Canadians in British Columbia

lol hugz good21/2 years ago I was not sure I would live long enough to have a grandchild  happy to prove that thought wrong.. Life is good  proud to say I turned 55 today   

Ossa - Happy Birthday and congratulations on all the good stuff coming your way!

Happy belated Ossa

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Happy Belated Birthday Ossa!  Sorry I missed you while I was in town.

Hi to all our BC Sisters!

Gardengirl I posted with my answer on the Canadian thread. Welcome here too!

 MarieK didn't I post that yet? I may have & now forgotten.. argh! the VAGUE UltraSound said.. " there are a number of benign 'appearing' limomatas, (limpomas) ...bla bla.. and the 2 largest sizes were noted. (since US there are so many more up my spine & big and little ones on other side of Ab & well.. omg.. just more more more.. I know Lipoma's are 99% benign.. I guess because I usually get weird or rare findings in my life.. it's hard to remain positive.. but I am keeping on it!!

took 2mths almost to get GP to send me for further investigation.. as I'm not accepting this vague report! what number? 5, 10 , 50?? appearing?? like.. umm hello? not good enough! so finally after much ado he beat around the bush finally landing on.. 

"oh, ok, I'll send you to the 'lump clinic' in Vanc ...Ooooh, forgot they're at the Vancouver Cancer Clinic".... he's such a dutz!! 

so horray!! Feb 13th.  Dr. Andrew McFadden at BC Cancer Agency - he's a surgical oncologist . got the referral after only 1.5 weeks of sending letter. . 

I WASNT nervous.. and now I am.. silly eh? the rare thing is they're multiplying so quickly and growing quickly too, not all soft as they should be.. so of course I'm pushing to have the ALL CLEAR appt!! Maybe this Dr will even check my chest/underarms ect., since no one else will!! it's been more than 1.5yrs since surgery. 

I WISH we had LIKE buttons on here!!

xxox.. 

woohooo.. I could really hug ya wrenn after all the rotten Dr's I've had through this journey.. this makes me wanna cry .. tears of gladness! thanks so much! hope your doing well. 

Hi Gardengirl,

Sorry you've had to join us, but welcome nonetheless. I also bought a wig through westcoast and I actually did wear it a lot. Overall I was pretty happy with it, but selection is limited with her so if you don't find something that is 'you' then you may want to look elsewhere as well. You can actually get the exact same wigs they sell at that nicer store on Broadway near the BCCA (name fails me right now) for a lot cheaper online. VogueWigs is one of the sites that sometimes blows wigs out a super cheap price every now and then. And if you search online you'll find a lot of reviews of the wigs by normal everyday people so you can hear what they have to say about them as well.  I bought one online for about a fifth of the cost as it would have been in the store... unfortunately, I screwed up the color when ordering it so I wasn't totally happy with it.  I also recommend the LGFB course before buying a wig so you get a better idea of what to look for.  Best of luck. With everything.

Haven't posted in a long time. I gradually went downhill physically at the end of treatment. Don't know if this is the sole cause, but turns out my thyroid crapped out, likely from the radiation. I'm on synthroid now and have felt pretty good for the last 3 weeks, but I've just spent the last 3 days really tired so I hope I'm not going backwards again. Fingers crossed for a return to the positive end of the health spectrum.

Hope you're all doing well.

hi , thanks for  the welcome and info Sneakychiquita, get my first infusion starting this Friday,Feb. 7 at 9am.. So, Iet it begin.... I am not too worried about the wig.... I know I will find something I like...it is more for my children and their friends/ school stuff..... There are enough bald fellas out there to keep me company. Some of the humour with my kids.

So sorry you are not feeling that well  Sneakychiquita , hoping that with rest ,things start turning around for  you, for the positive . There is always so much unknown . Sending hugs and positive energy your way.

