Anyone from Montreal, Qc?

Babs, I'll do 12 taxol weekly.maybe if my white cells will be law , I cannot imagine how they'll go up in 7 days between treatments.

 I have call my MO , I'll go to the hospital to check my CBS and see what's the problem. 

hope Mercier bridge is not so bad ( yesterday it takes me 1hour..........) 

hi Babs, I'm back, my blood cells are ok, not so high, and I'll take all the neupogen - another 2 shuts-. they told me it was the peak for my pain, and will be less next days and advil should help., not tylenol..I hope. they told me also I have to rest more......I'm a very active person, I need to move unfortunately

by and thanks

I am just curious as to what 'revision of the margins' is in conjunction with a lumpectomy. The lumpectomy is generally performed first then 'revision of the margins..

Thanks Charmaine

Hi Gals,

I am from Montreal too. Treated in Hospital sacre coeur. Feel  isolated, 'cause seems nobody here was treated in the same hospital.

xoxoxo

Hi Celine,

good luck! I know waiting sucks

Thanks for your message.

Ive finished Fec-D chemo on July in sacre coeur (3 rounds fec and 3 rounds taxotere). I noticed we have the same type BC. But my tumor was bigger and one node afftected.

Found a lump by my own on 2010, but nothing was shown on mammo. The doctor who checked me just said : there was nothing , after mammo no further check like Us or sth. Went back to check again on 2011 since it was painful quite often on my left side. This time a radiologist caught sth on mammo, thanks to her. She wanted me to do Ultrasound. I never liked that 1st doctor, but I had no choice 'cause I have no family doctor and it is always less crowded in that clinic (clinic plein ciel in ville saint laurent), now I know why.

I was treated in sacre coeur. My surgeon is Dr. D. Synott. if there is someone else operated by her here?

xoxoxo

hello Carmen I am still here..........I have finished the chemo, radio  and continuing with tamoxifen  and herceptine.  at MGH .  but I feel tired, I try to find my energyand my balance now .. maybe yoga could help? did you try?

Carmen,

Sorry for getting back to you so late but I haven't been on the boards much lately. I totally understand how you are feeling. Funny to say, but when you are in the care of the Dr's you have a sense of security. To this day, when I have to go back for my checkups at the JGH, I have a sense of relief and almost like a "coming home" feeling when I walk through the doors. Where you go from here  depends on you. Like all of us, you need to get past your diagnosis and continue as "normally" as possible. Being diagnosed is not an automatic death sentence and as one very kind woman told me as I was sitting in the waiting room with mammogram in hand on that very first visit, "there is life after a cancer diagnosis".....

I guess the way I get through all this is to tell myself that it was all a bad dream. I surround myself with family and friends as much as possible. I try to look on the bright side that it could have been worse and that almost 4 years later, I'm still here. You need to move forward and know that you are in good hands and that although you are not in constant care anymore you are still being monitored. I think you need to focus on all the things that went to the wayside after your diagnosis. All the things that were put on hold while you went through treatment - trying to get yourself well and healthy again.

The "demon" creeps up from time to time, I can't say it doesn't but I have to get past that few minutes of being scared and pull myself together not for my family's sake, but for my own sanity's sake. Looking in the mirror before my shower is a reminder each and every day of what I went through but I tell myself that it's just a bad boob job...lol

Take one day at a time. Surround yourself with loved ones, marvel at the beauty around you and move forward....

Hope this help,

Terri

I was treated at JGH and had my mastectomy there. I was allowed visitors after surgery. They stayed until regular visiting hours ended (maybe a little longer...). I was supposed to go home after 1 night but the hospital wasn't busy and the nurse actually convinced me to stay a second night. I had visitors all the next day. Dr Sigman was also my breast surgeon and as you mentioned, a wonderful Dr. I just love him. Unfortunately, I've had to refer 2 other friends to him and they both think he's the best. Dr D did my recon and I have nothing but nice things to say about him. He did a great job and I had full confidence in him. My results are wonderful. If you ask for permission from the moderators, you can get access to the picture forum where you can see the results of my surgery. I couldn't have asked for better.

