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What was your breast cancer again? I've forgotten at this point and I think I saw it on another thread. I am glad you survived your heart attack! That must've been scary. I always feel like I won't know what it is. A friend told me that if you call for an ambulance, you do not have to go anywhere and you won't get charged (at least around here). So if you're worried, you can call them, they will check you out and you can make a decision then. Of course if you're not doing well they may make the decision for you, but I always see dollar signs when I think of an ambulance and that was a good thing to hear.
I am beyond scared at this point. My gyn called me yesterday (she was out Friday and did not deliver the news herself). I asked her about running hormone labs so we have the latest before going into surgery, and she said they'll be giving me drugs to suppress my hormones anyway, so no need to do them. The other place I talked to said that is not always the course of treatment and those drugs are hard on your body as well. And it really depends on what they find in there.
I have my surgeon consults set up. One late this week, one next.
I keep thinking of all projects I want to finish in the house (like painting). I've been working on a bedroom for the last few weeks.
Funny you mention normal/low cholesterol - I posted what I thought were pretty perfect cholesterol levels in a group, and was told "TOO LOW!!!!" I didn't think there was such a thing.
I found a breast cancer forum but it's very inactive so all I've done is read. People are all over the board about LCIS, from no it's not cancer, take out the lesion and wait and see, to yes it basically is, take it out and start drugs.
Meanwhile, my left breast feels tingly (finally took the steri-strips off last night) and my left shoulder is sore from a workout that seems like it was ages ago...... so yeah, I've got a lot of bad thoughts in my head. Maybe I should ask my religious sibling to pray for me, but that seems so hypocritical.
Idle musings.....
So glad you were able to get consults set up already. You should leave them empowered with a lot of knowledge and treatment options.
Where I live there’s a breast cancer center attached to a large hospital. They have support groups available regardless of whether you’re treated there or not. If you feel comfortable with an in person group, maybe check and see what’s available where you are.
Oh those religious siblings! My hubby has one of those. Or at least he’s religious when it suits him. Like when he pontificates about his virtues and how he could have saved the day with prayer if only he’d been consulted earlier. I literally had to shove him out of the other brother’s hospice room to spare my SIL from hearing his holier than thou schtick.
She found the lump herself. When they biopsied it, it came back benign. She insisted that it come out anyway. When they removed the lump, the pathology showed it was actually malignant. Again, the only option then was a radical mastectomy. Yes she still gets yearly mammogram on her other breast.
Wow! I'm glad she pushed them to remove it. It's scary how much we don't know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UNC4Me
So glad you were able to get consults set up already. You should leave them empowered with a lot of knowledge and treatment options.
Where I live there’s a breast cancer center attached to a large hospital. They have support groups available regardless of whether you’re treated there or not. If you feel comfortable with an in person group, maybe check and see what’s available where you are.
Oh those religious siblings! My hubby has one of those. Or at least he’s religious when it suits him. Like when he pontificates about his virtues and how he could have saved the day with prayer if only he’d been consulted earlier. I literally had to shove him out of the other brother’s hospice room to spare my SIL from hearing his holier than thou schtick.
This is a large breast cancer group as well. So I have two appts, one with my friends place and one that my GYN set up for me. I researched both doctors and they are both attached to the same parent group.
Now it *does* sound like drugs will be part of my life as a preventative maintenance. I swear my friend said they'd be offered but I would need to research and think about it because they themselves have a slew of side effects. It's possible she was talking more about one drug than the whole class, I was trying to write and talk and not doing a good job of it.
What was your breast cancer again? I've forgotten at this point and I think I saw it on another thread.
Invasive ductal carcinoma, highly estrogen-receptor positive, aggressive, with positive lymph node involvement. I was 35. Then a "recurrence" (or possibly a new tumor that just happened to be the same exact type as before) last year in the same previously radiated breast. Very rare. Weirdly, almost exactly 25 years later...within 5 days of the first diagnosis. The first was a lump I found myself. The second showed up on a mammogram. In between they had found BCIS and were watching it. That had never progressed. At this point I was done; the thing obviously refused to quit, so I had a double mastectomy, no followup hormone suppression. Really, good riddance. I don't miss them at all!
I am glad you survived your heart attack! That must've been scary. I always feel like I won't know what it is. A friend told me that if you call for an ambulance, you do not have to go anywhere and you won't get charged (at least around here). So if you're worried, you can call them, they will check you out and you can make a decision then. Of course if you're not doing well they may make the decision for you, but I always see dollar signs when I think of an ambulance and that was a good thing to hear.
