Calling all ladies in their 20's

bimmer -  i also had chemo first due to the size of the tumor.... same stats as u...

Texas - Cute... and i'm fighting this cancer just for them...

Rae and Bimmer- how larger were your tumors? My largest was 11cm- it just floors me that cancer can and does happen to younger women but when we try to see a dr about it they pooh pooh it like we're paranoid yet it is allowed to get that large!!!!

Sorry just my anger boiling up LOL

Having cancer is hard, being young is hard, being a parent with cancer sucks... But i know we all will fight like nobodies business!

stress maybe? i hear there is alot of PTSD among us cancer patients that doesn't creep up until you are almost through with treatment or are done with treatment.

but in any case, still ask the rad onc, are you in the middle of rads too? cause i hear rads can sometimes make you nauseous

Nannababy - I've been having some of your systems too - nausea main one, but also got ab pains, muscle cramping and general lack of energy.  I've been on tamoxifen for 4 1/2 months and even though onc doens't think that's the cause we're trialling a break from it to see if symptoms disappear and I've had a big lot of blood work done today to see if it shows up anything.  Hopefully you get some answers soon.

Nanna- that sucks that they dont want you "dependant" yet they'l let you have them horrible SEs? BS! Maybe MJ will help, but make sure that it wont interfere with any of your treatmeant plans

Hey Ladies!

I have been on the go a lot lately (heading back to work tomorrow half time) but I keep up reading the posts on my phone (can't post from there.)  First of all, yes I have a kid!  He's 2 1/2 and totally keeps me centred through all this crap.  He wanted to know if he could go see the "machine" yesterday (which is what we called the radiation machine) but I've been done rads since the middle of January!

Nana - I had MAJOR stomach issues when I was on chemo, and I'm not sure whether it was the chemo or the Lupron (also called Zolodex I think) but I convinced the doc that I would be very careful and not get preggo while on Herceptin, so he let me stop the Lupron when I was done chemo.  Either way the stomach issues cleared up as much as they will (I have underlying Crohn's disease.)  Did any of your doc's test you for any of the superbugs?  It's totally possible that you caught something when you were in the hospital...  I had an infection last month that kept me in bed with a fever and super nausea.  I thought I had the stomach flu, but it just wasn't getting better.  Turned out I had a HUGE abcess under my incision from the mastectomy.  A tiny little spot on the incision that was infected burrowed down and infected all the lymph fluid that collected after my drain came out.  My surgeon said he never saw an abcess that appeared that much later after surgery - 2 1/2 months.  Either way I feel way better after a round of IV antibiotics and oral ones just to make sure.  Now I have home care coming every other day to change the dressing and packing.  I'm really hoping it heals sooner than the six months my surgeon figures it will take.  I just want to go swimming!  Good luck with the MJ - it makes me more nausous than anything else (worse than chemo.)  Avoided the stuff since 1997, but tried it in the summer to see if it helped with chemo side effects - NO, it made it worse!

BTW - my tumor was 9x9cm...and appeared pretty much within a few weeks.  I had surgery in the fall of 2009 for Crohn's and had a full physical...no lumps then but by April it was huge.  The sucker grew FAST...I was on chemo a week after I found out, and that pretty much never happens up here!  A co-worker of mine found her lump when she was pregnant, but didn't do anything about it for a year.  She finally went in because of me...ends up she has Stage III as well, but if she could have started treatment when she first noticed it she might have avoided a lot of headache!  Do you guys find that you still have friends that get anxious when you mention self-exams?  I have one friend who still thinks that she doesn't have to worry about it because she's too young for that!  Jeesh, you'd think she'd figure out by now that there is no such thing as "too young!"

Bimmer - I didn't lose my eyelashes and eyebrows until my last two rounds of Taxotere...right about when my hair started growing back!  Everything was starting to go back by Christmas though, but my hair had definite changes compared to my pre-cancer hair.  It's grown out though, and looks pretty much back to normal, but I've noticed a few grey hairs that I didn't have before.  My eyelashes still aren't as long or thick as they were before this all started, but they're still thicker and longer than average, so I won't complain.

