September 2013 Chemo Group

Art - my oncologist and surgeon said the same thing to me - that lumpectomy made the most sense due to no nodes, chemo response, and lack of family history.  That the chances of it occurring in my other breast was no different than the average woman, and that recurrence rate in my bad boob was the same with lump and MX.  Add to it the fact I have a newborn and toddler at home, they think it's best to choose the surgery with minimal recovery time.  But since I have a history of benign fibroidadenomas, I don't know if I want to stress out every mammogram or over every lump.  At the same time, if I do a BMX (if I'm doing a MX, I'm doing both) and I'm one of the 40% with a reconstruction infection (the rate my surgeon quoted), and end up aborting reconstruction, I don't know if I'd be upset I didn't conserve my breasts.  I flip flop over this decision every day!

KJ - love your attitude over small victories!  I'm happy I never had to take Neulasta.  Those side effects sounded nasty!

It feels weird to think I'm nearing the end of my chemo (5 more Taxols left).  My MO told me today his next visit with me is when I'm done...I've gotten used to being seen every couple weeks.  Not sure how I will deal once I'm declared cancer free (fingers crossed!) and no longer on their radar!  He did state with neoadjuvant chemo that they often see black dots or traces of where cancer was to determine if there was node involvement.  My initial biopsy showed no nodes and I'm hoping when they cut me open it confirms it.

Congrats to all the hair sprouters!  Even though I've amassed a lovely wig collection, I'm definitely ready to have my own fuzz again.  

Mankatostate: My skin is now fine, about one month post rads. No soreness, the brown patch I had from the boosts has peeled and everything seems the way it was, with the exception of slight twinges of pain rarely. The fatigue seems mostly gone, though I am having some sleep issues. Hope things are going well for you.  LHL: Now I'm finished active treatment, it is really weird that I won't see the MO for another year! The fact that I no longer have any cancer related appointments until Feb. 7 (breast surgeon follow up) feels very weird. Which is one reason why I'm now getting involved in support group stuff and I started a yoga for cancer patients class Monday.

hello ladies 2weeks post chemo now I am dealing with sore fingers and toes oh and dry skin anyway today was the only day I felt tired and I slept the entire day. Love reading y'all post glad Michelle is doing great after surgery yay!!! I am set for surgery on 1/30 I choose to go with a double with DIEP although they could no longer find the mass anymore my gut is telling me to do whatever it takes to live my life and not worry about what if's I am like most of you I have not seen my mo since early Dec and am scheduled to see her on the 9th along with my pre op appt. Take care ladies

On the question of nodes, node biopsy and SNB - there is a difference between a node biopsy and a sentinel node biopsy.  You can biopsy a suspicious node that has been seen on imaging with fine needle aspiration or a hollow core needle biopsy, with imaging guidance.  This is sometimes done before any surgery or chemo if there is something that shows up and needs to be investigated.  This is different from a sentinel node biopsy, which is looking for the node that is the first away from the breast tissue in the chain of lymph nodes under the arm and which cannot be determined on imaging.  This is the most likely place to find cancer cells so the process is usually done shortly before, or the same day as lumpectomy of mastectomy.  Many who do neoadjuvent chemo do not have their SNB done until they have surgery, which occurs after chemo.  Because the evidence of cancer is not always seen in the node(s) of your SNB after neo chemo, this can cloud the staging and accuracy of nodal status.  However, you can do a SNB prior to neoadjuvent chemo and I would recommend doing this to determine what true nodal status is prior to administration of chemotherapeutic agents that may make it difficult to accurately stage.  All SNB requires is breast tissue, so it can be done simultaneously with port placement for those doing neoadjuvent chemo. 

Port is gone. It really was "tippy" as some of the infusion nurses described..the BS said it was basically sitting on it's side. (no wonder if was pivoting around so much) there are even big needle scratch marks on the side of it where the nurses completely missed the silicone needle well. Just glad it is OUT. I know it was convenient and saved my veins during chemo but I hated it since the day it was put in 5 months ago. I joked around with a friend that I should fashion it into a "mood ring". Haha, a BAD mood ring!

better day, yes my BS will do surgery 2 weeks after chemo so I took the first day available! I'm a boundary pusher...I also got my RO to agree to start rads 3 weeks post op. 

LHL so glad to hear you are doing well! You're my role model for next month!

Peacockgirl-congrats on your port removal! 

I think I'm out from under the fog of AC 3. One more to go. My friends and I are planning a fun celebration after the last one. Can't wait!

hi ladies,

I started tamoxifen on December 20th, so far so good. No side effects to report. I met with the gynecologist this afternoon and we will be doing ovary and uterus removal on February 20th. That gives me roughly 5 weeks between breast removal(jan 16) and hysterectomy(feb 20). I am so ready to get this over and done with! I look at it as the next phase in the journey.

I hope everyone is feeling well!!

KJ - like I said earlier... That just sucks. You are entitled to a meltdown, and with your surgery coming soon, you'll feel better after! 

