please help

Yes, Cathi, I'm a brat. I'm sorry. I was in an evil, silly mood trying for a little dark humor.

I had a basal cell carcinoma on my back years ago, so I go in for an annual total body skin exam. The doc didn't even notice it. I have all kinds of skin thingies and like to ask her to tell me what they are just 'cause I'm interested. I assumed it was a tiny skin tag, but the top of it was a bit different so I asked. She had to get out her magnifying glass to even get a good look and lo and behold, it was a basal cell carcinoma and she removed it on the spot.

These guys are very slow growing, invade underlying tissue only if they get huge, and don't metastasize. They are of concern mainly because if you get one, it increases the likelihood that you will have cancer some day somewhere else...like I did.

So what is my penance? Shunning? Torture? 30 days of not creating bad humor?....I'm shaking in my boots here.

Sue do what Judie says -  Karen Jaclyn kicked him out the day it happened,  has not been back sense,  he wanted to come to the apartment today and spend time with the kids,  she told him he was welcome to see the children but not in HER HOME!

A little fun shot for everyone. 

JUDIE (MIDDLE NAME)!You better believe you will have some penance for that one little missy! I read those words , and stopped , grabbed my chest and kept repeating Oh God! Then , I stopped cause a little "towhee" told me , this is Judie , you better read on...Good one! But this is your penance for me , I too suffer from skin "thingys" on my body. I have always had freckles. Well , the ones on my legs are now raised. Is that a sign of skin cancer? Sometimes I feel like Job. I have hair growing where it shouldn't , skin tags galore , and now my freckles are raising. I'm a mess! Please share any info you have. My gyn saw my skin tags , and no , not down there!lol , on my neck , and he said he would remove them for me. Is there any way I can do it? OK , you are pardoned for the "dark humor". Although , I must say , sometimes I enjoy dark humor!

Welcome Mary! Nice to meet you. Wow , three children , you are a very busy mom! I was "screaming" here last night , feel free to scream if you need to!lol

Meg , you are so sweet. And I am so glad you are here with us. I know what you mean about coming here and being able to talk about everything and anything. This is such a great group of ladies and UB. I feel so close to you ladies , and it sure feels good!

Barbe , My ex-SO at one of his surgeries , had to do that! I was shocked. We are used to an IV cocktail while we are waiting to go to the OR , and by the time you get there , you are in lala land. I guess its not a bad thing , but so unusual. Good luck to you!

Oh Sue , that burn sounds bad! Aloe Vera is good for burns. But yours sounds like it needs some medical attention. Or at least go see your pharmacists and they can tell you what to do. Damn ovens!

Linda , hope you are having a great time at the beach party! Sounds like lots of fun.You deserve it!

Hi Karen! So good to see you. Yes , it will be good to have a lap top again! Hope you are all doing well , and having a good summer.

Well , I had a good day today. My ex-SO asked if I wanted to go to the casino in Erie. So we did!

He even gave me money to gamble with. Cause he knows I'm broke. I think he wanted a last hurray before surgery. We won together , about 90 dollars , but of course fed it back in the slots. But it was fun.

Well ladies , hope everyone is having a good evening. Hugs , Mel

Mel, I LOVE the slots!!!! ...and not ashamed to say it. I even play them on my own computer without winning real money. I just LOVE watching those reels go around...sigh. I'm easy to please!

My brother took my skin tags off with nail clippers! They were around my neck where I always wear a necklace of some sort. I had him stop when I couldn't stand it anymore, he offered in the first place, I guess they bugged him. Now I wonder about the skin cancer too, hmmmm

Cathi, love to see you working Margo so hard! ehehhehehehe

Hi Darlings



Thank you so much for your messages, they mean so much coming as they do from the perspective of those a bit "down the line" from my position. So we share empathy that's not patronising or misguide, or embarrsed.



I feel strangely ok now. I was told by my the Oncies nurses that I might get 2 more courses of Tax (they KNOW their stuff) so I was expecting it, then the results of the histology of he tumour was soooo good. I think I was expecting the ax to fall and that was why I was so weepy after my good news. Thinking "it can't be THAT easy, Netts, not with your luck!" I had the Consultant, Mr Yusef laughing. He is Egyptian, quite old and a genius (he was honoured by the Queen), but is quite shy and unsmiling. Well before he introduced me to his young colleague who will he taking over my case I asked to be introduced to his grandson. He laughed out loud, which Angela the BC nurse who was in with me, said she hadn't seen often, and rarely in a consultation. I just asked for the lads skin care routine cos he looked like he should be in primary school.



It just seems 4 courses when I don't have cancer in me seems a lot, especially getting Herceprin the day before. Of our group here in Scotland, there only 3 of us who are HER2 +, so no one here has had this kind of tharapy! Can any one out there help? They might stop at 2 courses, depending on how I tolerate it, so I have to keep a close diary of s/e, as some of them might become permanent.I think that's why Martin, my bestest oncy, told me to prepare myself for 2 sessions of "the yew tree poison". That kind of freaked me out!! What s/e might become permanent??? They reckon the cancer was only about a year old and grew so fast and wasn't 'hard', except round the edges, so difficult to detect by touch. Anyway, I think they recommend 4 courses as an ideal and I will try to take all 4. I don't understand why the Herceptrin is concurrent as the protocol is for 18 courses 3 weeks apart after chemo and rads. So I think I will have to have another 18 after rads as that seems to be the norm.



Anyway, I literally trust Mr Yusef with my life. Literally!! Feel more positive now there is another challenge.



At least now, I cannot be turned down for DLA, (surely!!) which will be a huge weight of the finances.



Some other bits of good news. My new Irish jig is lovely, really natural and exactly like a designer cut I had years ago, for which I paid a fortune (I uses to work for an oil company in the Shetland Isles) so spending was no biggie .... back then! Anyway, I am really pleased with it, though I love having a cool shower, putting on a lovely cotton nightie ( I have bought some really nice ones, can easily wear them to answer the door) and putting on a terry towelling head wrap to chill out after a sticky day.



Adrinna, the fitter, shaved off the 'bum fluff' hair on Monday and I have had real hair growing back already (I look like a Naxi)! I will lose it again, of course, but hay ho. the worst of all these things has already happened! OH lots of silver there where there wasn't before, proof that chemo DOES age you!!! Going to lose my lashes again - boo hoo, they were just looking nice, and my nails. They're horrible just now, but haven't fallen off!



AND my beautiful Dell pink rubberised laptop is fixed. Hurrah!!! And it only cost £10, not the £316 I was quoted elsewhere!! I love that machine more that an inanimate thing has the right to be loved!!! It just needed cleaning of the bloody lemonade and the motherboard tightened. I promise I will never let anyone hurt it again. They will have to wear gloves it they touch it, under close supervision! My wonderful brother Hugh had it repaired for me. I was going down to Blackpool today for a break before I am back on the treadmill, but was pretty sick yesterday, so will go tomorrow.





Need to get all my dental work done before 31st when it all starts again, we were going to stagger it over 3 visits. Wow! chemo really damages the teeth, minor damage certainly, but I need a veneer as my root canal work has discoloured. I paid £190 last year to have it internally whitened, which worked too.



So that's the news from the front gals. Feeling quite positive. Always do for challenges and I know this is the best chance of beating this bugger stone dead and THAT'S motivational. I am a stubborn bugger.



AE, how is UB, responding to treatment? Thank god they got it early. Reassure us!



Sue, Aloe Vera is wonderful for any kind of burn. I have a huge Aloe Vera plant and also a 500ml tube living in my fridge constantly. It's dead cheap and pure 99.9% pure - only £4.99 from Holland and Barrett. Makes a lovely skin moisturiser too, Great as an after sun. But if your burn doesn't respond, you have got to go to A & E if it is on your 'at risk' arm. I was given 2 big leaflets from the hosp when I had surgery. 1 in 3 of us who had lymph removal will get lympheodema and injuries to the at risk arm are not to be dismissed.They might be serious. Please seek help!!!



Mel, what a horrible time you have had. What a spiteful, vindictive thing for that arse to do. OK, maybe he got tired storing your stuff, but he could have been decent, explained that to you and given you notice to make other arrangments!!! (Sorry! I sneaked 'arse' through customs!) Where are you staying now? It must be scary not having a roof over your head, tho' it sounds like you have good support, if not space for stuff. Money worries suck too. I am not a breadhead, never worshipped money, but when there is more going out than coming in ......stress on a new level.Your outlook, though, is inspirational. You sound like you have the most wonderful son. Lucky old you. Family can see you through ANY troubles. There isn't a day that I take my family for granted for what they have done to support me through all this.



Judie!!!!!! Dinnae! I gasped at your comment too.Had to re-read it twice. Funny, I developed a wee purple frekle (sp) on my boob, right over the tumour. Doc said it was nothing to worry about! Maybe is wasn't. Pretty colour it is.



Cathi, my next door neighbour and her partner were separated, but amicable enough. One Sunday afternoon he called round to see the kids with his mum and sister, he was really pleasant to me as I was leaving the house to pick up the Sundays, and by the time I got back, 2 cars were screeching away from the house, I was just across the road so didn't see anything but heard raised voices. It took about 15 minutes as the shop is just down the road. Later that evening 2 policemen came to my door to see if I saw or heard anything. I tried to be helpful but didn't see anything at all, and only saw Peter knocking the door, and saw the cars driving away at speed. He had done to Joanne what your SIN did to Jacklyn. Jo was out of the house for 2 weeks and I was worried sick. The house was just empty. She came home after 2 weeks a wreck, terrified of her own shadow. She looked ok by then (she used Arnica gel on the bruising), but they had taken pics and OMG she was black and blue. She too, had thumb marks on her neck,split lip etc and she got the police at once. She had met someone else (who now living with her and they are very happy) The red mist just decended on Peter, her ex. Ironic, as had lots of affairs and he left Jo!) The case went to trial. I was initially called, but because I could contribute anything, was let off testifying. He was found 'not proven' - a weird Scottish verdict that means they knew he was guilty but couldn't prove it as there were no witnesses (rational was that it could have been the mum or the sister - they just knew she had been assaulted, and they claimed it was just a fight, not an assault) I always felt that if I just said I heard her screaming or saw something .... that might have made the difference.The kids heard it all, but the court would not accept their testimony as Jo might have "groomed" them. I have always felt a bit guilty for not backing her up be saying I saw something. But that would have been perjury. Anyway the upshot is the he can only see the kids under supervision and they don't want anything to do with him (and HE was a devoted dad, especially to Louis). Jo is with a lovely guy now who is great to the kids (and to me - they can't do enough for me since my dx) So there is hope for the future. Just make sure that he fulfils his financial responsibility to them.



Your pic was great, we just don't/can't get enough photos of Margot and the kids. How is Jacklyn doing? Poor lass, she hasn't had to seek her troubles, has she? She has got a great mum though, and I'll bet the house she knows it! Has your other daughter and her Horrible Hubby decended on you yet? Lay down the rules! It's much better if people know their boundries, including putting money in the pot! Long term guests are not cheap!!



Ivorymom, Lynda, Jane and all of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. All of my family and friends thank you for your support as you guys fulfil a role THAT NOBOBY ELSE can!!



With all my love



Nettie the invincable (lol) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nettie your such a charm,  and I am hoping your days will get brighter and brighter,  DD #2 and family should be here August 2 or 3rd,  strange things is I am the RULE maker and my wonderful honey says oh this will be just grand,  more faimily and babies around,  he is right in a sense I am so very pleased to finally have both my DD's close and the children,  but HA I know about 24/7 children,  Ed has never had any of his own,  and he is always MR Positive so he keeps me sane and stable (if thats possible).  He is a great role modle for the girls and grandchildren,  I am sure Amanda will come to love and respect him as much as Jaclyn does. Jaclyn has often said I wish he had been my dad forever. And the babies just love their PA-PA.

Hi sisters!! I am back from Chicago!! Just a quick hello, I skimmed through the posts, and want to comment later. At work, and have to rush and take my break.

My scans came back CLEAN!!!!!!!!!! woooooooohooooooooo!! I have some arthritus in my right knee and lower back.  About the AI's..she said the last one to try was Femera. I said..NO THANKS...I really don't want to try another one. Of course, for natural blockers, she is not informed of any.  She gave me a scrip for tamox....I will wait to fill it.  I want to feal good for a little while.

THE CONCERT WAS FRIGGIN AMAZING!!! I HAVE TONS OF PICS!!! JUDIE...I MAY JUST EMAIL THEM TO YOU....IT TAKES ME SO LONG TO REMEMBER HOW TO PUT THEM IN PHOTO BUCKET, YADDA, YADDA. Will you PM me your addy?  There are some really, really good pics!

Be back later girls...xoxox to all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lisa

Once again I post at the end of what the numbers say is the last page, submit, and find another whole page of posts. Two days in a row! I'm either going senile or the board is.

I'm so sorry Sue. I can only imagine what this means to you. Life has tossed you a few moldy cookies lately. Please take care of yourself no matter what. I love you!...Judie

Hugs Sue.

Sue, (((((HUGS)))))), I truly understand. This August will be the 32 anniversary of my mom's death, she was only 29.  My dad paased away last Aug. We had not seen him for years.

When my FIL died my MIL did not call me when he was russhed to the hospital. I was the last one called, I actually should have been the first called since her oldest son my hubby was in Iraq and I was the only one who could get him home. 

Your stepmom should have given you all the info. She may wanted to protect you w/ all you are going through. Which really is not her place, she should give you the info and let you decide how you want to handle it. Enjoy your nice stiff drink.

Good luck Cathi w/ all the grankids under one roof.

Thanx for the welcome.

Hope evryone had a great w/e. Cathi looks like you had a good w/e.