My PERMANENT Side Effects from Cancer Treatment - GOOD & BAD

I’m still taking my pills for my estrogen almost two years now

I had a lump 2022 in my left breast had three lymph node remove I still get like nerve pain sometime I feel pain loss some hair my ribs hurt a lot it’s been now in June two years still feel lots of things hope you get well

Hi,I am a 30 year survivor of stage 2b,but have had a few recurrences since then.The surgeons arent able to remove all of the breast tissue during a Mastectomy.I had one in 2009 and the cancer recurred.

Samantha I too got lymphoma and also something called radiation pneumonitis which put me in the hospital in ICU for a week. Was receiving strong oxygen and breathing treatments. I also had lymph nodes removed both surgeries, one cancer in the left breast and a different cancer in the right breast, I’m now considered a high risk for cancer in the future. Of course you are so much younger than me, I’m now 66 years old and not able to handle this very well, it’s changed my life completely.
You are young and I hope you never have to deal with cancer again. Stay strong Samantha ❤❤❤

Hi Samantha, I had Breast cancer twice, once in 2016 and again last year. The radiation I had in 2016 damaged my heart and that has drastically changed my life. I’m on five heart medications and had to wear what’s called a life vest for six months for fear that I could die from sudden cardiac death. I’m still hear and the medications have improved some but will probably never be normal. I’m now 66 years young and cannot do a lot of the fun things I used to do. I also have neuropathy but not from cancer treatment and I am not diabetic. My started about 15 years ago and None of the neurologists could figure out why I had this terrible disease. I live in Southern California and my husband and I drove to Arizona in our motorhome to the Mayo Clinic and had testing done fir nine days and still no answers, they use the term idiopathic, I hate that name. So my life is drastically different than I would have expected.
Wishing all the best Samantha! ❤❤❤❤

I had duct cell carcinoma in my left breast and had 4 AC and 12 Taxel rounds and then a double mastectomy. The hot flashes are ridiculous, the bone pain was horrendous for me. I still have phantom itches on my breasts. The worst for me is that all the steroids gave me a bone disease called Avascular necrosis. Its debilitating most of the time. Its in my hips, knees and shoulders but i feel like my back is breaking in half sometimes. They say it doesn’t hit your spine but I swear it feels like it is there. I can’t even sit sometimes for very long. I know I do for sure have to have hip replacements and eventually shoulder and knee replacements… i just don’t know about this pain in my back. I am only 49, I was very active before being diagnosed in 2019. I haven’t had a PET scan yet, my oncologist is thinking of getting one ordered because of my severe pain. I am so glad I found your channel. Bless your heart, you are so young but so confident and courageous! Definitely inspiring!! Thank you!

I have adrenal insufficiency from the Keytruda immunotherapy. I have to take a steroid every day. They say it might go away. Or I might have it for life. It is a dangerous condition requiring a person to wear a medical bracelet.

Thankyou for this information...i wish i stopped my chemo earlier too. My joints and bones are like a 90 year olds. No better 4 months post chemo.

Thank you for sharing this info. Obviously, the numbness and cold/heat sensitivity are from cut and damaged nerves. The lack of sweating may be damaged sweat glands but that also could be from damaged nerves. I don't know if this will help any, but it's worth a try. Suggest searching for a local physical therapist or physical therapist assistant who is highly skilled in using electrical stimulation. All of them may have training in it, but you want someone great at this. The latter usually has been assigned the worst cases. If found, recommend asking your doctor for a referral.

When an electrical current at the correct settings (frequency, pulse, etc.) is applied, that encourages the brain to establish new pathways using only good nerves or good parts of damaged nerves. I have no idea why. It just does. While in PT, I saw the magic happen on many patients including myself.

This therapy should not hurt. To me, it felt rather enjoyable. A positive change should be noticeable after one session. It can take 2-3 months of 3x/week sessions though to reprogram the brain to stop using the old pathway. If no change happens after the second or third session, accept you don't have the right PT/PTA or a good pathway. Try again in six months to a year. Nerves take an extremely long time, if ever, to heal. The PT/PTA should be able to help breakup your scar tissue. It's crazy that so many doctors never tell patients this should be done.

The itchiness that you can't scratch is soooo annoying.

I don't know if you still read these comments but I had to have my left kidney and all lymph nodes removed on that side. I understand the numbness, I have that numbness on my left side from ribs down to belly button area so if I get an itch it bugs me like crazy 🤣

I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism at sixteen from cancer treatment

My cancer side effects: none because I went the holistic route for treatment. Entering year five cancer free.

