Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

HappyHammer

SLoan- that would be great! My BIL had a clinic last fall in Chicago and my sister, Meg< their daughter, Margaret and my mom went for a long weekend.  They stayed at The Palmer- on the exec floor- and mom and Margaret shared a room and each had their own private bathroom...that is my idea of traveling- haha.  I think it IS old school charm and décor but believe me- meg would not stay anywhere that wasn't nice- she is a total hotel snob- anyway- I will get the dates we will be in Chicago- Meg, her DH and my mom are currently in Ireland and so will get the dates when they return. 

ChiSandy

I miss the days when Trader Vic’s was in the Palmer House. First special-occasion place we always looked for in any city we visited---when we still lived in NYC with our folks before we were married, Seattle, Portland, SF, Chicago when we moved here, Vancouver--was Trader Vic’s. Loved the hokey tiki cocktails--souvenir glass (I think I still have the Buddha one). or the one with the floating gardenia that I’d then blot dry and wear in my hair a la Billie Holiday)--and even the faux Cantonese food. I think they invented the term “puu puu platter.” If you stay there, I suggest you walk a couple of blocks SE to W. Adams off Michigan Ave. and go to Russian Tea Time. It’s owned by a member of our temple (she’s from Uzbekistan) and is like the old Russian Tea Room in NYC without the snobbery or see-and-be-seen atmosphere. It’s elegant. but very accessible & friendly. We like the smoked fish platter (with salmon roe & blini), borscht (the only way Bob will go near beets), and various appetizers. Champagne, vodka flights, and especially the strong raspberry black tea you sip from a glass (in a silver holder) through a sugar cube held between your teeth. Russian music playing in the background, of course.

Molly50

Sloan, no idea what my vitamin D level is but I take 3000 IU each day along with a cal, mag, zinc combo.

McDonald's is moving to Chicago??? It's been in Oakbrook forever!! So much for the family feel of the burbs. My BIL worked for them for years, attended Hamburger U and showed me the HQ when they lived in a Chicago suburb.

PontiacPeggy

Thinking of our friends starting chemo today and having surgery this week.

HUGS!

Katzpjays

Alice - in your pocket today.

Heathet - I can't remember your start date, but I know it has to be soon. In your pocket as well.

Sandy - so funny you mentioned Trader Vic's. That was one of my favorite places to take visitors when I lived in San Francisco

614

Hello All:  It is so wonderful that many of you will be able to get together.  That is awesome.  I love reading the food/restaurant/hotel/travel info.  It is really interesting.

Dear Molly:  It is great that you are taking Vitamin D supplements along with Magnesium and Calcium.  Those are essential vitamins/minerals.  Vitamin D is produced by the body when sunlight is absorbed by the skin.  However, almost everyone is Vitamin D deficient, no matter how much time one spends outside, in the sun.  I live in Florida and I was Vitamin D deficient.  I am no longer Vitamin D deficient due to Vitamin D supplements.  My MO tested my Vitamin D levels.

ChiSandy

Elk Grove Village bordering Arlington Hts., where Hamburger U. is and may still remain, is prototypically "family-friendly" suburbia. But Oakbrook is all office complexes, business-oriented hotels, a huge outdoor mall complex and a haven for much of Chicagoland's "1%:" country clubs, golf courses, polo grounds, riding academies and mansions on large lots.

Molly50

Best wishes to anyone starting tx. Sorry I can't keep up. Work has been so crazy. On a good note I had lunch with 3 BCO sisters one of them is PoppyK!

HappyHammer

Molly- sounds lovely!  Know you are so busy at home and work- glad you were able to get some time with BCO sisters!

tbalding

Went for markings and CT scan today. Came home with 6 marks covered by tape, no tattoos yet. Shirt thankfully covers marks. I will have 16 regular and 5 boosts. I start Monday 6-13 to 7-12. Thanks to everyone here who share their experiences as well as those on the Spring rads thread, I felt very prepared & not anxious at all. A little discomfort in armpit from SLN site. I feel it pulling when my arm is over my head. My RO said this is normal & to keep doing my stretches.

Good luck to all with your TX

Trish

HappyHammer

Sandy- LOVE your Billy Holliday reference!

