2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

maryannecb

Good luck with your job hunt, Rosemarie. I meant to mention that but posts seem to get too long. I should post shorter and more often.

I loved the time off lost year with the kids. Maybe I could have worked but I wanted to make sure if I did I only had so much to give it would be to my children. But ,reality hits, the bills must be paid.

Here is a snow day pic from three years ago. Hard to get the teens out the door anymore...



Fists up!

Paula15089

Mary-Anne, good news on your skin cancer! Wow, dont you wish BC was that easy as well..

Im glad you liked the poem girls. Internet sure does have some gems!

Anonymous

OMG -
All I can say is - you girls are so incredible! Your posts, opinions, analogies, thoughts, etc. are amazing. I have learned so much from each of you, and because of each of you, I am a better person...stronger, wiser, more compassionate, more articulate, and the list goes on and on. And what's so interesting is that the younger girls here are demonstrating the traits of us older girls! You are wise beyond your age and that is so impresionable. Paula, I loved your entry. I have learned so much from the younger girls here. You are FAB. I love you all so much. I am so grateful. From the very beginning of my dx, I said many times: "Regardless of my disease, I am still more fortunate than not!" And that comes from my heart, and that is truly how I felt then and now.

maryanne -
That photo is great. Your kids will never forget times like that. The simple times that cannot be bought.
--------------------------------------------

It's bath time...Roy's calling me...bath is ready...LOL

Laura

TracySeattle

Hi Everyone!

I have grown to come here just like I check my email. I really just think of this as "talking" to my friends and even tho we do discuss cancer sometimes, I really think of us as more of friends sharing their families and lives....

MaryAnne - YES! We are roomies! I need to do some searches on the airfare and hotel. Have we decided for sure on the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort?

Anonymous

Sorry...OTCS (off the current subject) but...I got all the way downstairs for my bath and remembered this...
TADAH'S birthday is the weekend we're getting together...

TaDah -
We'll make it extra special for you! Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, whipcream, buttercream...what's your FAV?

Sweet,very sweet (LOL) dreams girls!

Laura

TracySeattle

I just did a search on Expedia for Air + Hotel. The cost was $707. Then I went to the Alaska Airlines site and searched on just flights $310.80 and the hotel site and found that the room is $124/night since I am sharing with MaryAnne my cost would be $62. My total cost booking each separately is $496.80--considerably cheaper than doing the package deal on Expedia....

ravdeb

First of all..I need a roomie too! How many people can we put in a room?

Maybe there is a group rate since we are all coming together? I won't be doing a flight and hotel rate together. At least I don't think I will be...

I would stay in the hotel Fri. night for sure..maybe also Sat night...

I also don't want this group to break away. It's true that our bond grew because of our dealings with bc. For me, this has been a blessing..the bond, that is. Without all of you, it would have been a much more difficult journey. I was so prepared for chemo after hearing your stories. Rads was a picnic instead of a panic (well..I just playes with the words..it wasn't REALLY a picnic! )because you were all going through this with me. It was so simple to come on line and tell you that I hated walking the plank to the rads bed half naked because you all could understand this (my dh thought I was being childish, I think!)and that feeling of being zapped (my dh, again, found it intriguing! ).

And now, when I have my fears, I can come to you. We can talk about all the fun things we are doing in our lives and that has made our friendships stronger so that when we have our fears that seem to sit in our minds, no matter where they are stored, we know we can come here and each of us will understand, agree, try to cheer the other up, etc.

I would never have met such a wonderful mix of women had it not been for these boards. And, this was my first time ever coming to an internet discussion forum. I never thought I'd do this. I just pushed the button one day and registered. And now I have all of you.

Which reminds me..where is Linda? Did her grandson have his surgery already? Anybody remember?

It's my daughter's birthday today! She is 23. We have a tradition of throwing balloons on the birthday person, but I hung her balloons on her door last night.

Today we will celebrate. Must go frost the cake and then cook!

Have a great day, everybody!

TracyNY

Where is the snow, dammit?! I was expecting it today and there's none.

marymelodi

Tadah: the snow got stuck up here in Rochester!!! LOL

Mary

Anonymous

Where's Debbie and Kelly?

