Starting Chemo May 2008

Love the map!!  Awesome, and no, Adrienne, it's not you 'cause I had to squint too!  But squint away!!  I am a visual person so really like this.

I heard from my mom this afternoon and my brother came out of surgery just fine.  Well, as fine as you can be with a tube down your throat.  They will start getting him up and moving a bit tomorrow.  Mom is cooking for them and freezing stuff so they'll have it later. 

Katie and I had fun in San Jose, even though it was a short trip.  It was really neat to see the gymnasts "live" and we got to meet Jonathan Horton (he won silver on men's high bar) by accident.  We were at a restaurant about an hour after the show and he just came in and sat next to us.  So she got his autograph on a napkin and was pretty excited about it.  Actually, so was I!  We didn't get to meet anyone else, only the VIP's got to do that.

Better get to bed to now - it's going to be a long and hectic week without Grandma!!

Roxi--if it's not too late to add me to the map, I'm in east Tennessee, halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga (mailing address is Philadelphia, but you'll never find that on a map:-).....sorry I didn't tell you sooner!

Noelle--hmmmm, thanks for the information re: the buyouts.  Wondered why suddenly Burt's Bees were available just about everywhere, even in little ol' rural Tennessee.  Not to mention they shrunk the amount you get by almost half and left the price the same...that ticked me off.  Now I know why.  I do a lot with essential oils, and I'm thinking I might just try to make my own?   The ingredients listed on Burt's Bees Herbal deo is alcohol, essential oils of sage, lavender and lemon peel.  I think I'll check around the internet and see if I can find a recipe........

Sherri

If you want to hear about the fabulous FOOB adventure, go to

http://ewesterman.wordpress.com/

If not, just know that it feels really nice to know that I am getting five new bras tomorrow. Woo hoo!

This thing with lashes and brows if amazing, is it not? I seem to be way more obsessed about that than the hair. Though my last taxol was September 4, I have mature lashes and brows still falling out. I echo Jen's (I think) pondering of how can hair be growing in on one part of my head while falling out just one forehead away? I also remember what Rock said about eyelashes falling out even after they grew in. Karin, how are you doing? Cris, how cool that you got to meet Jonathan Horton. Sometimes I am glad to have a kid around because they get the autograph but I am just as excited. Hope the week goes well even without Grandma. Kerry, ICU with two hours to live and that was before bc? Mine started with an 800-foot fall down a mountain (which is how I ended up discovering the lump in my breast)...would love to hear your story. Yes, quite a year. I am so pleased about my foob...can't WAIT to go out in it. Maybe I'll wear it to curriculum night on Vashon Island tonight. I have herceptin today after a bunch of other rehab appointments. Did anyone get dark speckles (kind of tiny polka dots) at the tips of their fingers after taxol or taxotere? Just curious and wanting to know what that is all about. Otter, oh great woman of wisdom, got ideas? Adrienne, aren't crickets supposed to be really good luck? I think, in many cultures, they are considered very, very good luck. May your daughter have very, very, very good luck in her future. That's it for now. I suggest Norstrom for all of your FOOB needs. Ciao. 

Mary -- I don't mind re-loading the new map!  (Plus, I'm not sure I can explain how to upload it!)  And when I upload it, I'll re-set the size settings to try to make it bigger.  how's about that.

I LOVE THIS MAP. I LOVE IT.   It's like the pole-dancing tradition that Karin started, and Jen's group photo. It's like our poems and our silliness and our sharts and everything.

*** Sorry this is short. I'm at work.***

Eddie~ I have 3 dark brown spots on 2 fingers and one in the middle/bottom of my foot. Onc said as long as they don't peel off I am ok. That's all I know about them.

Horrifing story of the day....... My gf and I were talking stupid. She made the comment on how she has only heard me burp once in 11 years of knowing me and never fart. We get off the phone and I go back to putting together office furniture. Her hubby(my boss) comes home and start in helping me out. I reach over to pick up a drawer, and damn it, let out a fart. I was horrified, all I could do was turn beet red and laugh. I didn't even know that one was hiding up there either. So of course I had to tell gf that she jinxed me and what had happened. She was laughing so hard she went into a coughing fit. Hey at least I am good for comic relief.

you may now return to your regularly scheduled life..........*sigh*

OK as long as we are on the subject (gas, fart whatever) I have to ask. I have wanted to ask for a long time but thought it was a subject to leave alone. We have no pubic hair to help block things. Ever since hair disappeared if I'm sitting and the gas moves towards the front it will travel through (you know what and where). It is the strangest sensation. Now come on, you know you have experienced it too. Guess that is why we have pubic hair; to stop it from traveling forward and smacking us (smell) right in the face.

