Looking forward to hearing about your updates of victory   Tova, check this out for some GOD encouragement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IinYDR92gBM

This is the true living GOD. 

As for the Oreos, that white center stuff you do realize that it last forever and also the stomach has rough time to breaking down.  Sorry couldn't resist

Watch the video!

Tova!  DAMMIT !!  I don't know what else to say.  Everybody else has already said all the good stuff.  I know that Betty Lou died in 1987, after having been given six months to live in 1958.  I know that some kinds of breast cancer can be very successfully treated, I don't like the "aggresive" word, and I am hoping you are able to obtain a good result. 

Uhhh...before the hair falls out?....go on and lift up that shirt, girl!  You are HOT !!

Thank you.  I really appreciate that D!

I have checked...I won't have hair after the second treatment.

Everyone I know that lost their hair, grew it back, sure, but it was never the same...and not as nice either.

Not that it matters.  It is what it is.

My hair grows really slow...as in not even 1/4 inch a month...so it'll be awhile before I have hair again.

Tova - sorry to hear about your situation. I have to agree with the other comments here, you can beat it. You seem in great shape, strong and I know you are a fighter. The advances these days are simply amazing as compared to just a few short years ago. I know folks first reaction when they hear the "C" word is fear, but with great confidence in our current medicine (the wife is a cancer survivor) and your strong spirit I'll be cautiously optimistic for you.

Don't worry about the hair so much, especially if your hubby has some "future girl" fantasies (you have the bod for it ). Anyway, our thoughts are with you.

From everything I've read,.....radiation doesn't generally make you lose your hair., its the chemo.  The radiation can make you weak and not feel 100% though.  Some people take it better than others.  I think a lot has to do with how much radiation exposure you've had in life.  The more you have the more severe the symptoms.  And some people (previous radiation treatments) can't get it at all.  They've maxed out their lifetime exposure.

Lol, that's actually a GREAT idea.  Thanks!

Surgery tomorrow! 

I'll be in prayer for you tomorrow.  Let me know later how things went and I'll bring you up for prayer on Wednesday night.  We've had so many awesome answers to prayer it's unreal.  19 days ago a 19 year old grandson of one of our members was in a coma looking like he was going to die from a motorcycle accident (going 80 mph with no helmet hitting a tree).  Anyhow he took 4 steps with help yesterday after being in a coma for more than two weeks.  The best he was given was living in a nursing home in a vegetative state.  Hmmm they're reading the wrong book!!

ya that's what's happened to my friend Cathy this time.  The first time she had breast cancer, quite a few of her lymph nodes were affected.  She had quite a few taken out under one of her arms and had limited arm movement after that for a while.  Not sure how it is today. 

one reason I'm glad, for the most part, I've stayed away from doctors. 

no I know, but usually radiation follows chemo and she looked, with a full head of hair, very distanced from any chemo.  I've known others who had their radiation with their hair still coming in or short, short.  Her's was fairly long and full.  

Ouch.  Sorry I didn't see this article and replies until tonite.  Very sorry to catch this news, but like others here, I'm sure you'll beat it and go on long after the treatment has finished and the cancer has been excised.  Hang tough, Live Strong, and kick cancer's butt!

The surgery today is postponed until I can get in for an MRI of both breasts (They think there may be something going on in the other one too.)  I also have to meet with a genetic counselor and plastic surgeon.

It was up to me to postpone the surgery.  The surgeon said he could operate today, no problem. 

But if I have the BRCA gene (find out results of that in two weeks), they'll recommend a double mastectomy and I would have to have another surgery on top of the one today, probably two more total with reconstruction.  Or, of course if there is a problem with the other breast then I'd have to go in for a separate surgery for that too. 

So instead of having piece meal surgery which would require at least 3, I chose to wait until all the test results are back, I have all the information, then make a decision about what I want to do.  And the surgeon said they can do whatever I decide in ONE surgery (if I wait), even reconstruction!  So I'm waiting.

My husband vehemently disagrees.  He wants the cancer out now.  It's aggressive and he's right to be concerned.  I understand his position, but frankly I don't believe 6 weeks will make a difference, and if its does, then this cancer has likely already progressed too far to save me anyway.

I just can't see going under general anesthesia and surgery 3 times, with 3 separate recoveries, then hitting chemo....when by waiting 6 weeks I can do it all at once, with one recovery.

No worries.  Thanks!

Back at ya!

Good info KFC, thanks.  6 weeks is how long it will take to get Insurance approval, get the appointments and results for the following....

1.  MRI of chest

2.  Genetics Counselor .. they test for the BRCA gene

3.  Meet with a plastic surgeon

I'm pretty sure I am having the entire right breast removed.  My lump isn't as large as your friend's, but my breast isn't large either.  The surgeon said to get a clean margin (area that is cancer free) around the lump he will have to take 1/3 of my breast.  With radiation on top of that, well, it will be deformed there's just no getting around it.  B cups and smaller seem to have the least positive cosmetic results with radiation.  (The pictures make you gag.)

Not that how it looks is a primary concern.  Hell I'd take an ugly boob for my life anyday..heh, but I'd also take no breast at all over some deformed blob.

Plus, the chance I'll require radiation if I just have them take it off drops significantly.  I really don't want to take radiation.  Call me a child of the cold war, but I just don't want to do that to my body if I can get around it.

I know about Herceptin.  Actually being HER2 is NOT a good thing.  It tells the cells in my body to reproduce too quickly.  I see how she says its a good thing because now there is a treatment to disrupt that communication (Herceptin).  I will also need hormone suppression therapy since it was over 90% estrogen and progesterone positive.

This is what I expect to happen (with the info I have right now):  I will have the right breast removed, and the left if there is anything there (MRI should show me that)...they are taking several lymph nodes as well (to help stage it and see if its left the breast).

Once they take what they must take, the plastic surgeon steps in (same operation) and rebuilds my breasts using implants or tissue from another part of my body.  (I'll get more info on that once I meet with the plastic surgeon and I may decide to just be flat chested...though I doubt it).

I may still have to do radiation, hope not!  (depends on any lymph involvement) and then chemo. 

The biggest benefit is one operation, with all the information, and one recovery.  I preserve my strength for the chemo, and for any further problems if it spread.

I won't make decisions from fear.  And rushing to surgery seemed like it was all about fear (not mine). 

This may be a bad decision in the end.  It might be spreading as we write, spreading to places (lungs, liver) that will give me a 3 month prognosis (roughly). 

If that's the case, then I'll be dead.

I can think of plenty of places worse than dead though.

Living in fear is one of them.

I can see both sides.  But remind your husband (as much as I would be standing right behind him with full support should I be in the situation he is in), that ANY surgery comes with risks, and the fewer the better.

He is right - NOW is better.  You are right - FEWER is better.  In the end, you have to decide, and he will support you fully.  He is just scared because HE can't do anything.

it is a terrible feeling - almost as bad as what you are going through.

The prayers will keep coming as will the best wishes for the best results!

I have only seen one side (and hope I never see the other).  I cannot say "I know how you feel", as I do not.  But I can say I know how your husband feels.

If you have six weeks, then make use of the time by getting a second opinion on diagnosis and treatment options. It matters where you go... My mom had non Hodgkin lymphoma in 92 and one doctor wanted to break a bunch of her ribs and operate immediately on a small mass in her chest, she went to another doctor who had a much less dramatic idea.  Shes still alive and cancer free today. Its not like the second doctor was easy. She did have to go through chemo and radiation, plus a bone marrow transplant, but we all believe that the first doctor would have killed her. Its always good to ask for second opinion.