Thinking about Julia/Crunchy...

Awww, how sweet, otter!  I second that emotion! 

Agreed - hang in there, Crunchy. 

THANK YOU KIND OTTER! Rarely have I seen a newbie get their ass kicked so soundly because in a desparate (why doesn't this damn thing have spell check??) moment in the middle of the night she felt panic and did some "free associating" on a cancer "support" site! There has been a sea change here on these boards in the last few months and I for one find it upsetting. Where is the love? Where is the compassion? We need RanD and Alaska Deb and MORE of YOU Otter. Jaysus, one would think that too many members are reading these posts and thinking that it is a personal message to THEM assaulting their own belief system. CRAZY is right. If venting is what ya'll need, then PM me. I mean, let it rip. I bitch slapped cancer to the curb so trust me I can take whatever flak ya'll need to dump somewhere. Give the newbies a break!! So they post on the wrong forum, so they step on sensitive toes sometimes, which one of us hasn't done that and worse? 

crunch ~ give yourself a break. You have apologised time and again and more than that you cannot do. Those who need a "pound of flesh" can take a big bite out of me. There's plenty to go around.

Nico

Hi Otter,

   I was thinking about her today and hoping her biopsy was going okay .. and that she doesn't have to wait long to get the results.

   I can't remember where I read it, but she posted a link to a TV interview she was on.  She's a professional photographer .. and extremely well-educated.  My feeling is, she went a little crazy with anxiety and kind've splashed all over this site.  It must be hard in her profession being around little children all day.  BTW .. her work is fabulous.  My knee-jerk reaction to her "splashing" was a little suspicious as well.  In my defense .. there are some strange happenings these days on BCO.

   Anyway .. just wanted to let her know I hope she gets the results quickly and that they are BENIGN!

Bren

Thanks Des!

  I was very fortunate and had my results the next day .. sure hope she gets them on Friday and doesn't have to wait over the weekend.

Bren

Oh goodness!! Otter... thank you. You have no idea how much this post (and everyone's kind posts... here and elsewhere) means to me!

Yes, as desdemona mentioned, the biopsy went fine... practically NO pain (although I was wincing and had my eyes squeezed shut most of the time anyway, like a 2-year-old)... he explained everything he was about to do, what I should feel or hear (I hate that staple-gun sounding thing! that was like hearing a dentist drill... creepy even though you're not feeling it)... SO nice, and his assistant is the best too!

The assistant told me I could call Thursday after 2:00 (although it might be Friday before the results come back)... btw, did you all get to see the tissue samples they collected? I didn't think I'd be able to SEE them... a little gross but interesting!

BTW... I would only say this on the altie forum... but the reason I wanted to do an excisional instead of core biopsy is that I hate the idea of them poking holes in this and allowing cancer to spread faster. (*** anyone reading this from the non-altie forum, just ignore this because it's just another wacky altie idea that has no basis in reality! ***) desdemona explained that that won't have time to happen before surgery/treatment takes place, and that set my mind at ease. Did any of you do anything special before or after a core biopsy that has been shown to minimize spreading? (I have a bag of frozen corn on my boob right now, even though I'm not in pain... I figure that will help things clot/heal up faster and minimize the speed at which anything might leak out!!)

Anyway... thank you again SOOOO much, girls... much love to all of you!!!

Julia

Looking forward to good news on Thursday or Friday!

Hi Crunchy - I didn't do anything to address spread specifically, but after my surgery I did see studies that showed that flax seed has been demonstrated to decrease proliferation of tumor cells and reduce tumor growth.  So if you're really worried about that you might want to try flax.  For about the 4th time today I'm going to paste in this link to a booklet that lists the conclusions of hundreds of studies on nutrition.  On page 25 it talks about flax.  Then you can go to the back of the booklet to get details on the studies if you want to look them up.

Flax is controversial because of phytoestrogens, but it would probably be ok at least short-term.

As soon as I had my bad mammogram I started following the recommendations in Foods to Fight Cancer - and every day I tried to eat the top cancer fighting foods from that book - turmeric mixed with black pepper and olive oil, berries and or grapes, onions, cruciferous vegetables, citrus, dark chocolate, green tea, omega 3s, and tomato sauce.  You also want to limit fat.

