Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

Wow, lots happens here in an afternoon. Haven't been able to log on since lunch, so here goes:

Sloan, LTF, and Peggy, what is this book that you brought up in regards to you going back to BJJ, Sloan?

614: Remember, they call it the practice of yoga and it is about your journey. Don't get discouraged that you don't look like the teacher.

Hawaiianmom: welcome. I'm new around here too, but this is such a welcoming group.

HH: Ugh, I dread the idea of my procedure being pushed back. I'm a breakfast eater, and I hate the idea of fasting, and can't imagine how horrible I will be to be around if it gets pushed later than it already is. I'm sorry to hear that your long, stressful day was even longer.

Peggy: Granted, I've only been active a couple of days here, but you are so much a part of this group, I bet you might even get missed faster than some people who be at work. :-)

April: I agree wholeheartedly about the awesomeness in this group. (I'm an April, too, BTW).

ALL: I would love to be able to join you on Fitbit, although I don't imagine that I would be putting in many steps this weekend. I'm 1step there, as well, with the same profile pic.

Question for all of you. Did you get genetic testing/results prior to getting your lx?

Ayr: Yes, in fact, my BS didn't want to schedule until I had the results. I know that we probably would have considered other options for surgery if genetics were positive.

just a short comment about nausea, try to keep a little bit of something in your stomach all the time, yogurt, whatever you can handle.

Peggy, best of luck with stress test, I will be in your pocket!

Blamoms, yay on the negative nodes, sorry about needing chemo--but triple-neg's recurrence rate goes down after 5 years, while we ER+ gals are never fully out of the woods, hoping natural causes get us well into old age, before the cancer cells lose their appetite for estrogen.

I got surgery first, but didn't schedule my rads until my genetic panel came back negative. Had I been positive, I'd have cancelled rads and gone for bmx with immediate autologous reconstruction (could stand to lose that belly).

MLP3, great news on the nodes!

Exhausted--had an early LE therapy session (because my symptoms disappeared overnight, the PT is still not saying I have true LE--but some of the wrist tightness and sore spots/knots are back). Just got back a couple of hrs. ago from a marathon Springsteen concert (3.5 hrs, no intermission) and was ravenous--standing, singing along and bopping almost the whole time. Burned up all the carbs from the chunk of roll I ate from an Italian beef sandwich (plenty of beef, but I hadn't had lunch). Made some hash with an egg on top for a midnight supper. Hoping the scale doesn't reflect it. I felt like I had as much of a workout as when I used to play 3 sets with my old rock band--only tonight I didn't have to tear down or load the van

Biasmom I also am triple neg and had a lumpectomy and reexcision. Chemo is tough but doeable. I did AC-T chemo I finished 6 weeks ago today and am now doing rads. I know it is incredibly scary hearing triple neg and our prognosis, but like others said our cancer respondsvery well to chemo and the reoccurrence goes down after 5 years. The triple neg board here is great just like this one. I will say to ask your mo about genetic testing to help you decide any further surgery of a bmx. A lot of triple negs do get lumpectomy, so either surgery is ok. I was neg for my genetic tests. If you have any questions or need support just pm me.

Peggy good luck with your tests!

Gee Peggy, I had no idea you weren't feeling well. Make sure they do a chest X-ray. Perhaps you have walking pneumonia or something. I live alone too and often think If something happened to me it might be a week before someone ( my kids) find me. I think about my pets and the mess. So I know what you mean.

My BS ordered genetic testing for me before surgery. They rushed the BRCA and the Ashkenazi Jewish panels which took two weeks. The other panels came back after I had surgery. Funny thing was that my insurance refused to pay for genetics testing after it was done.. Ugh

Saw my BS yesterday, he's such a sweetheart. I would use him again in a heartbeat. I hope I never have to. I have to go back on my surgical anniversary.

Welcome to all the newbies.

