Starting Chemo May 2008

Gracie713

Sue-Your niece and family will be in my prayers.  I am at a loss for words.  (Having flashbacks to when we almost lost our oldest DD 11 years ago)  My heart is breaking for you and your niece.

Kristy-My hair is finally starting to grow more--it is more salt than pepper, I think!  Along with 3 areas that isn't growing hardly at all.  Looking forward to the pic!

Night ladies--love you all!

rock

Ah, Sue, I am so very, very sorry.  Fourteen? And in his sleep?  I feel for your niece.  I'm glad she has you, though. And I feel for you, too.

JulieC

Sue - I feel so bad for your family and am praying for all.  I have a 13 year old dd and I can't even imagine.  Just so sad.  Cyber hugs from Illinois.

Julie

ellenoire

off to bed... love to all.. big hugs to RanD and Siouxie!!

drcrisc

Oh, Sue.  Hugs and prayers, hon, hugs and prayers.

Roxi65229

Sue-I am so sorry to hear about your niece and her family. I will keep them in my prayers. I just can't imagine the thought of losing a child. Hugs.

Kristy, I've been pretty happy with the color rinse. It last about 8 shampoos and does a decent job of covering the gray. Plus, I don't feel like its chemicals on my head. 

Sable

Sue~ I'm so sorry for your families loss. I cannot imagine. You are in my thoughts and prayers

Kristy~I'm with ya on the meds part. I've prided myself all my life in managing not taking pills even for a headache. .... and now...... sheesh.

Rock~ at the top of the browser click on tools, then click on addons. the box that comes up.... to the right hand side at the top click on browse addons. the one that I added was foxclocks. There are a ton of neato little things you can add :O)

Well I am home from work today. Little one has a fever this morning and sounds horrible. He has a nice barking cough. Hubs may come home early so I can go to work at least for a little bit this afternoon. Have a nice day ladies!

KristyAnn

Mary, What kind of rinse did you get for your hair? Ive never done the color myself so I need to be tutored!

Im feeling better today- I think I was overtired, depressed, anxious and everything else all weekend- seemed like I was near melt down for 2 days. Working from home some today (2 more weeks on medical leave) so I feel at least a little productive. Going to make Italian food for dinner!

Kristy

Roxi65229

Kristy, I bought Clairol Natural Instincts Loving Care. No peroxide, no ammonia. They don't have a ton of colors to choose from, but it fades nicely. I googled Clairol semi-permanent and Sally's carries a larger assortment. I got mine at Walmart for about $4.00. I also am able to get two die jobs out of one (since there's so little hair).

Boob is sore, had the biopsy. The first one dissapated on screen. It was defiantely a fluid filled cyst. The second one was really odd. It took him forever to finally jab it and when he did, it also disappeared. When he left the room, the tech told me she never saw anything like this. The cyst was gone and there was fluid in the area where it had been. She said not to fret, it got smaller when he touched it so its probably nothing. Crossing my fingers. Results due Friday...the 13th of course.

 

sueper13

Thanks for the hugs and prayers.  The autopsy was today and no drugs in his system and no obvious cause of death.  The coroner said he strongly suspects a cardiac birth defect on the cellular level.  It sounds so strange to say but that is wonderful news.  It means it was always going to happen and no one did anything wrong, no one missed anything and his grieving mother doesn't have to think, "If only I had..." in addition to grieving for her only child.  I am not going to the funeral because there will be hundreds of people there, I will wait and fly over in a couple of weeks when some of the support that is there now is not there, know what I mean?

I do love all of you and thanks for the love.

Sue

Jeano77

Sue - I am so sorry to hear the news about your niece and her family.  I will keep them all in my prayers.

Roxi - Hoping that your felling better . . . or at least iced up so your feeling nothing.  I have a bunch of friends that their favorite number is 13 - lucky for them and hoping it is for you as well.  Praying for you!

Rock - As always, great to hear from you.  I had a mast, so nothing looks normal on my chest, stuffing and filling everywhere.  Hmmmmmmm, I thought radiation would shrink the tissue.  Where is Otter when we need her?? 

Off to study for a wireless certification test.

Love to all!

Jean

ellenoire

home, tired as always. Trying St Johns Wort to go to sleep earlier ( sleeping isn't an issue, it's getting to bed earlier)

 Anyone heard from Kerry? Those fires in AU are nasty! I know she is south, but still... 

Love to all. 

 xoN

P.S... umm should we all be calling the baseball folks to tell them we were all taking banned substances?? 

drcrisc

Sue - Yes, I know what you mean.  That's a great and loving idea.  I hope knowing something helps ease it just a tiny, tiny bit.  Hugs and prayers still...

Roxi - Well, if the first one disappeared and you know it was a cyst, then I expect the second to be the same.  We will just think that it is.  Hope the soreness gets better fast!

RanD - Thinking of you...

