April 2015 Chemo Crew... Starting in April? Please join us!

Lynne I love the song! So inspiring!

Wow everyone is finishing up quick...it can't come soon enough! We sure are a bunch of tough broads!

How's your boy's foot, kbeee?

Can anyone recommend some good charities? My friends want to have a hair growing contest after I finish chemo..first one to a half inch wins, 10$ buy in, proceeds go to charity. We are going to shave our heads ( I will bic my fuzz) at noon on the July 27 and let the games Begin!

One of the weird things about this whole cancer prognosis thing is that even though I had the  IDC in the left breast, the ILC in the right breast is not considered BC recurrence, but a new cancer, so better prognosis, desite its size and even with the two sickly nodes.  When I do cancer math with treatment and Arimidex, looks like my chances of  surviving this are pretty good.  I was already pretty sure I wasn't going to live forever so I'll take those odds. 

People comments - who really thinks asking "what's your prognosis" is appropriate? (unless they are a close friend or family member).    Although  I want to say "After that question, better than yours".  I usually say "Eventually, I'm going to die of something.  What's your prognosis?" 

Gkodad: Now that I'm facing my last chemo today, I'm looking to future as well. I've read that the year AFTER surgery/chemo/radiation is the hardest as you've been so focused on surviving treatments and it's like "Now what?"

I came across this blog article by a cancer research advocate from Dec 2014 blasting Melissa Etheridge and Cheryl Crow's statements in an AARP article.

https://draemadden.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/on-not...

Since I am ER+95% this was of most interest to me:

Let's start with the statement "beat cancer." It's wonderful that both of the singers are doing so well and that their treatment has been effective for them to this point. But tragically, approximately 25% of women with breast cancer have a recurrence, where the cancer has returned—and for women with estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, nearly 33 percent experience a recurrence. Furthermore, over half of recurrences for ER+ breast cancer are detected more than 5 years following their original treatment, including after decades, as opposed to other breast cancer types that tend to recur within 5 years of the original diagnosis. Research suggests that late relapse is most likely due to "tumor dormancy," where there is a prolonged phase between cancer treatment and detected evidence of disease progression. It's thought that cancer cells that were able to escape the patient's initial treatment are able to survive by hiding in a latent state for years or decades, ultimately coming out of dormancy and leading to incurable breast cancer metastases.

So the important truth here is that we currently have no way of knowing who has "beat" breast cancer. As Dr. Susan Love has explained, "Breast cancer can be cured. In fact, we cure three-quarters of breast cancer; the problem is when somebody is diagnosed with breast cancer, we can't tell that woman that she is cured—until she dies at 95 of something else. So, we know we cure breast cancer, but we never know if any one particular person is cured at any one time."

It also reminds me that recent news of Rita Wilson and Angelina Jolie and their choice of mastectomy promotes that as the treatment of choice lately.... I've been asked why I didn't "choose" mastectomy numerous times by family, friends and my boss! I walked into my surgeon at our first appointment and said, "Lets just do a mastectomy." He said it was a difficult surgery and wasn't necessary for a 1.05 cm tumor. He said that lumpectomy + radiation was as effective as mastectomy. I felt good about that choice and felt if it came back in the breast, I could go with a mastectomy then.

And for people who do a mastectomy WITHOUT chemo, how do they know a rogue cell hasn't traveled outside of the breast to another part of their body? While I didn't like the idea of chemo, I like the fact that is it impacts cancer cells throughout my body, not just my breast.

I don't want to second guess my choices, and I want to truly LIVE my life without the cloud of recurrence hanging over my head. But I'm afraid it will always be in the back of my mind.... :-( . I hope/plan to use it though as a motivator for a healthier lifestyle rather than a victim mentality....

KBee- Oh my gosh-5 bones...poor thing!

So - I just met w/my MO about starting Taxol - she is an active research dr and is doing a clinical right now on cryotherapy during taxol to prevent neuropathy - she said the results so far are AMAZING at the difference it makes, FYI for anyone wondering.

I had a question for you girls I was diagnosed from biopsy dcis high grade and Idc grade 3 1.5cm does everyone have both dcis and Idc or is it possible to have just Idc? Not sure how that works and I will never know how much was dcis and Idc because I had chemo first

Stephmoen, yes, totally possible to have DCIS and IDC. DCIS is cancer that has not spread out of the duct, and IDC is considered to have spread - not 100% positive, but my understanding is that IDC was originally DCIS? I've always heard it described as a progression. My mom had small DCIS, and they called it "stage 0" or pre-cancer.

