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Post by BKW on Oct 20, 2009 20:35:13 GMT -6
As we are approaching the end of breast cancer awareness month, I thought I would advise all of you guys to encourage all of the ladies in your life to get regular breast exams.
Today was a very big day for us as my wife completed her final Chemotherapy treatment. She was diagnosed in April and over the last 6 months have had four surgeries and a regiment of chemotherapy. We are not out of the process entirely, but the oncologist told us today she is cancer free and in remission.
You never expect this to happen to someone in their 30’s but I can assure you that it does.
So encourage every lady 35 or older you care about to get mammograms on a regular basis.
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Post by Mr.Tepes on Oct 20, 2009 21:28:50 GMT -6
Glad to hear your wife is cancer-free! That's great news! I will definitely encourage my missus to be on the lookout.
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Post by fullshredd on Oct 20, 2009 21:30:49 GMT -6
As we are approaching the end of breast cancer awareness month, I thought I would advise all of you guys to encourage all of the ladies in your life to get regular breast exams. Today was a very big day for us as my wife completed her final Chemotherapy treatment. She was diagnosed in April and over the last 6 months have had four surgeries and a regiment of chemotherapy. We are not out of the process entirely, but the oncologist told us today she is cancer free and in remission. You never expect this to happen to someone in their 30’s but I can assure you that it does. So encourage every lady 35 or older you care about to get mammograms on a regular basis. That's great news Brian!!  |
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Post by blackorchidx on Oct 21, 2009 3:38:58 GMT -6
Its amazing how underlooked this is isnt it, i mean theres tons of things we should get checked out but we assume we dont have them or other things,
Great news for you guys though, its been a long tough road
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Post by Brian on Oct 21, 2009 6:34:44 GMT -6
Sorry to hear she has had to go through this, but glad to hear she's better now. America really needs to wake up and look around...B.C. could be triggered by any number of things, one of them being the propylene glycol (main ingredient in antifreeze) in most deoderant/antipersperants. The glands being attached to the chest area...
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Post by S-H on Oct 21, 2009 8:15:56 GMT -6
Good stuff, it must've been a painful half a year for your wife both mentally and physically but all's well that end's well.
You know you can use this to your advantage....... emmmm...
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Post by BKW on Oct 21, 2009 11:16:19 GMT -6
Good stuff, it must've been a painful half a year for your wife both mentally and physically but all's well that end's well. You know you can use this to your advantage....... emmmm... It has been an absolute roller coaster! We were told she wouldn't need chemo and that the surgery would take care of it.. then they found 'a few cells' in one of 19 lymph nodes and suddenly we are facing a full chemotherapy regiment. |
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Post by S-H on Oct 21, 2009 16:35:16 GMT -6
Didn't they do a complete scan at the first appointment?
I know cancer spreads fast, but I didn't realize it was so fast that between the appointment where the doc said surgery was required to the actual surgery, it could spread past the initial area.
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Post by BKW on Oct 21, 2009 19:59:10 GMT -6
Didn't they do a complete scan at the first appointment? I know cancer spreads fast, but I didn't realize it was so fast that between the appointment where the doc said surgery was required to the actual surgery, it could spread past the initial area. I didn't want to go into all the details, but she was diagnosed with Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). Which in English means the cancer was inside the milk ducts. Which means the cancer is not in the breast tissue which put her at stage 0 (or pre cancerous). The surgical biopsies provided positive verification on the DCIS. During the Mastectomies, they removed 2 sentinel lymph nodes and everything looked good. Clear margins and the sentinel nodes where of normal size. When the pathology report came back, they found a few breast cancer cells in one of the lymph nodes. We had to go back in for another surgery where they extracted 17 additional lymph nodes. All of those came back negative. So, we had 1 lymph node out of 19 that had breast cancer yet no 'breast cancer' found in the breast pathology. Then additional tests, blood, cat, bone scan, etc. Since they found cancerous breast cancer cells in the one lymph nodes it instantly kicked her up to stage 2. So a regiment of chemothearopy was started. Again, we are not done with all the treatments. So what it comes down to is the pathology is the ONLY thing that can really tell you whats going on. |
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Post by S-H on Oct 22, 2009 11:14:49 GMT -6
Jesus, that's a lot of stress.
