December 2009 Rads Group

Bonnie, I am so relieved for you!!! Time to celebrate. How wonderful that you're feeling well at last.

Renee, my radiated breast feels about the same as the other one now, except for the scar tissue from the surgeries, which is still noticeable. The muscles on the chest wall behind the breast, and near the armpit are a little stiff. I only notice it when I do my range-of-motion stretches. The stiffness provides motivation to keep doing the stretches so I don't lose range-of-motion My nipple is still slightly larger and pinker than the other one.

Blood work: so far, the only blood work I've had was about half-way through rads. There were a couple of numbers that were very slightly out of the "normal" range, but they were so close that the doctor wasn't worried.

Renee, I hope your next blood work gives you good numbers, and I hope you are able to have your recon soon. 

O.k. Ladies... Where is everyone at??? I feel like I am the only one to come on this board anymore.  How are all of ya'll doing?  Adrienne, Bonnie, Jules, Jewly and the rest hope ya'll are having a great week. 

I am trying to mentally prepare myself for Wednesday. It will be my first mammo since chemo, surgery and radiation. Just wondering if it is going to hurt any more than it did before all of this and will they will find anything. I can't let this worry me or I'll go nuts.

Hope everyone is okay.

Jewly I loved the photo it is awesomely, beautifully, spectacular!! LOL on the donuts... is he trying to tell you that you are to skinny?   

Veggy - I am right there with you, if all goes as planned I will be having my first since my diagnosis, on Friday.  I am nervous but want to get it over with.  I am afraid it will hurt as well, because I am a little sore, not too bad ( not like Jewly ), but I also seem to have a really firm breast (I think it's because of scar tissue from all the rads I had).  It definitely doesn't feel like the other one does for sure.  

Renee

Veggy, it's been so nice here lately, I was thinking of a little garden, maybe some herbs and tomatoes, do those upside down containers work?..I think it's great therapy so go get your hands dirty....

Let us know how you do with mammo, hopefully great and then you don't have to go again for about 6 months...I have Surgeon (mammo) every 6 months and bloodwork with Onco every 3 months.....No appts, until August for me......

To all.....I just had my 3 month onco visit this morning, I swear those docs don't even look at our info if we don't ask about things, they don't offer...I asked about some crazy wording on one of my reports that read under diagnosis...Secondary (had a code)-Encounter for antineoplastic chemotherapy and another code that was listed as Poisoning by antineoplastic and immunosuppressive drugs....When I asked him about this he said that was the code that was used for my chemotherapy!!!!...The thing is I never had chemotherapy!!!!!...He looked at me like "are you sure?"...I think I would remember that!!!..Apparently he doesn't even know me from the next patient....He then said that someone must have put in the wrong codes....This is the second time I have caught wrong coding on my reports, the other was a code that was suppose to mean Lung nodules and they had put in wrong code for  Lung Cancer!!!...I had both of these reports ammended and hope it doesn't effect my insurance....

I asked him which test was most beneficial tumor marker...CA 15-3 or Ca 27-29...He said CA 15-3, but everthing I read on net leans towards the CA 27-29...Any thoughts anyone????

Renee: I'm here! I was out of town for several days - visited family back east. Had a nice trip. Slept 12 hours when I got back, though. I think I'm still fatigued from treatment.

Wow, Vegy, you just got done with radiation and you're already getting a mammogram. Good luck. Do you wear underwire bras? That is one thing I have given up due to edema from lack of lymph nodes. Even wearing a tight bra sometimes makes me get a bit swollen, and they only took two lymph nodes.GOOD LUCK!

To All: My first post-treatment mammogram will be in July, which is 6 months after radiation ends. IN fact, the radiologist who did the ultrasound on the infection said that I might want to postpone it even more because it may really hurt to have the breast compressed so much. Also, I kind of don't want any more tests for a while.

My docs are a lot more casual about all this may of your docs. No blood markers, 6-month followups, etc. I'm okay with it, actually. I'm eating right, drinking green tea, exercising, meditating; all the right stuff to prevent recurrence. Feels great, actually!

Jewly: Not too confidence-inspiring if your record can get so messed up. Lordee. 

Adrienne & Renee: How's the tamoxifen working out? How do you feel? Renee:knees still creaking?

Re: Shoulder/Chest wall stiffness: I have noticed more stiffness in the last month than ever before. I am exercising and it takes effort to move my shoulder. It's like I have tight bands that I have to really pull on to move. It's scar tissue I guess. I think it's funny it's happening 3-4 months after radiation ends. Maybe it's due to the infection. Who knows? Anyone else having stiffness? Adrienen, do you have more stiffness now, or has it been the same all along?

I'm super grateful to you all and being able to share our stories. 

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Bonnie

I had my 6 month mammogram today. Its my first one since the operation. It was a little painful but it was over quick. They had me wait in a little waiting room afterward. The nurse came out and said everything is good. I asked if she meant the pictures or my breasts. She said the breast. They is a lot of scarring and some clips but no cancer. I broke down and cried. I didn't realize I was that stressed. Tonight we are having a small party of pizza and wine.

Bonnie, I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing stiffness. You asked about mine: I can't remember exactly, but I think I started feeling it in my chest wall and near the armpit 3 or 4 weeks after rads ended. It isn't bad: I only notice it when I'm doing my range-of-motion stretches. About 3 weeks ago it got a little worse, meaning that it hurt more when I did the stretches. It is now getting better. Hopefully, we'll both get over this in time.

I'm doing okay on the Tamoxifen so far: mostly I'm experiencing just mood swings and hot flashes. Fingers crossed...

Veggy, many congratulations on the clean mammogram!!! Time to celebrate!!!