Moondust

First treatment over and done! The worst part was the needle stick into the port - it hurt like a son-of-a-gun, despite the lidocaine cream and a numbing spray. Next time my nurse wants me to put more cream on, earlier, and cover it with a special plastic covering she gave me. All the nursing staff were wonderful! All my questions were answered and I was even given a copy of my bloodwork from Monday. I want to keep track of it because I know the MO will give me minimal information at my follow-up appointment. The only SE so far is kind of a knot in my stomach, but I'm not feeling nauseous so I'll hold off on taking meds. I've been eating very small meals every couple of hours as they suggested.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. I felt all of you there with me today!

Trish, I'm surprised they didn't do the tattoos today. Will they do them at the first treatment?

I'm finally getting sleepy despite the steroids, so I think I'll take advantage of it and get to bed!

ChiSandy

I never got the tattoos--just Sharpie Xes covered with heavy plastic tape.

PontiacPeggy

Trish, I too am surprised you didn't get tattoos. They are so much easier and not messy (plus they don't wash away in the shower!). Glad one is done. Definitely do keep stretching that arm.

Alice, It has to be a relief to get your first infusion under your belt. No more wondering "what will it be like." Sucks that it hurt so putting the needle in the port. Like pain, make sure to keep on top of any nausea so it doesn't get the upper hand. Your eating every couple hours sounds like a good idea. Hope you are doing fine today.

HUGS!

Katzpjays

Alice - so glad the first treatment went well. I'll chime in with Peggy...stay on top of the nausea meds. It's harder to stop the nausea if you wait for it before medicating. Sending you good vibes for an easy couple of days post treatment

614

Dear Trish:  I will be in your pocket for your rads tx.  I did not get tattoos for my radiation tx.  I only had the magic markers covered by the clear tape.  I was much happier with that.  I did not want tattoos. 

Dear Alice:  I am glad that you finally started chemo.  Feel well.  I never knew that the needle insertion into the port would be painful.  That is a surprise.  Can you ask for a different nurse/tech next time?  (I am thinking along the lines that some nurses/techs can draw blood without causing pain and other techs do not know how to do it correctly. As a result, there is a painful prick plus a black and blue mark that follows.)

Dear Molly:  I am so glad that you were able to meet with other BCO Sisters.  That is great.  Yes, it is SSOOO hard to keep up when working so many hours and getting caught up in the daily grind.  I am glad that you are feeling better.  I will be in your pocket next month for your MX.  Good luck.

Dear Peggy:  What is the status with the sale of your house?  One more week until your move!!!  Good luck an dhave fun.

Dear Sandy:  When will you get your pathology results from the re-excisional biopsy?  I am in your pocket when you read the results and/or meet with your doctor. 

PontiacPeggy

614, the status of the sale of my house is...WHO KNOWS. The stupid FHA appraiser was here on Tuesday the 31st. Finally today my realtor was able to find out that the lender sent it back to the appraiser (today? yesterday?) because of some (unknown) discrepancy. We MIGHT know something tomorrow. Might. If there are things that have to be corrected, I won't have much time and my realtor will have to oversee them. I'm very PO'd at the appraiser. End rant. Packing is going along.

Took the cat outside in her harness (she is totally an indoor kitty). She was doing pretty good but my yippy terrier was being even more yippy than usual and was upsetting the kitty. She didn't like being on grass but the patio was okay. At least she didn't freak out (completely).

Molly, so glad you got to see PoppyK!!!

HUGS!!

Moondust

Sue, I forgot to say that I go to Bakersfield for my treatment. It has two cancer centers. Sloan went to the larger one and I am at the smaller one. I have commuted to my job in Bakersfield for 28 years, so it's just the normal drive for me.

I'm feeling pretty good today. The stomach knot mostly disappeared but I will monitor myself and not be too stubborn about meds. I'm still on the dexamethasone which I'm sure is helping. I took a Tylenol PM last night to help with the sleep and it worked well.

Just in the past week or two I developed deQuervain's syndrome in my right wrist. I believe it is a side effect of the arimidex. I will be off the armidex for 4 months as I have my chemo, so I'll get a chance to see if it improves. It is painful when I move my wrist certain ways, so it would be nice to find a way to avoid it.

