Got that out. Now to go enjoy the rest of my day.
Why do they dress Dodie like a two year old? You see her around the house and even at school, in grade 2, with a very, very short dress on and it looks like a diaper underneath. All the other students are dressed normally.
Just adding that Polly was the most annoying character on that show. Very weak and whiny and I feel sorry for Chip marrying someone like that just because she couldn’t stand up to her dad. Having said that the dad was rather creepy. He didn’t like anyone touching his daughter as in holding her hand.
When I first started this ride it looked like a lumpectomy with radiation. After testing and a mastectomy, the ride got messier. I’m being offered the full meal deal - chemo, rad, meds. Bone scan and CT scan clear. Otherwise healthy post meno. Being offered AC-T to start. Had single mastectomy.
Like everyone here, quality of life is huge for me. I’m a pretty active person who is also fiery and very passionate about life. The increase in life expectancy is 3% but it is the reoccurrence rate where it can be reduced down to 38% is the part that catches my eye. Also that we deal with it now and not 10 years from now when it could be spread somewhere else. No onco type due to 4 nodes.
I guess I’m just hoping someone here is going to tell me I’m making the right decision if I do the chemo despite the fact that it’s going take me out of some activities that I truly love doing and that I feel like it’s just going fuck my whole life up. I just don’t feel like at stage 3 I can fuck around, but I’m certainly happy to hear if someone was in my position and didn’t take chemo. Can someone please help me feel good about this? I promise if I do decide to take it, I will be positive and focused on doing my best.
I know the Oncologist is going to go over a proposed treatment plan and I can ask specifics about those plans once they are presented. Those seem like obvious questions. What I’m looking for are questions that you thought of after you met the Oncologist that might’ve helped you make a decision about what kind of treatment you were going to agree to.
I remember when I met the reconstruction surgeon thinking at the time that she had minimized what reconstruction would entail. Is there an area that I should get more clarity about? I am thinking the Oncologist is going to talk to me about chemo, radiation and hormone therapy. I am hormone positive and Her - Stage 3a. I also have several infected lymph nodes. My diagnosis changed when they got the results of the biopsy from my mastectomy. Just adding post menopause.
My surgeon said she would classify me as Stage 2b. She says 3 lymph nodes plus an unknown that she says would not be classified as a fourth lymph node. It probably won’t change my treatment but just curious if anyone else has had this situation. I have not seen an oncologist yet. Here is the issue: Was this originally a lymph node that became almost completely replaced by cancer?
Or was it a separate tumor deposit in the surrounding soft tissue?
Now my treatment plan is probably going to be very different. Can anyone enlighten me on this? 🤨
Did I screw up!!! ??? I have been measuring my drains twice a day. So at 8 o’clock in the morning and 8 o’clock at night. So let’s just say I had 10 mg at 8 o’clock yesterday morning, and 10 mg at 8 o’clock last night. That would equal 20 and I have been using that as my measurement. The nurse tells me that with my measurement this morning of 12 that that should be added on to the 20 and therefore my measurement is actually 32. That would mean that my drain is not coming out right away but also I feel like I screwed up and I’ve been giving the wrong numbers and that my other drain may have been taken out under false numbers. I’m quite shaky now and stressed that I’ve screwed up. Can someone please help me here. If I’m doing it wrong fine but I just need to know because I thought I was doing it right.
Normally I am a pretty get on with it kind of person. For some reason, I freaked out while getting a bone scan. Nothing traumatic but more of a minor panic attack. I did not take any Ativan because I was told the machine never touches you. But what they don’t tell you is that the machine, when you are lying down, comes very, very close to your face, and your hands are restricted. In my case, the bed that I lied on wasn’t very wide, so my hands and arms had to be restricted to keep them from falling off. That did not help. To make a long story short I’m giving this information in case anyone else finds them self in this situation.
There are other ways that they can do the same Bone scan. They can do them on your head, especially which seems to be the more challenging part, while you are standing up. They can break the test up and do your neck down and then do your head separately. They can also lift the scanning machine a bit higher, but that means they scan for longer. So for example, the scan really close to your face/head would take three minutes, but a little further away will take five minutes. I was also told that if they could only get three minutes that would work as well. Maybe someone else here can chime in with more detail. Just wanted to help because we go through a lot and so much is expected of us to just grin and bear it.
Best part- got my results and my scan was all clear. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I just wrote a post about my mastectomy on day two in the hopes that maybe I could help someone else. Looking over my notes and having a bit of a clearer head now I can see that the doctor is ordering a CT scan and a bone scan. They did find one definite cancerous lymph node, and took 10 out to be checked. I have HR + and HER -. I have no other details than that. Anyway, I am getting concerned that they think it may have spread to my bones. I appreciate that my doctor is being thorough, but I don’t think getting a CT scan and a bone scan run the normal course of events. I don’t have any symptoms of any bone issues Has anyone else had this happen? Can someone make me feel better about this?
Edit: This is the best sub. Thank you all for the reassurance. Xx
After my diagnosis in March, IDC HR + HER - had my surgery yesterday. I know everyone’s experience is different, but I just thought I’d chime in with mine if it helps anyone. So before my surgery, I had to get the radioactive injection. I didn’t even feel it, although the radiologist told me that sometimes people really feel it.
Surgery went well for me. They always have trouble finding a vein so that’s always a bit challenging and afterwards my blood oxygen was a little low so I had to stay in recovery for a bit longer.
They did find Cancer in one lymph node. That wasn’t too much of a surprise since something did show up on my MRI. The doctor ended up taking out 10 lymph nodes so here’s hoping there are no more positive ones in there.
I don’t really have any pain because during the night when I woke up, I hadn’t had meds for a while and didn’t really feel anything. I am taking Tylenol threes just for a day or two just to ensure that I don’t get any pain. I can use my arm a lot more than I thought I could. For some reason, I thought it would be stuck to my side, but I can do things, but I’m just slower and you do get a bit of an ache so you know to stop if you stretch it too much. For example I can easily brush my teeth and scratch my face. If I touch the area, it feels numb.
So basically I have a very thin cover of about 3 inches maybe that runs from my middle to my side. I also have two drains one from the breast and one from the lymph nodes. I did a few of my exercises today and of course don’t have full motion, but I was able to do enough of them. I won’t get the results for about 4 to 6 weeks and then that will determine the next treatment although I’m for sure looking at radiation and tamoxifen.
Please ask away if you have any questions. Just to add my Cancer was found during a routine ultrasound because I have dense breasts. No breast cancer in my family. Pretty clear headed. Voice a bit hoarse. A bit tired, but feeling good. Slept sitting up but I’ll get used to that. Hope everyone is having a good day!