I think I have a problem
Comments
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So what time is the titless elephant strip taking place, Towhee? You still haven't given us a synopses.
I'll bring some potato skins loaded with bacon, sour cream and guacomole to start us all off, washed down with chilled white Sancerre. Maybe some chocolate truffles to nibble with the wine would work also. Annie we're ready to party again tonight!!!!!
femme
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AnneW, I'll just have to toss that steamed broccoli in a pan with a little olive oil and garlic!
Annie, so glad you and DH will be spending Christmas with your girls in Corsica, where I'm sure the feasting will be divine...
Hugs,
Ann
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It's late, but isn't this a slumber party?
More chocolate coming girls...
My famous chocolate truffle torte...chocolate sponge cake rolled up like a jellyroll, but instead of jelly a thick filling of marzipan, sliced, each slice dipped in Amaretto then used to line a springform pan bottom and sides, and the center filled with silky ganache.
Femme, the titless elephant dance is a trade secret, but I can tell you it involves a small mammalian assistant, piano wire, nostril tassles, and trunk-agra.
On my way in my cute li'l bear jammies! Save some of that goose with vodka stuffing for me! Will there be movie reruns for latecomers? The titles you chose sound interesting.
Judie
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Oh Annie, I knew I loved ya! A direct descendant to the Havarti Dynasty?!? What bliss!
mmmm.....
Thinking of you, dear sister.
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I'm with AnnNYC on the garlic and olive oil broccoli. That's how I do it.
But for the party, I will bring my favorite white wine, Soave, to drink (just found it again...I think Pinot Grigiot has taken over the inexpensive dry white wine market). And for snacks, soft ceddar cheese with horseradish to spread on rosemary crackers. Triple creme brie on fresh pears or apples. Unless we're in need of hot hors d'oevres, and in that case I'll make Chinese dumplings, vegetable or pork. They're my latest culinary attempt that got good raves from the family.
Sorry I missed last night's soiree. It was my turn to clean up after dinner, and unfortunately when this particular brother cooks, he uses almost every pot and pan in the house. I felt like Cinderella.
Annie, here's to MUCH better news at M D Anderson.
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Whew, just finished cleaning up after the slumber party. Wine glasses and cracker crumbs everywhere. We really need to stop fighting with feather pillows -- I even had goose down in the AC filter!
Fellow Camelephants, I have a question. Again. My oncologist has ordered X-rays of the areas that showed up on the CT/PET scan. Why would he do that? Is it to determine if they're blastic or lytic? Would that make a difference in treatment? Also, he's put me on Zometa. Is that a good or a bad thing? What can I expect?
Thanks and love to all,
Annie Camel Down
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Annie,
I'm sorry, I can't answer your question but I'll come over and clean up all the camel feathers.
S.
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I always seem to log in soon after you ask questions I can't answer. It must be magnetic detraction or something. Someone will know.
Just wanted to thank you for the party. The hangover is getting better. The emergency room doctor took care of the allergic reaction to feathers in my trunk and the anxiety attack suffered during my titless elephant dance when I thought I was a camel and tried to hump....well, you remember. I don't need to go into it.
It was all worth it, though. Cheese, wine, broccoli, gourmet entrees, chocolate, jammies, movies, entertainment. Your friends are something else! I lost count...too pachy-ed in the room. They sure do love you!
Judie
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Oh Judie, you made me laugh out loud yet again! We LOVED your dance -- perfect for our group -- it put everything in perfect perspective. What a wonderful friend you are.
Love to all,
Annie Zeloda Camel
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Don't know why your onc ordered the additional x-rays. In talking with him, did he question whether or not they were cancerous lesions? Could they be artifacts?
As far as zometa is concerned, for most it is a good drug. Can cause some flu-like sypmtoms when first administered, but make sure they administer it very slowly the first time. I was lucky and never had any side effects. However, I was not so lucky and ended up with bisphosphonate related osteo-necrosis of the jaw (BONJ). Something that not many people get from taking bisphophonates, but oh lucky me. Don't even go down that road. Just make sure that, before you take zometa for the first time, you get any needed dental work done. Then just be diligent about keeping teeth flossed and use a soft toothbrush. Basically you want to stay away from any dental trauma.
