2011 Sisters

Duckyb1 - so happy for you!

lilylady.........silia........you ladies.............other then my wonderful family are the reason I made it to where i have......To have people who don't know you, who have never met you, hope, pray, and be happy for you is beyone words...........I just wish all the ladies on the forum could receive the same news I did............Cancer scares the ;hell ;out of me in any form...........so the news that I had become a victim, was more then I could handle......Losing my husband 19 years ago, at the age of 57, being alone, and on my own all those years gave me a strength and independence I never knew I had.........Of course I had my children, and grandchildren, but how much can you put on them at the time.......they had lives, and also were trying to adjust to the loss of their father, so was I gonna burden them with my grief......I did all I could not too.  So some things do make you stronger, and again 1 months ago I faced another horror................`People said to me "stop going on that website",.....why are you reading and talking about things that may never happen to you"............stop putting your business in the street.............By the time I was done and out of surgery I had many of my "do gooders" saying.........."hey go on that website and ask the ladies what "that" means............Funny isn't it how the "worm" turns.............I go to the BS on Tuesday, and I'm sure this is much he has to talk about..........All my news so far has been good and all path;ology is in..........other then the oncotype test........that will take longer he said about 10/14 days , but he expects that to be good too..................

Well ladies it is a beautiful Sunday morning in, Drexel Hill, Pa........the sun is shining, Spring is here, and we are on our way to a new beginning..............And my new baby great-grandaughter, is coming home from Children's Hospital today..........the first time with us since she was born, and rushed there for problems...........My son, and her got good news too...........after 11 days at CHOP, they have found every test negative, and her outcome positive......God is good.

 I am new to this and find I don't know where I fit in. I have read many posts in different threads and see some who have had lumpectomies, mastectomies, some have chemo, some have not...I feel confused. It is suggested to me by my oncologist that I have chemo I have IDC 2.2cm, that it is grade 2, ER pos, nothing about PR or the other. I had SNB with neg nodes and clear margins. i was expecting only radiation plus AI for 5 years I see women it seems with less than I have mastectomies and chemo...am I missing something as I feel chemo is overkill in my situation...please any help here would be  greatly appreciated

Oh sweet angel I am so sorry to hear this, big breath girl friend, this wont be an easy road but you will have all of us to lean on for support and there are lots of really positive stories out there.Treattment is better, you can and will fight this beast. I will PM you with my personal info

tns:  Welcome to the "club"!  Sounds like your surgery is already underway or perhaps already done.  I hope it all went well.  Please keep us updated and if you have questions ask away!  If you're not sure if there's a specific thread here for your interests there is a search box at the top of the page or you can simply come here and ask.  The is an all-purpose thread for those of us newly diagnosed and/or continuing our journey in 2011.

Take care!

Sweetangel, I am from the Calgary area.  I have just finished my chemo .  If you have any questions or just want to talk I'm here for you.  I will PM my info.

Christine 

Just a hello to all ... I've been down for a while and I am almost up and running ... It's amazing how often I think of everyone here ... and it really does get me through.

wow this a quite board whats up ladies guess we are busy posting in other areas but just in case wanted to say Hi to you all, hope you are having a lovely sunday full of cancer free thoughts

Hugs Kymn

On February 24th I was diagnosed with IDC in my right breast and on March 18th I was diagnosed with IDC in my left breast. I am trying to keep my spirits up and will be having a double masectomy with reconstruction on April 21st but have to say the surgery and the prospect of it spreading has me scared.  I do not have a lot of cancer in my large family and never thought this would be one of the issues I would face.  My son is getting married April 9th and the doctors have said I could wait till after the waiting but I have to tell you - all this waiting is driving me out of my mind.  I have been getting a lot of scans and mri's done since I am doing the surgery a little later but I am in knots waiting to know the results..  Have several friends in one stage or another and sometimes this helps and sometimes they scare me to death.  My husband and sons are very scared and my husband tends to talk about worst case scenio and I cannot figure out why.  I believe I will get through this and be fine but the getting there is a rough ride.

Justeasin - Waiting sucks ... and you have to tell you DH (dear husband) about how you feel with what he is saying.  At least have a conversation about it.  When this all first started for me, I thought my DH was the most selfish and un-understanding man (seriously) and ... I am eating my words now ... he has become a man like I never knew he could be - so strong and supportive and caring ... so hang in there!  This journey, believe it or not, does get better. 

These boards, the women here, are the most amazing and understanding people you will ever come across.   Stay here - visit often - ask and tell eveeything.  There are no boundaries.  These discussion boards are literally one of the best things that has happened to me ... and I have friendships that mean so much ... when you need "something", try these discussion boards first. 

One step at a time ... HUGS!

