Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

Poodles, I am sorry about your DH but will be praying for him to have no spread outside the prostate. I think we can all relate to his filtering his own disease through his friends diagnosis. Enjoy your special time with your DS. Twin, welcome. Moondust, glad you got your second opinion straightened out. I hope you get the answer you are seeking.

I heard from my BS - she called me 8:00 Thursday night- so glad she did! She received the results of my pathology report - my left breast had 2 areas of cancer -DCIS and IDC. Both breasts were full of pre-cancerous areas but no cancer on the right. On the left side 1 lymph node out of 7 tested positive and I am HER2 positive. I'm still recovering from by BMX and to top it off I got a case of the shingles all over my hips and glutes! That was Wednesday and I burst into tears when I walked out of the doctors office . Thank goodness my sister was with me! I got some meds so it's clearing up.

I meet with my BS Tuesday and my Onocologist May 16th. My BS did explain the treatment to me and I'm sure she and my Onocologist will have more information. It's been a lot of news to handle - thinking it was DCIS and then finding the second area of IDC. I'm really thankful for all the support of my DH, sister , friends and family. They are helping me this through this rough patch. I'm not a citizen of cancer! I'm getting out of this valley! Any words of wisdom on HER2 and this journey would be great!

Oh, Heathet, you certainly got some disappointing news you weren't expecting! I'm very sorry your Dx got more complicated, but you'll be okay after the treatments. HER+ is very responsive to the meds they have for it (Herceptin plus Perjeta). I only know about women receiving those drugs before surgery, so I'm not sure what the protocol is if you receive them after surgery. You might have to have chemo at the beginning, then continue on the HER2 meds for a year. Hopefully you will come to feel like I do now, that chemo is just one more cross we have to bear, not something to be scared of. Don't worry, you will be walking out of Cancer Valley to hopefully never return! I hope your shingles start to clear up soon, too!

(((Heathet))) sorry about the shingles and the changes in pathology. That must have been a shock. Hopefully you got on Anti viral meds right away. It would probably be helpful to read on the HER2 forum as well.

Hugs and prayers to you, Heathet. My friend J. had her BMX on Wed. (6cm Gr. 3 ER-/PR- DCIS and an add’l area of undetermined densities on the L, ADH on the R). All her nodes were clear, but we’re waiting for the final path report and hoping there was no invasive component to the DCIS. She won’t be getting chemo, and with hormone- disease she is not getting endocrine therapy either. She’s 70, with genetic alopecia, so is resigned to eventually going bald anyway (transplants were only partly successful), but as a heart patient (2 stents and a repaired aortic dissection) and diabetic her body might not be able to handle chemo. Keeping our fingers crossed.

TwinEagleMom, I too hope you can get the targeted therapy on its own, since you already had chemo. Sometimes (for hormone-/HER2+ cancers) they give chemo first, then Herceptin and finally radiation. Since you’re getting a BMX, at least you won’t need radiation.

Poodles, my heart goes out to you and your DH. Not having gone through the prospect of incontinence, I have no advice other to tell you that with adequate protection it can be managed in social situations.

Next week Bob is due for his 6-mo. followup lung CT (last May after his emergency hemicolectomy--from a botched colonoscopy--a 2cm lung lesion was found. At his Nov. followup, it had disappeared but a 2mm. one was found in a different portion of the same lung). I am hoping he doesn’t have to go through what I did. 2015 was no picnic. We’re hoping for a break in 2016. One of our friends just celebrated 4 yrs NED from non-small-cell inoperable lung cancer--neoadjuvant chemo & rads made the tumor disappear.

614, so glad everything was fine with your mammo - what a relief for you.

Heathet, I'm sorry for all you're enduring right now - it just keeps piling up, doesn't it. You'll get through it all, of course, but I bet it sure doesn't feel right now as though you will. Hang in there. Sending you a big hug.

Poodles, sending good thoughts your way as well as you deal with your husband's situation.

ChiSandy, good luck to Bob on his follow up CT. I also hope you both get a break for the remainder of 2016 - and beyond.

Sending my best to everyone else that I haven't mentioned by name. I've been home for a day's respite with my kids and husband, and now heading back 'up north' for the 'in-law' funeral today and to continue to help care for my Mom she continues to recover from her surgery. Concentrating very hard on staying healthy and not exhausting myself pre-rads!

(I was discussing "life" with a friend of mine the other day, commenting on how many of our middle-aged friends are now starting to suffer from this or that, and we both decided that, in a nutshell, "Life's a Bitch" - we now end all texts to each other with #LifesABitch, which makes us laugh - what else can you do sometimes.)

heahet sorry about the change in pathology and the shingles

Poodles sounds like a lovely time with your son.

Created I'm glad your DH is on board. I personally have not seen a counselor, I've been working full-time and have two young children, I'm just too busy to fit counselling for myself in. I have got it in the past and using some of the anxiety techniques I've learned this time around. Do you think counselling is a very good idea, and would probably ask your oncologist or chemo clinic if they have anyone to recommend.

614 glad your mammo was OK and will keep that in mind, because I too have dense breasts. I wish I qualified for MRIs but I don't.

Good News! I've been massaging that lump I was talking about yesterday, and it has gone away. I will still have to explore and find out for sure what it is, but if it was a tumour I wouldn't be able to massage it away so I feel much better now

Sherri, I am exactly like you in the "chemo brain without chemo" department! Words escape me very easily, and I tell people my talent is losing things very quickly. Hooray for a good scan and no biopsy! That's terrific news!

