2012 sisters

Tazzy

Scottie... I hear you about making plans... its so hard eh?  But you should make a plan to go next summer.... even if you start looking at flights - just makes you feel better.. least it did me.    I will not allow fc to take away from me the pleasure of looking for vacations... it can take my boob and my hair... but it aint taking no pleasures from me. 

Scottiee1

Tazzy.....love your attitude........It's weird though, since my dx.....my comfort zone

Doesn't allow me to go very far......I get anxious if I'm any distance from my neighborhood....what's with that???.. I hope by next summer my comfort zone will

Stretch to Scotland as I am very homesick.

marianelizabeth

Tazzy, fantastic!

Tazzy

Scottie... I totally understand where you are coming from.   I have decided since my dx that I could easily become a hermit.  I love being at home, love being not far from it, love not having to mix with people, whether I know them or not... doesn't that sound awful.  But it is our comfort zone and what we are all going through has not only done shit things to our bodies but also our minds.   You'll get it back for a visit next year.

Aruba

Glad all went well MrsCinch!  Tazzy, I am so happy you get to see your family..what a special reunion!

Ramols..congrats on getting through AC!  Another step in your rear view mirror..and Websister you are on your way too!

Everyone keep moving ahead!  I did rad #21 today and got inked up and measured for the shield they will use next week as boosts start out in the tumor field area they removed.  Skin now getting red like going out for first sun of summer.

Scottiee1

Tazzy, I don't get it, I hear the same thing from so many BC women.....what is that?

any explanation.....even when I just go out for Lunch with a friend, I'm so happy to get home.....the old me could stay out all day and then some!!!,

Anonymous

Hi Ladies. I'm sure you've all supported our cause in countless ways, but if you feel in the mood to buy some Pampered Chef products and donate to the American Cancer Society at the same time - you're in luck! I "randomly" won a BC awareness month Pampered Chef party after chatting it up with a consultant at a local event. I'm having the party later this month, but anyone can shop from my party online. So here's the deal. I have opted to host my party as a fundraiser (instead of a personal shopping spree), which means that 22% of all the money spent through my party will go directly to the American Cancer Society. In addition, our consultant will be donating a portion of her commission to ACS. And finally - Pampered Chef is selling two "pink" products this month and will donate a portion of the money spent on those products to ACS. The four easy steps to placing an order are:

1. go to www.pamperedchef.biz/bethfreedman

2. click on 'shop on line' at the top right

3. choose Rachel Miller as the host

4. view the catalog and shop from your seat instead of your feet! 

 

So if you're in the mood to shop and donate - go for it. And a big thank you to you all if you do!

Scorchy

So happy for you, Tazzy!

_Ann_

Congrats Tazzy on planning that trip.  Scottiee1, I've been uncomfortable going out in public since BC as well.  I think it's mainly self-consciousness over the scarf/hat and lack of eyebrows, and during AC driving felt kind of difficult.  I also notice it makes me sad to see healthy people all over the place, even though of course you don't know what sort of health issues may not be obvious.  And going places where I know people, I just dread the questions.  So many reasons to feel a bit different out in public.  I try not to let it deter me from doing necessary things and getting out to exercise, but I've cut down on coffee shops and browsing in stores because of it.

PinkyWI

Tazzy, since we are all so used to going to treatment, appointments etc. in each others pockets, I suggest that you wear clothing with extra pockets so we can all go on vacation with you!  So happy for you, in a lot of ways. 

Chrisrenee77

Scottie- after I had my BMX I had severe anxieties. I felt like everywhere I went people were looking at me. And I knew they weren't but it was a lack of self confidence. My BS put me on valium for that. It didn't help, so I pretty much stayed inside for 3 wks. When I went back to work I wore jackets all the time so people wouldn't/couldn't look at my chest. Its getting much better, I think.



My left breast has gotten somewhat better. It's not as red as before. It's starting to itch my hubby says that's the antibiotics working. It's still swollen and still very tender. My PS called me regarding the blood sample they took, and at the 36 hr mark it was not growing. When I go in Friday they will have the final report.



