December 2009 Rads Group

Bonnie, I have been sore since day one....I still only sleep on my right side because of soreness..Every since I saw the clump of surgical clips left at sn area, I do believe that is the source of the worst of my irritation..I finally gave my house a good cleaning (had company over) and boy did I hurt ever so much the next day, so I think when we over do it, it brings on more pain...My soreness is much more noticable at night...

adrienne, Spring if Fl has been beautiful and I feel the best when outside...I completely forget about bc while doing my beach walks.....The manatees are back in my canal and other wildlife so I have taken some awesome photos..

To all...hope you don't get tired of my research that I find and want to share...

Tip of the day.......Many suppplements do not contain the quantities of molecules that you find in whole foods......exp..."Resveratrol" was studied and the amount of resveratrol in capsules was so small that a person would have to consume thousands of them to ingest the equivalent of the resveratrol contained in a single glass of wine....So I guess it's back to the bottle for me!!!!

adrienne, actually when I do drink wine I dilute it with Organic Concord (has most amount resveratrol) Grape Juice with 1/3 wine 2/3 grape juice....Most nights or during the day, I just have the juice, no wine....or I would be looped all the time....which might be fun, but I couldn't deal with the hangovers......I even take the grape juice in a flask and add to my wine when we go out....that's a reverse, huh?

I've finished with chemo Oct 6th. and its been over a month that I finished rads. Now I am experiencing a very dry mouth - very little saliva. I talked to the radiologist and she has no idea. Either does the surgeon who took out my thyroid. I am still waiting to hear from the chemo doc. Has anyone else experienced this?

 Thanks for looking that up for me. I started looking it up but always get side tracked. 

Let's see...

I am on high blood pressure meds, depression meds, I've had chemo, thyroid disease, and stress. Another one I found was sinus problems. Hmmmm... I wonder which one started it? I have been drinking lots of water with lemon in it.

By the way, the chemo doc said no. 

Update: Today had ultrasound and a large area of fluid retention was obvious. It was drained and contained a bloody, cloudy mixture. The dr expected it to be clear. It must be infection because I have been feeling better on the antibiotics and the fever is down. Hopefully analysis of this fluid will clear things up.

Veggy: Good luck wtih your salivary glands. I recall hearing about some OTC product you can get for dry mouth. Have you heard of that?

Bonnie

Veggy the product for dry mouth is called biotene and you can buy it over the counter.  I hear it doesn't taste very good but they say it does work.  Good luck. 

And so it continues...........Seems we all are having so many different se's, we go three steps forward and two steps back!!....Does anyone just heal and continue to take thier meds and go on....We all seem to have a variety of aches and pains, although we basically had similar dx and treatment....Bonnie w/infection, Veggy w/ongoing se's, Renee w/painful legs, Me with soreness on whole left side.....Adrienne seems to be doing great, so I guess we can deduct that 1 in 5 comes out of rads with flying colors...........Hoping more time is the answer for the healing of the rest of us......

TIP OF THE DAY.......White Tea has more health benefits than green tea, add lemon to your tea and benefits go up 10x.....................

adrienne, I am sure and hoping that there are many who are fine, and I for the most part have got back to life pre-bc, my soreness isn't constant pain, just sore enough when I lay on that side...But I do believe there are those of us who don't want to lose sight of where we have been and stay ahead of this rotten disease by having our eyes open and getting info from the most reliable source....which to me is all of us that continue to look for answers to live the best life forward.....I thank each and every one of you that take the time to relate your concerns so if any of us end up dealing with the same that we might have learned something from the first hand experiences of somanywomen....such as us........

veggy, I forgot to say that most of the time I can only sleep on my right side, but when I do try to sleep on my back, apparently my mouth falls open (so my husband says) and sometimes I wake up and my mouth is so dry that it is scary and I try to make saliva because it feels so strange....I wonder if my arimidex has anything to do with dry mouth???

Rene, so sorry that T seems to be kicking your butt too. And you're taking only 10mg. I was taking 20 per day and was almost  thinking maybe I could be talked into taking half that. That's out. I have my first followup with the non-cologist on Tuesday. From what I can tell, the recurrence rate is 15% without T and 10% with. That's not much a gain for so much pain. One night, terrible pain in my TOES woke me up. I recall having a very dry mouth on T as well. Eyes dry too. I drank water as much as I could hold.

