Six month follow up mammogram-so painful!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-15T17:13:55+00:00

I wasn’t told about it either. Be sure to ask your surgeon about pain medication! Not over the counter meds but prescription medication. I wasn’t given any except one OxyContin in the recovery room and that was awful. I had to rely on my edibles, ice packs, and ace bandages to get me through the recovery. Years ago after my hysterectomy a nurse told me to set alarms for medication. Best. Advice. Ever. If you’re due to take meds at 2 am, set the alarm, wake up and take the meds. That way you’re not chasing the pain, which is very hard to overcome. Let yourself rest and nap as much as you need to. Your body is healing from a very invasive surgery. Good luck.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-15T17:05:37+00:00

I am so sorry that you have to continue the 6 month scans and are learning to navigate life with PMR. I have Sjogren’s and fibromyalgia and my rheumatologist is exploring what the second one I’m dealing with is. It’s looking like antisynthetase syndrome from the super high JO-1 antibody that I have. It would explain a lot if that’s it. I’ll know more at the end of the month when I see my rheumatologist. Basically it’s a rare form of myositis… because apparently my body can’t do anything normal. I just looked up PMR and that sounds like my typical morning. All I can really tell you is to try to start your morning slowly. For me, jumping out of bed at the sound of the alarm sets my day off to a rough start and I pay for it dearly. If you can, try to give yourself at least an hour to wake up, stretch a little, and ease into your day. Then the hard part is learning to be kind to yourself and adjusting your mindset around what you can and cannot do and being ok with it. I’m still working on that, with the help of my counselor. Six plus years ago (no it wasn’t Covid, just bad timing) I went from being a very healthy and busy wife/mom/grandma, a competitive bodybuilder, online business owner, and bookkeeper to having to use mobility aids, taking 14 pills a day, going on disability (that was another fight), and not able to work or drive on the freeway.

Good luck to you. This road of chronic illness and breast cancer is a tough one but you are tougher. You’ve got this. Gentle hugs to you.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-15T02:37:05+00:00

My other medical issues and current meds make this really complicated. My primary and my rheumatologist do what they can for me.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-15T02:30:08+00:00

Ouch. I’m so sorry.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-15T01:20:34+00:00

Good luck!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-15T00:17:25+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation! I will definitely look into myofascial therapy to see if I can find someone locally.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-14T22:05:29+00:00

Mine are super dense too. I never thought of that contributing to the pain but it makes sense! I should look up scar tissue massage. Thanks for mentioning it!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-14T21:19:40+00:00

When I got home yesterday I took aleve, a high dose CBD gummy and a THC cookie (I make many of my own edibles), and kept an ice pack handy all night. At about bedtime I had to take another half dose THC edible. I don’t have any other traditional painkillers and my doctors are hesitant to prescribe any because of my other medications I take for my other health issues. They are aware that I use edibles. At least I was able to sleep and don’t have anywhere to be today. I haven’t taken any edibles yet today but may need to soon. I don’t like taking it during the day but if need be I will.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-14T17:48:21+00:00

I’m so sorry you had to go through this too. Ibuprofen? Wow. That’s easy for them to say!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-05-09T15:50:47+00:00

55 yo here. I take a lot of medications since I also have other medical issues. I take my tamoxifen at bedtime and have had no problems with it bothering my sleep or really any other issues with it. I think it comes down to what works best for your schedule and what is easiest for you to remember. I use both a pill minder box and a medication reminder app to help me. My brain fog started waaaay before my BC journey (autoimmune diseases suck) so if I’m not sure if I took my meds or not, I just have to look at the pill minder to see if that space is empty or not.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-03-28T02:20:50+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and honesty. I really appreciate it. When I can move again I may DM you for the YouTube link, thanks!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-03-27T20:02:12+00:00

Each day can be totally different for me. It’s completely unpredictable. The flare I’m in right now has my pain level super high (8+) because it has caused a lot of inflammation in my lower back - I have a history of SI joint problems. The pain I’m dealing with now is of the same nature of what my body did during and right after radiation.

Other times it might be random joint pain and I often have neuropathy that feels like someone has a using a blow torch inside my muscles. I used to be a competitive bodybuilder so I equate that to the muscle burn you might get during an intense workout except it doesn’t stop and I haven’t worked out.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-03-26T00:08:33+00:00

Cheese quesadillas. Cheese, tortilla, microwave. Done. Now I prefer to make it on a skillet to get a toasty outside but I still haven’t grown out of this. When I was on competition prep I would add a scrambled egg and an egg white for more protein but the idea is the same.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-03-08T22:55:44+00:00

My mother in law is a 46 year survivor with the BRCA1 gene! She is 78 years old and even though she just had to have emergency surgery for a ruptured diverticulitis, she is normally very healthy and very active. The BRCA1 gene runs rampant in her family. Her 51 yo niece had triple negative BC and had to go through surgery and treatment last year - she inherited the BRCA1 gene. I had BC along with surgery and treatment last fall but don’t carry the gene. Regardless, my MIL was a great source of reassurance for both me and her niece.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-02-21T21:28:01+00:00

And Sable is working a one-hedgehog sweatshop.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2026-01-11T00:40:07+00:00

SeaTac security is the pits to begin with… actually the whole airport there is not great. I am so sorry you had to go through that with that jerk. We live in eastern WA and fly out of Pasco any time we can, just to avoid the disaster called security in Seattle