I don't do the turmeric anymore because I'm on tamoxifen and I've read that turmeric can interfere with it.  But it is known for suppressing tumor promotion and metastasis.

http://cancer.ucsf.edu/crc/nutrition_breast.pdf

Have a good night.

Hoping for good results for you on Friday.  Please let us all know........we are there for you.

Kathy

Kind people are so lovely.

Crunchy,

While I was waiting for my results I think I ate my weight in Broccoli. Only because it was the only thing I new at that point that was a cancer fighter. I will never know if it helped but it made me feel like a warrior and was the beginnings of my determination to learn everything I could about the pieces of this sucky experience that were in my control. I focus my energy on goals that are based on things I can have 100% control over. For example I can't control if my body will allow cancer to resurface at some point,  but I can control that I am going to do everything I can do daily to prevent. This experience has changed my life style significantly and I can honestly say that I am in the best health of my life as a result.

Thank you all again!!!

Sometimes it takes a few days for the blood to come to the surface, and then it turns all sorts of pretty colors. Just tell people you crashed into a tree while skiing or something. Oh, that's right -- you live in Atlanta, so that won't work. Do you water ski? 

ROFL... hopefully when the bruising starts (so far it hasn't), it will be mostly covered up (bra, clothing)... as long as I don't suddenly decide to start flashing people, I should be okay! LOL about the crashing into a tree thing... would you believe, my two 50+-pound puppies have managed to knock me right to the ground (with some spectacular Puppy Judo moves), so I can always blame them! Or maybe I could say I was tandem skiing with the puppies and we all crashed into a tree together!

You know, I had asked my breast surgeon the same thing, about the biopsy possibly allowing cells to escape, as I'd read that, too. She told me that if that was the case, she would see signs of it during surgery, or she would be seeing local recurrences in the needle tracks. And she's never seen either one. I'm not sure we really know, but her thoughtful answer helped me stop to worrying about it.

That is good to know! And thank you for the sweet things you've said here and on other threads... I was feeling low again this morning because someone posted a ONE-star review on a review website. It basically slammed me, said my customer service sucks, the quality sucks, etc. etc. I was crushed, but then I reread it and some of the things in it didn't make any sense with the way I work... it gave me a sinking feeling that maybe I shouldn't have put my URL on my profile here.

Anyway... whatever the case... thank YOU all for being so sweet and kind... you have no idea how that's helped me during a bad time! I hope I can return the favor and be there for you all when you need some encouragement on a craptactular day... you all are the BEST!!!

I don't post much but I want to say how how wonderful Otter is to have started this thread, she is truly a kind and thoughtful woman (she once replied to me when I had a total meltdown) I read some pretty horribly posts last night about Crunchy but you could tell she was panicking and let's all be honest haven't we all panicked, so Crunchy a big (((HUG))) to you.

Cheryl

I took my url out of my bio. I realied that anytime someone googled me for business, they would also get my posts here. For me too much of a gamble. I also took down my avatar with my photo.

Not saying anyone should do the same, but our cozy community is more public than we realize.

I removed my URL... the more I've reread that review, I know it's not a client because some things in it are so off. Sometimes the more insecure photographers have posted phony reviews about their competitors, but I know many photographers here and I can't imagine any of them doing it.

I could delete the review, but instead I posted a "vendor response" and asked the person to contact me so I can understand what problems they had so I can resolve them. If I don't hear anything within a week, I'll know what the deal is and delete it.

Sharon, no, I don't think a BC sister would do such a thing... but I wouldn't put it past a troll here (and we all know there are a few!). The wording mirrored something someone said to me here, and the timing... I dunno, it just seemed odd.

Anyway! Moving on! I am so thankful for the friendships I've made here already... you women are amazing... I'm humbled to be here.

WOW THIS IS SO MUCH NICER

Good on you otter

Julia im wishing you all the best and your sounding a lot more relaxed now

YOU WILL PULL THROUGH ALL OF THIS

JOANNE