December 2009 Rads Group

The red blood tag study is They take some of your blood out and mix it with an isotope and inject it back in. They follow it with a machine like a bone desity machine that comes within an inch of you. They follow it in to the liver and see how it is absorbed. Its much like  the Cat scan and MRI...same princple.

I have had a pet scan a couple months ago. The only thing that lit up was my thyroid. I would personally think if there was a problem with the liver it would have showed up on the pet scan. Plus if the Breast cancer traveled to the liver the chemo would have taken care of it. My family doctor agreed.

I have come to my own conclusion about the doctor's at this center... they have become desensitized to the feelings and emotions of their patients. They don't show any compassion to their patients... do this, do that and they expect you to be a robot and jump when told to. When I failed to follow their orders I am treated like a rebel. Out comes the nasty voice and the uncertainty of life. They should experience the same they put us through. Walk the hallway of the hospital in a gown that doesnt fit ( that would be great on their rounds); have a stranger come in and ask to see their private parts; and get scheduled for 5 tests in a single day (watch them glow at night). Wow! that felt great to vent and get it off my chest.

Hey ladies I know this is rads posting but would you all pray for my dad he is back in the hospital again with another brain bleed.  He just had surgery last week for this and came home on Thursday.  Thanks

Renee

Jewly... YEAH!!!!! doing the happy dance for you   I hope mine in May goes as well!

My dad is doing good after his surgery.  He was awake and could speak softly when I left him tonight.  His head was wrapped in a big gauze bandage.  They found the bleed on a CAT scan.  They did and angiogram this morning.  He had a arterial venous fistula and they had to cut a portion of his skull remove the fistual from behind his right eye and put it all back to together.  He will have a 2 month recovery.  He is still in neuro intensivecare.  Thanks for the well wishes!!!

Renee

Best of Luck to you Veggy.  I have had a partial tyroidectomy so I kinda know what you will be going through.  It wasn't to bad.  I had a drain for about 12 hrs before they took it out and then I had my surgery at a "teaching" hospital so I got staples in my throat and not stitches, but keep in mind I had my surgery 21 yrs ago.  LOL!  A lot of things have improved.  The scars aren't bad and the med you will probably have to take, Synthroid, I'm taking now and it isn't bad at all.  I've been on mine for about 3 months and I feel soooo much better on it than I did off of it.  You feel so bad for so long that when you start to feel better you go... "HEY!" I didn't realize till now I felt bad!  I will be praying for you tomorrow.  Big Hugs!!!!

 Renee

I'm Home!!!! I'm tired but it is all over with. My throat is sore from being intubated and it is worse than the surgery. I had a drain but it was small. Pulling the tape off of the skin was more painful than pulling out the drain. I have no problem turning my head which surprised me. I have stitches on the inside of the incision, glue on top of that and tape.

Best part of all...

I have been DE-PORTED!!!!! The port is out!!! When I woke up the first thing I did was put my hand there to see if I could feel it. It was gone!!! They have to send it to another hospital to check it out for some reason and then they are going to send it back to me. I am going to smash it, burn it, and then burn it agin while I dance around the fire. It feels great not having that foreign thing inside of me.

Thanks everyone for being here and helping me through all of this. Your comments, prayers and (((((HUGS))))) cheered me through some of the roughest parts. Thank you! Thank you! Thank YOu!

Thank You Mimi! Thank you for your proclaimation! Anyone else want to second that? I wanted to make sure we are all in agreement!

To All.........My 6 month mammo/ultrasound looked great (birads 2).....I am although still sore and have wierd sensations so I wanted to see my mammo/us and look at areas of concern under my arm at sentinal removal area where It feels like a burr/sandspur irritating from under my skin.....I drive my surgeon crazy with all my questions but he did show my my mammo (they put them on cd now, so he pulls if up for me to view) and low and behold right there at that area is 6, yes 6 surgical clips all in a clump!!!!...He tells me this is normal and that they are better to use than sutchers....When I asked if that is what has been irritating me, he says NO, yet in my mind it makes perfect sense that this would be cause..He tells me to trust my doctor and give another 6 months of healing and if it is still a problem we would discuss options then if I wanted them out...As long as they do not cause a long term problem I can deal with them....Do any of you know if you have clips left in, ask to view your mammo when you have one, I was very suprised at the number of these left in.....

Adriene it is so good to hear from you... I didn't know what had happened to you!  You've not been around much.  How are you? 

