I'm joining the club and so scared right now

Options
2»

Comments

  • Chevyboy
    Chevyboy Member Posts: 10,786
    edited January 2017

    Oh hey Mods! Thanks for looking in on us! You are the best!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited January 2017

    Hello again. I wanted to suggest that you ask one of your medical team (any doc can rx) for some low dose Xanax--it's an anti-anxiety med--to help you get through these first weeks. I did--my surgeon gave them to me with pleasure--, and I took the lowest dose possible and it helped. I am prone to anxiety and if you had a panic attack Xanax would have helped tremendously. There's no benefit in needlessly suffering during this time, and no reason for you to work so hard to keep anxiety at bay. You're already overwhelmed with information, etc.

    You can stop taking them when you calm down--which you will--in a few weeks. Hugs.

    Claire in AZ

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Chevyboy
    Chevyboy Member Posts: 10,786
    edited January 2017

    Oh Hey Mods! Thanks for looking in on us!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Chevyboy
    Chevyboy Member Posts: 10,786
    edited January 2017

    Never mind.... I just repeated myself... fingers working faster than my brain....

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bratmobile
    bratmobile Member Posts: 16
    edited January 2017

    Hi Pakkr,

    I'm sorry to meet you this way but thank you for posting. I will be thinking of you today. I had another sleepless night last night but it was due to all the information I got at the appointment, rather than pure anxiety and fear. The fear of the unknown and possible has been the worst and I happily trade it in for my actual diagnosis and knowledge on how to move forward. Again, I will be thinking of you and check back to see if you update!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Wren44
    Wren44 Member Posts: 8,585
    edited January 2017

    I only told family, best friends, and the supervisors at my volunteer gigs. I wanted people to look at me and not at my boobs. I think that glance down is instinctive.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Icietla
    Icietla Member Posts: 1,265
    edited February 2017

    Chevyboy wrote:

    By the way...Icietla...? Is it okay if I call you Icedtea?

    ---

    Icietla writes: Yes, fine to call me Icedtea.

    A warm welcome to all the new members.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Spookiesmom
    Spookiesmom Member Posts: 9,568
    edited February 2017

    Chevy re-names everybody 😂😂😂

    And I do too, but sometimes you gotta remember to breathe, and you can still have a giggle. It's good for ya!!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Chevyboy
    Chevyboy Member Posts: 10,786
    edited February 2017

    Morning Icedtea... How are you doing by now? And what's going on with LilBrat? Haven't heard from you guys in awhile......

    Hey Spookie! You doing anything fun lately? I'm trying to fight off some kind of cold or something... The nose thing, now Asthma...(of course) But I think I can take care of it all with the Nebulizer, Breo,... Zyrtec and nasal spray.... And just taking it easy.......

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bratmobile
    bratmobile Member Posts: 16
    edited February 2017

    Hi, I realized reading around this site & on the boards late in the evening was NOT helping me sleep! TMI to process! I pulled away for a while. I just had a MRI guided biopsy yesterday for a second smaller mass my initial MRI discovered. So, I'm sitting here with an ice pack. I guess its time to update my sig line again : / 

    I meet with my medical oncologist for the first time this coming Tuesday and again with the surgeon on Wednesday. I'm apprehensive about what other information I'm going to find out (in addition to the additional lump & size increase in initial lump!). What if there is lymph node involvement I've yet to hear of? What if the genetic test results come back positive? What if now they will recommend mastectomy over lumpectomy? All that good stuff. And yet, you all have been right, that nothing yet has been as bad as the initial 6 days after diagnosis and waiting to meet with the surgeon to go over the path report. Still a long road to go but the more I learn then the sooner I can orient myself towards it.

    I know I am having chemo and that its coming before surgery. Now I'm off to continue wig and scarf shopping/research. A "more fun" type of research for me to do that doesn't rob me of sleep. Also, I cut my almost waist length hair into an angled bob and will go shorter in the next coming weeks. That was a fun part that I did not hate at all. At least I know will know I can enjoy short hair when it re-grows post chemo. So there's that. Thanks for still being there to everyone who chimed in and helped me feel less alone.    