Sorry I missed the party. Been a bit out of sorts, but would love to join next time
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Oh, hell. I meant to get out the vacuum cleaner, but damn that hangover. Who brought the tequila?? I swore I'd never do shooters again, but how could I resist, once you got started? That was a fun game! Any time one of us swore against bc, we had to take a shot.
Good thing I'm not getting liver functions any time soon!
I can't second guess why they're getting xrays. But since they are, I'd like to invite you to stand on top of my house this Christmas to light up the path for Santa...
Big hugs,
Anne
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I, too, am puzzled about the need for additional info. The areas on my pelvis and lumbar spine (that turned out to be benign) were more easily assessed as far as whether they were blastic or sclerotic (which look the same) or lytic - by CT. Perhaps it's to localize more readily for a biopsy? Maybe the radiologist just wanted another view overlay - soft tissue is what a PET/CT does best. Information is power - and you've been getting inadequate information too often, here. Maybe this signals a turn around!
Lisa <---who will be getting 2 MRIs, a CT scan and a PET/CT ALL within 36 hours come Dec.
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Hi Anne,
just loged in and am trying to catch up. i just came home today from finding out that my cancer is the same cancer and it just grow right through my chemo and radiation. it is now in my upper chest lymph ,and my pet/ct should a hot spot in my liver. my team of dr's won't touch me here they say i need to go to john hopkins at this point for. i love your spirit, and how positive you seem. i hope all goes weell and you beat this. my team here said that they are not calling me terminal yet. most of my questions are all be deferred till i get to john hopkins. this night brought 2 bottle of wine a nice steak and mushrooms. keep your head high. my prayers are with you.
frogger
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Dear Frogger and everyone else,
What a sorry bunch we are; good thing we can occasionally let our hair down and forget we're sick. The blasted Zometa made me very, very sick -- I had a high fever during the night, and felt totally dehydrated even though I kept drinking and drinking. I also feel like I've got a bad sinus infection. I've not been able to get out of bed today yet, and was so hoping to go to the movies. Maybe next Saturday?
As far as the X-rays go, I think it's to make sure these lesions are mets and not something else. They think it's odd that multiple areas have sprung up within four weeks, and are wondering if maybe they were there all along, but the PET scan alone wasn't sensitive enough to pick up on them. With my luck so far, I'm not holding out much hope.
Wow, this stuff has really thrown me for a loop! I can't WAIT to be with my daughters over Christmas -- it's going to be so nice to snuggle all the babies again and maybe feel somewhat normal for a while.
Love,
Annie
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Dear Annie,
You have truly hit on one of the important guides in making this journey (called life.) The trick is to snuggle the babies while remembering to eat your ice cream when it is on your plate.
I am sorry the Zometa is making you feel so sick. I am sorry you are going through all this shit. i want you to know that we are all here around you. We are ready to party and/or listen. Life throws crazy curve balls and one often loses the inning while still winning the ball game. Always remember what Winston Churchill said, "Never, never, never give up." Not to mention that Franklin Roosevelt said, "When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
I know this is all discouraging but at the risk of sounding trite, it is always darkest before the dawn.
Annie, Christmas in Corsica is coming up and you will get better . I really believe it.
Love,
femme
PS Towhee - that "titless elephant striptease" as you describe it...are you some sort of pervert or something!!! Actually I'm both attracted and repulsed by your description. Ah, we're all just wonderful playful nuts. Annie, I'll even learn Towhee's titless striptease to distract you...signed femme
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dear annie ,
you have a great spirit. your wine and chees parties are great. tonight the kids are gone and i am going to go out with friend and pretend i am not sick, maybe i'll drink a shot in honor of you lovely lads that seem to a wealth of knowledge. i admire each and every one of you.
frogger
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Dear Annie, I am just popping in to have a bite of Havarti on a cracker, and sending my love.
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Sending you love along with all the other elephants. I have never posted or been by...my heart is with you....
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Dear Annie - I wish that it could have been a real, rather than a virtual, girls night out.
We all need an opportunity to just totally not be anything but relaxed and having fun, to not worry about what tomorrow will bring.
So, when are you leaving, and you are going to send lots of pix, right?
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Dear Annie,
I have just returned from vacation and read your news. All I can say is @##$%^&!!!!
