Starting Chemo May 2008

Bumping back to first page!

Rock, it could be more graphic-a lot of details left out.  Will keep you posted.

Nausea hit hard, meds eased.  Tired.  Post more tomorrow.

NIght Ladies!

Feel better gracie!

Tomorrow is #2 of herceptin. I'm hoping it all goes smooth again for me. The poking part that is. I'd trade in a bad poke day for se's anytime.

I am here. I feel like I have not seen you all for days! Wierd.

I am working a little today and getting the Hallween costumes ready. Funny.. I am getting Xmas decor out for the store and Halloween stuff ready for myself. I may get to Xmas stuff for myself in January sometime. 

Rock, when is the first book launch? and when is your departure date.. do you know?

 Gracie, that nose thing is crazy! I hope the lungs are perfectly fine! 

Everyone else doin' ok?  I have my genetics appt on Wednesday next week and Herceptin and Heart scan the week after.

I see lots of you on Facebook which i like. 

  Work work work...

 

Morning all..well..it's 8.58am in Tasmania..you are all probably at work. I don't work Fridays, although I am going out to school after lunch for the launch of a P&F recipe book..a bit of PR for the chaplain  I've been feeling so good during the day but then crashing around 7pm..maybe it's a kind of biological habit I have gotten into. The biggest post-chemo thing I have noticed is my breathing..I feel as though I am breathing oxygen! Yay!  Actually the biggest thing I have noticed is, in fact, two big things..or three, now that I look: chemobum, chemothighs and chemowaist. Why does chemobrain get the quality attention when there are all these far more important chemoisms to deal with??? I have been pretty vigilant with the exercise so I am hoping I will get the added kilos off...just in time to start tamoxifen..sigh.

Hope you are all kicking along ok. We all seem to have the ups and downs on this cancer-carousel. XXX 

I'm BAAACKKKKKKKK

lol

Okay, I have been trying not to have a pity party for the last 2 weeks, so I made it all about me, lol.  I decided that I would not deal with anything cancer related for a bit and try to wrap my head around the next go round.  Of course, all the FUCKING pink-assed crap on the store shelves did not help a bt!  I needed choco syrup and all Safewy had was the pink topped, ribboned wrap container.  I was muttering about it at the checkstand when the cheery checker had to tell me how important the pink month was because it makes breast cancer more on evryone's mind and helps us bc people by giving money to research.  Sould I tell you what hapened next, or can you all figure it out? lol. I then very nicely told her that while I appreciate all the $$$ to reserach, from a patient's point of view, it would be nice to have som of that $$ for our increased expenses, that bc is hard enough to deal with wthout the added bonus of financial stress.  Poor thing, she gulped

and wished me a nice day and left for a break....

Anyway, here's the scoop.  Went to the onc today, she said that no more chemo, just rads...who hooo.  I see the rad dr. Monday for a consult and she said I could start ASAP.  I see the ob/gyn for the ovaries on Tuesday.  Dr.Onc gave me my script for Tamox, but I am not sure I want to start it until after rads, she left that up to me.  Howver, she thinks I should wait until spirng to yank the ovaries, but my surgeon said he would be fine with me gettingthem out as soon as I am done with rads.  I want to tke the pills for as short a time as possible.

Other than that, I was told no air travel for 5 -6 months to lessen my risk of l'dema, whichsucks because my dh's ex (and my ds's bio-,mom) is going to Germany to see them and the new baby and was planning on giving me a free trip with her.  I am trying totalk her into maybe waiting until spring.....

Okay, now that I am back I will post more, and try and get on facebook asap..

love you all and thanks for your concern, sorry i worried you all...now I hav to go back and catch up on all the goings on here!!!

love, hugs and best wishes, randie

yeahhhhhhhh!  Randie is back!!!

Great news that there is no more chemoooooo! 

We missed you!

Jean

Randie's baaack!  Hi, Randie!!!

Noelle - I hear you about work, work, work.  I had one slow hour this morning and that was it. 

Roxi - Speaking of avatars, yours is great!

