February 2010 Mastectomy

Faith316 - I think a "We All Made It Through Surgery" celebration is a wonderful idea, not that I need an excuse to eat chocolate cake!  I can tell my DH why I need to get that deep chocolate cake from Costco.

Cakeisgreat - I haven't been to Friendly's in a long time; I don't think we have it around here, but loved their ice cream sundaes; isn't there one called the Jim Dandy or something like that?  I may be wrong, but it was a huge sundae with bananas?

I saw my onc. today and she was surprised that I went back to work so soon.  I told her that I have been feeling a little down because I thought I was doing so well, but latter part of last week into this week I feel like my energy level is so low and the tightness and the sensations are very uncomfortable.  It is hard to describe, but does anyone else hate the feel of clothes on their skin?  It is not painful, but very uncomfortable.  She did say the incisions are healing nicely, though.  I got my prescription for Tamoxifen, so I guess I will start taking that once I get it filled.

Take care everyone and here is wishing everyone a speedy recovery.

Susan, welcome!  I hope you find as much help and comfort from the girls here as they do from you!!

hbowser, YES!  I can't STAND the touch of anything on my skin, not the incisions per se, but anywhere on my chest, or near my pits.  It's so annoying!  If it was summer and socially acceptable, I'd be walking around topless right now.  My PS tells me to massage my breasts to help the sensations of tightness in the muscle and says it will help soften them too.  Yeah, RIGHT.  I might as well use sandpaper on my skin!  Although, I'm at least trying, starting by just placing my hands there and pressing lightly to try and get used to the skin being touched.  It goes right through me!!  It's an odd combination of numbness and hypersensitivity.  Wish I could find a soft fleece camisole with buttons, that would be ideal!  Probably should just buy fleece pjs and cut out the collar and arms to achieve the same thing.  Fleece pjs feel the best right now, but it's hard to leave the house in them . . . ..

I'm in for chocolate cake.  Always appropriate  

Good morning everybody - hope this finds you healing and hungry for chocolate cake like me!  Faith, count me in, I may add ice cream!! 

Hi Chalex, actually I had a really easy time with my first chemo.  I find out yesterday that I will most likely qualify for a research study on TNBC's.  And my oncologist pretty much said I'd be toast if I don't do chemo, so I guess that's that.  The kewl thing with the study is that they will provide all the anti side effect drugs for free.  I dont' know why the thought of chemo is bothering me this time around.  I had AC the first time and had very few side effects other than fatigue and turning into a vampire.  By that I mean I could not get enough rare red meat.  I think thats what kept my cell counts up.  This of course will be a different type of chemo, and I think I'm settling more into the fact that I have to do it now. 

Hi Ladies,

I also say YAY to the choc. cake. Sounds YUMMY! Great idea Faith.

Susan, Welcome to the group. We will get you through this rough time. It's always tough to have to go through treatment but sometimes we need to focus on the end result that we WILLl get better... That's how I got myself through it. Refuse to think any other way and have your bad days but enjoy your good ones. I am also younger (39) and I have teenagers ( somedays I have more drama with the teens than the cancer). There should be a seperate thread for "moms who have cancer with teens". LOL Keep you chin up, rely on us to help you out.....

OK, so I would like to know if anyone has all drains removed and are still leaking? Mine was taken last Fri and I still have drainage and my skin is very sore and red from the fluid on the skin. I do use packing and change it 2-3 times a day...... Any thoughts or comments. Tomorrow, I see my surgeon (1st time since surgery 2/8) and I will find out more info on my skin coming back burned from rads b/f surgery. I just thought I would pick your brains.

Also- My tip of the days to all the ladies, I hope this comes out OK, however, I work in the hospital and have been there for 12 years in Health Information Management. I would HIGHLY recommend you get copies of ALL your test results and reports. They may come in handy later, you are one step ahead of the DR's and you can go online for furthur questions you might think of later..... Just thought I would mention it....

To our ladies having surgery soon, we will be thinking good and happy thoughts for you during surgery and recovery.

Chalex

Hi There, I'm due to have my drains out tomorrow.  I'm nervous about it,  One of my drains hurts to the touch so I can only imagine how painful it will be to get them out.  What are your experiences with taking out the drains?  I'm hoping I don't have leakage like on of the gals said on their posts,

Lillies4Laurie,

I don't know about the rest of our February Sisters, but for me the drain removal was not painful at all.  I was anticipating this huge ordeal and my DH was beside me holding my hands and told me to squeeze the stuffing out of him if it hurt.  Honestly, in seconds he had it out and while I felt it come out, it didn't hurt and I didn't have any leakage issues afterwards.  I hope you have similar experience. 