Lynne

Allicat: I think that the term "remission" has gone out of favour, but I think it's appropriate. There is no "cure" for cancer, just treatment. Cancer cells are sneaky devils. You never know when they could make an appearance...three times so far in my case. Sheesh. I was ER and PR positive on the left side, and there is lymph node involvement so there is a real risk of recurrence. Hopefully the chemo and rads will prevent that! Only time will tell.

Day after TC#3 and feeling great! DH is off to go tubing on the river with friends and will stay at their place for dinner but I opted to stay home - it would be a long day and I can't go in water anyway with my PICC. Think I will repot a tomato plant and otherwise putter around at home...my fave activity anyway.

Have a good weekend y'all! May your SE's be minimal or non-existent.

Andrea

Princess, the cryotherapy sounds like what my MO has me doing on Taxol...little frozen booties and mittens that they change out to maintain the cold level? Do you have any further information on your study? I'd be super interested to see how I can up my game! FYI, be sure to wear socks! I showed up in flip flops last time and they had to wrap my feet in surgeon's hats LOL...someone had sewed mittens for patients to wear under the gloves out of t-shirt material.

As far as occurrence, I think all of us right now in treatment have less chance of getting cancer than the rest of the normal population, if that makes sense. It isn't going to grow while we are on chemo, my MO said. So, deep breath, we don't have to worry about it during treatment! When people ask if I'm in remission, that's what I tell them. I have less chance of getting cancer right now today than you do.

Maybe I don't totally understand the medical use of the term remission, because to me it implies an impermanent abnormal state. If everyone has the potential to develop cancer, than isn't everyone in remission, or premission, or something? Or, conversely, if medical science returns us to a physical state in which no cancer is detectable, haven't those of us who completed treatment been returned to normal? Jeeze, I think that meeting I just got out of fried my brain, but I really am curious. Can someone with medical knowledge weigh in?

Hahahaha, ok, my brother, that fountain of wisdom, just had this to say about cancer. Bear in mind he knows nothing about criminals or prison, except what he gets from watching Breaking Bad: In order to beat cancer, you have to be crazier than it is. Its like in prison, where the only way to keep from being someones bitch is to be the craziest bastard in the place and make them fear you..be willing to do stuff no sane person would do. So, cancer attacks you, you RAGE back with every ounce of aggression in your body. Prove that you are crazier than it is, no matter what. Make it FEAR you. Make it your bitch. Besides, in my family, you will die of a heart attack at 50, so you are good!

Brotherly wisdom...

Yay for no foot surgery!

Most people who have cancer and are treated don't have a recurrence. I'll call that a cure, and I'm using the word cure. I want positive images in my head. I plan to die of pneumonia after my hundredth birthday party.

ksusan, I'm with you! I am in the March chemo group, but just wanted to share. My great aunt Josie had a similar lump to mine and she lived to 99, died of old age. And my great aunt Jenny had one diagnosed in her early 60s, did no treatment, and she died at age 92. I'm hoping I am like them. My MO also used the word cure with my stage, and she is a very conservative, no nonsense, if there hasn't been a trial validating use I won't do it, kind of doctor.

From what I understand, at least 70% of people, whether or not they go through chemo and rads, etc., go on to live normal lives with no recurrence ever. I'm not sure if that is stage specific or for all stages.

Littlbeblue: I have had colon cancer and two different breast cancers, one in each breast. My oncologist said that there is a lot that is not known about DNA and the risk of cancer - I think for some of us, recurrence is a real risk. I am going for genetic counselling and probably testing, for the sake of my daughter and granddaughter in particular. There seems to be something in my make-up that predisposes me to developing tumours. I will beat this, but I will always wonder about every little lump and bump and pain, for the rest of my life. It's not a good way to live but it's realistic. But I am a survivor!!!!

Re IDC - I had IDC in my left breast but there was also features of ILC as well. My right was simply IDC but was also triple negative. Thank goodness there was no lymph node involvement on the right side.

Andrea

I'm finished with AC # 4. Now I will wait 3 weeks to start Kadcyla and Perjeta. Im hoping my liver will tolerate Kadcyla, since there's supposed to not be as many SE. My AC infusion weren't too bad, no problem with blood work. I'm on Neupogen and only had bone pain once. My main problems with AC is indigestion, GERD and nausea. Boy do I cherish the good days when I feel good. I'm looking forward to get the next step started since I'll be on it for a year.