Cancer Survivor Mama

[Suzmama]

Hello All...any other moms who are cancer survivors?

I had a malignant brain tumor removed two years ago and another little one removed two weeks ago. I feel great and am focusing on health and nutrition and good treatment. Kris Carr (crazy sexy cancer) is fabulous and I just got a juicer from her site.

[abomgardner417]

Me!!! I am so glad you posted! I hadn't been on here in a long time because I felt like no one here would understand what I was going through. I just couldn't relate to discussions of baby showers and homeschooling while I was wondering if I was going to see my boys grow up.

Anyway, I'm fine now - 16 mo survivor (hate that word but don't know what else to use!) of breast cancer that was diagnosed just after my 32nd birthday. Had to do the chemo, rads, a year of IV drugs...the whole bit! I found a naturopath and focused on nutrition and supplements to get me through the conventional tx and I'm still working w/ him instead of doing the five years of hormone tx that the onc wanted me on. So now I'm just moving on and picking up the pieces of my life after cancer and divorce and trying to enjoy each day to the fullest with my boys!

It sounds like you're doing well then? I had read one of Kris Carr's books and it really helped me during chemo. Did yours start in your brain or was that mets from somewhere else? So glad to hear you're feeling well! Hope we hear from more mamas...although I'd like for there to be LESS cancer mamas!

[EFmom]

I'm a breast cancer survivor, coming up on six years. I did eight rounds of chemo, a lumpectomy, radiation, a year of Herceptin, two years of Tamoxifin and am now on Femara. And a partridge in a pear tree.

abomgardner, I know what you mean about worrying to see your kids grow up.

I haven't read Kris Carr. From the little I know, she wouldn't be my cup of tea, but whatever gets you through it is all good as far as I'm concerned!

[Suzmama]

I'm so glad you both responded!!

Mine was only in the brain and did not spread. I LOVE Kris Carr and am very interested in the nutrition part. What kinds of nutrition are you using? I made the green veggie juice that she mentions for the first time today and it was really good. What other kinds of things have you been doing?

[MAMom]

Hi Suzmama,

I have not had cancer personally, but have many loved ones who have, and have done a lot of reading/educating myself. I too Kris Carr! I've been following her for a few years now, and love her work! Can't wait for the new book, and her daily blog is a wealth of knowledge too.

I also love the book How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine...lots of gems in it.

[oiseau]

I'm not a mama yet, but I'm a cancer survivor (I hate that word too!). I'm 6mo. out from Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had 6 mo of chemo and about a month of radiation. I'm still dealing with side effects from treatment and it sucks (mostly cognitive issues....that resulted in me getting terminated from my job).
I'm counting down the months til I can TTC. My treatment most likely didn't affect my fertility, but my breasts were partially in my radiation field and no one can really say how that might affect breastfeeding. It's one of those things that doesn't get addressed much because I think there just aren't many other women in the same situation (young adult cancer patient + somewhat militant about breastfeeding). I've spoken with a friend (who I met through MDC) who is also a cancer survivor about trying to compile some fertility/breastfeeding info for other women in our situation (she has one child, but hope to have more). Are any of the rest of you still hoping to have anymore children? Or have you had children after cancer treatment?

I got Crazy Sexy Cancer but it totally wasn't my thing. I'm pretty big on natural foods, leaning towards traditional foods. I did recently get a blender and I've been making smoothies and I like being able to mix all kinds of goodies in there (greens, flax, coconut oil). Right after I was diagnosed, I was at a farmer's market and got a Kris Carr type juice and I promptly decided that carrot/wheatgrass/beet type juice is just not my thing!! My big thing right now is just trying to find the time to get off my butt and exercise. I'm sticking with walking for now, but I need to be more active than I am.

[Suzmama]

New Kris Carr book...that is so exciting!! I am so interested in the nutrition as well as the whole health approach. Anyone have a water purifier? Any good juice ideas? Today I did the one with celery, chard, cuke and carrot...it was good!

[abomgardner417]

EFmom - you responded to my post about cancer when I was first diagnosed and helped me out a ton - Thank You! Sounds like we had the exact same treatment except that I just couldn't handle the Tamoxifen. The side effects made me want to die or kill someone. I'm premenopausal so I can't take anything else and my onc wasn't too big on suppressing the ovaries. She did suggest having them out but I just do not want to go through those se's at my age.

oiseau - since I'm getting divorced I don't plan on having more kids, but who knows what will happen or who I will meet in the future! I would be a little nervous about it because my breast cancer was hormone positive. I've heard that pregnancy would protect against more bc and I've heard that the surge of hormones would fuel it...I don't think anyone really knows for sure. No docs mentioned breast feeding from the radiated breast, but I think they all assumed I was done having kids!

suzmama - I don't think I really do much that's different in terms of nutrition than what most moms do here. Avoid the white stuff and processed foods, avoid sugar/sweets, minimal dairy (because it doesn't agree with me anyway). I just try to eat organic and upped my veggies/fruits and whole grains. I don't like meat a whole lot but I have some a couple times a week. Love my beans! And I avoid estrogenic foods and alcohol since the cancer was hormone positive. My ND had me on a strict elimination diet once treatment was done and I couldn't have eggs, dairy, citrus, nightshade veggies, gluten, soy, corn, caffeine, alcohol, or chocolate. THAT was nearly impossible!! But I felt so much better afterward and lost a ton of weight. I love smoothies and veg juice...the wheatgrass not so much!

