Julie99

Thank you for your response. It's nice to hear from someone my age

Thought of you yesterday...my sister gave me 10 kickboxing classes for my birthday and it reminded me of you. I am quite excited. She is going to take them with me. I am pretty sure I won't be able to keep up with her as she is a personal trainer, however I am going to try my best.

Hi Julie, I was also treated at Dana Farber in Weymouth...was there last night for the Facing Forward meeting where we celebrated ourselves, no topics, no education, just happiness to be alive and present in the moment! Take care.

Hi Julie, I just love your pictures. Do you box? I have been thinking of starting as I hear it is an awesome workout. I am on tamoxifen and the weight gain from that is getting me down. I love to run however it also causes joint and muscle pain so I felt a boxing workout may do the trick. Best of luck to you. Keep it up!

Hi Julie,
I came across your post regarding the pro's and con's of a port for chemo and was curious to know if you ended up getting it or not. I am in a similar situation where i already had my mind set against it for the same reasons and my onc said it was my decision but during my chemo orientation the NP highly suggested it and proceeded to tell me all the things that can go wrong and the side effects. She even brought in a nurse that does the IV to check my veins and she said i have small veins and it might cause a problem. I start chemo next week and would like to know what your experience was with or without the port.

Thank you for answering my post. Your comment about someone telling you that you should not ask for what you need (at least, that was how I heard that!) was shocking to hear! It took me many years to learn to ask for what I needed, and healthy people understand that. Keep asking for what you need! Most people - the ones who matter - are only too happy to oblige!

Julie, how are you? I was thinking of you tonight, and keeping you in prayer. Just wanted to reach out and say hi. Hope you are well tonight. God bless!

Thx for telling me this.....I needed to hear it. It sound like you've got yourself a great guy. I'm sure you deserve him. I'll take your advice and be grateful I have a great guy too. We both will get thru this.

Thank you Julie99 for your positive thoughts. I wish you well also. From what I'm reading, you're right, everyone has different experiences with this chemo and there's no telling how I will respond. I going in prepared by filling myself with good food and exercise plus extra vitamins. I'm juicing in case I can't eat & giving my home a good cleaning. All this is helping keep my mind off next week; however, sharing and learning on this site has been a god-send. I'll get that book. you.

Also, thanks for the offer of help. It's genuinely appreciated and needed.

I understand the low self esteem issues. Especially since I had always put too much importance on my appearance. I never really accepted the weight and I've fought. I was starting to win the weight battle, then this. Now the bar has been raised and I have to up-the-ante. I think it's good you put on weight. Your body needs that to fight. It takes calories & fat, etc. to heal. When you're feeling better you'll get back into your routine. That's something to think about later. You still have healing to do.

I will be having chemo 2 of 4 tomorrow dense dose AC, then I will start 12 wks of Taxol every week. I have been doing good and like to read others experiences. Thanks for sharing and Congratulations!!!

Hi, Julie99. I'm catching up on some digests and saw your post from Monday. How are you doing? I just wanted to check on you.

Julie,

We're gonna rock this together. We're both young and on similar timelines. Let's kick some butt! I live in IL now but I am from MA, too!!

CANCER F'ING SUCKS! BUT WE WILL KICK IT!

Hi, Julie 99. We're in a similar boat, I think. I'm 36 with the same type of cancer. I'm having a double mast with te's on 2/15. My lump was not supposed to be cancer they were 90% sure it wasn't and just performed an excisional biopsy. Obviously it is cancer. Next week on 2/6 I'll have a fine needle aspiration of one lymph node that appears especially plump on the ultrasound. I see you are still stage 2 which I will be so happy if I end up getting to be stage 2 (weird, right?). Would you be willing to share how many lymph nodes were positive in you? My lump was 1.5 cms and right now I'm "clinically" stage 1c. That could change after surgery. Any insights you have would be appreciated!

Hi Julie. I am new on the site and I didn't know if I answered to you on my wall post if you would be able to see it so I am answering it here.

