MARCH 2010 Rads Group

I am 100% with you...I've been so tired, with no real "reason".  I've been through countless tests, showing nothing (which is good), but I would love to understand why I can't stay awake later than 8:30 or 9:00, when just a couple of years ago I would stay up until midnight or later with no problem.  It can't be a turning 50 thing, because I'm only 37...maybe it's just our bodies taking a break after a tough year?  

I'm trying to start back to exercising in an effort to increase my energy level, but it's really hard.  

Be gentle with yourself, and try not to be too scared.  Easier said than done, I know.

Big hugs to you! 

Happy Holidays everyone! I did my 1 year mammogram on Dec 17 and saw the surgeon the same day. She looked at the pictures and said it looked fine (though I had to wait for the written report by the radiologist in the mail). After her examination she said to come back in a year. YEA! On Dec. 23 I received the written report and the result was "NORMAL". I was so happy! Last year on the exact day I had my surgery, and now I am free! That was the best present I could ask for.

Anyway, I have been attending the "Cancer Connection" programs here on Gentle Yoga and Dance Movement. I do notice that I am weaker than before the treatment. For example, after cooking in the kitchen for 2 hours, my back hurts and legs shaking, but I sincerely believe that doing these exercises is helping, both mentally and physically. I will definitely keep this up.

Happy New Year to all you lovely women!  Here is hoping that 2011 is the best year for all of us!

Hugs to you all!  June

Sherri your hair looks fantastic!

Hi ladies,

Just an update. Got the all-clear on my January mammo and oncology exams. So happy to hear that news. I am being laid off at work (I think), so I am trying to put it all in perspective and remind myself that nothing compares to cancer diagnosis.... but still upset that despite having cancer and working through treatment, etc, I am being terminated at work! I guess it's just the way things go, and I need to learn to accept.

I too am sorry to hear the news......I don't wish that upon anyone as it is so hard to get any job nowadays......keep us posted as to what really happens, fingers crossed.....

I wish I got a clean report, so congrats to you...........I keep getting well there is a suspicious area we want to watch, however we feel it is benign.....I think next time I am going to insist on someone clarifying that for me as I feel I cant relax until i know things are good.....

Love the profile pic Sherri, you look beautiful!!!!

MariannaHB-congrats on the clear reports! I'm sorry to hear about your job stress-I hope it all works out for the better for you. 

One thing I have discovered, is after going through breast cancer, things that used to really stress me out don't seem to bother me as much anymore. I currently have a non-functioning downstairs toilet that is going to require major structural work to repair(picture jackhammering up my family room floor). In the past, I would have been worrying myself sick about how I was going to pay for it and how we were ever going to get it repaired. I still wonder where the money is going to come from, and I don't know when it's going to actually get fixed, but you know what? In the big scheme of things, it just doesn't matter!

Mary 

Wow, Marianna, I can't believe it's been a year.  Well, almost a year for me - I think I started towards the end of the month.

I'm so glad to have rads (and cancer!) behind me.  I love my life right now; it's even better than it was pre-cancer.  Money struggles are my biggest problem and ongoing, but other than that... I am enjoying my work, I'm super in love with my girlfriend of 6 months, and I'm healthy!  Just had my 6-month-check up with my surgeon yesterday, and it was great.  My MRI was normal.  I'm not having any problems with Tamoxifen.  I do have a bit of breast lymphedema from the radiation, but it's mild and it doesn't hurt, so I'm not too concerned.

Love to you all...sending you energy for good health!

hi all!  happy anniversary, well more like happy that here we all are, a year later and that stuff is mostly over.

MariannaHB, I am so sorry about the job situation but I am glad you are using the time to have  fun with your kids---mine would probably love me on an extended holiday as we all had so much fun on our holiday.

Sugar77 I am also being monitored on stuff so I know the nervousness that envokes.  Most days I am able to put it all aside and out of my head---my next appointment is in May---which I think is better than dwelling on it.  I hope you will let us know how things go for you.  The last time I went in, I did end up with a surgical biopsy but it was nothing.  I was told that once you have been diagnoised, they are SUPER SUPER overly cautious about anything that shows up so don't worry too much.

Raili  so nice to hear from you too!  Belated Happy Women's day!

