2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

chumfry

Victoria:

The French Quarter wasn't hurt much by Katrina. Being the oldest part of the city, it's built on the highest ground. Most of the tourist stuff, museums, etc., was OK. We did see some of the residential areas that had floodwater marks at 6 and 7 feet, and the rebuilding is slow-slow-slow. Lots of tiny FEMA trailers. It was really sad, but the city still has spunk. I'm glad we went.

Not that my little bout of chemo was anything to compare with a hurricane that killed so many people, but I kind of felt a kinship with the city. Like we had both been through a terrible storm, had shaken ourselves off and were starting to rebuild. They're using the fleur de lis (spell?) as a symbol for their "rebirth" and I brought home a silver pendant in that shape. It really resonated with me.

Anonymous

Laura and Cindy, love the photos!

Hope you all are doing well ..... just got done with work, dinner and some laundry .... very sore today, that Arimidex is very tiring some days.

Time for bath for Miss T and bed for us both.

Love you all.

Paula15089

Laura,
you look fab!!
forgive my hazy brain, did you have bilat mastectomies without recon? Are you using any prosthesis? If you do, its a perfect fit for you!

debbie444

(photography by mark so explains the funny angle)
Will read all the posts later when i get in from work



Omg Laura - definitely not wearing my bikini now!!

ravdeb

Good Morning...
Paula..that transcript is unbelievable. That is scary stuff. Somebody posted on the research forum about a virus they are looking into that could be causing bc. If that is true..then there will be a vaccination against bc and our children/grandchildren/great-grandchildren just may be saved.

If they find something out about this incredible coincidence at ABC, that would be totally newsbreaking. It's sad, scary but it could make a huge difference in the bc world.

Have a good day everybody.

Curlylocks

Good Morning Sisters,

Got to type quickly this morning or I will be late for my shower. TGIF!!!

We go the contractor nailed down with the questions (well not literally) and it appears that we now have to get someone else to do the skim coating on the walls as he does not do that stuff. More up and wait. Actually I left a message with someone that did work for us before and he was good at his work. Will get him to come in next week and give us a quote for the skim coating the walls and the cost to install the backsplash.

Get this the backsplash including materials will cost us $200.00 but the labour that the contractor wants to put it up is $300! We will see if this other guy will do it cheaper.

We have an appt with the kitchen department at the store on Tuesday next week to finalize and signoff on our kitchen installation. The cabinets are already an in stock item so it would be waiting two weeks for the counter top to come in and then setting up the appt for the contractor to install them.

Laura – I guess my contractor is not hanging out with Tracy’s drunken furniture dude after all. Your pictures are so great, you look so relaxed, love the hair style and colour!
The bathing suit is cute, I would never have the guts to wear something like that nor do I have that figure either.LOL.

Amy – enjoy your weekend at your parents. I wore my sleeve yesterday from 7:00 until 2:00 pm. I have wore it everyday this week but it does take getting used to.

Deb – my boss wont return this week as she is out of town on business. Generally as a rule I don’t spend a lot of time on the net at work as they do monitor usage time.

Gracyie – they are calling for 1-3 cm of snow here tonight, yuk. I no it is March but spring should be here now!LOL. I looked at the forecast for next week and one day says 17 degrees celcius, what yo yo weather!

Paula – I started reading that article and boy it seems like too much of a concidence that so many women with the same company were diagnosed. Please let us know what happens with the case.

Kelly – how long have you been on Armidex? I find it makes me tired sometimes too!

Debbie444 – what do you have on your nose? Cute picture thanks to our young photographer.

Have a great Friday ladies, will check in tonight when I get home from work.

Your bc sister
Michele

ravdeb

Debbie...Is that from Red Nose Day? That is so funny! I love it! Thanks to the young photographer!!

Laura..looks like a gorgeous place. I love places like that. We have southern Israel

So, Michele..you nailed down the contractor! Great play with words...I suppose the carpenter has been nailed as well. And the plumber...hope you didn't throw that idea down the drain!