Terri

AAARGH...Just found out that my surgeon has gone private! He is such a wonderful surgeon and I don't mind paying the $75 for regular check-up visits, but am looking at a possible third tumour (in the other breast) and shudder to think about how much it would cost for a double mastectomy. I retired a year and a half ago and still have 2 years before my pension kicks in. I called my employee insurance (which I have maintained post-retirement at my own expense) and they would not pay anything for someone in private practice. I work as a free-lance translator but earn just enough to pay my expenses. I am in a real dilemna. I think my surgeon is absolutely amazing, and I do understand that because of the earning limits put on Quebec doctors, they have a ceiling and once they hit the ceiling, they are basically working for free. I can't think of anyone who would choose to do that! Each of my docs is in a different place, onc at St. Mary's, radiation onc at MGH (who sends me to RGH for MRI's) and my surgeon at Ville Marie and the Jean Talon Hospital. I have become an equal-oportunity hospital user... My radiation oncologist became concerned that things were falling through the cracks, with information not reaching all of the players, and suggested a year ago that I give some thought to amalgamating everything at one hospital. I have Mucinous cancer, (a "rare" type representing only 1 - 3% of breast cancers), which is supposed to fairly benign in that it rarely spreads to the lymph, is very slow growing", and it rarely reccurs (if this turns out to be another one, this will be the third tumour in 2 years...). My radiation onc feels that because it is not following the rules, she wants to keep a really close eye on it and she is the one who found the second tumour and this latest one. She scheduled MRI's 6 months apart to monitor what was going on. There was also something suspicious on the July MRI, but it turned out to be nothing. I just had an MRI-guided biopsy last week and should get results in a couple of weeks.

Sorry for the long rant, what I would really like is to get feedback from others on surgeons they love and would recommend. I hope I won't need one again but if I do, I will probably have to find someone new because I am not sure I can afford thousands of dollars. Thanks!

Totally agreed- the Jewish is wonderful. As I have mentioned, Dr. Sigman is terrific as is Dr. D.

Hello, 

I'm new to this forum but, unfortunately, not new to cancer. I will be finishing chemo on Monday at the JGH where I've been going since September. I really like it there. Everyone has been great. I am having neo-adjuvant so still have surgery ahead of me. It's scheduled for March 21...keeps getting pushed back because I want tissue expanders right away so my surgeon, Dr Boileau, and plastic surgeon, Dr D, need to coordinate their schedules. My question: should I really be going for te's? Or should I wait till after radiation? Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!!

Thank you, kerkle! it seemed like an easy choice when presented with the options but then they threw this wrench into it by changing the dates on me and saying well, you made this decision and that means waiting. I felt frustrated because they never told me that initially. They never said "if you choose option x, then it means waiting until y date". 

Rc1: are you doing radiation at the Jewish General? I'm meeting my RO next visit (end if Feb). His name is Dr. Muanza.

No, I still live in Chelsea. When I found a lump in my breast I didn't have a doctor. I phoned info-Sante and was told by a nurse that I was 38, had breast fed my three kids, was't overweight so not to worry, it was probably a cyst. Useless. So I went to Ottawa and found a dr willing to take Quebec patients. She sent me to an imaging clinic for a mammogram. Well, the lump was so large they immediately did an ultrasound and put me at BC RADS 5...95% chance of cancer!!! The imaging Centre was covered by Ontario health cards but not Quebec. I had to pay $491!!! I submitted a claim to the Quebec ministry but it was rejected because they said I could have had it done in Quebec...even though I asked just how was that possible without a dr referral. Flat out rejected. Then I got a biopsy done in Ottawa which I thankfully didn't have to pay for but was told by the Ottawa Civic hospital that I would now have to go to Quebec to see a surgeon because "surgeons in Ontario don't see Quebec patients". I 've since met lots of women here who had treatment in Ontario...it all boils down to what your family doctor is willing to do for you to get you in the system. And this dr I had just found didn't know me at all. She gave me a list of doctors in Gatineau and said, "good luck". At that point I distinctly remember deciding to become a fighter. I met with a surgeon who told me he would see me in September because he was about to go on vacation (it was the beginning of August!!) so I begged and pleaded to see him. He saw me before vacation and gave me the good news: I had cancer - big time. 6+ cm of tumour. Yeah, plural. All over left breast. He suggested neo-adjuvant chemo. Then he referred me to an oncologist. Two days later I went over to the Gatineau hospital and found my file languishing on a shelf. The administration assistant said there were only two oncologists that could triage cases and one was away. So when would I be triaged? Oh, 2-7 weeks. wtf?? That's when I decided to expand my horizons outside of the Gatineau area. I was taken in at the JGH in the young adults clinic right away and have been forever grateful. Dr. Palumbo took me on as his patient and said that he knew the Outaouais region is underserviced. So Montreal is a 2hr drive and Ottawa is a 15 min drive. But I don't mind. Everyone has been so nice at the JGH. I had weekly treatments in Montreal for 12 weeks but my friend set up an amazing Web Site for people to sign up to take me to chemo. Then four tri-weekly treatments - well, I still have one more of those. People have been outstanding here, too, taking me to treatment and taking my kids for play dates. 

Yikes!! That was a really round about way of saying yes, I'm here in Chelsea.