Starting Chemo in JAN 2007

hi there gals just popping in to say hello , I am doing great and waiting for my ds and ddil to come over today we are having a belated Christmas . My dds had to work yesterday and Christmas day was my ds's day with his friends .

Caya the weather here has been freaky eh ! its raining today and all the snow is melting ! Sorry to read about your trip , hope your dh is feeling better and your girls made it to their destination .

I had my appointment at princess margaret and  am scheduled to have surgery , i have to wait to see what day as the hospital is so booked . I have the surgery with dr murphy at toronto general . They have to go through my abdomen again , as i will have too much scar tissue for an easier way . The visit was long , but she was very good and sympathized with me , all the surgeries and having both breast and colon . I will be taking some of my holidays at work and then my boss said if need be i could work from home. As for the breasts I am taking that as a keep an eye on the girls . I have an mri on Jan 7th and am still waiting to get an appointment about them . There are more urgent matters at princess margaret , lots more . I can wait on breast reconstruct for another year . Not in the mood for back to back operations again!

Thats my update in a nutshell I am feeling normal and it seems the urgency has diminished .

Hope and trust everyone has a great new year !

I luv yall and will post now and again to let you know i am still here !

Hi Ladies,

Wow I was shocked to see how long it had been since I posted here.I think I felt like I was treading water and just keeping my head above water up until Christmas but am back...almost to regular schedules. Mary, I'm so glad your Christmas Eve turned out nicely, even with the unwanted gift. Caya, the girls must be back now, right? I hope you and DH can take your own trip later to make up for it. Robbin, great to hear from you and that the hair is back in full, long force. Sharon, also great to hear from you and will be thinking of you Jan 7 as you get that MRI. Keep us posted!



My Christmas was fine but exhausting, and wouldn't you know I started coming down with a bad cold the day after. I was thinking I was just tired and having allergies so I didn't' start the ginger tea cure in time, and spent yesterday in bed with full-blown faucet head. Today is slightly better but I have the added condition of the clear liquid diet in prep for tomorrow's day at Spa La Derriere. I'm not anxious, like everyone else I think the prep and cleanout is the worst part. I get to start taking the pills and drinking blast-out juice at 3 pm, woohoo! But I've got green jello and chicken bouillion so I'm good. I've also managed to switch from advil to tylenol for the past week, and followed the low residue diet even on Christmas. I'll let you all know how it comes out. :-)



Looking forward to the New Year and wishing a happy one for all my Ta Ta sisters - Skye

Wow sorry Larry and his son couldn't find any food for Christmas, that's sad.  I hear dog parks are great.  Wish I could have a dog.  Thanks for thinking of Ozzy.  Mark's driving home right now, should be there tomorrow to rescue Ozzy.  We kept saying "poor Ozzy" all week but I think it was the right decision to leave him in the vet rather than the new apartment.  They'll have plenty of time with him for the next 3 months.  Hopefully DS and his fiancee are getting along...nothing like 2 days in the car to drive you to really not like each other.

I got through the last relative get together.  SIL who hasn't spoken to me in a year.  We got along fabulous, acted like nothing ever happened.  I'll just leave it that way.  Not going to be her best friend and not going to hate her. 

Skye, thinking of you today.

Hello dear Ta Tas,

Skye, glad your derriere spa treatment ended well   My DH has one next Monday. He is feeling alot better, the meds are really working,he gets the odd twinge, and hopefully it will continue.  He has to go back to the dr. in about 2 weeks to talk to him about what to do next - stay on the meds, wean off etc.

Mel, yes I agree with Skye, that XMAS dinner story is truly pathetic.  But I think it is typical of men not to check out what would be open for dinner on Christmas, and then go scrounging around looking for something.  Sounds like your dog park is fun.

Sharon, I also saw Dr. Murphy and I know she is tops in her field.  You will be in good hands with her.  I hope everything gets booked for you ASAP. 

