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Biotech / Medical : Share your aches,pains,experiences,joys and cures. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rainy_Day_Woman who wrote (290)	4/5/2007 12:48:47 AM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1564

Sorry I didn't answer sooner but I worked a 12 hour day today and was too busy to answer online. It's a good thing that your friend is estrogen positive.......... survival is better cause there is an additional, effective way to treat the cancer with hormone therapy. I know a woman who had a bunch of positive lymph nodes but survived for 20+ and counting years on Tamoxifen. She might be taking Aromasin now. Being estrogen positive is a big, " thumbs up". I highly recommend that she get a good wig before she starts chemo and while she still has her hair........it'll be easier to match and style while her hair is on her head. Some women lose their hair slowly and some lose it all at once. There's lots of variation in how that whole process develops. It's much less traumatic if you already have the wig ready to go when it's needed. If she colors her hair to hide gray hair she will have to stop that during chemo..........too much chance of a chemical reaction to occur on her scalp.........it's just better to get the wig and be ready for whatever comes. She may greatly benefit from a cancer survival group. Most of those other people will have researched also so it's a wonderful way to gain information. I met some great people at a group where I live. I was not one to rely on anyone else and was always independent so it was hard for me to need to talk to anyone about the cancer. My sister would start crying and other friends had no clue as to what to say to me. At first I was embarrassed and hated to tell people that I had the big "C". I didn't want their pity and I certainly didn't want their advice ( frankly, some of it was pretty dumb ). Most people really don't understand much about the disease. One of my dear friends started telling cancer jokes until i told her I thought she was being kind of tacky!! She said she was just trying to make me laugh!!............she meant well but couldn't deal with it herself. Once in a while I would tell people that I was having a non cancer day. It helped to break the ice and helped stop conversation with people who were clueless. You are a great friend to be sticking by her and to be trying to help her. Shortly after I was diagnosed there was a huge earthquake in Kobe Japan and over 3000 people died. Probably most of them didn't have any cancer and they were living a normal life the day before with no knowledge of their impending physical passing.............it helped put the many complex things of our physical existence in a better perspective for me and made me appreciate my life, with cancer. Cancer has made me a better person.