2012 sisters

bevg49

jpmom, i was looking back a few pages and saw one of your post and noted some words of wisdom which I feel the need to quote: "FUCK THIS CANCER SHIT".... Brilliant and so so true. 

I went to the ps today. Wondering why my surgical scar opened up and is not closing. (I'm a diabetic so it figures). Well, he packed it with gauze then taped gauze over it. He said I would have to do that every day myself (yuck yuck) after washing it with soap and water and drYing it then putting bacitracin in the opening. Did I say YUCK???? First the hematoma and not one but two emergency surgeries and the removal of my TE so for now, no talk of reconstruction. Then the opening of the scar.... Thankfully, no infection (yet) and very thankfully, a perfect path report where the BS said "all cancer gone".... so I gotta look at the bright side and say YAY for that. 

Dakota212

Nkb-

So right on. I have always believed women are so much more stoic then men ( my guess is thats why we have the babies) but good lord we can have moments too!!!

Moonflwr912

BEV, two other people are packing open wounds around here, sorry I don't remember who, but I am sure they will speak up, it will work, but they agree with you as in YUCK!

Soyaandpepper

jpmomof3-Sorry to hear about your fight with DH, I know how you feel sometimes too. All I have to say is let it be and he'll come to his senses that all is not normal and back to how it was. It never will be how it was, you will get to a new normal but never like before. This damn cancer is a hell of a thing! You're venting in the right place! 

2FriedEggs-Sorry to hear about your change of date for exchange, what happened? What's the reason? I've said it many times and I will say it again! This FUCKING cancer really sucks!!!!!!  

Belinda977

Bev, I had to do that.  Not fun.  Drank a glass of wine before I did it the first few times.  If it's not healing, ask for a wound vac.  My incision came open due to a hematoma 2.5 weeks after surgery.  Still not 100% healed but I am able to get my rad treatment.  Hang in there!

juneaubugg

Just getting out of the BGC. gotta pee. In pain from the port surgery this morning. They couldn't knock me out. They tried but.i was still awake so I got a local shot too. So fun. Now I'm just in pain! FUCK!!

DH is here. Mines amazing. Lets me cry and lets me laugh or whatever else I need to do, of course there are no children involved. more later... Time to go home!

Soyaandpepper

juneaubugg-Wow, that sucks! FUCK this cancer!!! So much pain we have to go through from surgery to port and chemo. THe gift that keeps on giving!!!!! Hope you feel better home resting!

Aruba

Hi all. Insurance now fine. Asked hubby to take care of it but he got busy at work so i jumped in yest from my full time job. Let him lnow that is the least he could do is handle ins issues!!! He heard me out and planned to handle today but i have no patience. I also a bit worried as i have pain on left side of breast. Lumpectomy incision at 12:00 and snb under arm not the areas of pain and when i lift arms overhead like a little line appears on left side only going down and that is where it is tender. I am 3 weeks out from surgery so figure i should be on up and up. Dont see MO for first time till 8/21. Think this is how my life will now be. Worrying about every little pain or nuance. So glad i have you guys!

Aruba

Hi all. Insurance now fine. Asked hubby to take care of it but he got busy at work so i jumped in yest from my full time job. Let him lnow that is the least he could do is handle ins issues!!! He heard me out and planned to handle today but i have no patience. I also a bit worried as i have pain on left side of breast. Lumpectomy invision at 12:00 and snb under arm not the areas of pain and when i lift arms overhead like a little line appears on left side only going down and that is where it is tender. I am 3 weeks out from surgery so figure i should be on up and up. Dont see MO for first time till 8/21. Think this is how my life will mow be. Worrying about every little pain or nuance. So glad i have you guys!

Tazzy

Moonflwr912

Aruba, sounds like it might be cording. (Auxilary Web Syndrome) try looking that up, a couple on the board have had that. I am sure they will be popping in to help. Juneaubugg, so sorry you had to go through that. I hope once you got home you got some rest and pain relief. JP, (((hugs))). 2friedeggs, so dissappointing to have it rescheduled. I hope you get it done soon. Bev, so not fun to pack wounds.

