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Facing mastectomy
Hello! I'm new to the site. I'm 32 with invasive ductal carcinoma of my left breast. I had neoadjuvant chemo and will have my last Taxol on Thursday (yay!!) I'm going to have surgery next month, and am very nervous about it. I would love to hear your experiences about how to cope with a mastectomy. Also, I am constantly…
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great wig resource for Chicago
For those who live in Chicago, I wanted to pass along a great wig store resource: Fantasy Costumes (they are a costume store but have a large selection of cosmetic wigs for chemo patients) at 4065 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, (773) 777-0222. The person who helped to fit my wig was Amie and she was simply wonderful! She…
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discouraged about Oncotype test
I have invasive intraductal cancer and had a mastectomy on Feb. 21. I am hoping someone can say something encouraging or at least help me to put into perspective the results of my Oncotype test. Until I got the results this past Monday, I was actually pretty hopeful: my cancer is estrogen positive, the tumor was only 1.1…
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THE DRAIN IS A PAIN
I had a mastectomy on 3.4.08. Three weeks later, I am still draining at the rate of 60 to 70 ml....The surgeon says it has to drop to 30 before I get it out. Has anyone else had the problem? Is there anything I can do to reduce the drainage (surgeon said nope, just time). I will be doing chemo and Herceptin. I would be…
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GLAD TO BE A PART OF THIS GROUP
I just had to write to say that even though I don't respond to every post, I do read them and feel so proud to be a part of such a great group of women. You are all so supportive. When I was first diagnosed in 2006, I was directed to this site immediately, and it has been a constant help reading the posts. When you come to…
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Chat
If the chat room ever opens is it open all the time or just certain times or days? When I found the site a week or two ago the site was down. I wish it would hurry up and be fixed. I emailed this site to find out when it would be fixed but never got a response. Thanks
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Thank You.
I just wanted to thank everyone for words of encourgement on the site. I feel like I have so much to work out in such a short time. I will have my bilateral mastectomy in two weeks, I have not worked out the child care, sleeping arangements in my home so my husband can get a good night sleep, he has to work, My mom will…
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Cherish this Day
Our trees are beginning to bloom here in the South. A few days ago I saw a bluebird sitting on my deck rail, singing to his heart's content. I just stood there with tears flowing, thankful that I get the privilege to see another spring. What is everyone doing to enjoy each day this springtime?
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New Here, Need Spirts Up lifted
Hi, Iam 33 with a husband and 13mth baby girl, I have a tumor in both breast, one is a stage one the other is a stage 3. I meet with the reconstruction dr. yeasterday and became completely catatonic with a slight melt down. I just finished 4 rounds of A/C and will have a bylateral Myscetamy in two weeks. I am trying to be…
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Your response to my stage IV post
Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement and I will definitely look for the chat room to reopen and get to "meet" you.
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Greatly Humbled
Hi Everyone.. Tonight a most remarkable thing happened to me. I go to school two nights a week besides working a full-time job. Usually the last two weeks of the month I work 10-12 hours starting at 3 or 5 am. So on the Tuesdays and Thursday nights that I go I usually get very little sleep and don't eat dinner. Well,…
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problems with plastic surgeon/updated
To everyone who wrote me about the problems with my plastic surgeon (recap: I had my surgery on Feb. 21 and my plastic surgeon has not seen or talked to me since that day: his Physician's Assistant is seeing me). I wanted to tell everyone what happened: I called the office and was very confrontative: I said that I had…
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bilateral mastectomy
Hi...just wondering what those of you who have had a bilateral mastectomy wear now? Do they make a prosthesis that is lightweight? I got the staples out today...and now i have seroma..they drained it today and will again next week...sometimes all this treatment gets you down..I'm just looking forward to getting on with my…
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Quick update on recurrence w DCIS
Saw the surgeon yesterday. He looked at the mammo and the MRI film and he feels that there may be a place deeper in as well as the calcifications. He can see that the calcifications could be attributible to the fat necrosis of my mastectomy scar but he also did my bilat mastectomy and knows my history. So, he sent my film…
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Stage IV metastatic breast cancer
This is my first post. I have been following this site for a couple of months now, but don't seem to find many metastatic survivors out there. I'm trying so hard to find some encouragement and hope. It's been a year and a half since my diagnosis and I just want to reach out to someone who is going through this also. Your…
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Cycles....
