Ladykarla

What is Herceptin? I refuse to take tamoxifen, & Femara & arimidex are steroids which I don't want to take. I recently found out I have hypothyroidism. I have gained 25 lbs since Nov. Thanks.

Good gads, I read your xanax story and want to thank you so much for putting it up for the others to see. I know the crap does weird things to people. When my Mom was in a rehab center (stroke), her roomie was a bit nutzoid. We talked, the roomie and me (she was, lol, taking my Mom's underwear) and I unstrapped her. The problem was, she said, that the men on horseback were coming through the walls to get her. I looked where she was looking and maybe, if I concentrated really hard, I could count a dirt spot as an inkblot and come up with a coupla guys on horseback in my minds eye. So I asked her "Well how do you know they are coming for an unhappy reason? Maybe they simply wanna take you to a party? Could they be your ride to somewhere?" and other calming blatherings. She listened and thought and then her whole body relaxed.

Addictive, hallucinations, blackouts, I think those pills are very dangerous and am grateful that you are alive.

Hi Ladykarla, I'm sure glad that you have your sense of humor back. I don't know what you would have said about my joke. As I was reading your message about things that you appreciate now more so than pre-cancer. So true...I look at things differently, or maybe just look closer at them than I did before. When I am out I walk a lot slower than I did before, not that I cannot walk faster, I just choose to walk slower so that I can take more things in...the sun, the trees, the flowers, people, but little children more so than adults. When I am on the golf course, (once a week), I take in some of the beauty of a particular hole with the trees, and the water. I look up to the heavens and thank God for allowing me to be here today. I too enjoy a good book, but strictly non-fiction. There are 2 things that I took on after cancer and one of them was reading. I hated reading, and was a lousy student, but when I was lying in the hospital I told my wife that when I get home I am going to read Lance Armstrong's book, and I haven't stopped reading since. The one other thing I took on was drawing/art. I started out with pencils, then soft pastels, oil pastels, and now acrylics. My work is nothing spectacular, but it is presentable to some people. Well Ladykarla, it has been a pleasure chatting with you and our material is appropriate for others on this website. If you would like to carry our conversation more privately let Greg know that it is okay for him to give me your email address. Otherwise not...this is okay as well. I just don't want to bore others with our conversation. Take care....
Russ

Hello Ladykarla, I read that you had a double mastectomy. I am reminded of a story someone told in a publication I received as a result of making a donation to breast cancer. Any way this woman wrote into the newsletter and she titled her story "My Coming Out." She was always in a funk, didn't want visitors, didn't talk to others very much, until the day of her coming out. One early morning she opened the front door to get the morning newspaper, and as she bent over to pick up the paper one of her prosthesis fell out onto the porch. Well her dog who was lying near the door grabbed the prosthesis in his mouth, and she started chasing the dog around the front yard while yelling "come back here with my breast." After yelling this several times, she fell over and started to laugh uncontrollably. She was wondering what the neighbors thought as she was hollering "come back here with my breast." Then it was from that moment on she had her coming out...it help her so much to laugh uncontrollably. Now I'm not suggesting that you have a prosthesis fall out onto the porch, but I do recommend to you that you find a story somewhere in your tragedy of having a double mastectomy. This may not be the time, but maybe somewhere down the road.

My best to you Ladykarla,
Russ

Hi Karla, I pray that your journey is going well. I am sorry that you had to go down this path but I do know that God has a purpose for everything and one day when we get to heaven He will share that with us. I do pray that I can help somebody else going thru their journey and be the best witness for God that I can be. God amy my family is how I made it thru this past year and a half. I was diagnosed twice within a years time. It wasn't easy but it was doable. I pray for all you ladies every day and pray that God blesses your lives. I do know one thing, we all are strong women and we will SURVIVE this. God bless.

How long have you had cancer? Has your doc ever told you how long he thought you had? I am in the middle of a six cycle chemo treatment called Doxil Ndig has bad side effects. I took Femara pills and Tamoxifen pills. which had horrible side effects. I was diagnosed 14 months ago and am already tired of chemo, bone infusions, pills, surgery, etc. Everyone says it is way to soon to give up but am tired and in pain all the time.

Thanks for the add Ladykarla Looks like you and I were diagnosed about the same time, and we're both triple +. I hope you are doing well. Stay strong and may the angels guard you! Hugs.....

We are both 3+, what chemo are you getting or did you get?

Thank you so much, you eased my worry a great deal! Hugs to you.

Thanks Ladykarla. I appreciate the info.

Hi, Ladykarla, I am told that you read and liked my answer. I will be 56 in October. Keep in touch. Marisol.

Ladykarla,
I have been doing EMDR for several years which is a bit unusual, but my PTSD is a result of 19 rapes (repressed 32 years), burying 5 family members in 36 months, workplace bullying some other traumas. It is considered "complex". Please feel free to ask me anything about it. My therapist says I've reprocessed more successfully than anyone he has ever worked with. We even worked on pain issues from chemo. GOOD LUCK.

