Jan 2008--Ain't it Great?

Hi Jewels,

I have not finished reading the post, so glad i'm not so far behind. I finally put on a picture showing off my new hair and chemo curls. I have been so busy doing the training for that on line job. It seems to be on the up and up. Tomorrow I go back to Kmart too.

D1  Thanks for letting me know the toe nails grow back. I do remember you telling me about your toenails falling off. It was so wierd my toe nails were fine until around the end of August, one of them is still black, i'm waiting for that to come off. You are right, when my other toe nail came off, there was no pain. I was so grateful for that. You are right FU breast cancer  and taxotere. My FU is Forget you BC.  I also hope you get things worked out in your personal life, don't give up, sending positive vibes your way.{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{  HUG  }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Oh about that guy I like well he was flattered about the letter and called me, it's going slower than I hoped. He lives 45 min from me. Today we had lunch, and I thought we got along real well, he took a picture of me, poor guy. I guess we will have to wait and see, he is shy and i'm shy, I don't know. I'm hoping something will come out of this.

Big Hugs to everyone. Sherry

Thank you all for your kind words and support over the news of my twinsis.  Thankfully, the tumor is only 7mm, so it's small. The breast MRI I encouraged her to ask for instead of a mammogram considering our family history saved her a year of waiting to find it.  The mammo they did do right before the biopsy showed nothing. Had she had the mammo first, her doctor would have given her the all clear, and she would have known nothing for another year maybe longer.  So, that's a blessing.

Carla, I was so glad to see you’d posted.  I couldn’t see the video, only hear it, but you sounded great!

And Maz, and Kris, and CHJ…how wonderful to hear from you, too.
We’ve missed you.

Oh Therese, I’m just 47, and no one told me I had a 50-50 chance of getting my period back.  That would not be good for me being ERPR positive.  I just pray mine stays away for good.  I haven’t had any hot flashes in awhile, so now I’m wondering if I too will see Aunt Flo again.  It’s been since February. Oh bother!!!!  That is the least of my worries right, now, however.

So SP, I’m listening to my new CD Peaceful Garden right now.  I love it.  I’ve loaded into my computer, so now I’ll take it to school to use during quiet work time. Thank you so much.

To my SP, where I got your present required me to put a return address in order to ship it, so you’ll no longer be wondering who your SP is, I imagine, but that’s OK…it’s still fun to surprise each other isn’t it?

Deb, wow, another voice we haven’t heard in awhile.  You sound great.  How great to be volunteering at the Race for the Cure, and staying in a nice hotel right at the start of it. Good planning.

Jules- Hmmm, seems appropriate to wait until the ‘end’ of the month for such a procedure…even the word endoscopy has the word ‘end’ in it, and that’s also the portion of the anatomy it focuses on, too….OK, sorry, I couldn’t help it. I teach junior high.

Glad you survived Homecoming at your school. Did your students dress all funny, like D1’s daughter with her crazy outfit last week?
Paula, I can just picture your beautiful backyard scenery…fall colors, blue azure sky, crisp air and nature as far as you can see…NICE!!!!  Thanks for thinking of my twinsis and I while communing. 

Hope you have a great trip. Seems you do lots of these conference type trips with your students.  How does the school afford it?  We’re having trouble just getting to go to local workshops due to costs.

Sherry - Love your curls.  I'm with CHJ, no curls for me either, just more grey, but I'm not complaining, it is so easy and so soft.

D1, thanks for the well wishes and support.  I do need to find twinsis a cape of her own.

I loved hearing about your dd's homecoming date - the girls. How fun to just be with your galpals and not worry about boys, and then on the other side of the coin is your college girl. Man, I so remember that age and swooning over boys who were 'the one'.   

I'm so proud of you for making the choice to start yoga, get massages, and see a therapist.  Yeah!!!! on all three counts. Therapy can be such a wonderful experience...hard at times, but so worth it in the long run.

I bought a Wii Fit.  It is so cool.  I bowled. I played golf.  I can do yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balancing exercises and so much more.  It’s very user friendly and gets others involved, too.  The whole family bowled yesterday.

