2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

debbie444

Quicky
Tomorrow we are going to a roller disco - watch this space for plastercasts and fractures!!!!!
Rosemarie - cute pic
Maryanne - fandabbydozy pic!!!!!
Speak to you all later - got to go practice my backwards arabesques!!!

Graycie

I thought I would share this with you. Here is a precious moment that my daughter gave me for Christmas..
Gail

Paula15089

Laura - hope all went well!
lots of love from Australia!

maryannecb

Family pic at Mom's house.

Me, Mom, my brother and sister.

Fists up!

Anonymous

Rosemarie, the American Girl Doll is the rage, isn't it? Kirsten looks so cute and happy with her twin!

Gail, that is truly a Precious Moment. I love those dolls. Very sweet of your daughter.

Mary-Anne, love your pics ... Your hair is so curly, I love it. Your children are just wonderful! So happy that you Herceptin is all d.o.n.e!!!

TracyNY, I went to NY for New Years once, we went to Times Square. It was fun, but I wouldn't do it again. I guess it's like the Rose Parade. I lived a few blocks from it and never went. My sil even lived where her window overlooked Colorado and we still didn't go. Went the day after to see all the floats at the yard and watched the live event on TV.

Laura, hope you are home and comfy!!!!!

Curlylocks

Hi Ladies,

Just thought I would share what happened at My mom;s repeat mamo they took two views, she said one was closer up and then was sent to ultrasound. She gets her results on Friday the 29th as she is to leave for Florida for three months on the 30th. I;m praying like crap it turns out to be nothing and keep chanting 80% of lumps are benign but what sticks in the back of my mind is the HRT she has been on for so many years!

Busy visiting family and friends today and am zonked now will update more tomorrow.

Laura, hope your snoozing away right now.

Love you my sisters
Michele Wenz

ravdeb

Maryanne..CONGRATULATIONS!!! I love the photos. You look terrific and you have a beautiful family.

I was thrilled to walk out of rads never to return again. I was very happy to not have to be on any more treatments for this. I felt, when I walked out, that I was free and had done the best I could.

But...of course...things have crept up on me and I worry. I sometimes wonder why I didn't do a mast instead of lumpectomy. That is the only thing I didn't do aggressively but at the time, nobody even mentioned mast. And all the reading I had done said lumpectomy. But I read here about so many women who did mast and wonder why I never even gave it a thought...until now!

Still..I'm happy to not be on any more treatments and only follow up visits. I feel "healthier" that way... I've never really felt "abandoned". I do worry about my fatigue though...

So..I'm going to make an appt at the gynecologist because my mind is wandering to my ovaries. I have a history of ovarian cysts and I really better get that checked on... Have put it off long enough. Saw a gyne. a year ago. Time for another check-up...


Mary..hope you are smiling.

Laura..hope you are comfy and doing well. Thinking of you...

TracySeattle

Hi All,

Laura - I have been thinking of you. Hope all is well and that you are snoozing and feeling OK. (((hugs))).

Maryanne - YAY!!! You are finally finished!!!! That has to feel good!!!

Mary - you are such a sweetie, you are in my prayers....

Michelle - scary times for your mom. I will be praying that all turns out well.

So, it seems that Dave and I are getting VERY serious. If I learned anything from the past year, it is to treat each day as if it is your last. We are talking about combining our households and being together all of the time.... We both feel so lucky that we have found each other, but we also feel that at ages (50 and 60) - our time together is precious and we need to enjoy each other as much as we can. My rental lease is not up until June, but we will be slowly working towards moving me into his home thru the next few months. I don't spend much time at my house at all anymore--seems silly to be throwing away money on rent. However, my two cats really like having their own 3 bedroom house!

You know, usually New Years is my least favorite holiday. I have always thought that it was kind of sad leaving things behind and knowing that another year has gone by. This year is SO MUCH DIFFERENT!!! I want to leave my (and all of your) BC experiences behind! 2006 was not a good year for me, but it was the ending of many things - one of them being CANCER!!! I am looking at 2007 as a fresh new start with a new focus and passion for life. I think I will be staying up this year so that I can personally say GOOD RIDDANCE to 2006!!!

Love you all!

TracyNY

I am just about sick of this now. Its December, winter, hello?! Where is the snow?

Well it can wait until next week. I'm going to my old "hometown" of Mt. Laurel New Jersey this weekend. Its a spit away from Philadelphia which is home to the Franklin Mills Mall. They have Neiman Marcus, Saks, Ann Taylor, Nordstrom, and I am going to put a hurting on my bank account before I quit spending for 2007.

