Posted: 8/22/2007 3:50:58 PM EDT
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I mentioned it in the other thread but didn't want to drag it down with preachiness about boob health, but its worth its own thread, I think. As I said, my mom was just diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. This is rare, but deadly, both because it doesn't have a lot of symptoms until later in the game and because its symptoms are often mistaken for other things. It may not appear on a mammogram. It also usually affects younger women, although my mom is in her 70s. Info about inflammatory breast cancer: IBC 
Symptoms: (Not lumps..its a different kind of cancer.) -Swelling, usually sudden, sometimes a cup size in a few days -Itching -Pink, red, or dark colored area (called erythema) sometimes with texture similar to the skin of an orange (called peau d'orange) -Ridges and thickened areas of the skin -What appears to be a bruise that does not go away -Nipple retraction -Nipple discharge, may or may not be bloody -Breast is warm to the touch -Breast pain (from a constant ache to stabbing pains) -Change in color and texture of the areola |
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Prayers sent for your mother. I am so sorry. My daughter is waiting to get in to see the surgeon, as they have found two more lumps in her breast. (She had one removed in the spring. This will be her 4th surgery for lumps.) So far, they have all been benign, but they can't seem to explain them. There is a history of cancer in her family (I adopted her) so we are really concerned. She just started her second year of college, is going through a divorce, and has three small children, and I can't help but wonder if stress is causing some of this. |
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Wow, that is scary. Keep after the doctors, for sure. My mom's cancer is pretty advanced but she's just kicking butt for a sick old woman. She had surgury today to put the port in for chemo and the surgeon came out and said she did well and would be awake and up in an hour. 10 minutes later, they call us because she's sitting up, slugging back a cup of coffee and asking when she gets to leave. Withing a half hour, we were on our way back home. Crazy. In a good way. 
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Barbara, Know that modern medicine is doing more everyday to help Cancer survivors than ever before. My wife was diagnosed with 3C Ovarian in May of '04 and given initially a 5% shot at one year. While it hasn't always been pretty, she is riding through a third round of major bhemo, and her numbers are being controled. More importantly she is still with us. She is a fine lady and has always made me very proud. Never ever give up the good fight. Love and prayers to your Mom. |
We have a family history of benign lumps on my mother's side. In 1999, I had 2 lumps removed (one from each breast) because mom's family histor combined with dad's (chock full o'Cancer on his side) made my doc take the pre-emptive route. It's not fun, and it leaves physical scars and changes...but thankfully, no fear of cancer. Make sure she gets mammograms regularly (I've gotten one every year since 1999) and is very familiar with doing self exams (best time is just after a cycle.) Ya know, we had a thread about pie maintenance some time ago. Boobies also seem to need alot of maintnance. And support. 
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Well, today is a good day. We received the remainder of the results and there's no detectable cancer outside of her breast/lymph nodes! This is NOT what any one expected.. Her tumor is 12 mm across and everyone, including all three doctors, expected it had spread significantly. So this is fantastic news..the doctor went out to review again, came back, said "No, it's clean. I'm surprised but there's nothing detectable. Let's try to cure this thing." Woot! She's still a sick woman and she's going to feel like crap in the coming weeks but her 5 year survival chance just went from 0.00 to 25-50%. |