So, I got on the scale at 147 this morning, but I can't help but think it's water loss or dehydration again.  I was 148.5 all last week.  How could it be that I just lost it overnight?  It would be nice, but don't think so.

I’ve got company coming this week ( a college friend) and Greg is gone this week, so I’m the entertainment goddess for the week.  We’ll have dinner tomorrow with twinsis, oldersis, and ds and his gf.  Then the rest of the week, I’m cooking, I guess.

Take care my Jewel friends,
SIS Kimberly

Hey Kimberly, just read your post ... was happy to hear that Kathleen's tumor appears to be relatively small.   All the more reason to have an MRI as our first line of defense.  My guess is that your sis will still have some pretty hefty decisions to make as to what extent of txt to take on, as we know those are some of the toughest times.

Sounds like your going to be a busy gal, remember to breath !!!

CHJ, great pic ... talk about beautiful country, is that in your neck of the woods?  We'll be looking forward to hearing about your Race for the Cure walk as well. 

I guess I better continue to add pics to my Jewel file for an update in a few months !!!

Hi I was reading up on the post and found out I missed a lot again.

Kimberly  I'm so sorry to hear about your sister, I was praying it was not cancer. Thank Goodness Kathleen has you, and you can give her all the postive vibes and keep telling her she will be a survivor. When you are going threw treatment you don't ever beleive you will feel good again. At the end of the misrable journey the light from out of the tunnel starts to shine. I hope she chats with us. Your new hair is hot too, I do like how soft our new hair is to. That was a blessing the cancer was found so fast.

CHJ  I also love your new do, and the picture of you and the mountains is awesome. Where was that picture taken? My hair is grey too, I just started getting some brown hair. Let us know how you did in your cancer walk. Sending lots of positive energy. Happy Cancerversaries.

Carol  No, my hair had some natural body in it, but not like this. It looks like I put a body wave into my hair. I really believe it's thicker too. It's cool because I don't have to curl it anymore, it will work I guess. I may keep my hair shorter since it has so much curl in it. I would like it to get a little bit longer.

KathyL  That is cool you got to meet Robin, she looks like on T.V. really nice person. Great experience for you. My fingernails keep breaking off, that drives me nuts. Jewels I also had to 86 the hair on my face. I just use my hair  face off thing. It's like purple with pink something like sand paper. It takes all the hair off, I really like it. Just don't rub too hard.

I seen my surgeon on Fri and he wants to do a gastrocopy test on me to make sure all the sludge and acids are out of my stomach. I feel like COME ON!  I'm tired, i'm calling tomorrow and rescheduling the test for the end of the month. I'm scheduled to work that day, i'm not asking for more time off.

Cathy  I think a jewel get together would be great. Hoping I can come along too. I do envy you and SIS Kimberly lapping up that CA Sun. I was shocked today it was 84 degrees it's been 6 wks or longer since it's been that hot.

Paula  I was cracking up at your post, and like you, lt's hard to believe a bra could cost $400 bucks. I agree with Paula D1 that bra should be able to jump hoops or something. Hopefully it does it's job. It sounds like you are real busy at work.

It was good to hear from Carla and Deb and CHJ, I hope some of our other MIA's check it soon. Thats great Carla you spoke on behalf of breast cancer and was on T.V. WTG.  I'm still lurking and reading post.

I did a real dumb thing, I have had trouble swelling today and it was on my mind to take a water pill, I decided to take it in the morning. I thought I took my Tamox and just discovered it was the water pill. I'm really out of it today. I'm going to be peeing all night, I don't sleep as it is. I'm hoping I don't pee all night. Talk about your chemo brain. Sleep tight

Lots of hugs, Sherry

Boy, I could get used to having every Monday off. It actually seems like a weekend with a 3 day break.