Laura

marymelodi

Maryanne:
You have made me consider something I rarely have thought about. My mother was chronically ill after her heart was damaged by rheumatic fever when she was a young woman. I think it may be kind of miraculous that she was able to give birth to me and my siblings. When I was growing up she came near to death several times and was in and out of the hospital numerous times. I spent my youth doing child care, cooking, and house cleaning because she could not do it and I was the eldest. Of course, I have often reflected on how these experiences shaped my life and my siblings. I have not often thought of her anxiety in thinking she might leave us motherless while we were youngsters. It did happen that way. She died 4 years after open heart surgery that repaired the damaged to some extent and for those years she was able to be active as a mother in a way she had not been earlier in my life. I was eighteen when she died and my siblings were 16, 15, 13, and 9. Since I do not have my own children, it is a worry I have not ever touched upon in my own experience. I don’t think there is anything that I know that is like your worry about your children.

What I can say is that losing a mother so young was indeed the defining event of our lives. But because she was as good a mother as she could be her influence on me has been constant and consistent. All I can say is any mother can be taken away suddenly and unexpectedly at anytime. When my mother did die it was unexpected and sudden. After all the times we thought it could happen when it really did occur it took us by surprise. All anyone can do is the best they can from moment to moment. The only thing I regret is not having one last time to say “I love you.” So now, I tell mothers and daughters, when appropriate, to never fail at expressing this love. If you know that your mother loved you it is something that goes with you forever. No matter what else happens.

Mary

debbie444

I am back!
Havent been on for a while as felt a bit down and didnt want to impart that to you all. I have bounced back again so all systems go again.
I had my oncologist app yesterday. He changed my tablets to Arimidex(sp?) tapped my back, looked at my results and muttered the word 'remission' HALLELUJAH!! Then he held my hand, kissed my cheek, looked at Roger and said' You young ones go and enjoy life' and that was me done with.
I worry to about leaving the kids. My mum died when i was just 16. Like Marys mum, she had been in and out of hospital as long as i could remember but no one expected her to die. I remember vividly being called out of my GCSE maths exam to be told by the headmaster that she was dead and to pack a bag as my dad was driving up for me ( i went to boarding school) She had asthma.

Its lovely and sunny here today - Tshirts would you believe it! Knowing my luck it will snow in June or something

Laura - Sam is concerned about Buddy Love - he hopes there are adequate 'poop a scoop' faccilities in that bag!

Debbie

scottishlass

Debbie - glad to head you are feeling better. I too have had "the flu" or whatever - but am back to feeling better today - thank heavens.
I really relate to those posts concerning leaving children behind - Like Debbie and others I lost a parent - my father - when I was 14. This affected me greatly and I think makes us worry about that aspect much more acutely. However I think we should all be very proud of ourselves at how well we are all doing and I read somewhere that 1 in 3 people will have cancer sometime in their lives. Well we have done our thing for the stats so they can leave us alone for the rest of our lives!!!!
Debbie - how are your plans for Chicago coming along? - Are you going for a big family holiday or a small jaunt?
Ravdeb - potential roomie? - have 1001 things to sort out before I can take away the question mark - sorry to be so vague.
Anyway - promised you all a much more upbeat message now I am feeling better. love to you all JIll

Anonymous

Where's Kelly!

ravdeb

Jill..I would love to be a roomie with you. Make it definite! We will have a riot trying to understand each other!

Speaking of which..I gave a mini-speech at services tonight. Had it written in English but gave it in Hebrew. I'm happy to say that I pretty much said what I had written. I did lose my place but kept right on talking (not hard for me! ).

Daughter called me sad that she is in dance rehearsals and has no idea when the choreographer will decide that they know their dances for tomorrow night's performance. Makes me mad because it's her birthday and we are waiting for her because I have a special meal ready and it's our Sabbath and they should NOT be rehearsing at this hour..totally goes against what I believe is right.
And she is so upset. She spent her whole birthday in rehearsals.

But, I will tell her that this is only the first day of her birthday..she can celebrate all year round!

Debbie..glad you are feeling better.

TracyNY

Go, Debbie! I'm glad you're feeling upbeat again. You'll soon slice your head open walking under a tree or get a piece of your ear bitten off by a swooping eagle!!

Anonymous

Quote:

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You'll soon slice your head open walking under a tree or get a piece of your ear bitten off by a swooping eagle!!

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OMG - LOL

RoseMarie

LOL, Tracy!

Jill, Debbie -glad you're feeling better! Debbie, so glad you had a good onc visit!
Ravdeb - happy birthday to your daughter!

Laura, are you feeling any better??? Hope so, chica!

