MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

ilytib-not the wrong thread at all.  Questions are our specialty!  Hope that you get some answers soon.

Hello ladies

This is my 1st post so please bare with me. I was a member of the site some time ago, but lost contact details: Email etc, so this is a brand new profile (not that I participated much In the past, everyone seems so much more eloquent and this makes me shy)

I'm 47 years young, and was diagnosed with grade 1, stage 1 IDC in the left breast in 2010. I had 2 lumpectomies, radiotherapy and was prescribed tamoxifen. I had awful side effects from the tamoxifen so after much soul searching I stopped taking it after a year.

Fast forward to May this year, I found a lump right by the scarline of my lumpectomy. Unfortunately this turned out to be a recurrence, though at grade 2 this time. I have since had a double mastectomy with no reconstruction and am getting monthly zolodex shots so I'm able to take arimidex. An oophorectomy is in my near future.

I am currently awaiting an appointment for an MRI as a recent bone scan showed a suspicious spot on my right hip. More waiting and wondering!

Anyway as I said, this is my 1st post so apologies if its in the wrong place, and I do hope you're able to decipher my somewhat disjointed babbling. I hope to become confident enough to post often as I have read lots of threads on the site in the past and its clear that the support and information here is second to none.

I hope everyone is having as good a day/night as possible

I'm in the UK btw..

Hugs.. W xx

ilytib:  No apologies needed!  We just wanted to steer you to the best place for answers. I have lymphedema myself,but have only had it a few months. I'm no "expert", but there are many ladies on the lymphedema forum who, sadly, are "experts" and have helped me greatly!  So I hope they will help you out too.

wambles:  welcome to our gang,, so sorry for your recurrence. Cancer sucks!  Waiting for tests sucks!!  ((HUGS))

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.. I'll get there eventually, new sites can be overwhelming, at least they are for me. I also suffer from social phobia, which not so much a problem online, it does make it more difficult to interact with others. I promise to try my hardest..

W xx

elimar:  Congrats on hitting all 50 states!!  I accomplished that goal last year right after diagnosis and before the MX. North Dakota was my last state.

macatacmv:  Thank you for your well wishes! I do have faith in my GYN as she is a skilled surgeon. I'll be popping back on as soon as i have recovered enough to hit the computer again.

Welcome ilytib and wambles. Although it sucks to have new members (due to the crappy reason we are all here) it is good to find somewhere that you can just ask any question, share any experience, laugh, cry, and just be you. There is only support, encouragement and caring to be found here. You will find that some middies are regular posters and others (like myself) are avid readers with the odd post every now and then. We are all here for each other regardless.

macatac - fingers will be crossed for you on Tuesday. Will also jump in your pocket to hang out for a while. May even stay for a ride in that new car! Love that new car smell!

glennie - wishing you an uneventful surgery with quick recovery. Wear big pockets so that we can all jump in with you as well.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone.  Carrying a big bag for you all !

Mac: neglected to wish you well for Tues and hope for a Basal cell. Better yet,, nothing!  And oooo, new car!! Sweet!

Mel:  Dixie is very cute! Great job with figuring out the avatar.

OOOOOO, my own manservant??? Thanks, Elimar!!!

It is a robotic lap. HX,, plan is that I'll go home the same day.  First a drive-by MX now a drive-by HX,, what is the world coming to??  LOL.  Friends are always amazed that I don't have to stay in the hospital.

Good morning all!! (its 5.45am here in the UK, uurrgh)

First of all, thankyou for the replies and welcomes. I'm not savvy enough to remember individual names just yet but I appreciate each and every one, thankyou!!

I'm now posting on 2 threads, go me! Before long I'll be a posting veteran like most of you..

Aside from my newbie status, I have the added hiccup of not owning a PC or laptop, so all my posting is done via my mobi, which is also brand new. No, I've not yet worked out all the features so I'm afraid my posts will be extremely basic compared to others. Technology has never been my strong point. Haha.

To the lady having a hysterectomy and ooph (soooo sorry, I cant go back and check for names just yet) I wish u all the luck in the world and rapid rapid healing. All these procedures and surgeries just never seem to end. My MRI is scheduled for Oct 6 and I'm kinda nervous. Have heard its deafening!!.

Hope everyone is having good days/nights and thankyou once again for the well wishes

Hugs W xx

Thanks for the condolences mac.  Yes, it is sad, George is no longer eligible to fall for my feminine wiles, if he as ever in reach of them.  The one is probably REALLY sad is Marlegal.  I love George, but not as much as she does.

Jbokland--WooHoo!

