Starting Chemo May 2008

Just a quick fly by. I didn't realize that I haven't posted since Sunday. I have stopped by every day but too much going on around here and on my end, to be able to respond. Just wanted you to know that I have been thinking of you all.

Evening ladies! Funny you guys mentioning eye problems. Mine seem to get tired very easily now and get blurry just as easy. I thought it was just me. Hopefully this is also something that we can all get past.

Karin~ I hope everything is ok and you are just busy busy busy :O)

Angels~ its nice to see you post again

Cris~ see!?!?!? told ya it smelt good LOL

Rand~ how ya hanging in there doll?

Not much happening here. Looks like the boys are starting to pull out of whatever knocked them down. Hubs was home from work 3 days and he is one of those who works when sick. He is still a tad run down today but felt good enough to give me a rough time a few times tonight so I now he is getting better. He was explaining to my son tonight who cupid was. His description...... Cupid is a little angel that flys around and shoots people in the bottom with arrows to make you fall in love. And when the arrows get you, you will have a pain in the butt. Ah yes... to be married to a comedian har har.

Happy Valentine's Day ladies!

Cris glad u liked it! As 4 the possible LE, I get a sore arm fairly often, but my surgeoon says it is not LE. It bugs the hell out me. I am always annoyed by the underarm numbness and the "batwing" effect in what I think is the SNB area. 

I am off to bed, if the faux spring weather we are having holds here we should have a busy day tomorrow. 

Love to all. N

Cris~ are you doing daily rub downs on your bad arm? On my bad days I do it once in the morning and once before bedtime. and on good days just once. I get swelling from salt and I'm too afraid not to do the rub downs in fear of having major problems down the road. Have you seen anyone about it yet?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jean~ If you have any questions regarding hearing aids I'd be more than happy to answer what I could. My son has worn them for 5 years now.

Jen, and all,

I wish I could say everything is ok and I'm just busy but I can't . I don't want to talk about what's going on in this thread. There are other eyes besides ours. I will say if I'm silent for awhile, just know that I am still here but just have a hard time focusing on reading and then replying. Thanks to the picture wall I am still enjoying my coffee with you gals in the morning .

Roxi - what an honor.  Seriously.  I don't look at it as playing the cancer card at all.  In fact, this award says to me that you did the exact opposite of using your diagnosis.  In spite of what was going on in your life with your health, you kept on trucking when others might have crawled into a cave.  It says alot about you, your inner strength and your determination to live life as normal as possible...no matter what.  I totally understand where you are coming from but in my opinion...YAY you!!

Happy B-Day Monday Otter!!!!

I can tell when the "subclinical" LE in my at-risk arm is acting up:  my arm feels like it has a toothache.  It's a dull, non-specific ache that's impossible to describe to someone who doesn't understand.  My PT/LE therapist recognized it, though.  She said that even though my arm measurements never did increase above baseline, the dull ache and the ever-so-slight swelling I could see (but not measure) in my forearm and hand were indicative of early-stage LE.  She said it's sometimes called "Stage 0" LE.

My arm aches like that when I do something bad, like over-work it or wash something in too-hot water.  Then I need to wear my compression sleeve and gauntlet for awhile (but not at night).  The swelling and dull ache go away during the night but sometimes reappear by mid-morning the next day.  This past week, I nearly had to resort to wrapping my arm (short-stretch bandages), but it's finally calmed down now.

Another thing that seems to help when my arm aches like that is to do stretching exercises--nothing too strenuous, maybe just 8 or 10 reps of each of 4 exercises my therapist showed me; and rest the arm in between.  The stretching seems to help with the swelling/stiffness I get in my chest wall, along with the arm-toothache.

Happy Valentine's Day to all my May 2008 Valentines (as well as our favorite lurkers)!

otter 

I do have a "veteran" story.

As you know, last Monday I had a regular follow-up with my med onco.  My dh and I got there early (it's a 2-hour drive), so we were wandering around, trying to decide if we should grab a quick lunch before my 11:40 appt.

...when, suddenly, my dh nearly bumped into a guy he knows really well.  He (let's call him, "Bob") and my dh had worked at the same place for many years but both are retired now.  "Bob" and his wife were at the clinic because, it turns out, Bob was scheduled to get his first chemo infusion that afternoon.

He'd had oral chemo before, but his doc decided to switch to i.v. chemo drugs this time.  So, Bob and his wife got there hours early because they weren't sure where to go or how long it would all take or what it would be like.  Bob was pretty worried--he asked me lots of questions: "Was it really hard on you?"; "Did you lose your hair?";  "Did you get really sick?"; "Should I eat something beforehand, or go there with an empty stomach?"; "What if I have to use the ... um, ... rest room?  Will I be able to do that?".

