Forum Discussion

positive3negati's avatar
positive3negati
Member
12 years ago

Hi there

Hi everyone,

I'm 51 and was diagnosed with TNBC following my first routine BreastScreen scan on the 19th of June 2013. 

I have four lesions, all located in my left breast.

At first they weren't sure if this was my primary cancer due to my pathology so I had an MRI, bone scan and CT scan in the first week after I saw the surgeon. Meanwhile she was chasing up pathology results; they put the wrong breast on the pathology report, didn't include the HER-2 status although they reported it at suspected TNBC and didn't include a grading or K67 result.

They've since confirmed the HER-2 was negative, decided it was grade 2 and K67 about 10% (although my doc cautions the possiblitiy of test error) and refused to issue a report saying it's my left breast, citing medical reasons (!).

After discussion with my surgeon I've decided to have chemo before surgery. This makes sense to me. They can monitor the cancer to see how it responds and the chemo will be treating any other cancer cells that are floating around inside me trying to make nasty little tumours. 

I've had my first cycle of FEC with the wonderful staff at the Mater Hospital. My first week was hard work but I've felt really well and healthy all through my second week.

I'm doing yoga, drinking lots of water, eating well and staying active while still paying attention to fatigue and resting when I need to. 

So far so good.

8 Replies

  • positive3negati's avatar
    positive3negati
    Member
    12 years ago

    That's a great one. My latest one is that it's my daughter's 21st birthday in September. She tells me that all she wants is for me to be free of cancer. I do so love to give her what she wants for her birthday :D I'm now singing a version of 'happy birthday' that ends with 'no more cancer for me'.

  • Janey235's avatar
    Janey235
    Member
    12 years ago
    Well you've given me some good ideas to help stay positive. I'll start thinking of what I'm doing and imagine ways to beat this cancer. Like now I'm jabbing at this keys so I'll imagine I'm pounding at the cells and 'deleting' them. Thanks heaps x
  • positive3negati's avatar
    positive3negati
    Member
    12 years ago

    Thanks for your reply. I completely agree with you about your work. I'm fortunate enough to be retired (medically retired from the police force) so work isn't an issue for me.

    I think you're very wise to put your efforts into getting well and staying positive. I had a bit of an epiphany about positive thinking very early in my journey. I recently described it to a friend as 'the most important thing I do all day'. 

    When I'm under the shower I imagine the water washing the cancer away. Before I go to sleep I imagine that sleep will boost my immune system and help the healthy cells replace the cancer. When I'm weeding the garden I imagine I'm pulling the cancer cells out of my body. There's not many situations where I can't come up with something positive to help my body fight those tumours.

    I believe it will help me get well. At the very least, it keeps me happy and a lot more fun to be around than if I sit in a corner feeling sorry for myself :D

     

  • Janey235's avatar
    Janey235
    Member
    12 years ago
    Sounds like you're very organised. I too put all my info in a big loose leaf folder and carry a separate note book for appointments. There's so much information you need to have and I need to be organised or I'd go mental. I must admit I'm like this at work. Speaking of work, I found out pretty quickly that I wouldn't be able to work through all this. I needed to concentrate on getting well and keeping a positive attitude. Work certainly isn't really very positive at the moment and quite stressful. I don't need this in my life right now and hope it settles down while I'm gone for the year. I work at a uni in admin and with all the cuts going on, all the staff are overworked and stressed. So now I've had my vent. You'll find this network great for venting. It's wonderful all the support from our fellow pink ladies that you receive. So welcome to our group, a group nobody wants to be a member of, but its a great group all the same. Good luck with everything. Janey xxx
  • Michelle_R's avatar
    Michelle_R
    Member
    12 years ago

    I think she is the kind of doctor we all want - encouragement and hope and a positive outlook are so important, and my oncologist also feels positivity and visualisation play a part.  I loved the part about the tumours diminishing. It certainly doesn't do any harm, and I am all for it.

    Your binder for notes made me smile - mine is the largest size now - and everything is accessible.  It really helps to be organised. Good for you.

    Michelle x

  • positive3negati's avatar
    positive3negati
    Member
    12 years ago

    I really loved this TED talk on the placebo effect. I think it's important to remind ourselves that we all have bad days and we're not killing ourselves with negative thinking, but it's also really important to do everything we can to get out thinking on board when it comes to recovering from cancer. What do you think?

    Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves? Lissa Rankin, MD at TEDxAmericanRiviera 2012 www.youtube.comAbout Lissa Rankin, MD: New age gurus suggest that we can heal ourselves by simply changing our minds, but is this concept grounded in cold, hard science? Li...

  • positive3negati's avatar
    positive3negati
    Member
    12 years ago

    Thanks Michelle,

    I'm looking forward to a pathology report that says the chemo has completely melted the cancer and all they have is old tissue. That's my best possible outcome. Two weeks after my first FEC and I can already notice the impact on my cancer. The hard, golf ball sized lump that contained the four tumours is already softening. 

    I've found it really useful to use a ring binder with lots of plastic sleeves and dividers. I've got one for all my test results, one for chemo, one for surgery and one for support services as well as a section for interesting articles I find. I can just drop stuff into the sleeves. I'm adding lined pages and handwriting my own notes when I think that will be useful. I've also got a separate folder that I take to appointments and I always keep my dates, any questions I want to ask and anything I need to give the doctor in that folder. It's handy because I can record questions as I think of them.

    I found the pack from the NBCA wonderful and full of all kinds of useful informaiton, but the journal isn't large enough for me. I'm better of with loose leaf so I can add pages as I need them.

    I'm looking forward to being part of this group. I've already picked up a lot of useful information just reading through other people's posts.