Canadians in British Columbia

Promise this is my Final attempt

Bluesky, thanks for the update and glad to hear it has gone well and you are recovering. So sorry to hear about your friends. That was a lot to take in.

Here is a link to a group starting on the 31st. Dr. Kope wants to interview people for the group before hand so if you are interested I would call today.

There is a group at the cancer centre where the lodge is (across Ash st from BCCA) I forget the name. It takes place once a month and you can contact Pat aboutt. I will PM her email address.

Love that the weather is so perfect right now. I am dealing with diverticulitis and radiologist who did CT Scan wants a colonoscopy to "rule out underlying malignancy" which sounds ominous and my first reaction was fear but I am thinking it is just routine.

Take care all. Still sad and surprised about Wendy.

just wondering if anyone here has had an mri Guided biopsy and is so where? I am in Alberta but thought I might check out where they are available. Thanks!

"Question for the thread: If my nodes were neg, am I still be considered for chemo? I invented that I wouldn't be..."

I was node neg & am doing chemo. In the link below the BC Cancer Agency breast cancer management guidelines talk about when to consider chemo. Generally, the younger you are, & the more aggressive the type of cancer, the more likely they might recommend it. I was 50 at diagnosis & even before getting the Oncotype my MO wanted to recommend a light chemo; when we got the Oncotype back, she recommended heavy duty chemo.

Pretty sure you'll be a candidate for Oncotype DX testing (which means sending a sample of your tumor to California) which will give you a recurrence score. One of the qualifying criteria is "Grade 2 cancers and T1b or larger" (T1b is greater than 5 mm and less than or equal to 10 mm)

http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/health-professionals/cli...

(scroll to section #3 to read about chemotherapy & the Oncotype requirements). Oncotype will give you a score indicating your risk of recurrence. If you score low, you get to skip chemo because the risk of it outweighs the benefit. Higher scores mean chemo might be helpful.

Oh - btw, in that BC Agency section on chemo they link to a website called Adjuvant Online which is an online calculator to assess how much chemo affect life expectancy but that website is offline now. If you want to try to run a calculator yourself, try Predict http://www.predict.nhs.uk/predict_v2.0.html

or LifeMath http://www.lifemath.net/cancer/breastcancer/therap...

One other consideration is how strongly hormone receptor positive you are. The more positive, the more tamox or AI will help prevent recurrence & that might be a sufficient enough treatment plan.

Hi ladies;

Have an appt June 13 w Dr Chia. I'm a bit concerned. I feel like he's going to dismiss me - and I haven't even met him yet

Any advice? Should I rely on his recommendations? What about ovary removal? Is he the Dr to make that recco? Will my oncotype info be available by then?

Thank you all, wish I could send you all flowers for all your support...

I had Dr. Chia and at first thought he was a bit cold but realized later that I was in rough shape from surgery complications and he did grow on me. :-) . Go in with no expectations and see what he has to say. He really does know his stuff so he will have looked at your information and picked what he thinks is best but take notes and think about it before agreeing to anything. If someone can go with you to take notes that would help or you can ask if they mind you recording the conversation with your phone to refer back to it later.

He will have residents he is mentoring and they will do the initial interview and then he comes in at the end. I actually felt more comfortable with them than him at first. They will probably do a physical exam and ask lots of questions both to have on your record but also to learn the ropes of history taking I think?

I didn't have oncotype testing done so don't know about that. I knew nothing so didn't know to ask for it.

Let us know how it goes.

Walden1: in reply to your question 16/04: "I'm also scheduled for a mastectomy for a cancer that includes DCIS and IDC. Do you mind sharing what prompted the surgeon to do a mastectomy after your lumpectomy? Hope you are recovering well ".

First: yes, thanks, I am recovering well. I feel like I have gone through a dark tunnel and come out the other side! Was just healing up from the first surgery on March 20 (the lymph node dissection was the worst part) and then had the second one April 10 (and wouldn't you know it, surgeon "decided to take out one more little lymph node" under the arm...) But it's six weeks later, and I am starting to feel "normal" again - the crushing fatigue has gone, though I still nap more than I ever did in my life! I am slowly catching up on all the housework and chores and overflowing "to-do" basket, and rescuing my garden from the weeds. Enrolled in a therapeutic yoga class that has helped a great deal with recovering full use of the right arm and shoulder, and learning to relax and accept things as they are. I find the yoga breathing and body awareness particularly helpful in falling asleep.

