I'll be having surgery in the near future - for a lumpectomy.

Those mammograms are a mixed bag.

I nearly didn't go through with the biopsy until some women and I were talking last week at lunch. At the table were five women. 2-3 out of them has had breast cancer (and survived.)

They told me to go through with the biopsy, which I was dreading.

So I did.

The doc said to be thinking about what doctor I'm going to want to do the surgery in the near future.

It isn't serious yet.

So I'm glad whatever it is was caught early.

Women, get your mammograms! If you're a scaredy cat like me, get it anyway.

It may save your life!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2017 03:00PM by Amyjo.

You have this. You can kick cancer in the ass. With all you have faced in life, this is a bump in the road.

Keep us posted. Praying for you.

Thank you.

I don't know yet if it's cancerous.

The doc said he'll call me next week when the pathology report comes back. But he wants me to have it surgically removed anyway.

It's very small, less than 1 cm. He took 5-6 pieces for biopsy. I wish he could've just removed the whole little thing while he was in there.

He said the surgery would remove everything. The biopsy doesn't provide that same ability to do. It was pretty simple, the biopsy.

The surgery will be well, surgery.

I'm glad you're taking care of yourself.

Thanks Cheryl.

I try.

I've been very tired lately. More than usual even for this time of year. Maybe this is why?

I've been thinking it was because winter is here.

But maybe it's more than that.

Amyjo!!! Praying for you.

Please be aware that there are a lot of false positives out there! A LOT! So, please get another opinion!

I wish we could talk on the phone.

The doc said this morning even if the pathology report comes back benign to have it removed surgically anyhow.

That's news to me.

I'll need to get a second opinion about that.

Thanks for the good vibes.

It is nerve wracking, that's for sure.

glad you're taking care of you! me either. but I do know abdominal biopsies often were completed during laporoscopic surgery for masses. If it looks bad even pre cancerous getting it taken out isn't awful. Then you won't have to go back for biopsy on the same place (it'll be impossible since its gone) they'll have to biopsy something else instead. & I like that. it sounds good.

Thanks for that insight.

It sounds reassuring.

:)

I'm really glad you were proactive and caught this early, Amyjo. Please let us know when your surgery is once it is scheduled so that we may send prayers, positive thoughts, or whatever form of good vibes that works for each of us.

Thanks so much.

Will do. :)

((((Amyjo))) sorry you have to put up with these procedures. I just bet you will come out of this smelling like a rose! Hugs and love,
Aquarius

Thanks Aquarius.

Hugs back.

:-)

Amyjo, I know the news isn't one that you or anyone else ever wants to hear. You may feel it's both real or somehow unreal. You may also feel some guilt for telling people or for becoming a survivor. Please share what you're comfortable with so we, here, can send you positive vibes, love, friendship, and prayers.

I've had two tumors removed from two very different locations. This first time the doctor said I had cancer, I blanked out. I had to make another appointment to review the information I couldn't process during the earlier appointment.

I wanted to tell people, but I didn't want to tell them. One of my children was worried sick, although the prognosis was excellent. I felt guilty after chemo because I had enough strength to walk out of the infusion center where others were just holding on to life.

Early detection, as you know, makes a world of difference with treatments and successes. Still, the "c" word is scary.

Your life and friendship are precious. You always show warmth, wisdom, and compassion in your posts. These attributes, along with quality medical care, will aid in your healing. Thanks for encouraging others to get screenings.

((((((HUGS)))))))) Dear Amyjo! Heartfelt prayers for healing, recovery, and positive experiences as you work with your healthcare providers. With much respect and love, Boner.

Thank you BYU Boner. That's good news you got through yours so well as you did.

Appreciate your love and goodwill.

:-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2017 05:30PM by Amyjo.

Send my best good vibes to you. Hoping it's not cancer and that you get the treatment to beat whatever it is. Cancer scares me.

Thanks, LR.

It scares the bejeepers out of me too.

I lost a brother to it in childhood.

And you lost your dear wife.

It's no respector of persons.

Thanks, Tom in Paris.

:-)

Not good news. You know what? The best thing is you have so many friends here who love you. No matter what, we’ll be here.

Sending you my warmest thoughts and a long-distance hug!!

-teddy

Thank you. I like hugs, even long distance kind.

:-)

I am so sorry that you are going through this, Amyjo.

Please (as Kathleen suggested) get a second opinion before you agree to surgery.

My best wishes are going out to you for the highest and best outcome(s) possible.

Thanks Tevai.

I agree with you and Kathleen on getting a second opinion.

Since I tend to be an optimist I'll keep looking for the silver lining in this.

;-)

Good luck, Amyjo. Don't be afraid to ask questions of your physician. In your shoes I would want to know his rationale for removing the lump even if it's not cancerous.

