complications from your liposuction, glad you're on the mend now even with the wound vac.

I didn't get a pCR after chemo so I'm getting Kadcyla for a total of 14 doses—last one is May 11. I'm off the AI for now but will have to restart it after these infusions are done. Felt horrible doing K + AI with muscle, joint & bone aches & pains that made feel about 100 years old.

Kept my hair with cold capping throughout chemo, then after about 6 weeks of AI it got REALLY thin, so I cut it shoulder length. I'm thankful to have any hair at this point and I don't even care how crazy it looks right now.

You ladies have been a HUGE support throughout this journey! It's so nice to know that there are so many sources of knowledge, friendly supporters, share info, etc here. May 2020 be kinder to us, bring us healing (physically & emotionally). ❤️

Angie