Hey did ur anal fissure heal completely now after the procedure

The list is actually not too too bad.. thx Samantha

Jeeze chemo did so much damage to us 😢

Thank you for your honestly and openness about all aspects of your cancer. I am old enough to be your grandma but I am a "baby" breast cancer survivor. I just finished radiation therapy 3 weeks ago. I'm not even really sure I'm surviving yet! But I like the sound of "survivor" so I'm going to go with it. Please don't feel like you are complaining when you talk the truth of your situation. I told my family I reserve the right to feel whatever I feel and say whatever I want to about those feelings about what's going on. If sounding off about the realities of this bothers some people, well, they could trade places with me, right? Anyway, you are a breath of fresh air! I may be just a beginner at surviving breast cancer but I am a 30-year veteran as a GBS survivor so I have some experience with side effects. And what I learned is that side effects can change over a long period of time and get better so never give up hope; that it's OK to have your positive times and your negative times and you're healthier for just living through and accepting both of them; and that every day is a miracle. Speaking of miracles - congratulations on the baby!

It’s been 2 years for me. I have neuropathy for sure, tiredness, chemo brain and joint pain with Anastrozole. My arm pit on the right from double mastectomy is dumb. I do havé to be careful shaving. I had a lumpectomy too. Food issues as well. After cancer , I no longer drink often. My veins aren’t good either in my arm. I had serious cording.

Just found your channel tonight. I’m having my first radiation treatment tomorrow. You talked about cording. I just got that about a week ago and didn’t know what it was. Thank you for sharing. Now I know and can talk to the dr.

I have had a double mastectomy. For that itching that you were describing I sometimes get that and I use an ice pack for about 5 minutes and that makes it go away. I hope you find that helpful.

Have you experienced chemo brain or brain fogginess? Mine recurred last year so I was immediately placed as Stage 4. I went through 8 sessions of oral chemotherapy and 33 sessions of radiation therapy. I seemed to notice my brain fogginess leveled to being more on episodes of mentally blank and frequent memory loss. It freaks me out since it affected my focus at work.

When did your libido start to come back? When were you able to have a period again I'm asking for myself in similar situation

Thank you for sharing in so much detail
I have come to recognize my own long term side effects. I never put a name to what I was feeling. Most noticeable is the neuropathy for sure! I put my hands in cold water and it feels like the sensation goes straight through to the bones! Such a strange feeling. My cancer was Stage 4 Ovarian in 2008 and during treatment my knees were in so much pain. I’ve had knee pain since but could live with it and still be active. I’m having a partial knee replacement this month but the knee pain has never gone away since 2008. Now with my age it was time to have surgery. Someone thought my Mediport scar was a hickey LOL I wear v neck tshirts
But I also know others have way worse long term side effects God Bless them

Who's been your doctor and in what city and state?

Samantha, I am SO SO happy to see your recent videos and to find out that you survived stage 4 breast cancer and are doing great !! This really gives me great hope as a CHEK2 mutation carrier myself ! Have been struggling with the worst health anxiety over this, but your videos have really helped !! All the best to you! <3

Naltrexon 3mg vitamind 5000iu 400mg egcg 1000mg metformin 40-100mg melatonin 800mg phterostilbene 4000mg quercetin.1000mg meriva curcumin Kills cancer cells(together). A lot
20-25 g liposomal vitaminc 100mg doxycyclin 500mg arzithromycin a day for 5 days everyweek (together)and 50-70g vitamin c injection (once a week) kills cancer cells 720 times more than chemotheraphy.

2000mg niclosamide and 48mg ivermectin 2 or 3days in a week kills cancer cells a lot. (Or 2400mg febendazole 30ml olive oil 600mg cimetidine)

At least it is better 100 times more than any chemo theraphy.( mixed properly all those off label drugs)..

I ve developped genitourinary syndrome after chemo.

Post-cancer I have lasting tenderness/numbness around my mastectomy site, osteopenia that I have to take calcium & vitamin D for daily, and joint paint/stiffness from hormone therapy. But overall I’m lucky that nothing gets in the way of my daily life :)

The food issue I perfectly understand. In treatment I was forced to consume potassium to increase the levels that decrease due to the type of drug I was in , but that made my nausea and vomiting worse and after I finished for many years I couldn't eat banana or the strawberry juice they used to mix the liquid potassium (that taste horrible ).
Post traumatic stress is real

The ad on your video was for White Claw haha.

Great information

Samantha it’s so crazy how much we have in common. I too had a lumpectomy on my left side. I feel nothing in my arm pit. I can pinch 🤏 the skin and I feel nothing. It’s so weird. When I shave 🪒 I’m real careful because I don’t want to nick myself. I don’t know how much pressure I’m applying so I just feel it as I go along. Definitely hair grows slower on the left. I still have my port because I haven’t stopped chemo treatments. When I have to do bloodwork (which is every 3 weeks) most of the time they can use my port. However at Quest or during PET Scans they use a vein in my right arm if they can find one ☝️ my veins are shot after 8 years. I’ve had and still deal with side effects. Especially hand 🤚 and foot 🦶 syndrome from Capecitabine (Xeloda) and Tukysa (my oral chemo pills). Hot 🥵 flashes are fun 😂 (not) 😂. Thank you 🙏🏼 for sharing your experiences with all of us. I’m beyond thrilled for the new addition coming soon for you and Gray. You’re absolutely glowing ✨

I feel like I’ve rebounded from chemo pretty well. I finished a year ago and had a lot of the issues you’ve talked about. My neuropathy was very mild though and it’s completely gone away. I do still have quite a bit of pain and swelling in my breast from radiation. I’m wondering if/when that will go away or ease up. A couple of my nipple hairs have grown back, but much thinner and slower than before.