Hi LadyKarla,

Well first of all thank you so much for making me laugh, your saying that you put on the skimpiest tank tops then go about your business made me think back to when I was a kid and fresh out of the hospital from open heart surgery, I went right back to wearing my v neck tops the scar didn't bother me one little bit lol. When I am up to it my sister wants to do a pic of me showing my scar then she is gonna use her computer to put something beautiful where my breast use to be, whatever I want whether it be roses, butterflies whatever which I thought was really sweet My precious neice drew me a pic and she told her momma that she didn't want to upset me but she drew me as she sees me, a whole person not her aunt missing a breast and that made me cry. My dad told me that my family and any real friends aren't gonna care if I am missing a breast they are gonna love me regardless. My dad also told me that he had similar feelings about his scar. 15 yrs ago my dad had to have a quad bypass, he was having a hard time with his scar cause he didn't want his new wife (they had only been married about 4 months) to have to deal with his heart scar but hi swife didn't care about the scar she just wanted my dad to be alright. Until my dad told me that I didn't realize just how much we had in common. I joked with my dad about having a zipper like me but never knew he felt that way. I know it breaks my dads heart when I get upset about this whole situation and I am just to thankful for all of you with your words of encouragement. I am sorry that you have to go through this yourself but I want to just say thank you because your kind encouraging words help me so much. So again thank you for your kind words and I look forward to following your journey

Thank you for responding. I have never done anything like this on the computer. So I have difficulty figuring this stuff out. I chose mastectomy over lumpectomy in hopes of getting out of radiation and chemo. I will find out on the 21st at a visit with the MD. So I guess I really have to even cut down what I am doing and this will be a long haul and I wont be going back to work in 4 to 6 weeks... I have to lift at work.

Welcome to the site. You will find this a friendly place to come when you are down and out. You can sound off or just vent when things are not going your way and you are having a bad day. Everyone here is nice and has been there done that so we all know what it is like to have bad days. You can also share your successes too. We all love success stories. Don't be afraid to ask any questions either. No question is silly or dumb on this site. Someone will have an answer for you and if not they can recommend a place to go where you can get those answers. So have fun with us and good luck with all you are going through.

Dear Ladykaria, I only have soya milk in my tea and it is organic
but thank you for thinking of me. I would not have anything that
is genetically modified for a start and the Your Life in your hands
suggests soya milk and Professor Jane Plant cured her cancer
and hers was oestregen fed. I think it depends how much you have of anything. Honey[pot

Hi there,
Thanks for responding. I appreciate It!

Just saw your response to dedko and I agree with you too...just a little warning on hand sanitizers: they do not prevent C. Diff., only soap and water! As you know this is a particularly nasty little bug and I would not want anyone to feel protected by using hand gels.

I live in Brownsburg and am a 6 yr survivor. Had chemo but no radiation. I'm also involved with Pink Ribbon Connection, a local non-profit located in Fountain Square. We have a monthly newsletter and quarterly informational sessions on varying topics if you think you might be interested. Best of luck to you

Hi, I am somewhat of a neighbor of yours. I live in Greencastle, IN. I am coming up on my third year of survivorship! Where are you receiving treatment? I had mine at the Simon Cancer Center at IU Med. Center.

Hi Ladykarla - I wanted to welcome you to the forum, so glad you joined us (but sorry for why). First of all, just know that YOU ARE GOING TO STOMP ALL OVER THIS! This is a great forum, lots of good information here and lots of people to help. If you need any help or information, we are here for you. I'm a 9-yr BC survivor and I have a website full of info to help others through it. Let me know if you'd like the web address. Sending hugs from Denver.

Hello and welcome, we are glad you found us. Here is a link to our cancer dx page for your type of cancer. Take a look at it to get you started on some information. You will notice at the bottom of that page 4 of our active users who have had that journey already, you may wish to contact them for their experience and wisdom. Also, any questions you may have just post them in the questions tab and everyone will see them there and be able to help you.

https://www.whatnext.com/conditions/cancer/breast-cancer

There are also subtypes listed on this page to narrow down the type of cancer to match your dx.

You may also find our "Beginner's Guide To Cancer" page helpful Click Here for that=> http://bit.ly/10BQKCi

Also, if you can take a few minutes and fill in some details of your journey so far, it will help others as they try to answer questions for you, it also helps others as they search through the data base to find someone like themselves. Confirming your email will allow you to receive updates and notices from the site when someone answers your questions or writes on your wall.

Thanks for being with us and let me know if I can help you find any information on the site. After you have an opportunity to look the site over and see what great things there are here, we encourage you to invite your friends, family or anyone you know that may be helped by the connections on WhatNext to join the site also. Just click this link to invite them to join. http://www.whatnext.com/recruit-a-friend

Greg P
3x Survivor
Team WhatNext
Community Mgr.

Welcome to the WhatNext family! The WhatNext family is made up of people like you who are looking for help or looking to help others. To help you along your journey the WhatNext family has put together a Beginner's Guide to Cancer that I highly recommend you check-out here: http://bit.ly/10BQKCi. Also, please do not hesitate to reach out to others or ask for help.

Wishing you the best.

David
Founder, WhatNexter