Calling all TNs

Morning Ladies,

CS?  I usually wake up to one of your posts.  Where are you?  Hope everything is ok.

Lovely, I may have missed it but I think your thyroid biopsy is today, good luck and it will be b9!!

Had to have my bloodwork done last week for my 3 month onc appt coming up in a couple of weeks.  Anxiety started the second I left the building.  I hate this.  I have to pick up my xanax script too and won't get a chance until tomorrow morning. 

I'll need to post a pic eventually but I have a window in my tiny little cubicle.  My view is the back yard with a pond filled with geese & ducks and a very large wooded area behind it.  Yesterday morning a deer and her fawn came out of the wooded area to frolic around the pond!  It was absolutely adorable.  It's the second time I've seen deer but not the fawn.  While I was getting my tea the other day I glanced out the window and there was ground hog right there!  I'm so happy to be home!

Aha..edit button let me fix the size of tumor..I can still do something right!!! LOL..chemo brain ya know...

Doris: Welcome, you'll make lots of wonderful friends here.

Lovely: Is your friend on hormone therapy?... because I know that aromotose inhibitors definitely can cause hair thinning and weakness. I'm not sure what can be done about it. Maybe biotin, but she should check with her doc first. My sister deals with the same thing, only consolation (such as it is) is that she'll be done the treatment next year. 

Jan: Since you were diagnosed post-menopause and there's no family history, I can see that you wouldn't qualify for BRCA testing as the odds of a + result would be extraordinarily small. It is an expensive test and it makes sense that our medical system rationalizes use of service based on evidence-based risk.  

Hope everyone has a great day. 

Tazzy - check out DIEP reconstruction.  There are lots of threads on this topic, and plenty of info on the internet.  You probably can't do an implant on your MX/radiated side as there is a higher risk of failure.  Just a thought...

Tazzy - I was advised to wait six months after rads for DIEP.  I think it depends on the surgeon, to be honest.  I was scheduled to have DIEP on 7/23 which is just over the six month mark.  Of course, that's off the table for now.    But there is still hope for recon if I can get to NED.  And I would still want to have DIEP. 

Ka2nich - we try to laugh often in this thread.



Jan69 - I'm so sorry about your friend.  Thank you for the info on Dr. Love, I went to her site to check the news.  Just so unfair. BRACA testing is also been very frustrating for me. It's been 2 months and I can't even get the paperwork from the insurance company that I need to file the appeal. I have a Case Manager, and even she is getting ticked off. The good news is because of the screw up, it isn't delaying my decisions on treatment.



Rachelvk - I hear you on the salads.  What used to really kill me when I was on chemo, was that the cafeteria at Dana-Farber has a really great salad bar.  I used to walk by and growl at it!



Phgraham - "I did ask the nurse if there was ever any screaming, crying or barfing...she said no. ". Now that is a perfect reason why I should never be a chemo nurse. I would have looked at you with a big grin and told you, "we tell all the staff never to do that, it really scares the hell out of patients". ;-)





OBXK - glad you had a great time, except for the bear scare. I don't have the problem with the base because I had LX, but I did have one that made me laugh. We went out to hear a band, and every time I clapped I had an odd feeling on the LX side. Took me a few times to figure out, that because it was smaller it was waggling back and forth in the bra cup every time I clapped. I hope the band appreciated that my boob was also

Clapping for them. (my girlfriends had a good laugh when I explained to them why I kept laughing)



Lovely - good luck if your biopsy is today. I second the Biotin, but I also used a hair thickening product when my hair came in. The one I used came from a local source, but I know there is one by Ovation Stem Cell therapy online, and one by Nizoral (?sp) that can be bought in department stores. I think it made a difference.



Linali - thank you, we'll be looking forward to any tips you get.



Heather - glad you have such wonderful scenery to relax you. Add some Xanax to that, and hopefully you'll get through the awful waiting.



DorisMarie - welcome to the group. I think you'll find many of us don't fit the profile demographics of this disease. I'm glad you don't have to

work during tx. I truly believe it made the most positive difference for me. I am always astonished and in awe of the women who work thru tx.



Tazzy - don't know about reconstruction,, but the did tell me to wait at least a year for breast reduction. Like I said before I'm waiting because of Mom, but also because I'm a realist. I want some time to see if the beast stays away. I don't know how it works where you are, but federal law here allows us up to 5 years to have reconstructive work. Practicing my happy dance for you!



Cocker - worried about you and hoping you're okay.