It has been 10 months since I asked those questions, but the concern on his face and in his voice was so familiar.  I was glad I could reassure him that the waiting was worse than the actual chemo; that the infusions themselves were pretty mundane (and the warm blankets were terrific!); that they would give him really good drugs to keep him from getting sick (and if they didn't, he should call right away and ask for them); and, yes, his hair might fall out (depending on the drugs); and he would probably feel awful some days, but he would get through it and it would be okay.

It felt good to be able to help someone first-hand.  I also was reminded how much I depended on y'all, and on my "Taxotere & Cytoxan" group, to get me through.

Hugs...

otter 

Happy Valentine's Day - sorry I'm a little late, but we have been out and about all day.  Let me lick the chocolate off my fingers and then I'll be able to type.  My girl scout troop went to our local nature center to make Valentines for the birds.  Seems like the girls coated everything in sight with peanut butter and bird seed.  Red yarn was used to hang the items from trees.  The local newspaper crew was there and took pictures of the girls and interviewed me.  I might be a celebrity by Monday.  Mary - congratulations on your nomination. I had a similar situation happen.  I received a girl scout volunteer award and the council CEO came to present the award (pin) to me.  Afterwards our local manager made sure to tell me that they had nominated me before the bc stuff started.  They didn't want me to think that they might have done it because of the bc.  It was at the beginning and I guess I was naive.  I didn't even know to think that.  Then I was just disappointed that they even brought it up.

Sue - glad you were able to be there for your family this week. I'm so glad you decided to go to the funeral, hard as it was. We will count the days to retirement with you and will be glad when you can play every day.

Karin -  we understand about not being able to read and post.  I'm available if you ever just need to talk.  When I worked I had the Peanuts cartoon on my door that said "The doctor is in" with Lucy doing the doctoring.  I don't think I made the 5 cents a visit, but my extra chair was used quite a bit.

RanD -how are you doing this weekend?  I hope you are out enjoying a romantic evening with your hubby.

Otter - it warms my heart thinking about you helping someone else with their chemo questions.  Adrienne put it perfectly when she said we have to put the pieces together ourselves.  And that sucks.  I want to help some way, but don't know how or where.  I go for bloodwork and a check up with the med onc next week (can't believe it has been 3 months since my "new" mammo) and maybe I'll check into volunteering.  I feel like I've learned so much that I should be able to share some of it.

Hugs to all xoxoxoxo

Julie

I hope everyone was able to spend some quality time (or chocolate) with their loved ones today.

Kristy, gracie... I'm a 13 birthday too! :O)

Happy Birthday Sweet Otter!

Eddie~ don't stay away too long!



I also feel the need to be the chemo veteran every once in awhile. I have seen a few newbies in there with that terrified look on their face. I have stopped to talk to a few. The last lady I stopped to talk with, it turns out this was her 4th time dealing with ovarian cancer, but first time with a/c. I talked with her a few minutes and moved on. There had been others who came to talk to me in the beginning, that I am grateful for. God put them their for me, and he is putting us in others path to help them now. Best we can do is show the newbies, yes you CAN get thru this!

Squishes to all :O)

Otter - Look what I found just for you. It's a purple Otter cake. Happy birthday!

I know your birthday is tomorrow but I'm posting now in case I don't get on tomorrow.

♫♫♪♪ ♫♫♪♪ ♫♫♪♪♪ ♫♫♪♪!

I hear voices!  It seems to be .... singing, I think.  And, a purple otter cake!

This is all very welcome, because I don't know if, or when, I'll be on-line tomorrow when my birthday actually arrives.  We're going back up to the boat this afternoon and I don't know how long we'll be there.  It's another work trip.  If anyone asks what I got for my birthday, I'l going to have to say "a bottom job."

Stop laughing.

The boat needs to be hauled out of the water, pressure-washed, and re-painted with bottom paint.  It's a huge, messy job, that, fortunately, we can hire people to do.  But we have to be there to drive the boat to the lift, and to see what the bottom looks like below the waterline.

Anyway, thanks much for the good wishes!

Hugs ... with especially strong ones going out to those of you with "special needs"-- like RanD (<<squeeze>>), and Karin and Sue who've had family problems, and Cristine with the aching arm, and everyone whose eyesight is worse since chemo, and those of you who were recently told you would need "follow-up" scans or mammos or US sooner than you'd expected.

otter