Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

sandy- it IS a guy thing;) hopefully he can get it done before you leave.

Peggy- feel better

Peggy, I hear you on the allergies. Colds suck, but they go away in a week or so--but allergies are like being sick all the time, only nobody else believes there’s really anything wrong with you. When I was a kid, I always got teased and called “green snot” and some of my teachers told me to stop being such a wuss (or whatever the 1950s equivalent of that word was) and live with it. The only other real ailment for which nobody else cuts you any slack is dysmenorrhea--even when you’re doubled over in pain, clutching a heating pad and puking every 3-1/2 weeks--and your P.E. teacher accuses you of trying to get out of gym class.

Bob’s CT is to keep tabs on a lung nodule that showed up in Nov. The Nov. scan was to check on a 2cm nodule they found last May after his hemicolectomy; on Nov.’s scan, that nodule was gone but a new 2mm one appeared in the opposite part of the same lung. He’s an evening smoker (physician, heal thyself)--less than half a pack, but that’s still 10 cigs too many. Thing is, I am not going to cancel my performing commitments just in case this new scan turns out bad (as I did last year when his colonoscopy went blooey three days before I was to leave for NC), but if he gets the scan and bad news before I have to leave, of course I’d cancel again.

Sandy, I totally get it. My DH can look at me, listen to what I'm saying, repeat it back to me, and still can't remember what I said. Every week when he refills his 7-day med boxes he asks me what Pravastatin is. Not just once, but 3-4 times "What's pravastatin for again?" I tell him it's for cholesterol and 6 minutes later he'll say, "What's pravastatin for?" and he phrases it like he never asked the question the first time. This goes on 52 times a year. There have been days when he asked SEVEN TIMES! And I even wrote "cholesterol" on the side of the bottle! It's maddening.

I write EVERYTHING on the kitchen calendar, as well as my daytimer. We just spent the weekend in room 276 at a nice resort. We went to dinner and put the check on our bill. I'm glad I looked at it, because he wrote our room number as "175", and then tried to argue with me when I told him we were in 276! I'm pretty sure whoever was in 175 would have be upset with that bill!

As far as the hotel thing, I don't think it's just men. My DD would do that too. In fact, I just made reservations for a couple of rooms in Panama City Beach for a June wedding. DD and her boyfriend will have one room and I will have another. The price for each room for 2 nights is about $350 total. Now, keep in mind this will be in JUNE, a week after school gets out. High season on the Gulf Coast. Everything decent on the beach goes for over $200/nt and many are over $300/nt. The place I got is not a fancy resort, just a serviceable hotel with a kitchenette for $175/nt. DD told me it was too expensive and she would find something cheaper. I tried to tell her that this hotel was one of the least expensive at PCB. Sure, there are a few flea-bag hotels that are $130/nt--bed bugs free of charge. They look like no-tell motels and the reviews aren't just bad, they're TERRIBLE. I don't know how much DD thinks they can pay, but I'm willing to just keep the reservation I have for them and let them pay me what they can.

I hope your DH can get that CT scan moved up to a better date for you. I've finally got DH just about trained--he tells his nurses to just call me with the dates, since I run the show, LOL.

Sandy, I totally get the name calling from grade school. I don't remember not having bad allergies. My mother told me that after she and daddy put a window air conditioner in my bedroom they had to check on me because I was sleeping so quietly. I've tried a lot of the new allergy meds and none of them work very well for me (if at all) so I stick to Benadryl which DOES work.

That is worrisome about the spot on Bob's lung. Hopefully he can get the CT scan sooner than later and all is well with it.

Poodles, that must be disconcerting that your DH keeps asking what a particular med is. Are there other things going on with his health? Your hotel tale reminds me when Chuck & I went down to Indianapolis for the flower show (we were florists). The hotel we we booked at had overbooked by a whole lot. There was a Shriner's convention in town and the hotels were overflowing. Our hotel found us another hotel. So we went to find it. As we were driving along, the neighborhood changed to one that was quite suspect. Then we found the hotel which was of the "hourly" variety. We were not happy. Eventually original hotel found us a spot. I think you're smart to keep that room for DD.

Have a viewing of the house this morning so have to clean as soon as I'm done with breakfast. I am very tired of having to look like Suzy Homemaker and her white gloves live here.

HUGS!

Grazy, thanks. I'm blessed with year 'round allergies (well, except when snow is on the ground). I didn't find that my allergies combined with rads made me anymore tired than I was beforehand. Hope you find that too.