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • kae_md99
    kae_md99 Member Posts: 621
    edited February 2017

    welcome! this is the site to go to. the waiting game is the hardest part but once you have a treatment plan, it will be easier, i promise. goodluck.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2017

    I loved my short hair (had never had it before, except when I was a baby) when it grew back and kept it that way for at least 4 years~!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • abg712
    abg712 Member Posts: 20
    edited February 2017

    hi Bratmobile, how are you doing? Xo abg

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gerji
    Gerji Member Posts: 6
    edited February 2017
    1. i just found this board, although have been bouncing around on a couple others. I'm 75 yes old, widowed after 46 yes, disabled due to an accident that broke both knees & both femurs & just got the "icing on the cake"2 weeks ago, breast cancer! I'm trying my darnedness to wrap my mind around all of this & as you know, its not easy!! My surgeon is going by radiologist report on mammogram & ultrasound, e/o biopsy. I have a lump about the size of a do!into (& just as hard) behind my left nipple. I think he was trying to spare me of any further uncomfortable procedures as its difficult for me to get out & about, being in a wheelchair. They are pretty sure I'd be at same place I am at the moment. Gave me choice of lumpectomy w/radiation or mastectomy w/o radiation. Said no indication it has involved any further tissue. My questions to you all-- how long are radiation appts, how long was lumpectomy, what should I expect (keeping in mind we all react differently)????






    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Lafish
    Lafish Member Posts: 49
    edited February 2017

    hi there gerji, so sorry you find yourself here, my thoughts are with you at this difficult time. I found that the mastectomy was not too bad, it was the removal of my lymph nodes that caused more issues. I was not given any choices regarding treatment and needed to have chemo and radiation but if I was given your choices in you situation I would opt for the mastectomy , just my thoughts. Take care.

    LAF

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • edwards750
    edwards750 Member Posts: 3,761
    edited February 2017

    So sorry Gerji. I had a lumpectomy and radiation - 33 treatments in all. Wasn't bad. Doesn't take long at all. In your case given what you are already dealing with I would opt for the mastectomy.

    Good luck. Keep us posted.

    Diane

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Wren44
    Wren44 Member Posts: 8,585
    edited February 2017

    Genji, There are ways to do brief radiation. I would ask your doctor if one of those could be done. The normal course is several weeks with a dose done each day. The first appointment is a long one while they get everything set up, then it just takes a few minutes. You would have to go in every day. If you have the mastectomy, you might still need radiation if the margins are bad, but probably not. I had a lumpectomy with poor margins and had to go back. A second, hidden, tumor was found when I went back. At that point, I decided on mastectomy. The mastectomy was a bit longer recovery, but not difficult. As someone mentioned, the lymph node sample was more painful. I didn't need radiation after the mastectomy. I was 71 when diagnosed and 76 now. I have been happy with my choice. Good luck on your decision and treatment. Please let us know how you're doing.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Hopfull2
    Hopfull2 Member Posts: 418
    edited February 2017

    hi brat, I'm the same age as you and your post reminded me of myself when I first got diagnosed this last summer. I remember not wanting to eat anything because I felt it would cause it to speed quicker since we were not sure exactly what stage I was until I had my mastectomy . I'm about to finish chemo this week and you will get through it better than you think. My prayers are with you.

    Hugs.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Andrea1111
    Andrea1111 Member Posts: 14
    edited February 2017

    Of course you are scarred. No need to tell the kids. If your appearance changes because you get chemo, you could tell them then... I tell everyone newly diagnosed to get a double mastectomy and get your centinal nodes biopsied. Also, get a complete hysterectomy. AND because you are pr er positive, get on hormone therapy. I have a nine year old and I was just diagnosed with advanced stage 4 metastatic. I started with a stage 1 and then a stage 11 in 2003 and then 2014. I wished I had done a double mastectomy in 2003 and a hysterectomy. I seriously do not thing I would be faced with this if I had done that in the begining. AND no reconstruction. No matter what people say, it covers up new or recurrances. It does. Save your life and do all the most extreme treatment. I wish I had. You can do this! You have an early stage. Get it taken care of. Best wishes to you.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited February 2017

    Andrea, no offense (especially in light of your Stage IV diagnosis), but your blanket advice to "everyone newly diagnosed to get a double mastectomy” is highly inappropriate and dangerously inaccurate in light of the majority of research. Every tumor is different. Every person is different. These boards are full of patients who had recurrences, even mets, despite bilateral mastectomies, chemo, radiation and endocrine (hormone) therapy. And there are plenty of patients who opted for lumpectomy + radiation and never got recurrences. Sentinel (not “centinal”) node biopsy is always done as part of surgery. And it is totally irresponsible to suggest “complete hysterectomy” for all patients (especially past menopause) with neither uterine symptoms, family history nor genetic mutations that would put them at risk for reproductive cancers. The more extensive the surgery, the higher the risks (that might well occur well before any possible recurrence and would themselves be life-threatening). And reconstruction doesn’t “cover up” recurrences or new primaries, except in rare cases. It has its own problems but most women who opt for it and have it competently done without other factors that impair its success are satisfied with it.