I am with Devorah, I was never so glad to put treatment behind me. I don't even think about cancer very often. Call it denial, but whenever bad thoughts start, I bring on the coping self talk and I change the conversation in my head. I think about ice cream, footwear, what to eat for dinner...anything to shut that mess up!

The christmas cards keep coming, thanks ladies. Brenda, you look fantastic and you have a handsome family. Angus is as cute as can be.

Anyone else in love with the "Dog Whisperer"? I have no use for dogs, I can't stand the wetness of them and all that panting, but Cesar Millan, that's a bit of alright!!

ravdeb

How exciting Tracy!! I'm so happy for you! (guess the black lace did the trick!!!! )

I'm waiting for my raisins to soak. Am getting ready to bake a cake. The whole family will be here for dinner again tomorrow night and then one SIL will be leaving for home early Sat. morning with her son.

As much as it was very exciting to have everybody together, it's time for them to pack their bags and resume life again. On Sunday one of the kids will be going home and the following week the other SIL and her other son will return home. But, this weekend, she will move out of my house and stay at her parents' for the rest of her stay.

This is good. I'm ready to get back to work on my business and a few other projects that I want to get started on.

I'm with you, Tracy...GOOD RIDDANCE TO 2006! However, I'm saying that with mixed feelings because had this year not happened, I would not have met all of you wonderful women!!!!

I love you all!!!

Anonymous

Tracy!!! What great news!! I am so happy for you and Dave. You deserve all the happiness you can grab and even the happiness you can steal!!

Dev, I remember a saying ..... Company is like fish, after 3 days they stink! Now, I am not saying that it is true because I actually enjoy visitors for about a week then I am wanting to get back to normal. I sure hope you and your family enjoyed many moments and took lots of photos!

Victoria, I keep meaning to call you! Hope you are doing wonderful, especially with your new laptop!

Laura, hope you can wander out of bed and check in but if not, take another vicodin and sleep well!

Anonymous

Paula, how was your Christmas? Where are your photos???

RoseMarie

Hello ladies! Thinking about Laura and hoping all is well.
Michele - hoping for the best!!

Not much time-hugs to all.

Curlylocks

I am so proud of myself. My boss called me today wanting to know why I got paid for 75 hours on my Dec 21/06 pay when it should have only been 60.

I am still on return to work 4 days a week so the insurance company pays me for the 1 day each week at 70% of my salary. It truely was an oversight on my part due to the extremely heavy work load last week with bonus, etc.

To make matters worse I worked boxing day to do the payroll for this week. Boxing day is a statutory holiday here and payable at 2 x salary. So she says to me well we can take the hours that you worked on boxing day and call it even! Stupid me in my tired dazed state today said okay. Well I got off the phone and thought about it and got really pissed at myself for agreeing to call it even. I worked hard on the 26th, gave up part of my Christmas vacation for what? So I nicely called her back and told her that I would reduce my next pay on the 18th of January by the 15 hours to offset what I was paid and TAKE THE 2 DAYS FOR ME!

I told her I had a bunch of tests on Feb 7 which will take a good part of the day so I would use one day then and then save the other day for the summer for the trailer. She was more concerned about me taking the two days while she was off on vacation for the middle two weeks of February ande having no one to cover the HR department.

Well I guess she thinks I should be beyond bc now and thinks are back to normal. I think not!! I am still my feisty self and wont take any crap from her!

Will post more later, pretty tired today....

Take care ladies and hopefully Laura is resting comfortably now.

Michele

ravdeb

You go girl, Michele!!!! YES to all feisty women!!

ake

Hi ladies,

Tracy....your posts just make me smile. I'm so glad you're so happy in this new relationship. Can't remember if I told you, but my brother is an artist in New York. A couple of years ago, my brother was struggling through a pretty rough year...his long-term relationship had ended the year before, he was having a hard time painting, and he felt that all he kept seeing were other artists living the good life while he struggled. Well, after that year, he randomly bumped into a college friend who is now his girlfriend (instant chemistry after so many years), got inspired and painted his first huge painting (which he ended up selling for 7000 dollars!) and was offered a fellowship at his art school. He titled his painting, "Let's just let everything fall into place"....it was because he realized that things have a way of just working out perfectly when you least expect it and when you stop fighting to make everything work. Whenever I read your posts about Dave, I think of that. We all went through so much and now, when we've stopped fighting, things just have a way of falling into place

Michele...you definitely are a feisty woman... I'm glad that bc never stole that from any of us Rocktober girls I'm thinking good thoughts for your mom!

Mary-Anne...you look FANTASTIC. Remember when you and I were struggling so much to loose that damn chemo weight and logging what we ate every day? The hard work paid off...you look beautiful.

