Nonnie917-89591

Hey friend how are you doing?

Hi Nonnie--fellow Washingtonian! I just saw your message. I was stage 0 when my onc recommended lumpectomy, radiation AND Tamoxifen. I looked at it this way: HE was the expert--having dealt with cancer for over 20 years--so I respected his opinion. I wanted to do EVERYTHING I COULD to prevent a recurrence. So I made the choice to follow his recommendation.

Unfortunately, cancer STILL came back to me. But life isn't always fair. He agreed that it was a complete fluke--it shouldn't have happened. But so it is.

But I can look back at my first diagnosis and know that I did everything I could have done...it wasn't my "fault" that it returned. Somehow, this is a bit comforting!

I wish you luck in your decision making. Please know that my wonderful onc--who just retired after over 30 years of helping people--told me that the recommendation now is TEN YEARS of Tamoxifen--should it be something they want you to consider.

Take care and BTW--isn't it about time we get some Spring weather around here?

Hi Nonnie,
That's what I meant my inflammatory breast cancer came back to my skin and my tissue in the diseased breast and now it looks like it may be back in my other breast on the skin which is indicative of IBC. Good luck to you

My last radiation treatment is tomorrow. Previously I had flap surgery. Soon I will have expanders put in and then we will go from there. I have been told by many doctors and nurses that flap surgery is the way to go. Dr. Jackson is the top guy. My oncology nurses have seen his work and tell me it is beautiful; that I will have the breasts of a twenty year old. Judging from his portfolio, I believe it. I just wanted to let you know what my experience has been so far. Keep me posted.

Misunderstanding... I did NOT have radiation or chemotherapy.

Hi, Nonnie917. You answered a question recently and mentioned that you were having your implants done on June 24. It is June 26 as I write and I'm wondering how you are doing. I hope the procedure went well.

Hi Nonnie917,

Been reading your experience with reconstruction. Congrats on the weight loss so far. I know you are disappointed in the size of your reconstruction. I, too, felt like a "barrel shape" after surgery. I decided that I was going to do my best to live a healthier life style and get my body into a better condition than before cancer, and I am a type 2 diabetic also. So far I have lost a total of 50 lbs, and I feel GREAT! My blood sugar is under control, BP is down, and I see a HUGE difference in the shape of my body. My belly fat is reduced and I have boobs now, no more "barrel shape"! I noticed that you said you have another 50 lbs you could lose. Don't make apologies for feeling vain about your appearance. We all want to look good and more importantly feel good. Maybe you could make it a goal to just lose a few lbs a month, no dieting, just making health conscious choices in meal planning. I stay away from refined sugar, starchy foods, and red meat (due to a gout issue) and the weight came off so quickly. You will see a difference in your shape, more of an hourglass figure start to appear! I wish you the very best and I completely understand how you are feeling.

Hi Nonnie-Just thought I would say "Hey" and I hope you are having a good day.

i had surgery for trigger thumb-no problems other than they

wrapped it too tight-least of your worries after all you've been thru

Suggestion: give the American Cancer Society a call. They can send someone out to do the cleaning, etc. while you are recovering. It would be free or very little cost, no income limit. Don't suffer, there is help out there for you.

Hi Nonnie,

Thank you so much for your kind, understanding, encouraging words they mean so much to me. I can't have reconstruction for several reasons the first being that I am TERRIFIED of needles the second being that since I had radiation 13 yrs ago the surgeon had to take more skin and he even got severely close to like as in almost touching my heart scar. So now on top of having the throbbing from the masectomy scar across my chest my 39 yr old heart scar is hurting a bit now too I do have a strong faith in GOD and I know that he is always with me and that I am not alone. My family all understand where I am coming from and don't get mad or upset if I am just not myself so to speak. When I can forget what I went through I am my normal happy, funny self but its those times when I am alone that it hits me really hard and I just lose it. Thankfully GOD blessed me with a faithful companion, my beautiful furbaby who loves his momma regardless of what she looks like. He doesn't care if his momma is missing a breast and he knows when I need a hug cause he just comes over gives me his little piggy paw and lets me hold his hand and hug him. From what the surgeon and nurse told me, my scar is really healing up very nicely. The surgeon is actually surprised at how fast I am healing considering that I am and insulin dependant diabetic who had radiation on this side of my chest 13 yrs earlier. I know that GOD has a plan for me and I just have to wait and see what it is. My dad told me all those years ago in the garden at the hospital that GOD has a purpose for me, that he could have just touched me and healed my heart but that he didn't that the surgeons needed to learn more by operating on my heart. For well over 18 hrs my dad sat outside the OR waiting on news about how I was doing. My dad always reminded me that GOD never left me then and he isn't gonna leave me now. I pray every day and I am so thankful for all of you with your kind words and encouraging words. I know that GOD put all of you in my path to help me and for that I am very blessed. So again thank you for you encouraging words. Have a blessed day today.