{{{{Hugs}}}}
Mary Jo
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Annie of the Camel Tribe
I hate, hate this frickin' disease.
We will not allow this thing to diminish you.
As my sis says, "I'm handing out lollipops and ass whippin's, and I'm all out of lollipops"
Pam
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annie hold up hope we are all there with you holding up the hope
we are all in this journey together, at least we have the comfort of knowing we can come here and bare our souls you are very loved here xoxoxox have fun snuggling with your daughters that is what has gotten me thru all of this - my 2 amazing daughters and all our snuggling
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Annie,Just wish you to know I think of you and yours. I hope you have a pleasant Thanksgiving and that your taste buds are working.Tender
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Hi all,
A really strange thing happened to me yesterday. I'm sure you'll all think I'm nuts or delusional, but I'll tell you anyway. A few days ago, DH bought and assembled a new dresser for one of the bedrooms. Last night I was emptying underwear from the old to put into the new when I found one page from a letter I apparently wrote my parents in 1980. I was living in West Africa at the time, deep in the bush, and old fashioned snail mail was our only means of communication. We didn't even have a phone! Once, I remember, it stormed so hard the galvanized tin roof on our house shot straight up from the supporting walls and took off into the night, leaving my husband and me drenched in bed, at the mercy of the pounding tropical rain. But I digress.
To get back on track, I've mentioned several times on these boards that my dad was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer, but survived nearly 18 years to tell about it. This letter was written the year he went into remission. I had apparently had news about a "second bone scan" that showed "significant improvement in the lesions," and am promising to quit smoking to congratulate him for doing so well.
The mystery is how that letter ended up in the bottom of my underwear drawer in Laredo 28 years later. And why that specific page? Like I said, I was in West Africa, and my parents had returned from Vietnam where they were both serving when he was diagnosed. Where was the letter all those years? And why did it turn up now?
Life is so strange and mysterious sometimes.
Off to teach.
Love to all,
Annie of the Always Voracious Tastebuds
Edited to change "the year he became ill" to "the year he went into remission." Obviously I didn't congratulate him on getting better when he'd just been diagnosed. I don't know why I made that mistake.
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I don't think that is crazy at all, Annie!
I am a firm believer of "happenings" such as that. I wouldn't know what else to call them. The day my mom was being buried after her brief but hellacious battle with Leukemia, I was getting ready for the funeral.
There is a hand-made wooden cross in our family that has hundreds of tiny little pieces, and it is connected to some story of a long-ago relative I never met. My mom (for lack of a better term) freakin' loved the cross after she inherited it from her aunt. The bare-bones version of the story was something to do with how this relative LOVED roses, couldn't find the cross one day (I guess he was a priest, but that isn't important to the story). He opened a linen closet and was greeted by the cross and the over-bearing smell of roses.
I probably screwed the story up, but it doesn't matter, I don't have my mom or dad to correct me!Anyway, on that day of the funeral, I was drying my hair and the tears off of my face. I suddenly looked all the way across the room, and the cross was swinging violently back and forth. It was very rhythmic.
It swung so strongly I even had time to go and get my Dad and Grandma so they could see. We all just stood there and watched it swing for several minutes.
I have no idea how long that cross swung back and forth, but once we acknowledged that Mom was there in the room, it stopped.
Heck, the other wild story about my Mom was this: two days before she died, I was home from college (I was home constantly, because I hated not being with her when I knew she was dying). It was in the middle of the night, and everyone in the house was asleep but me.
I went downstairs for a drink, and was struck by a vision I will never forget.
My mom was sleeping on a hospital bed in the living room. All the lights in the room were off, but there was a BLAZING white light on only MY MOTHER.
It wasn't moonlight-the drapes were drawn shut.
It wasn't the tv. That was turned off.I stood there, transfixed. The next day, I told her about it. She looked at me and said, "Did He say anything?"
I am breathless and shaking just remembering this....
I said, "Who, Mom?"
She said, "God. Did He say anything?"
After that, she said something about how I interrupted what He was doing. I believe her.
Nope, Annie. I don't think that is one bit crazy.