Peggy, how fun to take kitty for a walk! It is so hard for them to adjust to a new place. Dogs do much better. I would be upset with the appraiser too.

My tattoos are so tiny I can't even see them any more. They are just tiny dots, smaller than a mole.

Sloan, the area your son is moving to in Chicago looks and sounds exciting! I'm sure he will enjoy it. My brother and family live in Evanston.

Sherri, I was talking to my cousin in SF. She is retiring from her teaching job. She said teachers in Florida have it even worse than the California teachers because at least they have a union in California. But she is still very overworked and has to work for free. (Or had to).

Off to eat another small meal and maybe get in some steps while I'm still feeling okay!

PontiacPeggy

Alice, glad you're doing okay today. Kitty did NOT go for a walk. We are not that advanced. I carefully placed her on the grass and she crept (almost like she was stalking something only with that "don't hit me" body language) back on the patio and up the steps. But at least she didn't die

HUGS!

Sloan15

Moondust - You're 1/4 of the way finished!

Never heard of deQuervain (sp?) syndrome. There are sho so many odd SE. I almost don't want to look them up in fear that I'll start thinking I have them or notice something I hadn't noticed before!

Peggy - Hang in there with the house! Also, I'm glad your kitty didn't freak out on the leash. When I was a kid I tried to take my cat for a walk. Geez, it was like harnessing the dragon in the animated movie How to Train Your Dragon: fast and every which way!

Regarding rads tattoos:

I got three tiny dots, and honestly, I can't see them at all. They are so tiny, smaller than a small mole. Everything, even the treatments, was painless and quick.

ChiSandy

My derm called today (I spoke with the nurse at her Vernon Hills office Tues.) to confirm that they got clean margins with “no further treatment necessary” (beyond suture removal next week and probably self-care scar-minimization management). Whew!

Moondust

Great news, Sandy! Such a relief!!!

Heathet said on the chemo thread that her start date was pushed back a week to allow more healing to her surgery.

Italychick

Moondust, as far as the port acces goes, I developed a technique where I take in a huge deep breath, then stretch the skin on both sides of my port, kind of like pulling the skin tight across my port, and exhaled when they inserted the needle. It seemed to help because I never felt much of anything but a tiny prick. Just a technique to try.

tsoebbin

congrats Sandy!

PontiacPeggy

Sandy YIPPEE!!! Now you can breathe!!!

HUGS!!

mustlovepoodles

*Whoosh!* Breathing a huge sigh of relief for Sandy!

Italychick, that is almost exactly how I handled my port accessing. Look straight ahead, deep breath, blow it out. My nurses were good about pulling the skin taut, so it really wasn't too bad. Like I said earlier, not nearly as bad as sticking me for an IV. All the veins on my left arm are deep and of course, all my good veins are in my right arm (zombie breast side), so no needle sticks there. Foo!

I'm back from my visit to the Gulf Coast for the wedding. I was able to go over to my Mother's apt, about 3 hours away and dropped off DH at his sister's house on the way there. Had a pretty good visit with mother--found a new Cajun restaurant near her house. She and I love red beans & rice, and they even had beignets! (little French donuts you can get in New Orleans.)

Mother is still trying to deal with her 4BR house that she moved out of in Dec 2015. The house is in horrible condition--absolutely filthy. My step-father is spinning in his grave. He always kept that house in military condition, ready for inspection at any moment. I guess She's been hiding all the filth with furniture and now that it's gone, you can really see the mess. I managed to get some of it cleaned up. Deep cleaned both bathrooms, swept the worst of the detritus off the carpets, mopped all the brown off the kitchen floor, and did three loads of laundry. I didn't even bother vacuuming because there is just so much else to focus on. Mother is having a terrible time letting things go. She just wanders from room to room, picking and plucking, sometimes moving something from one room to another. We spent 8 hours there and came away with exactly 2 things. She wanted to go to the storage facility the next day to get something. Guess how many things she has in there? Exactly 5. At $60/mo, she has already dropped $360 to store a small folding table, a beach tote, 2 doll-baby beds, a moldy potato bin, and a plate rack that she has had over 10 years and still in the packaging. Yep.

