Bottle 'o Tamoxifen
Comments
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Thanks PEG!
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Tink - Where have you been sweetie? I miss you too.
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Hi Jo.... was in DC all morning at doc appt... then grocery shopping then kids from school then doing the evening shuffle for my daughter to go to meeting at church... long day... feel like i am gonna burst out in tears any minute... yikes... between being overtired and bummed about pushing things off not a good combo I guess lol... but tomorrow will be better because I know it all works out for the best in the end...:)
maybe a little slumber pary tomorrow night
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Tink - You need a big hug!
Get to bed early and sleep. Tomorrow will be a much better day.
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Thanks Jo...and your right yes it will!!!! xoxo
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Chabba, would love to know the website name or bra name of those bras....sounds comfy.
On a completely different note- i have found out why i have been so damn exhausted these past few weeks....thought it was radiation fatigue..angry at my body for not moving with much energy....found out monday at 2am that it was not rads. I had a heart attack at 2am Monday...called 911 as i recognized the symptoms and was in having a medicated stint put in one hour or so later. Have had an echocradiogram since ...and am thrilled to say absolutely no damage was done to my heart muscle...was already used to the hospital johnny shirts so that made the visual less scary....being clamped to a table and then sandbagged for a few hours could have been scary except they injected me with valium first so i was obliviuos really....the entrance site at the groin does not hurt at all either...i just wanted you folks to know...please go and get your choesteroal checked. my blood pressure is at the low end of normal....choesterol is just a bit over high....but i was over 70% blocked in a main artery and i caused a blood clot....so....my focus has been on my left breast and coping.....I forgot that I have many other body parts and a family history that had a big fat arrow pointed at 'cholesterol' and heart disease....so now I am on tamoxifen and 6 other medications...hoping none of them give me side effects....
just needed to share. I arrived back home this afternoon..friends came to feed me and keep me entertained...other friends are coming to visit and stay a bit ...and i am going to work half days to start and see how I do. that might even be too much . We will see....
Thanks for all the lposided stories. I missed from Monday to thursay but I will try to go back and check it out. the nurse did tell me that the 'only 2 pounds' i have lost since DEcember is actually very good as she sees most gals gain 7-12 pounds in the first few months after tami so....just kee slowly and steadily moving it off....even maintaining mans we are winning as it really means we have warded off the tamoxifen! let's keep the stories coming.
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Sandeeonherown How horrible for you, I am so sorry....You must have been scared with all else you have had to go through! I am so glad that you have good people to take care of you......praying and thinking of you for a speedy recovery! Hugs!
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Sandee I am so sorry. I wondered where you were. I thought you were on one of your trips. I guess you were just not a fun one. So glad you recogniezed what was going on and got yourself to the hospital. I am on my way to the MO this morning and having my fasting cholesteral. I have family history of heart disease but so far I have always been good, but I keep a check on it. Glad you are bad home with friends taking care of you.
JUne-def get a new MO. I would keep my appt for Monday to get the results but ask and look around for another. I did that a month ago and have felt so much better about my decision. He listens and does not think I am crazy.
On a good note. I actually fell back asleep after my 3am hot flash, first time. I am usually awake after that and then have my 4am hot flash, but last night fell back asleep after both. So at least I can report in to my MO this morning.
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Sandee I am so sorry to hear this and glad you are okay!
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SANDEE..I am so sorry to hear that. I am glad that there is no damage, wow to add to everything else. Thank you for sharing with us and know you will be in my thoughts... rest up girl we have a slumber party to go to tonight!!!! higs to you!!!!
June will be thinking of you today hugs too!!!!
SANDY Glad youwere able to fall back aslep I bet that makes a difference. last night I broke down and took one of my xanax.. just been a rough week and neede the rest... help although even with that I wak up but I do manage to get back to sleep which does help.. have a great day too hugs!