Hope all is going well with everyone

teeballmom

Well, finished Taxol #7 today!  Yay!!!!  Having some pains on my right side both under my armpit area and breast bone area.  (I didn't have reconstruction so self-exam is pretty easy).  I swear I felt a lump in the armpit area there last night so although I wasn't meeting with my ONC today, her physician's assistant examined me and when she touched the sensitive area, OMG I thought I would scream.  She didn't feel a lump, says it's bone and believes that it may be some scar tissue from my mastectomy back in May.  She says the cancer was all removed and the active treatment I am receiving is killing any of those cancer cells that are maybe hanging around but my mind is on the go with horrible thoughts of recurrence.  I told her where my doubts lie is that all of the nodes removed were positive, and what if the BS missed one although he believes he got everything.  It only takes one cell and I am one of those women who had breast and underarm pain before being diagnosed so this pain right now is bringing back those memories.  Also, being so close to the end of weekly treatments is also weighing on my mind because I'm getting worried about this safety blanket I feel I have right now with this very doable Taxol treatment.  So, my ONC is meeting with me next treatment day and she's going to check me out herself.  She walked over to me today during my treatment and gave me a big hug and apologized for not being able to see me herself today or last week since her father had just passed away.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything is good.

Tazzy:  That is wonderful about your trip!  My DH mentioned today that we need to start planning our promised trip in 3 years to take our 2 boys to China and Taiwan so they can visit the countries they were born in.  I actually started to freak a bit to myself. I can't imagine planning that trip right now because I can't think that far ahead.  I want to go but I'm scared I won't.  Now isn't that silly?  I'm even afraid to take a camping trip with my family less than 2 hours away from home (and the campground is only 1 hour from my doctor/hospital).  I think I am turning into a hermit for sure.

MrsCich:  Sounds like you're doing good.  Yay!!!!

Aruba:  You're getting closer to be done with rads.  Yay!!!!

I'm missing so many of you in my response tonight.  I want to send you hugs and best wishes for a great week and minimal/no SE's.

Take care.

Cottontail

That's awesome about your trip, Tazzy!  I have vowed that when my hair grows back a bit, I will renew my passport so I can go to meet a dear online friend in Montreal.  It will be amazing.

Tazzy

Scottie – you have said exactly how I feel. I am OK going out but can’t wait to get home. Even with my rads – I want to get in, out and home asap. As I work at the hospital (when I do work) there are always people emailing for me to go and visit… even my work team… and I really have to force myself to go and never stop for too long. Although I am very excited to go and visit, I am also a little apprehensive, because my healthcare team are here in Canada…. Wonder if we’ll ever get back how we were before??

PinkyW - for sure I will wear large pockets for you all to jump in and visit England. You will have a blast.

Teeball : yay for finishing Taxol #7 today. I hope you can soon look to book a trip to Taiwan/China – you will definitely have to wear big pockets… I would love to visit those places.

Cottontail: that is funny about the passport… I never thought of that – I have hair in both my Canadian and English passports… hmmm should be interesting.

Hugs and love to all and hello to all I have missed xxx

marianelizabeth

Tazzy, what kind of work do you do in the hospital?

I have been thinking a lot about when to buzz my hair and how I will feel. I guess that it will be what you all talk about in that people really get it that we have BC then. Up to now who could tell? We are going to Costco today and my husband wants to buy one of the elecrtic hair buzzers they have. Not sure if I am up to my family doing mine though I know many of you have gone that route. Still a week to decide.

marian 

Tazzy

I work in human resources.   Its funny, but we work with a lot of 'naughty' employees for different issues.  I said to the team when I was dx'd and seeing the health care system from the other side, we deal with such a small % of the bad ones, we sometimes forget the good in our health care.   There really is a lot more good and bad.

liefie

Teeballmom, congrats on finishing Taxol #7! I sincerely hope that the pain you have turns out to be nothing serious at all - fingers crossed for you.

Marian, glad to hear you sound so good - you keep it up now.

Chrisrenee, may your final report be good.

Tazzy, what a lovely prospect to look forward too! We all need something like that to keep us going. I also had the hermit attitude during active treatment. Did not even have the confidence to drive my car, did not want to see people, and hibernated at home. Over weekends my husband just wanted to get away from it all, so I dragged myself along on these weekend outings. Looking back, it was a good thing (a la Martha Stewart). The good news is that now you can't keep me at home; I drive myself everywhere, I want to go out and just enjoy life.

Re the passport issue: The reaction of the male border agents was quite amusing, actually. On the photo they had a woman with a long dark bob, in front of them they had a nearly bald person. They would catch on almost immedately, and wave us through with no further questioning every time. One of the 'perks 'of bc, as I saw it - LOL.