And you will die when you hear this part...she found some baby dolls up in the attic that belongs to my sisters and me. They are nasty, probably been up there 50 years. They are filthy dirty, hair is all greasy feeling and matted, cock-eyed, faces and arms have marker on them. She wanted to give them to the thrift store and I put my foot down. NOBODY wants to give their little girl these nasty doll babies. But she was just INSISTENT about it, so I told her I'd take them home with me and try to fix them up. Ha! I put one in the fridge last night, another one under my DSs computer table, and another one hanging upside down in his shower. My DH found the one in the fridge and about had a heart attack! I think I'm going to put one of them in his closet and one in my DSs bed tonight. They look creepy as hell, LOL. After I've had my fun, they're going straight out to the trash.

PontiacPeggy

Well, Poodles, that was an awful visit with your mother. You did say she has dementia, right? Do you have power of attorney? Obviously you know what needs to be done. And it is so difficult when you are far away (bad enough when you're close). I'm so sorry that you are having to go through all this. Is mom in a nursing home or assisted living? I can't remember what you've told us. Just so she's not living on her own. You must have been so dismayed to find she's wasting all that money on storage. And those dolls sound like the stuff of nightmares. Yikes! My MIL just as we were deciding if she needed to go into assisted living, had put food wrapped in cellophane in the oven, stored other stuff in inappropriate places (food stored in the dishwasher, too). It was terrible. Part of her problem was she was dehydrated but working into dementia. So I get what you're going through. Thankfully, MIL was living in an apartment and she and husband had sold the family home years earlier. So didn't have that to go through. I don't envy you at all. If you can afford it, have a cleaning crew come in and do the house top to bottom. I'd guess $500-$750.

Good luck!!

HUGS!!!

Molly50

I got my tattoos the day I started treatment. The day of my SIM I got markers and stickers. I can only find one of the three tats now. If you didn't know you would think I marked myself with a blue pen. Moondust, take care and rest. Glad you got through the first day! Bakersfield is not that far from me. When you feel up to it and my schedule is not so crazy maybe I could drive up and see you and Sloan.

ejmann44

Boy this board has been busy!

I met my MO and RO today. They are in a medical building across the street from my neighborhood. Both very nice guys. Two separate offices but from what I understand they all get together several times a month with my BS for a tumor board so the communication is great.

I will receive genetic counseling tomorrow at 10 am to get insurance approval for the BRCA test. After the test, assuming I am negative, I will be all set to get radiation started. My MO wants to give me Lupron shots to shut down my ovaries and start me on Arimidex next week. I will have a hysterectomy after the radiation but he wants me to start now. After the hysterectomy I can stop the Lupron shots.

It is strange, I never wanted bio kids (both of mine are adopted) and the last 7 years I was asking for some relief from my periods that didn't include using birth control. First thing my BS told me to stop taking was my birth control and now everyone thinks a hysterectomy is a good idea.

Sandy: Great news!

Everyone else I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

ChiSandy

Oooh, Poodles, I hope you took pictures! Sounds like something straight out of the Twilight Zone. Last month, on “Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" a fake answer to one of the quiz questions (the “which of these three stories is true") involved a private island owned by a guy who decorated all the trees with creepy baby dolls.

