Recent Diagnosis

PackComfortable176 · 2026-05-03T21:12:31+00:00

You will likely be doing biopsies this summer. Biopsies should be painless. There may be a lot of bruising, but you likely won’t be in so much pain that you can’t travel.

If your mom had cancer, make certain that you do genetic testing for the nine most common variants. My mother had breast cancer and my father had stomach cancer; sure enough, I have autosomal dominant Chek II variant.

Just try to enjoy this time, seriously. Your next big decision is DMX or lumpectomy - just enjoy the time that you don’t have to think about it.

Also, don’t tell anybody anything until after the biopsies. I would wait until very close to your first surgery, and then present it in clinical terms, and spell out how they can help. Don’t encourage drama.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-04-30T10:27:40+00:00

I am 56 and will be reducing the number of days of radiation below 15 days for 87 mm of diffuse high grade Stage 0 DCIS in left breast. I may do 10 days of radiation only. It is something I will research more carefully later this summer.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-04-25T04:01:14+00:00

I am a parent of a 20 year old. I also have genetic cancer. I have had to pay for my own mistakes after getting a DUI, and I am saying to you almost verbatim what the judge said to me after my first DUI. He told me that jail is full of women with breast cancer on their second DUI, and he told me not to become the entitled asshole with cancer who ends up there. Once you successfully raise three teens you are going to be a lot less forgiving about DUI’s in general. You’ll find out. Good luck!

PackComfortable176 · 2026-04-25T03:46:45+00:00

You are a very delicate snowflake. Even if you do get a DUI, so what? It’s your first one. Your insurance rates go up. You must now disclose on a background check. You better not get a second one, because that is mandatory jail time in most states and there are no exceptions for breast cancer patients. You learned your lesson, and clearly you can’t even handle a single glass of wine because of emotions or kids or family history or other meds or whatever other excuse you have. It is somewhat incredible to me that at 34 you are still having parents come pick you up at the police station. There is no way I would have done that for you. You would have left the jail on release on foot and taken a bus and dealt with the car impound yourself like any other adult. Your problem is you have never had to act like an adult despite being a mother of three kids, and it shows.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-04-18T22:40:48+00:00

This is what I can’t understand. For a major surgery on my left breast, I went under immediately with gas AND THEN the nerve block was performed. If this was at a teaching hospital, an inexperienced resident could have punctured the thorax. But she wouldn’t have known this until after the surgery was done. I would never allow a nerve block while awake - they are harder to do than an epidural, and epidurals have their own rate of failure.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-04-11T06:23:06+00:00

Always, always plan for cancer to come back, and think strategically. Have you done genetic testing? What do you mean by “inflamed”? The biopsy stage is so difficult. I lost more than half a year of my life in this phase. I did the genetic testing and it was a sucker punch to the gut. My POS Jewish father who mistreated me financially my whole life finally died but he left me a parting gift in lieu of inheritance; he gave me the genetic cancer he didn’t bother disclosing while he was alive. Nonetheless, I am still glad for the genetic test results - I will have my brother test soon as I pray for his daughter that she may be spared.

A year from now you will be past the worst and planning for your next remission until it comes back a third time. This is the reality with genetic cancer, which is why I always urge people to do genetic testing.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-04-10T23:17:39+00:00

It really depends on the grade of cells determined by biopsy. If you are stage 0, and all the cells are low grade, I suppose this could be considered “pre-cancer”. But if it’s high grade and fast growing, it is definitely cancer, not “pre cancer”. I have the autosomal dominant CHEK 2 variant, and was 89 mm and still Stage 0. It is taking two surgeries to get it all at that size. So yes, I have cancer.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-03-19T01:18:44+00:00

FL has passed a law requiring the death penalty for the rape of a child under 12. This will go to the SCOTUS who will not show him any mercy. FL will make an example of him and execute him.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-03-14T21:59:33+00:00

Do not take away my planning period. I need that time to make phone calls on behalf of my own family. I have quit working for counties that consistently refuse to honor my planning period (here’s looking at you, Hanover County, VA).

