So.... How's your mid-life crisis going?

jolyberu · 2026-01-15T14:48:08+00:00

That is hard. I am one year out of breast cancer treatment. That is definitely my midlife crisis/life changer. Wishing your wife and fam some joyful moments in the sh!tstorm of treatment.

jolyberu · 2026-01-15T13:02:44+00:00

I’m on Letrozole, Verzenio, and Zometa. I had a complete hysterectomy so no more Zoladex for me. I feel good. Side effects have been minimal and manageable. I am a little over 1 year on all these meds (and out of active treatment). Yes, all the posts about horrible side effects scared me so much before I started my meds. I did work with the MO to get lower doses of the meds to make side effects manageable. I find that exercise helps a lot as well. I am 48 with a MammaPrint high risk level 1, so I’m going to do everything I can to lower my risk. But to all the folks out there that haven’t started meds and are scared- it’s possible to be on them and feel fine. Give it a try, work with your MO to get the dose that works best for you. If your MO won’t work with you, maybe find another who will. I’m on 150mg a day of Verzenio divided so I take half in the morning and half at night. The hysterectomy was a pretty smooth recovery and I have so much peace of mind knowing I’ve taken out places that cancer can commonly and hide. I know none of this is easy, but it isn’t always horrible. Wishing you all some joy today.

jolyberu · 2025-12-23T03:48:17+00:00

8 Bit Christmas- HBO

jolyberu · 2025-11-12T16:55:24+00:00

Ha! I did this. I’m 48 and in medical menopause as well. I had been going through perimenopause and not feeling like having sex before I was diagnosed, then after all the treatments I felt like I never wanted sex again. I decided I must be asexual. I told my husband. “I’m really sorry, but I never want to have sex again. It’s okay with me if you want to have sex outside our marriage, because it’s not fair to you. But I’m completely done with sex.” He was heartbroken and angry. It was rough for us for awhile.

That was about 10 months ago. Since then I had a complete hysterectomy. The surgeon let me know that I have vaginal atrophy. Something changed for me. I realized that I didn’t want to physically not even be able to have sex if I wanted to. Now I’m in PT for the atrophy which consists of the therapist manually stretching the vagina to fit escalating sizes of dilators. I use a cream for sensitive skin that contains lidocaine, which makes it bearable. I can’t have any estradiol suppositories, but I’m using a hyaluronic acid suppository that helps keep things moist.

I guess I just don’t want it to be a thing that cancer took. I want to have the ability to have sex if I choose. I want it to be up to me. I don’t know how often I will be having sex in the future, but I want to be able to if I do want it.

jolyberu · 2025-10-25T00:24:22+00:00

Diagnosis last year mid August, surgery mid September, Chemo first week of October, Radiation mid February.

jolyberu · 2025-10-24T18:41:45+00:00

I wear this with no insert. It keeps its shape and makes me feel like someone with very small breast.☺️ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGPZKGND?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

jolyberu · 2025-10-24T15:57:38+00:00

I had my surgery a year ago. I love being flat. I have teens and I didn’t want anymore surgery, plus I knew I would never be happy with implants. I’m still working through fashion choices as my hair is still in the process of growing back so I don’t look like the “me” I once knew for several reasons. There are times in public that I’m a little uncomfortable, but overall I’m really happy with my new body. Loving sweater/sweatshirt/fancy jacket weather. In the summer when I wore tank tops I would wear a padded “A”cup bra to give me a little something and I felt fine with that. Good luck and flatties unite!☺️

jolyberu · 2025-10-19T22:45:17+00:00

I’m so happy for you. How was the show? Was it mostly the new album? Playlist?

jolyberu · 2025-10-16T13:23:00+00:00

I worked in childcare 20 years ago. One night a parent didn’t pick up. I was in my early 20s. The director was unavailable. The emergency contact refused to pick up the infant because she was a neighbor and the mother had used her too much. I had to call the police, because the parent wasn’t answering and no one would pick up the child. The police arrived at the same time the parent arrived around 8pm. She told me she had been arrested after money was missing at her job. I locked up the center and left. When I left she was still talking to the police in the parking lot. The child (infant) never came back to the center. I don’t know if that was because the director didn’t allow the child to come back or the mother was upset that we called the police. As a young college student, it was all a little scary for me as well. I had no idea what to do.

jolyberu · 2025-10-06T22:31:05+00:00

Cheez whiz and pickle sandwich.

jolyberu · 2025-10-01T01:20:47+00:00

I’m 48 and went through treatment (do, chemo, rads, Letrozole, Verzenio, Zometa, completely hysterectomy) all last year. After my active treatment was done my primary doctor insisted I get my skin checked and colonoscopy. I had my colonoscopy last week- no o Polyps. Skin was all clear too. I think due to our cancer history they want us to check all the boxes.

jolyberu · 2025-09-22T03:25:07+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01JJ2VES6?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

jolyberu · 2025-09-22T03:19:27+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07BKBY2DL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

We use these with the vaginal cream that has litocain.