Noelle - I saw some FB activity on Kerry over the weekend.  Hope you're asleep.  We have the same problem...lol...

goldie0827

Sue, I am so so sorry to hear of your loss. There is nothing worse than the death of a child. My prayers for you and your family. Flying in a couple of weeks sounds like a good idea. It will give more quality time with your neice.

Jean, Otter is out on her boat hanging new curtains and enjoying!

I too used some Natural Instincts, but I thought I read on mine that it was good for 28 washes. I bought a honey blonde. My gray hair turned almost back to my normal strawberry blonde, except a little bit darker. But it did cover all the gray. I have had mine in for 2 wks now and I think it looks the same as the first day. I have never colored my hair before. Roxi, how did you save yours. I just threw mine out, said something on the bottle about exploding! So I didn't think you could keep it. Sending good vibes out your way for results on Friday.

Keri, hope you are ok. Seeing your spunk here on the boards, you are probably out fighting those fires!

I don't know everyone here and don't post much, but I read everyday and through that, I am trying to get to know everyone!

Take care ladies

Lori

KristyAnn

Thanks Mary,

I am still undecided on the color- I have kept it colored so long since I started having gray in my early 30's but everyone (even strangers) keep telling me they love the color and short look- so I am trying to give it some time to decide. I would love to not have to deal with all the repeat colors but I dont want to look like my 8 year olds grandmother lol.

I am making homemade biscotti (lemon-almond) this morning- I have been wanting to try to make biscotti for a while and decided to go for it- if it turns out I am going to drizzle it with almond bark and give it to someone for Valentines Day.

Kristy

Sable

Ah yes the color convo..... For some reason my hair came back in about 20% greyer! I used to only have a few on the side and now...yikes. Everytime I mention it hubs gives me the "you have enough chemicals going thru your body at the moment" speech. I hate the thought of losing the softness I have going right now as well. grey hair/soft hair...... tough one lol.

Kerry and RanD~ hope you 2 are doing alright.

Eddie~ come out from hiding my herceptin sister. My phone call is wearing off LOL

ellenoire

There are a ton of Natural hair colours on the market. No need for chenicals. Go to a big health food store and ask.

Jen, no reason to sacrifice softness for colour. Once you are deep conditioning regularly and washing less often colour will last longer and not do much damage. Hair colour changes hair texture chemically to bond the colour to the cuticle of the hair. Under a microscope all hair that has had artificial colour put on it actually looks like curly hair whether it is curly or not. 

 Love to all! 

 N

Sable

We have a health food store we go into occasionally. I'm going to give them a check for color :O)

I've been using ojon deep conditioning on my hair for years. When I went bland 2 years ago it actually brought life back to my hair. Never do that again! It's made with palm nut oil.

angelsaboveus

Sue, sending your family hugs and prayers, what a sad thing to go through.  I'm sure your visit after the fact will give them great comfort.

Roxi hope your not too sore today ... and maybe you'll get your results sooner than the 13th.

RanD ..how ya doing hon? Hope the chemo isn't dragging you down too much...at least you know you are strong enough to make it thru it and you will !  We'll help you.

I'm no where close to even be  thinking of colour. My hair seems to have stalled....it's hasn't grown much since the pic which is at xmas.   I wondering if the radiation some how stunted its growth. Even though i know the radiation was no where near my head.....just grasping at straws.  At least it will be cool when we go to California.

Krisy Ann any biscotti left ?

It's another beautifull sunny day here today.. hope to get out and enjoy.  Hope everyone has a great day.

lewing

mmmmmm, biscotti!

sue, i'm so very sorry about your niece's son.  what devastating news.  it's extraordinarily kind and thoughtful of you to plan to be there AFTER everyone else has left.  (but of course, should extraordinary kindness and thoughtfulness is entirely in character.)

jen, you could NEVER go bland.  (please don't fix the typo, it's too funny.)

love,

linda

Sable

hahahahahahaha I didn't even see that oopsie

rock

Jen, I thought you MEANT to type "bland" since you've got such a gift for words!

The door to the balcony just blew off its tracks and in staggering around the balcony with it during hurricane-like winds, I realized that I seem to have less upper body strength than I used to . . . 

Sisters, where were you? I felt like you were all sitting on one of my two enormous (and a decidedly boring taupe/non-red) couches, cracking up, which made me laugh too.

Sable

It was a good case of my fingers were faster than my brain lol. bland actually kinda fit, my hair blended into my skin. it lasted for about 2-3 weeks and I went back to brown again. I can fit the ditzy part of being a "bland" but not the skin tone. <sigh>

JulieC

Re color convo - I couldn't take it anymore!  I had mine cut and colored today.  It's basically brown, but when I was in the light I can see some reddish highlights - and - my gray splotch is gone (at least for a few days).  I didn't know if I should have saved a lock of my post chemo hair or not.  It's a little crunchy (from all of the stuff that she put on it) at the moment so I hope it is still soft when I wash it again.  My 13-y.o. dd even told me my gray hair was pretty this morning before I went.  That doesn't happen often.