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Dear Annie,
Your story is quite amazing. I see poetry and the generational overlapping of love, family history and a long life ahead of you. It is indeed eery that you found a letter telling of your father's remission from cancer after he had stage 4 prostate cancer. Your love and sacrifice in your vow to stop smoking speaks of your gratitude and love for him. And now the baton has been passed. You are the one battling cancer and have been reminded of your heritage; the heritage of getting cancer but most importantly, the heritage of conquering cancer and going on to live a long life.
"Why did that letter turn up,?" you ask. No one can answer that question. Maybe in some sort of mystical way, the letter was discovered to remind you that you are part of a lineage that has fought this battle successfully in the past.
Life is an amazing journey full of poetry along with laughter and tears. That letter is important for you to remember when you get discouraged... ( And I do hope the new dresser is lovely).
femme
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Wow. I immediately thought something similar to what Femme said: many, many years ahead, just as your father had.
(I'll bet he had Always Voracious Tastebuds, too!)
Love, Ann
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Hi all,
As I've noted before, I'll have nothing more to do with the BS. It seems every time he touches me, my disease progresses! However, about ten days ago his office left a message on my voicemail saying he wanted me back for a "follow-up." I'd already removed the sutures myself, was by then off protocol on the clinical trial, and felt no reason for any kind of follow up. I therefore did not respond. I thought I'd heard the last of him.
However, his office then went ahead and simply scheduled me for this morning, left yet another message informing me of that, and asked me to get back to them to confirm. I did not respond. Now, I thought, I've definitely heard the last of him.
This morning the office tried to get me again, using a different number so I wouldn't recognize them on caller ID. I was suspicious, though, and didn't pick up. A very annoyed nurse reminded me on voicemail that I had missed an appointment fifteen minutes earlier, and demanded I get back to them. I did not respond. I was positive they'd get the message.
The nurse then called DH's cell phone. He picked up and she complained she'd been trying to get me for over ten days, but that I never returned her calls. He told her I was unavailable.
"What do I tell the doctor?" the nurse wailed. "What on earth do I tell the doctor?"
"Exactly what I just told you. That she's unavailable," DH responded. Dead silence on the other end of the line. He gently hung up.
Why do they keep calling? What do they want from me? I don't get it. I want him as far away from me as I can get him, but I'm also worried he'll tell the other doctors to drop me. What can I do to make this stop? I'm sure the next step will be the BS calling DH directly. Yet, wouldn't you think he'd want to get as far away from me as I want to get from him?
Love,
Annie Unavailable Camel Bones
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Dear Unavailable Annie Camel Bones,
Do you have another BS caring for you, or an appointment for another BS in the near future? It is important to get someone on board asap. You will be going to Anderson soon, right?
Your BS in doing what is called in medical parlance - CYA medicine. CYA = cover your ass. In order for doctors to get and renew malpractice insurance they must take Risk Management courses. Your BS in obviously not happy with his performance regarding your case. I am sure that he is frightened that you might sue him or have his treatment of you reviewed by the Department of Health, Doctor Misconduct Division of your state. He would be in a better position if he was able to say that you stopped treatment, were a "non-compliant patient." and did not honor your appointments with him. I'm not saying that you are going to report him or sue him, but it would be best for your health and for your position regarding this doctor, to be honest with his office. You probably shouldn't say much more than that you are very dissatisfied with the care that you got there and have engaged another doctor. But Annie, for your best health interests YOU MUST GET ANOTHER DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!!!
How are you feeling? Christmas in Corsica is coming soon. I still send you an offer for us to hook up in Paris. I will be there till the 12th of January.
femme
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Dear Femme,
I'm actually DONE with Gary, and don't understand why he wants me back again. I've had my post-surgery consults, and am now undergoing radiation with one oncologist, and taking Xeloda and Zometa under the supervision of yet another. So I'm currently under the care of two cancer specialists while waiting for a call-back from Valero at MD Anderson. Why would I need to see a surgeon again since no surgery is scheduled? He is the PI for the clinical trial in which I participated, but I'm now off that trial. This is what has me so puzzled.
Let's talk about this again. I'm going to have to spend a night in Paris in early January because of a problem with connecting flights (I think it's the 4th to the 5th), so maybe we can swing drinks and/or dinner that evening? Wouldn't that be neat?
Love,
Annie
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