So the ds had his evaluation at Sylvan this morning. He had not bothered to ask what he was going to be doing when he arrived. He was rather surprised to be taking a 2 ½ hour long test for his evaluation. The ex-hubby and I met him when he completed his work, went to lunch and then met with the administrator for over an hour to discuss their findings. Bottom line, he is "up to snuff" enough to be enrolled in one of the Study Skills programs. He will also be doing some extra work on reading comprehension. He will be starting out with two days a week (4 hours), trying to go on his off nights from skate practice. He is going to talk with his boss at work to try and arrange a work schedule with no weekdays, and hopefully just one day on the weekend. Although I'm sure there we're many things that Zach would have rather been doing today, he did keep a pretty positive spirit.

D1, so when are you going to tag along with the dh to the west coast ??? Here you'd be about an hour from my place in Seattle and less than an hour to Kimberly's from Sacramento. And I'd love to pick that man's brain sometime ... what is he thinking ?!?!? Kudos though for atleast saying he'd join you in some counseling (if appropriate) ... I'm thinking yah !!!

BTW, when is your excursion to the Bahama's?

So its beyond bad with all of our sports teams. Our college teams suck, the Seahawks suck, the Mariner's suck, we lost our NBA team, so its down to the WNBA !!!

Trust me I'll be asking about this "twilight sedation" (you crack me up), I chatted with Paula about that yesterday. In fact she should be port free as of today.

I'll let you know how it goes as the Yoga virgin tonight ... I have class at 5:30, and I have already packed my gym bag and Ipod for after work tomorrow. Figure if I'm going to be achy, I may as well really have a reason to complain. Actually the more I have checked out the se's from the Femara, exercise for bone strengthening and massage are at the top of the list for combating it. I should be getting my referral for massage in the mail in a day or two. I think I like Kimberly's idea to just schedule one a week.

Kathy, your eve out sounded like it was awesome. I actually had just read your post last night as I was watching a Tivo'd episode of The View from last week, Robin Roberts was the guest. She certainly seems like a class act.

More fun was had on Sat as well, but Kathy, two young ones, and no camera (or just in need of a new one) ... what's up with that ???

So you being the nurse and stating that you want twilight sedation, I'm all over that one. The nurse at my surgeon's office who put the darn thing in while I had my mast, really blew me off that it was no big deal and they take them out with just a local. I've decided to see a Gen Surgeon here in my home town, and I will be asking her about something with a little more fire power than just a local.

Paula, how are you feeling ... and did we get a ride ?

Deb, wow ... that is a heck of a lot of people ... I sure hope your able to share a pic. The book you mentioned Middle Place, I checked it out on-line at her website, there is good video clip of her reading an excerpt from the book, sounds pretty touching with a bit of humor as well.

Sherry, hopefully we chose the right pill this morning !!! Did the water pill work ???

CHJ, I think I'd pass on the pink vacuum too !!! I had checked out the Pepto thread, yep the market is pretty well saturated, wonder what color they'd use for colorectal cancer ??? Bad joke I know !!!

For your first night abroad in quite some time, you and the dh certainly picked a beautifull place to visit.

Okay, time to start some prep for dinner, which I'll be finishing up after class. Wish me luck ...

Carol

Carla,

I don't think we've "met", but I'm a WV girl, too.  I'm from a holler outside of Charleston, and I now live in Central PA.  I have siblings in Scott Depot, St. Albans, Charleston and Clendenin.  I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles.  You should look up the local free legal office to see if they can help you.  I'm so sorry you are dealing with all this stuff on top of your breast cancer diagnosis. Your hubby, unfortunately, sounds like he could be my brother or my cousin.  I hope he's not, but my male relatives seem to have the same issues with language, temperament, and respecting their families/other people in general.  I hope all this stuff works out okay for you.  Your kids sound like, despite everything, they are on the right track.  That's awesome!

Hugs

Bobbie

Hey Jewels, Just a quick check in. Still wiped out from the RFC but it was worth it. 

I hear some of you talking about toenail woes.  Anybody still waiting for them to fall off?  My big toes look like they are separated from the nail bed but haven't budged as far as falling off.  Look ugly as hell but thankfully are not too painful.

Carol - I really enjoyed yoga when I did it too but it really has a lot to do with who leads it and what kind it is.  Right now I am looking for a Tai Chi or Chi Quong class.  Slow stretching type movements too. Oh, and my work schedule just changed to every other Friday off (jealous yet?)so I can look forward to 3 day weekends every other.  And best of all, my Fridays are the ones after Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  Since we already get those days off, I get extra vacation days added for those days.  Sure will help me build my time up again.