Anonymous

ravdeb -
You posted beautiful resort photos a while back. Was that Southern Israel? I remember thinking your photos reminded me of MX.

Graycie

Love the pictures. Debbie your are such a clown....lol
Laura, I love the color of your hair. Is that from the sun or did you lighten it? You look so healthy and happy.

Paula, I didn't get to read the whole article yet but is that a large company? If it's small then that is really weird that there are so many cases of BC. I worked in a department store and there were 5 women that I know of that got BC. Most of them worked with clothing or textiles of some sort. Maybe just a coincidence but then I turn up with it??

TracySeattle

Laura! You are beautiful and you look great! Kelly same for you, and of course, Teryn! Both of you have nice hair too - Isn't it great to have hair!!!! :-)

Mary, thanks for the lymphadema info. My PT told me that in a lot of cases the lymphadema doesn't start showing up until about a year out (and can be up to several years). She did some massage which HURT really bad at first because my breast and underarm area are still sore, but I think the massage helped the area a lot, the pain is even less now.

She recommended that I look for camisoles that are made of lycra-type fabric. Not necessarily the ones with built in bras, but just something that would provide support to the chest and trunk area (kinda like a sleeve does to the arm). She said that a tight bra around your torso can irritate the lymphadema and interfere with the moving of the fluid.

She also noticed that my right underarm area (the unaffected side) was more swollen than the left side. She said that is because those lymph nodes are trying to make up for the ones that are gone....

Interesting.... And, yes, moving is not a good thing. But poor Dave can't help me right now, so I am just trying to make the boxes as light as I can.

Hope you all have a great weekend! (((hugs)))

Graycie

Tracy, I found that sport bras are pretty good....Most of my bra's are underwire. Did you ever try to find one that wasn't? Most bra's have the underwire so I went to the sport bra. The only thing is the straps are so thick you can't wear them with everything because they show.

TracySeattle

Yeah I have tried sports bras and I may go back to them. I kinda feel like they make me look "squished" or flattened - but I don't usually where the type of clothes that it would matter.

The bra that I wear is not an underwire, but it does get uncomfortable underneath my breasts so I know that it is probably impeding the lymphatic flow.

Wearing camilsole or tank type tops is kind of "in" right now, so I would think the straps would just look like you had one of those on....

Maybe I will give it a try again....

TracyNY

Hot body Laura!!! Damn girl, you look good!!

ravdeb

Yes, Laura..I was in southern Israel where there is a resort town. I love it there..my favorite vacation when we vacation in Israel. It's far enough away from home but not that far. We feel like we are really far..about 6 hour drive..that is far! When we fly there, we feel like we are overseas :-)

Well, I really hope I never have lymphadema. I feel so bad for all of you...I really do. I mean..I'd be angry if I had to change bras. I can only fit into an underwire and I finally found one that fits both boobs now!

I wear a sports bra under a tank top when I go swimming because all the bathing suits are low cut and my scar shows. It smooshes me, like Tracy said. It's okay for swimming in but nothing more. I thought about shopping for a bathing suit and forgetting about my scar. My scar is not that bad..but it's there and I don't want anyone to comment on it. It's very high cuz the tumor was at 12:00 (that was good..I felt it!) and high up.

Ignore me..I'm cooking with wine...I even put some of the wine on the chicken! But drinking a lot more. And it's not even my medicinal wine. This time it's my favorite white wine that I need to finish before the Passover holiday so I figured I'd start finishing it now!

ravdeb

Laura..forgot to ask you..how did you get so tan so quickly? I love tans but I'm afraid of them now. Aren't you worried about cancer? My sister uses some lotion that colors your skin and is supposedly safe.

