2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

Paula15089

are we talking virtual cake?! its the only kind i can have now..
here you go:

ake

oooo, cake!!! my mom makes this amazing cake....a hershey cocoa cake. i'll get the recipe from her and post it because seriously...it's heaven in your mouth! you know what's better than cake? raw cookie dough. i made cookies yesterday and ate about half the cookie dough. felt sick afterwards, but it was worth it

rosemarie....i completely overlooked your brca results in your post. oops...i'm sorry! my brain has not been working to it's upmost potential this week. i was talking to my neighbor yesterday....we hang out with her and her husband ALL the time and she mentioned going to dinner that night with "sam" and i thought to myself....who the hell is "sam"? before realizing it's her freakin' husband!!! isn't chemo brain supposed to be over by now? that was a scary moment anyways, that's so great you tested brca negative!!! i love those things to cross off lists and that's a big one

i've been up since 7am because my hubby had to get up early for work. waiting for my parents to get here and watching reruns of america's next top model....my ultimate, favorite, favorite trashy show

have a good saturday ladies. hope you have nice weather!!!

Curlylocks

Good Morning Dear Sisters,

Well the deed is done, our house is listed—sign and lockbox went up last night, paperwork all signed. It will go on MLS for Monday when showings start.

Our real estate agent was impressed with the changes we made and felt we could list our home for $5,000 more than we had hoped to list it for. Agent’s open house is on Tuesday from 10:30 – 12:00 pm.

It was nice to do nothing last night but rest my exhausted body and today’s agenda only includes taking the dogs for a walk and then getting groceries after I have lunch with my sister and my girlfriend.

Tomorrow will be the busy day staging the house for any showings that may happen next week.

It is raining here today but tomorrow is suppose to be a nicer day.

Laura – hope you are enjoying yourself in the sunshine and having a few coolies.

Gracyie – almost every morning this past week I have woken up between 2-3:00 a.m., get up for an hour and then go back to sleep until the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m.

Thanks for the compliment. I love taking pictures as we got a newer camera which is a Canon with 6 mega pixels, takes wonderful pictures!

Yes we had rain yesterday and today but it has made the grass really green now which we need!

I took ativan for 5 months during chemo prior to bed, it did help me sleep like a baby but it is highly addictive! I had a really hard, hard time weaning off it. I was told that ativan acts like valium, don’t know how true that is?

Rosemarie – what a relief, negative on the gene mutation!!!

Kelly – We hope so as we have worked our butts off! Thankfully you bought your home when you did. It makes me wonder when the prices are ever going to stable especially here in Canada where the real estate market is still very good. We bought our ½ acre lot for $160,000 CDN in 1993 and now have it listed at $289,900 CDN.

Deb – thanks but you will have to call a local contractor for upgrades.LOL. as this lady is pooped from doing all this stuff…. Okay, that cake looks soooo yummy!!

Debbie444 – our listing is 60-90 flexible meaning if someone comes in with an offer we are flexible on dates as we don’t have a commitment to another property. When we do sell our house we need to find a closing date that is the same or similar to what we do here. Isnt it fun planning out a trip? Cant wait to meet you and your family in August! Did you book your hotel yet for our get together?

Cindy – take it easy and yes keep remind yourself that surgery was only a few days ago. I laughed at your comments once the drugs started kicking in. Our walls were lime green when we pulled the old cupboards off and we had no backsplash prior to putting up this new stuff, just plain walls. I told the agent that we are going to have to take the slate backsplash with us as it is sooooo nice, he just laughed!

Tracyseattle – hope you find some peace with your work life. I think some days it would be so nice to just quit and do something that I truly enjoy. Work does not mean the same to me anymore, I do like the people and my job most days---but my focus and attitude is so much different where I don’t worry about work.

Victoria – glad to hear that you are feeling well, this trip will be awesome for you and your dh. Thanks for the kind words and I;m glad I didn’t bore you all silly….

Tadah – My dh and I laughed at each other this morning and said I wonder why we didn’t make these changes to our house years ago. It always seems to be the way, you upgrade then move….

Amy – it is nice that you were able to get your frustrations out at the gym. Isnt your home fairly new? It looked really nice in the pictures you posted, what would you like to change in it? My mom use to tell me when I was a little girl that eating cookie dough would cause worms to grow in my belly.LOL.

