Vitals

Name:
Dawn (hellpatient)

Member Since:
July 3, 2008

Home page:
Click here.

Location:
Michigan

Type of Cancer:
Breast Cancer

Medical Term for the Type of Cancer:
Mucinous carcinomo

Diagnosis Date:
Oct. 2003

Stage of Cancer:
Stage 3B

Grade of Tumor:
Grade 3

ER:
Positive

PR:
Negative

Her2 Status:
No

Lymph Node Involvement:
Yes

Surgery:
Mastectomy

Chemotherapy:
Taxol (chemical name: paclitaxel), Cyclophosphamide (brand name: Cytoxan), Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin)

Hormone Therapy:
Arimidex

Profile:
Cancer Survivor

What I Hate Most About Cancer:
Heh...too many to count. Read my blog. If cornered for an answer, I'd have to say the stinking, never-ending fatigue that the doctors insisted there was no reason for and therefore didn't exist.

What I Have Learned From Cancer:
Caregivers >= Patients > Doctors

Things My Supporters Can Do To Help:
Make and donate hats to chemo patients who lose their hair as a result of the treatments. Wigs suck.

Cancer Symptoms:

Bloody nipple discharge from one breast only. Tenderness with (initially) no palpable or detectable (except by MRI) tumor.

Surgery Description, Dates & Side Effects:

In the long run? Probably worse than any of the rest of the ordeal. I HATED losing a breast. Especially the nipple. No reconstruction can restore that, regardless of what plastic surgeons can do to create a fake one. Oh, and it was performed on my 44th birthday in Dec. 2003, which didn’t help matters any.

Radiation Description, Dates & Side Effects:

March – May 2004. 2nd degree burns and intense fatigue and sleepiness (no, those are NOT the same thing).

Chemotherapy Description, Dates & Side Effects:

Dec. 19 2003 – Feb. 27 2004. First-line, dose-dense chemo. Taxotere, Cytoxan and Adriamycin. Horrible horrible horrible. Felt godawful (aching fatigue unrelieved by sleep, and absolutely no energy) for years afterwards. I don’t think I’d do it again.

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