February 2011 chemo pals

Oh, Jenn - I have no insightful words or any experience with this.  Have you had a u/s or anything?  Could they be enlarged due to cysts?

JENN, wow, sorry to hear about this rough patch in the road.  However, becuz the doc found this in your faithful yearly exam, this usually means if you have cancer of the ovaries, it will have been caught "early," and that is THE way to defeat that particular cancer.  If it turns out something is very wrong, they will surgically remove them and you will likely go thru chemo again.  But I just have a feeling that because you have just had all the treatments for breast cancer, I am hoping the swelling is from perhaps benign cysts, also very common in women, much more common than cancer.  Your doc was worried because you just had breast cancer, and knew the chance was real that it may have popped up elsewhere.

As for hilarity, I WILL tell you how I talked myself out of worrying over cancer returning or spreading, it was the only way I could live with it.  I was overweight when I started chemo.  Lost 35 pounds, just like that.  I cannot remember how your weight was, becuz some do gain, but I told myself, if they said it's gonna be more chemo, I'd say, "Bring it on, I need to lose another 35 pounds!"  Smile.  GG

Yay Mama!!

GG: yes, sadly I thought about the weight think too, Whatever they take out has to weigh something right? Ha, always looking for the silver lining!

K: Just finished rads two weeks ago and got got my scrip for Tamox so haven't started yet...

He didn't seem to think it was cysts, the only other thing he could offer was perhaps aninfection, but it didn't seem likely (he didn't look too good while seeing all this on the ultrasound, you know?)...I keep hoping maybe it's some weird infection or cyst build up that came from all those poisons going into the body.

If it is cancer I'm not sure what would be worse, mestatic (sp?) BC or Ovarian, they are both bad news...

Thanks pejkug...we've been with each other from the very beginning and I know we will be with each other for a long long while yet!!!

Concerned Jenn - please update when you can.  You're right, we've been in this together from the beginning and I'm saying special prayers for you tonight.  <hug>

JENN, we're here for when you find out what's going on... I'm thinking you were going to get tested yesterday.  As for which is worse, I would say mets, becuz that includes the brain, which is not the end of the world, but gee whiz, rads on my head?  Will my face turn purple?  But ovarian, used to be scary, but now they do very well with early stages, an advantage they didn't have before since it was symptom-free and hi-tech scans not available.  See, in the old days, they could not find it early enough.  But with you, there is no question it just arrived, since you've just been thru every exam imaginable for cancer anywhere in your body virtue of breast cancer checks.  As for spreading in general, if they go and stage you, my brother's 17-yr-old son had bone cancer, it spread to his lungs, many ops, they scanned him into eternity for ages to look for more, chemo for a year, and today he's a happy late-20s man, very smart, same good fellow.

MAMAV, glad you mentioned the bit about wigs perhaps preventing good hair growth.  I was either going to get extensions (pulls on hair) or wear wig full-time (smothers hair), but I guess until it grows out, I'll just take my real hair that I saved, have it sewn into a wonderous hat, for my public appearances.  Smile.  GG

Thanks for all the concern my friends, this is why this was the first place I came...really needed you!! They did do a CA-125 and it was elevated, but my onc said that was to be expected anyway. She says she is "optimistic" it is cysts...They made me an appt. for next Wed. to go to Roswell (which is where I had my mastectomy). My Gyn says, "no, no, no, you need to be seen immediately" and makes an appt for Fri at Sisters Hospital in Buffalo. So then my onc says, "no, no, no, you should not go to this Dr., he is from the stone ages and thinks he is God"  WOW!!! Why do I feel as if I'm in the middle of a tug-o-war?! My Gyn is not an onc so I don't think he knows as much about cancer, my onc is not a gyn so she may not know as much about my ovaries  (however I am thinking right now she should know a little more)...I am VERY conflicted right now...I think the plan is right now to just keep both appts. Whew!! The craziness...will let you know when I hear anything...thanks as alwaus for being here all of you!

Jenn!  I was just getting ready to send you a PM.  Glad you posted!

I'm sorry you're in a tug-of-war!  I told my DH that specialists tend to have "tunnel vision"...they cannot see anything other than their specialty.  I suppose that's good since no one can be good at everything, but it sure makes for a lot of appts when you need to nail down an issue!

Still saying prayers on your behalf.  Thanks for updating.

Jenn - I am hoping your MO is correct about this being cysts, we are all hoping that.  Please kept us posted on what you are being told by the assorted docs you are seeing.

mel - I didn't have rads but I know that dragonfly is also having some shoulder pain that seems to be from rads.  Such a bummer to have that happen when you think you are done!  I also wonder if AI's or tamoxifen makes it more sore on the rads area.  Femara made my neuropathic feet really sore at first.  Now that the numbness seems to be going away it isn't as bad, although the first 5 minutes of walking around after sleeping or sitting is painful.  Man, I sound like such an old lady!

