Physically active before dx and annoyed that I still got cancer

Trvler, I'm 54 (53 at dx). 

I was always preaching to my son that he should adopt a healthier lifestyle then I get this dx. He joked its because I didn't drink enough beer, lol. Maybe he's right, I would have been less stressed.

Hi Badatusernames,

Sorry for your dx I think it is normal to try to figure out if it was something your caused, I did that too. I also was super active ( was a physical education teacher) and ate clean but of course I asked myself "was it the cheetos I ate all the time when I was a teenager?" I asked every doctor I was going to what the common factor was, food, chemicals, exercise, makeup, stress, etc and nobody could give me an answer. Komen did a huge study on that and there were just a few things that had risk factors, exercise was actually shown to help. I finally gave up and decided to move forward, make the best choices I can from this day and every day forward to stay healthy with the information I know now. My advice is don't beat yourself up, maybe all the exercise you did before worked and that is why you are alive. Best of luck.

I was very active before IBC DX, never smoked anything, an occasional 'adult beverage', never overweight, ate a well balanced diet, no health issues (only time I had ever been in a hospital was with both Sons for complications from 2 C-sectiont.). There is no known cancer on either side of family for at least 4 generations. (1 G-mom and 3 GG moms lived very healthy and active into mid- late 90's and I intend to out live them.)

I do not run - swore when I got out of the Army I would never run again unless there was some nasty animal behind me or to get to someone who needed help. I do some walking at times (love doing the VolksMarch at Crazy Horse Memorial every year) but I prefer to have 4 legs (horse) or 2 wheels (bicycle).under me. I am a fly fishing nut (since DX) and tie my own flies and build all our rods. I love to now grass and keep my yard with my push mower - have a few other yards I do to help out ones who need a bit of help. So yes - even at 68 and 5+ yrs post DX I am still very active and I believe that's a lot of what got me to where I am today and keeps me going.

I can not prove anything one way or the other but I believe that there are many things throughout my life that contributed to my IBC. I was born Army, raised on or near Air Force bases after Daddy went to the USAF when it was formed til he retired, was Army myself, married a guy who was Navy but not 'boat Navy' so those 19 1/2 yrs were around aircraft. We have lived under a flight path for an USAF base for several yrs. So I have been around a lot of aircraft exhaust basically all my life. I also was a Master Cosmetologist for 10 yrs, I did screen printing and upholstery for quite a while before the chemicals were as 'nice' as they are today. So who knows - I don't and it doesn't matter to me - I've had a great life and intend on it going on a lot longer but there are no guarantees.

well I feel I got it because I chose HRT for 7 years and while on low doses still was aware there was a small risk. Wish I could take that all back bit since I can't have to find a way to deal with this. Radiation and probably a hormonal drug is what I will be doing.......

Like many of you, I am active, eat as healthily as possible, don't smoke, and drink moderately. At the time of my diagnosis, I was running the equivalent of 20-25 kms a week and was a pescetarian. I grew up in the country; fresh, clean air; lots of outdoor activity; and freshly harvested produce, free range eggs, no-hormone meat and fish from the pond on our farm. I was the poster-child of health and wellness. I did everything "right". However, breast cancer had other ideas.

What irked me the most after my diagnosis was the blame game. People asking other family members, "... what did she do...", like breast cancer was, somehow, my fault. GRRRRRR!!! The inference is that those of us who develop breast cancer, somehow, bring it on ourselves. And that, if we return to living healthy and eating right, we will never get cancer again. Makes me mad enough to eat metal and spit bullets.

3 Weeks post exchange and trying to get my fitness back. Starting with cardio, letting my little boobies lock in place.  (Downsized from natural DD to maybe a B/C- freedom!)  I can relate to all of the SHUT UP telling me about how I got this. I played tennis almost everyday before this.  Ideal weight, never smoked, no fam history, etc. I've always had a sport since I was 7. A healthy 55, if I may say so.  One venting thing I didn't see here is-  I'm on Facebook (but have kept it off of there, not general knowledge.)  It's been great to stay connected to my active friends' world while I'm healing from my 3rd surgery in 5 months. If I see one more post about this or that curing cancer I'm going to explode!!  How inconsiderate to post this BS!!!   Don't you think if eating asparagus or 5 lemons a day cures cancer there would be no cancer???  I'm not the only one on my FB that isn't affected themselves or a family member dealing with this.  I just wish people would have more compassion than to post these stupid "cures."  Ok, vent over.  Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and feelings on this thread topic.  I came here a bit annoyed and very impatient about getting my fitness back. I feel much better now   For those that are further down the road, thank you for posting your  positive experiences, love it! 

Thank you, Claire!  You are amazing and inspiring    Changing anger/fear/frustration to positivity, peace, and movement.  It's easier to remember the great endorphins and bliss from my sports now. And, you go girl!  

selena-  awesome!   I need to drive (top down, lol) to the beach soon.  something about watching/breathing the ocean just fixes everything.  impressive biking!