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Thanks folks...yes, it was scary but I am good in a crisis(I bet we all are actually) and was very calm throughout the event (until the surgeon yelled at me "Don't move your legs" when I was on the operating table...I actually yelled back and said "Don't yell at me! I am scared enough as it is"...no idea where I go the guts to say that but honestly....freaked me out more than having them shave me (free Brazilian anyone?) and hold me down on a table. Guess they thought I was out of it enough that I would not move.....nope.Anyhow, no trip for me Sherry....I can't fly for 6-8 weeks and apparently my incurance won't cover me out of the country for 6 months. Have to check into that. So this afternoon's task will be to see if the travel visa I booked on will refund my money or hold it for me for another trip....don't get me wrong. I am grateful to be alive ....in a very different way than when I was diagnosed with BC...I 3was still mourning the loss of my 16 year relationship and was still stunned...I just jumped back into my life feet first...this time it is a very different feeling....no more living half assed (not that I do much...but I have had my heart in the past instead of right in the present where it belongs so....done!)
Sherry- so glad you got back to sleep. I have also found a cool, wet facecloth on my neck helps me fall alspee again if I wake up with a hot flash and I discovered in the hospital that if I wear my ipod with music on, it will also sooth me and help me fall asleep. I am going to put that hypnosos tape in the ipod and see how that works...if it works, I will send it to you via email. you could just pm me your email address.
June - yeah scared but it confirmed my odd wriggly feeling all week so in some ways I was prepared for it...odd. Glad to be home.
hugs to all!
S
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sandee - that must have been so scary! I'm so glad you have a cool head under pressure - I'm trying to teach my 21 year-old son that because he freaks out when something happens and just reacts rather than think things through for a second. But I don't think something like that can be taught - my ex-MIL does the same damn thing. Actually, she panics at every little thing. I think he inherited the "freak-out" mode from her because I've always been the go-to person in a crisis; he sure didn't learn this behavior from observing me. Now I worry about my young son going through life without learning how to be calm in a crisis. How can you teach something like that....maybe I should set him up in a series of escalating crises....no, just kidding!
Do you think your doctor is going to take you off Tamoxifen now? I know they worry about blood clots and Tamoxifen - I hope it's not related.
I'm sooooo sorry you can't go on your big trip - I was looking forward to it with you! I wanted to hear all about it! But this is just a delay, not a cancellation, so you will still get to do it. Hope you get all the associated paperwork straightened out. Take good care of yourself - I'm glad you have good friends you can depend on!
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Sandee - Wow! What a scare. So glad you are home and doing well. I do keep a close eye on my cholesterol levels. Just came back from the GP this morning and all is well with the numbers. He did change my medication and see if this one will work better with the Tamoxifen.
Sherry - Glad you were able to get back to sleep. I know you have been struggling with it.
June - Will be thinking about you today.
Have A Great Day Tamoxibabes!
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Sandee ~~ oh my, so glad you are now OK. Rest and take care of yourself.
Tink ~ sorry you cannot have your surgery just yet. Remember good things come to those that wait. (so they say)
June ~ grrr on your Dr. Good luck with the Ultrasound. I hope your tummy is feeling better.
Happy Friday everyone.
Alicia
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Tink I think Alicia nailed it on the head......Good things do come to those who wait. So be paient my friend and yell and scream any time you want, you know we will listen.
Well I am back from the US and the radiologist didn't want to see me, so that is good news. Not sure if that means they found nothing which would be my luck....(again, not that I want them to find anything more) but I don't want to go around feeling like that again. This was the 1st day of not taking Prilosec and my belly is now starting to hurt again, hmmmmm,......anyways, I called to switch to a women Doc where my MO is and they sounded like I was crazy for asking and they are telling me she will call me back.....WTH! It's not like I told them the truth that I just don't like my male doc, I did tell them I just thought I would be more comfortable with a women doc.....Anyways still waiting for the phone to ring.....
Miss all you ladies and we really need to plan a fun night out for Sandee big time........we will have her not thinking of all the BS she has been going through, just laughing her butt off, that's all!
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June - I think many of these docs are crazy! I had to slightly veer off from some complicated instructions and I know that doctor is going to go ballistic on me. You should have seen him snap the head off his nurse for not knocking before she entered the room with some information he told her to get. Ugh - dread calling him and explaining my detour, but as Scarlett says, I'll worry about that tomorrow - NOT! I'm putting it off until Monday, just so tired of dealing with doctors!