I found an article online about a study that showed that taking the brand name version of T (instead of generic) eliminated the arthritis-like side effects. I was just about to email this to my doctor, but then felt dumb, in case the study was sponsored by the drug manufacturer. Someone else told me that the magazine was a reputable one, but I'm still too chicken. I'll mention it Tuesday, though. Here it is: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20347307/

Jewly: Thanks for the tip about white tea and lemon! 

Update: Thurs night the fever spiked again, which was spooky, but no more since then. This makes it seem more like it's just an infection and not something a lot more scary. I have not heard back yet about the test results. The swelling is slowly going down, but the redness is still there, and spotches are popping out in other parts of the breast. I tell you, lately I've been wondering if I should have just gotten a mastectomy right from the start...

Bonnie

I just realized that May 9th will be the one year anniversary of when I found my lump. Its been a long and busy year. I've gone through so many appointments, tests, doctors, procedures and changes. I am different than I was in so many ways. I feel like I lost my innocence and my inner child. Today my son (he has asperger's syndrome) asked me if I was his mother of the future. He told me that he misses his old mom who smiled more, who didn't have gray hair and had long curly hair. The chemo robbed me of the curls and gave me straight, gray hair. I told him that I could dye the hair but the curls are gone.  I guess that was his round about way of telling me its time to dye my hair.

Veggy - definitely dye your hair - maybe on May 9! Wow, a year already for you. Whoosh.

Renee - I'm sure my insurance wouldn't pay for name brand meds either. When I talk to the med onc this week I'll ask about this. I might try one RX of the name brand stuff just to see if it is any different, and if it is, then fight the insurance company to pay for it. (A lot of ifs in that plan. )

Finally today some of the redness of this infection has started to fade. So it's certainly an infection. Whew!

Bonnie

I just noticed a new topic that hhfheidi posted "Seizure after treatment ends"....seems she had seizure yesterday and passed out.....says she's having MRI today.....thinks it might have been the paxil she takes....just crazy, HUH!!!!!

TIP OF THE DAY:.....Take calcium with meals, but not with your multivitamin/mineral, as calcium binds with iron and zinc......

Hi gang, long time noo talk. I hope you all are doing ok. Always in my thoughts and prayers forever even if Im not here. I guess by now you are all done with rads and improving. I hope. (I cant read everything I missed right now PLEASE, forgive me.

Whats been going on----Things were going well, house was being remodled by my husband. I was getting out and about..

And then it hit....

My husband was taken to the hospital and admitted when he couldnt breath (allergic reaction  to over the counter headache pills). Now undergoing heart tests cause they found something while he was in the hospital. (I doubt he has heart problems, hes a fit as a fiddle IMO but will see and Im praying to God hes OK).

And me, Im headed for neurosurgery consultations (that were put off during breast cancer). Because. my back went out just from turning wrong. Its been a hell of a time and the pain  been so bad I sit and cry and my nerves are shot.

My poor husband dresses me (my pants) and gets my meals. Hes an ANGEL but i feel so bad cause hes going thru stuff too and I feel like a burden.

During this was in the ER twice, (my old meds no longer worked for the pain).At the ER I had morphine shot, steroid shot, anti infllammatory shot, and was on steroids (orally) and now on oxycodone. I havent slept in our bed since ? and only get 2 hrs or so sleep a night on a recliner. The oxy is making me high as a kite and sick too and they want me to mix it with other stuff, well Im not mixing drugs so I take 2 oxy a day and suffer in between.

I am very upset and scared of contimplating back surgery for fear of ending up in a wheel chair. And, I am so TIRED beyond belief. I see the surgeon and my pain team this week. They better do something. Ive had it.

Sorry for all the whinning.. JUst wanted to fill you in and mostly let you know I AM thinking of all of you!!!!!

Take care ((hugs)) I gotta go,

Jules

Jules - (((((HUGS!))))) for you and your wonderful husband. Sounds like he takes good care of you. I hope they find something so you can manage the pain better.