Kimberly - Hope you and your sis are hanging in there.  We are all praying for you.

Carla - It is really rough for you right now.  I am hoping you find the strength that you need for you and your girls.  Prayers your way that God shows you a way out.

Guess I better get back to work.

Catch ya later!

Hello Jewels,

D1, sorry to say, but we had to turn the debate off ... watched Tivo'd crud instead.   What's worse is that after the presedential debate, there is now a governor debate on .... Its uglier yet!

Sorry to hear that the dd bummed you out for a day you we're looking forward to spending with her. They are still trying to figure it all out, ya think?

Hey, I hope you can find a Yoga class that works into your schedule.  I would think that the stretching, and breathing would be an added beni to your regular workouts.   I went again tonight, the class was a bit different than Mondays, a few more moves with strength training.  Oh, and during the relaxation portion tonight, I was thinking about the porkchops I had left on simmer in the "galley".  Man my right side is a weak one!  I'll be a work in progress.  I'll be packing my workout bag again for after work tomorrow, I hit the treadmill yesterday, so what does your le dr have to say about nautilus type machines?  I've heard repetitive motions are not necessarily a good thing for those of us with some missing lymphnodes, so I avoided any upper body work.

The ds is off to Sylvan after school tomorrow, it will be interesting to hear his take on that experience.  Big bonus, we're letting him drive to school so he can head straight to Sylvan.  He lost that priveledge with the "tatoo" fiasco!  Oh how I miss the times when he was Kathy's kids age.  Parenting almost seemed easy then. 

So a trip to the PNWest is not out of the question.   Cool !!!

Deb, gotta like those hours, so do you work 9 hour days for 8 days, then a 8 hour shift, for the day off every other week?  We had that opportunity a few years back with the government.   BINGO for this years Friday's off during the holidays!!!

Kathy, thanks for the info on the "twilight sedation", I ended up chatting with a gal after Yoga tonight.  She's a surgical nurse ... so I had to ask her about having my port removed with just a local anthesia ... she said no way-no how !!! 

Good question on the Study Skills being offered at the public school.  I know there is quite a bit of tutoring opportunities available, but the ds was so adament about not wanting to participate.  We're all trying to figure this whole thing out. 

Sorry, but I actually forgot you we're having the re-do on the ol'nipperoooo.  Hoping that it will be a done deal after the tat this go around.  Man, I can't believe you are down to 3 Hep infusions.  Time is flying by! 

Julie, holy moly, six acres that you mow and bag ???  I don't know about you, but I personally dislike this time of the year when its time to put the summer fun away (pools and boats).  We spent the better part of last weekend winterizing the boat to put away.  Kent and I only we're out in it three times.  The kids did use it a bit, but hence the dh was mentioning again about selling it (not ... IMO). 

So if/when you sell would you be looking for a smaller bit of property?  I'm pretty happy on our small city lot, especially when I think of the upkeep to having acreage. 

Carla, what wonderful co-workers you have.  It's quite an accomplishment to finish up the grind of daily radiation, especially after everything else this past year,  and for them to acknowledge what you have been through was quite thoughtful.

Sounds as if you have begun to sort things out in regards to the DH.   Taking baby steps in a positive direction for Carla will be good for you as well as your daughters.  Young people need to know that this is not how anybody should be treated.   

Kimberly, hoping that your getting some quality time to enjoy your company.  Shoot, I miss the time you used to be able to spend letting us know what fantastic meals you we're dining on. 

Okay, off to bed ... pleasant dreams !!!

Carol

D1 - Sorry about the let down with dd.  Unfortunately, I was kinda like that when I was her age.  Guess we all have a learning curve.  LOVE the license plate.  Why didn't I think of that?  I just may have to see if it is available here in AR.  Thanks for the info in the toenails.  I have been trimming them hoping that the new nail will just replace what I trim off but it sure is slow growing..  I watched the debate.  Again, nothing special to me.  Disappointed really by both of them.  Why can't someone just come out and say what they will do (and how much it will cost me)instead of what the other won't do.  I think both sides have alot to be desired this year.  Just MHO.

