Just wondering

[dixie46]

I am happy I have passed the five year mark on er/prpos non her breast cancer and will be passing the five year mark on another breast tumor that was diagonosed five months later er/pr neg and herpos.

Anyway since about six months ago so far I have no cartlidge in both knees, both with severe arthiritis, same with left hip, the acending thoracic aorta is dilated small but borderline for anurysm. Also an mri shows extreme osteo in lumbar area and bulging disc and bone spurs.

The just wondering is I am assuming most all of this is probably caused by age (66) and having been overweight most of my life.

I had five treatments of tch and on th herceptin for a year. I was just wondering if anyone being similar to me had any of these problems I am having.

I am doing my best to lose some weight and have an appointment with a nerosugeon to give me some answers on the back

The ortho doc refused to do any replacement because of my weight around 200 lbs.

Anyway mobility is terrible. I can only do maybe a couple of things like grocery shopping or maybe lunch in the same day and hurt most of the night. All pain meds they have or will give me make me ill for hours. I have tried tramadol and vicadin and just cannot tolerate either. I cannot put on socks for shoes and for right now life sucks.

Just trying to figure out if any of this may have come from treatment not that that will change a thing but it just seemed like a lot to happen pretty close together.

I have read off and on here since I was diagonosed and you all are the best. Your advise back them really helped me both thru surgury and treatment and thank you.

[Gerri]

Hi Dixie,

Congratulations on passing your 5 year mark. Sounds like you have a lot going on affecting your QOL. Unfortunately, it seems as if it will take some time to resolve everything and in the meantime you need to find ways to get through the day without so much pain. I too do not do well with pain meds and have yet to find one that works for me without making me feel horrible. Maybe the various specialists could communicate with each other and come up with a solution for you.

I am not qualified to give you any advice, but thought I would share my experience with you. I was a bit overweight prior to my dx and gained an additional 30lbs with treatment. After I was done with everything I decided to join Weight Watchers and with a lot of hard work dropped 65lbs. Even with the weight loss, my knees were causing me more and more pain, making it difficult to walk. Turns out I was 'bone on bone' in both knees with significant arthritis. Fortunately, I was ahead of the game with my weight loss so I was able to have knee replacement surgery done without too much delay. I had my right knee replaced in April of 2011, and my left knee six months later. I am thrilled to report that my knees feel great and the pain is completely gone. These were not easy surgeries and the recovery time was longer than I anticipated it would be. Physical therapy is grueling, but I truly believe I would not have recovered as nicely as I have without it. I am thrilled with the results, and for me, it was definitely worth it. I also had a shoulder issue (prior to my knee surgeries) that was resolved with PT. I doubt that my issues were caused by my bc treatment because my knees had been giving me problems for years prior to my dx.

I wish you luck in finding a solution for all the pain you are in. Hopefully, one (or all) of your specialists will find pain meds that work for you. You may even want to inquire about PT and/or acupuncture to see if you can get some relief without drugs since you have such an adverse reaction to pain meds. Keep working on the weight loss, it will help you in more ways than you can imagine.

Take good care,

[dixie46]

Thanks for sharing your experience Gerri. I do realize that getting the weight off will open up many options for me that I don't have now.

I doubted any of my mobility issues had anything to do with the treatment and would not have made any difference anyway.

Happy to hear your knee replacements went so well and you are pain free.

Since you managed to get off the weight with walking issues I need to stop making excuses as to why my weight is still on and get to work.

[Jackie07]

dixie46,

With all the knee/cartlidge and vertebrae and dilated thoracic aorta you have mentioned, you probably want to have a consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program.

For weight loss, one sure winner is to go on a vegetarian diet. My Mother did that in her mid sixties and lost more than 20 lbs within a couple of years. She did it for religious/traditional reason and did not exclude milk/ eggs. She resumed regular diet after getting diagnosed for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma at 75. She had surgery, chemo, and radiation and will be celebrating her 90th birthday in early fall.

I've seen a PBS tape about exercising while sitting in a chair. There's also a Chinese exercise that involves more with the arm swinging. I'll add the links when I locate them. The PBS program (Sit and be fit): http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=Av01ZQn9PO8Srw94zapCR7abvZx4?p=PBS+sen iors+chair+exercise&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701

The Chinese Qi-gong exercise (Ping Shuai Gong) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LxMsOhCNwA (with multi-language subtitle)

Sending you good vibes.

[dchips1]

also water therapy/exercise to help gain the mobility, check with your Dr and see what Medical options are in your realm to help you.

Prayers Darita