That's challenging about your mother. Is she getting physical therapy in her transition home? I'd think she could use it. Chuck always benefited from a stint in a rehab facility after being in the hospital to regain the strength he lost by being in bed for so long. Good luck!

HUGS!

Grazy, you'll do just fine. The trick is to not be doing other stressful things (like caregiving). Of course, that's generally impossible. Just keep in mind that fatigue can be caused by many things, not just the rads. It is extremely tiring keeping the house so clean. I don't have anything personal left out so the house doesn't even feel like it's mine. One friend said that it feels like a museum (she has 2 houses up for sale and is living in one). She's right. Good luck!

HUGS!

Molly, how irritating that the surgical scheduler didn't call. Argh! My cough with this mess is mostly a tickle from being dried out and from all the drainage. Claritin doesn't help at all - I was taking it. At least with Benadryl I can breathe most of the time. I hope your cough goes away - these things seem to hanging on forever this year. Good luck with your screwy schedule!

HUGS!

Wow, LG, that is a lot to think about and a tough decision. At 42, a hysterectomy might give you some of the side effects you mention, but you might not have all of them. And the tamoxifen will give you a lot of the same SE's anyway. Since I'm already in menopause, I can only say that it's not that bad and I'm staying way more active than most people your age! If it were my decision, I would want the hysterectomy, both because of the uterine cancer in your family, and because I would want to do everything possible to decrease your chances of the breast cancer returning! See if you can find others on these boards who have had hysterectomies in their 40's and ask how their SE's have been.

Peggy, I hope the allergies leave you alone soon. Do you think they will be any better when you move?

Sandy, I hope things work out with DH's scan. It's not fair that you have to worry about your scans AND his!

Grazy, I'll be hoping you can get your Mom settled down soon and get some rest for yourself!!

Poodles, so next time you get the question, tell him "Look on the bottle". You can train him to look there!

LG, here is my non medical opinion. Uterine cancer is pretty easy to monitor for. As long as your gyn keeps an eye on any thickening and biopsies anything suspicious I see no reason to remove your uterus. As for removing your ovaries does PALB2 increase your chances of ovarian ca? Do you have a hx of ovarian ca in your family? Have you met with a geneticist? Even your MO isn't going to be able to advise you better than a genetic doctor and / or a gyn oncologist. These are big decisions to not be taken lightly.

Lovinggrouches, I have had to make the same decision. I have already lost my breasts to BC, due to PALB2 and Chek2 gene mutations. My family history of cancers of all kinds is terrible--32 in the first and second generations alone. Five cases of BC and 4 cases of uterine cancer, including two of my 3 sisters and my grandmother; PALB2 has been implicated in increased risk for uterine cancer. Although PALB2 is not well known to cause ovarian cancer, it is still being studied.

After discussing it all with my MO and GYN, I have come to the decision to have a total hysterectomy. I've had many endometrial biopsies and they hurt like hell. I don't want to face a lifetime of that. In my case, there is no rush; the hyst would be totally a preventative surgery. I am still trying to heal from this awful BMX. I think I'm going to let the dust settle, then plan to have my hyst around Christmas. That's my slowest time of the year, so I could easily take off 4 weeks for surgery.

it is a hard decision. I think the surgical menopause is the worst and hysterectomy is a big surgery. I hope you are able to make a decision that works best for you.

Thanks for posting this, HH. I am still hopeful of attending. We are waiting for DHs cardiac and pulmonary approvals, so we can get a surgery date.Crossing my fingers that it will be after May 22.

Does anyone here know what hotels are nearby?

Oh LG, I'm sorry that you are faced with this decision. It really sucks. Wishing you the best.

Peggy- hope you are feeling better! It seems od when you aren't posting and helping everyone.

Sandy- just read back through posts...YES- it's GUY thing. Can be so frustrating! Hugs.

LG- thinking of you as you try to make this decision.

Thanks Peggy! Glad you're feeling better. Seemed weird not to see you on so much! I'm definitely taking my time to decide and getting as many opinions from docs as I can before I decide. I just definitely don't think I can spend my life having constant PAINFUL biopsies, ultrasounds, d and c and all that crap! I'm thinking the insurance would be happy to pay for a hysterectomy, it will probably save them lots of money lol!!! I will make my decision and be determined not to look back and deal with what I have to. I guess the hubby will need to move in with his mom for 6 months or so since I will be thrown into a fast menopause ? Lol!!! He's already talking about how he's not looking forward to it lol! HUGS to all!!