Me too, Summer.

He told me he wants to do a MRI when the surgery is done to make sure there isn't anything else in there he might have missed.

The MRI is an enhanced mammogram where a dye gets put into the veins through an IV to contrast with on the picture.

I'm not too thrilled about having that done either.

It's more thorough than the ultra sound or mammogram are, according to him.

In fact, wouldn't it make more sense to do the MRI *before* the surgery, than after? Because if the doc finds more spots he didn't notice before, then with his reasoning he'll be recommending me for yet another surgery.

Yes, a second opinion is most definitely in order.

>>Yes, a second opinion is most definitely in order.

I would. And for the 2nd opinion, I would find a highly recommended surgeon/professor at a teaching hospital. Or failing that, send an email to the head of oncology at the teaching hospital, asking for referrals in your area.

We have a cancer hospital in my area that I've been told is the place to go for surgery and in that case, a second opinion?!

So, that is probably my next phone call away. :-)

Yes, the MRI is generally done prior to surgery.

I was asking my son about that this evening, and he thought perhaps it's done afterwards to make sure they got everything. It made sense from that perspective.

:-)

When I had breast cancer, the tissue was very dense which meant they didin't see it for four years of mammograms. After it grew too big to miss, they still had trouble seeing what they thought they should and the ultra sound didn't help much. I had the first surgery under the MRI, they more to finish up.

After all of the treatments, my oncologist likes me to have an MRI and mammogram yearly. That's what I've been doing for a few years. The only problem I have is the loud noise of it. Be sure to wear ear plugs if noise bothers you. MRIs are not painful or uncomfortable.

I've had others because of a brain tumor, so I'm an old hand at them. I'm glad that my doctors want to take the trouble to order them them look carefully at the results. I feel much more confident in them than in mammograms alone.

Thanks for the warning about the noise. I had no idea.

Also didn't realize that you've been through this.

Dense breast tissue is what I have also. It makes it harder for the docs to see on the routine tests.

I was more afraid of the MRI because of the dye in the IV. Glad to hear that didn't bother you any.

They usually have it ready to go in advance, then start it at the end of the testing. It felt cold, but didn't hurt a bit. I was told that it can cause slight nausea for a few patients. Didn't bother me.

The also need the patient to remain still whenever the machine is activated. The might be a problem for some people, I'm not sure. The attendants have always been very kind and considerate. Hope this goes well for you. I always tell them I want a complete written report in the mail. Otherwise, you're likely to get only a brief reply from you doctor which can be hard to absorb and has nothing to save or reevaluate later.

Not to worry. Sounds like a tiny spot, easy to deal with. I think you'll be fine.

I'm sending you ((((hugs))) and positive thoughts and prayers. I also think you ought to get a second opinion before going through with surgery. My family is on my case about getting a mammogram because it's been about 3 years since my last one. I'm making an appointment next week. It's good that this has been caught early. My mom, her mom, and my aunt all had breast cancer, so it runs in our family and it makes me very scared about getting mammograms. My best positive thoughts for you that everything's gonna be ok and you'll have the best outcome.

Yeah, though I'm no poster girl for mammograms, I believe they're important for screening. They make me nervous too. Sometimes I think I'd rather not know. But then that's faulty reasoning, isn't it?

Hope you get yours done soon.

:)

Back in May I had a prostrate biopsy and it showed----a Gleason score of nine. Not to brage, but my prostrate was the largest the docs had ever seen and could not be removed.

Oh, sure, all of us with normal sized prostates totally understand that you take no pride in your hugeness...

Actually, it was not the size that prevented removal but two other reasons. One was the real possibility that it could result in the cancer spreading and the other was my problem with bleeding when being operated on at all. I have come very close to dying because of the bleeding problem which is inherited.

My dad got prostate cancer in his 70's, where the doctors gave him like six months to two years to live at most. His was they felt untreatable and a rare type that wouldn't respond well to either chemo or surgery.

Dad opted for the chemo pill at that time. The cancer went into remission. When dad died app ten years later it wasn't from prostate cancer, but something else (a medical biopsy.)

Go figure.

I had radiation - 44 treatments - ending in early November - along with hormonal treatment to stop production of testosterone.

rhgc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had radiation - 44 treatments - ending in early
> November - along with hormonal treatment to stop
> production of testosterone.

I am sorry you had to go through this, rhgc :( ...

...and I hope that everything that needed to be done WAS done, and in such a way that you never have to be concerned about these issues again.

Oh dear.

Glad you've come through that and out the other side.

Some of my cousins have a bleeding disorder that's hereditary.

They've had to watch that their entire lives.

((((hugs))))

Maybe you and I are related, even if a couple of generations back! My mother had cancer and beat it twice but my dad died from prostrate cancer, both of my brothers have had and my only male first cousin. BTW my mother's lines go back to 1620 in America.