My dh is coming home tonight - woohoo - it has been a loooooong week! He'll be gone nearly every week now until the end of March.
I can't fathom leaving my kids behind. THAT is too depressing! My aunt left 3 kids when she passed (8,13, and 16) it was traumatic for me at 18 and just awful for them. That was my first thought when I was diagnosed...OK enough of that!!
Ok - my kids live for the weekend - they can watch tv and play on the computer...soooo....I'm being shooed off the computer!

Anonymous

Teryn is home sick with my mom and she just cracks me up!!
She said, "Can I go to the park."
I said, "No, you're sick."
She said, "What am I gonna do all day? Sit here all day and do NOTHING?" (And her hands were outstretched in disgust)

I called just now and she is mad that Nana won't let her go outside and play with her slippers on (they are like a stuffed animal, kitty kats, but a slipper) and can be clumsy. My mom is afraid Teryn might trip over her feet and fall in the icy pool!! She told her they can go outside and read if Teryn would put her shoes on .... The weather is nice and warm today, but not the pool! Oh, Teryn is hoppin' mad!

Curlylocks

Hello everyone!!

I am home from my conference, its been an extremely long couple of days. I am now in my pj's and exhausted.

Will catch up with all my dear friends tomorrow.

Ravdeb - I will be your roomie if you need one!

Michele

Anonymous

Got a joke in the mail .....

A mother was trying to read the newspaper, but her six-year-old daughter was interrupting her constantly. Finally she could stand it no longer. "Honey," she said, "This is the fifth time I've read the same sentence." What's the matter?" the girl asked, "Too many big words?"

marymelodi

Tracy NY - what would we ever do without your wit!!! You are such a breath of "fresh" air!!

Love and laughter to all,
Mary

Anonymous

Quote:

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Laura - Sam is concerned about Buddy Love - he hopes there are adequate 'poop a scoop' faccilities in that bag!

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Buddy Love is being well taken care of (he wears a doggie diaper). He was let out of his bag today to attend a grooming appt. He is really having a bad hair day! OMG he looks ridiculous! I didn't even recognize him! I just stood there and asked..."hmmmm, where's Buddy?" She said "right there" and pointed to a hideous looking white dog. I'm sure the look on my face was one of pure horror! Wait until Roy seems him. I know what he's going to do...HE'S GOING TO BUST OUT LAUGHING! I'll post a photo, although I am quite embarassed and humiliated! OMG LOL

RoseMarie

Poor Buddy Love!!!!:)

debbie444

Laura i know what you mean! When we take Sam to be cut he always gets shorn, i pick him up, say hmmm thats fine , hand over £25 and come away thinking never again! Once his cut was so bad that some friends laughed out loud at him and he sulked for days.
Hope Teryn is better soon - now Mark is snuffling and feeling sorry for himself!
Deb

ravdeb

I'm ROFL! Poor Buddy Love! And Debbie...that is so funny!

I used to walk my dog around the block and one day when we walked by this one house, I saw their dog after a recent hair cut. OMG! I cracked up laughing. He looked positively ridiculous! A BIG dog who once had long, fluffy locks looked like a skinny runt! I told Casey how silly that was! She agreed.

Kelly..hope Teryn gets better soon..she is obviously sick of being sick!!!

Tracy NY...OMG! That's all I can say!!!

Michele..I'd love to be your roomie! Maybe with Jill if she comes? Three in a room. Three's Company!!!

RoseMarie..I wish you good luck in your job search. I'm with you on this one. I'm not job searching but am now REALLY going to get my business off the ground! Remind me once in a while!

My daughter got home close to 10 pm but we celebrated with dinner and cake, gifts and picture taking. She was tired and frustrated from the rehearsals but we did the best we could to make her laugh. I think it worked!

Have a good Saturday everybody!

TracyNY

I think the greatest professions in the world are being a lawyer and a weather man. Win or lose, right or wrong, you still get paid!! They've been promising snow for days now and there's NONE. If I performed like that at my job I'd be on unemployment as we speak. Its sunny as all heck out here today.

ravdeb

LOL, Tracy! So, do you WANT the snow?

TracyNY

Yes, I want the snow. There is no benefit to outside being as cold as it is without snow, at least to me anyway.

Curlylocks

Happy Saturday to all my lovely sisters.

My seminar was informative but long. Although I have a desk job working in an HR Department I am not used to sitting on my butt the whole day, always running around clarifying things with other coworkers, photocopying, looking for old archived files, out in the plant, etc. The two days of just sitting made for very long days. We did not have a lot of free time to do what we wished except for lunch and dinner where we all sat down together and ate our meals. The actually facility was beautiful out in the middle of nowhere, sprawling with beautiful rooms, lots of walking trails, big trees and lots of snow everywhere.