Our Paris holiday was lovely but we are now so very broke.  I literally choked the first time I changed money and then gave myself a lecture on how I was there to have fun, how I deserved it and how I must let go of anxiety and enjoy myself.  And I did! 

Alas, I came back to a rather snippy colleague with a chip on her shoulder.  but I am proud to say that I did not just ignore and went to talk to supervisors and got it resolved ASAP.  I have come to believe that in many situations, while I thought I was just moving on, i was not letting go of stuff the way I thought but just burying feelings and issues inside where they festered and continued to stress me.  Plus in some cases, cr@p popped up months later in a bigger badder form. So I am changing my approach.  

I hope everyone is having a great spring ---I finished my "Official Spring Scarf" that I was knitting for myself and am wearing it so see, it MUST be Spring!  ---and that as things progress we keep in touch and continue the support for each other that started last March.

Hugs to all!

37 pages we've shared together over the past year and I see that now there's a March 2011 thread. As for me, so far so good physically, I do think about bc every single day and wrestle with keeping the fear under control. Thanks for going through the slam dunks with me.

Wow, a year has gone by??  It sure has been a wild one for me.  I guess I'm the tough news story with respect to radiation - it didn't do all I wanted it to.  At my 6-month checkup, more microcalcifications were found (they were always there, just really hard to image) and more DCIS was biopsied, and that pretty much meant that I had to have a mastectomy.  Bleech.. The odds are so slim that this would happen, I just got really, really unlucky.  I've come to accept that I had to do what I had to do but it sure wasn't much fun.  I did immediate reconstruction with a DIEP procedure - and life is now starting to settling back down although I'm still getting used to the stranger on my chest.  I thought I'd be so changed and beat down after all of this, but you know what.. I'm still me, thank goodness. 

And all through this last year I've had a major project in New Zealand -- the good news is that I could manage the travel to such a great place four times! (I'm just back from my last trip - it's summer there which is such a brilliant contrast to our drippy gray Seattle end of winter.) 

It's really good to hear from you all - we all seem to have had to deal with some difficult things even after the super-rough radiation period.  I think we're a pretty darn tough group.  Hugs to all.

Hey there mheffner3

We are happy to have you here on our thread but do note that we are the March 2010 women.  Everyone on this thread has finished their Zap Treatment last April or May so we are very good at telling you what to expect but may not be as strong or immediate on moral support for your daily zaps.  There is a different thread for March 2011 with women who are just starting.

As for the rest of us

Last night was one of Those Nights---the mega nightsweats sort of night with damp jammies etc.  I think it was because I forgot to take my drugs in the am and took them right before bed so as not to miss a day.  Anyrate, this morning when I mentioned the delight of being cold and clammy to DH, he said he knew as he had hugged me early in the am and I was disgustingly cold and damp but he hugged me anyway.  Guess he does not have mermaid fantasies. . . .

Hi all,

One year ago this month, I was finishing zaps.  I celebrated this year the same way I did last year--going to our family Zen retreat. 

Today I have my check-up mammogram--I am about 2 months overdue. I confess to being a bit tense and spending a couple months sailing on the river d'nile----when I did the first 6 month check-up back in September, I ended up with a suspicious area on the other boobie (the one I always thought was my Good WellBehaved Cancer-free Boobie).   After a surgical biopsy (like a lumpectomy but smaller)  I ended up fine but I now realize it scared the cr@p out of me and sent me straight for the cruise boat pretending there was nothing wrong and never had been anything wrong so there!  I bailed on my appointments, stopped taking my calcium and my Vit D, went back to staying up late and missing sleep and you name it.   Then a friend who was diagnoised with lung cancer just as I started rads in 2010 had a relapse and I realized I needed to get off my cruise.

so here I am getting ready to take my happy pill and do my scan.  Not expecting any news (last time bad boobie was practically perfect in every way, well except that squashing the scar tissue hurt like HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and this time I have lovely drugs.

Hugs to all and happy spring!

3monstmama-I hope all goes well for you.

My next mammo on the bad boob is in 2 weeks. I'm usually fine until after, when I'm sitting there in the private waiting area in my little cape, waiting for results. So far, every time, I've gotten my results in about 15 minutes, and all was well.

Fingers crossed for all of us!

Mary