Was discussing genealogy today at a DAR Christmas luncheon with an elderly lady who is very into genealogy for its own sake.

She said she does it for herself first and foremost. And prepared books for each of her children and grandchildren, not so much for them but because she enjoys doing it so much.

The more you look into family trees, the more history you learn as you go. It is a journey through time.

Some of my ancestors go back that far in North America. They came here with nothing and made lives for themselves and their families from scratch. It's pretty amazing really, that they defied the odds and the elements somehow and overcame many hardships just to survive.

About 80% likelihood that we are related.

We very well could be, rhgc.

On my DNA test this past spring from 23 and Me it said about the Ashkenazi Jewish strain that there's a really good chance Ashkenazis are cousins by virtue of descending from the same group of four women who migrated from the mid-east to Europe 2000 years ago.

The English immigrants who came to America back when are many of their descendants related by common bonds in their ancestry. That helps explain why every sitting US president since George Washington are related to him, most of them as cousins by degrees. Including the current one, #45. That last one I find hard to fathom but the rest of them were suited to their calling.

Yours and my ancestors there is likely overlap if you go back far enough. My mom and dad were distant cousins, they just didn't know it (to my knowledge anyway.) That parentage dates back to Old England's Wars of the Roses era, that I know of. There's the possibility of closer relationships than that, but I'll need to do more extensive research to determine that.

In genealogy when you're related to a distant relative is the possibility you can be related several or more times to the same person. The closest in lineage is the degree of kinship one can cite when that is the case.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2017 09:45AM by Amyjo.

Actually, not all are related to Washington. I am related to over a half dozen presidents but not Washington since my lineage is largely New England.

Some cities rate surgeons. You meet the team during the surgery but a good surgeon will tell you over and over, explains the procedure, in or out of hospital etc, etc. They send you a big packet and then the hospital calls you to interview. When we get to the hospital, we play online, until the anesthesiologist comes in.thats your last 5 minute warning to give all electronics to your partner. When you wake up, your partner should be there. The surgery is noting big-time. You'll be ok.

I'm hoping 0=hug

Amyjo, I really hope you are taking the best care of yourself right now. I hope you have all the right foods, lots of exercise, and friends to stand close by your side. Please keep us posted.

Yes, I can see that now.

I'm just guessing, kathleen. Not sure.

Keep on keeping on, Amy.

Thanks Aquarius, Kathleen. Don, and Anon3.

Appreciate the positive feedback. Hoping the surgery won't be too much different than the biopsy was - it is more invasive no doubt. I believe it can be done as an outpatient, but not sure about that. I expect to know more this coming week.

:-)

Not a hug.

Every other kind of diagnostic scan I know about involves exposure to radiation which can eventually lead to a higher incidence of cancer. Given a choice, I'd always prefer an MRI over other scans. Radiation builds in the body and no one knows the levels because medical people don't keep track of the levels and patients don't have that information. I know I've had way more of it than I want. That's a main reason I like MRIs along with their higher levels of accuracy over most other scans for most conditions.

I always thought that odd that radiation can cause cancer, but they also use it to treat it.
Amyjo, I'm so sorry to hear this, I'll definitely be sending you healing thoughts also.
If it's anything bad that they'll get it all out and you recover quickly.
I get MRIs often.
If you're getting an area, besides your back, they let you put a pillow under your knees to prevent back pain from lying down on your back on the hard surface.
It's uncomfortable if you're getting your back done and have to lie down , then can't even wiggle around.
They will sedate you , if that'll help.
The contrast didn't bother me either, like Cheryl said, you'll feel a cold sensation while it's being injecting, I also felt a little nausea then, but it was a millisecond .
They usually give you ear plugs, or headphones, where you can listen to your choice of music.

All of us on RFM have had external to the church challenges and trials. I have no words as to why this trial has come your way. My only words are those of comfort and joy this holiday season and throughout the year....

Gatorman

On an upbeat note, one of my children will be flying home to be with me next month.

And my "prodigal child" has been in contact for a change.

Thanks to Gatorman, Hockeyrat, Cheryl, and others for your well wishes. I really do appreciate them.

Happy Holidays to one and all.

:-)

Amyjo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On an upbeat note, one of my children will be
> flying home to be with me next month.
>
> And my "prodigal child" has been in contact for a
> change.
>
> Thanks to Gatorman, Hockeyrat, Cheryl, and others
> for your well wishes. I really do appreciate them.
>
>
> Happy Holidays to one and all.
>
> :-)

I am very happy that your kids are in touch with you, and that one of them will be with you soon.

My best wishes (on every level) go out to you!!

Happy Holidays to you, Amyjo, and to your family too!

:)