medicalert as all kinds of ID's You don't have to wear anything.You can carry a card and a copy of everything in you wallet.But it is safe to have something if you have even one medical condition.....just my opinion.

Hi Nonnie! Thought it might interest you to know that niborflamingo is my older sister. She was dx'd 9 months to the day after I was...but we aren't BRCA gene carriers...just two girls with the same rotten luck!

Thanks for your response about pain meds and the good advice to stay in the hospital if I'm in pain. I appreciate the advice. There's a lot to think about here. Everyone is so kind on this site!

Hi Nonnie, I just read your response to busymom and saw that you did not have enough belly fat for a TRAM flap...if I had only known, I would have given you some of mine! I sure hope you have a sense of humor!

Hi Nonnie - sorry you're having so much trouble with the reconstructions. Not nice at all and it sounds like your PS is being a little uncooperative. They tend to not like problems! I sure wish you well on Dec 11 - hope you get some answers! xox

Nonnie--why do you think you HAVE to match the color of your natural hair? This is the time to go hog wild! I was a frosted blonde before chemo, but purchased 3 "good" wigs, each in a different shade of blondish-brown. Then I purchased about 6
"costume" wigs for FUN--I have a red tinsel, green tinsel, red curly, black mullet, blonde mullet--which I often wear to my Herceptin infusions because they bring some levity into the chemo room, where it is MUCH NEEDED!. It's gotten so that the chemo staff is disappointed whenever I wear one of my normal-looking wigs! They tell me they actually look forward to me coming there with wild, crazy hair! It's been FUN for me (distracts me from feeling sorry for myself) and VERY REWARDING to be able to get other cancer patients to smile--or even laugh! We're both over 60; I say, GO FOR IT!

I got a silver gray wig that looks good from the ACS catalogue.

Attached is some information regarding Oncotype DX:
http://www.oncotypedx.com/en-US/Breast/PatientsCaregiversInvasive

This is the web site for the company that does the testing. Hope this in helpful.

For some strange reason this site made me sign up again and put another profile up. How do I delete the newest one?

Nonnie,

If you created two accounts by accident just send an email to contactus @ whatnext.com asking us to delete the account you no longer want. I hope this helps.

David

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Nonnie - hang in there. My prayers and thoughts are with you. I like the "Fight Like a Girl" encouragement others have posted. In my case I would say "Fight Like A Vixen!" Try to find a good laugh every day. That helps me through the hard times...I've developed a very sick sense of humor about my cancer, which I sometimes believe is one of the few reasons I'm still around!

Nonnie - you know what they say about the women with breast cancer? FIGHT LIKE A GIRL!

i remember hearing "why not me?". please remember you did not do anything to get cancer, it is not your fault, cancer picks and chooses who and when and where it wants to!!! it is my grandkids that really keep me going!!! hang on to whatever and whoever gives you the wanting to wake up the next morning!!! i am really grateful for this site, it reminds me i am not alone in this!!! my prayers are with you!!!

Hi there - I noticed your comment about feeling like a circus freak (I'm so sorry!) and thought that I'd share with you an article I've written that might help with the reconstruction sites: http://marnieclark.com/reduce-surgical-adhesions-after-breast-reconstruction-surgery/ I'm not sure whether adhesions are the problem for you, but have a look - they might be. Hope this helps. Sending hugs from Denver.

Hi, Triple negative breast cancer means the growth of the cancer is not supported by the hormones estrogen, progestron & Her2. it also does not respond to hormonal therapy such as taxoxifen. I was very surprised when I was told I had this never heard of it before.

Hey Nonnie917, Welcome to WhatNext!!

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I think you'll find the community very helpful. Again, Welcome!!