Well I don't know about that either way. I'd never called 911 before. Of course it took me a while to decide to call, as I didn't have risk factors for heart disease. But, I've done a lot of CPR and AED training over the years and it was the combination of symptoms that weren't resolving that convinced me. Of course I felt as if I'd overreacted until subsequent blood panels hours later showed evidence of the attack. Turned out to be the right decision.
I am beyond scared at this point. My gyn called me yesterday (she was out Friday and did not deliver the news herself). I asked her about running hormone labs so we have the latest before going into surgery, and she said they'll be giving me drugs to suppress my hormones anyway, so no need to do them. The other place I talked to said that is not always the course of treatment and those drugs are hard on your body as well. And it really depends on what they find in there.
The pathology from the biopsy tells them pretty much what they need to know about how hormone-dependent this "neoplasm" is, and to which hormones (progesterone, estrogen or what degree of both). Think I agree that doing more hormone analysis isn't really that useful (all that would do is test your blood serum levels of hormones which fluctuate constantly, and wouldn't tell much more about the actual neoplasm), though I have not been right where you are. I know that BCIS is often treated with hormone suppressing meds, but not always. LCIS apparently is too. They also monitor with mammograms alone...which is what I did. Again, that BCIS never progressed. We knew it was there which was the main thing.
After my initial treatment 25 years ago I did 5 years of hormone suppression therapy with tamoxifen. Standard protocol for estrogen receptor positive malignancies at the time. There are more options now including several different types of aromatase inhibitors and hormone receptor inhibitors like tamoxifen, as well as oophorectomy. Yes, they have side effects, many are similar; as basically they are all creating a sort of chemical menopause. I guess you have to look at it as being better than finding and having to treat an active malignancy.
You still don't know if you'll be doing much of anything that will get in the way of projects. Even if you do have surgery it will probably be fairly minor. You'll heal! My first surgery was what they called at the time a "segmental" mastectomy...one level above a lumpectomy plus lymph node dissection. It wasn't horrible. I was back at work in a week, pretty much healed in a month. I know, everyone's different. I started high dose chemo a month afterwards and radiation 6 months after that. Those took more of a toll on daily life. All that might happen for you is starting a medication. That won't incapacitate you. However, the projects will get your mind off some of it anyway.
Idle musings.....
Completely understandable. Let 'er rip. I know its different looking BACK on it opposed to looking at it for the first time, but you are, in some ways, in a good spot. You know there's this possibility ahead of time. You now have a baseline...a comparison to measure change against. You can now catch change at its earliest phase because of it. You won't be playing catch-up, worrying that it wasn't caught before spreading systemically, you'll be out in front of it.
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-04-2020 at 02:24 PM..
You're probably right about the pathology report, which was coincidentally the only thing missing from the packet I picked up yesterday.
I assume the surgery won't be much different than my appendix surgery, with regards to healing time. I do work out so I think it may affect that for awhile. I am torn with my workouts even now, I don't want to stress muscles in that area leading into surgery, but I want to continue with my strength training, which already suffers this time of year.
Did you stop the hormone therapy when you went through menopause? I have been told I am menopausal but my hormones were still fluctuating a lot since then. I never went through the typical hot flash/drench the sheets thing, but I do have what I call a "flush", where I'll be sitting there with a blanket on my legs and suddenly I'm just hot. Not dripping but hot. 15 minutes later I'm not hot anymore.
I am still reeling from a friends recent, and unexpected death due to cancer. I've also had a few cats with cancer, and a couple were also a bit quick from the time we found it. It's hard to get that out of my head.
I know odds are with me, but the odds were with me that the biopsy was going to be ok as well so ya, still freaked out!! And the realist in me says, no matter how many people pray for me, no matter how much I say "things will work out fine", there is already something in me and nothing will change that. It's there. I just don't know what it is yet.
I think I'm wearing a tight bra today, my boob is still talking to me and it drives me crazy.
I assume the surgery won't be much different than my appendix surgery, with regards to healing time. I do work out so I think it may affect that for awhile. I am torn with my workouts even now, I don't want to stress muscles in that area leading into surgery, but I want to continue with my strength training, which already suffers this time of year.
Haven't had abdominal surgery but have heard it can take longer to recover...because all those structures move all the time. Breast surgery will probably be easier. The exercise will be good for the rest of you and help ease emotional stress. I'd probably do routine workouts. It probably won't affect the surgery site much...there aren't any real muscles in breast tissue. I was in aerobics 5 days a week when diagnosed...continued right up to my hospitalization. It was a real tension reliever. Don't recall when I picked it up again afterwards.
