Guest guest Posted February 10, 2003 Report Share Posted February 10, 2003 Hey dawn and welcome to the group and keep us posted on your progress Another Newbie > Hi Everyone- > > Since everyone else has been introducing themselves, I thought that I would > too. My name is Dawn and I am 39 yrs old (will be 40 in June), married and I > have 2 girls (ages 10 & 13). My husband has been unemployed since June 2002 > and I have been working 50+ hours at work to make ends meet. My BMI is 41 > and I have high blood pressure, GERD, hiatial hernia, heel spur and > depression. I have been reading posts for about 4 months and enjoy reading > them. I have also gained a lot of info. I have received packets to fill out > from the surgeon and the pulmonmoligist. I have an appt on March 4th to meet > with the nurse practiitioner, dietician and surgeon and an appt with the pulm > dr on March 11th. I'm hoping to have my psychiatrist write a letter stating > that I can handle the emotional aspects of surgery. I have been through a > lot emotional problems the past 2 yrs (done things I later regreted) and I > hope and PRAY that the psych will agree to the surgery. Like other newbies, > I have questions and I will probably be asking lots of them after I see the > surgeon. I'd like to have the surgery by the summer since I will be the BIG > 40. My husband isn't too thrilled with the surgery and I haven't said > anything to the kids yet. I thought that I would wait to see if I get > approved before tell the girls. I know that this is the begining of a long > journey. > > > Dawn P from IL > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 10, 2003 Report Share Posted February 10, 2003 Hey dawn and welcome to the group and keep us posted on your progress Another Newbie > Hi Everyone- > > Since everyone else has been introducing themselves, I thought that I would > too. My name is Dawn and I am 39 yrs old (will be 40 in June), married and I > have 2 girls (ages 10 & 13). My husband has been unemployed since June 2002 > and I have been working 50+ hours at work to make ends meet. My BMI is 41 > and I have high blood pressure, GERD, hiatial hernia, heel spur and > depression. I have been reading posts for about 4 months and enjoy reading > them. I have also gained a lot of info. I have received packets to fill out > from the surgeon and the pulmonmoligist. I have an appt on March 4th to meet > with the nurse practiitioner, dietician and surgeon and an appt with the pulm > dr on March 11th. I'm hoping to have my psychiatrist write a letter stating > that I can handle the emotional aspects of surgery. I have been through a > lot emotional problems the past 2 yrs (done things I later regreted) and I > hope and PRAY that the psych will agree to the surgery. Like other newbies, > I have questions and I will probably be asking lots of them after I see the > surgeon. I'd like to have the surgery by the summer since I will be the BIG > 40. My husband isn't too thrilled with the surgery and I haven't said > anything to the kids yet. I thought that I would wait to see if I get > approved before tell the girls. I know that this is the begining of a long > journey. > > > Dawn P from IL > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 10, 2003 Report Share Posted February 10, 2003 Hey dawn and welcome to the group and keep us posted on your progress Another Newbie > Hi Everyone- > > Since everyone else has been introducing themselves, I thought that I would > too. My name is Dawn and I am 39 yrs old (will be 40 in June), married and I > have 2 girls (ages 10 & 13). My husband has been unemployed since June 2002 > and I have been working 50+ hours at work to make ends meet. My BMI is 41 > and I have high blood pressure, GERD, hiatial hernia, heel spur and > depression. I have been reading posts for about 4 months and enjoy reading > them. I have also gained a lot of info. I have received packets to fill out > from the surgeon and the pulmonmoligist. I have an appt on March 4th to meet > with the nurse practiitioner, dietician and surgeon and an appt with the pulm > dr on March 11th. I'm hoping to have my psychiatrist write a letter stating > that I can handle the emotional aspects of surgery. I have been through a > lot emotional problems the past 2 yrs (done things I later regreted) and I > hope and PRAY that the psych will agree to the surgery. Like other newbies, > I have questions and I will probably be asking lots of them after I see the > surgeon. I'd like to have the surgery by the summer since I will be the BIG > 40. My husband isn't too thrilled with the surgery and I haven't said > anything to the kids yet. I thought that I would wait to see if I get > approved before tell the girls. I know that this is the begining of a long > journey. > > > Dawn P from IL > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. Shari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Shari, Don't worry, ugh, that's so easy to say but not easy to hear. I don't know about any herbs to counter act the blues. I am taking tamoxifen and I find all these meds mess with my moods. I get very bad hot flashes and loose sleep over them. My doctor put me on Lunesta to help me sleep at night but if you have small children at home you want to be careful of taking sleep meds. A lot of women take antidepressants. I have tried several and have not found one that I like so I just decided to not take anything else. The antidepressants either made me feel irritable, like I have taken a bunch of diet pills or something; or else they made me feel very tired. When you have kids to deal with the last thing you need is meds that make you feel worse. I still have two teenagers at home. One is learning to drive now and the other is 14 and they are both very involved with school activities. I feel as though I live in my car sometimes. My husband works very long hours and is out of town a lot. We have no family here in Bakersfield so that makes it very hard. I have made some really close friends here and they have saved me sometimes. All my doctors are in LA and that is a 6 to 8 hour round trip for me and some days its even longer if the traffic has problems. Just remember as time goes on things do become more manageable. I swear though if I didn't have young kids at home I would not take any meds. But they still need their mommy so to make the odds better for myself I think I will keep taking them for now. Hang in there. tt Shari wrote: Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. Shari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Shari, Don't worry, ugh, that's so easy to say but not easy to hear. I don't know about any herbs to counter act the blues. I am taking tamoxifen and I find all these meds mess with my moods. I get very bad hot flashes and loose sleep over them. My doctor put me on Lunesta to help me sleep at night but if you have small children at home you want to be careful of taking sleep meds. A lot of women take antidepressants. I have tried several and have not found one that I like so I just decided to not take anything else. The antidepressants either made me feel irritable, like I have taken a bunch of diet pills or something; or else they made me feel very tired. When you have kids to deal with the last thing you need is meds that make you feel worse. I still have two teenagers at home. One is learning to drive now and the other is 14 and they are both very involved with school activities. I feel as though I live in my car sometimes. My husband works very long hours and is out of town a lot. We have no family here in Bakersfield so that makes it very hard. I have made some really close friends here and they have saved me sometimes. All my doctors are in LA and that is a 6 to 8 hour round trip for me and some days its even longer if the traffic has problems. Just remember as time goes on things do become more manageable. I swear though if I didn't have young kids at home I would not take any meds. But they still need their mommy so to make the odds better for myself I think I will keep taking them for now. Hang in there. tt Shari wrote: Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. Shari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Shari, Don't worry, ugh, that's so easy to say but not easy to hear. I don't know about any herbs to counter act the blues. I am taking tamoxifen and I find all these meds mess with my moods. I get very bad hot flashes and loose sleep over them. My doctor put me on Lunesta to help me sleep at night but if you have small children at home you want to be careful of taking sleep meds. A lot of women take antidepressants. I have tried several and have not found one that