My in-laws' housekeeping had steadily deteriorated as they aged. Bob's mom had had a cerebellar stroke, was 9 years older than his dad and was deaf as a post, so his dad took over (or more accurately, assumed failed stewardship of) the housekeeping. They lived in a little brick half-Cape in eastern Queens, where they raised Bob from infancy till our wedding day. During the last decade they lived there, they always insisted we pick them up and drop them off at the curb. I found out why after Bob had taken a trip to see them, and admitted his dad to the hospital for unstable angina when he was having pain and shortness of breath getting into and out of a rented Taurus. I flew out the next day (despite nursing a broken toe). His mom went next door to stay with a neighbor--they had only a landline and phone lines had been chewed through by squirrels, and it took forever for us to find her. While Dad was in the hospital, we moved Mom into a room adjoining ours at the Garden City Hotel--where for the first time in her life she encountered chambermaids and room service. Bob & I went to the house to bring Dad some stuff he requested--his checkbook, missal and glasses--and were absolutely shocked. The place looked like the squirrels had gone berserk in there instead of the backyard. It reeked of petroleum--there had been a fuel oil spill in the basement that had only been wiped up and not cleaned; the blinds were filthy and warped; the furniture was covered with layers of sheets, towels and plastic grocery bags and dust bunnies everywhere; the bathroom was covered with brown gunk and mildew, the floors hadn't been mopped in months if not years and every wall had the same pink paint they'd bought at Sears 20 years earlier and stored in the basement for touchups. We called a deep-cleaning service and ordered new blinds and curtains, a toilet seat that wasn't cracked. The cleaning service worked two days straight and barely made a dent--at least there was now room to sit and use the kitchen & bathroom. But the petroleum stink remained. We asked Dad why all the plastic bags, towels and sheets in the living room, and he replied it was to hide Mom's purse and their money from potential burglars. (They also kept the grungy blinds and curtains closed at all times). Dad had a cardiac cath and was found to have had only a-fib, so he was discharged and Mom promised to bring the cleaning service back.

We flew home, only to have to go back four days later when Mom had a massive stroke (she was celebrating Dad's lack of clogged arteries by skipping her own heart meds for a day) and just before we landed, the ER called to inform me that Dad had fallen on the lawn after a long bus trip (neither of them drove nor would pay for taxis) to visit her and then grocery-shop (with a schlep-cart and a spreadsheet for weekly sales at three different stores). He said the ground just began to roll under him, so he was admitted again--I spent three weeks there (Bob flew in only for my birthday) shuttling between floors of the hospital and adjacent rehab center before going back to my motel room every night. Their house was uninhabitable, even if I didn't have asthma. Mom never left the hospital and rehab--she died there five months later. They never couldn't find anything objectively wrong with Dad, who was discharged with the proviso he hire an attendant--every one of whom he fired for various reasons (one wouldn't chauffeur him because the agencies weren't allowed to let their aides drive their own car; another refused to negotiate a lower rate or work overtime; another because he didn't like her Russian accent, etc.). This went on for a year before one of his friends waxed rhapsodic over a new assisted-living high-rise, to which most of his friends from church had moved. But he secretly decided it was too expensive (even though he was a millionaire). Bob flew out, ostensibly to move him in there before flying him here (his first flight ever) to attend Gordy's college graduation and find a nice assisted-living or senior-citizen apartment near us. I had been in Detroit playing a couple of shows before hustling back for graduation.

I was greeted with the news that Dad was moving in with us permanently because “Gordy can stay downstairs in the den, I can have his room and Carrie can take care of me." Bob enthusiastically agreed. I was furious, and demanded that it be on the condition that he not criticize my weight, spending or our lifestyle. Yeah, right. Thus followed two years of accommodating his weird eating requirements (no meat or fat--he was thin as a rail and he only grudgingly obeyed doctors' orders to eat fish and poultry; yet he had gone from macrobiotic to developing a monster sweet tooth); portions had to be exactly the right size because he insisted on finishing every morsel on his plate--leaving food over was “sinful and wasteful" and leftovers were “unsanitary"); personal habits (for someone who had lived in a pigsty for years he was a germophobe and detested our cats; when we would take him to the few restaurants he liked, he would wipe his hands with a tissue he kept in his pocket rather than wash them); and his charming habit of coming into our room at 7 am and shaking the bed, yelling at Bob “Get up or you're gonna be late and lose your job!" (He never quite understood that Bob owned his own practice and was't about to fire himself). And of course, he was constantly telling me that I was too fat, spent too much money, and was “living in the material world." He insisted on going to the post office to mail letters, because he was sure the postman would steal his letters from the mailbox--twice, when I refused to drive him he stomped out and walked the wrong direction, over a mile--we had to call the police to help look for him and would find him sitting on the sidewalk, confused and dehydrated. (He refused to drink water--“it pollutes the chakras." He had been a yoga disciple for thirty years before returning to the Church with a vengeance). Carrie nearly quit several times. One Sunday morning, we realized he had let us sleep in till 10 without shaking us awake to demand Bob go to Mass with him. We found him still in his bed, breathing but unresponsive--he had suffered a massive stroke. He died two months later.

Oddly, I miss him.