Did you stop the hormone therapy when you went through menopause? I have been told I am menopausal but my hormones were still fluctuating a lot since then. I never went through the typical hot flash/drench the sheets thing, but I do have what I call a "flush", where I'll be sitting there with a blanket on my legs and suddenly I'm just hot. Not dripping but hot. 15 minutes later I'm not hot anymore.
I was diagnosed at age 35. Hormone suppression lasted 5 years. I was not in menopause at age 40. Once the suppression stopped, back to "normal" until I reached "real" menopause years later. No way to predict how a chemical menopause will affect you. It is so individual.
I know odds are with me, but the odds were with me that the biopsy was going to be ok as well so ya, still freaked out!! And the realist in me says, no matter how many people pray for me, no matter how much I say "things will work out fine", there is already something in me and nothing will change that. It's there. I just don't know what it is yet.
I think I'm wearing a tight bra today, my boob is still talking to me and it drives me crazy.
Definitely hear you about all of this! You are "hearing" that breast because you are focused on it. Why wouldn't you be? You're human!!
Haven't had abdominal surgery but have heard it can take longer to recover...because all those structures move all the time. Breast surgery will probably be easier. The exercise will be good for the rest of you and help ease emotional stress. I'd probably do routine workouts. It probably won't affect the surgery site much...there aren't any real muscles in breast tissue. I was in aerobics 5 days a week when diagnosed...continued right up to my hospitalization. It was a real tension reliever. Don't recall when I picked it up again afterwards.
I was diagnosed at age 35. Hormone suppression lasted 5 years. I was not in menopause at age 40. Once the suppression stopped, back to "normal" until I reached "real" menopause years later. No way to predict how a chemical menopause will affect you. It is so individual.
Definitely hear you about all of this! You are "hearing" that breast because you are focused on it. Why wouldn't you be? You're human!!
The bra didn't help! It gets worse through the day but thankfully it lets me sleep.
My friend was forced into menopause. I think I am already there based on my FSH levels. She didn't work out for quite awhile, but she went through chemo.
I got the pathology report. It says Pleomorphic, which is even more uncommon and apparently an even bigger chance of invasive cancer. I've cried a lot today I am anxious to talk to the surgeon tomorrow.
Guess I burned up my luck winning $50 at the casino yesterday... I have Lobular Carcinoma Insitu and now have to meet with a surgeon. She said it will likely be classified as Stage 0, but it's still cancer and I'll have to deal with radiation or chemo. I don't even know what to think right now
I am so sorry you have to deal with this, but at least it is insitu. I know, at least is not what you want to hear no cancer is what you wanted to hear. Just hope this nightmare is behind you soon. I haven't been keeping up with all this the past week: it has been a busy week and I got behind.
The bra didn't help! It gets worse through the day but thankfully it lets me sleep.
My friend was forced into menopause. I think I am already there based on my FSH levels. She didn't work out for quite awhile, but she went through chemo.
I got the pathology report. It says Pleomorphic, which is even more uncommon and apparently an even bigger chance of invasive cancer. I've cried a lot today I am anxious to talk to the surgeon tomorrow.
Pleomorphic or not, you are still where you are. DCIS. That's the main point. The talk with the surgeon about options will put much of this in perspective. It will help a lot! Good luck!
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-06-2020 at 12:52 PM..
I guess my only insignificant gripe is there is almost a 2 inch scar on my breast and it is still red/deep pink colored. It is a reminder every time I am getting in the shower. I am very grateful the area removed was not cancer but that scar is sure taking it's time to fade. This must sound petty I know. I had surgery today to open up my dialysis access and that keeps me alive. The kicker is.... I spent my birthday today in the hospital. I am grateful to be alive.
Hi there,
I"ve been following along to this also. I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma in 2013 at age 41. Mine was ER-, PG-, HER2+. Further biopsies showed another tumor and a LOT of DCIS so a lumpectomy was not an option and I had a full mastectomy on my left breast. Because it was HER2+, I had a year of chemo and targeted therapy.
My friend went through lobular carcinoma 2 years ago. It's a little more complex than IDC so harder to get good and fast facts on the internet. She ended up having a double mastectomy (her choice to do both breasts) plus chemo and radiation. She's absolutely fine now - as am I.
Take it one day at a time and get all the information you can.
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I am anxious to talk to the surgeon tomorrow.