You don't have to answer, obviously, but what determined which 2 of the lymph nodes to take out. Were they closest to the potentially cancerous area?
What I don't understand is what would've happened if both of the lymph nodes came back clear but the cells were present in 1 of the other 17?
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Post by BKW on Oct 22, 2009 12:00:02 GMT -6
Good questions.
The first two they extracted where what they call 'sentinel lymph nodes' as they are 'first in line' from the area where the DCIS was.
They determined which ones where sentinel by injecting a radioactive dye into the cancer area just prior to surgery and used a Geiger counter to identify where the dye went.
Hope that makes sence.
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Post by S-H on Oct 22, 2009 17:03:46 GMT -6
Yeah, that's makes sense. I obviously don't know as much about breasts as I thought I did! Essentially, what it came down to (cancerous cells being found in a different lymph node to the 2 taken out) was extremely bad luck by the sound of it. It sounds as though they followed every procedure to the T so at least the medical care was/is good.  Tell her good luck for the future and as I may've told you (think I did), my aunt had breast cancer and is completely well now. |
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Post by Adji on Oct 23, 2009 7:13:52 GMT -6
Hey man I was not aware of your wife's illness. I am not around here much at the moment so I apologise for my lack of knowledge. I am glad she is coming out of it fighting fit.
A close family friend was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma when she was 14, she has since made a complete recovery, but it is a really scary thing.
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Post by fingermouse on Oct 23, 2009 7:33:14 GMT -6
Good luck & all the best BKW & Mrs. BKW
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Post by BKW on Oct 23, 2009 11:29:28 GMT -6
Yeah, that's makes sense. I obviously don't know as much about breasts as I thought I did! Essentially, what it came down to (cancerous cells being found in a different lymph node to the 2 taken out) was extremely bad luck by the sound of it. It sounds as though they followed every procedure to the T so at least the medical care was/is good. Tell her good luck for the future and as I may've told you (think I did), my aunt had breast cancer and is completely well now. Let me clarify one thing. The initial finding was DCIS (which was detected by a mammogram) in the milk ducts in the breast, not the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes act as a oil filter does in a car. The lymph nodes for the chest area are actually located under the arm pit. By checking the lymph nodes, they are finding out if cancer cells are starting to move through the body. As only a couple cancer cells were found in only one lymph node (which was the sentinel) that meant that it had just started to spread. So the Chemo treatment was to prevent it from metastasizing elsewhere. |
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Post by Shredzie on Oct 26, 2009 22:53:25 GMT -6
I'm sooo sorry to hear about that Brian. Thank God things are looking good now.
I hardly ever come into this section of the forum, but I will more often now.
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Post by BKW on Jul 18, 2010 15:12:29 GMT -6
I'm sooo sorry to hear about that Brian. Thank God things are looking good now. I hardly ever come into this section of the forum, but I will more often now. It's been a while since I posted here (in this thread about this).. Just wanted to update everyone. My dear wife has now completed all here treatments and is going to have her Medi-port removed on Tuesday. At this point, her diagnosis is great... full remission/Cancer free. So, once the port is removed other than followup appointments. everything is done! Thanks for all the kind words and prayers! |
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Post by TheLivingDead on Jul 18, 2010 19:16:31 GMT -6
Glad to hear it man.
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Post by Syv on Jul 18, 2010 23:14:00 GMT -6
I totally sympathize, man! I'm glad your wife is doing well now. My mom's 5th year anniversary of her recovery wasn't too long ago either. I will definitely opt to tell more people to spread awareness after reading this
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Post by roboblaze on Jul 19, 2010 8:21:11 GMT -6
that is great to hear
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Post by BKW on Oct 4, 2011 20:39:25 GMT -6
I frequently frown on bumps of old threads.. but as it is Breast Cancer Awareness month.... I felt this one is appropriate.
FYI... the Mrs is doing great, and we had a great time in Vegas with Michael and the guys who made it.
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Post by S-H on Oct 5, 2011 7:50:16 GMT -6
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Post by TheLivingDead on Oct 6, 2011 23:32:49 GMT -6
Awesome, man. |
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