I have always talked to my doc about being on the pills and the risk factors. I have always been on low dosages. Now that I have breast cancer it has made my dh and I really think about things. When we are given the pills they just give us whatever. There is no discussion about our own hormones and how which pill will do what. We are serioulsy wondering if I express more estrogen than others and that being on pills with more estrogen in them than others may have led to my cancer. There is not lab work done before being given pills. Why?? My dh is a microbiologist also and realy has been looking into the hormone factors lately with me. My treatment will remove the cancer and attack any lingering bad cells. But what is to prevent them from growing again. Shouldn't we be looking at what makes the cells grow to begin with?? I was told that chemo will shut down my ovaries and put me into menopause but my ovaries could actually come back so I might have to go back on the pill. But why would we do that if the hormones are causing my cancer?? The research is not directed at trying to understand where these bad cells are coming from like it should be. DH has brought up these questions to my onc and others and they all say he brings up some valid concerns. Anyhoo, I discussed with my 12yr dd about how maybe before she considers any form of birth control she should have her hormones looked at first. This is a really serious thing to consider along with the risk factors. DH's phrase to patients is that nothing in medicine is free. Everything has its plus and minus. We choose the birth control hoping that we are not one of those who has issues. Sometimes all we can do is question and seek medical advice immediatly. Any of the meds I receive we will printout the info on. If I end up in the ER for any reason the staff needs to know what I am on because it would be so easy to miss something if they were not fully aware. Glad to know this gal acted quickly and was able to determine what cause was. Scary though.

Reading the posts again this morning. It helps so much, you have no idea, when I hear about others that feel what I feel, it gives me hope that it will get better. To JEJVTR: you wanted her name, it is Claudia Rose. Her name came to me in a dream 1 week before I had her, I looked up the meaning and it meant Dazzling, so I said that's it! Rose is after my mom. You also mentioned Serena Williams, well actually, that is the vascular surgeon we are seeing on the 30th, he doesn't usually see kids, but he is seeing Claudia after I begged! I am very hopeful that he can help in some way. I worry that the original clot is 7 months old, so the probability of it dissolving at this point is not good, which means she can keep clotting there, which is what happened last week, so if she comes off the medicine she is at risk. If she stays on it for life, she will have a life of no sports, which is her life, especially at 11 years old! i just wish I new what to expect, if they told me okay be on this medicine, no sports for 6 months then you'll be fine. That is not the case with a clot, you don't know what is going to happen. Not sure if I mentioned all her test results for clotting disorders came up negative, so the only thing we have to go in, is th esimilarity between athletes and clots.Thanks again for listening to me and praying with me, this has helped me so much! Michelle

My dh's prostate cancer was found @ age 65 after elevated PSA. He was treated initially with antibiotics for possible prostatitus, but the follow up PSA did not decline. The cancer was not felt on exam. Next step was prostate biopsy, 3 of 14 specimens were +for cancer. The choices he was given: radical prostatectomy surgery, external beam radiation, implant radiation of "seeds" in the prostate, or "watchful waiting"...all viable options. He opted for the surgery via the surgeon using the DaVinci robot (very important to have surgeon who has performed many of these procedures). It was very successful, margins clean (no spread, caught early). No post op complications. Had incontinence of urine for a few months (typical), but now has full control. It will be 2 yrs in Oct that he had surgery. Like most men past age 50 he had prostatic enlargement, actually pretty severe & he had symptoms related to that (urgency, hesitancy, slow/poor stream). Even without the cancer he would have eventually needed some form of treatment. But that was a bonus of the complete prostate removal...goes like a race horse, as Jasdip says. LOL Prostate cancer is #1 most common for men & #2 killer cancer, but if found in very elderly, it is usually not deadly, they die with it, not from it. I had a dear friend whose dh died from prostate ca, age 67. Having screening PSA's is not without controversy. It seems valid to cease doing them at your dh's age 75, Chisue. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer.

Sorry to hear that the problems continue, Jannie. When I gor blood clots in the lung(s) ... ... they put me on rat poison ... ... and after most of a year, when they did another scan, the clots were both?/all gone. (Still on rat poison - looks like it'll be so for life ... but I don't feel in any way like a rat). ole joyful