I also did a year of herceptin and noticed about halfway through that my skin was really sensitive to bandaids or any other adhesive. Even the special dressings would leave me with red marks. It never really bothered me, so it was just interesting. It seems to have cleared up now that I’ve been off that for a couple months.

Huh? Did you say the rib was in your neck?

🌺🌈🌼🌹💐💓🌺🌟🐞

I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in November 2019 so I got to go through the whole pandemic fighting. I had a double mastectomy, they took around 10 lymph nodes from my left arm pit. One of my drains fell out too soon and caused fluid to build up and then open up.. so I had to go around with a big hole in my chest for like 3 months while it healed. The surgeon went back in and scraped inside but didn't close it. His extra scraping now leaves me with with a concave left side. I'm completely numb across my whole chest( because they not only take your boobs they take your nerves too), my left armpit and about half my arm. It's almost like I'm touching someone else's body. it's weird. After the mastectomy I went through 8 rounds of chemo, the last four were Taxol. And 35 rounds of radiation which left me with burn scars on my chest. I have neuropathy in my feet, mostly toes that has never gone away. I had it really bad in my hands, mostly fingers but it's mostly gone.. but does come back occasionally. I have stiffness and pain in my hands now. I guess I should say I'm turning 60 this December. When my hair grew back after chemo it came back baby fine and straight. I had always had pretty thick and a little bit course hair. It's hard to know what to do with it now. I'm extremely tired and weak all the time, even today. I have to take arimidex for the rest of my life. I can relate with the no sweat under one arm pit and the fear of shaving that pit.. even though I only have like 3 hairs that grew back. I have brain fog on a daily basis. So I'm probably missing some side effects.. but that's all I can think of right now. Take care and keep on staying strong. Myra

Sorry Samantha😩😩That was a big mistake!!! Forgot the DO NOT complain. You are a good role model. Thank you for putting yourself out there👍👍

Samantha, you brought up so many issues that I also have. I laughed when you said your left arm was your best especially for blood draws. Me too!!! I had a medical procedure today and it took 3 tries to successfully start an IV.
When I had my double mastectomy 1.5 years ago, 13 lymph nodes were removed. It was interesting to hear about the phantom itch…I also deal with that aggravation!
We are both grateful to be living and having a good life. It is so wonderful to watch you thrive after all you have experienced. Like you and Grey…baby watch is is a happy time. Take care of yourself and your family 💕. Diane

You do complain!!!

My right underarm doesn’t sweat. 😊 I never sweat that much to begin w though. I got lucky as well w minimal side effects but there are lingering ones like mild neuropathy that comes and goes; weaker swallowing; some numbness, tightness, and random soreness in my chest and arm; and a bit of scarring on my lung from radiation.

I love your matter-of-fact attitude and positivity - like yes we have been through awful times and we have these side effects but things could always be worse so really we are very lucky! I just finished 9 months of treatment with very similar things to you - I had 4 AC, 12 Carbo/Taxol, lumpectomy and 30 rounds of radiation! I still have neuropathy (which is the weirdest feeling and so hard to describe to anyone!), numb under my arm, possibly menopausal from chemo, achy joints and so so tired! There are positives though - hair started growing back EVERYWHERE face and all, but weirdly it has now stopped again on my legs and underarms and they are back to chemo smoothness and hairlessness. And my eyelashes came back but then fell out again and started growing again. Hopefully my head hair doesn't stop and keeps growing. It's getting too hot to keep wearing my beanie!

Hello. Hope everything is going well with you. How’s pregnancy treating you.? How many months are you now? You haven’t been showing us lately. Are you going to do a house tour.? Personal questions, what are rentals like in Alaska? Happy day to you and yours❤

There's nothing better than a and d ointment for hemorhoids and such. It's in the diaper rash section at Walmart. But ask your obstetrician if it's ok during pregnancy. Not sure if the vitamin a would be a problem.

You have the best attitude! It's contagious!

Having blue eyes, I imagine you already had light sensitivity, so now you have twice as much. I can see that you're a tough young lady, so that helps a lot with everything!

Agreed on all these, as a breast cancer lifer. I have many of these.

Having blue eyes makes you more sensitive to light anyway.

Oh the joys! I’m still dealing with side effects from aromatase inhibitors. I hope most of these side go away when I am able to stop taking them!

Same here with the sweating issue and losing sensation in my armpit area.I'm still taking Tamoxifen but I have severe brain fog and I forget things all the time from it...did this happen to you too while you were taking it?I had a mastectomy+lymph nodes removed.

I learned a lot. It’s good to realize about the people around me. I appreciate your approach this month.