[Lani]

Steph thanks for the post of your personal experience.

Your descriptions should help others be realistic rather than imagining the worst

in trying to find the description of the screw/screw placement I googled
several patient's perceptions of what they had been through and they were quite "imaginative" it seemed. ie, that the screw went through the skull rather than into it.

In any case, there is no substitution for personal experience..Steph you have been there and done that and sharing your experience in a way others can quickly access it on this site is priceless.

Perhaps a thread should be started regarding: please describe your personal perceptions and experiences of the following procedures:

first dose of herceptin
first few doses of anthracycline
first few doses of taxane
first few doses of bisphosphonate
first few doses of navelbine
first few doss of vinorelbine, and other drugs commonly given
radiation therapy whole breast...describe how felt initially, two weeks into it, fourweeks into it, at the end, one month later

APBI upon iniiation, during it , at the end of it and one month later

SRS brain mets ditto

WBR brain mets ditto

embolization/spheres for liver mets

SRS of mets other than brain (Esther had liver I think)

lumbar puncture

IT herceptin

Then those facing these procedures could have instant information

Those with nursing backgrounds, eg Alaka Angel etc could state that --their descriptions might be less "imaginative" as they may have more background
knowledge about the whats and where fors

Fear of the unknown and loss of control seem to be the common theme
and posting a webpage with a medical description of the procedure, what to look out for, why and how it is done (usually on nih, nci website) would be well supplemented by personal experiences


Many of you have beem thrpigh so much

Making it easy for those who anxious about what is upcoming sould be leaving a valuable legacy


Thanks again, Steph

oops I forgot to list bone marrow aspiration