I like so I just decided to not take anything else. The antidepressants either made me feel irritable, like I have taken a bunch of diet pills or something; or else they made me feel very tired. When you have kids to deal with the last thing you need is meds that make you feel worse. I still have two teenagers at home. One is learning to drive now and the other is 14 and they are both very involved with school activities. I feel as though I live in my car sometimes. My husband works very long hours and is out of town a lot. We have no family here in Bakersfield so that makes it very hard. I have made some really close friends here and they have saved me sometimes. All my doctors are in LA and that is a 6 to 8 hour round trip for me and some days its even longer if the traffic has problems. Just remember as time goes on things do become more manageable. I swear though if I didn't have young kids at home I would not take any meds. But they still need their mommy so to make the odds better for myself I think I will keep taking them for now. Hang in there. tt Shari wrote: Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. Shari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 You are never alone we are all going through this together wither we are supporting our loved ones or dealing with it on an everyday basis I will keep you in my prayers .Everyday is a struggle but I hope this group can keep u motiavted, and strong & hearts Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing > my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband > just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New > insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I > said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr > (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in > immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not > cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. > He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for > a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear > margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was > told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think > and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I > needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband > was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged > kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my > oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no > evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen > since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known > side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I > was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to > 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did > the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few > percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to > do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a > day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. > I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted > to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked > vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found > NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything > herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. > My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be > coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of > course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. > Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. > Shari > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 You are never alone we are all going through this together wither we are supporting our loved ones or dealing with it on an everyday basis I will keep you in my prayers .Everyday is a struggle but I hope this group can keep u motiavted, and strong & hearts Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing > my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband > just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New > insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I > said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr > (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in > immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not > cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. > He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for > a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear > margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was > told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think > and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I > needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband > was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged > kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my > oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no > evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen > since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known > side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I > was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to > 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did > the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few > percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to > do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a > day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. > I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted > to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked > vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found > NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything > herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. > My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be > coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of > course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. > Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. > Shari > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 You are never alone we are all going through this together wither we are supporting our loved ones or dealing with it on an everyday basis I will keep you in my prayers .Everyday is a struggle but I hope this group can keep u motiavted, and strong & hearts Another newbie to this site. Doing a self exam 5 weeks after seeing > my gynecologist for my annual exam I found my lump. With my husband > just starting a new job 1500 miles away, I was a wreck. New > insurance cards still hadnt come in yet. I waited a week until I > said anything - to anyone. Finally I broke down and called my Dr > (whom I had seen not too many weeks earlier) They had me come in > immediately. Dr told me not to worry cause 80% of lumps were not > cancer. Boy was he shocked when he got the results of my biopsy. > He called me at home early in the morning to apologize. I opted for > a lumpectomy (6/9/06) and was fortunate that there was clear > margins. 4 Lymph nodes were removed and proved to be clean. I was > told I should do Chemo and radiation. I wanted some time to think > and research all of this, besides, if I was going to do chemo I > needed to wait until my kids went back to school - cause my husband > was not here and i was going it alone with 2 elementary school aged > kids. I took some time and did lots of research and saw my > oncologist several times. I had a PET & CT scan which showed no > evidence of it haveing gone anywhere else. I have been on Tamoxifen > since 6/16 and have only had 1 hot flush. That's it for the known > side effects. I finally decided not to do the Chemo. From what I > was told being on tamoxifen brought doen my chance for recurrence to > 15-20 % from 30-40 if not doing the Tamox. Then I asked if I did > the chemo what the % was and she said about 12%. Because of the few > percentage points is why I chose not to do the chemo. I did opt to > do radiation and now have 8 to go of 33. Every day, several times a > day, I think about my decision and I hope that I made the right one. > I find the Tamoxifen makes me blue, sad a lot of the time. I wanted > to start taking St s Wort - have done in the past which worked > vgreat - so I researched its interactions with the Tamox and found > NOT to take the St s Wort - SO does anyone know of anything > herbal I can take as a mood enhancer. > My husband is still so far away - 6 months later - supposed to be > coming home, just dont know when exactly. Life is difficult and of > course I have no support - I feel very alone in this. > Glad I found this group and hope to gain some insight fromyou all. > Shari > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.