New here....am a borderline ovarian cancer survivor and am concerned I may now be facing BC

dianajune

I'm 59 years old with a hx of borderline ovarian cancer, T2 diabetes, asthma, COPD, obesity, etc. I recently had Covid but am no longer testing positive.

I've got a huge hernia that came about after having cancer surgery. I had a TAH-BSO. The only e thing left is my cervix. This was in 2004. The following year I had my gallbladder removed via a laparoscope. This wasn't cancer related, it just stopped working.

My gyn/onc. told me to be careful not to do any heavy lifting, but this wasn't always possible because i live alone. So, in 2009 I developed a strangulated hernia that nearly killed me. Two years later I had an incarcerated hernia and I'm now on my third hernia that at the moment can't be repaired because I need to lose weight and have just Medicare A. I can't afford anything else.

Like alot of people during the pandemic, I passed up on having routine diagnostic testing including my annual mammograms. I now regret that choice because I'm seeing things that I have no clue are normal or not. Breast cancer runs in Mom's family. Her father's sister had it. Her sister had it. And now I'm wondering if I have it.

I've been having intermittent bilateral breast pain. I have lumps in both breasts but they've always been that way. One breast is bigger than the other but it's always been that way. I'm asymetrical.

The pain has been ongoing for several months but just yesterday I noticed a ridge on the border of my rt areola that doesn't seem connected to anything underneath it. It's just hanging in there. I have something similar on my other breast in almost the same spot but it's smaller. My rt breast, btw, is the larger of the two.

I have visible veins too, some of which are rather prominent on both breasts.

I'm going to talk with my pcp about getting a mammogram when her office opens up again after the holiday but I have to ask - how do you cope with getting testing done? And the waiting? It was awful when I was told I probably had advanced ovarian cancer. Thankfully that doctor was wrong. The gyn/onc doc tho eventually operated on said he was surprised by the prognosis that first doctor gave me as he was the one who trained him!

I recently had routine blood work done that showed my a1c was still elevated and my thyroid is now off. My thyroid meds were lowered and they want me to get tested again in two months.

What should I expect next and how can I best cope? This has been a very rough couple of years and this is the last thing I needed.

Thank you!

KT_Skater

I hope you are well! Have you called for your mammogram? I was also given the option to reschedule during Covid and, unfortunately, did. I’m not great at following up with medical stuff and now I wish I had. Please call and get your situation checked out if you haven’t.

Also, I know losing weight is hard without a gall bladder. I lost mine due to fertility drugs (over production of estrogen). That is also the type of Breast Cancer I have (estrogen fed HER2 tumor). I started on Weight Watchers and it has been really good. I was overwhelmed at first losing weight, but I thought, “Let’s try it for a year.” And if you stick to the plan, it works! I was walking as much as I could and riding a stationary bike and it was hard at first and I would do both in spurts, and then it gradually became easier. Any bit of regular movement it’s good. I also do a YouTube based aerobic series called Team Body Project. There are levels for every level of body’s activity. Even if you have to sit through a lot of it, they have that. It’s also free for most of the beginner levels.

Good luck on your journey! Take care!!