Starting Chemo May 2008

So, here we are!

On Tuesday night my flight was crazy delayed as many of you know. 

I packed and I had Herceptin, and on my way to the airport was told my flight was cancelled and got onto a later flight.  I got into JFK at 11ish and took a cab( at jeanne's insistence) and met her at a bar near where she lives and where I was staying... we talked from midnight until 3 am... despite her apologies about the bar being smelly and her fave bartender not being there to give us cheap drinks we had a lot of fun. It really was like a live episode of The Road to Hell thread.. and anyone without BC would have been bored out of their minds... but we bitched and moaned and compared notes about everything from diagnosis nightmares( Happy Anniversary everyone!) ( don't forget, I was not on this thread from the beginning so I did not know about Rock's diagnosis mess) to hot flashes to sore fingers. It was very cathartic, but we were catatonic with exhaustion and finally did the grown up thing and went home at 3am. I bought groceries( my friend's apartment is always clean and has no food!) and went home and read my self to sleep.

I slept most of Wednesday and hung out with my best friend and had a late dinner with other friends. Rock had her dentist appt and found out about the need for the crown. That is when we realised trying to both be available to be with Karin on Thursday was not going to work. We were bummed.

On Thursday we planned to try and get together, but it took until Midnight for both of us to be free again. We met at another bar, talked until that place shut down and then moved to another. This time we talked more about family and how our years unfolded with regards to cancer. We cried together when Rock thanked me for coming and how great it was to be with someone who has been through this whole mess. My foob was hurting my scar, and realised I could just reach into my bra and take the damn thing out! If I could not do that in front of you all then who else??We talked until 4 am and decided since we both has full days on Friday we better stop. 

Miss Jeanne is amazing to watch.She has the most hilarious rubber face! Every joke, every story has a mood and an expression that shoots out of her... she really talks like she writes to us on here! She is warm and beautiful and we are each very lucky to have her here. You may not realise, but it is because of her writing on the Road to hell thread that made me pop in to the May thread to see what was up with you guys.... and without her I would not have found many of you.

I am so glad I decided to make the last minute trip to New York and I wish i could have brought all of you with me. Karin, I have loved chatting with you this week, and am truly sorry we could not work things out. 

 Soon ladies... soon. 

Love to all. Kristy glad u are home and ok... RanD, we talked about u in New York... we wonder and we worry.. 

xoxN

Good morning, everyone!  Kristy, I hope you're taking it very easy and letting others baby you.  No baking, you hear??

I'm loving the hair in our avatars and other pix.  (Don't know what's up with Otter's - will have to check out the other thread.)  I think it's cool that we all have the same basic hair at this point - same noncolor, same "style."  (Though just to be contrary, my usually wavy hair is still pretty straight.  I thought it was just too short and fine to wave, until I saw Karin's.)

Hugs!!!

<-----   LOOK!

Karin, your Grandson is a CUTIE FACE. AN ENORMOUS CUTIE FACE!

(Have 2 more pages to read.)

Jackie - Glad you found some peace of mind.

Noelle - Thanks for posting the pics. Love um. Thanks to the pics and details you posted I almost feel like I was there with you anyway.

Kristy - Glad you are feeling better then you expected. Hope those air bubbles disappear soon and that you do find some alone time.

Rock and Noelle, what a wonderful experience you both had. I wish we could have all been there with you but just reading about your time together and seeing the great pictures will have to do. One day, we will all meet. Rock, glad your first hop of your travels is going smoothly. When will they fix your tooth? I sure hope it last for you.

Karin, your hair looks great, like mine, straight, not wavy like I had before. 

Kristy, glad your better pretty good. What's the standard recovery? 2-3 weeks?

Hi to everyone else. Thinking about you. 

Karin, I'm looking again at that adorable picture of your grandson, and then at your new avatar - and I swear, you both have the same beautiful eyes.

Linda

Karin~ Love the new av! My hair is still coming in straight which is bizarre for me. I normally have very curly hair. I wonder if it has anything to do with the herceptin. And I totally understand about the job situation. My job is running out of work fast and so is my hubby's. Best we can do is hold on tight and pray hard.

Rock~ I hope you have a very safe and wonderful trip!

Not much to report here lately. Eyebrows are starting to thin out .... Hopefully they won't all fall out at once like the last time. Have treatment on thursday.... is it september yet?

