Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part II -GAGWTA!

[CherylDan]

It is hard. I too have been there. Youngest DD19 is still at home while attending a local community college (her choice), but DD24 went about two hours away for college. The kicker with her was that she graduated high school at age 16, turned 17 the July after graduation, and then was off. (She started school early, then skipped a grade). All I can say is you do adjust. Now same DD24 is living in Boston and getting married in 7 weeks. Ugh. Enjoy that long bath!

 

[NaeNae]

Hi, I just discovered this thread. I'm a regular on another thread but I belong to this club too. I'll have to do a lot of catch up reading this thread to see what's going on.

 

[snappy]

Thanks guys. This morning I am counting my blessings and giving thanks for the rain coming today instead of yesterday, but even more, for all of you and your support.

We be off in a while to help DS some more set up in Mamere's house. DH will finish setting up the bed and putting up blinds. I'll be cleaning and setting up the kitchen and the bathroom. Guess we will try and lay in a supply of frozen easy meals for him too. I may bean him with one if he doesn't watch out, he went out with his GF and her father down in the French quarter last night instead of getting ready for Monday. Ah, to be young and 20 and carefree. I am definitely an old fogey.

Putting this stuff into words here feels therapeutic to me.

I think we are recovering from the car wreck deal. Thank goodness we have 4 cars, even if DD18's still has a little damage from her accident from week before last. No cars for freshmen at Tulane=priceless.

Glad you found us Nae Nae. If you feel comfortable, share your story. We love new GAGWTA members!!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Welcome Nae, Nae. Glad to have you.

The girls who had mastectomies gave a lot of great information. Aliceacc, how fortunate you were that the mass wasn't cancer! Good luck with your surgery.

Laurie, I can imagine how you feel. Darn kids always making us cry.

Hugs and prayers all around for those who need them, especially all the Moms.

Cheryl, wow about the insurance! I'm glad you were able to get a policy and a new health plan with better deductibles.

Maureen, I'd do the same thing. Good luck with this.

I wonder how Dawn's doing? And pat fan who had the recent biopsy?

Sha, I've been meaning to ask you how things are going post graduation?

I got my testing back for the BRAC genes and it was normal/negative. So now I guess this will actually be a helpful thing for insurance and such, they sent me a big document for future reference. I'm glad for my family, especially.

 

[snappy]

We are literally headed out the dorr but I am glad I read your post, Linda.

YIPPEE!!! So happy for you on the gene results and glad you had it done so the wondering is put to bed for always.

Rain rain go away.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

GAGWTA!

Sending prayers for all the Moms!

I think my own mother is going through a grieving process after losing her sister. Life isn't easy for the elderly, is it?

GAGWTA

Hugs for you and your mom!

Not so easy on the middle aged either, DS20 just had a car accident, not hurt but a lot of damage to his vehicle.

I will be glad when this weekend is over.

Sorry your mom is grieving. You have lost both an aunt and a BIL in a short period of time. That is a tough one.

Well, Laurie, you are going through the wringer this weekend! I hope the kids get settled in quickly!

I have a brother in Tulsa. He's great about coming when he needs to, but his work responsibilities don't allow him to take a lot of time off to help. I understand that. He is good support for me, from behind the scenes.

Yay for new insurance! That is wonderful news.

Good thoughts for your mom, and for you as you try to help her!

I loved cotton shirts, they helped me to feel cool and comfortable and it was easy to pin my drain on them. I had to sleep on my back too, for a while, so nice pillows and good quality sheets helped. The first few days my surgeon had me wrapped up with a large ace bandage and the pressure of that felt good. Another thing...take your pain meds BEFORE the pain gets bad. It won't hurt for that long, but while it does hurt...it HURTS.

I have decided to 'do' my other side. I am trying to find a surgeon who will do a subcutaneous mastectomy that will leave my nipple intact. My plastic thinks he might be able to put an immediate implant in at the same time he switches out my expander on the bc side. Which would be super! My oncologist tried to talk me out of it but when I explained how they missed my last tumor until it was 3 cm big and how I don't want to worry about mri's the rest of my life she agreed with me. Its such a personal decision and there are many "right" ways to go.