Paula – enjoy your sunny warm weather. We will be thinking about you next week that your surgery is uneventful.

Have a wonderful day ladies.

Love You All
Michele

ake

michele....my dad told me cookie dough would give me worms! what was that all about?

Curlylocks

Amy - I think they thought we would believe it.LOL and that it would stop us from eating all the dough before the cookies were baked.

Have a super weekend...gotta run...

Michele

Graycie

Amy, I heard you could get salmonella poisoning from the raw egg's.......Worm's? That doesn't sound too good either......lol

debbie444

I never ate raw ingredients - the thought of the uncooked eggs was enough for me.
As for cake - i hope thats the bit that is left after we have all had a bit - not the bit we are all supposed to share - come on - I can inhale bigger peices that that!!

We are in the process of plastering our bedroom ( the Royal We again!) not that i knew it needed doing. Then i have caught Michelles bug and have been out and bought paint. Michelle - never start skydiving - we may all feel the need to copy!!

ravdeb

Wow, Michele..I'm relaxing now along with you! That is amazing how we followed you right up to the listing! Soon we will all be moving along with you to your new home. Is there room for all of us??? Too bad you aren't willing to renovate my house! My dh "fixed" the tub in the kids' bathroom. We will need to replace it in the end. We thought we were saving money. We will have to rip out the tub which means we'll need to retile and since we'll never find everything to match, we will just redo the whole bathroom, which is what I said in the beginning. We even had picked everything out. And then along came this friend of ours (husband of a chemo buddy of mine...chemo must have gone to HIS head!) and he suggested how to fix the tub and save money. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

And now I see that the kitchen sink is misbehaving. This is the fault of the guy who put it in. I think it's rotting out. I hope we don't have to replace a sink and counter tops because we have a VERY huge counter and that would cost us a fortune!

Debbie..sorry the piece of cake is so small. My daughter cut the pieces kinda small! Luckily, on the computer, you can each eat it and it will still be here if you want more!

Paula...those look like yummy cakes and they didn't take any time to make!

Amy...naughty girl eating the cake dough! I used to love eating the cake dough when I was little. My mom would get mad at me though. I sometimes take a taste but won't eat much of it because of the uncooked eggs. But when my daughter was in grade school and I was making a birthday cake for her for school, it's a good thing I tasted the cake batter because I thought it looked weird. I had put salt in instead of sugar!

Amy I cracked up laughing when you wrote about not knowing who Sam was! That is tooooooooo funny!

yowyow

Hello Ladies, sorry to jump in your thread (just the once)
but Paula had mentioned on our aussie site, that this is where so posts. I have posted there two but not sure she would get time to check in and get our well wishes.

Just to let you know hon, am thinking of you with your op this week. It will all go fantastically well!!!!

Here's to a speedy recovery.

nav xxxx

TracySeattle

Debbie! Wow - that is a lot on one week, you all are going to be tired! Are you driving to all of those places?

Deb- love the cake - YUM!!

We have been BUSY today! Went shopping and now we (I) are fixing dinner for Dave's Sister & BIL who are spending the night tonight. I have never met them--YIKES meeting the family and cooking for them too! Scary.....

Cindy - how are you feeling? V - are you off traveling?

Laura - I am so jealous that you are lounging in the sun - ENJOY SISTER!

Everyone else have a good "rest of" your weekend!

Paula15089

Aaaaw, thanks nav!
i'll visit the aussie forum soon, i promise!!!! i know i've been slack...

chumfry

I'm doing really well. Just taking it easy and emptying my drain every few hours. (Ick!)

Sat on the deck and watched a couple of bunnies in our back yard. One bunny acts like he owns the place. He plopped down on his side and proceded to take a bath like a cat! It was really cute.

My next-door neighbor came over with some soup and visited for a bit, and then my supervisor at work dropped us off a meal and some fresh fruit. Yum! Joel had to figure out how to take apart a fresh pineapple, so that was fun to watch. The results were quite tasty, too!

So far, this recovery period has been much easier than that for my first mastectomy. I had been exercising more regularly, so I think that has made a huge difference in my strength and stamina. (Botox in the chest muscle over my expander is helping a lot, too!)

