The Hermit Club

camillegal

Teka just mostly relax today u sound like u need it.

Teka

I even avoided light housework and reclined the better part of the day.

I am going to read prior posts to refresh my frazzle brain.

lizlori

Good Morning,

How is everyone?  I'm doing ok...little stiff from looking for rocks in our front yard.  I can't believe how damn stiff i get from doing work outside. Must be so out of shape.

Today I go in for bone and cat scan...this is part of the study I will be in. They have to be clear before they can start.  Doc is concerned about this chronic back pain i have. Started about three months ago. I am not going to worry about it. Heck I have had so much back and neck trouble through the years.

Skittle thanks for the compliment, meant to tell you.

Fritz is in pain, from his neutering and declawing....and then to top it off I shut the door on him. Had the side door open to the garage, and went to shut it not realizing he was snooping around. I got his paw...dam it. He seems ok, but feel like i want to get some pain meds for him....

Have a good day everyone...

Teka

Lori1020, nothing less then positive results!

camillegal

Oh Lori u must feel terrible for u'r firbaby, poor thing, u wonder how much pain they are in cuz they act pretty good, but then again so do people. Lori please share with us about the results of u'r scan.

Jazzygirl

Hi hermits- just completed my final apt here in AZ with the rad oncologist. All clear on the first six month follow up now. Whew! Just wanted you to know. Going through this is stressful, and now have a reprieve until I go for the next follow up in the Feb-March timeframe.

My sister and her partner drove out from CA and my sister went with me today, and met the rad onc (she is a doctor too). My rad onc told me after she stepped out, that my sister was lovely and I told her, and she is all full of herself now today! LOL!

Again, thanks for being here with me as I went through this first follow up. I hope I can pay it forward to the next woman here who goes through her first follow up.

Teka

camillegal

Jazzy glad it's over and all is well---and u get to spend time with u'r sister that's even better. Did I know she was a Dr. I don't remember--what type os she?

Jazzygirl

Hi Cami- my sister practices internal medicine. She says that now she has had breast cancer too and gone through the whole treatment process, she listens very differently to her patients. 

Having a relaxing evening after some pool time this afternoon. 

camillegal

Jazzy She sounds wonderful, I'm sorry u both have gone thru this, but I think for her she has to look at patients differently and she must be great at that unfortunately she had to pay the price of admission but her patients must love her. I still remember that movie call the Doctor with William Hurt before I ever had cancer it was in the 90's based on a true story and he got cancer )the Dr,) and after he treated his patients so different even tho he treted them well before he was so changed going thru all he went thru==But he was a heart surgeon and well known back then. Just strange to me

Jazzygirl

Cami- I think you are right about that. Physicians are trained to be objective and my sister can be very clinical (even with me) and it has caused issues in our relationship at times. It is hard for her to go to the "feeling place" around health issues as she has been trained not to do that. But of course, with having cancer and going through a mastectomy, plenty of feelings there!

I am a bit ahead of her on the follow up process as my treatment was shorter, so she will go through her 1st follow up in November. I am glad she was here with me to go through part of mine with me, and perhaps she will get to witness someone else going through it and it will help her when her 1st one comes.  

The west/SW is getting hammered with rain right now, although it is hot and dry here in Phoenix. It was raining heavily the few days before I left NM and has continued. Our river in the city may be hitting flood stage soon (I don't live near the river). I am thinking of anyone here who may be in CO that is being so badly flooded right now. I hope everyone here that may either live there or have friends and family there is safe.

Today is our last day here and will be filled with some shopping, pool time and a dinner tonight. I head home tomorrow, back to work on monday. 

Wishing all my hermits a nice weekend. Anyone heard from Slickie or LaurieParr yet?

Spookiesmom

Jazz

I just realized I have a RO appt coming in Dec. what did yours do? I don't understand why this is necessary.

lizlori

At the risk of sounding stupid, but what does R.O stand for and M.O? 

  I will find the results from all of the tests next week....after the cat scan the tech asked me if I was in pain....don't know why she asked that after she was done??   I will try not worry about it..Jazzy, I am so happy for you!!   Is this the sister you went to Hawaii with?   Cami, you gave me an idea for a movie to watch....It's called The Doctor?

It is a cool fall day here. Pumkins have to be bundled up good tonight, so they retain some of the heat. Otherwise it takes them all day to warm up and take in nutrients. The biggest is 1200 now.

Fritz is doing ok. I asked my D.H to take him back to the vet, (I would of but had those tests)   Anyway the vet said he is doing good.  I was a bit peeved that no pain meds were sent home. That was the whole purpose of taking him in.  The Vet determined in a fithteen minute visit Fritz did not have pain.grrrrr. and not happy with D.H....He is eating/drinking good, but still not quite himself. He lays by me and meows for me to pick him up....poor fella. Geez I almost feel like I should rock him...lol  (I loves rocking my kids to sleep when they were fussy or just to have quiet cuddling time) so I guess will just take time to get him back in the kitty groove.

Teka...thanks for your positve words....u r cool...