Sometimes I feel like my doctors are so much more "wait and see" than all of yours. Some of you still going through chemo already having surgery dates and meeting with RO and having rad dates. And hockeymommy having both surgeries scheduled already!  I am finished with chemo and my BMX and still don't even know if I will have rads, and if so, I haven't met with the RO yet. 

One thing at a time I guess. Follow-up with my surgeons tomorrow... Curious to see what they have to say and if I get my TEs filled at all.

LHL, I'm glad you are doing okay.  Congratulations on the 5 o'clock shadow!!

KJ, thanks for the heads up on copayment costs.  I'm getting a lumpectomy and lymph node dissection.  Lumpectomies are ususally outpatient at Vanderbilt, but I don't know if the lymph node dissection will turn it into an in-patient procedure.  I meet with the surgeon next Wed. and have on my list the in-patient/out-patient questions, but now I understand better the ramifications of whatever answer I get.

I'm recuperating from AC#3.  This round hasn't been too bad, but it sure worked a number on what little hair I had left.  I feel like like look like a ghost without eyebrow and eyelashes.  Sometimes, I think I can still feel the tumor, but I'm not sure.  I'll know a lot more next Wednesday when they do an ultrasound.  I'm scheduled for a mammogram too, but I think they are worthless with my dense breasts.

Thanks, SpecialK.  I'm on my way into a pre-op appointment with them now.  It is definitely on my list to talk to them about.

Hope everyone is thawing out from the great Vortex.

SpecialK, thanks for your input about the ALND.  You are always a wealth of information and I appreciate that.

KJ, I'm glad your pre-op visit went well.

Hello Ladies f/u with mo today don't gave to see her again until after surgery if I can tell you I soo love my mo my appraisal with her always last 45min to a hour cause she answers all my questions she is very personable and I appreciate get glad I choose her. On another note preop done today surgery and hospital stay covered at 100% no out of pocket since I am going in network now I will send an email to my ps bad bs to name sure we are all on the send page on my procedure and to make sure my so know I want small lifted boobies lol I been a triple d far too long a simple c will do. Hugs ladies thus us our year 

shaycpa - Welcome to our little group.  I wish you would have found us sooner, too.  These September ladies have been a godsend for me in getting through chemo & getting ready for surgery!  I'm sorry you're having to go down this road for the second time - what a warrior you are.

Today I had a post-surgery follow-up appointment with my breast surgeon and my plastic surgeon.  I have good news and bad news. Pathology report showed no cancer on the right side (so glad I didn't opt to do the sentinel node biopsy on that side... not needed!) and clean margins on the left. Yay! But there were still residual tumor cells AND 9/24 nodes were positive - even after chemo. Ugh. So definitely can't avoid radiation which makes my reconstruction harder. Booooo. Not terrible but not the clean report I wanted.

Also good news and bad news on my drains. They removed two out of four today. Yay!! But one of the remaining ones lost its stitch so my surgeon had to clean me up and restitch it. Fun times. Thank goodness I had an appointment with her after the PS and not before.  She has an excellent bedside manner, and took her time cleaning me up, making sure everything was sterile and secure before she bandaged me back up.

PS didn't fill my TEs at all.... he said the left (cancer) side is still too tight.  So we'll go back next week to see his nurse so she can view my healing progress and remove any drains that she's able to (ok - that is NOT comfortable when they take them out), and I'll see both doctors again in two weeks.  Since I have to have rads, the PS will have to speed up the expansion process more than he would like to, so we'll just see how far we can get before rads starts.  Want to hear something funny?  My radiation oncologist's name is Dr. Au (as in "ow").  LOL

I thought I would be more tired from today - 6+ hours in the car and two doctors appointments, one of which took forever, but I'm doing good.  I was a bit uncomfortable riding in Hubby's truck, but it wasn't too bad.  I had blankets and pillows and pain pills.  

One bonus from today - I have formed a friendship with a lady from the cold caps thread on here (God that seems like a lifetime ago that I tried them!).  She lives in Dallas, and invited me to join a Facebook group she belonged to with other women she knew from this site.  Most of them had surgery/treatment last year so a lot of them have been friends since last January or before.  There are a few like me who have joined over the last few months and are still in active treatment.  Anyway, she came to see me today in between doctor's appointments and hung out with us until we were called into the room.  She is funny and nice and like a ray of sunshine.  I was so happy to meet her, but really it didn't feel like a "meeting".... it just felt like hooking up with an old friend.  I'd imagine that's how it would feel if I were to meet up with any of you.

On the flip side, I found out one of my good friends who has been battling ovarian cancer for the past six years is pretty much at the end of the line.  She was going to do a clinical trial but her doctor told her yesterday that he didn't think the trial would extend her life or improve her quality of life, and actually suggested hospice.  I am so sad.  She is only in her mid 30s and has three boys.... her oldest is my son's age and was my son's first friend.  My heart is heavy.

So sorry about your friend, LHL.

Thanks for the MO definition.  Is there something other than a 'medical' oncologist?