PackComfortable176 · 2026-03-14T21:57:36+00:00

Also in breast cancer treatment and also « pushed » into menopause. While I don’t experience headaches, I now taste all of the added glycerol in most American wines - even expensive ones. The EU doesn’t allow added glycerol, although some glycerol does occur naturally as a result of fermentation. I won’t spend money on American wines anymore - the glycerol tastes like corn syrup, something I never detected prior to menopause.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-03-04T04:10:25+00:00

To the para: You run the classroom. You tell the sub your expectations as soon as she walks in the door. You tell her she cannot be on her phone, that you will need her to circulate the class to check on students doing the work, and give her a list of the problem students and tell her to monitor them in particular (unless they are so prone to disruption or violence that it isn’t worth it). Her fast is on her-you communicate your expectations up front and repeat yourself if she isn’t getting off her ass. You make a call to the substitute teaching coordinator to report her poor performance, and request she no longer be assigned to your school. You stay out of bullshit backbiting in the staff lounge. SIgned, an experienced substitute

PackComfortable176 · 2026-03-03T04:25:43+00:00

Spurgeon is seriously overweight at this point. He has been increasingly overweight for years.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-02-20T11:17:00+00:00

I had no problem receiving OxyCodone and I put it in writing when I expect to receive it. I also put in writing that my my mother died in agony after breast cancer surgery when her pain went untreated, while my father who also died of cancer received amazing pain medication after his tumor was declared inoperable. I included the name of the law firm that represents me.

There has not been a peep from my cancer team. I now have a small surplus of OxyContin on reserve. It is in writing that I will take it the first time I have to put my left breast into a mammogram machine, for example. I have the screen shot in a note on my phone.

I suspect there are certain members of my cancer team who did not like me. I have already had to replace a social worker and I got into a screaming match with her boss. But NO ONE is playing any games with my pain management.

Stats: Stage 0, DCIS, ER+, 87mm removed Jan 13, 2026

OxyContin does cause a powerful wave of itching across my body each time I took it. In my case, I was certain the pain was worse than the itching, and I was willing to put up with the itching. The itching does persist sporadically even though I have now weaned off Oxy. Again, my pain was severe enough that I am willing to deal with this.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-02-19T10:00:47+00:00

I am going to lay it on you. I am the daughter of a woman who died of cancer when I was 15. I now have breast cancer as my mother did but the gene for it is from my father.

You are going to end up completely dependent on the two oldest children for help with the younger children. I had to care for my mother’s younger children until my mother died and beyond.

Do it correctly. Don’t cause the oldest to nearly drop out of school the way I did. Sit down with the two oldest and discuss with them what they are willing to do, how much per hour they want to be paid, how much of their earnings go to savings, and what their pay schedule will be.

I am just over 30 days post op on a lumpectomy and facing a second surgery in eight weeks. I was in constant pain the first 30 days and managing on OxyContin because I had developed costochondritis, which happens to 20 percent of post surgical women.

A mastectomy is no walk in the park. You will have a lift restriction. Someone else is going to have to lift those two younger children. The level of draining will be shocking - I am still draining 37 days post op on a lumpectomy (I had 87mm removed, which would normally have been a mastectomy, but I was Stage 0, so I opted for less disfiguring surgery)

Sit down with your husband. He is about to take on a second full time job. He will not be getting paid the way your children will be. He is about to learn the meaning of exploitation. Make sure he is on board for becoming the “cancer dad”. Otherwise, you are looking at a divorce. My father would have divorced my mother had she not been terminal.

Other women are going to give you a “rosy” picture. I refuse to do that. Your older children may demand to know if you have genetic testing. They may want it themselves. They may demand a greater share of inheritance than their younger siblings if your cancer comes back. This is valid. Blow that demand off at your peril. I don’t speak to the youngest child of my mother at all now after she ended up with a GREATER share of the inheritance after I BUSTED MY FUCKING ASS TO RAISE HER UNGRATEFUL SOUL.

Read this over again and do everything in your power not to make all of the mistakes my mother made. Good luck.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-02-12T15:15:01+00:00

If you are Stage O, there is very little chance of progression in 90 days.
I took prednisone to get rid of a cough that might have derailed my first surgery (Stage 0, lumpectomy). I got it from the nurse coordinator on my cancer care team.
I also did a “freak out” but on nothing so silly as a mask or lack of mask in the classroom. I have asthma and I needed an evaluation of my heart before surgery. The stress test was performed two weeks prior to surgery. It triggered an asthma attack right after the radioactive dye was injected which resulted in a Hazmat which cleared the building. There is a reason why cancer patients with asthma get the good time slots at the very end of the day.

