[Becky]

Dear Maria


As soon as I read your message, I thought the same thing as Penelope - the gallbladder. Especially since you have the most trouble at dinner (the largest meal for most of us and usually the fattest (not that the meal, in itself is fatty but... I think you get my point)). Try to track what you eat versus the pain - is it every dinner? If you track it, you might find you can't eat chicken anymore or maybe wheat. Things change and the treatments (and Herceptin that helps the immune system work better) can change a food allergy you didn't even know you had to a full blown one. Milk -- lactose intolerance?

As an aside - my ribs bother me too. I think it could be plain ole bone pain from the Arimidex (as I got scanned because of it last year). Ribs are bones too and everybody forgets they can ache just like any other bone.

Track your diet though. Write everything down and write down how you feel later. See if there are correlations. You should also make sure its not your gallbladder.

Its unfortunate that we have to go through the aches and pains of "graceful" aging or normal chronic illnesses (I have sinus infections and bladder issues) and then have to worry that a possible gallbladder attack or "wheat" allergy is our cancer. I always have to remember that we get the regular stuff just like everybody else.

Big hug to you Maria.