Kelly, Rosemarie....love all the pictures. Your kids are so adorable

I'm home from VB and back in DC with a cold that I caught from my husband (in all fairness, I originally gave it to him last week) I'm thinking lots of good thoughts and taking deep breaths to get this crap out of my system before New Year's Eve. Nothing like a day in your pjs to make things better!

I think 2007 is going to be a great year for us all. I'm positive and hopeful for good things to come!

Love,
Amy

Anonymous

Hi, I'm Laura's dh. Laura wanted me to let you know she is doing well. We left yesterday morning at 5am for the hospital. Her operation started at 7:30 and they finished at 8:15. Her surgeon said everything went great. She dozed on and off all of Wednesday. It's now Thursday afternoon, and I just brought her home. This has been so much easier than the first mast. She has little pain and is fairly comfortable, although I just picked up a prescription for Darvocet for her. Surgeon said the pathology will be in tomorrow, but said visual inspection of the tissue looked healthy. She will check in with you tomorrow as she plans on sleeping the rest of today and tonight - thanks for all your well wishes and your prayers. You mean so much to Laura and she thinks the world of you. (get it)
Roy

TracySeattle

YAY!!! Laura is doing well!!!

Roy, you are a sweetheart, thanks so much for checking in and letting us know. We have been waiting anxiously to hear from her.

Wish her love and hugs from all of us!

ake

here's an interesting article i found regarding hormones, hrt, and breast cancer...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/26/health...70&emc=eta1

Anonymous

Thanks Roy, really appreciate knowing how our girl is doing! Treat her like the Diva she is!

maryannecb

Thanks Roy , one of our Co-survivors. Great to hear all is well and all we need next is a good path report.

Hugs to Laura.

Tracy, I love the vision of your cats whooping it up in their own private home. But more importantly the picture you are giving us of your new life is really making me smile.
'
Went to Charlotte's Web this afternoon with my youngest child. It was very well done, a great cast and stunning cinematography. Take Kleenex...The older kids went to RockyVI. Can you believe it is 30 years since the first one?They liked it.

Fingers crossed for your Mom, Michelle. I have mammo and MRI on Jan 15, should be a "fun" day.NOT.

Really tired today,will try to put myself to bed early tonight. I am so glad that was my last Herceptin. I just know I will feel better soon.

Fists up!

Fists up!

Graycie

Thanks Roy for letting us know how Laura is doing. Tell her I send my love and to rest up so she can have a speedy recovery.

Maryanne, Congratulations....That is great new's you are done with your herceptin. Great pictures of your family. I see who you got your looks from. Your Mom is a very attractive lady.

Kelly, Good new's on your muga. Before too much longer you will be done with your infusions too.........

Victoria, I think I missed something. If you had to get a new laptop does that mean your other computer crashed?

Michele, Why is it taking so long for your mom's results? They usually tell us right away here in the states. I wish her luck for a good report.

Ravdeb, you are starting to sound like me. We can't look back. We did what we thought was best at the time. I went with the lumpectomy too because that was what was suggested. So that is the route I took. I never gave it another thought either until lately. Hopefully we made the right decision. I also have the fatigue you are talking about. I can understand why you are tired, you have been a busy girl with all your company. I wonder what my excuse is.......I think mind could be laziness..I have been in kind of a slump lately.

Tracy, Glad you are enjoying life, you so deserve it........Enjoy every moment you can.

TracyNY, Have a fun trip, I love your attitude. You are so funny and you sure love to shop. Do you really MISS the snow?

Amy, Sounds like you and hubby are tossing that cold back and forth. Hope you both feel better soon......

Well, off to do a little cleaning. We were shopping all day. Now that my dh is home I don't seem to get anything done around the house....He has agreed to start walking with me every morning before I go to work which is good since I have to shed about 30 lbs that I gained. Well, at least 20. We are starting tomorrow morning........I hope we stick with it......

Gail

ravdeb

Roy..thank you so much for updating us. I'm so glad this one was easier on Laura than the first one. She's a tough woman. Can't wait to hear from her. Send her my love!!!

Gail..you don't LOOK like you need to lose so much weight in your pictures. Are you sure??? You look great!

Nice to know that I'm not alone in the fatigue dept. I'm also feeling lazy and can't tell if it's a vicious circle of fatigue and thus laziness from fatigue, the company here or what.

