December 2011 Surgeries - want to wait together?

Peace, love and joy to all!

Oh, Ginger, good news! Happy for you.

Kam- I will ask when I go to Boston for my next appt. about the brca2 and stomach cancer.



I have been gluten free for about 7 years. My mom and brother have celiac disease and I get very sick when I have gluten. The dr had me eating it for the past 2 weeks and wants me to eat it for 6 more and do the blood test but I am sick enough when I eat so I do not think I will continue eating it for 6 more weeks. I have been off dairy and all inflammatory foods for a long time also. I will ask GI dr more when he calls.



MRI today was a piece of cake.

Hello my Dec. Sisters,



I'm so sorry for my absence and didn't realize it had been this long. I'm still on medical leave until next week and tried to rest from my renal cell carcinoma surgery (kidney cancer). I was going through multiple tests brain MRI, scans etc. They wanted to be sure the cancer didn't metastasize and were in fact two primary cancers of Breast and Kidney.



I'm happy to announce the tests are all done and the results are good!



Ginger, what kind of stomach issues are you having? Please demand a cat scan of your stomach and pelvis if you are not satisfied. Keep us all posted and don't worry until you get all tests completed. I have actually gotten good at the hurry and wait game. I seem to be more mellow this second round for some odd reason, or I'm just worn out from it all. I am doing very well and on my way to recovery, work and life. One more consult next week to determine if my thyroid will need to come out due to large size nodule. Other than that I'm doing well.



So great to read up on all the news, and I'm sorry if I worried you. I just had to get through over a month of tests, and the outcomes were good. Then I could spent some time with my family for Christmas, better than last years.



Hoping that God blesses all of you with good health and a Happy New Year 2013!



Stay positive and live, laugh, love!!



Bogie

Bogie - we were worried about you, xxo. Thank you for giving us an update. You do sound calm and that attitude can only help.  Wow, when it rains it pours, doesn't it?  Here's to a great 2013 for all of us!

Happy New Year to all! Here's hoping 2013 will be a happy and healthy one for us all.

Be well.

Bogie, I am glad it sounds liket things are going better.

Ginger, you are in my prayers.

Here's hoping 2013 is much bettetr for all! Much love.

Thanks Bogie- I intend to keep pushing for answers.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy new year my wonderful support sisters.  Hope everyone is well.

Faith - had my ooph 8/30 along with the TE exchange (and chemo port removal).  Here is what I noticed....none of these surgeries were bad, but being 3 weeks out of chemo, I felt knocked back about 5 weeks by the anesthesia (5 hours of surgery).  It took about a month to get back to how I was feeling 3 weeks out of chemo.  As far as the ooph (I hope you have a gyn/oncologist doing it?), done laproscopicly....I say this was easy peasy.  I think this surgery took 1/2 hour or so.  Given our BRCA status, the surgeon looks around for any sneaky cancers within and on the peritoneum and as usual, sends all to pathology.  For about a day, I carried around an extra 10 lbs of water weight in my abdomen but the incisions (3?) were not even noticeable, nor did they hurt at all.  I think of all the surgeries you have endured, you will think this one is a piece of cake.   xo

Are you taking out the uterus, given you're on Tamoxifen, or are you going on an AI after  the ooph?  I somewhat regret not doing an complete hysterectomy, in case I wanted to try Tamoxifen.  I hate the SE's of the one AI I have tried, thus far.

Faith - I retired and Friday was my first day.  It is wonderful so far!

I'm surprised you're going with a cut?  How does that get you less anesthesia?  The bloat, honestly, lasted only a day, day and a half.  It wasn't uncomfortable, but I was just alarmed when the scale shot up 10 lbs!  What is your feeling about anesthesia - is there some lifetime limit or risk you are worried about?

The only thing that I can say about the uterus is my MO was questioning why I didn't have my uterus taken out (after the fact, which was a little bit surprising and why didn't she mention it to me before?).  My gyn MO did not want to take it out, and various posters here said the uterus led to some "support" of the organs, while other said they noticed no difference after removal, i.e. incontinence.   The MO wanted to try me on Tamoxifen, since I have had SEs with Exemestane,  but I wasn't excited to add uterine cancer to the cancer worry list - don't we have enough?

I've been on Exemestane since mid August.  At first I got hot flashes and a bit of insomnia.  The hot flashes have gone away, but since November, I've been dealing with stiff finger joints and trigger fingers.  I think it is from swelling and there is so little tolerance for the tendons.  Last night I wore wrist braces and had my first morning without these symptoms.  I also took a Celebrex yesterday, so the combo may have helped.  Not a drug I want to take on a regular basis.  I was honestly getting to the point I needed to switch drugs, but when my MO suggested it in November, I was determined to keep trying because I only saw similar symptoms here on BCO with the other AI's, even Tamoxifen.  My hot flashes passed, so I thought maybe this hand thing would too.  Not sure it has, but I'm doing everything possible, including changing my diet to full on anti-inflammatory, dairy-free, 95% less gluten than before...90% of my diet is made up of fruits and greens (like kale, chard, lettuce, cabbage, the tops of carrots & beets).  Anything that counteracts inflammation (and cancer).  btw, it takes a Vitamix to eat this way, imo.

The other symptom I seem to have is hair thinning, but since I went from dyed hair pre-chemo to my natural silver color as it grows out, maybe my scalp is just more evident with the color and shortness of my hair.  Atleast I have no bald spots, but I am worried about my head of hair!

Hey Ginger ....Faith.  Just telling it like it is.  Hope this helps.....

I'm not sure about this, but perhaps they pump you full of air so they can see things?  I also had to do the ducolax, magnesium citrate, no eating thing the day before the laproscopy.  My surgeon is a major ovarian cancer researcher and she told me explicitly, she would be going in there looking for anything suspicious.

As far as the "air," I thought the one colonoscopy I had was 10x more uncomfortable, post-operatively, than the laproscopy.  I certainly wouldn't trade this experience for an incision. In fact, I found the chemo-port insertion and extraction (that day) far more annoying than the saplingo-ooph.

Thank you Kam and Ginger! I think maybe I am so anxious because I am second guessing my choice.  I went in assuming that it would be the laproscopic, but then got swayed.  I do believe the actual cut is his preference because at the time I could see pros and cons to each and let him influence me.  For the twilight versus anestesia, I knew that twiglight is an easier recovery for me. No sore throat or tight lungs from the tube, my digestive system doesn't get as screwed up.  And, for my reconstruction they have been taking fat from everywhere so I have all the little incision sites all over.  They've healed and are still fading but that played into it - didn't want any more holes.  I'm also freaked out over staying overnight, which I guess is the case either way.  This is me, who had a BMX with fat grafting reconstruction as an outpatient and was less scared.  I think I'm going to call the surgery coordinator to see what it would take to switch.

Kam - do you have anything fun planned?  Have you taken up any hobbies you always wished you could do?

Hi Faith-I had my ooph in March last year. I had the robotic surgery (out patient) and was in and out in 6 hours which was important as I did not want another overnight in the hospital. I  have two teeny tiny scars. I'm now on AI which makes me feel like I'm 80. You'll do fine regardless of whihch type of surgery you go with-sounds like your gyn knows you well.