Sue, I was just thinking that you have been waiting quite a while for your Oncotype results. I know that some people have called Genomic Health directly to inquire about their test, and learned that it had been held up because of some insurance snafu or the lab never sent the sample, or something similar. You might want to give them a call if you don't hear back this week!

Created, I didn't want to tell people about my cancer. I am always seen as "the healthy one" because at work I walk on my lunch and breaks, as well as eating right, and I felt people would talk behind my back that "she thinks she's so healthy and she got cancer". So I still haven't told them at work. My close friends know, I told my son about a month ago, and I finally told my brother last week! It has been 4 months since my Dx and I'm just now feeling like it's no big deal to talk about it with most people.

I hope everyone is having a good day today!

moondust I understand. I lost a lot of weight years ago, I am (was)very fit and healthy, and eat very well. I used to talk about it a lot, not in a rude way but trying to inspire and encourage some of my friends towards a healthier lifestyle. I did not hide my cancer from anybody, but I certainly don't talk about my lifestyle as much anymore…because I also worry that that's what they are saying behind my back, that being thin and healthy didn't do me any good. Of course I don't really believe that. First of all maybe my cancer would've been worse or more progress or something. But even forgetting about the cancer, I'm still healthier in general, and have more confidence, and have more energy. I can keep it up, it will reduce my risk of recurrence, so it is certainly still important to me to have a healthy lifestyle, but I don't talk about it much anymore!!

I told few people at my job until right before rads. I saw people give me weird looks every time I had to leave for appointments. I finally posted it on Facebook so everyone would know what was going on. Now at least I don't get dirty looks from them when I leave now.

Created, I only had well wishes, people that said they would pray for me. No one asked me any questions, and that was from mostly co-workers AND family. I didn't tell many people at first because I just didn't want people feeling sorry for me. I finally realized after everyone knew, that I had such great support and everyone was so good to do little things that would lift up my day and in the end, letting everyone know was the best thing in the long run, especially so that everyone is more understanding. Prayers for you. You will be on my mind

Grazy, hope your mom continues to improve.

Heathet, glad you are feeling better today!

Createdonpurpose, I waited five months before I put anything on Facebook because like you, I didn't think I could handle what everyone would post in reply. Glad I did, because it's overwhelming, and amazing what people will tell you when they learn that you have cancer! I got messages from dear friends across the country who had news they'd been keeping to themselves. Only then did I find out that one college roommate filed for divorce six months before, a business friend had just finished treatment for ovarian cancer, a high school friend had a tumor in her chest ten years ago, and another college roommate had just lost her mother to brain cancer.

MLP3, you're not kidding. It's like the world has become a pharmaceutical t.v. commercial and I'm living in it!

Poodles, hope you and DH had a great weekend with your son. Hopefully, it gave you all a brief "cancer" break.

Moondust, hope you get a quick response for your second opinion.

Created, best of luck with your surgery.

Heathet, so sorry you are having to deal with so much right now. Hang in there!

614, Yay for the clear mammo! And thanks for the advice regarding requesting the 3D mammograms.

ChiSandy, hoping for a clear CT for your husband.

LTF, so glad that lump went away.

I also have only told a couple of people at work. I will probably tell more of my co-workers after I finish with radiation. I'm sure some of them have seen me leave every day for an early lunch but no one has asked me about it yet. Everyone that I have told (or has been told by other family members) has been extremely supportive. It is hard for me to accept help from anyone but I also know how helpless it feels to watch someone go through illness, loss, etc. and want to do something to help. My mom made dinner for my husband and I several times after my surgery and even though we could have cooked for ourselves, it was nice to not have to worry about it. The day of my surgery, though, my husband asked me what I wanted to have for dinner and even though we had food from my mom, he was willing to make or get me whatever I wanted. I wasn't very hungry and the thing that sounded the best was a simple toasted peanut butter sandwich. :-)

Bob called me from work today that he has scheduled his CT for Fri. May 20 because he doesn't have office hours that day and “we can go out for lunch & shopping afterward." Only one problem with that: I will be in NC at the SERFA music conference (leaving home Mon. the 16, performing the 19th, 20th & 21st, then doing the Healing Touch benefit concert our own HappyHammer put together in Hickory the eve. of Sun. the 22, and not getting home any earlier than late the night of Wed. the 25th). This isn't the first time I've told him my schedule and he forgot. Same thing happens with my singing partner, who's twice now booked us into important shows on dates I'd told him TWICE I'd be on family vacations. It's gotta be a guy thing.

Hoping to knock some sense into him and get that CT scan before I leave (it's not like he can't pull strings and get it done at the hospital where he's on staff, rather than the one up here where he was treated last summer--he likes the latter “because there's always a priest there in case I need the last rites." Like other hospitals don't have chaplains). Otherwise I will be a nervous wreck the whole time I'm away (not to mention his starting treatment, should the results be bad, two weeks later than he could have). Would it KILL him to cancel office hours for one afternoon--or trade call with another doctor, as he does all the time for them?

Sorry for my rant. Meanwhile, my baby is holed up in a rathole fleabag motel in Mid-City New Orleans because the storms ruined Jazz & Heritage Festival. When I begged him to stay in a decent hotel (not to mention take a real airline, not Spirit), he said, “Oh, Mom, how long am I gonna spend in my room or on a plane anyway? I'd rather spend my money* on the evening shows and good restaurants." As I said, what the hell IS it with men, anyway?

*actually, our money

Hugs Peggy! Hope you get to feeling better!! I keep you all in my prayers 😘