Starting Chemo February 2009?

gcpommom - hugs and a prayer

Denali - omg that snake is huge.   *my kids love looking for snakes.. they put them in buckets and bring them inside.. uugh.

nice shirt Jamieh

Judy~ {{{{Hugs}}}}

I'm going to go on the dreaded Femara after my chemos are finished.

omg  - maybe i won't have side effects because i am special.

i'll have to take up painting again, holding the paintbrush with my teeth.

I was advised to take 1500 mg of calcium and 2000 mg of vitamin D3.  (important that it is D3)

Bev

ouch

no smiley face tonite,  my extremities are killing me and i haven't a clue what to fix for dinner tomorrow.   however, it is garage sale season and tomorrow should be awesome.. that's about all i'm good for.  I did a bit of yardwork in slo mo, rearranged my son's room... he's such a dear, really coming into himself after a fairly difficult childhood -

i'll share a bit to take our minds off of BC.   I  think he's my little genius.. so very clever, so funny, he has a joke memorized for every occasion.  i'm glad he's happy.  it just kills ya when your kids are hurting.  he burned his palms severely as a baby.. surgeries and a long long hospital stay... then tummy complications thruout the years from all the meds.  here's a pic to tug your heartstrings...

 and an after pic to share a smile.

Apple,

Thanks for sharing about your son...looks like he is a great kid!!  Hope you can get out and enjoy a few garage sales this weekend!

Oh, apple, poor baby and poor you!
 

It looks as if he's come through with his sense of humor intact, a trait I suspect he inherited from his mother.

Apple your son is a cutie  

I had to go to the oncologist appt. today and I actually had a good visit.  I think I am going to join a trial for biosphates (sp) which I didn't think that I was eligible for but I am.  The best part about the trial is that I will get a drug no matter which arm I am on.  The bad part is I have to have a bone scan again and a bunch of testing but anything to lower my risk of reoccurance I am for.  I was also able to schedule a bunch of appt.s for days that I was already at the hospital which just thrilled me to pieces.  The ride 1 hour each way just makes it a drag to go up there for a 15 min. appt.  so I was even able to get 4 in one day   The receptionist thought I was hilarious because I was so excited about it. 

The only bad part about my visit was I noticed that my heart is racing again and sure enough my pulse was 122 after sitting in the waiting room for 15 min.   So I am either anemic or my RBC are in the can again.  I also found out that my effraction rate was 46 on my last echo so I have to go back because my pulse rate was high and the cardiologist thinks the pulse rate caused it.  Grrr... at least it doesn't require an injection.  Hopefully it will be back up and better. 

We are celebrating my baby boys birthday tomorrow and it is thrilling to watch how excited he is about it.  Even though he is only 4 he seems so much older . 

Oh Webbie how are you doing ??  Check in when you can.....

Apple Great pictures. I see him as a protector of the younger sibs (oh, my brain isn't fast today--you do have younger ones, right)...just what I wanted when I was little, but I was the oldest in a family of all girls.  There was a heart-warming "Story Corps" piece on NPR yesterday from an older man in Georgia. remembering how his older brother, Fred" came to his rescue when the father of a friend was ready to "whup" him over an accidental chidhood mishap.  Your "Trouble " looks like a fine young man!

Jamieh, Michelle-I'm in the Avastin tial, but I'm pretty sure I'm in Arm A--getting a placebo.  If so, do you think I can try for be bioshophates trial, or do you have to wait to start a new trial???  I'm TN, so am hoping to find something else if Avastin doesn't work out.  I'll try to remember to ask next week

Bethie. Great to hear last tx is on the horizon.  Will you be doing rads?  I cant remember. DONT forget, if you get to Branson later on, let me know!!!  My younger son and his family are talking about Silver Dollar City on June 20 and I'm hoping to make it.  NP told me yesterday to start taking iron for the low hemoglobin.  Not sure I could keep up with everyone the way I'm huffing and puffing right now.

I'm going to try to go through here and do a "roll call" of Furies.  I see several that have gotten quiet. Do you think some of us have burned out?  Is it we're just tired and maybe read but don't post?  I can understand that.  Hopefully we haven't lost our Fury Spirit...I'm concerned about Webbie and Mikita, and samedaynurseJan among others. 

Denali  That snake would have had the run of my entire house as I would have been in Texas and still runnin.'  Even after years in law enforcement and dealing with some faily bad actors, I think the scaredst I ever was was trying to help an officer get a snake, (which had crawled up his leg as we were out in a field incident,) out of his uniform pants. The snake and the officer were fine, but I peed my pants.  

Take care==Helen  

I submit my paperwork on Monday for the trail.  Michele did you have to have a bone scan first ??  I read that I have to have a bone scan and I am not happy about that because of the hours that I have to spend up the hospital   Oh well maybe I can link it with another appt..  That would make me happy.  I'll just add that to my list of growing things I got to get done.  My kidney has been reminding me that it's not happy so I sure hope that it holds up thru my last chemo. 

Grace4me,

Thanks so much for the update and encouraging news.  Especially since I am getting ready to go into my "chemo hole" for the next two days.  I am excited though, only 6 more weekly treatments.  I know you had lots of SE's while you did chemo, are they starting to go away?  Thanks for the hope!

Helen,  I'll definitely consider it when if/when I get to Branson. We'd be landing in Springfield anyway.  My sisters and I are thinking about a trip there in September, but I first have to look to see when the Osmonds are playing at their theatre there.  I've been following them since I was 6!!!  Have you seen any of their shows or others in Branson?  Hope to meet you soon!

I start rads about mid June roughly 3 weeks after last chemo!! Thanks for asking

Well, I am having my 'crash' day, soooo tired and achy.  I did manage to do one load of laundry and make dinner, which is simmering on the stove right now.  Slept over 11 hours last night, and still tired. 

Of course, 2 days of going to garage sales could be part of the problem, eh?  Oh well, I like to go to them, and it is nice to spend extra time with my DD.

Kerry:  it's gonna be one sloooow race!  Hope you are enjoying your weekend away!

Jaimie:  I've been having the racing pulse again, too.  I hope your rbc's are ok.  Not sure what causes my racing heart, but it seems to be on the 3 &4th day after tx.

Helen:  I think that we're all a lot more tired these days, for sure!  I think we still have our spirit and our strength, though, even though we have a few members that appear to be taking a break, which is understandable.  I know that lately, I do not feel much like talking to people around me, as I have been much more irritable and sad lately.  But I always try to come here to talk to you guys, the only ones who really get it.  I don't know what I'd do without our chemo group.....the Feb. Furies Rock!

Grace:  it's nice to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Glad you are starting to feel better

Well, off to eat dinner, will talk to you all later

Judy

Bethie, I am on Taxol right now.  I get by IV:  12mg steroids, 25 mg benedryl; my chemo is on Tuesdays.  However, I have no real problems with racing heart until Saturdays, and the benedryl is long gone from my system by then.  I had the same problem, but MUCH worse, on the AC, and we had to stop tx's.  The benedryl actually makes me very sleepy, no tingling or racing.  I already had SVT (tachycardia) prior to b.c., and for some reason, the chemo is aggrevating that condition.

Thanks for your advice, though, and I am glad you are doing better with your tx.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, living4today!!  But goodness, don't crash on your birthday!  Move your celebration to a day you're feeling GOOD!  Do something really special!

Today is my crash day too, but for some reason I'm up.