Hello Frances
Hello Frances Hi dear, I saw your post there on eyebrwos and knew you must be lurking around somewhere here, how are you getting on how?
I take it you decided to leave the radiotherapy?
I am half way through now myself and have the brachytherapy after that, its not pretty but hey what is this year…
I am delighted to hear the hair is coming back, I have a little fuzz but patchy and I too am missing mainly my lashes which I am dreaming about!
Keep well and sane!
A
Hi Yelsha, great to hear from you. Ive been thinking of you and the Brachytherapy but you say that hasnt started yet.
I have decided to have Radiotherapy and start on11th Sept. Was told only a few days ago that it can prevent local regional recurrence. Great - wish they`d told me about that when I chose to have mastectomy. Lots of emotional outpourings but have pulled myself together since yesterday.
How`s the hole in your armpit. Are those medics coming up with anything that will help it heal.
The hair is a short 3mm soft white fuzz. can`t wait to go without the wig. upper eyelashes still holding on. do you still have your brows?
Oh yes the latest in this saga is I now wake every night with a hot flush and then lie awake til the early hours - so tired throughout dsay when I want to be doing active things with the kids. Are you on hormone therapy or were you hormone negative.
Guess youre not working . Do you work? I would like to go back after Xmas but Im so tired and havent started Radioth. yet cant imagine how i`ll fair with a workload.
thoroughly pissed off with this year. 2007 better be better.
shall keep you informed of the trials of Rx .
be good to yourself.
love Frances
Ah Great to hear from you and cant believe that after your deliberations they have told you that the radio will help you out after all, well I suppose at least you got that information.
I am bearing well with it myself and the wound under the arm finally healed once the taxol was not being topped up and the feeling of just being able to have a proper shower ( I was confined to salt baths before) is fantastic.
I travel about 35 miles each way to the hospital so that adds to the tiredness and which my eldest back in school its back to madness.
I too am having the hot flushes, I would say that I have 30-40 in 24 hours, I started taking this tablet for it during the week but doc says it only works in 10% of patients and if it does nothing than try a high dose starflower supplement ie 1000. There are 2 other alternatives one is an antidepressant that eases them and the other is hormone based but you eat like a horse, no thanks!
I am er/pr positive but will not start the treatment until radio an brachy are done. They will test me again to see where my hormones are at and possibly as they where so strongly positive I might lose the ovaries, I had resigned myself to that happening anyway. I have to see a plastic surgeon next year too to tidy some bits up.
As for work, yes I do work outside the home and have not been in since dec, I have no intention of going back until next Summer all going well. I work in the Justice system and its full on stuff so I would have to be fit too before I could do anything there. If I was you I would wait until after Christmas… you need the time to exhale…
I have no eyelashes at all and no eyebrows either, although I dont think I miss the brows as much as they are so fair anyway but I really miss the lashes I feel naked without them and some mascara!
Delighted to hear from you, the best of luck on the 11th and rest!!!
A
Hi
Just earwigging on your posts!! Notice you talking about hot flushes. I too was having a minimum of 30-40 per day, I stopped counting when I hit that number!! Tried all sorts of medication including anti depressants which did nothing at night time and although relieved some of the day time flushes I was even more exhausted cos the drug itself made me sleepy!
I have been having accupuncture since June and I have to say it has worked well for me. I’m not woken up at night time through hot flushes which is a huge relief and they have been greatly reduced during the day which is far more tolerable. I’m now doing my own accupuncture sessions and I have to say its very easy and for me more preferable than taking additional drugs… don’t know if it would help you!!
thats useful to hear about the acupuncture Tess. It sounds like you and my mate Yelsha are having a bad time with the hot flushes. I only get them mildly during the day but at night it s worse. However last night I used my Chillow Pillow for the first time and it seemed to help.
Yelsha, I too am highly receptive to oestrogen and progesterone. 7/8 oestrogen and 8/8 progesterone. I have downloaded stuff from my expert Professor in Cancer care and discussed with him the idea of having my ovaries out which I would be happy to have done if it gives me a better prognosis. The issue I think for us both is the fact that Tamoxifen is tried and tested and Aromatase Inhibitors are relatively new eg 5-8 years (might be wrong there). The AI which I think is looking good from outcomes in a trial with post menopausal women is Femara (letrozole) i think it has fewer side effects. My Onc just seems to think that for me, taking Tamoxifen is the better choice at present and if my periods dont start again I can go onto an AI in2 years time. This is another big decision for me and I will be interested to know what you and your Onc finally decide to do. My Onc definitely said that if he put me on an AI it might bring my periods back on so without Ovary removal ity would be risky. My hormone levels have been very low since the Chemo and he says Im post menopausal at the moment but he cant guarantee it is a permanent state. The end of this treatment still seems a very long way off, dont you think?
I am so delighted to hear that your wound has healed. I really do feel a great relief for you.