I cleaned out my closet today - took me about 3 hours, and I got rid of alot of stuff. - alot of shoes:)   I'll drop off a few bags of stuff at one of the charity donation boxes in the neighbourhood.

The girls come home tomorrow, they've had a wonderful time in Florida.  For the most part they had fantastic weather. I'm glad we were able to arrange it for them at the last minute. Hopefully Allan and I will be able to get away for a restful vacation in the spring, after our busy selling season is over.  I'm not going to book anything, we'll see how it goes.

Any exciting New Year's plans?  We're going out for Chinese with a group of people, then back to one of their homes for dessert and to ring in the New Year.  Wishing good health and happiness for us all... Caya

Ds and his fiancee made the drive back safely to TX.  Ozzy the cat is happily home.  Second son leaves today to go back to his apt for his New Years Eve party and a week of work before school starts.  It snowed here again and I'm debating whether to head out to the gym.  We have a couple of parties we were invited to for tonight. 

I have a patch of eczema on my back.  I've been using the steroid creme from radiation but I think that might be a little old.  Anyone have any cures?  Guess I might have to go to the dr but really need a referral to a dermatologist?  Happy New Year, may it bring us health and happiness, and a better stock market please!

I woke up today with a wicked sore throat and I can feel it in my ears already - out of nowhere. YUCH!! So I'm drinking my concoction of apple cider vinegar, honey, lemon juice and hot water, took extra Vitamin C and 2 extra strength Tylenols.  I hope I can make it out tonight with our friends for Chinese, we'll see.  Skye, I hope you feel better too.

The DDs got home yesterday from Florida and had a great time.  They had lots of pictures and video so it was nice to see.  They bought some really cute clothes at great prices, so we are so glad they were able to go and have a good time.

Jan - I envy you that nice weather.  Like Mary, we woke up to more snow today, icy roads, and cold temps. My BFF and I always say we are ready to retire in Florida right now, when the weather is like this.  And the worst 2 months, Jan. and Feb. are yet to come - OY!

Happy New Year everyone, I echo the words of Mary - health, happiness and a better stock market!!

I've been sick as a dog here since New Year's Eve - incredibly sore throat - migrated to my ears.  I have a raging ear infection, flemmy , throat is still sore - and I had 12 people for dinner here tonight.  I had cooked most of the food before I got sick, and it's Amanda's last night home as we are driving her back to Kingston tomorrow for her last semester at Queen's U. Everybody helped with the serving and clean up etc., but naturally I am exhausted, never mind in pain.  I started meds for the infection, but it will take about 2 days to really kick in and totally eliminate the pain. It's always something.  Not the best way to start the New Year, but it could be worse, right Melia?  OY!!

I was wondering what happened to the post I wrote yesterday, and then I remembered I hit Cntl+W instead of Shift+W and it closed up my internet browser. It's dangerous typing with a head cold. I see it's going around with some of you, too.

We had a nice quiet New Year's Eve watching movies on TCM then switching over to ABC to watch the ball drop. My brother and his wife gave us a bottle of Italian dessert wine for Christmas so we used that to Toast in the new year.

Our flights to and back from SF were pretty much on time. With all the weather delays that some people had I guess we were lucky.

Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping we all have a GREAT year.

Hi Mary - Love the new avatar.  One of these days I'll have to get a new one up too.  My hair has grown so much these past few months.  I think it's true that Herceptin slows the hair growth.  My final infusion was early May 2008, and my hair grew much quicker afterwards.

Yes I am on Macrobid 100 one pill/day to pre-empt any UTIs, - have been on that for about 6 weeks, so far, so good.  But I needed another antibotic for the ear infection - I'm on amoxicillin 1000 mg. - 2x/day - this is double the normal dose, but apparently Tamoxifen affects it, so the dr. upped the dosage.  Oh, the joys, cancer the gift that keeps on giving.