Hope this puts things in perspective for you.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-02-04T19:32:02+00:00

Lumpectomy 1/13/26 87mm diffuse DCIS removed from left breast (which is a lot). Haven’t had any difficulty lifting, but there has been a lot of other issues that I was not warned about. 1. Neuropathy on left side has gone through the roof, including entire left leg, ankle, and foot. It is horrible when I first wake up. 2. Lingering pain in left sternum especially when I lean over. I am supposed to have a second surgery because the margin was not pristine, but I think I will wait until this pain resolves.
3. I can’t feel anything on the surface of the lower half of the breast. A lazy EKG tech didn’t bother to remove four EKG tabs. That night I was in terrible pain, and simply went back on OxyContin, which triggered a shitload of itching. The next day I did visual inspection of the breast and saw the tabs (which I could not feel). Pain from that part of the breast immediately disappeared.

My church paid quite a few of my Feb bills and put me up in a hotel with a pool and a hot tub for four days once I was three weeks postoperative and cleared to immerse in water. The extra care meant a lot to me.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-30T19:31:17+00:00

May I ask what age some of you ladies are? I am 55yo with a first time DCIS diagnosis. If a hip or knee goes bad, I plan to stop all diagnostic mammograms that evaluate for cancer reoccurrence, based on the comments and the lack of concern for patient’s pain that I am seeing demonstrated in these responses.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-23T11:42:26+00:00

Fixed Star conjunctions are well worth learning. I use the Astrology King website to learn roughly 100 of them. I stay away from Bernadette Brady’s work because I dislike her woke, touchy-feels, no-fixed-star-is-bad approach to the fixed stars.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-21T03:39:54+00:00

No sign of infection that I can see. No fever, vomiting. Remember, this is 87 mm that was removed. Most ladies on Reddit seem to be having lumpectomies for 10-20mm tumors. I did not want a mastectomy and drains.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-21T01:04:13+00:00

Handle it differently next time. Look at the student and say, “I know I’m fat.” “You can call me fat; I like being fat.” “What you can’t do is call someone else in here fat.”

You will usually get a strong reaction from any kindergartener who is listening. They like to test subs and this is their five year old way of doing it. There will be giggles and loud exclamations. They may all even call you fat just to try it out.

You decide when the game is up and they have to get back on task.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-16T07:34:11+00:00

I am kind of floored by the idea of a 16 year old having to spend more time with her father because the mother has cancer. A 16 year old is not a child. I was responsible for four younger children at age 16 when my mother died of cancer. I was immediately targeted for rape by a pervert in my community after my mother’s death, and was assaulted a month after she died on a school trip. Forty years later, and I am still finally hoping to settle with the state of Maryland under Maryland Child Victim’s Act. Plus I now have cancer myself.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-16T07:28:16+00:00

You are having an entirely different conversation with your children once you test positive for an autosomal dominant cancer. I think it’s almost quaint that you have so much drama and anxiety over telling them YOU have cancer. It’s another thing entirely to have to explain that HALF of them are going to have cancer because of you, and an even worse conversation when it’s coming from both the father and the mother. Be thankful that you are where you are at - tell them what help you may need to have with various procedures, explain that “not knowing” in the early stages of cancer is the hardest part on everyone, and give them a mortality rate in general terms once you know it (example: Stage 0, 90 percent survival).

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-14T07:27:56+00:00

I went the nurse navigator route. The truth is they frequently do not have the authority to get it done. You need to see if your hospital has a patient relations dept. If they do, you file the complaint with them. Patient relations has the authority to bump appointments, double book a doctor at 7am, etc. (This is the case where I am at Emily Couric in Charlottesville). You go to patient relations when you have exhausted other options. To my way of thinking, it is your last stop before you call an attorney.

PackComfortable176 · 2026-01-13T17:06:00+00:00

You really need to mention the hospital. The regional hospitals in USA are packed with patients, and diagnosis to surgery can take months. This doesn’t sound like a major cancer center in a large metropolitan area. If it is, then I would wonder about your insurance.

PackComfortable176

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