I was thinking about the Prilosec - the only time I had to take it was during chemo when they had me taking about 10 pills per day and it caused terrible abdominal pain for me. The MO told me to try Prilosec, but it did nothing. Then she gave me a prescription for AcipHex - it worked great! After chemo, I found my stomach would start hurting again if I took too many vitamins or supplements so I just quit all that and no more stomach pain. Maybe one of your docs could give you some AcipHex samples and you could see if that nips it in the bud! Apparently, all the pills (prescription or vitamins) were causing me to have GERD - I've never even had indigestion so I had no idea what GERD felt like, but tons of people have GERD and that prescription works like a charm.
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June - That is good news - the radiologist did not want to see you. I would ask for copy of the report just to have it. Hope you get to see the onc you want. It is so important that you are comfortable with your health care provider.
Stop working so hard and hang out with us more often. We have a saying where I work - "Life is too short, eat dessert first." Miss you my friend.
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Jo if you are cooking up you can count on me being there......miss you!!
Tonight is party nite gals....lets see who does what to embarrass themselves....
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Sandee I will PM you I would love to have a copy of that tape.
June-glad the radiologist did not want to see you. Maybe you can get that female MO instead.
As for my appt with the MO this morning. I told him I had cut the prilosec to once a day and seemed to be working for the neausea. He wants me to stay on the prilosec because it was so bad. He said the next couple of months he wants to cut down from daily to three times a week to twice a week then quit. If at anytime the neausea comes back we will do reglan again and back on prilosec and stay on it for the 5 years I am on tamox. I hope I am able to get off of it just because it would be one less pill to take, but it is better than the neausea. He quoted the % of people who have the neausea and it is low but usually it is pretty bad. He said also if you have any underlying gastritis then you have more problems and I have had a history of that in the past. He is kinda doubtful that I will be able to get off of the prilosec but wants me to give it a try. Also my tamoxifen metabolzing test came back that I am a very extensive metablizer so that could be why I have had such SE's, no one knows for sure but it kinda points in that direction. As for the sleep he wants me to give it some more time with the aide of sleeping pills to see if my body can adjust. He said he really did not want to put me on Effexor until we knew for sure that I could not adjust. He said once you start you will be on it for the next 5 years. So we agreed I would keep giving it a try unless I just get too sleep deprived weary. The news on the achy breast was not very good. He said we all have damage from surgery and radiation that causes scar tissue and fat necrosis that our bodies process differently. I already had pretty bad scar tissue from my lumpectomy 14 years ago. So he said he could feel the scar tissue and the fat necrosis and it was tender in certain spots when he did my exam. He said that when you have this it does not typically get better and go away. He said most people are able to live with the discomfort but if it gets to a point that it is too bad and I can't stand it then I will have to have it surgically removed. The tightness in the breast muscle is mostly caused by the radiation and he said that since I already do intense yoga twice a week plus a PT student in my yoga class gave me some stretching exercises to do that he felt that I would not get any more benefit at PT if I would keep at the stretching on my own. That is fine with me as I know the PT is always an option if I feel like I am not keeping it stretched enough. This is so strange to me as my surgical seroma healed pretty quickly. When they did my CT scan for my radiation boost they could not even find the seroma area. The past surgeries I have had I always heal quickly with no problems but for some reason this breast has given me problems since the first time around. I asked him if a mastecomy would help and he said no because I would still have scars and would probably have the same problems but with a mastecomy instead of lumpectomy. So lets hope it does not get worse and I can just learn to deal with it. The last couple of days have been better so I figure if it gets worse I can always schedule an appt with the BS and let her take a look at it as well.
So I have rambled on here long enough and my DH is out of town this weekend working on a spritural retreat so I am in for a cyber party tonight with you tammi gals. Maybe I can get some housecleaning done while I am at it.
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Dear June, Jo, Alicia, heart and soul....yeah....scary but I am very calm in a crisis, even when it is my crisis so that was a blessing (having ill parents from age 10, working in transition houses and with homeless youth likely helped me get there). Recognizing the symptoms was essential and being close to the hospital....likely why I have no damage to my heart...last weekend I was explaining to my girlfriend why I didn't think my moving to the Annapolis Valey (1.5 hour drive from the city) was a good idea...and part of my reasoning was hospital care and cancer...little did I know....but I am grateful and plan on thoroughly enjoying turning 49 tomorrow. Every day is a gift.