Just wondered. Our sun here is highly dangerous and one of the biggest public service announcements as summer approaches is to stay out of the sun. I walk the beach in the sun but I'm covered with lotion on my face. I will get some color on me but haven't been as dark as you appear to be since I was a kid and didn't know any better.

debbie444

Michelle -its my red nose! They have different ones every year, sometimes with hair, hands etc. This year they are big and made of foam , with different stickers to personalise them. They cost £1 and 60p goes to Comic relief.
Thank goodness todays over ! A lot of the other young staff went as oopah loompahs but the orange face paint wont wash off - which i thought funny as they were laughing at me trying to build a 10 ft tower out of flopppy phone books and 37 willing 9 year old helpers. I got volunteered for building the Eifle tower out of yellow pages ( business phone books) . What a nightmare!
Debbie

Anonymous

Well, had to call in sick to work today. Somebody looks like they have chicken pox. Going to the doctor this morning and will see what it is.

Love the red nose!!

ravdeb

Well, I hope that Teryn DOES have the chicken pox. It's good to get them when young. When my first one got them I put them all together in a room and instructed her to breathe heavily on her brothers! It worked. They've all had it. My brother had it when he was an adult since my sister and I are much older than he is and we had it together. He was terribly ill.

I don't wish Teryn to be sick but I do wish that she get this while she's young!

Graycie

I hope she doesn't have checken pox too but I agree with Ravdeb. They usually have a milder case when they are young. Good thing she didn't have symptom's until after your vacation.

Graycie

I forgot to mention. When my two kid's got chicken pox one was sick for Thanksgiving and the other one for Christmas. Ruined both holiday's that year. Oh well, the joy's of motherhood. Along with the good you sometime's get the bad.

Anonymous

She has it. She had the vaccine when she was a baby but the doctor said that having chicken pox twice is not rare (I had it two times) and that the vaccine cannot do better than nature. So, since she did have the vaccine she won't get it so bad ..... I had mild cases which is why I got it again. She doesn't have the fever or achiness. Just the itchy spots and he said it's not fierce.

So, we are heating up the pool and going swimming. It's hot here again.

TracySeattle

Poor Teryn. I hope she gets better soon!

RoseMarie

Kelly - hope Teryn's case remains mild! Glad to hear you guys are swimming and enjoying yourselves!
Wow, way too many posts to comment! I hate it when I stray for too long!!
Laura - you look great!
Cindy - FUN pics!
Debbie - so sweet of your dad to be praying for us! Cute pic of you too!
Kiersten's conference went ok. Not sure we really resolved anything - basically she does have a lot of OCD and anxiety but not enough of the other behaviors to merit an autism eval. We came up with a concrete behavioral plan for her and that's really what she needs. We know she had brain trauma - we know she's mentally handicapped, it's all related - I just need help and hopefully this behavioral plan is a step in the right direction.
I've sat down at this computer about 5 times today so I don't even remember what I was going to say...
Well, lots of love to all of you! Have a FABULOUS weekend!!!

Anonymous

First, thanks for all the compliments and taking the time to acknowledge our vacation photos. Roy and I had an incredible time. It jump-started our relationship...as I was just about a month and a half post last Mast. He kept me laughing the whole time, and his wit and sense of humor was, as usual, awesome, funny and much appreciated. He has a ton of patience and he's quite laid back. We truly balance each other. I'm hinting toward another MX trip in April...we'll see! I told him that could be my Mother's day gift...after all, I am Buddy Love's Mommy! Right...huh? LOL

Debbie -
You are something else! I love that photo. And I love the necklace you have on. That Eiffel tower sounds dangerous to say the least! Hmmm...you walked away with no mishaps? I am indeed impressed. LOL

TaDah -
Thanks for the compliment. I pm'd you.

Paula -

Quote:

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forgive my hazy brain, did you have bilat mastectomies without recon? Are you using any prosthesis?