Here in Brazil the doctor tried to start with chemo before surgery, because the tumor is so big and my breasts are so small - the right size (the sick one) is really bigger than the other, inside of it is basically the tumor, with some necrosis inside.

The photo I am using here is with the very very short hair I cut before starting chemo. I tried to rationalize the fact. I KNEW the hair would fall off. I even knew the day, because the doctor said it it typically falls on the 15th day and that was what happened. But when I saw those tiny hairs around my bed I started crying. It is so hard not to cry even now as I write to you.

I talked about that to the doctors. One of them told me I am so silly, he said I was beautiful, that the scarf around my head didn't change my beauty... I couldn't believe him. I wish I could. We live in a society where woman use hair. Period. A woman without hair is something freak.

I decided not to use wigs because it's not MY hair. I don't want a fake hair, I want my hair back. I know there are lots of women who use and are happy with that, this is only my opinion. It is so weird to see my reflection on mirrors, my shadow on walls and see the head hairless. I feel freak. I feel ashamed of everyone.

For me, so far, it's the hardest part. I am so scared of the surgery too. I won't be able to do the plastic recovery in the same surgery. The doctors said that it will be just the mastectomy, then the radiation treatment, more chemo and then the plastic recovery. The cancer destroyed the muscle under the breast, so during the reconstruction they will need to cut some muscle from my back. There will be around 6 months (or some more) between the mastectomy and the reconstruction. Now that will be the very worst part ever. Without hair, without breast. I am so scared.

Hi Julie: I hope by now that you have started treatment. Invasive cancer of any type is nothing to fool around with and I don't understand why your doctor's are waiting so long to start treatment. Don't be surprised at the gamment of emotions headed your way. First is the shock, then anger, then "Why me?" and it goes on from there. I hope you have a good support system around you, if not come here. We have all been through cancer and can help you through this. I was diagnosed with DCIS non-invasive, but to my surprise when they did a bi-lateral MRI they found active clusters in the left breast that the mammogram did not pick up. I chose to have a double mastectomy. I didn't want to mess with my future and cancer. So know whatever decision you make you are doing it for YOU and not anyone else. You are the one who counts right now and we are all here to support you, remember that. This is a great place to come for support and answers. I know that I do not have a lot of answers, but if I can help in any way, just ask. Good luck.

Julie I am so sorry to hear that you have to go through chemo and that. But you are making the right decision when it comes to your health. I had a double mastectomy with flap recontruction. Wish I'd done implants instead. The surgeries would be all over with now. Are you doing flap or implants? Good luck with your entire process. Keep me posted as to how you are doing. I'll be praying for you.

Welcome to the site! Thanks for registering, if you need any help navigating the site please contact me.

If you have questions to ask post them in the "questions" tab at the top of the page. This way they are seen by everyone in the network that are most like you in diagnosis, and you will get the most help there.

Please read through the questions page, if you see someone has asked for help on a subject that you can help on, please join in the conversation. We have a lot of great people here, and always welcome those that want to help by giving back.

Greg P
3x Survivor
Team WhatNext
Community Mgr.

Hi, Julie. I see that you are newly diagnosed but you have had some time to come to terms with it. Have you gotten your team together and developed a plan? I hope so and I also hope you are happy with your physicians. Do you have supportive family or friends nearby to help you through? It will likely be a tough go but if you have good people around you, that will help. This site is a great place to bring your questions. Those of us who have "been there, done that" can give you our experiences and always our encouragement and support.

Hi Julie,
I am new to this site, also, and have a similar diagnosis as yours. Have they discussed treatment with you yet?

Welcome. Thank you for registering. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1) Find other people like you. You can do this by clicking on "see more" in the "People Most Like You" box to the right.

2) Go to our Questions page to see what's been posted, ask a question or give some advice. Here is a link to our most popular questions: http://bit.ly/MfN45w

3) Complete your journey profile to share your experience. You can do this by clicking on "Add Experience" in the box next to your picture above.

4) Don't forget to upload a picture!

Thank you for being here and sharing your story. If you have any questions, please check out our FAQ or contact us.

Best,
Team WhatNext