DH is getting knee surgery tomorrow which will buy him five more years before he will have to get a knee replacement. He gets to be the patient, and I can take care of him, but I can never repay him for the way he looked after me during those long months of surgery and chemo.

Everybody else in treatment, best wishes and few or no SE's to you all!

Chrisrenee77

Ren- I'm hoping that's NOT what it is. My hubby seems to think it might be a combination of a seroma and "red breast syndrome" . It matches all my symptoms. Red swollen free fluid and feverish. Apparently its the top two common side effects. I'm sure you know all about them.



Liefie- thank you, me too. I'm so ready to be off these antibiotics. They are making me sick to my stomach. I'm on Bactrim 500mg twice a day and levaquin 750 mgs once a day.



I go in tomorrow for for another PS appt so hopefully we will get some answers tomorrow and see if I'm still on track for my exchange by December. At this point I haven't had a fill in 2 weeks, so I'm not sure if he will double my fill next time or not. I'm currently at 550 and for optimal "boobage" his words I need to get to 650 and I can go from there.



Hope all is ok with everyone.

jojo68

Hi Tina!  I have just been diagnosed...I have ILC Stage 2 with lymph node inclusion.  I am also looking into Gerson therapy!  I have done toms of research and I am considering it.  Check out the wellnesswarrior.com  she beat cancer with gerson and he mom is doing Gerson now for Breast Cancer!  Wellness warrior also has a Facebook page!

MrsCich

Hello ladies. Today is my second infusion of TC. Oh boy! 😔 First one was nothing and even the side effects weren't anything horrible. No nausea and my appetite most definitely didn't change. I lost taste for a week or so, no saliva for that week either. Horrible yeast infection and constipation those first few days which I'm hoping to fix before it can get too bad.



I had chemo on a Friday and stopped taking Zofran on Sunday morning. Never needed it after. Hope that's how this one goes too!



Oh, my underarm hair is non existent and my leg hair is following suit. Pubic hair is kept short and is coming out slowly. Head hair was shaved to the scalp on day 14, as I was having to clean the brush after every stroke. Now the stubble comes out when I lotion my head. You can see it on my hands. However, I've yet to be upset about the hair. Not tying scarves worth a crap is another story. Lol



Much love to all and hoping you all have minimal SEs.

2FriedEggs

MrsCinch Glad you got your lil surgery out of the way. I had to have something very similar so I too have fraternal twins rather than identical but it is nice to finally have it closed. Glad that you are able the BGC as well as you are. Love the pic of you and your DH with the pink wig lol. He definitely is a keeper.

Tazzy so glad you are getting to go see the folks. They will probably be so relieved to see you and be able to hug you. Speaking of keepers, are you going solo or taking the DH?

I know what you all mean about not straying too far from home right now. I mean if I had parents a distance away that would be different. I would definitely want to make that trip as it would be consoling to be in the presence of parents, even as adults, but as far as going somewhere to vacation, I'm turning into one of those older people that I've always questioned, that don't want to stray too far from home because they wanted to be near their own doctors and hospital. Its like I feel safer here around my doctors who got rid of my beast and want to stick around them incase I sprout something concerning or incase one of my implants implodes or moves to my neck or stomach lol. I never used to be like that-I was always ready atleast for a road trip.

Well take care; hope all have a nice weekend!

halfcan

I live close to the border in Canada and my family is in Wash. State.  We have extended medical here but I was told by our insurance that if I cross the border and have a cancer related medical problem while out of country that it is considered a "pre existing condition" and not covered.  That scares me to cross the line for a visit.    I think it may be possible to buy some insurance but I'm sure the cost would be huge.  Anyone have this issue?

Tazzy

Liefie: It will be interesting to see if I have enough hair to go without head wear… although I have grown very fond of my scarves etc. That has to be a bonus to get waved through at customs.

Chrisrenee…best of luck with your fills today.

Welcome joellelee: the best bunch of women here – we laugh, cry, rant, comfort each other. Its our safe haven with women who actually get ‘it’.

MrsCich : hope that tx #2 treats you gently. No underarm and leg hair is a positive… and we need them during this crap.

2Fried. At the moment my DH is not traveling with me. For whatever reasons he is really loathe to return to England – even though is family is there and he gets on well with them. In a very selfish way, I am quite happy to be going alone. That way I get to spend all the time with my family.

Halfcan: I never even thought about medical issues… and I will continue to think that way – maybe its burying my head in the sand, but whatever works. I will think ‘I am NED, why would I get any issues?’ ha ha.