---

I had an expander put in at the time of the 1st Mast., but had it removed 2 weeks later because I couldn't handle the pain. It was rubbing against my rib cage (my chest cavity is small and I don't have excess skin on top - all of my fat is below the waist - LOL). In December I had the Prophyl done - without reconstruc. I might attempt reconstruc. again soon - but I'm worried about it (maybe I should just drink a shot of Tequila and then make my decision). So, in the meantime I have gel filled pads (prosths) that I put into bras and swimsuits. I also have strapless bras, and that works well. In the swimsuits, I just cut a slit in the lining of the top and slip 'em in. It works well also, but when I played volleyball or water basketball, I put a sports bra on top of my bathing suit to hold 'em in! LOL Kind of a pain in the butt...but what's a girl to do? LOL Best wishes to you with your reconstruct! We'll be cheering you on, as usual!

ravdeb -
OMG - if I lived there I would be at that resort every weekend! It's amazing and enviable that you have something so beautiful...so close by. I have always tanned very easily. I used the sunless lotion you mentioned, every night. I started with #30 sun block (to prevent burning) and gradually went down to #15 sun block. We spent quite a bit of time at the pool, but we always sat under a palapa(?) but the sun filters through no matter where ya sit. Our sun here in Illinois, as you know, isn't very strong here, so I don't have the year round exposure like you and some of the other girls, so I think that's why I worry less.

Graycie -
Thanks. I broke down and had my hair colored at the local Aveda salon. Their master colorist did my hair - low lights and high lights - it was not cheap but the difference is worth the price. and...I love their products!

Michele -
Hang in there with the construction! We will forget the pain
...my dear!

RoseMarie -
Me (and Roy's) favorite saying is: We will either find a way, or make one! I am truly impressed with your efforts to find the best situation/dx for you and your little one. I wish you the best. And, btw...how did she like the AG Place? Isn't it incredible? I wish I had invented the AG Doll...lots of $$$$! LOL Which doll does she own?

Tracy -
Please take care of that arm!

EVERYONE -
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Roy is putting the finishing touches on the new engine in the GOAT. I really can't wait to hit the road with it and find a COBRA to toy with on the open road. I know that sounds crazy...but racing is in my blood! And of course, I can't wait for him to take it to the track and kick butt! He needs this...he is my co-survivor! LOL

ravdeb

Kelly..I hope that Teryn feels okay and just gets over it. I didn't know you could get it twice and forgot there is that vaccine now. Yikes..that ages me. We didn't have that for our kids "back then"! Nice that she is well enough to enjoy that beautiful pool! May she continue to feel good!

V... I'm so sorry. I'm so sad for you. I know how closely interwoven your lives are with the church and the priests. That is a beautiful picture of your church. It's a beautiful sanctuary. I hope you find comfort with the other parishioners who will be coming by your home.

Rose Marie..that's great that you got a plan made up for you. I hope it works. Remember...plans can be modified if it's not working. And be patient. You have a heart of gold. Kiersten is lucky to have a mom who cares so much, and understands. The fact that you are a teacher really, really helps. I have never regretted my education in child development/family relations and special education. It has helped me tremendously in so many ways. And I know your educational background is a true treasure for you, too. Good luck with the new plan.

We lost electricity last night while finishing dinner. We are having so many storms here and we always lose power during them..I think because we are out in the "country". But, it was so frustrating. I lit candles and did dishes by candlelight. I hate when there is a mess in the kitchen. But, it was getting tricky so I sat on the sofa for a while, took a nap and then all of a sudden the lights went on! I was happy about that!

Laura..I love going to the south of Israel for our weekend "get-aways" but I don't like going too often. I always find that if I go somewhere too much, it loses its novelty and I don't appreciate it as much. We tend to go about once a year but sometimes not even that often. We sometimes get these deals for a night or two in a nice hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv and we'll do that, too. It's totally different to walk the boardwalk in Tel Aviv..filled with kids/teens and lots of noise and restaurants. It's fun, too. Nothing like the Red Sea in Eilat, though.