Justteasin.................I came here for the first time on February 15th after returning home from what I thought was just the routine "redo" of my Feb. 14th Mammogram...........Well my life changed that day when the BS said "I do believe this mass we see is malignant..........he couldn't feel it...........he couldn't even find it, but looking at the ultrasound he said "see the starburst, that tells me this is malignant"..........I was alone.........why wouldn't I be.........this was a routine repeat........I had it done before.........nothing ever came out of it, and I considered it a huge waste of time just getting called back.............Not this time......and that was the day my whole life changed..........I had no husband.......he died 19 years ago of Pancreatic cancer, but thank God I had my 6 children, and 18 grandchildren who were my saviors.........The support, love, and constant side by side companionship was tremendous.............I never felt so loved..........The waiting was horrible........however my BS had everything done in 1 month.... Each day I saw someone different.........Onc, Rad., Onc, Biopsy, and the surgery.............I was fortunate, as I hope you will be too.....................My BS was right about the mass being malignant.......but he misjudged the size (although he told me it could be bigger or smaller)............It was smaller..  He thought about 2-2.5 cm, but it was only 1.1cm..............that was wonderful news.........I will be starting radiation as soon as my surgery heals.  Not sure how that will go, because I am  not a spring chicken (75), but I am going to try to stay positive...

You could not be in a better place then right here on this website.......I found comfort, compassion, information no matter what time of the day .........These women are from around the world, each with their own story to tell.....................Visit often, pour your heart out....I could not have done this without them.........Stay positive, and remember..........you have cancer, it does not have you................I lived by that until after my surgery, and I was finally rid of the Beast...........Now I say "I had cancer, it did not have me............hugs to you...

Hi justeasin1114

I'm so sorry that this has happened to you, and I know how you must feel. Cancer seems to be the most inconsiderate of diseases with the worst timing in the world! My fiancé and I were going to get married and go for our honeymoon in a week and I had to cancel everything which was devastating, but we got through it! It has been 6 weeks since my BMX and I've had 1 chemo session and I feel perfectly fine. The surgery wasn't fun, but with the support of my family and some good pain management it was bearable and now feels like it happened a million years ago. I went to a Biokineticist 3 weeks after surgery and she gave me some great exercises & stretches to do to get my mobility back and that really helped make me feel normal again. 

Just remember that your doctors are experts in these matters and they wouldn't put of surgery if they felt that it would put you in danger, but I know it's hard to not worry. Try to restrict your intake of cancer-related info. I found that too much info made me feel worse. When you do have questions, I found this website very helpful: www.macmillan.org.uk. They list topics from talking to your family/employer/child to what foods to eat and more. The information is also not too overwhelming. 

Good luck with everything. I'll be thinking of you! 

Raven2011 - Poor Girl, another young one. I live in Halifax and I had no problems at all getting a MRI in Nova Scotia, so I cannot imagine you having a problem in Calgary. I know how you feel. It seemed to me that each appt I had, the news were worst and worst. I finally had a double mastectomy with immediate reconstructions. These days, reconstruction work is amazing. Courage girl, we are all here and lots of us have experienced what you are going thru. This is a great site. Hug.

Hi pp729 - 

Think it's great you're researching for your mom and thought I'd share my situation.  I am having chemo currently (AC x 4 then T x 4) and then will have surgery.  Originally expected the reverse but when I met the onc, he recommended doing things in this order.  His explanation was that there was a study in 2003 where they were trying to figure out if pre-operative chemo would reduce the likelihood of recurrence.  (you can look it up at ascopubs.org - pre-operative chemo for breast cancer: lessons learned and future prospects.)  They found that it does not impact that BUT those that had chemo pre-operatively who ended up having a recurrence had an "extended disease-free interval".  So while he and I are hoping I don't ever have a recurrence, if I do it should be further into the future...  I was really thrown for a loop when I met with the onc on Feb 25 and we shifted from surgery to chemo first.  In hindsight I think it's been a blessing.  I would have already had my surgery and would have been a Mx of the R breast.  Now that I've had more time to consider things, I'm strongly leaning towards bilateral Mx (am 99% there...) because I want to reduce my chances of ever having to revisit this process and having endless stress every 6 months when my L breast needs alternating MRI/ mammos.  I will also say that my BS and onc have a similar approach which is focused on hitting my cancer with everything in the arsenal because I'm 48 and they want me to deal with this and never have to deal with it again.  Some with the chemo first are able to do lumpectomy vs. Mx.  That's not my case.  Since I have 2 masses in 2 quadrants on the R breast, Mx is what's being recommended.  Hope this input helps.  We each have to weigh our own options and I think having your mom have a lot of faith in her medical team is a huge piece of the puzzle.  Best wishes to both of you.

Haven't been on in awhile, I guess just a little depressed over this whole thing. The long wait is finally over and my surgery is scheduled for Friday morning. I am having a bilateral mastectomy done, with recon.. One more doctors visit tomorrow for die injections and then Friday maybe some kind of relief.