I am NOT looking forward to being in the hospital again.

Maureen, I hope all goes well with your surgery!

Hi, I just discovered this thread. I'm a regular on another thread but I belong to this club too. I'll have to do a lot of catch up reading this thread to see what's going on.

Welcome!

I called Mom yesterday. She is still fatigued, but doing OK otherwise. Her infection (or whatever that was) is still improving but her breast is so sore she is having trouble sleeping. She isn't taking any pain meds before bed, which is part of the problem! She goes back to the surgeon on Wednesday to have it checked again. Her last A/C infusion should be Thursday.

DS starts 7th grade tomorrow. He is NOT looking forward to it. The weeks leading up to our trip just seemed to drag, but now it seems like the summer went by in the blink of an eye.

 

[lookingforward]

NaeNae..welcome!

My son starts college tomorrow, but is staying home for the first year....attending right here in my town. I am so glad as he is not quite ready to be on his own. But I know how hard it will be when we do send him off next year! They grow up so fast. It feels like he was playing pop warner football yesterday! (and now he is 6'4!)

My surgery won't be until Nov or Dec. All I know is it WON'T be the first weekend in December because I am not giving up two years of WDW at Christmas time. Last year I was doing the same thing! My plastic wants to make sure we wait enough time after radiation to insure the best results. Interestingly, my breast surgeon (not my plastic) said she won't do the nipple sparing but I got confirmation from John Hopkins that they DO the exact surgery often. So I may be looking for a new surgeon.

Hopefully I will be all done by Christmas. Its been a longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg year!

 

[pat fan]

And pat fan who had the recent biopsy?

I'm still waiting for it
I met with the surgeon who decided that he'd rather have the radiologist do it because it was in a difficult place to get to . Then, of course, the radiologist is on vacation so I am scheduled for Tuesday. Really cheesed off my regular doc. because she wanted it done ASAP and I could have had the radiologist do it a week ago! I guess it's a stereotactic biopsy being done with the aid of the ultrasound. Sound familiar to anyone?

So I start work on Tuesday, leave early for the biopsy, go to work Wednesday and we move DS to college when I get out of work. Hopefully I'll know Friday what way the wind blows. The surgeon said it should be 48 hrs or so to get the results back, so Tuesday afternoon to Friday I'm guessing. Blech....
Thanks for still thinking of me

 

[MerryPoppins]

Welcome NaeNae!

Waiting is the worst. I'm sorry you're still in limbo, Pats Fan.

Hope you don't get too wet, Laurie.

It's been a busy weekend. I was just stopping by to check on everyone.

GAGWTA and wherever needed.

Prayers would be appreciated for my dear friend John. He's having an angiogram tomorrow. This weekend they discovered his blood calcium level was very high. They think they may need to put in a stent. I know people have this done all the time, but most of you probably remember me talking about losing my doctor recently? It was from complications following getting a stent. So of course, I'm a little nervous.

 

[NHAnn]

Linda- very glad to hear the gene test results!

NaeNae--welcome!

Pat fan... I had a stereotactic guided by mammography once. The stereotactic gets multiple tissue samples from the area in question. Although it is outpatient in radiologist office usually, you may have some soreness after, especiallyif it is a hard to locate spot and they have to press/manipulate the tissue (as well as go deep to get samples).....so please take it easy on moving DS the next day! Avoid heavy lifting!! And I still swear by the bags of frozen peas after any typeof biopsy/surgery!!


MerryP...prayers for your friend John!!

snappy...continud prayers for your mother. ANd also for YOU as a mother of the 2 college age kids. Goodness how time flies!

Speakin of cars/wrecks...had a little fender bender (or should I say fender-scraper) in the Target parking lot yesterday. Nice lady in a tiny Toyota Prius, in the spot opposite mine, both backed up to going opposite directions down the aisle , my rear driver corner connected with her driver's side. Sigh. We both were .....going ever so slow (thank goodness). I never saw her even after looking in all three mirrors and over both shoulders....I hate backing that boat and will never again park in a way I have to back out.

thinking of you all
GAGWTA!!