Jen - still laughing at the fart story!

Mary - awesome map!!  I too am a Packer fan.

Chris - Glad to hear that your brother's surgery went well, we love good news!!

Otter - I think my blood pressure dropped just listening to you describe that beautiful (and large) boat of yours.  The thought of being on the water calms me . . . even if it is only in my kayak. 

Brows are thin but not gone.  Painting helps, but they look fake.  I have about 5 (top) eyelashes on each eye that I try to hang mascara off of, none on the bottom.  I never made it to the Look good feel better class and it shows    I started 1/2 days back to work last week and everyone is commenting on my "headwear".  I had a hot flash and walked around bald and nobody had a thing to say.  Bald it is.

Was I the only dummy wearing deodorant?  Thanks for all the tips on that.  Starting rads on 9/29.

Running my first 5k this Saturday, followed by a broomball game (start of the fall season). 

Chemoooooooooooo!

Jean

Do 'outsiders' read these posts?  What must they think??? I always laugh..(or cry, depending on how long after the dex it is..). 

This is my informative post.

Tasmania is so NOT a tropical island! I fell off my chair laughing at that. When I moved here my brothers were really, truly concerned that I was moving somewhere like Moscow! It is freezing in winter, very cool in spring, mild is summer (max of about 30C every now and then) and amazingly perfect in the long indian summer/autumn...Feb, Mar, April.  The island is very beautiful in parts and surprisingly ugly in parts. It's very small..two weeks is plenty of time to have the full Tasmanian experience. The East coast is brilliant for most of the year and really beautiful. I think most visitors from other continents would be surprised at how 'empty' our beaches are here, and a surprising number of Tasmanian families have a 'shack' at the beach. It's not that they are rich..the 'shacks' have been in families for years and years. Real estate prices have been very low for decades. Things have pretty much caught up to mainland Australia now.

Spring temperatures are about 65F -75F, higher on the mainland. It's generally a green, hilly place and very unlike my 'country', which is flat and dry with a HUGE, black starry sky. Sigh....

Re my REAL near death experience: I'm philosophical about my cancer and some people think I am pretty unconcerned by it, and this is mostly true. I have my dark moments, believe me, but I remind myself that I nearly died for real in February; I'm too tough for cancer! (That's my self-talk, anyway.)  In about the third week of January I got sick and thought I had the flu. I've had it once in my life (in 1981!) and remember it in detail. I had all the same symptoms.

I went to the doctor at one stage and he told me he had had quite a number of people presenting with the same symptoms: viral thing..bedrest and paracetamol, plenty of fluids. I stayed in bed getting more and more ill..temperature rising etc. On Jan 29 I told my husband I needed to go to the hospital. He took me back to the doctor (to bypass A & E). I have no memory of seeing the doctor! I was admitted, deteriorated and was then sent to ICU with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, ie no ability to take up oxygen.

I was intubated for 6 days..family was called from the mainland, priest was called. I was checking out. I, of course have no memory of this..induced coma! I had atypical pneumonia..no cause, no cure. At one stage I was on 100% oxygen and it wasn't enough. I still can't get my head around it. The staff at our hospital are absolute geniuses in my view. The head guy 'believed in his heart of hearts' that I would live..about 45% of ARDS patients survive. He told me that if I had stayed home I would have been dead in two hours.

When someone goes down that quickly, they see the pneumonia as a smoke-screen for something else, and they found the (25 year old) lump and called the surgeon. She biopsied it..the lump bent the needle! That test was benign. She then pursued me (after I woke up!)  to have a lumpectomy because she just did not like anything about the lump, despite what my mammograms (which I have every 2 years), ultrasounds and the biopsy showed. Well..the rest is history. Mastectomy, axillary resection and 18 weeks of chemo later...I owe her my life. Her astuteness as a surgeon and breast specialist transcended all the tests..how cool is she???

So! Cancer??? BRING IT ON! My poor body, once strong (farmer's daughter) now has no muscle-tone, greatly reduced aerobic capacity..the whole disaster. I need one of those before and after TV shows to take me on as a special subject!