Have my exercises stress echo test scheduled for Monday afternoon. No coffee that day I haven't felt bad but I have had discomfort towards my collar bone that is eased when I hold up my left (bad) breast. I had a cyst removed from that breast nearly 50 years ago as well as my Lx. I think that something was disrupted in the muscles or balance of the breast since this is not a new thing. But what is annoying at 50 becomes a tad scarier at 70. As we all know, when you have BC you realize you are not immortal and that's hard to confront. Intellectually we know that but our gut apparently has a different outlook. Also playing into that is that I still think I'm 50

I mentioned to my sons that I have been stupid about heavy lifting, thinking I can easily toss around 25-30 lbs of stuff and find that my body says let's not do that again. They both said that they have run into that, too, and they are in their 40s. Made me feel less stupid.

JcLc, I'm not sick so I doubt I have pneumonia. Of course anything is possible. I do have rotten allergies and will start a new drug for them today (Azelastine). Anyone used that? All the new ritzy allergy meds do nothing for me. Benadryl helps the most. Guess I'm an old-fashioned gal!

Hoping that all awaiting path reports have good ones. Things are moving so fast here I'm sure I've missed someone who needs hugs so I'll just send them to all of you!

HUGS!

Genetic test was done on me after my lx but before my mx. Unfortunately the results were misfiled and I saw the results online the morning of my umx. Too late to change the surgery to BMX at that point. I am getting every 6 months monitoring between mammogram and MRI until I have the right side removed.

I had my genetic testing done prior to lx but within a timeframe to have the results back. A bit close and I gambled, but it paid off!

Peggy- we would most certainly miss you! Feel better😘 Maybe the cold and dry air is affecting you...?

Chi sandy- you know how to live girl! Champagne dinners, Springsteen and late night bites😉

LTF- you're adorable! The short hair is really great on you... Maybe you'll keep it when it starts to come in again.

Amaree/ hang in there! At least you're getting things going and treatment underway.

Blamoms- yay for no nodes!!!

Getting ready to get my hair done for my night in Boston. I'm actually exhausted so dh might be getting a good nights sleep if anything

HappyHammer, no alarm or monitoring system. I may wind up getting something but I think I'll wait. I don't mind living alone and I'm not scared at all. Just that one concern. I do make sure that no matter what I'm doing, my phone is with me. I have been pretty good about it but now I'm trying to be perfect. Which service does your mom use?

HUGS!

Mairew, it is really hard to wait for that Oncotype score. No matter what the score is, at least you will know what your best course of treatment should be. I find that easier than being up in the air. Hope your MO or whomever is keeper of the scores calls you today!!

I am being good. I just need to be smart (and that's quite hard)

HUGS!

Blamoms, great about no nodes! My sister in law is triple negative, diagnosed in '11. She has always says she's glad she didn't google Triple Negative when she was first diagnosed. Please don't! For what it's worth, I had morning sickness, but had almost no problem with nausea with chemo. There's a product called Queasy Drops that are hard candies with ginger, which I kept in my purse. I got them at the hospital gift shop, but they are also available in the baby section at Babies R. Us.

Peggy, take care of yourself! We would certainly notice if you weren't here.

KarenR0618, glad you found this group! You can keep on telling people that it will be easy, because it will be. Anyone who has not been through surgery and radiation has a view of it being much more difficult than it is. My mom was asking "How many days do you think you'll be in the hospital after surgery?" Um, I'll be home for dinner that night. And "Why don't I fly up to help you!" Well, the surgery really doesn't leave you incapacitated, just a little sore and tired. Being nervous is normal, particularly if you've not had surgery before (I hadn't) but you will probably find yourself looking back at this and saying to yourself "That really wasn't so awful!"

MLP3--great news about the genetic testing!~ Let's hope the rest of it also comes back normal.

Blahmom--I had terrible morning sickness for 6 months with all three of my children, but I didn't have much nausea, and NO vomiting, with my chemo. So, there is hope. They gave me a ton of meds with the chemo to keep me from being sick, plus Zofran to use at home. I think I took a total of 6 pills during the whole 4 months I was on chemo. I have about 22 pills left.

I am fortunate to be able to work from home, so I have not had to go to the office much these last 4 months. I am a community health nurse, so I go on home visits. My MO restricted me to healthy clients only, and NO hospital visits! I think I may have used about 6 sick days, total, since I started chemo in Oct. Fortunately, I have a very understanding boss and I work at a job which doesn't require me to be on-site. I used to be a school nurse and I definitely would have had to take leave from that job--all those little germ vectors. Yikes!