I know we've been through this, but for those of you with lumpectomies and rads, did your scar(s) hurt first?  My scars bother me mostly at night and I have rads usually in the late afternoon.  I'm using the lotion at night and Aquaphor on the scars in the morning.

Oh, off to watch the SNL Thursday Update!

Randie, Randie, Randie.  Glad you are BACK.  I will watch with great interest how the ovary-yanking plays out. I was going to have mine plucked/snatched/grabbed this fall but frankly, have run out of year so will probably do it December 2008.  Or maybe I WILL do it this fall, maybe I'll try to synchronize it with your surgery so we can be oopherectomy partners.  Maybe? Maybe?

That sucks about the travel restrictions. But time does fly by, especially when you're having the "fun" of radiation, more surgery, etc.

Also, I noticed that you've been re-staged.  How are you doing with that? My heart skipped a beat when I saw "IIIa" even though

1) I am confident in the power of modern medicine,

2) I am even more confident in the Power of You and the Power of Us to Basically Deal With Whatever Life Sends Our Way.

Randie, I apologize for any stupid thing I have said or will say down the road. Please tell me/us what you need and want from us.  I'm very interested in hearing whatever you want to tell us (I've got to bone up on what your stage means), but I also understand if you're taking the "less is more" approach to info- and feeling-sharing.

Anyway, Randie. I'm giving you a really fierce hug.  Love, Rock.

******

I do love the new avatars. Love them.

I've got a mamm scheduled on January 2nd.  Plan to leave for SA 7-10 days later. 

Randie-Welcome back.  WooHoo on the no more chemo!

Bone pain from the Neulasta starting.  Trying to head it off with ibuprofen & Bendaryl.  Not much nausea this morning.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Hi to all--

Randie, it is so good to hear from you.  We were worried about you--not that you can't take care of yourself, or that you are obligated to keep us informed of each and every event in your recovery, but, ... well, you know.  {{{{{Randie}}}}}

Listen, please ask your surgeon or rad onco for a referral to a (qualified) PT/LE therapist for a lymphedema assessment.  My surgeon gave me one fairly early on, when I complained about continuing swelling and discomfort under my arm where the SNB was done.  There turned out to be nothing wrong at the time (there has been, since then), but the consult with the therapist was oh, so valuable to me.

One thing the therapist did was go through all the risk factors with me, and correct/clarify some misconceptions I'd been given by my surgeon's nurse (e.g., "You can never again lift anything with that arm that weighs more than 5 pounds").  The therapist gave me updated copies of all the position papers from the National Lymphedema Network (http://www.lymphnet.org/), including a paper on air travel that you can get from the NLN website at that link.

The thing is, you might not have to postpone air travel that long.  There are things you can do (that the therapist will teach/show you) to prevent LE from developing during or because of a commercial flight.  I have an LE sleeve and gauntlet to wear, and my therapist taught me how to wrap my arm (and sold me the necessary bandage materials) as an even better preventive...or in case swelling does occur.

A transatlantic flight is a long one, though.  IMHO, it might not matter all that much if you wait 6 months.  You (we) are at risk for LE through our whole lifetime.  What triggers it, and when, isn't known.  So, even if you wait 6 months before you fly overseas, you still ought to take and use precautions, like a sleeve/gauntlet or wrapping.  OTOH, some medical people, like the Harvard BC website I think, flat out don't recommend wearing a sleeve/gauntlet as a preventive for air travel.

Please try to get that referral to a therapist.  Rads will significantly increase your risk of LE, so that's another excuse to get checked out now.  The therapist can (should) take measurements of your at-risk arm, and keep the data in your file to use as a comparison if you ever do have a problem.

There.  I'm off my soapbox now.  Y'all can return to your regularly scheduled programming....or to whatever you've planned for lunch.  It's 11:32 CDT locally, and cold and rainy.

Warm hugs and hot cocoa to all of you!  Here's an article about the value of that cup of hot cocoa:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96041598

otter 

RANDIE!!!!!! Yeay!!! Glad you are back but I can relate to leaving all things cancer for days at a time...