But, I remind myself that when I 'woke up' I could not grasp a tissue AND pull it out of the box. I had to learn to walk again. THEN I had to learn to walk with shoes on my feet! And all of that after only 6 days asleep.

When you girls are exhausted and feel as though you could 'sleep for a week', be careful what you wish for.........

Much loveXXXKerry 

The map is just awesome!

Doctor appt today.  WBC's should be back up.  Hoping to get to go see grandkids after appt.  haven't got to hold the baby in a few weeks-think I am having withdrawls.  Now that the older kids are back in school, I am more cautious around them.

Cris--glad that your brother is doing well.  I  remember when my older brother had open heart surgery and he had a sore throat for several days from the tube.  Prayers for a speedy recovery.

Kerry--WOW!  What an experience.  I have taken care of patients with ARDS--I am so glad that you are in the 45%.  You must be one tough lady!

Noelle-I am here everyday, just don;t post much--I'm a fairly quiet person (drives DH nuts).  I will try to post more.

Time to hit the  shower.  I hope that everyone has a great day!

Hey Sherri, are you talking about "Sailin' the Wind"?

I am big Yacht Rock fan (don't tell me friends who I go to Goth clubs with!!) 

 If you have never seen this underground type online TV series watch this... 

 http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=jMTI8vg7A5U

 It is a spoof on the Yacht Rock time and this episode is about Loggins and Messina.

It is pretty rough with a lot of swearing, but I think y'all can handle it.  

 The economic issue here in Canada are crazy, but nothing compared to the US. I do get to vote in both elections though, so hopefully we will see some changes.  October is always our slowest month of the year, and our expenses are way up with me being unable to work most of the time during chemo. The fact that we are still open is a freakin' miracle. 

 Karin- the pubic hair issue is a pain. I know on other boards people have posted about the fact that their pee goes everywhere without it. I hated that! As for your issue, yup.. been there. 

 Kerry, part of me hopes people read this, so they GET the hell that is chemo. Glad you fought through that craziness in January! Your Husband must have been a wreck watching you! 

 Gracie, you know the rules, no apologies. I just think it is important that we mention when we(the talkative ones) are thinking about you more silent people. 

 Gotta go check on the kitten and get some work done b4 herceptin. 

Cheers to all! 

 xoN

Wow.  I look away from the computer for one frigging day and WOW.

(Karin -- luv new avatar tho I miss your face.)

i now have a facebook and myspace account to pimp my book. which has a supremely embarrassing typo in it. ALMOST as bad as "pubic support for the death penalty" and "just desserts rationalizations for punishment" but not quite.  I feel a need to sell all copies of the book as fast as possible (it doesn't come out until nov 1) so that they can fix the typo when they reprint it. 

Kerry -- farmer's daughter? I am a farmer's daughter!  Do you know that less than 2 % of the US is comprised of farmers?  And YES farmers are freakishly strong!  We scoff at death and near-death experiences! (Sister, I am very glad you lived to tell the tale.)

MARY DID ALL THE WORK ON THE MAP. I spent 18 seconds posting it here.  That's it.  She deserves all the credit. And like the rest of you, I love that map.

Gotta get back to work.  You women are THE BEST.

Rock ,

My mug will be back up again. I found this while googling for pink things. The scarf and IV pole are definitely me so I thought I'd use it for awhile. While I'd don't use the term survivor I did survive chemo!

yeah K, I like the idea of the term "chemo survivor"

Jenn, you can add me on My space, Noelle Smith is my full name. Rock is on there.Facebook is mooooooore fuuuuuun!!!!!!! Join us there too!!! 

I just had Herceptin and the stooooopid nurse told me I look so cute.. just like a monchichi. Oh wait, that is the same nurse that said chemo was just like a spa day....she said more but I have to run and I will tell u more later.

 luv y'all. 

 N

Kerry,

I was never any good in geography. Sounds pretty similar to our weather here in the midwest. I can't believe what a year you've had. You'll truly a survivor!

Jean, good luck with your race. I'm missing my lunch time work out for rads. The Y gave me credit for the class, so that was pretty cool.

OMG, I can't believe you gals are taking about queefs! It's definately because we're hairless. That's a teenager expression, thanks to my daughters.

I was planning on fixing the map but need to bake for my support group tomorrow night. We have a pig roast FUNraiser planned for Sunday.

Linda, I'm with you there, patchy but still hair. 

Hope everyone's doing well!