I like bright colors. I’m not much of a brown girl. I did find a pattern for a knitted cloche hat in one of my knitting books…and Plymouth Yarn has the darlingnest yarns…it’s getting harder and harder to resist placing that order…especially since I finished my nephew’s afghan and I have nothing on my needles right now…
It’s Tuesday, and I have an update. Good news – no cancer.
Interestingly, however, it wasn’t the fibroadenoma the doctor initially thought it was. It turned out to be Ductal Hyperplasia without Atypia, which basically means I have an abnormal collection of normal-appearing cells in the milk ducts in that breast.
Apparently, it does increase my risk of getting breast cancer about 1.5 to 2 times greater than if I didn’t have it. But “risk factors” aren’t necessarily indicators that I’ll ever actually get cancer. I happen to have a ton of other risk factors for breast cancer, including (but not necessarily limited to): immediate family history (my mother), a 2nd degree relative (my paternal aunt) who had breast cancer, having started menstruating before age 12, not ever having had children, and obviously never having breast fed an infant, and probably more I’m unaware of.
Anyway, it’s all good for right now. And I just want to say thank you to you, ivylass, for helping me keep my head through this. I kept thinking that if you could show such strength with your diagnosis, that I could at least be strong during the process.
{{Hugs}}
Oh, Shayna, that’s excellent news. I’m so relieved!
Does the doctor want you to have more frequent mammograms, just to keep an eye on things?
Thanks! Me, too!!
And somewhat surprisingly to me, they said the standard follow-up is a sonogram 1 year from now. I guess we’ll see what they say then. In the meantime, I have a stainless steel pin in the mass in that breast so it’ll always be visible on mammograms and sonograms, so no one will think it’s something new.
I think I was more anxious about this than I let myself be conscious of, because even in spite of the good news, I could sure use a xanax right now! 
Ivylass - Just wanted to let you know that your example has led me to schedule a mammogram. I had been going every six months because they’d found something to keep an eye on. Then I got the all-clear and haven’t gone back for a year and a half. Which is stupid since my mother, aunt and sister have had breast cancer. So next week I go get squished. And it’s all your fault!
StG
Good. Lay the blame all on me. I’d rather they squish and find nothing than don’t squish and something is there…growing, silently and sneakily.
When I had my last surgery (at age 35) I came out of the general crying “I want my Mommy!” and bawling like a little girl.
While she is an absolute saint, and one helluva good woman, I don’t really want my Mommy that badly.
I kinda lost track while I was on vacation. Sorry 'bout that. Hopefully the hair falling out thing won’t happen 'til October or November where it’s likely to be a few degress below boiling and not too hot for a hat. I think a cloche hat would be perfect on you.
and congrats on losing 13 lbs! Being healthy is a good way to start when you’re going through something physically difficult.
Best wishes for continued healing, I’ll be thinking of you.
Me too, in my early 20s. It was weird.
I’m not crafty at all so I can’t help with the hats, but I wish you the best, ivylass.
ivylass,
In general, hair loss is at the 12-16 day mark and you’ll lose all body hair so you won’t be shaving anything for a while! Losing those eyebrows and eyelashes is particularly difficult and there’s really no way to prepare for it as you can with scalp hair, clipping it short or shaving your head.
The ACS has a free ‘Look Good, Feel Better’ class that’s very popular and informative. They provide you with about $150-200 worth of cosmetics, lotions, sunscreen, etc., that’s well worth your time.
Most women I’ve seen that appear bald in public look darn good - they’ve got smooth skin, well-drawn eyebrows, and wear great looking earrings. I’ve known a few others who did resort to wigs or scarves simply because they didn’t realize that they’d had birthmarks or scars or discoloration under all that hair before. A friend told me that her bald head looked like a bald fright wig and her dog wouldn’t stop barking at her!
There are lots of websites that give instructions on scarf tying - here’s a good one:
Scroll to Professional Scarf Wrapping Tips, Anchoring your beautiful scarf to the baldness on top.
There are lots of sites like this one where you’ll get a wealth of info.
I may have recommended this before; sorry if it’s a repeat. There’s a very good breast cancer website with an active message board at breastcancer.org. There are continuing threads such as “For those starting chemo in June,” or “Starting Rads in August,” etc. It’s interesting to become one of a group going through the same thing at the same time, sharing information with one another. There’s a terrific thread that has been going on for a few years, “Help me get my mojo back!” about the decrease in sex drive that some women have along with everything else. Sigh…
Community Knowledge: Discussion Boards
Best of luck to you.
ivylass thoughts and prayers headed down from south Jawja. I’ve been slack in my dope readin’ and just now read the thread. When you feel better you have permission to come up to south Jawja and smack me. 
