Breast cancer on top of everything else?! I wish you all the strength in dealing with the treatment and recovery. I hope they won't leave you in a waiting list for this treatment at least.

Thanks for the good wishes (life is hard!). No, my surgery is in two weeks time, so only 18 (?) days from diagnosis, and all of the scans were timely as well, while I was on my way to diagnosis. After surgery, the doctor said that they'll wait about two months before starting radiation, which makes sense since the area needs time to heal and they'll have removed everything that is clearly malignant, and those possible (and miniscule) additional cells won't have time to grow much. What is causing me the most fear though, is that all forms of treatment (there is a small chance that some other treatment might be needed), are very dangerous with regard to my thryoid health (have hypothyroidism). Also, about 30% of breast cancer patients develop lymphedema, which sounds like something very difficult to handle.

Yes the side effects of cancer treatment can be very scary. You seem to be facing it with a clear mind though. There is physical therapy treatment for lymphedema these days I believe. As for the thyroid, perhaps they have replacement hormones they can give you. I have an aunt who had thyroid cancer and seems to be doing all right several years later.

I'm already on replacement hormones, but the balance between okay and not is very delicate. I'm glad that your aunt is doing well. I don't think that I'll be able to avoid difficulty on that front, but will hope that it won't be too bad. Since I last wrote, I spoke to my colorectal surgeon, because I love him so much, about the lymphedema issue, and he told me not to worry. New techniques at my stage, won't result in that happening, but might do so down the road if there has been any spread and a lot of nodes need to be excised.

Chachacha how is your pain? I have constant pain in the rectum which cripples me on a daily basis. I’ve had LIS and hemmies banded years ago but cannot shift the pain and my GP only prescribes the same creams I’ve already used 100 times before. Is there no end to this horrible disorder?!

My pain is about a 9 1/2, but only every three days. Because I take a strong opioid at the end of my (6-8) movements on that third day, I become constipated enough to get me through another three. I cannot bear to think of having movements every day, so am lucky that I get two days off each time. On a bad day, the pain lasts for about 15 hours, but no pain on the other days at all. My doctors have not found a cause yet, but a requisition has been put in for an MRI. If I ever get an answer, I'll be sure to post it here.