I am so glad that I found this thread!!!! I thought I was alone in being physically fit and having a healthy lifestyle and being diagnosed with BC. It is still somewhat of a shock and not quite real. How can I feel fine but have cancer? The "why" has truly concerned me. According to my genetic profile and history I should have had less than an average risk of getting cancer. I am trying to move beyond the "why" and now focus on maintaining my fitness and health level. So far I have had very minimal side effects from the neoadjuvant hormone therapy and it has not impacted my running or working out. My hope is that being healthy will help me through surgery and speed up my recovery. I have never had surgery of any kind so I am very apprehensive about how it will impact my lifestyle in the future.

same here. Physically very active, eating organic food, yadayadayada. Never felt sick - still don't. Just felt it and knew "uh-oh". My calculated risk was 5%

I, too, was very active, very fit,on the low end of the healthy range of BMI, did not smoke nor drink. Bam. None of that made any difference; I ended up with cancer.

I do think it has made recovery from treatment easier, and may contribute to my lack of issues with Femara. It did make RT easier and all of my MDs have told me it shaves points off my recurrence risk.

I get very tired, however, of all the BC literature that assumes we have not led a healthy lifestyle and need to clean up our diet and get off the sofa.

At this point I am trying to move beyond the "why me?", although StaceySu2U I do wonder about the type "A" vs type "B" personality correlation. I definitely fit into the type "A" profile. Stressful job, tendency to be driven and push myself to the extreme. Even now when faced with hormone therapy and possible side effects, my solution is to increase my weekly miles I run and bump up my workout routine. I am still healthier than my co-workers and family members.

On another note, I am struggling with the additional prescriptions and drugs my doctors are routinely trying to offer. They have prescribed anti nausea meds and bone density meds that list terrible side effects. All to offset "potential" issues from the neoadjuvant hormone therapy. So far I have very moderate side effects and do not plan on taking any additional meds unless absolutely necessary. As a general rule, I rarely if ever get sick or if I do it's so minor that I just use something herbal and get through it. Do you believe the medical professionals routinely prescribe the meds based on an average BC patient needs? So far it's been easier to just accept the prescription and then not fill it.

I was never of the "why me?" mindset - more a question of "what caused this?." Genetic testing provided a clue at least.

My annoyance stems from the automatic assumption that women who get breast cancer have led unhealthy lives - which we ALL know is inaccurate. Our local ACS building had posters stating "Cancer Hates Healthy Habits!" which I found both misleading and offensive.

This is a great discussion - I have pondered the same things myself: I have worked at not being angry - I had a friend that got called back on a mammo and called me to get the low down on what to expect...asked me what I thought - did the whole 80% benign speech but in my head I was thinking sarcastically " you'll be fine: you're overweight, never exercise, eat junk food 3 meals a day along with copious amounts of candy, take every pill out there, booze up every weekend,smoke, use bazillions of chemicals daily on your skin/nails/hair" ....I thought I did everything 'right' (ate organic, exercised, no excess body weight, no chemical cleaners, cosmetics, breast fed 3 children and on, and on and on)....and I got it both sides at 41. I am not a cruel person and that was very ugly thinking (of which I am ashamed, please don't judge:) but I am sure you all have an idea of what I mean. I even went through a phase wondering if I had stayed in the UK if things may have been different - was mad at my hubby for bringing me here!!! The truth is it is we don't know very much really: we can guesstimate all we like but there is not a definitive answer - and that in its self, is very, very annoying. My onc told me we live in a very polluted world, make peace with it because you can't control everything (but she did tell me to get a high quality water filter). She thinks that quite possibly lot of this is environmental especially Er+ and bilateral. My ob told me (after I also Breast fed for 7 years almost straight) that some have a theory that too much breast feeding is no longer protective, quite possibly the reverse, but it is unproven similar thoughts with parity . Since I don't have an answer that satisfies, I turned the discussion in my head to 'why not me? I am no more or less special than the next person with BC or any kind of cancer for that matter - it works...sometimes. My BS did tell me 'not to throw the baby out with the bath water' as far as healthy eating/living goes. That living a healthy lifestyle is beneficial with or without a cancer dx.

Edit to add: That friend btw - she was perfectly fine....

I found it annoying at first when I was diagnosed, but now it makes me chuckle. I've been active my entire life, never overweight, always eating better than most (raised by a hippie mom who fed us organic food we raised ourselves and I adore vegetables and cooking). I had convinced myself that the way I lived would keep me alive and well into my late 80's or 90's, as most in my family do with the exception of those who smoke (they always die very early). Bilateral BC at 45! I personally think mine was a combination of genetic susceptibility and environment, although I have no idea what environmental factors "pulled the trigger", so to speak. I may well live into my 80's or 90's anyway, though, as I only have about a 10% chance of recurrence.