I got a call from ACS yesterday. I did ask about the LGFB class, since I realized I won’t know how to do my makeup! I normally put foundation on my face up to the hairline…but I won’t have a hairline anymore! So she’s going to send me info and there’s a support group in town and I’m going to that next week.
I was also wondering how to do the scarf…thanks for the link. That will be very helpful. I think the women’s center associated with my hospital has wigs and scarves and such…I’ll check in with them.
ivylass - My sister’s insurance paid for a very nice wig. They called it a “cranial prosthesis”. She got lots of compliments on her “hair” by people who didn’t know she was undergoing cancer treatment.
StG
Big hugs, lots of luck and horsey smooches from all of us at The Farm here in WV!
I’ll start a new thread tomorrow…that’s when the surgeon tells me he got clear margins.
Which he will say. Of course he will.
For some reason, this death is hitting me a bit hard. She died right before her birthday of endometrial cancer. She was diagnosed a year ago, and I caught Mike Gallagher on the radio talking about how the chemo had just knocked her on her ass, until the doctor said, “Well, duh, it would, we’re giving her the super duper chemo drugs.”
I think I’m going to be fine, the fact that it’s not in my lymph nodes is very good news, but she was so young and I used to listen to her husband on the radio until the station changed formats. I can only imagine what her family is going through.
ivylass, I can’t begin to imagine your fear and anxiety right now. But if I recall correctly, what you described of your case would classify you as having “Stage 1” breast cancer (the mass is 2 centimeters or less, is confined to the breast, and lymph nodes are clear), the survival rate for which is 98%!
They don’t say what stage her cancer was when it was discovered, but even just Stage 2 endometrial cancer only has a 50% survival rate to 5 years, and Stage 4 only has a 5% survival rate. If they were giving her the “super duper chemo drugs,” my guess is she was at least at Stage 2, and probably more advanced than that.
Your cancer and her cancer are not the same. Your body and her body are not the same.
You’re going to be fine. Your doctors are taking VERY good care of you. You will be fine.
::deep breath::
{{warm hugs}}
Oh, I forgot to tell you…the tumor was actually 3.5 cm when they took it out. So, it either grew, or they didn’t get a good measurement of the tumor from the MRI.
Deep breath…I will remain calm…I haven’t been to Hawaii yet! Or Rome!
But since it hasn’t spread to the lymph nodes, it would only be considered Stage IIA, and still has a 5 year survival rate of 92% – that’s HUGE. WAY better than the maximum 50% survival rate that woman likely had with her different form of cancer than yours.
And guess what – 5 years from now, we’ll be posting to remind you that you 100% survived!
You have done all the right things. You’re doing all the right things. You have great doctors and are receiving top-notch care.
You’re going to be just fine.
You really, really are.
Thanks, Shayna. Ivylad will tell me I’m looking for things to worry about, although before my first surgery he was crying in his sleep, and when I asked him about it he shrugged it off.
AFTER my surgery he told me that he’d dreamt the doctor had come out and told them I’d died on the operating table. :eek:
And when the doctor said my lymph nodes were clear, he was very visibly relieved.
Deep breath…deep breath…not all cancers are the same…
Well, you do have something legitimately worrying you – you’re surviving a relatively small cancer lump they just took out of your breast. And he’s rightfully worried, too. He’s scared of losing you because he loves you so much.
I’ve had a hellish year of tragic, ghoulish deaths in my family; my step-brother fell 1,000 feet down a sheer cliff wall to his death, right in front of his wife and kids, and my 6 year old cousin and her father were ripped from their car and flung out onto the freeway at 85MPH when they were hit head on by a woman who’d crossed the median, also right in front of my cousin who was in the passenger’s seat. In between those two tragic deaths, my husband was slammed into on his motorcycle while sitting stopped at a red light. He went airborne and his bike went out into the middle of the intersection.
I don’t think I have to describe the nightmares I had for months about losing my husband in the midst of my sister-in-law and cousin both losing theirs.
But my husband is still alive. And you’re still alive. Other people die all the time. It’s not an indicator that we or our loved ones are going to die. Denise Gallagher dying doesn’t mean you’re going to die. Different cancers, different people, different circumstances.
You’re going to be fine. Deep breaths are good. Maybe take a walk and get some fresh air.