D1 and Carol - as for the hours, yes, it is 9 hours and then 8 on the friday that you work.  And overtime is nonexistent here so it works for me.

LJ13 - Thanks for the info on strength exercises. I printed it out.  They kind of scare you about that but I have been wanting to do light weights.  Your schedule seems to be a slow and steady one that might work.  The last line about painting and raking kinda sounded like you were maybe speaking from personal experience?

Rainy here today and trying to stay awake at work.  Still taking meds for the neuropathy.  Anyone else still having any problems with that?  And did anyone find something that helps with that besides meds?  It is really my only side effect that is left (remnants of chemo brain but so much better I can live with it).  I have found that as I got further in my treatment plan, my pain threshold plummeted.  Before, I could just about handle any pain but now.......  Still looking for Tai Chi class.  Will work on that tomorrow as I am off and going to be around the house anyway.  I did find someone that specializes in Oncology massage though and am planning to call and schedule that as well.

Hope all the Jewels are having a sparkling, bright day!

Catch ya later!

Hey LJ, took your insight on the exercise and did a little upper body work tonight after 45 min on the treadmill.  I got off the treadmill and did three "machines" at the lowest weight possible for my upper body.  I felt like I had a pretty decent workout, then on the way home I almost cracked myself up thinking "WOW ... I walked for 45 minutes" ... after the training walks for the 3 Day it really was no big deal although after a month of being pretty much a couch potato I felt whooped!  How the heck did I do back to back 15 to 20 mile walks during radiation.  I guess its all in the mind set. 

My muscles we're a bit tired from Yoga last night, but it was the "good hurt"!  Hoping to golf one day this weekend, its supposed to hit a high of maybe 60 on Sat.   Whooo Hoooo !!!  Okay, thats my exercise routine for the week, like I need to make the announcement !!!  I'll be more than happy to leave the painting to somebody else !!!

Deb, lucky gal with the work schedule, I actually opted not to do that schedule for many years as I wanted to be home when my son got home from school, now that he is old enough to handle himself (I hope anyway), they no longer offer that option.  I hate to say it, but last year when I was taking much needed sick leave and we also had a couple of guys retire, and our shop was very short handed, the boss said no more  ... straight eights for everyone.  We just brought up the option again to him and unfortunately it was shot down. 

Back to watching some Tivo'd stuff ... looks like dinner solo again tonight, the dh has been working some god awlful hours this past week.  Between the commute and work it ends up being a 14 hour day...Yuckers.

So my fellow Jewels, remind me if you would, anybody else on a AI ???  I know there are a few on Tamoxifan, but how but Femara or Arimidex?   Would love to compare notes, I'm still hopeful that some of my aches and pains will subside.

Off to flip the chicken on the bar'b ... Carol

CHJ- I did have the BRCA testing done. I was unsure of my fathers family medical history. He and my mother divorced when I was 2 and chose not to have anything to do with my brother and I. I am blessed to say it was neg.If it would have been post. I would have chosen to have a mast and ovaries removed. About the insurance I had the blood draw it was sent to be tested. I had to wait until my insurance company respond to what they would pay. After this I received a call from company telling me among I may be billed and ask if I still wanted the testing done. I too have to go to detist on the 31st. I had a tooth break while having chemo and need to see what needs to be done...

Last night I used my gift certificate and had my pedi and also decedied to have manacure. It was nice. Me and a gf are going to a benefit disco /dinner dance tonight.

I also want to look into yoga.I need to start back on tredmill and try to build my strength back up.

Have a great Friday

Carla

LOL, LJ!!  I know what you mean about the early hour and the traffic. It's 45 minutes to get there from where I live, too.   I didn't go last year, but heard it was a nightmare.  Supposedly they worked out some of the "kinks" as far as the logistics.  Guess we'll see.  I heard 33,000 were expected.

Yes, look for me - I'll have the pink shirt and the short hair.  Shouldn't be hard to find!!

 CHJ