The genetics counselor at Dana Farber handled the BRCA test insurance issue for me.  I don't have any BC on either side of my family, although my dad had no female siblings.  I was over 60 when I was diagnosed so I didn't think that Anthem BCBS would cover the test (I think under 60 with TN and no history was their published guideline), but they did.  They didn't go all the way - I could have paid for additional testing to see if it was a gene of unknown origin.  But I let it go when it came back BRCA negative on the basics. 

Doris Marie  Yes, there are those of us with TNBC who do not fit the profile.  I was 67, and less than 2 months after routine mammogrgam, my cancer popped up without warning.  I thought all of my cancer story was rare until I found this site a few months ago.  I was astonished that most women worked through chemo and rads.  I was way too weak to go anywhere, but I was retired and didn't have to.  Best wishes as you go forward with your treatment.

Cocker...please check in ...your silence makes me antsy!!  Look forward to your daily posts. 

Got all my info turned into the PS that I am pretty sure I will go to.  Will know once we do a consult but she seems to be exactly what I need for recon and LE surgery.  She is Dr Marga Massey and she also does a lymph node transfer surgery that may wipe out my LE for good!!!  Just gotta see what the insurance says about traveling over state lines for this specialized surgery.

Maggie

Kathyrnn - perhaps we are, to some degree.  Most of my medical treatment and assistance happens at the DF in Londonderry, NH.  Do you get everything at the main center in Boston? 

BernieEllen - that's awesome!!!

Good Morning Ladies. I'm still around. It's 11am and I'm still in my dressing gown.

Welcome to all the new ladies. 

I got a bit bamboozled yesterday with all the different abbreviations and I didn't know what the hell everybody was talking about. What is a DIEP.  And what is it when a lady talks about a TE Fill.  I certainly will have to go to America you know just to learn how to speak properly.

On top of that I can't type very well. My hand on the BC side is swollen a bit and all my fingers are numb.  Just what I need.  On top of that I still have my boil, dratted little bugger won't go.  It's better but the core hasn't come out yet and it has to doesn't it?? All my fingernails have gone flat and funny but apart from that everything  in the garden is rosy, so to speak.   I could be in a bad way you know lol.  

Heather - what a wonderful place you live in.  The scenery must be so beautiful. Add a wine to that and you will be all set.

Lovely - good luck with your scan.

Karen - Glad you enjoyed your concert.  I would love to have seen the bear.  Wow.   

NanyMom - hope you had a great time catching up with your wonderful son. 

Who is Dr Susan Love ladies.  I put her name in Google and about a million names came up.

It's Saturday morning here and its sunny but freezing bloody cold. Roll on Summer. Even Chloe was good yesterday although I can hear her eating out of the cat's dish right now cause she rattles it around the laundry  floor trying to get everything the cat has left. 

Well the brazil nut theory didn't last long.  The old fellar ate them for three days and then said it wasn't working. Considering he said there was nothing wrong with his prostate beforehand how the hell would he know!!   Said he didn't feel much different so I guess out the nuts go.    I did tell him he didn't look any different lol.   

My youngest girl has gone to Australia for a girls long weekend away. It's only three hours from here by plane.  She's left her two kiddies with her husband, wise very wise, and she text to say she is having a ball.

Now what to do today.  I could clean the house, I could do yard work, I could do ironing, I could even get dressed  but I feel like blobbing so I might do that.

Have a good day ladies.  Keep well, keep smiling and keep away from side effects.  Annie 

                

     

     

Cocker - my favorite cartoon, I have it up on my fridge! DEIP, is one type of breast reconstruction surgery. TE fill - I don't have a bloody clue? Dr. Susan Love is a BS and the Guru over here when it comes to this disease. She now heads the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation.



Yup LUVRV, I'm at the main facility (*thinks about transferring to NH!)



Sagina - I'm looking at $1700. Out of pocket, and an insurance company that is dragging it's feet to even give me the paperwork to try and appeal it. Their argument is that since they are paying 50% ( the benefit by their rules should be 100%) that I haven't been denied service and don't have a right to appeal. I was trying to go through the proper chain of command, but if I don't get the paperwork, that they keep telling me is "in the mail", I guess I will have to jump up the chain to the Group Insurance Commission.

I'm officially CANCER FREE!!! Surgeon and onc both agree no need for radiation, my nodes and margins all clear, am stage IIA. Doing the happy shuffle!!!



Doris, been there done that, so best of luck on your next treatment!!

Naan - how fantastic!  dancing away!