APRIL Rads Anyone?

It's so great to see that the ice cream social count is getting higher and higher.  Here's to everyone having a great weekend with skin that is either healed or in the process of healing!

Catherine 

Heya ladies!  I pulled the muscle that runs along my collar bone (on the left side), and spent half the night last night, looking up symptoms of heart attacks, just knowing with my luck...........

Wouldn't that just be the icing on the sh@t cake?  It was really miserable and painful....and of course I had just given my few remaining pain pills to my mother who is having fits with a knee replacement.  I mean I'm just a magnet for rotten luck (kinda like my magnetism for rotten men)!  HA!  I wonder if the radiation could have caused some issues in the muscles on that side?  I know that lugging around my 30 pound 1 year old is not helping matters, but that's what mothers DO.  Even mothers who have been treated for BC.  I'm not going to look down at him when he reaches up for me and say,"Sorry kid, I read that I should avoid lifting you because of lymphedema and possible other complications."  I actually read that.  To avoid lifting your child/carrying purse/whatever on side where lymph nodes were removed.  What if that is BOTH damn sides?!  It's very frustrating, because it's impossible. 

Oh, well, my rant is winding down.

Have a great night all!

Shan--Sorry to hear about the pulled muscle.  That does not sound like a good time.  I hate to say this, but maybe you should think about not carrying too much for now.  For now...not forever.  I think that we all get so caught up with finshing the formal treatments and just want to get on with our lives that it's easy to forget that we have been exposed to what amounts to radiation poisoning whose effects are cumulative.  Just because the zappings are done doesn't mean the effects aren't still assaulting our bodies for weeks afterwards before the healing part of it can even really start. 

Yipes, I don't mean to sound like a schoolmarm.

Deb--Congrats on finishing!  Another bowl of ice cream is getting set up.  And you know, you joked about sleeping with the extra time you'll now have with rads...I say do exactly that.  For me, I got hit with fatigue.  Hopefully you won't, but if you do...sleep.  There's a reason for fatigue, and it usually hits after treatment ends.

Okay, I'm starting to have a running rant of a theme going on.  So, I'll stop.  Or maybe I'm just tired and I should follow my own advice.

Nite All!

Catherine

Deb - Congrats!  It is scary, isn't it?  I just knew it was a heart attack, because after all I've been through, the pain took my breath a bit (and that takes some doin')!  Mine is actually feeling a bit better, I've tried to take it easier (at least on that side)! 

Cat - I hear you!  I know, I know........you are definitely right!  I am a bit stubborn and maybe I tend to overdo sometimes just to prove to myself, I've never REALLY been sick at all!  I should kick my own ass, I guess.  Nobody to blame but myself.  I actually have asked my strong, strapping nephew to mow for me for the rest of the summer (for a fee, of course....modern kids)!   I'm trying to pick up Cam with only my right arm, for now.  Sometimes I even let him follow me around and fuss a bit (GASP)!  I've learned that distraction is the name of the game with toddlers!

Well, I'm off to KY with my grandmother.  Gonna hang with her a few days (trying to enjoy my quickly dwindling month before my return to work (hell)!

Everyone have a great week! 

Make mine a triple fudge mint chocolate chip sundae with whip cream!!!!!!!!! oh, and a cherry please!

Congrats to everyone who has finished rads!  Today was my last treatment, and I hardly know how to feel but will definitely figure it out.  Looking forward to a hot fudge sundae with the works!

Bonnie 

Hey Shan- much as you want to pick up your little one, you still need to be careful...pulled muscles aren't fun. I pulled one at least 5 years ago carrying my son on my back on a hike for quite a while...yep though I was having a heart attack too afterwards... and I still suffer with pain/problems now and then. So be kind to yourself,  try to find an alternative if you can for a little while to allow yourself to heal. Maybe you sit down on a chair and let your little one get hugs against your knees/side. Try hugs instead of lifting and come down to where your child can reach you instead of you trying to lift him. Maybe he climbs up next to Mom and lays down or sits with you. But see if you can find a way to give that love and attention without hurting yourself.

Congrats Deb and Bonnie!!!!!

For those of you on tamoxifin, Femara or Arimidex...I read the article below:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31088185    "Cancer patients seek alternate remedies"

and it mentions staying away from red clover, dung quai (whatever they are lol), and licorice because of estrogen stimulating components.  I love licorice and eat black licorice quite often. Guess I need to stop?  Has anyone else heard this about licorice too? 