Hi Wrenn,

I consider my massage therapist to be a miracle worker. She has had specific post-surgical training for BC ladies through a leader in the field who does a lot of evidence-based research in the area. Her name is Kashka Zerafa and she works out of Pomegranate Midwives on East Hastings Street, between Nanaimo and Renfrew. You book directly through her rather than the midwifery clinic so I'll PM her email address to you.  

I also have seen Susan Deslippe at Go!Physio to get ideas on how to stretch things out on my own and I do believe it's also helped. Susan will also do some manual therapy (i.e., massage), but it's not nearly as effective as what Kashka does. 

I literally couldn't go more than a few minutes without feeling the need to try to stretch out the tightness across my chest by raising my arm above my head a few months ago.  Within 3-4 sessions with Kashka I was a new woman. Hope you find relief.

No one has posted for a few days here so I'll post....

Welcome Gardengirl - sorry you have to be here but glad you found us!

I too got my favourite wig from Westcoast.  It was a combo of natural hair and synthetic and in a fun shorter and darker style that what I was used to.  

I also bought a few wigs on eBay for fun.  I got one that looked like Uma in Pulp Fiction - a jet black bob with bangs! 

Wrenn - I saw Patricia Sanderson at Park Royal Phsyio.  I had terrible cording (both on my underarm to elbow and on my ribcage) post mastectomy and then again after reconstruction on both sides.  She and the BS really helped me work through it.

Cher - glad you are getting someone to look at your lumps and hopefully your chest and underarms too.  I also haven't had a breast exam or even a mammo for a long time.  Lately I've been having weird tenderness on my natural breast like pre-period hormonal changes.  I did ask the GP for a quick feel around and he said it was just hormonal breast tissue changes (I was in getting an allergist referral for strange tongue tingling).

Sneaky - are you feeling any better? Could it be the flu?  There are some nasty bugs going around the lower mainland right now.  Hoping you haven't caught anything nasty and bounce back soon!

Marian - how are you doing?  Have you healed up nicely?  Do you like the results?

I'm going in on Feb 27 for another fat grafting surgery and this time the PS is going to give me a tummy tuck.  I'm hoping that will get rid of the pouch and landslide that is my abdomen these days. Feeling kind of excited but nervous - it's a 3 hour surgery and a very long recovery...

I hope everyone else is doing ok or on the road to ok...

Marie

Jumping in your pockets Cher.  I have my yearly scans so maybe we can bounce between pockets - great way to burn calories.

Welcome to Gardengirl - sorry you are here, but these ladies are the best.

Hugs and peace and love to all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

thanks everyone for the welcome, this site has been so helpful.... Helps keep me sane. Last night went to one of the look good ,feel better talks....really nice people. Today , I got fitted for a wig...getting my dream haircut.... Hope I love it as much when it is reality. I went to Westcoast wigs, Lynda was fabulous! I have had my first infusion last Friday ,and I am doing ok ,for a first week. 

Thanks for all the info shared !

Hi fellow BC girls, after being on this site for a few months I have just found this thread.

I live in Langley and am having my last chemo treatment on Tuesday.  Looking forward to 4 weeks off, then radiation.  Question: I have been given the choice of 16 DD radiation zaps, or 31 regular zaps.  I have just finished 8 DD treatments of chemo which I handled no problem! but the radiation kind of scares me.  I am also considering different reconstruction methods...implants are out since I had to have my TE removed due to infection and am not interested in doing that again.  Has anyone done a DIEP in the Lower Mainland?  And what is the difference between DIEP and fat grafting?

Thanks so much for any info you might have...

carrie

Cndchick and Carrie, Sheina Macadam and Peter Lennon are no longer taking new patients. I questioned Peter in December just before my surgery about it and he says they are still doing breast cancer surgery but only from the start. I think maybe it was Sneaky~~not sure but someone said they have a new doctor trained under them in the office and I believe another one too but not at that office. I understand that you can get the info if you call their office. Liefie from Port Alberni had a DIEP done in Victoria and is happy with it.

Marie good to find out your date and will be in your pocket.

Nothing from Cher yet? Hope you news is good news!