Stage II Forum

Laura ~ Chemo sucks.......  plain and simple, you can never be ready !  But I say the sooner you start the sooner you are done.  You will get through it!!  What is your schedule and what chemo are you getting?

Hang in there !!!

gaia:  The chemo will be the hardest part for her to ge through.  Taking tamoxifen is just taking a pill.  Are there side-effects?  Yes, but they beat getting cancer again!  Try to remember that the docs have run a lot of tests on your mom to see how best to not only kill the current cancer but keep her from getting it again. 

Laura:  I'm sorry about your wet new carpeting, but you are right, in the big scheme of life's ups and downs, that is a minor speed bump to get through.  You've gone up over a mountain already with BC!

I don't seem to care about being a work-aholic at all anymore either.  I just want to spend time with my family and those I care about.

LauraM ~ that is the same chemo I had.  I will say it starts out not so bad, then tends to get a bit worse as it builds up in your system.  It is doable and think of it as little pac men killing any renegade cancer cells !!!!  Sorry about your carpeting hope you get that all cleaned up.  Hang in there, we are here for you.  You can always pm me if you have any questions.

Hi Brenda !   and yes there is life after CHEMO !!!  it gets better each day ~

Be Strong !

Brenda:  Congrats on your progress!

I was diagnosed 4 weeks ago with IDC, stage 2, no nodes but some satellites around tumor on MRI.  Does not show on mamm or u/s clearly.  They do not know if the satellites are tumor or inflammatory response.  The tumor is approx 3.0 cm.  Was scheduled for lumpectomy and sentinel node bx to be done on May 3, but by surgeon was at a conference and thought of me and now was are doing neoadjuvant chemo (4xAC and then 3-4 x taxol).  Due to the vague MRI he felt that he could not guarantee clear margins if we went for sx now.  We will shrink the bugger (I have other names for it, but not very polite :P) and then go in for a hopefully not so invasive lumpectomy.  As the nodes appear clear grossly this is a good strategy and one I am very comfortable with.  Radiation with either preceed or succeed sx. 

 Start my first tx May 6.  I have a disgustingly great attitude about this whole experience.  Some people think I am in denial but I am not.  It will be a road to travel and learn and grow from.  As a family we have gone through (in the last 2 years) a dx of MS (me) and an traumatic amputation of my husband's arm.  The one thing (among many) that is crystal clear is that one's attitude and optimism go very, very far.  There will be harder days than others, but I TRULY believe that we are the masters of our destiny.  I have three teenagers to model on how to face adversity.  I grew up with a mother that fell ill with a chronic dx when I was 14 and did not fight it or even try to learn from it.  She is almost 80 (making me 47 btw) and still to this day is the victim of her disease.

 Please for yourself and those who love you and whom you love - do not be a victim!! Be a survivor - be a conqueror.  Don't worry about the what could be's - focus on the now and face the events as they unfold.  We are all so much stronger than we know!!  Be well and get through this!!

I get my first tx on May 6 as well.  Figure it will great for getting on top of my reading at the very least.  The way I hear from others that have gone through it or friends of others and so on, is that it is a cummulative effect.  The first one is okay, but then as the meds build up so do the potential side effects.  I'll deal with them as they happen.  If they don't - then all the better.  I have long hair and have had since forever.  I am going on Monday to get it chopped off short.  Figure this way it will be less of a shock.  My 13-year-old daughter is the most freaked out about my losing my hair as this is the only way she has known me.  Oh well, maybe it will come back curly!!  As long as not more grey!!!! 

Hope all goes well with you.  IT WILL BE OKAY.

Curious_one - I am not going directly to MSK but using a local group who are working with MSK for my treatment.  I went to MSK for my second opinion and my doctors have been sending all of my pathology reports to them to get concurrence, My bs and Onc both trained at MSK so when we went there for the second opinion they thought highly of my docs so I just stayed with them    Before my last surgery, my bs sent my path slides to  Dana Farber for their opinion also.  

Lorraine5 -  It looks like we will be going through this together.  I am with you on the good attitude, I am trying to use mind over matter to control the side affects since  I have so many things that I want/need to do in the next month.  I hope the good attitude works for both of us!

Have a good night ladies!

First chemo was okay.  Just tired but no nausea.  I think more the realization of the whole thing.  I think others are having a worse time with this than me.  Maybe I am not so bright, but to me this is a journey and we will come out on the other end fine (maybe with less hair.....).  Brighter days are just around the corner.  Just a few months of ich and then back to a better time.  Be well!!  We are actually luckier than most.  This journey will make us stronger. 

For those of you moms out there - Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Hi Rocket -  Welcome and I am sorry that you had to join this sisterhood, but we are glad to have you!  They did not call mine multicentric, but had a tumor in the middle of my breast and 2 tumors under my arm in the breast tissue all at the same time.  All of them were under 1 cm.  I had a double mx in February which is when they found the two under my arm.  They went back in for my axillary nodes and found the cancer in 3 out of 14.  I started Chemo last week. 

Lorraine5  - How are you feeling?

Iam very glad to find this.  I was diagnosed 1/23/2010.  Had RT mastectomy because I had DCIS and IDC with 2 lumps.  One lump was grade 1 and the other was grade 2.  9 nodes were taken and 2 were positive.  Also, there was a small outer margin of cancer on the edge of the pocket that was taken.  NOt sure if I will have radiation because of this.  Mastectomy was done 2/10.  I am on T/C for 6 rounds.  I have completed 2 rounds with the next treatment on the 24th.  S/E are minimal at this point; fatigue, loss of appetite, and metal taste in mouth.  I am glad.  I had had to have the Neupogen shots after treatment though.  I opted for an implant and have an expander for the time being.

Thanks for being here.....

Curious-One ~ Yes I got treated at Memorial Sloan.  Luckily I was able to get my chemo's at a satellite location of theirs closer to my home then NYC.  But all of my surgeries were performed in the City.  I as very happy with all of my dr's.  I have my 3 month follow up with my oncologist next week.  I started tamoxifen about 2 months ago.  Hang in there Stage 2 girls ! 

Alicia

Thanks for your responses.  You ladies are wonderful.  I'm doing pretty well.  The Arimidex and Zoladex to stop estrogen and my ovaries from making it are wreaking havoc.  I have been experiencing hot flashes, mood swings, very little sleep and I started radiation today.  I'll have 36 radiation treatments in all including a boost and a bolus.  The hysterectomy will be scheduled when I'm finished radiation.  The cardiologist increased my meds for my heart problem and it makes me tired.  I'm still working my job and managed to work while undergoing chemo, but it was tough.  I think the psychological stuff is just as difficult.  I feel like my body has been through a war already.  This site has been so informative and supportive.  They can put men on the moon with a slide rule, so you'd think they'd be able to cure this terrible disease.

HI, Ricket!  Right now I'm sitting on my back deck trying to read the laptop screen through a cloud of black flies--which I bet you remember!