 

[Sha]

Hi Ladies... Hugs and prayers... little distracted right now about the anger of youth.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Speakin of cars/wrecks...had a little fender bender (or should I say fender-scraper) in the Target parking lot yesterday. Nice lady in a tiny Toyota Prius, in the spot opposite mine, both backed up to going opposite directions down the aisle , my rear driver corner connected with her driver's side. Sigh. We both were .....going ever so slow (thank goodness). I never saw her even after looking in all three mirrors and over both shoulders....I hate backing that boat and will never again park in a way I have to back out.

OH NO, the Pacifica!!

(Did you see that I finally got one too, Ann? LOL)

GAGWTA

 

[Pea-n-Me]

little distracted right now about the anger of youth.

Care to elaborate, Sha?

 

[Sha]

Care to elaborate, Sha?

Best I can do is give you this link. It happened right around the corner from home... and i took a look at the kids myspace (the older brother) and I just got a sad feeling for loss... and anger...

http://www.ocala.com/article/20080820/NEWS/571010

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

GAGWTA!

Hope you are all well!
Many good thoughts for all of the college kids getting settled!

Ann - Sorry about the fender scraper!

DS survived his first day of 7th grade. Is it summer yet?

Sha - Don't know what to tell you. Some kids/youth/young adults are just evil.

 

[NHAnn]

Thinking of pat fan today

Sha....that is just awful

Linda, I did see that you got your Pacifica, what color is yours?? I am wishing I got the one that has the back up sensor or back up camera. Test drove a Nissan Murano once that had the camera. Very cool...and helpful with the awful blind spots with the styling of those kinds of vehicles.

GAGWTA!!!

 

[pat fan]

Pat fan... I had a stereotactic guided by mammography once. The stereotactic gets multiple tissue samples from the area in question. Although it is outpatient in radiologist office usually, you may have some soreness after, especiallyif it is a hard to locate spot and they have to press/manipulate the tissue (as well as go deep to get samples).....so please take it easy on moving DS the next day! Avoid heavy lifting!! And I still swear by the bags of frozen peas after any typeof biopsy/surgery!!

I survived it, but OUCH!!! The procedure itself was fine, not fun, but ok. No one told me that you have to have a mammo after, though. Thankfully I was still numb.
Yes, it was in a hard to get place so he had to work it to get to it and he took multiple samples, besides tagging it. I now own a tiny piece of titanium! I am very sore. Doing the ice pack on and off and plan to sleep in a bra but am looking forward to the support. I am a little concerned that it is still bleeding, and if it still is tomorrow, I'll call them. As for moving, after working all day I plan on doing as little moving as I can. I'll be in charge of making the bed and directing traffic

Thanks for the good thoughts

 

[NHAnn]

pat fan....bag of frozen peas, I tell ya, they are the answer to the ouchies! LOL

On the bleeding, did they put a good steri-strip on there, covered by the gauze and such? It may be the location of the incision point in relation to the ummm...distribution of weight trying to put it delicately - but if gravity is pulling on the incision spot you really have to keep snug pressure on it. If you have a snug non-underwire bra (I liked the sports bras that have front closures after biopsy/sugery!) to keep that gauze on snug, and limit your moving around tonight, I would hope the bleeding would stop. If you are bleeding bright red through the gauze tomorrow I would definitely give them a call.
Hang in there, take it easy tomorrow...but it's good you have distraction...hope you get benign results soon!!!

 

[pat fan]

Thanks!

Yes, "gravity" is an issue! They just put a strip of tape over it and when I took it off tonight it started bleeding bright red right away. Could have just been from the tape tearing off, also. Either way, I slapped a good old Band-Aid on it and I'll check it in the am. I'm going to put on my comfy old bra now and head off to bed. I have to be at work at 7:00 tomorrow and I'm beat. Thanks again

 

[MerryPoppins]

Glad it's done pat fan. I agree about the frozen peas. Mine bled too. If you take it easy, it should eventually stop. Praying for a good report.

Thanks for the prayers for John. I know they helped. I never got back here last night. He did just fine and didn't even need a stent. His heart got a clean bill of health. Another friend joked that he was just wanting a little attention from all of us.

I'm doing well. Life is keeping me busy. Hugs to all.