Sorry for such the long post today, I'm procrastinating from house work

Shira- I've been reading a little of your blog. I love it! You write so well.

I can see we're all at different stages of treatment. It's nice to read up on what everyone is going through and what to expect in the future. I'm currently undergoing chemo. I've had 2 rounds, with 4 more to go over the next 12 weeks. I'm having terrible hot flashes, as I'm sure you can all sympathize with. I think I made it through 5 hours of sleep last night without a single one before I was wripping my pjs off...and turning my pillow to the "cool" side. It feels really good on a bald head.  

Thanks for updating ladies! I hope everyone has a great and side effect free day! 

Melanie

I hope today went as good as it can Rae!!!  I am excited for this week because I finsih my last chemo!!!  YAY - although it brings me closer to the surgery which I am VERY apprehensive about.  Not looking forward to that part at all but then again I guess noboldy really does.

nana, we are going to get you thru chemo! remind me which treatment you're getting?

Shira - the TE's will feel tight for awhile, but it should go away. I've had them in for almost a year - I had my surgery on Mar 18, 2010. I'll have my exchange on May 9. I remember it was very tight to begin with, like wearing a bra that's 3 sizes too small with the underwires digging in. It gets better. After the injections you'll feel a little tight, but it gets easier each time you go.

Hot flashes have been horrible for me too! Chemo was the worst, but I still get them on the Tamoxifen. It's especially bad at night...I'll be so hot and rip the covers off, and sweat so much...and then freeze. I never really get a restful night sleep anymore. 

would any of you feel comf wearing a bikini with the TE?  my boobs are sooooo not symetrical and they are so weird looking but i can't miss out on beach season.

also, did anyone get a hair extensions or a weave?  i'm sick of the wig.

sorry for such a vain post.

MEL, did you try effexor for hat flashes

Hi Ladies, it has been a long while since I have been on this forum. I am doing retty well. I was done treatment in October, and had my first mammogram since diagnosis last year in Jan and it was clear! yay! my hair is getting pretty long now, and my eyelashes and eyebrows are coming back. I had to get Latisse prescribed to me though for my eyelashes because they did not come back on their own.

I just wanted to give a quick note to Kita and WarriorPrincess, I was 23 when I was diagnosed (turning 25 in April!) and I had a 4 month old baby. I found it breastfeeding. She is my only child and it was heartbreaking. But i know what you are going through! I had to put university on hold and am going back in September. As well I wanted another baby and was very upset when I went through chemopause. It took a while but my cycle did come back! Just last week! I was very excited because I want another baby soon after I graduate in 2012. It may take a while to get back to normal but it usually comes back! I understand how hard it is to go through treatment and have to take care of your children at the same time, and put your life and job on hold. I found it hard to relate to my girlfriends as well and still do at times, espeically since I was the first to get married and have a baby as well. Its hard to say, "no i can't just get up and go out tonight."

Also it was not fun to get the looks in the waiting room for treatment and the "your just a baby" comments. Also I had recently had some problems with PTSD and panic attacks. My onc prescribed some sleeping pills because I was having such bad anxiety and bolting up in my sleep but I didn't want to take them because I needed to be able to hear my daughter at night and be able to get up with her. I am having some issues with deciding when to have another baby. I have to graduate university.. (finally!!) but to be honest i just want my ovaries out. I am triple negative but my onc is still worried and wants to take them eventually and it scares the crap out of me that they are basically like a ticking time bomb of possible cancer.

I found it hard to find support with younger women with the same diagnosis as me in my area. There is a triple negative support group my mother and I are a part of but all the women are at least 20 years older then me. The youngest woman is 39. I'm not really sure who to turn to here. I had good days and some bad ones. Its hard not to think about it pretty much everyday. Its hard on my family as well because my mother was also diagnosed in 2003 and now myself in 2010. My sister is 22 and says she is just waiting for her diagnosis. It makes me very sad. Anyways I went through 6 rounds of chemo and 35 once daily treatments of radiation so if you have questions I can try and help.