I got on the scale today and nearly died - I am the heaviest I have ever been apart from pregnancy.  All the pity eating over the holidays (wallowing in the I didn't get to go to Aruba, Allan is sick again, I'm so sick of the snow and cold, sore throat/ear infection etc. etc.)  Well I am taking action - I went grocery shopping for green veggies, lean protein etc.  I am really determined to lose it all - for real - 2009 will be the first year in 3 that I have not either had surgery or treatment - I have GOT TO DO THIS!!!

Tina - about Mary's dress - I orginally had suggested a soft silver/grey, but the beading does seem to have a more "goldy" tone - right Mary?  If so, I would still go with the soft gold or nude - but only Mary can really tell.

xo

rescuing us from page 2- please chime in ladies.

xo

caya

so sad about Jett Travolta.

bumping us back up to page 1.

Still sick here, it's a real gradual recovery.  I am going to try to get out to get a few groceries this afternoon as it seems I have been cooped up here for days.

We had painters in over the last couple of days to paint a few rooms and do a few touch ups. Everything looks great now, and best of all I have the cleaning team in today so I left the mess for them to tidy up. 

xo

bumping us up - chime in girls - Viddie, Lynn, we haven't heard from you gals in awhile...

I think I may go see my GP tomorrow.  My sinuses are killing me, I took a Percoset tonight and I still have some lingering pain.

Tina, I hope you are feeling better. 

Rebecca, I know it is distasteful, but I think you should go see the new PS.  Any new stories for us about the Owenmeister... I'm sure we could all use a cute story to lift us out of the winter doldrums and cold...

Hello, everyone, I hope your colds or whatever are getting better by now. It sure seems like they linger on at this time of year.

I'm doing OK, but my incision is still open. I saw the med oncologist yesterday, and he said everything appears to be in remission still. Isn't "remission" a great word to hear? I don't need to see him for another 4 months.

He was a bit puzzled by all that happened since he saw me in September. Since everything looked good then, too. I explained that the surgeon didn't want to "wait and see" on the lump of tissue and that's why I had the earlier than expected Mammogram and the biopsy done in Oct.

Jan, I love my Yoga class. I try to get to it every week. I tried a different one on Friday last week and liked it, too, even though it was a bit different than the one I do on Sundays.

I hope those of you in the Mid-West and Northeast are surviving this cold blast. I'll do a sympathy shiver for you if you think it will help.

Take care and stay warm.

Hi Ladies,

I've been lazily sticking to our email stuff but thought I'd better add a post here.

Mer, your new avatar is lovely.

Caya, I'm glad you got on the antibiotics. Green stuff means bacterial infection so you need it. I'm sick to death of my house-bound status too. It was a treat today just to go to church and then grocery shopping. Enjoy Montreal and I hope your health is up to it!

Debbie the incision thing sounds a little scary, hope your doc is keeping an eye on it.

Jan, I'm in such admiration of your board work and your marathon running. I find I can't do my heavy workouts every day so I'm going to get a tai chi video. But you rule!



DH did get the plumbing fixed, saved us a few hundred bucks I'm sure. He has the bathroom floor covered but not re-tiled and has drywall work yet which I'll be nagging about.



My rant of the day; I cannot get through a church service without someone coming up after and asking me if I'm "cancer-free." Makes me feel like organic meat. I always feel like saying I'm free-range, too. But I answer "as far as I know." I SO want to be past this but wonder if we ever will be.



Otherwise things are hunky-dory! - Skye

Linda - I'm sure it's nothing, but call your ob/gyn.  Also when you get your mammo on Wed., can you get an ultrasound too?  Just another diagnostic tool. You can always discuss having a mastecomy with your onc. and breast surgeon as an option.  Just remember, you're 2 years out now, the most crucial time for recurrence, especially for Her2s.

We're in Montreal, we stopped in Kingston to take Amanda out to dinner. We took her to this quaint restaurant called Chez Piggy, the original owner was Zal Yanofsky of the Loving Spoonful.  Great food, a treat for her.  We drove through some snow to Montreal, but nothing too bad.  So we've already seen one customer this morning, real nice people.  The wife called me many times during chemo and Herceptin to see how I was doing.

gotta go, have a good week.