TracyNY

Does anyone else do this, start on one project that morphs into another and then another?

I got up and decided to re-stage my dining room table so I go into the china cabinet to pick some patterns which turned into washing all the china in the cabinet which turned into a search for some particular table linens which I STILL can't find. And its not even lunch time yet.

It snowed yesterday after being 70 degrees the day before. Never a dull moment so I'm in the house making work for myself. I'm also purging my closet since my body is going to look hot like Laura's next winter I can get rid of all my cold weather garb!

Anonymous

V-So sorry about your loss. I know how much the town means to you. And yet, it seems to be helping you say it's ok to leave and move on. You have much to say goodbye to but you also have so much ahead of you ... La Vida Loco! Or come by our house where we both are loco en la cabeza!

TracyNY, yes, I do that all the time. I cannot clean one room at a time. It's a house project because I start by bringing things to the right room then find before I can put the laundry away, I need to get rid of some clothes that don't fit me or Teryn. Then while in the garage putting the clothes in the donation bags, I notice that leaves have accumulated in the garage so you have to sweep them out. Then you have to hose down the driveway and you might as well hose down the front of the house.

My recommendation to self: never do laundry.

marymelodi

Kelly: aw-w Chicken Pox . . . hope your little princess is feeling better. My experience of chicken pox involves younger brothers getting a bottle of children's aspirin and eating them like candy. We had to go to the emergency room to have their stomachs pumped out. I felt so superior, being the older sister, that I had not done such a dumb thing. Just as they finished their recovery, I was supposed to have my baptism day at church (we do this at age 8). As I was dressing in my new white dress for the baptism my mother said, "What is that on your back?" Yup, it was chicken pox. I had to postpone my baptism, not wanting to infect others since we do total immersion in water for the baptism. I was heart broken since my best friend, who had her baptism scheduled for that day also, went ahead with it. The party and guests and refreshments and everything was canceled. I remember it being my first real serious disappointment in life. After a month I was able to be baptized, but I've never remembered the actual event as much as the day of the canceled ceremony.

Thank goodness Teryn's experience will not include anything like that.

We have been buried in snow. Like Tracy said, it's been too weird with 60 degrees on Wednesday and now back to bitter cold and white, white outside. I'm thinking this could be the last storm of the season. Maybe? I hope!!

I will be going out later for my weekly trek to the library. It's only 2 blocks away down my street so I'm thinking of just bundling up and walking. I just heard on the radio they are still going to have the St. Pat's Day parade downtown. Those crazy Irish!!!!! I suppose with enough green beer the snow, ice, and cold is nothing to worry about.

Have a great day~~~
Mary

ravdeb

Tracy NY..that happens to me ALL the time! I start one thing and I end up doing something else and sometimes I can't remember what I started doing! That is not chemo brain..that's dEBBIE brain. It's happening to me a lot lately as I am doing spring cleaning for Passover. That's one of the reasons I hate the cleaning. I make more of a mess than I had before! I'm REALLY trying to stay focused this time.

ravdeb

Mary..quite a chicken pox story. Funny how our memories often focus on huge disappointments sometimes because they can be so impressionable. I don't really remember the chicken pox. I was really young when I had it but I have a scar from it..I think it's still there. And I do remember a few years later that my mom would point out the scar to her friends and then I'd hear all the "scolding" from others (never from my mom) about not scratching! I mean..I didn't even remember being sick let alone scratching! I think I was about 3 or 4 years old. So, if I ended up with only one scar..that's pretty good!

I almost forgot it was St. Pat's Day. My girlfriend is Irish. And they make the Chicago River green. Do they still do that? AND..when I was in grad school I lived in an apartment complex and my little car that was made of tin was parked in the lot. On St. Pat's day the frats had their usual drinking parties and somebody walked on my car and left dents in the hood, roof and trunk of the car..walked right on it! I was in shock when I went out to my car. My first car! And no proof of who did it!