Noelle, I need to resurrect your advice about curly hair, I think.  I know if I blow mine dry and brush it, it ends up nothing but FUZZ.  So I don't do that--I blot it dry and "comb" it with my fingers.  Can you post those links about curly hair again?

Karin, you look terrific!  I am so sorry to hear about your dh's job situation.  I hope everybody can hang on until the economy comes back out of this ditch it's in.  In the meantime, though, it must be tough.  If you have to give up your internet connection, does that mean you'll have to give up the BCO boards, too?  Oh, noooooo!!!

Rock, where'd you get that accent?  Good to hear from you!  That was fun to hear from Noelle about your NYC adventures.  How long will you be in England, before you move on to your destination?

Linda, Sable, Roxi--isn't it interesting, how our hair all looks similar at that early stage of growth?  Same color, same waves, ... I was really down about mine yesterday, but my dh has been trying to cheer me up about it.  After all, it is growing, so it will be different next month, too. 

I need to go.  Someone reported one of my posts, and I can't figure out why.  I don't even know which post it was.  And, my dh is getting grumpy because I am still here on my laptop (it's only 10:10, for pete's sake!) and he's in bed already.

G'night, everybody!

otter 

Morning Ladies!

 Otter-I can't imagine why anyone would want to report any of your posts!  You have been so helpful to so many, myself included.

I know all too much about the cutting back on the budget.  Just finished filling out the application for the Patient Advocate Program to help with all the co-pays that have been building up.  DH hasn't worked in a couple of years (trying to get him to apply for his disability-he's slow about it), so my income in our only income right now.  I get just under $1200.00 a month from my long term disability and $750 of that goes to COBRA.  What savings we had sustained us, barely, until last month Doesn't leave much to pay bills and buy food/gas/meds with.  Luckily, I live in an old farm house, rent is cheap and landlord is very understanding-we pay as we can.  (Been here for almost 13 years)  Applied for food stamps, but my medical expenses could not be counted because I get my disability from a private insurance co. and not the government--so we qualified for a whopping $14 a month!  Thank goodness for Angelfood Ministries, (and my MIL, who helps out as she can)  Sorry this turned out so long, but it feels good to get finally share.   Hopefully, I will be back to work full time by the end of Feb/first of March, then life will get somewhat back (financially) to normal.

Don't think that I could ever give up my internet connection, because then I would loose all of you and then I'd be.....lost.  You all are now a part of my family and I truly appreciate each and every one of you.  OK, enough sappy, teary eyed talk-I have to get off my butt and get ready to go to rads.  Today is "see the doc" day.

Karin and Gracie - my thoughts are with you both.  I can certainly relate and hope that things turn around for you quickly.  This truly sucks.  It makes me think of a quote I saw just this morning

"Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." -Arnold Schwarzenegger

Jen and Karin - My eyelashes and eyebrows are also thinning.  I figured since they didn't at 3 months, like others had experienced, that it wouldn't happen to me.  NOT.  More like 4 1/2 months - 5 months.  I'm hoping they don't completely go....it is what it is.

Rock - very good to see you post.  Know that we are all thinking of you as you start your journey.

Morning girls,

Karin it made me sad to read your post and what you have to deal with your dh losing his job.Haven't you been thru enough! Hope you don't have to scarafice the internet as we would miss you...this economy sucks right now!  It's finds a way to affect everyone no matter who you are.  We have the misfortune of being in the new car industry and it's sucking wind right now might have to rethink our long term plan! Karin just send us your internet bill and we'll find a way to keep you up and running!  Gracie i hope things get easier for you in the New Year and it's not such a struggle!

How come some of you are having your eyebrows thin out...is this from the herceptin ?  My eyebrows are having a real struggle with returning from the chemo, eyelashes had no problem though.My eyes are still bugging me though they seem to have a hard time focusing some days.....and of course it couldn't be the time on the computer messing them up ....?

 Rock have a safe flight to England....go to one of those english pubs and have a mug for us!

Otter I can't imagine why you would be reported...thats crazy !  Let us know how that plays out.

Hope everyone else has a great day.

Otter - Did you find anything out about the reported post?

Kerry - Don't worry I haven't lost hope. I'm just taking it one day at a time.

Gracie - Thank God for MILs. My MIL got us through the rough winter months when we were just starting out as a family. One winter he got laid off and she helped us out. During the spring when we were back on our feet we tried to pay her back but she wouldn't take it. We got her though. For Mother's day we bought her a really nice recliner that she had been wanting. She didn't refuse that, lol.