I woke up to a mess in my kitchen, 7 empty beer bottles, one nephew sleeping on the sofa in the living room and then when I came down to my studio, I found that the kids had been playing with my stamps. These are not little kids! The youngest is 17 and my son was with them and knows perfectly well that they aren't toys and have to be taken care of, etc. I was fuming! First, I "yelled" at the nephew on the sofa who apparently was too drunk to go back to his grandmother's house. I "yelled" because he is a bad influence on my already troubled teen and I've had enough of it. He is leaving tonight and the next nephew who is also "no good" is leaving on Sunday. I'll be glad to see them go. Best when we are apart. I have enough trouble with my youngest son and have been working so hard with him and now I feel like I'll have a lot of work to do with him once his cousins are gone.

And I'm so tired. But I gotta run..have a meeting to get to and I'll be late if I don't get going!! UGH.

Be well everybody!
Michele..hope you hear good news about your mom soon.
Amy..feel better and stop getting each other sick!

Paula15089

Great to hear good news on Laura...
Loved everyones holiday photos, seems like its been a good Christmas for everyone! well, i think we deserve it after last year, dont we?

Me and my parents spent a couple of days in Ochuka, its a small town about two hours drive from Melbourne. Its famous for its steam boats.. you feel like you are in a Mark Twain novel!
here is a pic of me and mum:



and here are some from the boat ride:







But when we got back to Melbourne, the weather wasnt nearly as good. Apparently, it was the coldest Xmas in history! On Christmas day it only got to about 15C.. this is winter weather for Australia, and we are supposed to be in the middle of summer!! So that put a bit of damper on things.

Our family is tiny - just me and my parents, so Christmas is usually pretty quiet for us.

ravdeb

Paula..you look beautiful and looks like the boat ride was wonderful!

I miss Laura!!!

Victoria... When my dh's family gets together (sibs and kids) there is a lot of noise that goes on. One sib makes us crazy and the other one is fun but refuses to answer to that one sib. The kids are all trouble makers and I don't really care..they are kids..but it's tiring to have them all the time in the house!

When my side of the family comes, it's very different and part of that is because it's MY side of the family! And..we've never had my neices and nephews here at all ('cept one who was a bit of a trouble maker but was only here at my house for 2 nights)so it's always been just adults. Very different.

Have had my cousins here but again..never for such a long time!

This will pass and all will calm down and then it will be TOO quiet in the house!

I think it's bothering me more because I'm so fatigued and my sciatica and back are really bothering me.

Must get back to the noisy bunch.
Have a good weekend y'all. Hope we hear from Laura soon!

TracyNY

Somehow I can't see you hollering at anybody, Dev! I can only take house guests for so long too. I won't even stay at my own mother's house for more than 10 days.

Okay, Laura, get up and tell us how you're doing. I have something for you. I need to get to the post office.

Anonymous

Paula, I loved the pictures! I think Australia would be a lovely country to visit, just so far in a plane, I don't think I could handle it! I love the "old West" so I would love that little town.

Michelle, I forgot to tell you that I am roaring over here with you!! You tell that boss what you will and won't take. You have all your sisters over here encouraging you. I think that is part of the boss's job requirement: to secretly try to get more out of you and more time than was indicated at hiring. Your boss always looks better when you get more done in less time alotted .... even if that time was unpaid overtime!

Laura, taking Darvocet?? Maybe hubby can bring you a laptop!

Devorah, even 5 year olds get out of whack if they hang around the wrong person for too long. My daughter would be around her 16 y.o. brother and come back home smart mouthing me and giving me dirty looks instead of a response. And the whining when she didn't get her way. Have fun!!

TracySeattle

Hi all!

Ravdeb - sorry you are feeling frazzled. It is always nice when company leaves (nice when they come too). I find myself getting fatigued really easy too. I sleep a lot and I have trouble getting myself out of bed in the mornings even when I sleep in until I wake up.

I am missing Laura too - hope we hear from her today!

Paula - your pics are beautiful - I love Australia!

I have custody of Killian, my black lab, this weekend as my EX is going away for New Years. I REALLY MISS KILLIAN - he is an awesome dog! It is going to be interesting because Dave is not really a Dog Person. He is OK with dogs, but doesn't LOVE them. So we will see how the weekend goes..... LOL!

I am getting a new laptop!!!! That means that I will have a computer at Dave's house and won't just be able to check in when I am at work!!! YAY!

Well, I may not be around this weekend, so I am going to wish you all a very Happy New Year!!! 2007 is going to be the year of the Rock Tober Sisters! We are going to be happy, healthy and do good things! Won't it be nice to leave 2006 and bc behind us???

Love you all!

Anonymous

Tracy, I love hearing how happy your life is now! Remember last year with the ex? My, how things have changed for you ....... Cheers, sister!

What is everyone doing for New Years???

TracySeattle

Dave and I are staying home, a quiet New Years for two (three including Killian!). We are going to make several appetizers, break open the Pomegranate Sparkling Cider and enjoy!