Nurses with Breast Cancer

HI.  I'm not a nurse but I work with and greatly respect nurses.  I'm a physical therapist and I'm sorry to hear of your pain.  After having BC 5 years ago, I've struggled with lifting patients like I used to due to back pain.  I've been a PT for 22 years.  So, now I'm moving into the field of PT education.  I've worked with back patients for many years.... good things to work on are posture, stretches and "core " exercises. Use of cold packs is helpful... I hesitate to use ultrasound on patients who have have breast cancer--- electrical stim should be OK... but I tend to be more conservative and really exercise should help us the most anyway. 

Feel free to PM me anytime,

blessings,

Wendy

I am a rn ,psych nurse working with children.I am going to my first consultation today. I don't care how much you know or did- it is scary to be on the patient side.I'll let you know how it goes.

Namaste!

I GOT THE JOB!  I GOT THE JOB!  It is in surgical support (pre-op, PACU, Phase II) at the new hospital in the system that just opened this June.  All my benifits and senority will transfer.  It is 10 hour shifts 9:30 am-8pm.  Thur, Fri one week, Mon, Tue, Wed the second week.  Then 7 days off in a row.  It averages out to 25 hours per week.  We get full time benifits as long as we have a postion that averages 24 hours/week.  It is were I am filling in right now so I won't even have to go through orientation.  I am so relieved and excited.

Karla

Hanto YO WAY TO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sounds like it could be a dream job. SAS

Another nurse here since 1972...worked VA hospital post Vietnam, should of been smart and stayed would be retired now...worked in a nursing home when my kids were little...then a teaching hospital for 20 yrs, med/surg, orthopedics, plastic surgery, oral surgery, OB newborn nursery, GYN oncology...left and became a school nurse work at 5 inner city schools from Pre K to high school seniors.

Diagnosed with BC last year, took 3 weeks off for lumpectomy and mammosite therapy. I have used up all my sick leave with appointments. I had 2 major surgeries in the past 5 yrs involving a muscle tumor and another nerve tumor one in both legs so my sick time had been used up prior to the BC

Thinking about going back to the hospital to work...my husband is retiring want to have more time off. My love is OB newborn nursery.  

Namste!

RitaD,

I have been wondering how your counsultation went? Hoping that you got your questions answered and that you are on your way to getting the cancer gone.

Karla

YES

RitaD--so glad you found a doc that you can relate to and talk to and understand!  That makes all the difference in the world!

Im a RN too: Diagnosed 5 years ago with DCIS had lump + 33 rads refused Tam due to amount very small.  Reoccurance 5-10 Skin Sparing Mastect done 06-21 due to calcifications (DCIS)

Path report found dcis plus 0.6cm IDC inside DCIS  now I have expanders in trying to find the best pain meds to hit the nervpain.  I saw my oncologist yesterday:

Said:  tamoxifen for 5 yrs then arimadex or

OOphrectomy removal of ovaries and start arimadex.  I am 50 have horrible periods and

PMDD.  What should I do.  I am on disability from my nujrsing job as a rehab nurse. I am

not too sure I want to go back there . Fellow nurses what should I do

Tamoxifen scares me.  The surgery done lap piece of cake.  Please advise

Elizabeth

I agree with PP.  Some women fly through tamoxifen with little to no SE... you might be one!  Ooph can be done later.  I'm in that boat too, and am going to give Tamox a try.  Did you have BRCA testing done?  Mine was negative, so I didn't think having ovaries out was necessary, but if you choose that route, remember, you can't get cancer if they aren't there.  But, you can get bad SE from having ovaries out as well.  (just both sides of the fence).    Good luck with your decision, none of them are easy! 

Hi folks, I'm a nurse dx'd in  jan 2009, bmx TE's feb-09. 3 more surgeries in 09. Finished in july09. Chemo x1 failed to tolerate in april 09. Found out by own research inablity to tolerate chemo was likely a drug interaction with Norvasc. Similar interaction with arimidex. May have already written this, but memory is an issue. Started as a nursing aide in 69. Became a nurse in 74. Loved it, But can't nurse any longer because of the memory issue. Arimidex was enhanced by 25-75% , because of Norvasc.  Femara same thing. System wide problems that I am still recovering from. Did write a short note some pages ago after Squidwitch42 got me here. Hope to try and make it here more often and get to know you all. We have our special nurse language that has to often be explained so much on other threads. I probably should have checked ,before I started to write this because it's starting to sound pretty familar LOL. Yup been here congratted Hante yo-Karla about the new job-----hope it's going well

So karla do you get to orient yourself LOL

Rita D- sounds like you hit the jack pot with the 2nd doc . How did you get a 2nd consultation so fast??

Leanna and gunner I'll play devils advocate. Your attached to your ovaries at this point for what reason?.  Yes every one of us makes choices for different reasons.  Gunner you are not quite a month out from surgery if I read correctly, do not discount what anesthesia can do to your decision making ablities. You stated "what should I do". I agree with Native Mariner, that you are conflicted. One action Put it on paper ---- Do a pro/con list, with help of a friend, who will help keep you focused on getting your head to decide what column you want to put your answer on. Brainstorm questions "what can my ovaries do for me now"? "What will give me greater piece of mind?. What does the sceince say? Will keeping my ovaries improve or relieve my pmdd? Am I going to have more children?  Will  having ovaries reduce my estrogen? Does the age of 50 significantly impact having ovaries out? Is that important in breast cancer to reduce estrogen? Do I have a choice about Tam?  Do i have a choice about AI"s?  Pro(important to keep,or yes) side of list is longer--wait. Con(important to get rid of, or no)  side is longer --get rid of them. I've always believed pro/ con list can get you off the fence about anything. But you have to approach them with brutal honesty --Maybe isn't a consideration. If your going to use a friend to help with your list, her function is to say "what is your MIND/Gut telling you?" I would usually say do this on your own, but you still have the effects of anesthesia that is causing you to waffle. The friend is there to keep you from wandering off topic because of post anesthesia effects.You don't want to choose someone that will direct your answers. Again their function is to keep you on topic and focused.