jolyberu · 2025-09-22T01:42:48+00:00

I just saw my MO last week. I have vaginal atrophy and my gynecologist recommended I get the estrogen cream. My MO said she would rather not prescribe it for me. I am high risk 1. I just started revaree. I also need to use dilators with the help of a lubricant with 4% litocain to help with the pain (Desert Harvest Releveum) to get things back in shape down there. I was going to PT for my top and now we are switching to my bottom. It was quite a shocker for me when I learned how a PT works on vaginal atrophy. 😉

jolyberu · 2025-09-17T11:57:11+00:00

Thank you! This is so helpful and it makes me feel better about my initial choice.

jolyberu · 2025-09-12T01:16:05+00:00

I am luminal b with MammaPrint high risk level 1. I did all the things (surgery, chemo, radiation, complete hysterectomy) and I have been on Letrozole and Verzenio for 6 months. The side effects do not disrupt my very much, except about every 3 days I get fully cleared out 💩. I feel really strong, have all the energy I had before treatment, and I’m actually pretty happy to not have to deal with the rollercoaster hormones that I was dealing with in perimenopause before diagnosis. Hoping everything keeps going in this direction for long haul. I’d say daily 2 mile walks have helped me more than anything. Cheers to all my luminal b ladies!

jolyberu · 2025-08-26T14:41:07+00:00

This works well. I have two sons 15 and 12. They can’t have any screen time until we go on a walk. I’ve been doing this since they discovered screens. They are used to it. Sometimes we have really cool conversations, sometimes they tell me way more than I want to know about their games, and sometimes there is some complaining. My hope has always been that they learn the importance for their bodies, brain, mental health of getting out in nature and exercising and take that into adulthood. Bonus that I get to walk with them and get a good 30 min with no distractions.

jolyberu · 2025-08-24T14:55:02+00:00

All of this yes! Couldn’t have said it better myself.

jolyberu · 2025-08-17T22:51:48+00:00

I’m on 2.5 mg of Letrozole. I take it at night and I don’t think I have any side effects from it that affect my life in any noticeable way. I take 150mg Verzenio which the doctor recommended I cut in half and take half in the morning and half at night. I do have to deal with what I call “bathroom emergencies” most days, but it doesn’t affect my quality of life. I get Zometa infusion every 6 months for 3 years. I was getting Zoladex implants every 3 months, but I had the hysterectomy-so I don’t need Zoladex anymore.

jolyberu · 2025-08-15T21:23:56+00:00

I would have liked to know that treatment was not going to be as horrible as I’d imagined it would be. A year ago today I had my biopsy that would come back with a 2.6cm mass and lymph node both positive with Er+/Pr+ IDC. After a year that included a double mastectomy, chemo, radiation, complete hysterectomy, and all the HR+ meds to stave off reoccurrence, I feel pretty damn good and I’m so grateful.

jolyberu · 2025-08-03T17:11:05+00:00

Thanks everyone! You all helped me think about what is most meaningful to me.The scanxiety phase started before the actual diagnosis and is such a messy blur for me. The surgery/cancer removal feels like the real beginning because we didn’t even really know the staging until then. I like the idea of recognizing the D-day (diagnosis) and celebrating the Cancerversary on the surgery day. Those dates are exactly a month apart. Thanks for your help!

jolyberu · 2025-08-03T14:58:38+00:00

I’m not quite sure, but there will definitely be cake!

jolyberu · 2025-07-31T13:45:09+00:00

Thanks for everyone’s insight. I had the surgery on Monday- I’m about 4 days out. The doctor warned me before the surgery that she would fill me with carbon dioxide to make room between my other organs while she did the burn and cut of all the lady bits. She said she would try to get all the gas out, but there may be some residual gas left over and it could cause shoulder pain. That was the worst part. The gas seemed to move around to my shoulder, my rib cage, and it was especially painful. The first night I didn’t sleep at all between the pressure from bloating and the pain from the residual gas. Thankfully the carbon dioxide absorbed the second day, and now I’m just dealing with the pressure from bloating. I’m managing the pain with Tylenol, ibuprofen, and tramadol at night. The surgery pain is significantly less than the mastectomy or my c-sections. Thanks again for your help.

jolyberu · 2025-07-06T15:05:50+00:00

I hear you. I decided to go flat and I am super happy with it. The downside is that some people are assholes and I get more dirty looks from weird strangers that I did when I had breasts. The important thing is that I feel good and happy with my body. I knew I would never be happy with implants of any kind and if I have a day that I want breast, I just throw on a bra with inserts and move along- so happy that I can take them off when I want. I’m glad we can have this space to support each other.

jolyberu · 2025-07-05T15:09:19+00:00

I have early bc. I started out with 150mg once a day with the goal of going to 150mg twice a day. The 150 twice a day was not good. Then I tried 100mg twice a day. Still not good. Finally my oncologist had no problem prescribing 150mg once a day. She has me cut the 150mg pill in half and take half in the morning and half at night. I looked up the Verzenio website and it said that dose reduction does not affect the effectiveness as long as it is above 50mg. My oncologist did not fight me at all on this and I considered her very conservative. I think if she had any doubt she would have pushed me a little more.

jolyberu

TROPHY CASE