Kristy - How did your post-op appointment go? Did they take out the staples?

Adrienne - Hopefully you will just experience thinning and not total loss.

Rock - I don't think I can sell the belt. DH will need to tighten it to hold his pants up because he will lose weight. Buying junk food and snacks have already gotten cut back, LOL

Angel/Noelle - Thanks but internet would be last to go and if so I do have friends with connections. Would just have to visit more so I could use their computer.

Now for my biggest challenge, waking up during the work week with another person to fit into our morning routine. In 29 years of marriage I have always woke up without him (except on weekends). He has always left during the wee hours of the morning. This is going to take some getting use to. We ran into a bathroom problem this morning. Uuhhhmmm? Am I supposed to wake up a bit earlier and be the dutiful wife and make DH breakfast before he leaves?

Lots going on here!!! I started a post last night but it went "poof" into cyber-wherever and I was just too dog.ass.tired. to try again.  Otter, I can''t imagine anyone reporting a post of yours, it's gotta be in error.   Adrienne, I noticed you abbreviated dog.ass.tired. as DAT.  That's an old air traffic control expression--it means "dead ass tie."

Gotta go eat a wonderful-smelling dinner that my hubby made--more later or tomorrow--love you all!

Sue

Kristy, with the way you cook, I think I'll be over for dinner tomorrow night.  I'll pick up some groceries on the way. 

How many of you had staples holding your incision together?  I just can't imagine what that would look like.  (No thanks, don't send me any pics or post any web links.  I really don't want to know.)  My mast incision was a nice, straight line all covered with a tight row of little steri-strips.  The sutures were all buried (subcuticular, I think they're called), and they dissolved over time.  But, STAPLES???

The reporting of my post yesterday appears to have been some kind of strategy to get the moderators' attention.  One of the newer BCO members wanted to ask the mods about something but couldn't get them to respond ... so she reported one of my posts.  She figured they would contact her to find out why she had reported the post, and then she could ask them the question she had been wondering about.  Apparently, her question had nothing to do with my post.  This was kind of like calling the police and saying that your neighbor's kid broke your window when he really didn't do it; but you wanted to talk to the cops about something else and this was a good way to get them to come out to your house.  <sigh>  I can't quite follow the logic, but apparently it was no big deal after all. 

Angels, I'm not getting Herceptin but my brows keep thinning every few months.  At least they're not falling out all at once anymore.  But, they are patchy and have very little color; so I'm keeping up with the brow pencil and powder when I decide to care.  It's working out okay.

I took my car to the mechanic today for a 90,000 mile maintence checkup.  There was nothing wrong, but it cost me $610.00 anyway, just to do all the little stuff--like replace the antifreeze and the air filter, and change the oil and the brake fluid, and check the tires and the windshield wipers, etc.  Normally, my dh does most of those things; but another shop had messed some things up last spring, so we decided to have it all done "professionally" this time.  The labor component of that bill was $389.  They had the car for 4 hours, counting the lunch hour.  Somebody seems to be doing okay in this failing economy....  (My apologies to any mechanics in the audience.)

Oh, and as if the day wasn't stinky enough already, I got stopped by the police on the way home for almost running a red light (it was yellow, but the timing was too close).  You aren't gonna believe this, but that was the first time I've ever been pulled over or stopped by the police for anything.  Ever.  No tickets, no warnings, not even any driver's license checks.  So, when I saw the blue lights flashing, I assumed they were on an emergency call and would go around me.  But when I pulled over, the police car pulled over too.  (Curse words spoken under my breath, as I dig around for my license and insurance card...)

It was a lady cop, and she was matter-of-fact but nice enough.  She asked why I had run the light, so I explained that I couldn't even see it until I got right up to the intersection because of some tall trucks ahead of me; and by then it had turned yellow.  I figured if I stopped too suddenly, I would probably get rear-ended, especially during rush hour (which it was).  She gave me a "verbal warning" to be more careful because the traffic on that highway was really dangerous.  (No kidding!)

It wasn't until I was driving away that I realized the picture she was looking at on my driver's license was not me.  I have very short, very curly, mixed brown/gray hair and no eyebrows.  That person in the DL photo has straight, chin-length, medium-brown hair and definitely has eyebrows and eyelashes.  But, the police lady never asked.

My dh fixed me a whisky 'n seven when I got home.  I haven't had one of those in about 30 years.  It tasted very good, under the circumstances.

otter