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Parnassia, I am so sorry you are going through this journey again. You are right in that we all need help sometimes and it is wonderful you had a therapist that explained what was happening to you. I wish you all the best. Please keep us update if you wish to share.
I am 1 year out from diagnosis and treatment and am embracing life each day!
Parnassia, I am so sorry you are going through this journey again. You are right in that we all need help sometimes and it is wonderful you had a therapist that explained what was happening to you. I wish you all the best. Please keep us update if you wish to share.
I am 1 year out from diagnosis and treatment and am embracing life each day!
Thank you Schuttzie. It's been 26 years since the first diagnosis. Just got the final pathology report today. The news isn't all bad. I chose pretty extensive surgery, but the margins were clear, no obvious lymph node involvement this time, so I opted out of followup hormone suppression. Hopefully it will return to the back burner for long enough that it won't matter much. Now just dreaming about getting rid of the obnoxious drains (ten LOOONG days to go!). My surgeon prefers a particular type of drain that has a little hard plastic outer case. They look just like little maple syrup jugs. Obviously there are "replacement jug" jokes being tossed around the house at the moment but that doesn't make them any less maddening.
LOL, "replacement jugs". Yes, those drains are horrible, I had mine in for 3 weeks after being reprimanded that i wasn't wearing the ace bandage enough/and as tightly as needed. That sounds like great news in that no nodes and clear margins, yeah!! I am triple negative so not responsive to hormone suppression.
Heal up well and you'll have those drains out in no time!
I"m sorry to hear you're going through this. I'm 5 years out from my diagnosis of Stage 1 HER2+ BC. I was taking daily ativan from pretty much day of diagnosis til about 18 months later (and I really didn't want to stop!). I still take daily Trazadone for sleeping because I can't sleep through the night anymore.
It's a REALLY hard time and especially when you have small children. My youngest had just started Kindergarten when I was diagnosed. I hope you can get some support. My heart goes out to you..
Congrats to you, DJKB! Hope you are doing well now!
Thank you - you too!
I'm doing GREAT! Took up running again (took me three years post diagnosis to really get back to serious exercise) and I have been crushing half marathons with PR's!
I switched to a vegan diet two years ago and I'm at the best weight I've ever been at.
My hair is long and shiny!
I'm better than ever really. The only "thing" that worries me is my right breast. I think I may schedule a prophylactic mastectomy next year as my oncologist says my chances of getting a secondary cancer are 27% right now (which is too high for comfort). Not looking to be "down" from surgery again..
The only "thing" that worries me is my right breast. I think I may schedule a prophylactic mastectomy next year as my oncologist says my chances of getting a secondary cancer are 27% right now (which is too high for comfort). Not looking to be "down" from surgery again..
Having just made this decision I understand what your feelings are about it. As time passes the chance that a new malignancy shows up does decline. You do have time to think it over. Your feelings about some looming risk will probably change. I know mine did. Nothing new showed up for 26 years. But, after a recurrence in the previously-radiated breast, despite all the other treatments, and after consulting about some abnormal tissue in the other, I chose a bilateral mastectomy. Now we'll never know if it was solving a potential problem or not. Maybe to some, it wasn't absolutely medically necessary, but there was a sense that if I kept it, a "third shoe (or breast in this case)" was just waiting to drop.
No comments on the life fact that they were going to drop with age no matter what you do .
There have been studies about women's resulting quality of life or contentment with their decisions after bilateral mastectomies that seem to show it not being too beneficial, but it really does come down to the individual. You are not a "trend" or a "percentage". Depending on your individual situation, chances are if anything shows up in future it is more likely to be somewhere else outside that other breast. After doing the bilateral, have to admit a single seems pretty easy to take at least physically. I would suggest delving into the emotional aspects of the decision with a counselor so you are sure about why you really want it and that you don't have unrealistic expectations about the benefit to your overall sense of being a healthy person. Will it give you more "control" over your health or not? For me so far it does. Not for everyone.
Having just made this decision I understand what your feelings are about it. As time passes the chance that a new malignancy shows up does decline. You do have time to think it over. Your feelings about some looming risk will probably change. I know mine did. Nothing new showed up for 26 years. But, after a recurrence in the previously-radiated breast, despite all the other treatments, and after consulting about some abnormal tissue in the other, I chose a bilateral mastectomy. Now we'll never know if it was solving a potential problem or not. Maybe to some, it wasn't absolutely medically necessary, but there was a sense that if I kept it, a "third shoe (or breast in this case)" was just waiting to drop.
No comments on the life fact that they were going to drop with age no matter what you do .
There have been studies about women's resulting quality of life or contentment with their decisions after bilateral mastectomies that seem to show it not being too beneficial, but it really does come down to the individual. You are not a "trend" or a "percentage". Depending on your individual situation, chances are if anything shows up in future it is more likely to be somewhere else outside that other breast. After doing the bilateral, have to admit a single seems pretty easy to take at least physically. I would suggest delving into the emotional aspects of the decision with a counselor so you are sure about why you really want it and that you don't have unrealistic expectations about the benefit to your overall sense of being a healthy person. Will it give you more "control" over your health or not? For me so far it does. Not for everyone.
Very good points! Everyone is different emotionally and physical circumstances are different. It is a great idea to speak with a counselor. I chose a bilateral mastectomy for my peace of mind as well having triple negative, I thought it was best and my doctors seemed to agree.
I wish I had gone with a bilateral at the start. Everything moved so quickly back then and I really wasn't in the best frame of mind to make a good decision. I have to have a breast MRI every other year and a mammogram practically every 6 months (there is a "cyst" that they are monitoring in my remaining breast) so it would take all the stress away from those appointments. It's that "third shoe" as you mentioned. I can't imagine having to go through chemotherapy again and would just about do anything to lower my chances of having to.
When first diagnosed it does move all so quickly! It is hard to know what to do. I am only one year out from diagnosis in Jan. 2017 but try really hard to not worry about the future and live each day to the fullest. Each day is precious. I wish you all the best, DJKB!
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but that doesn't make them any less maddening.
