Breast Cancer and lyme?

Hi! Its been a long time since I posted here, mainly because not much has changed. DH, kids and I are all still being treated for Lyme and co-inf's. Aside from some tweaks in meds, -- same old, same old.

But I did have a change-- I found out last month that I have breast cancer-- very early, thank goodness!! I am having a lumpectomy in early March and then will be followed with radiation and hormone therapy.

Do any of you have any experience with both illnesses? I see my llmd on Thursday and my BC surgeon def. wants me to talk to her about this. But jeez- I don't even know where to begin. ;)

My biggest concerns are how my treatments will work together and how my body is going to be able to handle it all. I have a very high RA factor and who the heck knows how my immune system will respond.

I would love to hear any advice!!

thanks and hope that all of the lyme community is doing well!

Yes. I have had both. I got very sick after treatment, and that's when my Lyme got activated. Then, I had Lyme again in March, with a full-blown bull's-eye rash. I also had mono. when I was in my 20s.

HOWEVER, having said that, chemo. is much worse than radiation. I'm never going to do chemo. again, but I would consider radiation. Surgery is surgery, and most of us are going to need surgery at some point.

I tried to have an ovarian ablation, but the shots hurt too much.

I think I did do hormone therapy, and I think it's necessary. I don't know about long-term side effects, except that your estrogen will go down, and if you're young, you might go into premature menopause. I would recommend taking either DHEA or testosterone (or the progesterone spray you can get from health-food store). Your doctor may not approve DHEA. I don't take it every day.

You might have hot flashes!

I think you will have to do all of those things, regardless, otherwise the cancer could spread.

It's really good you caught it early; that means it's very treatable.

Margaret

Oh yes, that was a good movie.

Breast cancer is no longer considered a death sentence, not at all.

I had a more advanced stage; it had spread to one lymph node, which was removed, and I've been recovered for 13 years.

Just do the treatments.

M