Breast Cancer Now Forum

I wanted to have my ovaries removed but they cannot find them on scans or MRI....!!! They refused anyway - however oestrogen is created from fat once your ovaries have stopped working or been removed, it converts androgen to oestrogen and often to the dangerous type of oestrogen where bc is concerned and this is where Letrozole or similar can help........you can also reduce oestrogen in your environment and diet - take a look at canceractive.com, there is a great book on there you can order that explains all about oestrogen and oestrogen dependent cancers.... THere are ntural alternatives you can take too like Indole 3 Carbinol or another one beginning with D that is in use in standard medicine in California so you can still help yourself even if your doctor does not co-operate! ... View more

Paclitaxel plus one other , do you know what the other is called? - is Paclitaxel the one you need to take a lot of steroids with? ... View more

Not infection no but i had mx on 2nd May and last few days my chest area has been a lot tighter than before and really hard feeling, significantly more than before, no idea why....... Hope you feel better soon ... View more

Yes they do have the new style ports in the UK but I_ think you need to ask for them, anything to save your veins.... ... View more

I had invasive lobular cancer too.......look it up online on this website it gives a lot of info and also ideas for questions to ask, good luck ... View more

Yes - I too am 7 nodes affected, stage 3 when diagnosed, given 50% chance of recurrence in short time span, etc etc but what I remind myself of is these statistics are ALL out of date by at least 5 years, as they have to be......they don´t take account of any changes you make on top of standard treatments like diet, exercise, reducing hormones in environment etc etc.....so they may be useful for research but to add to my life, no, they are something to beat.... The other thing is they constantly tell us everyone´s cancer is individual so therefore statistics are only generalisations and so probably not exactly fitting to any one of us...if you see what i mean - I believe that statistics can be made to fit most scenarios and a lot depends on interpretation..... See you on here in 10 years???! ... View more

I have to take blood pressure medication for a chronic kidney condition, and like you had loads of awful side effects from many of them. In the end I decided to try a smaller dose of one of them and found that taking half the minimum dose worked for me. I tested it out by stopping taking it and by taking the minimum dose and what worked for me was half the minimum dose - in theory this is meant to not work but I proved it does and doctors reluctantly agreed with me - I did this by monitoring my BP twice a day for a month and still monitor myself at home at least once a week. Maybe you could try this? I was put on Letrozole so hope it does not increase my BP, will need to check more often now. Can you try taking Letrozole at night rarther than mornings? ... View more

Hi - yes I responded to your friend request yesterday and also replied to you by private message.......hope you are ok and not feeling too rough, sending you a big sunny hug...xxx ... View more

Hey Flower Honey - BC is definitely NOT pink and fluffy.....in fact I HATE the pinkness of it, whoever chose that colour? It is not you who cannot do all these things it is the poison you are taking to kill the cancer that is responsible, not you........please remember that. You are doing this to give yourself and your family the very best chance and so your tired days are ones you need to help the poison kill the cancer cells........so rest, and don´t feel guilty knowing its just an investment for your future........ Thinking of you - xxxxx ... View more

I had MX in May and hate being lop sided - I started with thr AAh bra type bras (you can get cheap ones in market stalls or pound shops) with an insert in and then I put the insert in on both sides and stuffed an ultra soft sock on the MX side - no one could tell the difference and i was comfortable.....the insert made both sides look the same and some assh bras come with pockets for you to chooe whether to use the insert to its a cheap MX bra I was REALLY distressed for first few weeks, never beleived I would get used to it but ahve to say I am now less upset than before but still upset about it, it gets me at odd times, but then i had two breasts for 55 years why should I adjust in less than 8 weeks? Too much to expect probably.... Be kind to yourself ... View more

What is an NPI score please? Flower - thinking of you, please accept my friend request as we got de-friended by this system! I was told i have a 70% chance of being cancer free in 5 years.....IF I have all the post surgery treatments, but I doubt i will have chemo as it is such a difficult issue for me health wise so that reduces those odds by 14% maximum........so 56% chance being cancer free in 5 years........but what use is this info to me really? I best odds of 70% against before in a non cancer illness........ This is jsut a bloody gut wrenching disease that messes with our heads and hearts far more than our bodies until you get near the end.....it stinks! ... View more

I love it - so here we go Hi everyone this is my first meeting - I am Sascha and I too am Node positive.......and allergic to the word positive in other settings if given as an instruction as to how to cope with little c.....so be warned fellow NP´s...... xx ... View more

Well you already know I am one and I am feeling really fed up with it being like a horror movie doom scenario as there are other ways cancer can spread, yet lymph nodes seem to be the focus of so much attention designed to depress those of us with BC I think...... I am not medically trained but I really do not see it negatively, I think it meant they were doing their job and I just donñ´t think it is helpful to make us feel like worse case scenarios jsut because our infection /invasion bandits were working overtime!!! I was scared at first but now I really do feel like this - youa re so ahead of me on this road so waht do I know (having a bad day today) but I refuse to be depressed by this more thna i am already by other things!!!! I probably haven´t helped but I know how much this matters to you so wanted to reply. xx ... View more

It may be that you have the option of surgery first rather than chemo post MRI...... Waiting is horrible, I was dx in april but still no treatment plan although i am post MX..... ... View more

THanks Janice, no idea what my treatment plan is....and not at all sure I will accept chemo anyway....even though hospital seem to think I will be starting it next week with no prior info etc.......so I will not be...! I need to have confidence in them first and at the moment it is below zero...... ... View more

What is the drug combination for TAX please? Or is it only one chemo drug? ... View more

I have asked to have mine removed as OC is so hard to detect and ILC is one of the BC types more likely to spread to ovaries.....waiting to hear what the Onc says......but if not I feel so strongly about it I may go private for peace of mind..... ... View more

This might help you http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/mucinous/ ... View more

I think the 5cm tumour plus one node would make you stage 3.....but probably only stage 3A.....it is classed as locally advanced - note word locally..... I am / was that with 7 nodes affected, and probably will not have chemo as Oncologist has said I am higher risk of long term chemo damage..... I have decided not to take too much notice of these as we are all so different and there are people on here who had chemo and are back for second or third time, some with new cancer who had no node involvment and others with nodes involved, more than mine, who are fine several years on....... Its too easy to be scared with cancer and I don´t think it helps us... ... View more

How do they find out you are "cured" Lulu? Its not just the tumour size though is it, or the nodes, its the type of cancer as well and hormone and Herceptin status? ... View more