Calling All with Tumors 6 cm +

J-Bug, That sounds horrible. Did they take muscle too? or just skin down to the muscle? Can you stand straight? How is everything else going?

I just got my Port out yesterday. They used local only. It went fine. Once the local wore off last night I was in pain so I took an Oxy left over from mx. I never took a single one for the mx, but a simple port removal, I did. Funny. I had the On-Q pain relief "ball of goodness" though after my mx. I know that made all the difference in the world.

I went to a naturopath (they are licensed physicians in my state) to help me move beyond cancer treatment and rebuild my health. After talking for a while about health preceding the dx and since, he suspected I may have a couple of underlying issues that contributed to either the startup of tumor or growth of tumor, so he checked them out with blood tests.

Long and short of it, I have a copper overload in my blood and a zinc deficiency. And I have hypercoagulation. The hypercoagulation is from fibrin(ogen) and thrombin to make my blood thick. And as a result, the blood vessels got lined with fibrin which, at the capillary level, is where the blood delivered cell nutrients go to the cells and where the blood removal of waste from the cells occurs. So the nutrient delivery and the waste removal are impeded. Lack of which from both sides contributes to a toxic-ish environment for cells. Now, understand, this is my understanding of what he explained to me, YMMV.

So, I take a supplement to help the fibrin release from the blood vessels and injectable anticoagulant to thin the blood in the meantime and zinc to fix the deficiency and Vitamin C to help with another aspect of the blood thickness. I had to stop the anticoag's before the port removal surgery, and now will be starting them up again. It is a self administered shot twice a day.

I now consider myself to have graduated from the Cancer Girl stage of my life and am moving on. Now I fix the damage done in treatment and keep on trucking. I still look back over the last 17 mo's and am stunned at how slowly they went, but how quickly they are gone. How I never thought I'd see the end and how happy I am when I truly leave the Cancer Thoughts behind, even though I still think about it, just not nearly as much.

I would have to have DIEP if I do recon and I am just not up for another recovery period, yet. I am not sure what I will do. Now, I walk around the majority of the time, lopsided/flat. I wear prosthetic every so often. I forget about how I look and am surprised when I see someone staring. lol.

I hope you all are making it through w some joy and happiness. J-Bug, I hope your butt heals up quickly. I was so sorry to read that Marybe from here passed on this week. She was an inspiration. I hate this fu***ng disease. Whether it's breast, colon, skin, liver, bone, prostate, lymph or whatever... it just sucks! We gotta stop it before it starts in people and cure it once it gets growing.

J-Bug,

Sorry you are having a hard time.  I did not go this route as I had a lumpectomy, but would have if I had a mast. 

I've finished my treatment, had my port removed in July and have been trying to get on with life. I had neo-adjuvant and was a good candidate for a lumpectomy even though my tumor was 7 cmm. I do not have large breast, but the mass was completely gone and I was fortunate to have clear margins and nodes. 

I had radiation too. That part was easy, but I am feeling the effects of it still.  I ended up with a frozen shoulder and have been to PT for several weeks. It is helping, but don't know if I will regain full motion.  The area where I had radiation is very tender and having my first mammogram was the most painful experience since all this started. 

I have not developed lymphedema. I am hoping I won't but I guess that can happen at any time. 

Twistedsteel, you are so right. This disease stinks! Way to many people are affected and dying from it!  It is such a helpless feeling! 

How are you doing J-Bug??

You are so brave! Keep up the good attitude! Who thought of the diapers?? Funny. Bet it works though. Take it easy with the household tasks while you can

I've also been wondering if anyone else in our big tumor class did NOT get any scans? I have asked by my onc says no. I think this is because my nodes were negative. What if something slipped through? I know some people with other oncs (not mine) that have gotten PET scans with little tumors.

I've had a CT and bone scan since my dx. What i' m curious about is how long i'll have to wait before they can tell if the tamoxifen is working? Anybody have any thoughts?

ridergirl I would ask your onc. I would also post on the stage IV threads. These ladies have been through it. I don't know how often they scan folks with mets.

BTW I did get my 3rd liver scan PFC. Should find out Monday if they are going to stop. There were some lesions that they believe are cysts but my onc wants to be sure.

I am sooo happy for you J-Bug. It sounds like you have really turned the corner on it all.

YAY! 

Hello, looks like this thread has not been very active lately, so I'm hoping to give it a bump. I read all of the posts from the beginning.

I left my tumor size out of my diagnosis because I do not really know what to say. I am an A cup, and easily discovered a large, fast-growing lump in April. It was a roughly 2cm tumor, and had an attached cyst about the same size that collapsed during a later needle biopsy. My BS put the tumor at 4.5cm by ultrasound measurement a couple of weeks later. By the time I started neoadjuvant TAC in June, my MO said the tumor was 7.5cm, but that was not an ultrasound measurement.

The tumor shrunk significantly during my first 2 rounds of chemo. My BS and MO examined me after the third round and pegged it at 2.5cm. I told them I thought it had stopped shrinking by then and might even be growing, but my BS was pleased by the response to the chemo and thought it would shrink more. So I am scheduled for a lumpectomy and radiaion. I am having an MRI later this week and will meet with my BS next week.

I think the tumor is at least 2.5cm still, probably more. I am so small-breasted that the tumor is large enough to be somewhat disfiguring, and I am constantly aware of it. I think I will probably need some sort of reconstruction even with a lumpectomy, and am trying to figure out my options. I am also questioning whether I should just have a mastectomy and skip radiation, but the lumpectomy has been scheduled for weeks and I am reluctant to change paths mid-stream. My MO said the BS would not be planning a lumpectomy if she did not think she could get it, which makes sense. 

Anyway, that was long-winded. But I'm hoping more people will post to this thread, because I think it's a good one to keep going.

Hi Ladies, welcome to our big world. My tumor grew fast as well, I think I could feel it changing a little every day, especially after the biopsy. Lilly, I had FEC-T also. Both parts were rough in their own way. Hopefully it did the trick!

Stride, I think if they get in there and can't do a good job with the lumpectomy they will do the mastectomy instead. You should ask and that way you will know if that is possible. You don't want to wake up surprised.

Hugs, Sisters!

Hi Stride, I had FEC-T after surgery. My tumor was almost 10 cm in two directions (9.4 x 9.7 x 4.5 cm) according to the pathology report. My oncologist said he was giving me a chemo for stage 3 cancer even though technically I was 2b with no positive nodes. A friend who was dx'd about 6 months after me and who actually was Stage 3 got the TAC regimen from the same onc. It was around the time that there were some drug shortages so maybe that was not his first choice. Many of us had FEC-T though and we had an active forum for awhile with those of us going through it together.

Hey Flannelette! How are you doing, girlfriend?