Jenn Hope you get good news and have cysts and not anything more concerning-please keep us posted.

Melanie_Ann I ended up with terrible pain in my shoulder 2 weeks ago and it was so bad they did an MRI. I still have tightness, pain when I sleep and some loss of range of motion. Verdict: frozen shoulder which has been caused by a combination of surgery and Rads and is somewhat common in those who have been through BC treatment. I'm taking a prescription anti-inflammatory temporarily and will be attending physical therapy to restore my range of motion and get rid of the pain and then they say I can do home exercises to keep working on it. The Ortho said there is something called shoulder "impingement" that is also common in BC patients. Seems to me that we should all be getting some physical therapy as part of our treatment to prevent this from happening. Since you aren't getting any better I'm wondering if you should be referred to some short term physical therapy? As for the eyebrows, I have exactly the same issue-they are not growing at all. They thinned during TCH and then just stopped after chemo and have done absolutely nothing ever since. I still have to fill them in-very weird. My eyelashes fell out 5 weeks PFC and then grew back without any problem.  

Wow! So my saga continues...I went to see the Dr. that my Gyn referred me to today in Buffalo (Sister;s Hospital). It is looking like ovarian cancer. There is a glimmer of possibility tha it could be endrometriosis, worst case scenario would be mastasticized BC. Although I guess if its ovarian at late stage that's really no better. He set me up for surgery next Thur. My appt at Roswell (where my onc referred me) is for next Wed. I am really thinking I would rather have the surgery at Roswell, but don't want to wait either! I am very conflicted. This Sister's Dr. is a big deal, he's been on the Today Show and seems to be all that (but he's like 70 years old), the Dr. at Roswell is head of that dept. he seems to have some good background as well, maybe not quite as much, but he hasn't been doing it for 40 years either...oh what to do!

Jenn - You have no idea how sad your new information makes me.  I'm hanging on to that glimmer of hope that it is NOT ovarian cancer.  Or cancer at all.

I don't know what I would do in your shoes regarding choosing a facility/doctor.  Could you go to the appt. on Wednesday and see how far out they would schedule surgery?  It could also serve as a second opinion of sorts and you could get another doctor's opinion and insight.

I'm so sorry you didn't get better news.  You haven't been far from my thoughts and prayers.  <hug>

jenn - what is the surgery that they scheduled you for?  Complete hyst?  It seems weird to me that they would think mets BC or ovarian if you just went through chemo - unless your chemo was one that is ineffective against ovarian.  When I googled it seems as though they use some of the same chemos for both BC and ovarian. I am so hoping for endometriosis for you, holding onto that glimmer you mentioned.  Sending you strength, please know that.

JENN, just my opinion, I'd go ahead and go to the scheduled operation.  As for being 70, I just met a man the other day who is 76, he looks like he's in his 60s, really nice-looking (I'm 60), and he was perfectly intelligent, well-dressed, and I liked him.  Keep in mind this doc at Buffalo will have a younger surgeon in there with him, and also the good idea that the sooner you get that thing straight, the better.  As for Roswell, if your appointment to see him is the day before surgery, unless it's a short drive, you may wish to cancel or postpone.  But that's just me.  My two cents.

CHARLOTTE, about getting your port removed, I still have mine and I just finished rads (YAY!), and when I see my cancer surgeon at the cancer clinic in two weeks, my understanding is he can remove it right there in his office.  So, I'm wondering if yours was removed in that fashion?  Or how did it go for you?  At one point whilst in rads, one of the nurses performed a "mini operation" right in a doc office at the hospital rads dept, and she made my port area sterile and put blue cloths, and she cleaned it out for me (apparently my kind needs cleaning once in a while).  She had on a mask, etc.

ALL, yesterday was my last rads.  I cried as I left.  And last night I was completely relaxed and happy like I've not been for ages.  And the funny thing is, the very FIRST thought in my head when I woke up this Sat morning went straight to, "I don't have to go anywhere today."  I am SO happy.  But talk about tired!  Those last five boost, each one made me more tired than the one before.  I'm spent, weak, but my mind and emotions are fine.  Just my body feels like a jelly fish. 

Oh, and a funny, when the nurse looked at my skin yesterday, she said, "It looks fine."  She gave me some aftercare instructs, a graduation paper, and I went home.  I always go straight to the necessary room and put on my prescript lotion.  Well, I pulled off my shirt, and looked at my burn in the mirror, and I just laffed and laffed.  My skin looked like a Kimono Dragon's skin, dark purple with red lava underneath.  I said to myself, about the nurse's judgment, "Yeah, right, looks great."  Hahaha.  GG