Jewly, I do know that i have at least one clip left in and that is all I was told about.  

Renee

Greetings everyone!

Vegie, so glad your surgery is over and your port is out. Now you can HEAL!!!

Jewly: I'm so surprised that 6 clips were left in. Sounds like they meant for them to be permanent. It seems to make sense that these have been bothering you. So glad your mammogram was clear!

Renee: Sorry to hear about your dad. Hope he's improving.

Adrienne, it's so nice to hear how well you are doing, and that the tamoxifen is not too bad for you.

Me: I've finally got an appt with the oncologist scheduled in early May. Do not have a mammo scheduled yet.  Quit the tamoxifen on March 30 and I'm not all the way back yet. Boy did that stuff kick my butt. I am not optimistic about how much help the oncologist will be. Oh well. I need to get my own anti-recurrence regimen going: exercise, eat right, stress reduction. I'm doing pretty well in this, but could do better. 

Bonnie

Bonnie, I'm really sorry that you had so much trouble with Tamoxifen. Isn't it weird how different we all are? I have allergic reactions to laundry soap residue in clothing, yet Tamoxifen doesn't bother me. Go figure. Meanwhile, it sounds as if you are doing the right thing with your anti-recurrence regimen. Are you feeling better now?

Jewly, I hope your sentinel node incision quits bothering you soon. Glad to hear that you don't have Paget's -- that must be a relief.

adrienne 

Where is everyone???....Renee, hope your dad is doing better...Veggy, how are you??...How is everyone????

Here is some info that I thought I would pass along to all that are interested.....I eat a lot of kiwi and got sidetracked when I was searching it's estrogen amounts....I always get sidetracked!!!!

.............

Estrogen inhibiting foods
Fruits: Citrus fruits (kiwi, oranges, pineapple), berries
(strawberries), grapes, melons, pears, fresh Chinese date (jujube),
uncooked tomatoes, coconuts
Vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, green beans, onions, corn, all
squashes, bamboo
Grains: White rice, white flour  

Collagen and estrogen rich foods (eat less of)
Fruits: Apples, cherries, papaya, dates, pomegranates (eat the seeds
too), plums, avocado, banana, peach, corn
Vegetables: Beets, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes,
potato, wild yam/Japanese naga/huai-shan (rich in DHEA), olives,
seaweed, lettuce, asparagus, eggplant
Grains: Barley, oats, hops, rice, wheat
Seeds & nuts: Flaxseeds, fennel, alfalfa, sunflower seeds, peanuts,
walnuts, sesame
Beans: red beans, soybeans/soybean milk/tofu and their sprouts
Herbs and spices: Garlic, parsley
Meat: chicken feet, pig knuckle, beef
Seafood: shrimp, clams, fish w skin on
Dairy: yogurt, cheese, eggs, milk

Organic foods are not grown or raised with pesticides or added hormones, so they give the liver a break by not adding extra toxins or estrogens into the system..(Foods that aid in liver detox are onions, garlic, egg yolks, lemons, limes, spinach, leafy greens and brussels sprouts.)

Only one cup of coffee per day could increase estrogen levels, and more than four cups of coffee raised the level 70 percent higher than the one cup level. 

Jewly and veggy I'm here!! I'm not sure where Adrienne has been.  My dad is better.  He got to come home on Monday evening.  He will have to go  back on the 27th and see the Neurosurgeon and have another CAT scan to check the fluid on his brain.  The bleed stopped.  I have been really busy this week and this is the first chance i've had to get on here.  Usually I try to get on every day or every couple of days.  Hope ya'll are doing well?

Renee

I'm here too, you guys!

Veggy, glad your surgeries are DONE! Have fun punishing that port!

Jewly, I'm so bummed I can't have any more chicken feet! ha ha  That list is kind of confusing, because some foods are good for some things, but bad for estrogen. Like parsley - it's good because is suppresses angiogenesis (production of blood vessels) which is good for fighting cancer, but bad because it promotes estrogen. It's a great list to have, though, for making choices. THanks for posting it. Where did you find it?

Rene: I'm glad your dad is home. 

Greetings Adrienne! I'm glad you don't suffer from tamoxifen. I'm jealous, but glad for you! 

