MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Janis.. (((hugs)))... praying for a speedy recovery for you.. putting this all behind you..

OMG lisamarie and janis!!! You both have had such horrendous experiences!! I can relate!!

When I had my thyroid out, the night nurse took out my IV and left the room, never to be seen again. I was reading and happened to look over and saw blood running down the back of my hand (IV was in back of hand), deep, red blood. Blood I probably needed; now pooling in my bent elbow. I pressed the buzzer and then put a pad of my gown onto the site and pressed down hard to stop the bleeding. No one came!! Didn't they used to call through the intercom "Whadya WAAAANT??" Nothing. So I know so much how you felt!! I finally made my way down the hall to ask for a bandaid. Made to feel like I was interrupting their chat!!! They WERE going to make me wait for "my" nurse, but I shamed them into giving me a friggin' bandaid so I could put it on myself!!

HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN TO THE PUP ..

hope everyone has a great day , I am off to my post op visit with BS at 1 :30 pm .. hugs to ya ll  

I worked yesterday which helped take my mind off all of my crap and then had my hair done, that always helps me to feel better. I came home and took some Xanax and slept for 12 hours. That was absolutely wonderful.

Elimar- I thought about what you said about the whole staging thing and you are right. There are so many who only think they have one or two positive nodes because there docs don't take any more like mine did. They are then considered stage 2 when in reality could be stage IIIc like me. I really don't stress over the stage now, but it's the dam nodes like you said. I am going to call my reg doc and get the referral to DF like she said she would do.

Welcome midnight1327- these ladies are Angels.

I have a question for everyone regarding node involement? I am looking at all the diagnosis after your posts- An am seeing 0/2-2/2 and Diana's 17/17. The question I have, did any of you have neoadjunctive chemo? My sentinal node was 2/2- then after chemo they took 24 during surgery and those were clear.. I am 3b and was just trying to understand if it was the chemo that stopped the cancer from going any farther-thus the 0/24 after?

Lory--it's not possible to know for sure if the chemo stopped the cancer from spreading past the sentinel nodes or if the sentinel nodes were doing their job well and stopped the cancer there.  Neoadjuvent chemo is given to (1) determine if the cancer will respond to those specific chemo drugs and (2) to reduce the tumor size so that lumpectomy is an option.  That chemo also circulates through the entire body and can attack any free floating cancer cells (especially those in the blood stream) is a bonus. 

Hi All,

This is my first post on this thread as I am looking to find the group I can most relate to. I am 63 and was diagnosed as Stage IV. I have bone mets which is actually how my cancer was discovered (the pain and it broke through the skin by the rib bone). Other than that I feel absolutely great. That said, I think my treatment options are more limited. I am ER+ so was recently started on Arimidex (1 mo ago). I was uninsured at diagnosis in Nov. so it took me a couple months to get insurance in place which I was able to find through the pre-existing insurance plan. In the interim I started the Budwig Diet Plan which I had researched on the internet and is an alternative treatment. The good thing about that is that I have lost 30 lbs and am eating healthy fruits, nuts and veggies. No sugar is allowed so I am also off that. It is well documented that sugar feeds the cancer. Interestingly when my onc had me go for a PET Scan for a baseline, I felt the rib bone pain again for a day or so (it is the cancer's rapid metabolism of the infused sugar solution which shows the areas of cancer on the scan) until the sugar was out of my system again.  I have noticed only minor side affects so far of the Arimidex, a little joint stiffness until I get mysef moving and sometimes I feel tired for no reason but not always so it may not be the Arimidex. Are there others here who are diagnosed late stage and whose only treatment is Arimidex or another similar treatment?

An aside note to Lisa Marie, sorry to hear of your ordeal but it will get better. I noticed your post because of the Eastport NY which I think is near Rochester. (I lived in Lockport NY for 20 years). Anyway, a mo after my diagnosis, my first cousin was also diagnosed and chose the double mastectomy route and was in terrible pain for the first couple of weeks. The doctors kept telling her it was normal until she landed back in the hospital where they discovered she had an infection from the operation. They put in a port for the anti-biotics and now she is finally doing well and has just been told she will not have chemo or radiation but will be only having to take a pill. (I am assuming this is Arimidex or the like - she does not ask as many questions as I do and is in another state). So hang in there LisaMarie and never be afraid to trust your own instincts when it comes to pain, you should not have to suffer.

I was not on this weekend and had to read several pages.  Now I can't remember what I read.

Diana-do get a second or third opinion.

I went to the endocrinologist last week and he ran all my adrenal and hormone test.  Six months ago I was pre menopausal and no where close to being in menopause this time I was post menopausal. Can't believe I went from one extreme to the other in 6 months.  I told DH my birthdays have never bothered me but something about being post menopausal does.  IDK, anyway I see my MO on Friday so will bring it up to him.  I was off my tamox for 6 weeks while I had my BMX and just started back on it a week ago.  I had so many SE's the first time around but so far this time my SE's have been pretty minimal.  So I think I shouldn't rock the boat for awhile.   My BMX was 6 weeks ago and I feel great, I don't even notice the TE's anymore.

Janis and I think Lisa can't believe what bad experience you had in the hospital.  I had such a great experience.  The hospital put a new call system in and it is through the phone system and all the nurses and aids carry cordless phones and at the beginning of the shift they write their name and numbers on the white board in the room.  So every time I needed them I called they answered and even if they were with someone else I never knew it they were so attentive. Never once used the old call system.

Lory, I had neoadjuvant chemo as well. Although the main tumor responded well to the chemo, I did not have a 100% path response. At the time of surgery, there were still live cancer cells in 7 nodes, as well as in the breast.

Hi all.  I have a question out there for any BRCA+ moms out there.  If there are any who have daughters that have been tested or thinking about getting tested, I could really use your imput.  I really need to know what to expect from a genetic counsler.  Thanks!

Midnight -- check out the abbreviations for newbies forum. It will answer all your questions. DX stands for diagnosis and bmx is bilateral mastectomy.