Oh Renee, I'm so sorry that you are having trouble with swelling and inflamation. I hope the massage will help prevent contraction. Did your doctor say anything about vitamin E? I wonder if it would be worth your while to meet with your Rad Onc or another oncologist about the problem you are having, just in case your plastic surgeon isn't aware of treatments that might help?

I am hoping that you will be able to find a way to keep your breast: you certainly went through enough trying to keep it. (((Hugs)))

adrienne 

Congrats to all that have had there first follow-up mammo, so far, so good...It's scary but best to know results as early as possible...

Renee, hope your breast calms down so you can get on with your plans, good luck on Friday with your mammo, mine didn't hurt as much as I thought it was going to, maybe I'm just used to a little pain...

My docs don't seem as interested in answering my questions now that these appts are just follow-ups, feel like I am being rushed and if I ask a question I am wasting their time...I feel as though they just want me to ignore any of my se's...Of course, none of these se's were caused by their part in my treatment in the last 7 months...I wonder if this is due to their ego or just because now when they look at me they do not see the $$$ signs as much...If I ever had to face this again, I would go to a bc center with specialists that work together....

Bonnie, for the most part I am following a great anti-cancer diet, taking long walks on beach, trying not to take life so stressfully....My hubby looks great from our diet change, his co-workers can't believe how healthy he looks from this change..They used to kid him about his left-overs he takes as lunch everyday now (like today he took spinach salad with a salmon patty in glass containers of course no BPA)) until he lost weight and looks great in his new slimmer jeans...

Hi Bonnie, Jewly, Adrienne, Heidi, and Jules and Veggy!  Hope all of you are doing great on this holiday weekend.  I had my mammo today, they only did the one breast today.  I have to wait till November to have my routine mammogram.  It appears that insurances usually only cover one routine mammo a year.  He did the diagnostic mammo as a follow up for a baseline post surgery/radiation on the breast cancer breast.  No, they did not read it while I was there.  The hospital where I have mammo's don't have anyone available to do that immediately.  I will have to wait till next week for the results.  The doctor said he already could tell me what it was going to say, post surgical and radiation changes with clips present, etc. 

I also talked to him about my seeing the plastic surgeon and that I couldn't see the one he referred me to.  I told him that I had to see someone else and that I really liked him and I had seen him twice, but he kept bringing up me having a mastectomy if my breast contracted (shriveled up from the radiation) and that with him having implants wasn't an option either.  So, he asked me if I had thought about a 2nd opionion, I told him yes, and they gave me a number of another doctor that he is friends with and they even called to verify that he is a preferred provider for United Health Care... the answer was YES.  So I guess I will call and make an appt to go and talk with him.  It certainly can't hurt.  What do you ladies think?

Renee

Wow Jewly that stinks about your friend's sister and that 23 yr girl!  What the heck??  Women just have to stay on top of things and go to the doctor.  I guess we are either predestined by our DNA to be a carrier of the nasty cancer gene or we are not.  Some are more lucky than others and never will experience the terribleness of it... Thank you GOD!!  I pray that my children and grandchildren never have to endure what I have.  I hope I can pass along some lifestyle changes to them as well.  Lord knows I have made some... quitting smoking, changing my eating habits, and losing weight. 

As for the mastectomy choice, my breast surgeon thinks my breast looks great and that the tissue is in quite good condition, which is why he recommended I get a second opinion. 

Jewly, I don't take the Arimidex, sorry I can't help you.  But on a much happier note... I received the results of my first post rads mammo today and NO CANCER!!!!! Happy Dance!!!   I am sooooo happy I can't even tell you.  I hate that I had to wait for 12 days to find out the results.  That really stunk, but I had it on a Friday before a holiday (Memorial monday).  I'll try not to do that again. 

Renee

Renee- I am doing the happy dance for you! That stinks that you had to wait 12 days.

Tonight my oldest son graduates high school! He has Asperger's Syndrome so it is even more of an achievement.I took him out of school after third grade and home schooled him for a couple of years then cyber-schooled him for his high school years. I never thought this day would come. There were times during chemo that I doubted I would see this day at all. I'll be doing the Happy Dance later tonight when he walks down and grabs his diploma!

I know I would have gone crazier if it wasn't for the support of this group and  reading many of the other posts. It was relieving to know that the feelings I had were shared by others.

Hey Renee, looks like it's you and I checking in and trying to keep this interaction going...I feel everyone is taking a long overdue break from the overdose of bc related activities of the last 6 months..I do hope that everyone returns now and then and updates on life after the whirlwind!!..Too much beer, been there, done that but not lately..Just got back from a two night stay at Hard Rock casino in Tampa...They keep sending me free room and food comps to get me back in there to take my money...Well, it worked again, they took it all!!..When will I learn...They did comp us for all food, drinks and room so I don't feel too bad, but I sure wish I had been the winner of the $25,000...they gave to a patron whos's name was randomly called, their promotions are great but there machines are thieves.......I'll be here so don't leave me...Jewly

Renee, they keep comping us because we are loosers...LOL....It just doesn't hurt so bad when we figure in the comps and just about break even..I'm just waiting to win the big one....We kind of think of it as our Time Share except we pay no fees and get free food and drinks...They send us free stays just about every month..It's about an hour and half from here to the Hard Rock in Tampa so as long as we don't get stupid and only take what we spare then we can feel justified after comps for being loosers....If ever you or any of you get down this way, we can meet there I can get the room if  you want to plan a girls trip, usually I can get 2 nights Sun thru Thurs (I do have offer for July!!!)...Hey!!..that's a great IDEA!!!!!!!

Next time my husband and I go, we are going to plan to go to a Tampa Rays game....Where is everybody??...Hope they come back and check in with us, until then don't forget about poor lonely me.......