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Posted by sagebrush on 8/25/2003 from 205.188.208.108:

Am am in my early forties. Everyone says I look ten years younger. I'm thin, fit, smart and pretty. I've always taken good care of my health, and doctors are amazed at my blood profiles and blood pressure etc. But, I've been very tired over the last few years. Recently, someone listend and I got diagnosed with sleep apnea. At the same time they looked more closely at a cluster of microcalcifications that had been there for years. Now, two months later after multiple mammographies, ultrasounds, a stereotactic biopsy that resulted in advanced atypical intraductal and intralobular hyperplasia, and an excisional biopsy, I am trying to prepare myself for every eventuality. Why it's taken so long to do this I don't know, but part of it was that I am a single parent, busy and without a great support system. I had to basically leave all my belongings and go far from my home to stay with a friend who lived near good medical treatment. My breast is slightly swollen regardless of where I am in my cycle and is also slightly warmer than the other one. This sounds like inflammatory carcinoma. I saw the same the surgeon took out and it looked like the lobes were packed and round, but she evaded my questions about whether those were the lobes. I was awake for it and she whispered a few things to the assisting resident though she was speaking out loud most of the time. After first examining my breasts, she had asked me whether I was healthy, as though to think ahead about possible treatments. But, my fingernails have turned white over the past year as well, gradually losing the moons and changing. No one knows why but on the internet it seems that this is a renal issue or liver issue, probably renal. I have used hair color for 10 years but have stopped in the last two months. I could not afford organic food over the last two years but have taken vitamins and stayed thin, though not in as good of physical condition as before due to fatigue from some life trauma and the sleep apnea. I am a few hours from a major cancer center but a good hospital is closer and I could do my treatment there. I had hoped to get a diagnosis that wasn't quite cancer and get a bilateral prophylactic masectomy with immediate reconstruction with implants but when I read that inflammatory carcinoma patients had "ominous" prognoses, I realized that just surviving until my 10 year old went to college might be the challenge. He is a genius, years ahead in school, and needs to be homeschooled to meet his educational and health needs. No family is supportive. I need to hit this thing hard, even if it means going to Mexico as some physician acquaintaces have suggested. I want to develop a comprehensive program for myself and beat it. Any ideas?

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• Re: Looking for Best Treatments - Shelly Blechman   8/25/2003 (0)

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