For all the node positive, Stage 2 ladies

I am a member of this group how in the ### do we not worry.I am always expecting the other shoe to drop.Even my doctors have me in every 3 months for followups.

Hey, just as an FYI, I quit smoking in June by doing auricular stimulation. It totally worked for me. I walked out unaddicted to nicotine and did not suffer the brain fog from prior quit attempts. Totally worked for me. I did need to go for a recharge three days after the first session but it worked and it has been since June 2. WOO HOO!

Athena I had  all my scans redone last may.When those came back he said he wanted 3 month followups for atleast  another year.He scared me again by ordering an extra scan on my liver but the shadowing was just fatty tissue thank god.My family doctor told me that this medical onc that  I have has a rep for being overdiligent.That is fine with me

mumayan,

I think I own a summer home overlooking the river DeNile, because I haven't had a scan since my breast MRI just before surgery. I have decided to go by symptoms and have had no reason to think anything is up. Stage IV is not curable anyway. But that's just me.... 

Athena, I feel that way, too - I live on that same river because It has been over a year and I haven't had a PET or bone scan since my first one (just breast tests).   I figure no cure if it spreads, anyways, so I am in no hurry.

Well ladies, i can realte to all of these stories. i am constantly worried about recurrance and the node being psotive, i had one node positive but it was a biggy 2cm. Onc said it deosn't make a difference, thats'what the nodes are supposed to do.. catch those suckers!! I aslo was an occasional smoker and quit right away the day i was diagnosed and never looked back...done with it.. but I must say it does cross my mind when i have the occasional wine?? Speaking of which, I really miss chilling out and enjoying my wine.. after all this stress.. i have cahnged alot, eating habits, exercise, i want to start power walking and gte really into it...... I just fineshed my last chemo 4 weesk a go, start rads on Wed and continue on Hercepton for a year. What a nightmare the whole thing is ... really...... bu I have a inner energy and strenth I never knew and will go forward with that. I am so happy ther is such a board like this where we can excahnge thoughts and knowledge!~ Also my onc said that worry is not good.... how do you stop? Even when i am trying to enjoy my day.. it's there in the back of my head.. lurking.. reminding me......

Hugs to all

Cathy xox

I'm really happy with my onc. He has been so understanding of my unconventional decisions and circumstances. He seems very caring.

Athena, you are blessed to have an onc that doesn't roll his eyes or stick his fingers in his ears and chant 'I don't hear you, I don't hear you' like mine does. I am basically doing this alone.

i will never feel like a number with any dr.I go to a large hospital where all my drs.work in and know each other.i have a special relationship with each and every one of them.if it was not that way i would have to change drs.it took me 4 drs.to get to the place im at now.NO FEARLESS it is not that way.unless you let it be.if your ok with that leave it alone.if your not.move on.

BarbaraA - this is horrible. I have experienced it in the past with my PCP. They make you feel as though you are imposing on them. He is no longer my PCP even though he is supposed to be very well known (I don't have a PCP at the moment - I suppose you could say my onc is it). I hope you can find someone else, because your health may suffer as a result. My current onc. is the second one I saw because the first was awful. My current psychiatrist, whom I have been seeing for one hour every week for 11 months, is the first one I have seen in my adult life who has truly been effective and wonderful.

Finding good doctors is like identifying a needle in a haystack - especially certain specialties (like psychiatry). The good ones are hard to identify and when you find them they often aren't accepting new patients. Even in big cities this is the case. 

So I have a question:

Is it good or bad news if you have HUGE nodes?

That is to say, of course no one wants cancer to spread, but isn't it better to have a node that is holding it all in? After all, you see so many on the stage IV thread who list 0 or one nodes - it makes me wonder if their lymphatic system malfunctioned as a "first responder" and whether that is what enabled the cancer to spread undetected?? 

That's incredible, isn't it? And then go to the Stage IV thread and see how many and how few nodes some people there had. Staging is truly in its infancy. I think our stage II with nodes, epitomizes the uncertainty. It could really go so many ways for each of us.

I have chosen to think that I had three large nodes because I had some super-duper nodes that really kept the cancer away from the rest of my body.

So part of me is prepared for death; the other part keeps my summer home overlooking the DeNile river staffed with servants and pantries bursting with food.