Wishing all a beautiful day with minimal SE’s.

juneaubugg

I agree with Tazzy. Once I'm done with my exchange I'm considering this event over and plan to still travel to Oz (without worry) to see my friends get married next year. I haven't been since I moved back in 2002.



Question ladies... I thought you lost lashes/brows with Taxol, not AC. turns out I'm hearing I was wrong. I'm loosing my lashes now. Will my brows go too? I'm not sure if they are thinning? If so, how long did it take for them to grow back for you?



Mrscich. Thinking of you...



Hoping everyone has a good day and a better tomorrow.

MrsCich

Well Im sitting in my BGC getting my 2nd round of chemo.



Interesting doings going on today in my cancer center. First off, I Got the same nurse as I did last time and I'm happy about that. I really liked her. Lets add another issue to all of this...the tagaderm (big clear tape they put over my picc line) has burned my skin and Olga (nurse) has to remove it and figure something out. Ugh. I touched the red part and I thought I was on fire. It literally ate my skin off in one area.



Then one lady in here kept staring at me..maybe because its just a bunch of older people in here and I'm young. She said she felt like she was going to throw up but she went unconunconscious. Holy hell. They called a dr to chemo stat. Now she's up but her bp was 59/17. Yowza. My Dr (Dr Wall) came running down to the chemo room when she learned it was one of her patienta. Quinn (the nurse manager) came over and was talking to me and I was telling her next time I need dr wall they just need to get on the loud speaker and say dr wall stat. Lol. Olga (the nurse) pulled my currain back and said I better behave or she's giving me more Ativan to put me to sleep or better yet, she'll get a stick! Lol. If I have to go through this, Im glad it's here. These women are amazing.

Tazzy

Juneau... congrats on your wedding - how wonderful and what a lovely way to put this chapter to bed... time to buy a new hat

As for the lashes/brows... I was told they may go with AC... but I hung onto them until Taxotere... They are just growing back (June 22 was las chemo).   I look in the mirror every morning to see how much they have grown since last night.   Like everything we all have different SE's.  But everything grows back eventually, especially leg hair - ugh !!

PinkyWI

Jumeaubugg -- If you have a Look Good...Feel Better class in your area, please try to take it -- good tips for filling in your brows and lashes too.  I did not lose hair, brows or lashes on AC but did have my head buzzed on August 8th -- hair has not grown since.  Now that I am getting Taxol, I see that I have lost every single hair that had color in it O_o and all I have remining is gray stubble and that is spotty.  This started after Taxol -- not sure if it is still from AC or Taxol -- really doesn't matter, it is what it is.  But, I still have my brows and , for now.

Now, get that vacation for next year planned -- it will do you good!

Chrisrenee77

Mrscich- regarding the tagaderm issue: are you allergic to bandaids? Reason I ask is because I found out 3 yrs ago I was allergic to the adhesive backing on it. They now have to find a nonadhesive tape for me. Otherwise I break out and hurt for days.

As far as the whole stat thing you (we) don't want to hear that. Haha but its great to know your Dr came running. hoping for an uneventful weekend for you

Thinking of all you!

MrsCich

I never was but the steri strips they had on my BMX incisions left one of the open wounds that I had to have closed Wednesday. I'm assuming I now have some sort of reaction to adhesives. Band aids are usually ok...who knows what will be next with all the wacky side effects one gets with poisons running through their veins.



Done with Taxotere and now Cytoxan is making its way through me as I sit here in my recliner with my headphones on, watching tv and playing on my phone talking to you lovely ladies. 😊

KarenZ0305

Hi all.



MrsCich - I had my BGC day today with the herceptin. That is easy peasy.



For those going away soon YAY! We are planning a nice island vacation after this ordeal. We've never been so I think Aruba. All these trips are well deserved and we should all do them. Even if its a weekend at a local hotel getting room service!



Speaking of trips my bestie told me today she is going to Tokyo! It's for work and she comes home the day before Thanksgiving so flying in will stink but I'm so excited for her. I've never left the country and live through her.



Tomorrow is my sisters annual Halloween party and since I have the scarves and tarot cards I'm going as a gypsy fortune teller. Her parties are so fun.



Tazzy - my eyebrows and lashes are coming in too. Losing them was worse than my hair. But this too shall pass. Just wish they would come in perfectly shaped!



Have a wonderful weekend ladies!