Night Howls
Comments
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Sickening0
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Just wanted to add that if a woman has a single MX and cancer does occur in the opposite side this is usually a new primary cancer and not metastasis.
You can't remove your risk of metastasis by removing the other breast.1 -
I don't think that @Eli86 intended to upset anybody - she was just explaining her decision based on what her doctor, rightly or wrongly, told her. I must admit to being concerned about the number of women I have spoken to who have had recurrences but I do have faith in my doctors as long as they listen and act on my worries.1
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My impression is that more people get recurrences than we, broadly in the general population, are led to believe.
I never asked my breast surgeon or oncologist the likelihood as a) I didn't want to hear b) he gave me a whole lot of stats anyway and c) my family's lived experience is illustrative of the crap shoot.
My mother found a lump in 1986 aged 51. She was told it was in her "lymphatic system" and that it was very aggressive. She had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, no hormone therapy (don't think it existed then) and is alive and kicking at 83. My sister found multiple lumps at 44 in 2013. She had a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy but died three years later.
Doctors say stupid things. They're human beings and sometimes people who, having spent most of their youth studying very hard, can lack social skills. Two weeks to the day of my diagnosis, amongst other highly insensitive and false pices of information, a doctor told me I'd never look good naked. Twice. This was devastating as you can imagine. At a time when I had never felt more vulnerable or devastated, it was unconscionable. Despite the fine work he has done on my chest, I would never recommend this plastic surgeon to anyone other than those with the toughest of hides.
Of course Eli didn't mean to upset anyone. Her doctor wouldn't have meant it either. He's an insensitive clod to say something so potentially upsetting to a vulnerable patient in his care.
Put it out of your minds as best you can. We are all individuals and as we frequently observe here, we all react very differently to our treatments.
Go well my friends. K xox4 -
Also, on this forum we only get to hear what each of our doctors have said second hand. IMO all each of us can do is to ask questions of our own doctors and if still worried or concerned that we don't have enough information, then seek new doctors until we feel comfortable in the decisions we make.3
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To be fair, if that is what Eli's surgeon said to her, she has every right to report it. Anyone who doesn't agree can refute it. Experience tells us that the statement isn't true, but that doesn't mean someone didn't say it.
I've medicos say some absolutely shitful things--when I presented at Peter Mac with a tumour growing through my skin, one of the esteemed professors walked in, looked at it over the top of his wanker little glasses, put his hands in the pockets of his white coat, rocked back on his heels and proclaimed "That will be just the tip of the iceberg, it will be everywhere." As it turns out, he was wrong at the time (as far as can be established) but that didn't stop him playing judge, juror and executioner. The look on the breast care nurses' face was priceless, he's lucky we didn't grab a leg each and heave him out the window.
My point is, we get told some very strange things which may upset other people--but imagine what it is like to be on the receiving end of such dodgy science. Mxx
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No need for anyone to get upset - it is not Eli's 'personal opinion' - she was just repeating what she'd been told by a very insensitive surgeon!
I bet she is not referring HIM to any of her friends if THEY get diagnosed!
We are all vulnerable here - and whilst hoping we DON'T get a recurrence, sadly, we need to be prepared for it, on the off chance that we ARE the unlucky ones who do get it. With my 4 close friends who have all had BC within the last 15 years - 3 of them have had cancer recurrences - but not in the breast! So technically that isn't a 'recurrence', I am guessing? It is a 'new cancer'. One was bowel/liver, one was kidney & the other was lung. All 3 have had successful surgeries & are getting on with life, living it to the fullest. My other buddy (and close mentor for my process) is currently 5 years free.
Just take One year at a time ...... tick off the milestones ...... and stay as well as you can be, in the meantime xx2 -
Sending power vibes to everyone on the forum. Everyone deserves them.
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Yah it’s sleeping tablet Thursday 4
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Bloody tried to sleep in as for once I didn’t have any early morning appointments but couldn’t. Made a coffee and gone back to bed. Might treat myself to brekkie and then head back rk bed with my book. Hope u all had a good sleep xoxo
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@Kiwi Angel So sorry you had such a bad night. Mine was ok for a change but woke aching all over (Letrozole). In bed with a book is better than being in bed without a book. xx 1
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@Flaneuse slept ok but I was really hoping for a sleep in. As usual I could of slept in yesterday when I had to go to work. Those letrozole aches are a horror - luckily I don’t get much on the tamoxifen but I still take panadol osteo each night and a fish oil/chondrotin tablet as I already have arthritis in my hips. Love being curled up in bed with a book. Just started “the reality slap” my first self help book. 0