I'm just about back to feeling normal after quitting tamoxifen on March 30. The pain is pretty much gone, although the 7 pounds are still here (grrrr). I have been reading it seems that without tamoxifen, there is a 15% recurrence rate and with tamoxifen it's 10%. That 5% is absolutely not worth what I went through the 6 weeks I was on T. I have an appt with the oncologist in two weeks. I have a feeling we won't see eye to eye . 

When I was having radiation, I often felt a strange fatigue in the afternoons. What's funny is that lately that has been happening again lately. Also, the redness where the radiation was is noticable again Has that happened to anyone else? It's like I'm having radiation again!  But it's not bad or anything, just weird. 

Take care, everyone!

Bonnie

Veggy...sounds like a fun "port burning" party....Yippee....congrats on thyroid being all clear...

Renee, I have been trying to ignore soreness in surgery area, my doc says give it another 6 months..lol...I'm with you on putting the housework on the back burner...We were in the process of some remodeling when this bc crapola came up and still have not made it a priority...I find that I put off all that I can when something more fun comes up to do...I am loving my long walks on the beach with my friends and sitting at the tiki bar on the pier over the ocean, watching the surfers, drinking a glass of resveratrol (red wine)...I try to do that at least twice a week...

Bonnie, I get lost on the computer and started thinking the other day to check to see if I am eating foods that may have too much estrogen in them so I start typing in search "foods high in estrogen" and start going to websites for info, when I find same info on many sites, I start believing them...I'm also trying to weigh out the good/bad benefits of some of these foods...I don't know what I am going to do with all my "pig knuckle, chicken feet" recipes that I have saved for years....We eat a lot of cabbages, little red meat, less other meat and always hormone/pesticide free, grass fed when I can find it..

Here is more info that I have found when I get sidetracked on my hunt for info... here is what I found out about white flour...

White flour    Why would wheat be on the list of foods rich in estrogens but white flour would be on the list of estrogen blocking foods? Doesn't make sense right? Actually, it DOES and illustrates a VERY important point.   What do you get when you add water to white flour? Glue/ paste, right? ...it is "glue" and it does coat and stick to the villi of the duodenum. In this case, it coats the villi and blocks the absorption of the ESTROGENS in the food.   And here is info on cleanest (less pesticide) foods and worst (most pesticides)
 According to the Environmental Working Group, when it comes
to conventionally-grown produce, these are the 12 cleanest
kinds you can buy: Twelve "cleanest non-organic foods"

• Asparagus • Avocados • Bananas • Broccoli • Cauliflower • Corn (sweet) AVOID: Probably Genetically Modified • Kiwi • Mangos • Onions • Papaya • Pineapples • Peas (sweet)

We don't recommend basing your diet solely on this list, but it's a
good healthy start towards meals that won't kill your appetite.
Since the EWG reports that more than half of our total dietary
risk from pesticides comes from just 12 foods:

Tweleve "RISKIEST foods

• Apples • Bell Peppers • Celery • Cherries • Imported Grapes • Nectarines • Peaches • Pears • Potatoes • Red Raspberries • Spinach • Strawberries

avoiding these foods for the most part, substituting from the clean list above, and eating organic and/or homegrown produce whenever possible can substantially cut down on your exposure to pesticides.

  I don't know how to get rid of all the font problems, just happens when I copy/paste....

Veggy, congratulations on being de-ported. I can just visualize you smashing that port. How great that you are thyroid cancer-free, too. Yippee!

Renee, my rads nipple is a little larger than the other, too, and for quite a while it was standing at attention most of the time. Lately, though, it is starting to behave more like the other one, and seems to be returning to its normal size. I'm putting calendula lotion on it every day.

Renee and Jewly, I'm sorry about your incision area pain. Mine is mostly gone at last, although I get occasional twinges in the SNB area.

Renee, I'm right there with you w.r.t. being a bit slack on housework and I don't even have your excuse of being busy at work.These days, I do the important and fun stuff first, and deal with the housework only when I have plenty of time. Oh, I keep the laundry and dishes done and the kitchen clean, but I just don't care if the rest of the house gets a little dusty.

Bonnie, I'm sorry to hear about the pain and swelling you're experiencing. I hope it's just a reaction to your weekend's exercise spurt.

I am also feeling muscle tightness in my underarm and chest, and it's starting to hurt when I do my daily stretches. I think you're right that this is related to scarring from rads. Hopefully the stretches will keep it under control. I'm also taking vitamin E to help with the scarring of the small lymphatics and blood vessels.

To All: I hope you are enjoying Spring. What a great time to be healing. 

adrienne