[EFmom]

Originally Posted by oiseau

I got Crazy Sexy Cancer but it totally wasn't my thing. ... Right after I was diagnosed, I was at a farmer's market and got a Kris Carr type juice and I promptly decided that carrot/wheatgrass/beet type juice is just not my thing!! My big thing right now is just trying to find the time to get off my butt and exercise. I'm sticking with walking for now, but I need to be more active than I am.

Yeah, I had a well-meaning friend who kept bringing me the wheatgrass juice blends. One look at the wheatgrass concoctions made me way more nauseous than chemo ever did. If I was going to drink that stuff, it would have to come with a side of Zofran and a Kytril drip. I finally had to lock my office door after repeatedly asking her to stop to no avail.

[Letitia]

Hi Mamas,

I was really glad to see this thread. I am day 4 of my last cycle of chemo for breast cancer. I start radiation soon. It's all happened so fast.

DP and I have had really good support from our families and from our friends in this area, but this has still been so hard. I struggle with anxiety and crankiness. I'm planning to take a mind-body stress reduction course that focuses on meditation, but it's so hard to see having the time to meditate and exercise with 2 kids under 4. Going to try anyway.

I miss my old assumption that I would be around for my kids as they grew up. I can see now that even before cancer I couldn't have known that for sure, but I still miss it.

[EFmom]

Letitia, congrats on being almost done with chemo! I found radiation to be pretty easy in comparison. It was just a pain to have to go there every day, but the treatment itself wasn't bad for me. I hope it's a breeze for you!

[Suzmama]

Letitia, woo hoo for your being almost done with chemo! Radiation was not bad at all for me either. I hope it will be a breeze for you! There is so much hope nowadays that we can hang on to that positive Mamas!

[abomgardner417]

Letitia - You made it!!! I remember clearly the feeling of finally being done with chemo...such a weight off! The girls are right, rads was a breeze, just a pain in the rear to go to everyday.
I can totally relate to the assumption that you'd grow old. I was so healthy before dx that I was super confident that I would live to be at least 100. What a shock to realize that we're not invincible, but then nobody is!
It is hard to get meditation and exercise in with little ones and I don't have a perfect schedule, but I manage somehow (my twins are 4 and were 3 during my treatment). I haven't meditated in awhile but I normally do it when I put my boys to bed if I'm not too tired, which is most nights (being tired that is!). I didn't really start exercising until well after rads and Herceptin were done. I took walks and did gentle yoga but didn't start going to the gym until about 3 months ago. We were able to do a lot of hiking the past couple months too, which is my favorite thing.
The stress reduction class should help you a ton. I started a meditation class around the time I started radiation and, in addition to relieving stress, that's what really helped me power through the rest of treatment and gave me confidence that I might just live to 100 anyway!

[prairiemommy]

Hey, I don't come to MDC much anymore but a friend pointed me to this thread.

I have Stage IIIa breast cancer and just had my first round of chemo two weeks ago. I had a mastectomy in September and had 12 lymph nodes out, 11 of which were positive for cancer (which is not a clear margin). So I am having aggressive chemo and will have radiation afterwards, of course.

I have four kids ages, 12, 10, 7, and 3 and I SAHM full-time and homeschool my 10 yo. I nursed through my mastectomy (it's the only reason they didn't take my other breast - it's cancer-free but I have a super high history of early age breast cancer and they will take it next summer) and he nursed up until the last night before I had chemo. He would still like to nurse and asks every night but I have to say no. It has been tough finding enough help as we don't have family in the city and I am unable to lift my 3 year old at all (mastectomy obvs on one side and 10 lb weight limit on the other due to the picc line).

I'm always sorry to hear there are more people with cancer out there but glad you all seem to be doing well.

[ACsMom]

Originally Posted by oiseau

I'm not a mama yet, but I'm a cancer survivor (I hate that word too!). I'm 6mo. out from Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had 6 mo of chemo and about a month of radiation. I'm still dealing with side effects from treatment and it sucks (mostly cognitive issues....that resulted in me getting terminated from my job).
I'm counting down the months til I can TTC. My treatment most likely didn't affect my fertility, but my breasts were partially in my radiation field and no one can really say how that might affect breastfeeding. It's one of those things that doesn't get addressed much because I think there just aren't many other women in the same situation (young adult cancer patient + somewhat militant about breastfeeding). I've spoken with a friend (who I met through MDC) who is also a cancer survivor about trying to compile some fertility/breastfeeding info for other women in our situation (she has one child, but hope to have more). Are any of the rest of you still hoping to have anymore children? Or have you had children after cancer treatment?