Take care Frances
Hi Tess and Frances,
I willl definately take the acupuncture route on board would be very interested in that, I really think that my body has had enough drugs and the fact that hormone treatment is still on the cards means I am messing with the system enough, thanks for that.
Frances I will definately keep you posted on the T v AI v Ovary issue, It will be the topic of conversation I would say, along with the planning for the scans again when I meet the onc next. I do not know at the min if I am still pre or now post menopausal so that will be first after the brachy.
I know exactly what you mean about not knowing when it will all end, most people I speak to are saying that I am just finished but its a long way off yet, I also think that I am one of the very few having the brachy, I just attract trouble lately!
Are you back in at the end of your treatment for scans? I am not sure how it works over there.
I am due for my one year check up in mid Nov with the mammo 2 weeks before that I would say but the team said that the scans will obviously be the decider on how all the treatment went and I will be very keen to get all that over with by Christmas, which we will not see coming now either!
Does anyone else feel as if they have missed the year or just been living in a parallel world?
Take Care
Ax
Hi A / Yelsha ( cant help but call you Yelsha), I am due to see my surgeon for a 6 month check up at the end of October. Im not sure there will be any scans or mammograms done though.
Are you talking mammograms and ultrasound scans.
What was your initial diagnosis. Was it DCIS?
Hope the radiotherapy is going OK?. Yes it looks like few people have the Brachytherapy on this site
I am so desperate to meet up with others in the same predicament as myself. I had booked myself in to the healthy living day in Wimbledon before I was sure about the RX and I feel disappointed that I can`t go.
On the pre / post menopausal thing, ihavent had a period since May. I guess hormone levels must be low if the ovaries arent working but not sure if that`s always the case.
anyway i`ve been attempting a bit of cycling today having read about that woman who has just ridden across America. I was very pleased as I managed to cycle about 200 yards on a gentle incline without stopping or falling off!!
love Frances
Hi Frances,
We seem to have alot of similarities, my initial dx was 2.1cm Lobular, stage 2, er/pr++. HER2 neg. I had WLE and sentinel node removal dec 16th, 3 days after dx. I also had a reincision for margins at the end of Jan.Before I started chemo I had, bone density, liver and CT scans and I was told that they will all be repeated once treatment is over to see how successful it all was. I already had a mammogram on the other breast due to lumps but all seems well and I even had an MRI a few weeks ago to double check as the Lobular CA seems to mimic breast tissue and therefore seems to be more advanced when discovered, I was lucky to catch it at 2.1cm.
I too will see team 2 or 3 weeks after you so I reckon our check ups will always be close together.
I had a light period during the AC but nothing during the Taxol and nothing since so will get the tests done soon and take that issue from there.
I am so sorry for you that you are missing that session but I am sure you will get another chance really soon, just make that promise to yourself to hunt it out. I find it hard to make time for myself and must promise to get ME higher on the pecking order.
This site and all the opportunities to chat have kept me sane and I hope they do the same of you
You mind yourself
Yelhsa
HI Yelsha, How did your results go? What did the docs say were the results of your blood test re: hormone levels.
Two days to go here until I start the dreaded Rads.
Making the most of feeling the best I`ve felt for 6 months.
Hope you are feeling Ok . Let me know how things are with you.
Frances
I assume at this stage you have the first radiotherapy session down and are being the count down already, I have six to go now myself but have very sensitive skin so I am reacting to it and am padded up nicely now!
No hormone testing now until the brachytherapy is over now so I will be waiting a while to find out what is happening there although I will be happy just to get all this and the scans out of the way for ( dare I say it ) Christmas…cant wait for the holidays and it will mark, please God the passing of the first year since dx, all going well…
I hope you and the family are keeping well
P.S. I do see the beginnings for eyebrows and lashes… come on hair hurry up!!!
Keep me posted on your progress
Hi Yelsha, yes i had my first today. I was fairly brave and know Ive got to see this through. How many sessions are you getting?. I can imagine my skin will get sore too as Im freckly and fair.
My next big hurdle after this one is to decide about the ovaries. My Onc wrote today to say my hormone levels definitely show Im post menopausal and he insists I take Tamoxifen with no other treatment. Hes an expert in cancer care so I guess he knows what hes doing but I cant help feeling that I would feel more comfortable in the knowledge that they weren`t there any more. I will wait with interest to hear what you and your Onc decide once the fun of Brachytherapy is complete. When did your skin start to feel sore?
Well bye for now.
Frances
Your in the same position as me regarding the ovaries, I have resigned myself to them going and would really prefer if they where gone too but we will have to wait and see. I am not sure if I want Tamoxifen with the side affects but the AI seem a bit lighter on the system, that debate varies from person to person I guess too.
As for the rads I started to feel the itch at about session 14/15 and yesterday I was bandaged up after my treatment, this morning I have blisters under my arm and it is very painful, the cons took a look yesterday and wants to press on so…
anyway congrats on getting underway, the weeks seem to fly
Take Care