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norkdo · 12-26-2013, 01:19 AM

lizbeth, linn, and roz123 thank you so much for this incredible info. it rocked my world of understanding about treatment of this disease. made me a bit pissed that if my cancer had only waited a bit longer to develop in the first place (soooooo inconsiderate of my cancer!!!) maybe i too would have lucked into this obviously smarter way to treat it. dang. well hell, on second thot, it did (my cancer) have the consideration to wait until herceptin was available so what am i complaining about.
Reason I took so long to reply is that I am still a bit unable to understand what you wrote roz but very interested to know more. lizbeth i cant put in words how appreciative i am of all you have taught me all over these boards and i feel a huge debt of gratitude you have such an excellent mind...and that you are as sweet and cute as it gets too!
Linn: I am in love with your oncologist! Amazing. You are in awesome hands there. Yes, I totally get it now. Kill the progression first. Period. Roz said within a week of biopsy one can start to halt progression. Instead, I waited several weeks for staging. Waited six weeks til mastectomy. Waited six more weeks til chemo (and wound opened, oozing pus anyway) etc. Yeah. A lot of time for the five positive lymph nodes to send cancer to my lungs, bones, liver and brain.
I cannot complain. We have herceptin. We have the best of doctors. Full treatment. Full everything. And here in this country: totally free of charge!!!! With no premiums ever having been paid! And not having to cook blue meth and team up with Aaron Paul to sell it to pay for any of it! (nothing bad meant by this. honest) Just damn grateful is all.
A wise woman (Maya Angelou) once said we do what we do til we know better and then we do that.

12-26-2013, 01:19 AM	#11
norkdo Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: ottawa canada Posts: 367	Re: Two tests...Scan Anxiety just a little. lizbeth, linn, and roz123 thank you so much for this incredible info. it rocked my world of understanding about treatment of this disease. made me a bit pissed that if my cancer had only waited a bit longer to develop in the first place (soooooo inconsiderate of my cancer!!!) maybe i too would have lucked into this obviously smarter way to treat it. dang. well hell, on second thot, it did (my cancer) have the consideration to wait until herceptin was available so what am i complaining about. Reason I took so long to reply is that I am still a bit unable to understand what you wrote roz but very interested to know more. lizbeth i cant put in words how appreciative i am of all you have taught me all over these boards and i feel a huge debt of gratitude you have such an excellent mind...and that you are as sweet and cute as it gets too! Linn: I am in love with your oncologist! Amazing. You are in awesome hands there. Yes, I totally get it now. Kill the progression first. Period. Roz said within a week of biopsy one can start to halt progression. Instead, I waited several weeks for staging. Waited six weeks til mastectomy. Waited six more weeks til chemo (and wound opened, oozing pus anyway) etc. Yeah. A lot of time for the five positive lymph nodes to send cancer to my lungs, bones, liver and brain. I cannot complain. We have herceptin. We have the best of doctors. Full treatment. Full everything. And here in this country: totally free of charge!!!! With no premiums ever having been paid! And not having to cook blue meth and team up with Aaron Paul to sell it to pay for any of it! (nothing bad meant by this. honest) Just damn grateful is all. A wise woman (Maya Angelou) once said we do what we do til we know better and then we do that. __________________ fall 2008: mammo of rt breast worrisome so am asked to redo mammo and have ultrasound of rt breast.I delay it til january 2009 and the results are "no cancer in rt breast. phew." found plum sized lump in right breast the day before my dad died: April 17th 2011. saw it in mirror, while i was wearing a top, examining my figure after losing 10 lbs on dr. bernstein diet. diagnosed may 10 2011 mast/lymphectomy: june 7 2011, 5/20 cancerous nodes. stage 3a before radiation oncologist during our first mtg on july 15th says he found cancer on the lymph node of my breast bone. Now stage 3b. her2+++, EN-, PN-. Rt brst tumors:3 at onset, 4.5 cm was the big one chemos: 3fec's followed by 3 taxotere, total of 18 wks chemo. sept: halfway thru chemo the mastectomy scar decides to open and ooze pus. (not healed before chemo) eventually with canasten powder sent by friend in ny (illegal in canada) it heals. radiations:although scheduled to begin 25 january 2012, I am so terrified by it (rads cause other cancers) I don't start til february, miss a bunch, reschedule them all and finally finish 35 rads mid april. reason for 7 extra atop the 28 scheduled is that when i first met my rads oncologist he said he saw a tumor on the lymph node of my breastbone. extra 7 are special kind of beam used for that lymphnode. rads onc tells me nobody ever took so long to do rads so he cannot speak for effectiveness. trials had been done only on consecutive days so......we'll see..... 10 mos of herceptin started 6 wks into chemo. canadian onc says 10 mos is just as effective as the full yr recommended by dr. slamon......so we'll see..completed july 2012. Sept 18 2012: reconstruction and 3 drains. fails. i wear antibiotic pouch on my job for two months and have 60 consecutive days visiting a nursing centre where they apply burn victims' silver paper and clean the oozing infection daily. silicone leaks out daily. plastic surgeon in caribbean. emergency dept wont remove "his" work. He finally appears and orders me in into an emergency removal of implant. I make him promise no drains and I get my way. No infection as a result. Chest looks like a map of Brazil. Had a perfectly good left breast on Sept 17th but surgeon wanted to "save another woman an operation" ? so he had crashed two operations together on my left breast, foregoing the intermediary operation where you install an expander. the first surgeon a year earlier had flat out refused to waste five hours on his feet taking both boobs. flat out refusal. between the canadian health system saving money and both these asses, I got screwed. who knows when i can next get enough time off work (i work for myself and have no substitute when my husband is on contract) to get boobs again. arrrgh. I have a blog where I document this trip and vent. www.nora'scancerblog.blogspot.com . I stopped the blog before radiation. I think the steroids made me more angry and depressed and i just hated reading it anymore Last edited by norkdo; 12-26-2013 at 01:25 AM.. Reason: forgot to add sumfin.