It continues to be cold here and the snow actually looks quite pretty with the sun shining the past few days.

My followup tests are next Wednesday the 7th, I cant wait for them to be over and done with so I will stop stressing about the outcome for another year. My husband is taking the day off to be my cheerleader, what a sweetie he is.

Ravdeb – It will be fun to be room mates. If Jill comes the more the merrier. I am so looking forward to meeting everyone!!! I sometimes stress about the cancer diagnosis and the fact that I had 3 positive nodes but then I tell myself that this whole thing is so beyond our control. We have to live and enjoy life, worrying wastes precious time.
Happy belated birthday to your daughter.

Victoria - I love the pictures of you and your daugther. She is so pretty as are you.

Maryanne – I love your new avtar. I bet you have a lot of snow now, we had been spoilt the earlier part of January but now we definitely have winter. I do like the snow just don’t appreciate the Freezing Rain. I will get all bundled up like an Eskimo today to take my dogs out for their daily walk. God news on the results of your skin biopsy, I hope it continues to heal well.

Laura – I would have run the other way too, that sounds disgusting that a professional could have such a dirty place for a practice.! Don’t laugh at me but it is Ohare airport that we would be flying into? I know there was another I think called Midway?? I don’t know anything about Chicago’s geography, never been. Do we have to practice those cheetah songs and know them for when we get together.LOL. Hey maybe after a few lemon drop martinis the words will flow just fine or we can make up some new onesJ
Poor Buddy, he must be so embrassed. I had our puppy all bundled up in her new winter coat that is blue and white with snowflakes on it and then put on her purple harness. She looked so pissed at me when I took her picture, I couldn’t stop laughing as she looked sooo funny looking.

Kelly – you will have to take a picture of Teryn’s missing tooth if she is feeling better. Is it in the front? Kelly I am glad the tiredness from the AI’s is not all in my head and that this has been validated. Teryn sounds like quite the little actress. It must be something to see that your pool has ice on it! Cute joke.

Paula – aw…..the beach pictures are making me drool right now, love the beach and the warmer weather. We will have to wait a little while for that here.LOL. I sincerely hope that you can swing a trip to Chicago, would be great to meet you. That verse was amazing and rings to true for all of us.

Mary – I;m with you, don’t care where I stay as long as we are in the same hotel or close by. Saving money sounds great too. We may be moving this summer so another expense. Also coming off two weeks holidays prior to meeting up with everyone in Chicago. Our friends from Arizona will be coming to visit us for a week, so we will be taking them to all the touristy spots in Toronto, casino in Niagara Falls, etc. I smiled when I read your sense of peace, walking away from another good mammogram and that we can begin to trust that everything is going to be okay again.

TracyNy – That is so cool that your birthday is on our get together weekend! I just realized that my youngest sister’s 40th is on the 23rd of August. You continue to crack me up with your sense of humour.

Gracyie – hi, nice to hear from you. I understand the wanting to move on too. I now feel a connection to all you ladies and enjoy continuing to come back here and see how our lives are playing out beyond breast cancer. We are super women and have faced one of life’s greatest challenges and are winning!

Rosemarie – I don’t have any kids but I remember how rough and tough my brother was with us.

Ravdeb – It will be fun to be room mates. I am so looking forward to meeting everyone!!! I sometimes stress about the cancer diagnosis and the fact that I had 3 positive nodes but then I tell myself that this whole thing is so beyond our control. We have to live and enjoy life, worrying wastes precious time.

Amy – I was wondering how you were doing. We are not mad at you, you do what works for you and whatever helps you cope. There is no right and wrong answer in how we handling the “moving beyond breast cancer” part of this disease. I do hope that you can make the August get together. It will be so nice to put a face, personality and live person to all these months of corresponding with each other.

Rosemarie – all the best in returning to the workforce. You make a wonderful teacher as you are so patient and creative with your own children and know how to make things fun.

Tracyseattle – I hope things are continuing to go well with your new love. Looking forward to meeting you in August.

Debbie444 – I have been on Armidex for 8months so if you have any questions, etc. Make sure that you take your calcium and vitamin d with it to prevent bone loss. Has your oncologist scheduled you for a baseline bone density scan? Listen to me I sound like a mother here! Please feel free to pm me. I;m glad you are running on all cylinders now.

Jill – glad to hear that you are feeling better. Would be great if you could join us in August, the more the merrier….

Love to all my sisters and enjoy your Saturday.

Michele