Teka

Never a stupid question ;o)

RO ------ Radiation Oncologist

MO ------ Medical Oncologist

Jazzygirl

Hi hermits- Spookie, my breast surgeon in ABQ has sort of been my point of care with most of this, but having multiple sets of eyes on you especially right after treatment was something that felt like a good thing for me to do. He offered for me to come see him for the first follow up (and every Sept if I wish to) to provide a second set of eyes for my first follow up. I think he is very careful and thorough and felt it would be good to come for the additional visit this first year. He basically did an exam, looked at my films, and we talked through everything.

I will tell you it was so worth it as I don't think I would have gotten that from my breast surgeon. I really like her, she is a great surgeon and my lumpectomy scars are very well healed. But she always seems a bit rushed and I find the oncologists just take more time with you. Each doctor who participates in your care will have a different set of questions and look at different aspects of your wellness. Never hurts to have multiple sets of eyes on you during follow up. I will see my med onc in late October, which he said he wanted to do after I was through all the other stuff I just finished.

It looks like you had your radiation treatment back earlier this winter. He/she may be wanting to look at your skin for recovery from the beam radiation if you did that, or in my case, the catheter openings for the internal rad I had. My openings are mostly healed but not totally blended yet and he said they should continue to heal more with time. If you had a recent mammo, they may look at that too. Is Dec your scheduled follow up post treatment?

Found some really comfy Easy Spirit shoes for my oh so sore feet day!

Spookiesmom

I finished rads in late Feb, early March. My skin broke and I was given a week off, followed by 5 boosts, then the last of regular rads.



It seems to be healed nicely, just a small bit of discoloring. He wants me to continue putting LubraDerm on it daily. He said if the beast came back, this is where it would be.



BMX is good for another small thing, no more mamos!!!!!!



I'll go, see what he says. My BS will release me in Dec, hope RO does. That leaves me with MO for the next 9 years

Jazzygirl

Spookie- everyones process does seem to be a bit different. My sister had an MX and was surprised to hear I had to do mammos and ultrasounds every 6 months for five years, but that is specific to my treatment plan. I will be followed my the BS and med onc for five years, the RO in AZ will review my films each year going forward if I want him to (and I might). But I won't go to AZ again each year, just felt important this first year and with the healing around the catheters. I wish you luck with your Dec apts, and it will be nice to be down to one doctor around all this.

Jazzygirl

Good morning hermits!

Came back to my home state yesterday and cooler temps in the 70s. Feels like fall here now! No rain yesterday but the state still has flooding problems, mostly in the rural areas. 

I realized while on this trip how I have come to value my hermit time, when needed. My sister and her partner had invited the partners cousin and husband who live in Phoenix to have dinner with us Saturday night. They came over to our villa to meet up for drinks first and the whole conversation with them was very heavy. People dying of cancer, eldercare issues, etc. I realized it was just part of family catching up, but decided to opt out of the dinner with them and stay back and have some time to myself. Felt pretty exhausting going through this first six month follow up and did not find I could be up and conversational, especially around such heavy subjects. I think cancer has really taught me not to put others first and be a good sport anymore, when it is really not what supports your well being.

Back to work today and wishing everyone a good week with their treatments, doctors apts and all the rest. Enjoy the fall days.

Spookiesmom

Yep, I totally agree. Some time last year I found that out too. Now, I've lost a few friends who don't get it. That's ok too. Maybe they really weren't friends anyway.

Jazzygirl

Hi hermits- well through one medical thing and on to the next. My PCP called today with the results of my recent A1C test. It was elevated last year suggested pre-diabetes and with all the changes to my health this past year, we had it rechecked and I am at 6.5, the lower most value for being diagnosed with diabetes. So tomorrow I go in to talk to her and she is going to put me on Melaformin and will send me to a nutritionist to talk about a diabetic diet.

I had just decided after talking to the rad onc last week I needed to do something more structured about trying to loose weight, like Weight Watchers, as my weight has gone up again. I lost 40 pounds last year through all the medical stuff that went on, but it has come back in part with a period of time when I was not able to exercise and also with the AIs. 

Part of me is upset, another part of me is not surprised. Since the series of things began for me last year including breast cancer, it seems they keep finding more things wrong now. My body seems to just still be unable to cope, despite trying to take better care of myself. I know once you have something like cancer, it throws your whole body into a major change and so it seems to be true for me. 

Thanks for listening hermits.

Bummed out in the desert

Teka

You've been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes?   PCP keeps checking me for diabetes, and so far ok.

Hemoglobin A1C (Normol is 4.8-6.0), and mine have been the following ------

5.6

5.5

5.7

However, diagnosed with high blood pressure during my BC treatments.

Always something!!

Spookiesmom

Yep, you've got D now, darn it. Metformin can help with weight loss, it can also cause diarrhea. (Experienced voice here). Common side effect of it. Take it with food, build up your dose slowly. If its a real problem, ask for the extended release kind.