OK, I just did some
searching, the study I was remembering was reported in the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) and was done at the University of
California, San Diego.The quick
summary:

“We followed women
for an average of 7.3 years and found no evidence that the adoption of a diet
very high in vegetables, fruit and fiber and low in fat was more effective in
preventing breast cancer recurrence or death than the nationally recommended '5-A-Day'
fruit and vegetable diet among women with previously treated, early stage
breast cancer.”

— Ellen Gold, UC
Davis professor

From
<http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20070815_cancer_diet/>

The study, "Influence of a Diet Very High in Vegetables,
Fruit, and Fiber and Low in Fat on Prognosis Following Treatment for Breast
Cancer," JAMA 2007; 298(3):289-298, is available at http://jama.ama-assn.org/.

From
<http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20070815_cancer_diet/>

Justamy--Yeah for
good newes!

Ilytib--what you are
describing is called Truncal Lymphedema.It's lymphedema that does not involved the arm, but involves the breast,
chest, upper back.There is a lymphatic
massage process that the LE (Lymphedema) therapist can teach you.I got truncal LE after radiation, when I had
the mastectomy(due to rads damage and
pain) the truncal LE meant I had to have a drain in place for almost 3 months.
There are LE threads here in BCU that are very active and have the most up to
date info, which I don’t have--most of the fluid collected in my breast so most
of the problem went away after the mastectomy healed, but it was a very long
process. The very best thing you can do right now is get in with the LE
specialist ASAP.And kathec is
right--Binney is an LE expert, and helped me a lot!.And you haven't posted in the
"wrong" place, we're just sharing where there is more specific info
here on the boards!It can be confusing
to find your way around here in the beginning.

Wambles--no need to
apologize for rambling and no reason to be shy.You get more comfortable posting as time goes by.And we all know how overwhelming this is in
the beginning.Not everyone can tolerate
the side effects of any of the medications we have available to us.You do the best you can with the info you
have at themoment when you make
treatment decisions.I did the
zolodex/arimidex thing for 4 years.Hard, but doable.I couldn't get
anyone to take out my ovaries, so I envy you there!Do you have any arthritis anywhere?Arthritis, recent bone injuries and
infections show up as hot spots on bone scans as well as cancer.My chronic sinus infections showed up on a
bone scan, totally unrelated to bc.The
MRI will be a bit more specific.Hang
in there and keep coming back as you need to.

Good job, El!

Wambles,

I have had many breast MRIs. They always give me headphones which help to muffle the noise. I did get music piped in a couple of times but actually found it annoying because it was low volume and very tinny sounding. Like Glennie, I meditate through mine and am very drowsy when I come out! I was worried about the claustrophobia but it was not a problem at all because the machine was open at both ends. I had visions of some tube where my head was close to the wall (I'm tall!) and it wasn't that way at all. I even had an MRI guided biopsy. They had someone there to just hold my hand and rub my back. It was actually kind of weird for me, but I can understand how some people would be comforted by it.

Glennie, I had a drive-by BSO & hysterectomy also. One incision in my belly button where the camera went in, two more tiny ones lower down on my abdomen and out about six inches from the midline where the instruments went in, and one more about 1.5 inches long and a little lower than the hairline where they took everything out. Good luck! 

macatacmv - Yes - you guessed correctly...a Chugg is a Chihuahua/Pug mix!  She was not quite full size in that picture...we rescued her and she was a little skinny there.  She's still pretty small, though...probably between 18-20 pounds now.  Her legs are super skinny and she is fast as can be.  She is about the same height as my beagle, although she holds her head higher than he does since he is old so that puts her just above him.  She is super affectionate and loves to cuddle, but she also likes to get into trouble.  We call under our bed her "lair" and she will snatch things and run under it.  She knows I can't reach her under there so I have to trick her to get her out.  Usually giving Spencer (the beagle) attention will cause her to come running because she is super jealous.  I feel a little bad using him as bait, but it's better than hurting myself trying to reach under the bed after her. 

Congrats again on the Subaru Outback!  Those are nice.  Our daughter has an Impreza and when we got that for her I told my husband I liked the Outback and could see getting one for us when the van goes.  

glennie - Glad you like Dixie's picture!!  Your pooch is very cute, too...very nice markings.  What is his/her name?  Good luck with the Mag Citrate.  Blech!  I hate that stuff!  Are we all invited to your house to watch your manservant iron?? 

NativeMainer - glad you found those links - I'm going to check them out now

glennie - Ava does look sweet - and happy!  Thanks...I'll bring the popcorn and lots of shirts to keep him busy!