Pregnancy after TNBC diagnosis

I am 2.5 years out from diagnosis and a new mother of a 3 month old baby.  So far, so good.  It was such a wonderful surprise but in the midst of cancer treatment and pregnancy, I lost my baseline and now find myself freaking out over any new bodily feelings/sensations as I try to get back into shape.  Has anyone else managed this transition?  I find myself more afraid than I was the last two and a half years.  I visited with my onc yesterday since I have this strange sensation/pressure on my left side but it is most likely tied to working out - could be a strained oblique and there is no pain - just a weird feeling like a band.  He offered a CAT Scan to relieve my anxiety but felt I was most likely OK.  I am scheduling it a week from Friday and hope this feeling goes away before then.

Dear Angela,

Hi there - I go to Siteman and my onc is Dr. Pluard.  He is terrific and very responsive.

Hi Angela,

I totally understand your concerns... I was diagnosed with TNBC when my son was 6 months old. Having a young baby when I was diagnosed was tough in the sense that I was (an still am to tell you the truth) very worried about the possibility of leaving him without a mother; but in the other hand he has been an incredible source of strength for me and when I look back at the last three years since he was born, my cancer journey is just secondary to all the happiness that he has brought to my life.

I would love to have another child but I still have not decided what I am going to do about that. You can read what I wrote about that subject in a blog post that was published in the TNBC Foundation website’s blogs section. Pregnancy after breast cancer is a tough issue to address and it is one more worry to add to the ones that we already have as survivors.

I believe you have done the right thing by talking to your doctor and following up on your pain. I don’t think I’ll stop worrying about every ache and pain any time soon, but I’ve decided that I need to sleep at night and so I just try to face my fears and tell the doctors how I feel. My oncologist doesn’t do routine scans, he doesn’t like them and he is very adamant about it. But, I have been complaining to him about a weird feeling I’ve had in my ribs for months (very similar to what you describe) and he decided to scan me prior to seeing me again in a month. He told me that he thinks what I have is just a consequence from radiation but he wants me to have peace of mind in order to be healthy.

So we’ll see where that leads me to but in the meantime I try to stay on the present and live day by day which is what I’ve tried to do throughout my cancer journey. I also have found it helpful to incorporate into my life alternative ways of preventing cancer. One book I love (an many on this forum do as well) is Anti-cancer: A New Way of Life by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, and it does explain how life style changes like a healthier diet, exercise and meditation can help in the prevention of cancer.

This actually led me to yoga which I had practiced years ago but I had abandoned and it helped me a lot with healing after my mastectomy. Besides yoga I have also been working out a lot because my oncologist actually prescribes it. So the yoga and the exercise help me stay in shape and there is research showing that both can help with cancer prevention. They are also wonderful at helping to lower anxiety. So maybe something along those lines can help you too.

Of course counting with the wonderful community that we have in this place has also been very helpful and you’ll always find someone here willing to listen.

I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming test.

Best,

Natalia

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Best regards.

Edited by hamburg113 - Jul 20 2011 at 4:16am

Congrats on the baby! Try to ease your fears with breathing and holding our little one close. This is a wonderful gift.