Rereading this I've actually said the same thing at least three times.  On topic and focused.

Make a master question list. xerox for future reference. You may want to publish it.

Good pro/conning sas

Gunner, I agree with Native Mariner. I would also take each one of her sentences and put a question mark at the end. She and I are really saying the same thing. That gut feeling is an amazing part of our being human. I have almost always found that when I pay attention to that gut feeling, it hasn't failed me. Whereas, when I haven't I lived to regret it. In 2008, after several years of thinking about having an elective bmx because of family history strong for BC, I had a gut feeling, now was the time to do it. I started through the process. 1st step was a mammo, it was clean with the letter rec'd that said the typical NED see you in one year. But I was on a quest to have them off. The next step in the process was an MRI. It was done 4 months later. BINGO there it was, and I got the phone call that said highly suspicious. At bx-- grade 2( enough sample and no pathology error)left breast. BMX 3 weeks later it had increased to a grade 3. Node negative. Obviously, it was highly agressive. Had I not followed my gut , that said " these babies needed to go" and kept working the process to get them off,  I might not be writing this today.

My identical twin had BC in 96. When I found out she was ER+. I said "We had work to do". We both had total hysters and BSO In 96. So, what caused me after thinking about it from 96 to 08, to act in 08. My gut feeling. 

I have kept that --All clear NED--- letter and periodically read it over the last 23 months. I'm in awe each time I read it. And enjoying being alive.

Karla--second opinon very much needed here. If you have never had a Mri of neck before that MRI identyfying compression --it could have been there without knowing it for whatever amount of time. You had recent onset of symtoms, is it on the LE side? Surgery after dx in march, How long betwween surg and onset of symptoms? Could be related to positioning on table.  If LE on symptomatic side __could be related to brachial plexus compression by LE.  If symptoms resolve with position change --what does it mean? There are numerous numerous questions to be answered.  Does this surgeon have any reputation of rushing people into surgery without and attempt at medical management.

This doc has created a great sense of urgency that it be done within one week?  You have to find out if she is correct. If you had total numbness, unresponsive to positional change and was unpredictable, but that is not what you have said. I still say --2nd opinion.

See what Native Mariner has to say --

Hey Squid --one thing I learned last year because and upper abd ct caught something in the lower right lung was, they don't do MRI's on the chest because of to much movement with breathing. They do CT's that aren't as sensitive to movement . Guess It was one of those things that never crossed my radar, until I had to have one. I wanted the MRI to avoid the radiation, and that's when the gave me the explanation.

You've got the low D that went from 4 to 16, but what was the dose of the D and over what period of time? What was your bone density with the DEXA scan? I have had ostopenia/porosis dx with dexa scan a number of years back. Now it says only osteopenia very mild. When density levels were lower the Bone pain,  hurt for me like a deep gnawing type pain. It was definitely increased pain levels with 12-14 hour shifts. SometimesI had to be taken to my car in a wheelchair. Can you imagine, seeing your nurse going out in a w/c.

D levels corrected before my only chemo and dexa scan had improved as above. I thought i'd be golden for neulasta  shot. But the pain during the week after neulasta, was as if wolves were gnawing and chewing on my bones and teaching the pups how to get every last bit of flesh off the bones. When I used this as an example for the nurses taking care of me. They just looked blank. I figuired how much more descriptive could I get. 

Squid what do you mean by b/h pain, headaches and nausea are just your interpretation of the chemo?

((H))))sas

Namaste!

Native Mainer and Sas-Schatz:  I have never had an MRI before but I did have x-rays in Feb 2009.  I had gone to a "shoulder specialist"  because I was having severe left shoulder pain that radiated down into my arm and assumed it was fallout from a shoulder injury of 5 years before.  But he diagnosed it as cervical spondylosis with bone spurring and sent me to physical therapy for 4 weeks.  Well, physical therapy made it worse and it took most of the 4 weeks to get it back to the level it was before I went to the Dr.  I was so happy to get back to the level I was at before that I just let it go.  Life happened and I had two international trips to go on, then Christmas and a cruise and then BC and Job and I was ignoring things.  It is the opposite side of my Lymphedema.  It had been stable but when I started doing more stretches and bands it kicked into "significant" and the PT/LT suggested that it was really time to follow up which I did.

This surgeon is not one of the overly aggressive ones to my knowledge.  She said my spine is really unstable at this point and I could be looking at permanent damage (difficulty walking and loss of bladder and bowel control)  with a small degree of trauma such as a fall or a fender bender.  I saw my primary MD for pre op H & P yesterday and he read the MRI report and feels like I really should go along with the surgery and feels like this surgeon is quite conservative.

The surgeon didn't promise me relief of my symptoms but she said there would be a good chance of decreased symptoms.  It all depends on how much damage has already occurred from the compression.   She said her main goal is to provide my spine with stability so that I don't worsen and that her success rate for this was 95%.

I will have to wait till Monday to see her availability in the immediate weeks following.

Karla