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences with sensitivity of your breast areas.  I hope and pray this goes away soon, because I tell you by the afternoon at work I am ready to rip my clothes off. 

I hope the ladies who had surgery this week is doing well and recovering nicely. 

Sejnboys and Dickisonmomma, Good luck tomorrow.

Faith and Olivia,

I mentioned that tip about getting records b/c I work a big hospital in London, Canada. I realize that we, the patient must also have some "owvnership" over our own care. I know that we should not have to because we have the cancer however,  I want to ensure I get the best care I can. Some people may not feel comfortable asking lots of questions and researching stuff but I wanted to let the ladies know (becasue I work in that department) that you have the right to full access to your own health records. Some ladies may prefer to get their own records and then do their own research.....

I am going to find out tomorrow what I can put on my skin. Thanks Faith for the suggestion on the vaseline. My skin is very red and leathering from the rads b/f surgery. I will let you know what the surgeon says tomorrow.

Chalex

Not sure if I am doing this correct? 

Hey Gals, Welcome Jennifer! Hope your feeling stronger everyday!

• Congrats Lillie, I wish I had your Surgeon. I still have 1 of my drains & he won't do 1st filler til all drains out.Iam so Bummed! It going on 4 weeks post-op!

• Wanted to share this with youall, My husband found this article.

• Now I just got  to find some in USA!  Hugs to all Gina R

 

Odd Vegetable Kills Breast Cancer Cells

PrintEmail More

Getty Images

By Marrecca Fiore

A vegetable used in Chinese and Indian medicine to treat diabetes may also destroy breast cancer cells, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of "Cancer Research," a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Lead researcher Ratna Ray, Ph.D., a professor in the department of pathology at Saint Louis University, uses bitter melon in her stir fries but was surprised to find the vegetable's extract also appears to "kill" breast cancer cells and prevent them from multiplying.

"To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the effect of bitter melon extract on cancer cells," Ray said in a statement. "Our result was encouraging. We have shown that bitter melon extract significantly induced death in breast cancer cells and decreased their growth and spread."

Bitter melon gets its name because it's among the most bitter of all vegetables, although it's also called African cucumber, balsam pear and bitter gourd. It is widely grown and used in India, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the Caribbean. It resembles a shriveled cucumber or gourd and the texture of the vegetable is described as being similar to both a cucumber and bell pepper. It's high in fiber and vitamin C. It also contains the B vitamins, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin and B6, as well as magnesium, potassium and zinc.

In the East, bitter melon is often used in stir fries, soups, and stews, as well as for pickling.

In the U.S., bitter melon can purchased at specialty grocery stores, especially Asian and Indian grocers.

Ray told AOL Health she purchases the vegetable in either Asian or Indian grocery stores and cautioned that the taste may take some getting used to.

It's very bitter," she joked. "I don't mind because I like the taste, but some people might need to get used to it."

Supplements have become very popular with Americans due to the vegetable's widely touted blood sugar benefits and can be purchased in both health food and health supplement stores such as GNC, as well as in drugstores. It can also be purchased as a tea. To date, Ray's research has not included the use of supplements and teas.

"We've only used the extract straight from the vegetable," she said.

Ray decided to test bitter melon's ability to fight breast cancer because it has been used for diabetes management and to lower cholesterol, .

She used human breast cancer cells in a controlled laboratory setting to conduct her experiments. She said the next step would be to test the extract in animals, which she plans to do within the next several months.

"Cancer prevention by the use of naturally occurring dietary substances is considered a practical approach to reduce the ever-increasing incidence of cancer. Studying a high-risk breast cancer population where bitter melon is taken as a dietary product will be an important area of future research," Ray said.

Ray said bitter melon will probably not prove to be a miracle drug as women in places such as Asia where the vegetable is widely eaten still get breast cancer.

In the meantime, she said eating bitter melon does have many health benefits and certainly wouldn't harm anyone who wants to start adding it to their diets.

Regina Robinson
Diagnosis: 12/16/2009, DCIS, 5cm, Grade 3, 0/6 nodes

In solidarity, I am willing to eat cake (and ice cream) on 3/6 AND EVERY DAY THEREAFTER until our sister cakeisgreat gets out of the hospital.  :-)