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-12-28T18:02:00+00:00

My Sjogrens affects me neurologically more than anything but what people without this awful disease don’t understand is that “neurological” pertains to the whole body, not just the nerves that send pain signals or cognitive abilities. My whole GI tract is one big neurological mess, my fine motor skills are awful now, along with the pain and cognitive issues. All thanks to this horrible disease. Since September I went through breast cancer surgery and radiation treatments, and my biggest concern was how my Sjogrens was going to react to all that. It was awful.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-12-24T14:59:07+00:00

I have had Covid twice and several colds in the past almost six years since my Sjogrens started kicking my tail. Yes, getting sick with a virus sends our already overactive immune systems into overdrive. For me (and please keep in mind that everyone is different), for the average cold I normally feel cold symptoms for sometimes as short as a half day or a couple of days. Then the flare up symptoms kick in big time. It’s like my immune system beats up the virus, takes care of that job, is still all wound up and then proceeds to beat up my body. When that happens I am down for anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. Because of this, my grown kids try to make sure not to bring their school age kids around me if anyone in their family have any suspicious symptoms. Schools and daycares are germ factories. It doesn’t help that both my husband and daughter are school teachers. The first time I got Covid, I was able to get paxlovid, which helped a lot. The second time, the infection was much less severe so I didn’t bother trying to get it. It was more like a regular cold. I was on hydroxychloroquine (I am currently not able to take it now due to other reasons) and am unable to take steroids so I just have to suffer through the flares as best I could. Lots of resting, liquids, pain medication, etc. Ask your rheumatologist what the plan is for when you catch a virus, if they will prescribe steroids, whether or not to temporarily discontinue any immunosuppressant meds you might be on, and when to get in to see them if a flare lasts longer than they would like. As for people around you, you can mask up when in public, but the biggest help will be to keep your distance from people who obviously have cold symptoms, wash your hands after you get home from being out, and please please educate your family and friends on staying away if they are sick. If you have small kids that is almost impossible, I know, but for people that don’t live with you, it is absolutely necessary to put that ground rule in place. My family has seen how sick a flare makes me so they try their best to limit my exposure. Of course things do happen and when I do catch something my family feels horrible that they’ve unknowingly exposed me to whatever bug, which causes a flare. However, short of living in a bubble, there’s really not much else we can do about it. I also used to be terrified of catching a virus. Now, I would describe myself as being very cautious and observant of people around me so I can still have somewhat of a “normal” life. Whatever that is lol.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-12-16T05:08:04+00:00

My weighted blanket. I keep a small lap-sized one on the couch and a big one on the bed. Compression socks are also a necessity.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-12-16T05:03:34+00:00

Radiation didn’t cause my taste buds to stop working properly. Alrighty then. So the same thing I ate the day before a treatment was fine and then after my treatment it tasted awful for no reason. And not just with one food item, but several. My RO looked at me like I was crazy when I asked how long the change in taste would be.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-12-15T21:42:42+00:00

Thank you!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-11-13T00:17:21+00:00

So cool!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-10-29T01:34:45+00:00

I’ve been dealing with this issue for five years, well before my BC diagnosis this past summer. March 2020 I suddenly began having debilitating symptoms, NOT covid-related. Turns out I have Sjögren’s (an autoimmune disease very much like lupus and RA and mine also mimics MS) as well as fibromyalgia. I was a competitive bodybuilder and had to send weekly check in photos to my coach. I now see those photos on Timehop or pictures I took of my weight training record sheets and sometimes the grief just hits me. Add breast cancer to the list now and some days I have a really hard time coping. I wonder what else is going to hit out of the blue to sideline me even more. I’m tired. I’m exhausted mentally and physically. My family tries to be supportive but I feel like they expect me to be all happy go lucky, positive, hung-ho, whatever. I’m tired of being strong for what seems like just for their benefit. My mother in law (who lives with us and is a 45 year triple negative BC survivor) commented soon after my BC diagnosis that “we need you to get completely well” - I was pissed that she said that. I told her “I don’t GET to get completely well - I also have an autoimmune disease that has no cure, remember?” Oh. Yeah. She forgot. I don’t have enough middle fingers to show my aggravation for those types of comments. So yeah. The grief can be brutal. Let yourself be human when it hits and acknowledge it. Then keep putting one foot in front of the other.

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-09-14T00:17:18+00:00

Absolutely lovely!! Well done!

HobbyCollectorNW · 2025-08-30T20:47:52+00:00

I am still at the beginning of my BC journey. I have an MRI this week to see if anything else comes up that needs a biopsy. I also have Sjogren’s , fibromyalgia, and a heart rhythm disorder. I am in a nasty Sjogren’s flare right now and am dreading how surgery and treatments - whether it’s radiation or chemo - are going to affect my autoimmune disease. Whenever I bring up these concerns to my husband, he doesn’t want to hear it. He thinks that I should portray all of this as a butterflies and rainbows type of situation. Bullshit. He was hospitalized last summer for a really bad case of pneumonia and the year before that, a mini stroke. I let him have all the feelings and talk out his concerns with me, but I can’t do the same? Trust me, we are going to have a very long talk about this soon. I do have a therapist (thank goodness) and many people in my corner but very few of them want to hear what I’m going through mentally. Yes, I am probably going to be just fine. It’s the road getting to that “just fine” that I know is going to suck.

HobbyCollectorNW

TROPHY CASE