As for DH acting weird, mine certainly is. We've been married almost 39 years, and the last ten have been, um, rough. If he didn't work out of town which means he is gone a lot, we probably would not have remained together. But, since my Dx, and during Tx, hevhas been there for me. Supportive, helpful,just plain nice. So who is this man and what did he do with my DH? LOL. I don't know if I can continue to depend on him staying involved and nice, but I am enjoying it. But it is soooooo different! Maybe there is hope for us all! Of course, if your DH's go back to normal, you'll be better off. Can I hope mine doesn't change? LOL

Tazzy

That show about the women leaving sounds a hoot... will definitely look out for that one. 

whaevah

When I was diagnosised I went to Costco, bought a bunch of light weight vneck tees, tooK them for embroidery " FUCK CANCER " in bright pink dianna font. I proudly wear them to every chemo. The deepV is perfect access for the port placement.

I did find with each AC (last one was on Tuesday) pain in both breasts at the incisions and port pain. I think the chemo soldiers had sharp weapons

As for port pain, I should get a prize. my procedure took over 3 hours, I was awake, two devices were tried. I looked at my chest for boot marks when it was done. Plotted vengence on the surgeon. Then got the report which stated I have a very unique anatomy?! I had to ask my 82 yrs old mother if her and dad had a encounter with an alien at my conception LOL

bevg49

I find that using vulgarities often makes me feel so much better so I just love Tazzy's picture and I love all the recent, Fuck You Cancer and Fuck Cancer posts. I feel that way so much. I look down at my normal left breast and the ugly slash on the right that is now packed with gauze... I remember feeling like I was going to die in the hospital bed after the emergency surgery for the insane bleeding.... I remember the pain and the dilaudid and then percocet that didn't quite do the trick. The easiest part was the original mastectomy surgery which went totally normally and wasn't that bad at all but since, almost everything that can go wrong has...... and I see from reading the posts of you ladies, I'm not alone. So, I think I speak for us all (and I am so glad my grandkids don't read this forum lol) when I say fuck off, cancer.

By the way, I read a good book called "why I wore lipstick to my mastectomy" about a very young woman who got BC and her road to becoming a surviver. It was really really good. The author was Geralynn Lucas... Pick it up if you can. 

Soyaandpepper

Tazzy-Love your pic! 

Aruba-What you have is cording, google it and read up on it. I got it after my BMX and SNB, you need to see a therapist to have it massaged. People say it will go away on its own , but I didn't trust that and got proactive and asked my doctor. Since I'm not from the US, my doctor personally showed my DH how to massage me 3 times a day to gerid of the cording but in the US, you could get referred to a Lymphedema therapist who would massage the cording. Mine is 95% better and my range of motion is back to 100% normal. Still have a little bit of cording underarm but working on it and I'm sure with time and massage from DH, I'll be all rid of cording soon. So look into that, don't wait cause some people develop cording so bad that they have frozen shoulders too since the more you ignore it, the more it affects you on a daily basis. Hope that helps, I won't wait around, my doctor said you could start massage like 3 to 4 weeks after surgery, they don't want you to move around too much before that, give time for your lymph nodes to heal first.

Aruba

Thanks Soyaandpepper.. I will call BS on Monday.  I am sure my DH would love to help with massage therapy on breast even this weekend but not sure what he is suppose to do .  In mean time trying heat and Motrin.  This stinks!

jpmomof3

Tazzy, love that Hey Cancer Fuck You post.

Moonflwr912

Bev, I watched an episode of mythbusters about swearing. If you swear it actually allows you to bear pain longer! There is real research to prove it, but they did their own version on the show . So swear away!!! LOL. TAZZY LOVE THAT TSHIRT. Aruba, if you look up cording, there may be pictures that would help with doing the massage for the cording. Whaever, sorry you had port problems, but CONGRATS on your last tx! Yay!

Tazzy

Bev: I agree you just sometimes need to swear. It's a bit like stubbing your big toe and yelling out "oh darn, that hurt".   And we are all big girls and really its only a word. I will look out for the book.

Aruba... sorry for your troubles, hoping the massaging helps.

Goodnight lovely ladies - hope you have calming, restful sleep. xx

juneaubugg

Aruba.... GENTLE LIKE REALLY LIGHT RUBBING. that's call Cording and I have it. You need to get P/T immediately.

juneaubugg

5 hours since chemo. Queasy as hell. Took the decadron with food in belly. Also took a zofran a while ago and an ambien. I have ativan too. Eating apple auth PB and saltines. Heaps of water. Really tired too.



Advice? Is this normal?

Tazzy

Very normal Juneau.   Keep hydrating and eat what you can.   Sleep when you need too.   I generally felt as though a freight train had gone over me a couple of times.  It passes though, remember that.  

