 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / January 2004I just need some reassurance...
Hi, My mom was diagnosed last year with BC and has undergone treatment for it over the past year. I have been looking at this group frequently over the past few weeks, and I feel amazed at all the knowledge that everyone seems to have about their own condition, various treatment options etc. My mom was treated in India, as I mentioned in a post sometime earlier; and all that I know about her condition is that she had bilateral BC, stage 3a and stage 2; er pr -ve, with 1 auxilliary lymph node involvement. She underwent complete mastectomy on both sides followed by radiation and 5 turns of chemo. I dont know even know what drugs she took. I do have faith in her oncologist, he is a personal friend and a very good doctor in India; but sometimes, I cant help but wondering if we have lost out on something by not knowing as much about her treatment as we perhaps should have. Most people I have spoken to have been in earlier stages of the disease, or have had different conditions (not bilateral, or er +); and it would be reassuring for me to know of someone who has been in a similar condition as my mom and has been a survivor. I dont even know how good or bad my moms condition is; and doctors being doctors never say anything. All I know is, I cant let her go anytime soon. I wake up and pray pray pray that nothing should happen to her again. Im sorry, I guess Im blabbering, but I just want someone who has gone through something similar to tell me that its going to be ok, and that there are happy endings. Please forgive me if I freaked out someone else too :( May God bless everyone. Jayu > I just want someone who has gone through something > similar to tell me that its going to be ok, and that there are happy > endings. Treatments have gotten much better in recent years, so chances are pretty good. (None of us have guarantees, BC or no!) In my local support group, there are women who've survived node-positive BC for a decade or more. A member of my rowing team was technically stage 4, which is usually considered terminal, when diagnosed at age 39. Five years later, she's still here and NED. Another friend had locally advanced BC, tumor over 7cm with positive nodes, and is well past her 5-year anniversary of being diagnosed and also NED. Personally, I don't have that many years in, but was diagnosed over 3 years ago with cancer in both breasts, 5 tumors in one & one in the other, had mastectomies, chemo, and radiation, and am NED at this point. So . . . hang on, there's definitely hope that things will turn out well for your mother. And we're all rooting for her, which can't hurt, eh? I'm sorry for your worries; I do understand! Ann T. Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email >Five years later, she's still here and NED. Ann, would you please tell me what NED stands for?? Is it some bc survivor talk abbreviation? Thanks! Bea > >Five years later, she's still here and NED. > > Ann, would you please tell me what NED stands for?? Is it some bc > survivor talk abbreviation? Thanks! > > Bea NED is not, despite appearances, Ann's brother, but an acronym for No Evidence of Disease. See also our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions, before you ask what that means) at www.cancersuporters.com. Follow the link "Terminology and Abbreviations used in cancer" Tim >See also our FAQ (Frequently Asked > Questions, before you ask what that means) "> at www.cancersuporters.com. >Follow the link "Terminology and > Abbreviations used in cancer" >Tim Thanks for the explanation of NED, Tim. BTW (that means "by the way" before you ask ) I can't link to the url you posted. You have an error in it, don't you? Shouldn't it be: www.cancersupporters.com I will post this and then come back and see if I can link to the url from my post. Bea > >See also our FAQ (Frequently Asked > > Questions, before you ask what that means) [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Bea Sorry, finger trouble. That one slipped through. Tim Bea, NED is No Evidence of Disease, something we would all like to hear. Unfortunately, I'm soon to start chemo again for lung mets (darn, darn, darn...) so now I'm researching and re-reading support groups because I have one of those oncs. who gives me about 1 min. of his time, discussess nothing, no conversation, and says "I will tell you what you're going to do." Well, no so fast, doc. I have a right to decide things myself -- especially in light of his attitude of no discussion, no nothing. He's 72 and is well respected clinically, but times and patients have changed. If he retired soon I'd welcome another onc. but I have seen no indication that he is the retiring type. I know I could change docs. but (I guess) he's good and I have a blood disorder that he's also treating me for. In fact, that had taken precedence over the mets and my CBC from last week showed outrageous counts of my WBC and platelets. Platelets were 900 in a normal range of 130-400. Very thick, "sticky" blood. Not good! So today I started a mild chemo in pill form for that. Phlebotomies failed to normalize my counts and my vein has gone "flat". I'm having a hard time growing older because until age 60/61 I was fine and had never been on medication. (I'm now 64.) The last 6 months I've been hit with a lot of bad health news. Having trouble with my eyes too, but hoping that taking the med. to get the blood volume down may improve vision problems somewhat. This turned out to be a long rant when all I was going to respond to was the NED query. Whew! That helped. Kathie >This turned out to be a long rant when all I > was going to respond to was the NED query. > Whew! That helped. >Kathie I found your "rant" very interesting Kathie. You and I seem to have a lot in common. My onc is at "least" in his 70's and very kind but does not seem to be inclined to explain anything to me about my bc. In fact, as I posted in an earlier post, he got quite irritated with me for not accepting his statement that I was now "cured" of this cancer now that I have had surgery, finished my 4 Chemos, and my 35 radiation treatments. I start my Tamoxifen this week if it gets here from my Mail Pharmacy and he was very reluctant to even consider the fact that I might have side effects from it. What I learned about Tamoxifen was from the thoughtful help of the people in this group. I truly thank them. I spend a lot of time reading this group's posts to try to understand more about this disease and how to cope with it. Like yourself, I feel we are the ones who have to suffer the side effects of any treatments so we should have the final decision in what treatments we will accept. I spend a lot of time typing stuff about myself and giving it to this doctor for my file. This way he can't say he was unaware of another medical condition I have when he is deciding on my treatment or what drugs to give me. I do hope things will work out for you. Bea |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.