I got Crazy Sexy Cancer but it totally wasn't my thing. I'm pretty big on natural foods, leaning towards traditional foods. I did recently get a blender and I've been making smoothies and I like being able to mix all kinds of goodies in there (greens, flax, coconut oil). Right after I was diagnosed, I was at a farmer's market and got a Kris Carr type juice and I promptly decided that carrot/wheatgrass/beet type juice is just not my thing!! My big thing right now is just trying to find the time to get off my butt and exercise. I'm sticking with walking for now, but I need to be more active than I am.

I had cancer treatment before children. I had non-Hodgkin's, in 2004 when I was 34 years old. Did chemo. Six months after chemo ended I found out I was pregnant with my 1st. We had not been trying, because we were told it would be at least a year before my fertility returned after chemo. I had not had a period or anything, so we were being lax about b.c. and...oops! Very happy oops. When we started trying for a second child, that's when the fertility problems kicked in, but we managed to get pregnant naturally anyway (I drank a metric ton of wheatgrass juice for a few months!) Anyway, I really try to stay healthy now and eat as organic and veg as I can. I'm sending out prayers and healthy vibes to those of you going through treatment right now. You will beat this. Love and good health to you.

Good thread. There are a lot of us out here, unfortunately, and we need each other!

[oiseau]

ACsMom-I'd be really interested to hear about your pregnancy 6mo out from chemo. How did your health care providers react? I'm 6mo. out right now and I still feel so exhausted and cruddy all the time.

[Letitia]

Suzmama, EFmom and Abomgardner,

Thank you! I was feeling kind of down when I posted before. I was apprehensive about radiation in the beginning of this, although I am much less so now. Now I just want to know the daily schedule and get on with things. I am really looking forward to going back out into the world, which I couldn't really do during chemo because my counts were so low. I also didn't really start to feel like I was "done" with chemo until the usual (for me) side effects of that last infusion started to ebb. But I do feel done now. Yahoo. If it makes any sense, it's been a little scary to finish the chemo, but I am so glad it's over.

Prariemommy,

I wish I could come lift for you. I hated the physical limitations. I have a port, not a PICC, so I only had to wait until my mastectomies had healed enough to lift my kids. That time does come. I was kind of amazed that healing was possible during chemo, and I'm sure it wasn't as fast as it would have been without the chemo, but it happened.

My daughter was not quite 3-1/2 when I was diagnosed and had my surgery, and she was also still nursing. We are a 2-mom family and my partner nursed our son, who had just turned 2. I hated weaning my daughter, but I did that after my biopsy. That was very hard for me as well as her - I loved nursing. Thankfully she had been slowing down a lot on her own - a year earlier would have been much rougher. I let her suck on my arms until chemo, and my partner nursed her a little bit too. That was back in June/July. I don't think she's asked in a couple months.

Good luck with chemo.

[prairiemommy]

Thanks Letitia. It is hard and he's been having a horrible time weaning. I weaned him cold-turkey the night before chemo and he keeps thinking it will be like the bone scan contrast and leave my body fast so he can nuse again. So he asks every night.

My hair is falling out today.

Also, weird question - did water start to taste like soap as you went through chemo? I'm having trouble getting it i all of a sudden.

[oiseau]

prairiemommy- One of my biggest problems with chemo was the awful taste in my mouth and the nasty smell of my sweat/urine/body for a few days after treatment. I generally found that right after treatments, I'd have to stick with drinking strongly flavored juices (grape, cherry and blackberry were my go-tos) over water. Just drinking plain water made it worse.

Letitia-Best wishes with rads. It was nice to have the daily routine of radiation and the staff at my doctor's office was super nice, so it was nice to see them every day! Also, I had pretty bad radiation burns in my armpits and the only thing I found to help heal them was this: Tortuga Lotion. It was recommended to me by another cancer survivor mama and I swear, it worked miracles! All the "normal" recommendations like Aquaphor and aloe just made the burns worse. Hopefully, you won't even have to deal with any burns, but if you do, I highly recommend the Tortuga lotion! (i have no affiliation with them, it just worked so well and I wish I'd known about it sooner!)

[abomgardner417]

prairiemommy - I so wish I could come to help you too! How many more chemos do you have? My parents were a huge help, but still, they had full-time jobs and lives too, so while they were a great blessing, I still could have used more. I keep saying I'm going to start a child care service that's free for moms who are going through chemo or any other serious health issues. But being a single mom, I don't know how I would support myself and my kids if I'm offering free services, lol!
Water did start to taste nasty. I drank about a gallon on the day of chemo - during and after it because I knew the next day it would taste like foot fungus. I started drinking Vitamin Water and Coconut Water until I could handle plain water again.

Letitia - I was so scared of radiation! I looked for every way possible to get out of doing it but looking back, it's like...What was I so afraid of? It's a little unnerving at first but it quickly becomes routine.

ouisea - I wish I had known about the Tortuga lotion. I wasn't too burnt, just mainly red and itchy and ended up using the Rx lotion they gave me, which I'm sure had nasty parabens in it, but at that point I didn't care. Aloe and emu oil didn't work real well for me.

I did take a supplement during rads called Ultimate Antiox...can't remember the brand, but I swear it's why I had so little se's.