<p>After 17 years I finally can define myself as a person, not a person that had cancer. That is until it is time to go for the yearly mammogram or mri’s, then I have to remember. It never fails that the tech will ask about the diagnosis and comment on how young I was.</p>
<p>Good vibes for all coming your way.</p>
<p>PHEW! Well, a clear mammogram 2 years later. I am so relieved. I was suddenly caving in after two yrs at the site of where my surgery was and I was soooo sure I’d be back into the whole process again.</p>
<p>Of course, today when the tech took the first two shots she left the room because there was a problem!!! Ugh…my BP must have shot through the roof. The problem was with the machine. I wish she said that when she left the room rather than when she came back.:)</p>
<p>Thanks for the well wishes! 17 years will be a dream come true snowball.I am thrilled that you have done so well However i need to take better care of myself in general if I want to follow in your footsteps…</p>
<p>Somemom. Thinking of you today as you see your Dr. We are all so lucky to have technology on our side to catch these things early IF they do happen. And when they do happen the support is amazing.</p>
<p>Oh, I don’t take great care of myself; chalk it up to good genes thrown in with the crappy cancer ones! I know I should exercise, but I don’t. I eat more red meat than I ever did, even when I was going through treatment. I have been known to wait longer than I should for a scan because I get tired of being tested. </p>
<p>That said, I have a great oncologist and she likes to do a lot of testing just to be safe. She has been know to call me hours after an appointment and tell me she has been thinking about me, and wants me to do some obscure test because there is a .0001 chance that X could be going on! My first thought is always to whine about going through more test, but I do it anyway.</p>
<p>When I was diagnosed almost 18 years ago, I never knew someone in their early 30’s could get breast cancer, now I personally know of several families going through the same thing.</p>
<p>I was soooo glad to see this thread bumped up. I have a sort of concern that I wanted to ask the women of CC, but didn’t want to start a new thread. With this one already going, I don’t think too many men will be reading. </p>
<p>I have my annual mammogram scheduled next Wednesday. I was not worried about it at all, even after having to have a biopsy done last year. However, in the last week, I’ve never had such painful breasts as I do now. I even went to my gynecologist’s office on Tuesday morning, and she says it’s hormonal. She did an exam and said they felt engorged. Problem is, my very last period was almost two weeks late… probably first signs of peri-menopause, so I don’t know if this current pain is because my period is due, because I don’t know when to expect it. But the pain has been going on for a week.</p>
<p>The gyne told me to take two ibuprofen and take 600 IU of Vitamin E every day. She said if it continues for two weeks, she’d refer me to a breast specialist. After I left her office, I recalled something she said, “You might need to cut out the coffee.” And I told her I don’t drink coffee. But then it occurred to me that she was speaking of the caffeine, and I do drink about 4-5 diet cokes a week. So maybe there is something there. As of yesterday, I haven’t had any caffeine, but I don’t know how long it takes for breast engorgement to abate after going cold turkey.</p>
<p>Since so many of you here have had breast issues, I was wondering if this has been an issue for any of you, and what was your experience. </p>
<p>I apologize for hi-jacking the thread.</p>
<p>I called the doc again and found out they want to see me regarding other tests done 2-3 weeks ago (as Seinfeld says, “really” you wait 2-3 weeks to call me about treating something, possibly surgically, REally??) So, no cancer likely, but possibly something invasive anyway…grrrr.</p>
<p>Anyone dealt with ovarian cysts?</p>
<p>Wow, snowball. Very frightening to get breast cancer in your early thirties.</p>
<p>teriwtt; I have no idea how to alleviate your discomfort but I hear it’s not an unexpected occurance for perimenapausal women. Something about less progesteron.
Ouch, i can imagine it hurts quite a bit.</p>
<p>Somemom: bumping up thread for your question. Lot’s of women have ovarian cysts so I’m sure someone can help you out here.</p>
<p>Any GYNs feel like answering a PM about US results?</p>
<p>Teriwitt–Don’t want to scare you… but could you be pregnant?</p>
<p>Scare me??? hahahahaha… more like injure me from the laughing.</p>
<p>No. Anyway, even when I was pregnant, the girls never hurt this bad!</p>
<p>I think sax has the right idea. Just one more thing that I’m noticing as I approach peri-menopause. Just hoping it goes away by next week so I can keep my mammogram appointment.</p>
<p>Dmd, you are either too funny or too twisted :D</p>
<p>Somemom: neither intending to be funny or twisted. Is someone said to you “my breasts are swollen and they hurt and my period is two weeks late” – are you telling me your first thought is menopause and NOT pregnancy?</p>
<p>Teriwtt, I bet it’s your diet cokes. The same thing happen to me. It is painful. The good news is that menopause seems to make it go away. I always had to wait for my period for the pain to disappear.</p>
<p>I had the exact same thought as dmd77, but I decided not to be the one to stir up a board full of middle-aged women:)</p>
<p>No, you’re right, DMD, but no one here wants to even consider that possibility, I would venture to guess 
but actually at our age, I would think perimenopause, though if some one in their 20s or 30s said it I would think pregnant. Might just be complete denial, eh?!</p>
<p>I keep seeing that the rate of unplanned pregnancies in forty-something women is only exceeded by teens.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So you mean people would be less surprised by a 40+ pregnancy than a teen pregnancy?</p>
<p>onward… did you cut back on your diet cokes? If so, did it help?</p>
<p>Perhaps I’ve seen the Golden Girls episode too many times when Blanche thinks she’s pregnant and it turns out to be peri-menopause, to even think pregnancy at this age…</p>
<p>Teriwtt, I found that I could drink coke right up to 5 days before my period. However, when my periods became irregular, I was out of luck. I usually risked it, after all, sometimes I would go 5 months without a period and I didn’t want to go 5 months without a coke. Nowadays, I can drink a caffeinated beverage whenever I want. Now I am just dealing with hot flashes.</p>
<p>Hmmmm . . . shall we call that an improvement or not?</p>