WW is not D friendly from what I've heard. Too many carbs, and that's what you need to pay attention to now. When you get your meter, test, test, test to see what each food does to your glucose.



Can you tell I have D too? LOL!

Jazzygirl

Teka-  yes, always something. My mother was diabetic and hypertensive and now I am both. Last year my BP went sky after abdominal surgery for another issue, and on licinopril I went.

Although my fasting blood glucose has always been good (80 ave), I guess the primary care doctors are using the AIC to get a better handle on the blood glucose beyond the snapshots. A value of 6.5 is equal to an average of 139 over a three month period. 

My PCP also said this may be related to everything else that has been going on for me including the bc. I found an article on this site that says women who survive breast cancer tend to be at higher risk for diabetes. I wonder if your doctor knows this link too Teka, and is checking you reguarly for it? 

Spookie- thanks for your input. I will likely opt out of WW and just do the diebetic diet that I expect to get from the nutritionist. My sister told me sometimes you do loose weight on this drug (after gaining on the AIs, that would be great) but was warned about the loose stool. Both PCP and sister told me to be sure to take it with the largest meal of the day. Thank you for your advice here and hopefully I can cope with this new med now being added to the mix. God I feel old!

Teka

Amen!

camillegal

Oh Jazzy

 sorry about this new crap for u.==It's the old right when u thought it was safe to go back in the water---Jaws 2---I know we're all different but somehow this ages our bodies, bones blood==everything in a short period of time and it's hard to feel good again. All the chemo and meds does a number on u'r body. And Jazzy except for here I don't really talk about cancer and all this stuff Thabk God my family doesn't either cuz I would walk away, it's been a long haul and I just unload here--where we all get it--otherwise my answer is fine for everything.And I enjoy my hermit time too.

Lily55

Take a look at the Paleo Diet......



I am feeling more miserable again, think it must be the AI.......tearful about all sorts and had major panic attack ten days ago, lasted 36 hours.......therapist says its emotion of repressed trauma as I had PTSD before this from other medical and life eperiences and bc just brought it ll back plus more.......also gaining weight like no tomorrow.......yuk....

Jazzygirl

Cami- thanks for your kind words and understanding. I have totally felt that I aged 10 years after everything I went through. I do think our treatment process does take a lot out of us. Plus I had another thing that happened last year at the same I got diagnosed that resulted in some major surgery. The double wammy, as I call it. I remember thinking at the time I really did not expect to make it through any of it. But I did and now my body has more changes. I was already pre-disposed to this and think the other health problems just pushed me over into this new place. I pushed my doctor to retest me on this, even not having any real symptoms of the diabetes, so something in me knew something was not right.

Lily- thanks for the info on the Paleo diet. My kind of eating, pure proteins and veggies which my body does well with. Whole foods, as I call them.

And I am sorry you are struggling emotionally. I have the same stuff happen sometimes on the AIs. I will wake up very down some days for no reason or find myself teary otherwise. It happened sunday after I got home from my travels. I thought maybe it was just tears of relief to be done with the follow up process, but in the end, I think it was the AIs. I have gained weight too on the AIs and that has probably not helped my diabetic situation. It's a vicious cycle here.

It is good your therapist realizes what is going on for you and trying to help. I do think all this brings up the old wounds too. Like grief from a loss does too. And we are all grieving in some way, for that which we have lost as we have gone through all this. Please take good care of yourself and know I am hoping you have better days very soon.

Going to see the PCP later today and will let you know what happens next. Back to one day at at time here.

camillegal

Oh Girls, I'm sorry it's teary time. I sometimes feel like oh things are going OK, then ( take 2 steps back and it's what's going on now. Now I have to resee my Card. see a new Dr. for something else--It's like there is no end to Drs. and hospitals, and tests and of course meds, and they are usually cruel. And how many tests can u have before becoming hazardous material. I shouldn't complain cuz my cancer is totally in control and not worrying about it---but 25 other things are happening and I blame it on all of these things. U know when u feel like crying go ahead, it's kind of a relief after and as long as u like. Why not? And it's good for so many to see a therapist, they might be able to make sense out of u'r feelings. So u don't feel so different, but we are different than we were before-it does get better, but evvery time u go to the Dr. it's not like before when u went. (my theory)

Jazzygirl

Cami- you are very right about this process. We can go through the bc treatment and get things under control, but then all the things we are asked to do create more problems for us. Drugs are a good thing and can help us when we need them most, save our lives, manage our pain, etc. But I know there is a cycle here of taking things that only create new medical problems for us. And you are right, I dread any doctors visits and tests now because I automatically assume they are going to find something wrong. Pleasantly surprised when they don't, always caught of guard still when they do. I guess it's best to just not assume anything about anything!

Came home to meet the roofing people (need a roof replacement due to hail damage) and sounds like they were already here and did there measurements. Guess I did not need to come home, but like working remote so I am good with it!

Going to see the PCP on next steps. I have a different thinking about this today. This was found early before it really becomes a problem, just like my bc was. Early detection and proactive treatment and management is the way to go and so that is what I am going to do. 

CCFW

del.