Jen, sorry you are feeling left behind. I am done but still VERY sore, my rads burn got worse after I was done, became raw, weeping skin, (doesn't that sound lovely). I had to go back to the rad onc and she gave me antibiotics and pain meds and soaks and creams......and I went back to work on Thursday but still hurting--AMAZING how much raw skin hurts.  When I worked I just slathered the silvadene cream on and then put on a soft tank under my clothes--so the silvadene acted like skin.  That worked.

YUCK.

Rock, will you still post from SA?

Roxi, don't know if I want to do something cancer-related with you guys, to be honest.  I am thinking as non-cancer as possible like maybe a carnival or spa or the love boat....

Am training my replacement at work and have six more months to work before I retire--I can't wait!

Hope everyone has a great evening.

Love,

Sue

Kristy -- So much I want to say but am about ready to fall off the couch from fatigue so this will be short and I'm afraid I am going to open with something obnoxious.  Well, actually, let me open with:  Oh, that sucks.  More surgery and a longer recovery -- it just SUCKS.  It must feel like one more thing in a year full of one more things.  [Obnoxious part:  Have you gotten a second or third opinion on the surgery? I just got back from dinner with a friend who had endriometrial cancer and had 2 doctors say they couldn't do the hysterectomy through lap or vag.  But then she had a third (younger) doctor say "It's def possible" and voila!  Of course, I'm sure there are many occasions where it is absolutely not possible/advisable, each case is different, etc..  But my friend said in her case, she felt there was a generational bias swaying the recommendation.  Older doctors were less comfortable with it because they didn't have the experience, were accustomed to seeing directly what they were looking at, etc. ]]  

I was told 2-3 weeks after radiation for my ooph. Still haven't decided whether/not to do it this year. I'm not being flip when I say that the idea of going through it with you women is definitely factors into my decision.

Sue -- So very sorry about the skin.  That is just a whole pile of wrong.  And you DO know that there is nothing you could have done to prevent this, right?  I know you know that but I want to make sure you know.  (How large of a surface is involved?  Boy. I wish I could recommend some magic food or something to make those skin cells hurry up and heal.)

I'll def post from SA.  

Jen -- I took a half an Ambien for about a week and it seemed to re-set my clock or something because now I can sleep okay unassisted. 

Kerry? Karin? Eddie? Helloooo?

And Eddie, for some reason I was thinking about you and your husband today. I have no idea why. I'm rooting for you and hope things are going okay.

People, this is an INCOHERENT MESS and I'm sorry about that.  But I am thinking of you!

xo 

They finally recommended this soak that I bought at Walgreens for my fried skin. It seems to work for a little while but then pinches all over agin. Did you have anything like this Sue? 

Kristy, I wish I could provide you some advice but I agree with Rock. Maybe check into a second opinion. I had three opinions on the rads thing. 

Randie, how are you feeling these days? Have you been out and about? 

Rock, is your surgery scheduled for this year? 

Kristy, I had an abdominal hysterectomy when I was, from memory, 34. I had 4 weeks off work, but I probably only needed 3. I had one ovary out. Don't be alarmed at all about an ab procedure; I have a very thin horizontal silver line about 3" long, running along just above the pubic hair (that I used to have). The worst part of the whole deal was constipation. I WISH they had given me metamucil before, during and after ! I'm loving everyone's new pics; I'll have to get taking some, and posting some more. Rock, you crack me up..especially when you are being capital 'I' ironic! You would make a great Australian! Thank you for summing up for us all: The Year of One More Thing. That would be such a cool title for a very funny/teary novel about a group of women who find a breast lump and then......If I was writing it (or RanD, I suspect!) it would be called 'WTF!!! ONE MORE FECKING THING IN A YEAR OF FECKING THINGS!!!'  I felt a bit like that last week, but now my new 'cuts' are healing (they are at the itchy stage), the scales are going down oz by oz (thanks Noelle for the positivity), my new dog has stopped running away from my husband (her other owner) in terror, and the weather here is that balmy warmish late spring stuff. All those things take my mind off my bizarre yellow nails, my ET-ish head and the fact that I AM MOVING HOUSE IN 4 WEEKS AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO!!.. sigh..I'll have to write some lists. That's almost as good as actually doing something. XXX Kerry