TracyNY

Glad to see you up and about Cindy.

Just a word for any of you who are investors, the market is doing fantastically well. Check your allocations and make the necessary changes. I'm here hyperventilating because funds are making 16% for the quarter!!

RoseMarie

Hello everyone! just time for a quickie
Cindy -so glad you're doing better!!!
Debbie - wow, that will be some trip!!

Ok, told you it would be quick, taking a piece of cake with me...

ravdeb

Cindy...happy to read that you are doing well and doing some bunny watching! Keep up the good work!

Am off to the beach..finally!

My father in law is being admitted into the hospital today and is scheduled for an angiogram tomorrow and surgery to replace heart valve on Wed. Sister in law is due in from the States this afternoon. We are a bit tense here. The walk on the beach will do me good.

V is walking the ACS walk today. Let's root for her!

Hope you enjoy the cake, RoseMarie!

Thanks for the tip, TracyNY.

Tracy in Seattle..you are right. It is probably the scariest thing in the world..meeting family and then COOKING for them! I'm sure I'd be a nervous wreck! But I bet it will turn out just fine! Good luck!

Have a fun Sunday everybody..

Graycie

Wow, V is doing a walk today. Boy, she bounces back quickly after just having surgery. Good luck V, Is tomorrow when you are leaving for your trip? Have fun.

Ravdeb, The walk on the beach will do you good. I wish your FIL the best for tomorrow and Wednesday.

Kelly and Paula, I will be thinking of you both this week too.


Tadah, That's great. I have a little money invested. I will have to check and see how it is doing.

Tracy, I hope everything is going OK for you with your family meeting. I am sure you will be a GREAT host. I am trying to remember did you move in with Dave or did the two of you get a new place?

Believe it or not the sun is out today after three day's of rain. I guess I will head out for a walk.

ravdeb

What a long day. I did get to the beach and it was the best thing for me..I feel so much better! The beach is really very good for me!

I think that Victoria bounced back quickly because it was like an excisional biopsy. I had that and I was feeling fine the same day. The next day I was back to "normal" whatever THAT is!

Well..my father in laww keeps getting a change in scheduling. He was scheduled to have the angiogram tomorrow, then my dh called me and said it was changed to this afternoon, then my dh left the hospital to pick up his sister at the airport and his dad called him and said they postponed the angiogram for tomorrow and now my dh just called me and told me it's back on for this evening!!!

The nurses said that in that dept the schedule changes every 4 hours because there are a lot of emergencies. GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ! I told my dh that when they roll him in for the angiogram to give me a call because only THEN will I believe it!

I spent almost 2 hours translating a letter to English for our synagogue. I'm tired now! But it's a tired from being busy and not that no-energy lethargic stuff I was suffering from before. That's it...beach walk every day!

Enjoy your sun, Gail! Today was perfect...mid-70's and sunny. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Anonymous

Debbie, I wish I were there so I could buy that beautiful house you showed us. In San Diego $350,000 is something I would buy in a heartbeat (if it looked like that). It would cost you twice as much to buy a box of a house like mine.

Michele, that dining room does not need anything else. It's lovely.

Cindy and Victoria, I am glad that you are both feeling better, and on the road to recovery!

debbie444

OMg - well that is an eye opener . In the bit of the US i have seen houses seemed so much cheaper than here . I guess i should take Roger to other places so he doesnt get the urge to move over there all of the time!!
Catherine is silking as i cut her fringe , only i cut a chunk out as she made me laugh . Have to think of a way to make it look better for school tomorrow!!
We finished painting our room at 1.00 this morning - boy was i glad to go to bed.
Deb - hope your FIL gets sorted soon.
Laura - hope yu are having a good break - we need to see the pics when you get back.
I got my veg patch rotivated today . Son i will be able to plant out . My sweetcorn and leeks wont be much longer.

maryannecb

V, just popped in, saw your pics then have to run. Really busy weekend. Looking good V, the two of you. Looks like lots participating too.

Fists up!

Graycie

Debbie, I think the houses on the East coast are much cheaper unless you go into the big cities.

V, What nice pictures and what a beautiful day you had. You are lucky. It never fail's it is always rainy or cold when they have the walks here. Our BC walk in Buffalo is in June. I am also going to walk in the diabete's walk which is next month.