IAs for the trip...yeah..another time..it could have been sooooo much worse. I could have ben on a mountain top in Nepal wih no medical help and a 4 hour hike back to civilization....not good. Two of the three friends I was going to visit may be coming home to visit me instead and my best girlfriend/surrogate sister bought a ticket this morning and told me this afternoon "I will be there on Friday next week . period"...another is coming on Tuesday to spend part of next week wih me...and a party here tonight!? Well, what could be better!
Heartansoul- ah..so that was what the first cardiologist meant when he said they might need to reevaluate me on tamoxifen ..I told him there was nothing o re-evaluate...it is my only option at this point....though he admitted he knew nothing about breast cancer drugs....I wasn't thinking about blood clots...migh not be an issue now I am on blood thinners and cholesterol drugs....god...another thing to think about ....ah well...I have a GP appointment Monday.
June - You deserve to feel safe and comfortable with your doctor...man or woman...it does not matter if the nurses or receptionists understand your need or not. You have the right to feel safe and vulnerable....in a good way. Doesn't sound like you feel that way with the current fellow.
Heart and soul- yeah..hard to teach someone how to be calm in a crisis....some people just aren't.....maybe role playing would help? or at least education (CPr training etc) so tha if there is a crisis, training wil take over as opposed to panic?
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Sandee I did not realize we are the same age. I'll be 49 in June. You are so young to have had a heart attach. So glad you got to the hospital so quickly. Also glad your friends are coming to see you. My gal pals always make me laugh and take my mind off of things.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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We could get really silly with a pillow fight tonight!!!!!!!!!!
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SherryI am so glad that you have a great MO that talks and explains everything to you.....Prilosec for 5 years, yuck! I am like you I prefer not to be on anything else, but heck if it is going to make someone feel better than I am all for it. I on the other hand had my US this morning so I could not take my prilosec and I suffered this afternoon. I feel like I did last week when it was at it's worst. So the doc prescribed something stronger and now my insurance is rejecting it so I sent my DH to her office to get me some samples of Protonix, so will see what that does....
Sandee I must say you are one strong lady!!!
Tink, Jo, Sandee, ECG, Dawney. Sherry, Heartnsoul, Alicia and whomever else I missed party tonight on the Tami train...... I am buying.....
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Oh girls, I think a party is definately in order ! Sounds like it has been a rough day for many of you. Hubby is away and I am playing Crazy Taxi driving the kids where they need to be. Off to lacrosse practice now ~ But I will be back with my feather pillow for the pillow fight and party hat ON !
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Count me in! Going out to dinner but will be back later.
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ok pillow fights in a couple of hours.
Sherry- yeah...my dad had his first at 46 or 48..don't recall..but he was a smoker and drinker and worked and played HARD.salt was his only condiment...not my lifestyle at all...thought I was doing all I could to stay safe but you can't fight genetics apparently so hopefully these meds will stop it in its tracks....
about the boob pain...I massage my breast every day ...my radiologist said that would help as it healed and help with scar tissue etc....so sorry you have had such lousy news today. Red wine??
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yes please count me in too... I just got back from my FIL and he was diagnosed with prostrate cancer.. he meets with the doc Wed to go over his options.... oh boy it doesnt end.
June I am so glad that all looked well today that is good news and I hope your tummt continues to feel better...
Alicia I think your right all things in time. I feel better about it today... I know in my heart he is right and I shouldnt be putting any more stress on my body right now... thanks!!
oh yes ladies big time party tonight... love the pillow fight picture!
Hugs to all my tammyladies!!!!
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Tink- so sorry about your FIL...My dad had prostate cancer and they were able to give him a needle in the tummy once a month and shrink it down to nothing! .and htat was 15 years ago so I will keep my fingers crossed that the solution is even simpler for your Fil!
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Woohoo!! Getting my pillow ready!!
Tink, my dad had prostate cancer also, but his was very fast growing and was not curable but they were able to treat him for a few years before the meds stopped working. If caught soon it is a very treatable cancer. Hope he does well on treatment!!
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