Take care and sleep well xx

Goodnight you lovely ladies.  I am about to have dinner and watch a movie and snuggle up with DH.

Nkb

Juneau-ambien is for sleep, Ativan is for nausea and anxiety, which did you take already? It's kinda of late where you live, but, a walk or at least outside in the fresh air and fluids always helped me. I would say that 5 hours post AC is when I felt sick also and about midnight woke up quite queasy and took Ativan again. I was not taking ambien at that time. I was told to take zofran 2-3 times per day for the day of chemo and 2 days afterward. I also took decadron once daily for 2 days afterward for nausea.

Ativan was considered the recue med. ( I was also given IV emmend the day of the AC- if you were not, you may want to ask for that for your next treatment)

Feel better!

Moonflwr912

Juneau, they gave me the iv meds for nausea too, and then compazine as needed. Take as many as they recommend as often as they say. You want to try to stay ahead of it. If you start throwing up, and you keep doing it, call your doc, you don't want to get dehydrated. ((((Hugs))))

Moonflwr912

Juneau, they gave me the iv meds for nausea too, and then compazine as needed. Take as many as they recommend as often as they say. You want to try to stay ahead of it. If you start throwing up, and you keep doing it, call your doc, you don't want to get dehydrated. ((((Hugs))))

juneaubugg

Alarm went off. I took a zofran, had a snack of PB and saltines my DH made me, more water and ativan and back to sleep. Not overly queesy right now. Sort of have a headache too.



I did go for that walk earlier. Twice actually. I took one 10 min walk and anOther 30 min walk.



Ok almost through this darn night.

Aruba

Juneau=hope you are sleeping soundly!  I am up before the birds chirping as cording, if that is what I have in side of breast, hurts every time I flip over to that side in bed.  Just took another Motrin.  So glad it is almost 5:00 AM but it's Saturday so no work.!!  YAY!   Will be calling the BS first thing Monday morning!!  Son left to go back to law school yest..so empty nesters we are again.  Glad both kids are off and running and I just have hubby and work to deal with.  Bless you with little ones and dealing with all this too! 

jpmomof3

Hey Juneau, hope you are getting through that first night. They gave me iv emend and I usually didn't get nauseated until late the second day or by the third. The hydration and walks and Ativan helped otherwise. hope you feel better soon. The nausea usually left me by the fourth or fifth day.



Sorry you guys are having trouble with the cording. I am doing my stretches to try to avoid that. I am still bruised swollen and sore from that redo lumpectomy. I love the way the surgeon says that the re do will be much less painful. I would like to argue... Going in and scraping another layer off a large part of my chest when I am still sore from the first surgery and a mammogram is not all that much less painful...



I am going for a walk, a little further each day. It's nice and cloudy and cooler than its been. My boob is still swollen to twice its normal size so will put a supportive bra on.



I can see little bitty eyelashes and little bitty eyebrow hairs coming through more each day. Hopefully in a week or two they will be visible to people other than me.



Hope everyone can forget BC for a while today and less side effects and pain to everyone.

websister

Good morning, everyone

I just caught up on all the posts

We will be traveling back today to prepare for chemo on Monday a.m.

Wonderful to read all the advice and shared experiences

Short post but wanted to check in

Wishing you all a good day

PaEaglesFan

Hope you are doing well today Juneau.  Congrats on having put the first treatment behind you!  I also have emmend given thru IV before they start the taxotere and I have Compazine to take at home.  My chemo nurse said "I tell all of my patients the same thing... take one tonight before you go to bed and another when you get up in the morning and you'll do fine."  I've followed her advice thru both infusions and have only had to take 1 or 2 after that first day.  (I try not to take too many because they can make you constipated.)

Hope you are having less pain today JPmom.  Good to hear you are out and walking. It's also cloudy and cooler here in PA.  It's nice to give the AC a break and enjoy the fresh air.

Aruba, hope you are feeling better today.  Have you tried sleeping in a recliner? May help you get more rest if you aren't laying on your side or back.  Maybe a pillow under your arm will help?  

Our nest isn't completely empty yet, but one of my chicks moved out 2 weeks ago, my other chick is away for the weekend and DH is with his buddies to celebrate one of them turning 40. So here I am enjoying complete peace and quiet today.  I plan to run to the store for a few necessities and spend the rest of the day cross-stitching.

Does anyone else here cross-stitch? Or have any other hobbies?  Maybe we can share the things that help us keep our minds busy while our bodies are healing