Not feeling too well tonight, been sick to my stomach, and hot and cold. Though it could be those dang hot flashes too. Nervous a bit as my son's school has had a couple cases of the "swine" flu. Hopefully I will feel better in the morning. Think I'll try to go get some rest now...night ladies!

Hey all, I want chocolate with fudge and brownies Oh so fattening but I DO NOT CARE!!!!! lol

Shan: Yes it was very scary and I too over did it and Catherine you may sound like a schoolmarm but, at least you care and if Shan and I (sorry Shan) weren't acting like we were invincible teenagers we wouldn't be suffering from muscles problems LOL anyways I think I need to find myself a gardener like I use to have only this time I think I want him to be young and cute (not to young) so that I have some eye candy to recuperate around lol I think I might be feeling better ha ha. 

Bethaib: Hope you get to feeling better and soon

Lainey I love the look and glad that you are doing so well.

Patoo: Your doing so well with this ice cream party thanks so much.

Susan13: Only a Cherry MAke that 5 cherries you deserve it.

Bkokie: Congrats.

I am so proud of each and everyone of us ladies we have accomplished alot and I also want to thank you all for being there for me and making this part of my journey so much easier.  One question Where do we go from here??? besides weight watchers ????

Hugs to all,

Deb

Tomorrow morning at 8 AM I see the neurologist. Hopefully he can find out what is causing the dizziness. 

I am two weeks past the last Tx tomorrow and fatigue has hit me really hard.

My skin does not hurt, but looks awful with all the patchy peeling!

Tom is sleeping and I am up craving ICE CREAM.

Bette 

I will be joining the ice cream party on June 19!

Saw the neurologist today and he referred me to an ENT specialist. He is hoping my dizziness is inner ear inflammation. I was unable to walk a straight line or stand erect with my eyes closed . ENT appointment is next Thursday.

My chest still looks ugly with all the peeling, but I was able to tolerate my mastectomy bra and prosthesis for the first time in weeks. Makes me look more "normal" when I am out in public.l

Fatigue is still a factor. Time for a nap.

Bette 

June 19th is good for me, wouldn't htink of being anywhere else.  Hello to all Bette let us know what you find out as I too am getting a little dizzy every now and again and they are saying that it is due to my sinuses ( showed blocked big time lasy July).

Debbi

Elaine,

      I have the back thing going on and sometimes it can be quite painful almost like I pulled a muscle or something as well as that bruised feeling.  The bedtime thing I so have as well.

Debbi

Hi everyone,

Sue -- Congrats on finishing rads!

Bette -- When do you see the ENT? 

Lainey and Debbi -- Sorry about your lingering SEs.  I just finished rads on Monday and don't have the back pain you describe, but do have a terrible time sleeping and am also very fatigued.

Today was my 3 month check up with oncologist and everything seems to be going well.  He told me that most of the side effects from chemo, rads and Arimidex will get better with time.  He is sending me for an MRI of my cervical spine because I have radiating pain up to my head and down to my shoulders and arms.  I had a fusion in my neck a couple of years ago, and this is may be more disc problems.  The doctor doesn't believe it is related to breast cancer, so that's a huge relief! 

Take care...

Bonnie 

Sdavis, we all do what we must because we intend to be victorious.  Finishing rads is just another milestone we have reached and we, as people who wear many hats, deserve congrats because we did it in the midst of all our other multi-tasking.  Don't get many pats on the back for most of that so may as well give and receive it here from each other.  I do like your attitude; I also intend to live many more years.  So, congrats on finishing today - YAY!

Bkokie, congrats also on finishing - way to go!  Hope all goes well with the MRI.  Keep us informed.  You should have learned by now that the docs always say 'it's not related to bc' - just their usual denial mode LOL (I'm just kidding with you!).

Lainey64, I agree that it's hard not to wonder with the aches and pains.  I've felt little stabs in my rad breast a couple times the last few days and it's tender still (3 weeks out).  My upper arm on the side where some nodes were removed feels somewhat numb (had gone away after surgery and comes back now and then).  Should I be worried about any of this?  At what point do we know to have something checked out? 

My worse lingering SE from rads, which I'm not even sure it's a rad SE but started with rads is my hand getting numb. It's so weird! I wake up in the middle of the night with my hand (usually right hand, opposite side!) completely numb! During rads, it was every single night. Now it's every 2-3 nights. I asked my onc about it and he pretty dismissed it, saying it was the way I sleep putting pressure on my elbow. Well, I've been sleeping the same way for the past 30+ years. So who knows what it is, but quite annoying.

So glad to hear most of us are done with rads. Let the summer fun begin

Anyone still in rads?