As most of you know, this past 4 years have been a big challenge for my sanity. Diagnosed with 2 separate cancers, 6 months apart, the death of my beau's father, the sudden death of my ex (62.5 years...), and the tragic death of my youngest daughter, well...it has been hard. But I see lives (mine, and others) go thru…
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problems with plastic surgeon/please advise
I am desperate and don't know what to do: somebody please give some advice! I had a mastectomy and lattissimus dorsi flap reconstruction on Feb. 21. My plastic surgeon technically did an excellent job with the reconstruction, but I am having big problems with his office. When I went to see him initially, he told me he…
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RE: Hair loss
I wanted to once again share this e-mail I received when I was losing my hair...it is so neat, and I thought it better to start a new page to insure that all of you read it. Attitude There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. Well,"she said, "I…
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Today I am 50
Thank you for letting me have this part of my life, this experience, this transition to something I had no idea would let me realize the parts of my life I was overlooking. I may be in debt (up to my eyeballs and then some), out of work and still recovering from the second of two occurances some two plus years later. But…
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Nutrition during chemo
I have read and been told so many conflicting things regarding nurtrition during chemo. For ex. I was told by the chemo nurse not to eat lettuce or strawberries. To be cautious with raw vegetables and fruits. On the web they encourage fruits and vegetables. Please give some info. on what to eat during chemo. I started…
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Awaiting Hair Loss
I started my treatment almost two weeks ago and I am wondering how long I have before my hair comes out? Can anyone help me!
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started chemo
Hi I started my chemo last Thursday. I was so scared by the whole mess of it. I had a bad reaction to one of the meds. think it was the TAXOTERE they had to stop it for awhile. They gave me normal saline for abit before startin it again. It now feels hot all over my neck and legs all the time. told me to watch for fevers.…
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Goose Creek, SC
Would like to find anybody in the area to talk about hospitals, Doctors, Support, and dealing with treatment of Breast Cancer in our area
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need support
30 y.o. and a few years post treatment. Ten surgeries, chemo, rads. Going through a major depression because I cant find work and I feel like cancer destroyed my ability to lead a progressive life. I coped so well during treatment but the aftermath has proved horrific. Any survivor willing to talk on phone or via chat?
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What kind of person are we?
As I read and write posts on this fabulous discussion board, I sometimes wonder - what type of people use this resource? For instance, in the discussion of how to move on after cancer, are all those who have moved on, without a backwards glance not even coming here to tell us that? Are we a self selected, self defined…
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fluid build up after mastectomy
I had a mastectomy on Feb. 21 with reconstruction (lat flap). My plastic surgeon (or rather, his Physicians' Assistant) told me I have developed a common complication of mastectomy called a seroma (fluid build-up). My drains were taken out and the P.A. said they could not be left in any longer because it could cause…
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Dizzy gal
Hello Everyone. I have had breast cancer 3 times over the past 11 years. I have had a fair amount of chemo and was wondering how many if any of you have had long lasting equalibrium problems after your chemo was over. I have always been a bit sensitive to motion but now it is just silly how much motion gets to me. Since my…
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They just don't get it
This is in response to the Friends and Mortality question, really, but my take is a bit different from the ones I read, so I thought I would state my thoughts separately. First, some brief history: My Sister was diagnosed with BC in 1998 at the age of 40, did treatment, surgery, recurrence, repeat, and died in 2006. I was…
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RE: Friends and Mortality
I have just the thing for all of us who share the problem of friends who shy away from talking about C and who ask "how are you?" never really wanting to know the truth. Next time you are in a Hallmark shop, go to the section with the talking cards. There is a card featuring Gilda Radner's picture on a TV screen and she's…
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Sad about Chat
I know they are working so hard to get the problem with the chat rooms fixed but I will miss my sisters tonight. I was needing a little help up the roller coaster since in the morning I go to the oncologist. It is my one year mark and 6 months 8 months since chemo. What questions do I ask? I keep hearing where the cancer…