    For you, as a young woman (assuming so because you have a 9-yr-old), aggressive treatment is warranted for aggressive cancer—because breast cancer, even ER/PR+, is more aggressive in younger patients. Your mets were probably due to a host of other factors and would probably have occurred (note—14 yrs. from Stage I to mets is a long time for aggressive tumors) regardless of the surgery you chose (those micromets were likely well on their way before your surgeons picked up a scalpel). I am so sorry you have to deal with being Stage IV while you still have a preteen child to raise, and my heart aches for you. But please do not project your own specific circumstances on to every newly diagnosed bc patient!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Chevyboy
    Chevyboy Member Posts: 10,786
    edited February 2017

    Hey Gerji.... Just don't be scared! If you have a good "team" they will work with you, and give you suggestions! It all depends on your dx.... Don't make any definite plans for what you want to have yet! You don't have all the information! I was 72 when diagnosed, in 2009..... It was very small, no nodes were involved, and you find most of this out AFTER the surgery!

    I had the Mammosite device.... so radiation was only for a week, twice a day.... Didn't need chemo! You will get an onco score.... That determines if you even NEED chemo. So don't make any decisions until everything is figured out.... A Lumpectomy was fine for me.... maybe for you too! Sometimes when we are older, going through a lot of treatment is harder on us than the actual surgery.

    I also know a double mastectomy isn't covered by a lot of insurances! So you have a lot of time, after you hear what all of your options are.... Yes, you can read a lot, but you have to know that we are all different.... and one person's treatment might NOT be right for you.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bratmobile
    bratmobile Member Posts: 16
    edited February 2017

    Hi all, holy smokes. Well, some of this info freaks me out. I am ER+PR+and Her2+++ also 37 so does this mean my cancer is The Most Aggressive Ever? My doctors have a really great way with words telling me, "I qualify" (just like the Olympics!) for neoadjuvant chemo, when really I think this means the tumor is too big to perform a lumpectomy on right now. They also put positive spin on the triple positive thing, like, there are targeted therapies for you! I'm just feeling mixed up.

    Yesterday I met with the medical oncologist and today had second meeting with my surgeon. I have port placement surgery scheduled a week from now, 3/1. An echo scheduled for tomorrow, chemo class next week and the first treatment scheduled for Wednesday, 3/7. Deciding between taxol v. taxotere. Just found the cold cap info here and my head is just spinning with all this info and appointments. I think I have an appointment every day. Already the house is going down hill from the time it takes to deal with all this stuff and treatments haven't even started yet : /   My oncologist didn't seem to think eating soy would make a big difference but I see great concern from ER+ folks here about consuming soy products. That's a random aside but it seems there is so much information and not all of it lines up nicely. I'm ready for the official BC rule book please....  

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ChiSandy
    ChiSandy Member Posts: 12,133
    edited February 2017

    There’s soy and then there’s soy. Okay: reasonable quantities of soybeans themselves (edamame, toasted “soy nuts”), tofu, minimally processed soymilk and soy sauce. Not okay: highly processed soy, such as fake meats (soy protein isolates) and soy-based food additives, as well as—if one is not Asian--too much tofu & soymilk or soy as the centerpiece of one’s diet (hey, vegans--there are plenty of other proteinaceous legumes that do not have estrogenic effects). The reasons Asian women have a lower incidence of bc despite eating soy, are that they’ve grown up eating it (and perhaps genetically adapted to it to make up for general lactose intolerance) and the soy they ate all their lives is different from that generally grown in the US as an agribusiness commodity. There’s some emerging evidence that just as native populations become unhealthy within a generation after abandoning their centuries-old diets in favor of the SAD (standard American diet, heavy on refined carbohydrates), Asian women eating commercially-grown American soy while adopting more Western eating habits may be losing their protection against developing estrogen-dependent cancers.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • singlemom1
    singlemom1 Member Posts: 434
    edited March 2017

    I completely agree that it is not appropriate and can be dangerous to give out blanket advise. Each person and situation needs to be individually assessed. A 2nd medical opinion is the route to go if you have questions on your original doctor's treatment plan.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories