March 2009 Rads Group?

Rainy weather in PA too and cool.

I can not sleep, I am nervous about my 3 month c/u w/ onc to see how tamox is working. I wll tell my onc about the pain in my ribs and in my back. I really do not want to sound like a hypochondriac though, but I feel it is important to discuss. Before BC, I only went to doctor for asthma meds and sinus infections, maybe once a year, now it seems like for awhile I will be going on a regular basis. Now it sounds liek I am whining. Oh well I guess I am allowed once in a while!

Have a great Monday everyone!!!! In Pa we have 3 days of no rain forcasted!!! WOOO HOOOO!!

Martha - sounds like you had just an awesome time at the Relay.

Jeanne - I totally hear you about people saying "you look great" - you're right I think they were expecting you to look sick and are totally blown away when you didn't.

This week in Southern Ontario calls for hot, humid weather...bring it on baby!!!! 

I had a good check-up today. ONC said the fatigue and soreness are normal and residual se's from rads. I am tired today, but it was a long day.

Good Luck Nelia.

I am tired today, but onc said that would be normal. Lost 10lbs since Dec when first DX, so now I am trying to maitain that. I think the only reason I lost weight was because I have been too tired to stay up and munch on all the unhealthy foods. Now I do not even crave the junk food at night, I certainly hopes that continues.

Have a good night ladies!

Good luck Nelia...fingers crossed that the lump turns out to be nothing!

Hey- this from another thread (Escape) I watch here... mama wants to send her son to see Joe Perry from Aerosmith

holtbolt wrote:Thank you Coonie... there is only one person competing at this point and he's constantly 20 votes ahead... with 2 days left to vote.. it's very close... so please anyone who has a second... will you please vote?help me bring joy to this boy!   Thank you so much! 

http://www.aeroforceone.com/index.cfm/pk/view/cd/NAA/cdid/1177058/pid/1175576 

nelia, i am sending tons of support and positive thoughts your way.  please let us know what they say tomorrow.  keeping you close - sam

yep nelia- we're praying for you in NYC too  

Nelia...I am praying for you! Please keep us posted.

Martha, how scarey!  Glad you went to the ER!  I remember the day I went to my sister's house and she called me "Jen."  That was our stepmother's name and she's been dead for years!  I just walked in her house and dialed 911.  Found out her potassium level as all out of wack and she had what they called "brain seizures."  Not a stroke, but almost! 

Rachel, I like the guy, too. He's not the kind of guy you want for a doctor if you are looking for nice, soft spoken, tender, loving, etc.  He's a staight shooter and tells it like it is.  Usually quite blunt and forward.  So I know if he says it's probably nothing, then it's probably nothing.  He doesn't give false hope or keep stuff back.

So now I wait. . . . . again!

Last night I went to a high school reunion "'77 turns 50"- more than half the class showed up.  I was unreasonably nervous, I don't know why.  I had a great time and would have stayed longer if I didn't have to get home to the kid and baby sitter.

A couple of stunning things happened.  Mostly wonderful. But to stay on topic here (cancer) I apologized repeatedly for answering so late about coming, explaining that they started organizing this right around my breast cancer DX and I had just completed RADS in May, didn't drive...  

Each person couldn't help but glance at my boobs, which is OK and understandable. We lost one of my best high school pals to BC in 2007, she was well remembered.  

One of my classmates became a very famous very rich person, often seen with the likes of Bill Gates. Naturally, a lot of us kind of resent him, think he only comes to reunions to lord it over us.  But I had wanted to tell him something I had learned from growing up with him.  His father had this idea to invest in a new technology and we all knew in high school it was totally stupid, but he stuck with his dad.  Turns out this is a major technology we're all using right just to participate in this board, send email, watch TV... etc.  What I learned from growing up with him was that whether or not this new technology ended up being a success (like it is) the relationship he has with his Dad was always going to make them successful and happy. Then we got on to talking about our kids and all that.  Chatting with him he said his wife had breast cancer, Stage I, lumpectomy, chemo (bad oncotype score) and tamoxifen and she's having a very rough time.  I told him some of what I had learned about Tamoxifen, like taking a break for a couple weeks often gets rid of the SE's and I told him about Zometa- he had never heard of this. He was jumping to jot it down in his blackberry or whatever device it was. I find that fairly astonishing, I'd think someone like that would have oncologists at his fingertips, every bit of the latest discoveries announced to them immediately...waiting on his wife hand and foot etc.  I think because they are somewhat isolated by their fame and fortune, they must not be participating in this sort of group sharing - and she's suffering for it.  So I was very happy to be able to help, and offered my card and said I'd be happy to send him the info I had.  

I also wonder if he's doing anything to help support cancer research?

There's another classmate who I was REALLY close to, my best gal pal (still my best gal pal) dated him while I dated his buddy, double dates forever, they were both on the football team, we were the "cool girls" etc.  That's the only reason I didn't stay in better touch with him after high school, because it would have been disloyal to my best friend.  Pretty funny things like he went from being the equivalent of our "Fonzie" the bad kid always in trouble with the cops to being a widely respected Federal Defense Atty, and later found out my cousin's husband works in the same office with him. When we greeted each other I noticed he looked really thin and there was a scar on his neck but I didn't put it together.  My best friend said she was told he had throat cancer.  So I went back to him immediately.

He knew an incredible amount about breast cancer- his boss is Stage IV breast cancer, maybe that's part of why, or part of his own research, I didn't get that far. He said there was a drug now available for certain BRCA positive people, I will get in touch to find out more.  His own throat cancer is Stage IVa. That came out because he asked about my stats and I told him, and then asked him in response because my step-mom was treated for Stage III sinus cancer. One nice bit of news, he's been NEC for 2 years.

I'll be seeing him soon for lunch I hope- his office is around the corner from my dentist in Philly.

Cancer sucks. 

Thank you, Mary, for your prayers!  Hard not to worry and think about it all!!!!

Rachel, sounds like a wonderful reunion!  Glad you went as it sounds like it was a good thing for you!

Hey everybody.  I've been off the boards for awhile.  For the most part, everyone seems to be doing okay post rads.

Nelia, it goes without saying that you've got thoughts and prayers from the West Coast.  My sister had breast reduction surgery years agao, and she calls herself "lumpy" from the scar tissue, so I'm hoping that this is what this latest lump is for you as well.  But I am so glad that you are having it addressed they way that you are.

I had to laugh at everyone's reactions to others' reactions to how we "look."  Last month I went back and forth between wearing my wig when I had to (for work or large social events) and going without.  So, some of my friends would see me one way one day and then another the next week.  Last week at work, I took my wig off while we were off set just to show them how much my hair had grown.  One of my co-workers said that it reminded him of Audrey Hepburn's haircut that was once referred to as the "gamine."  I could have kissed him.  Come to think about it, it does sort of look like a 1950's bathing cap...only made of hair.

But I digress...I was a little taken aback at first by the comments of how I looked.  Well rested was another phrase I heard a lot too.  Well, d'uh, when you're spending that past 6 weeks dealing with fatigue so much that all you really can do is rest, then yeah that makes sense.  But now I just tell people that I'm a positive story to breast cancer.  I'm sure you all know that having bc opens the door to hearing of other's stories of cancer.  Some of those stories don't end so well.  So, it's nice to be able to see people take a little sigh of relief to hear me say that I consider myself a success story.  BC isn't what any women wants to go through, but it can be done and there are positve stories at the end of it.

Rachel, sounds like a a really positive experience at the reunion.  Not just for you but also for your fellow cancer survivor classmates.  Isn't that funny how cancer, no matter the type, is an instant bonding factor?

And summer is finally here in LA after a month of what we call June Gloom.  I'm actually digging the heat with the short hair.

Hope everyone had a nice week and here's to an even better week ahead.

Catherine