From the beginning, the surgeon was torn between breast-conserving surgery and a full mastectomy. The tumour was close to the nipple, and he worried about DCIS. Although he knew how much I hoped to preserve the breast and nipple, he made it clear that it would be his call, depending on what he found. I was fine with that. In the end things looked good and he went ahead with the BCS, also removed four lymph nodes - they were clear, but tissue tests showed DCIS. He therefore felt it was in my best interest to remove the entire breast.

In retrospect, he says he should have just gone ahead with the mastectomy in the first place, but "we hate to disfigure a woman if we don't have to". Certainly from a psychological point of view it might have been better, because I had to mourn the loss of a breast TWICE!

Ah well, the next big challenge is hormonal therapy. I am two weeks into tamoxifen. Fun!

Bluesky

Chia is my MO. Might not be the most empathetic person but do seem competent, which is more important if we have to choose one. He does have a few residents etc working with him. Some of folks I talked to consider him a very good MO. Told me I hit jack pot having him as my mo.

He was patient when I had a load of questions first time, after 1st time, you mostly will see his resident colleagues and him briefly at the end of the appointment.

I suggest you prep yourself with things you want to know, then ask him or his team.

Another thing help me is to get the records from BC cancer which includes doc’s notes. So I go back to his notes whenever I don’t recall all of our discussions etc. it helps to clear understand whatMO and other doc have taken away and decided at our appointments.

We will be here with you and we can exchange notes too. First consult should be the most lengthy and 100% Chia, so do your homework on questions, as I barely see him much after my 1 st consult. If I had known, I would had even more questions for him

Good luck.

Moth, I went to the 4th floor Health Records dept. (left of elevator) to get my records and would just go in with health card for updates. They keep track of when you last picked up records and will continue to update.

I also ask my Dr/NP for copies of any reports.

Oh. Sorry. Hard to keep track. Almost 5 years and I am still blaming chemo brain. I am sure Fraser Valley has a simple method too. :-)

moth

Agree with wrenn. There should be a patient record dept. inside of Fraser valley cancer center. You do need to fill a form but can be done right there and they will print the records right away after. Th form will also ask you whether you want to have a designee to pick up the records for you. I.e. spouse.

Amazing thing is they have all records from my GP and Surgeon from MSJ. I picked up all the historical ones the first time, then stop there each time when I go by the center center. Do check the records, some of coordinating doc record could arrive a bit late, so it may not 100% align with the time frame. It happened only on one occasion for me.

Hi all;

Met my MO today: was as expected (thank you all for the heads up). Basic info, intro to Dr, sign forms for Oncotype to be sent and study participation. Another 'hurry up and wait' appt. Next appt Jul 3 for results. He booked a chemo day - in case results warrant it he said. At least there's that? If I do need chemo I will be able to w/I a few days as opposed to another month wait.

My ex called his cousin to recco someone for a 2nd opinion should I feel it needed. I'm concerned about the estrogen my ovaries are flooding through my body, and when asked today, MO seemed to brush off. Anyway - after my next set of results are meted out I may seek a 2nd opinion.

Is it just me who looks at other's timelines envious of the quick response in the US? Each day a new level of letting go - or fighting it

thank you for suffering through yet another gripe filled post xo

Bluesky go to the 4th floor records department at the cancer agency and they will give you all they have. Keep going back periodically (after you think there should be more) and they have a record of when you were last updated and will give you the rest.

All this stuff does seem to take a long time. I found my lump June 15th and had chemo Nov 25th.

Chia is supposedly is the best and he sometimes has really nice residents. I also think he's kind of cute. :-)

Keep coming here. Griping is good. Take care.

Happy Tuesday, everyone

Met with a retired oncologist at Inspire Health yesterday, one things stood out what his recommendation on taking baby aspirin, says it will reduce the risk of breast cancer metastasis by 50%. he showed me a paper published in 2010, which was a prospective observational study from Nurse Study. I looked into further, there is 2017 published study from California Teachers study supporting the same belief. That's significant number.

While i am chewing thru the Teacher's study, thought i will pop the question here to ask whether you have any thoughts on this? I have tummy issues when i take Aspirin and general anti-inflam drugs or painkillers, so would like to know more about it before i start popping Aspirin daily.

I feel the type of studies here dont isolate other factors that may have contributed to the outcome. However two studies showing same benefit does make it less an coincidence.

Thoughts, ladies?

some links below

https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/a...

http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/link-bet...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28497...

Mount St Joseph's has a specialized breast care center. I'd just do it there if I was her. For needle biopsies it's an interventional radiologist who does them - I'm not sure you can pick who does it (unlike picking a breast surgeon).

(does her report list a BIRADS score?)

best wishes to your daughter