I got bit by the cleaning bug today so I better go finish...

Curlylocks

Today was a beautiful day out, took pups out for a nice long walk and also went on a major cleaning binge and painted the basement floor. Our house is now ready, ready finally spic and span for any potential buyers that may call on us starting tomorrow.

We went to an open house today but didn’t care too much for the home. It was newer than ours only 11 years old all brick two storey. The people that owned it had white carpet installed by the builder throughout the house except for the kitchen. The carpet was actually dirty in a number of areas. They never painted any of the walls from the builders white paint and a lot of the walls were dinged with marks. We loved the layout huge open concept big living dining room with 9 foot ceilings. We felt for the price that it was listed at we would have way too much work ahead of us, been there, done that already with this house!LOL. So we will continue to look at other homes as they become available, no hurry….yet! The agent that was showing that home asked about our current home and we told him that it was on the market starting tomorrow and he said he had some buyers that may be interested in looking at it.

As I am sitting here typing my feet are really aching, must have overdid it as usual.

Had a great sleep last night for a change and hopefully will follow suit tonight….

Debbie444 – Are you putting new drywall on the bedroom, you said plastering? Not sure what you mean? My husband as skydived many times years ago but I am too chicken to try…so no worries there.

Deb – you would have a huge project on your hands if you renovated the bathroom. Isnt it funny how we do things thinking we are going to save money and in the end we do what we should have done in the first place. It must be murphy’s law everything seems to be breaking down at your place, now the sink!

Healing thoughts for your father in law….

Tracyseattle – how did the dinner go and meeting the family members?

Cindy – glad to hear that things are a little easier this time around. We have never seen any bunnies in our yard, the puppy would have a hay day if she did. We have lots of squirrels that she loves to chase though and chipmunks too!

Brenda – thanks for the compliment.

Victoria – what a wonderful picture of you and your dh, you so young looking, great actually! Kudos to you for finishing the walk.

Graycie – I cleaned the house all day, tomorrow night I will come home and do nothing but put my feet up unless someone wants to come and see the house, then I have to take the dogs out for awhile….

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Love you guys!

Michele

Anonymous

Debbie,

Please tell me about your lump under your arm. Does it hurt when you pinch it? I am also concerned because my "scar tissue" from lumpectomy seems to have grown bigger and harder. My onc appt. is coming up and I think I'll have to wait till then to tell him.

Thanks.

Anonymous

Just popping in to say hello. I am going to the dr's and hospital this morning for the pre-op.

I am glad to get this out. I will not forget how painful this thing is in the mornings. After laying on my back all night, the expander hurts until I get moving around. Cannot wait to sleep on my side or tummy!

Brenda, lately, my underarm has been hurting and I will have to make another appt with my onc. I really want to get an US on my underarm. Unless it's scar tissue from when they too out 2 nodes.

V -- you look beautiful! Dave is proud to stand next to his Warrior Woman. Which walk was this? Avon or Komen? Love you in our shirt. You have such warm thoughts in your posts. I love to read your posts.

Michelle, remind me why you are selling????

TracySeattle

I also have noticed that the scar tissue from my lumpectomy gets bigger and harder, but when I go to Physical Therapy for my LE and she massages it - it gets better, I think the massage breaks down the scar tissue or something. I also notice that it gets sore - again, the massage seems to help alot.

I hope this is what you two are dealing with as well and nothing more.....

Happy Monday everyone!

debbie444

I have my appointment for the US under my arm - its the 9th May. My underarm has always been tender in some parts and numb in others - it feels tender when i shave etc and teh numbness goes down my arm. I can feel the lump when i press , but i dont think its anything as it feels more of a ridge and goes in the direction that my 'hole'went. I am hoping it is scar tissue from when they took 28 nodes and that its different because my job has become more physical.
Plastering - we put the plaster board on ( solid plaster between two paper type coating , and plaster over the top. Most houses here are plastered (similar to the stuff between bricks!) - only the basic new starter homes arent.
Michelle - the other house only looked grotty because you have been through yours like a whirlwind ! Your buyers arent going to believe thir luck!!
Someone else needs to take on the role of upcoming surgeries secretary being as our sec is going in herself!
It looks warm in your photos V , I dont think i will be walking this year - I am having a year off. i know it sounds selfish but theres only so much reminding a girl can take!
Debbie