Jen - do you still have a sick one at home today?  Mine stayed home for day #2.  She has a sinus infection and we did blood work to check for anything unusual.  She is always cold and tired.  At this point she is just on amoxicillan.  I think I go to Walgreen's about 4x a week.  At least we have drive through.

How are you feeling today Roxi?  Hoping you get results faster than expected.  Hey Kristy, the biscotti sounds great.  Let us know how it turns out.  Anything lemon sounds yummy.

RanD - hope you are doing okay today.  We are thinking of you.

Julie

JulieC

I'm still thinking about you Sue.  I just don't know what to say.

Hugs, Julie

otter

Hi, I'm way behind.

Rock, are you still swollen?  I'm worried about you.  I don't know squat about rads, so I can't attest whether they would cause swelling or shrinkage.  Do you have contacts over there if, ... ahem ... you might need to, you know, ... ask someone about it?  (Gad, I hate to even say "Have a doc check it out.")

Sue, been thinkin' about you too.  I clicked on that mp3 file I have of the Flight 1549 transmission a few minutes ago (by mistake), and heard the controller's voice again.  Thought of you some more.

Jen, I'm with rock.  I seriously thought you meant you'd gone bland.  I'm pretty bland anyway.  It seems the gray temples I had pre-chemo went and exploded all over my head.  I now have gray hair scattered everywhere.  When did that happen?  My dh keeps telling me to leave it alone.  He thinks it's kind of neat how the gray hairs are interspersed among the browns and reds.  (We'll see how neat he thinks it is when the browns and reds go AWOL.)

I had my most recent onco recheck yesterday, and when she walked in the exam room, she grinned at me and said, "You've got HAIR!".  (My onco is so funny.)  The visit went well.  She decided to do some bloodwork, which I thought was going to be Vitamin D level but it turned out to be ... ack!:  CA-125.  Not sure why that's needed, since I'm not planning to have any measurable CA-125 in my body.  (Isn't CA-125 usually used for ovarian cancer, anyway?)

Yes, we're on the boat; but as usual, it's a "working" trip--lots of things to fix.  I obviously have an internet connection here, so I should be able to keep in touch (at least when I'm not working on something).

Hugs, all...

otter 

Sable

Julie~ yup he is still sickie. he went to school and they had a half day today. but when I picked him up I guess he had just thrown up right before school let out. I'm sure it's from all the extra snot in his body. I do the same thing when I get really sick. Then to top things off, hubs came home from work at 10am and went straight to bed and has been there most of the day. I'm avoiding both of them. I dug out my bottle of hand sanitizer and have been using it.

love and slobbers, jen.... the bland LOL

Roxi65229

Ladies,

I feel great, just lots of bruising from the probes. Not sore anyone either. I sure hope I get results soon. They have an appointment scheduled for Friday. I said to the nurse, "Is it really necessary to have an appointment? Can't you call me?" She explained its not their protocol. I guess its kinda nice seeing how my OBGYN told me I had cancer last year on the phone.

I don't use the Natural Instincts, but the Loving Care Natural instincts so there's no ammonia or peroxide so its not gonna explode. It doesn't last like the Natural Instincts that goes for 28 shampoos, only 6 to 8.

Rock, isn't CA-125 for tumor markers? Haven't they been checking this for us all along? I always wondered why I had labs every three weeks.

Julie, you had enough hair to cut, WOW!!! That's awesome! 

otter

Yeah, Roxi, CA-125 is one of the "tumor markers".  My onco doesn't believe in doing regular scans or blood work (except for liver enzymes) on Stage I women, just to follow them post-treatment.  Or, so I thought.  I don't think there was anything in my visit that made her suddenly come up with the idea that she needed to check my CA-125 ... at least, I hope there wasn't.  She didn't mention anything of concern.

I just can't do the hair-color thing.  I know any attempt to restore my formerly dark auburn hair color would come out pumpkin orange.  (Wasn't there someone--Nancy, maybe--whose hair did exactly that?)

Jen, I hope you have a good virus scan program on your computer.  We don't want to catch whatever is going through your household.  Long-distant hugs, though...

otter 

ellenoire

CA 125 is used for Ovarian and Colon tumours. CA counts for BC are still not standard and are pretty controversial. Since my mom's Cancer was inoperable CA 125 counts were the only way they could tell when and which chemos were working. My onco hated that I even knew what they were. 

Otter.. I think your Onco is smart to keep her eye on any counts she can. The more info the better. 

 jen? what is wrong with Palm nut oil? Ojon is an annoyingly arrogant company, but there is nothing wrong with their original product except that it smells like someone scraped out the black stuff off the fireplace bricks.

 I am super tired.. gonna try the sleep thing again tonight. Last night was an utter fail.. lay wide awake for hours. 

 night all..