ake

talk me down from the bridge....i'm totally freaking out even though in my head i know it's nothing....the nurse just called from my onc.'s office and said that my onc. would like my white blood cell count tested again in 2 weeks (a month from my last appt) because my white cells are lower than they were in january. in january the number was 3900 and now they're at 2500. i burst into tears and she told me not to worry...this is not cancer...but my onc. is thorough and likes every difference checked out. she said it might be from an infection i had or one i had and didn't know. she said over and over not to worry.

so tell me not to worry!

chumfry

Try not to worry, Amy. Didn't you have a nasty bug not too long ago? It's allergy season with all the trees blooming, etc. Would that somehow affect your white counts?

I'm pretty sure they've been checking my blood counts in my every-six-month blood tests and they didn't say anything about my white counts going weird. And here I ended up with more cancer! So that bobble in your counts probably doesn't have anything to do with cancer, just like the nurse says..

ravdeb

Amy, Amy, Amy...do not WORRY! It's just the silly wbc playing the jumping game and it means there could be some hidden infection that they can look for and mostly likely the retake on it will bring it up to a more normal number.

It's NOT cancer. WBC does not mean cancer. It's just that we were so focused on it during chemo that we forget. I know..my neutrophil was wierd and my doctor reminded me that it is noting..I am fine.

My father in law had his surgery this morning. Yes..it was moved up because of scheduling. It was a grueling four and a half hours. He had a valve replacement (sounds like a car!) and one bypass. It was successful, he is in intensive care now, woke up, they tested him and then put him back to sleep. We got home at 10PM after being there from early morning. Long day.

While he was in surgery, I went to oncology and talked to the bc nurse. She's really nice. At any rate, they won't let me see the head of the dept..she is only taking on special cases and I guess I'm not special enough! But, the resident that I saw before she went on maternity leave, is back. I really liked her. She is working in the day treatment area and not in the offices right now but the nurse told me that I can see her and so I'll probably see her this Wed! I will check this out tomorrow and clear my insurance form. She also told me that no matter where this doctor is in the hospital, I can see her. So, I'm relieved about that.

In the meantime, I've been feeling some heaviness in my chest area (lungs, breathing) and sometimes when I exert myself I feel a pain in my left middle part of my back. This could all be my asthma but I rarely have asthma problems but since asthma comes in spurts, this could be a spurt. hmmmmmmm...everything is so suspicious!

Kelly..good luck with pre-op and then OP! That is on Wed?
Paula...aren't you doing surgery this week, too?

Victoria...You look absolutely beautiful! I love the pictures of you and Dave. You both look so young and good! I'm glad the walk was good..I hope the trip/vacation is fun. Travel safely and return home safely.

Cindy..good to see you on.

Michele..no house will match your newly decorated house!

I gotta go to bed..I'm sooooooooooo tired.

Be well ladies...

ravdeb

Amy..you don't need to feel the infection...it could be a lingering one. Don't worry! We are so into blood tests and so aware of our bodies that we are overly sensitive to every darn thing!

Kelly...Good luck!!!!!! Wishing you only the best!

Laura..sounds like FUN!

Tracy seattle...what a terrific picture of the two of you! I love the background, too.

I'm off to get my insurance form so I can see my onc tomorrow. Gotta remember to organize all my test results I've had. I'm so unorganized these days for some reason. I put things down and can't find them again. Last night when I went to bed I told myself I MUST file and label everything today. I used to be so organized and then there was breast cancer!

My dh just called from the hospital. He was in a panic because his dad was still connected to all the stuff and sound asleep. But the doctor came out and told him he had just disconnected him and he'd be able to talk to him in a few minutes. So, all is well. I feel badly that he's there by himself, though. He took our youngest to a 2-day army thingy that is also on this campus early this morning and his sister has jet lag and will take the train in later. I've decided to stay home and get things done and spend the day there tomorrow when he is out of intensive care.

Paula..when do you get prepped for Friday? I wish you the best of luck. You and Kelly both!

Must get my coffee down and then get going on all my chores.

Have a good day!