Starting chemo January 2009?

kmmd:  Maryland crabs from my part of the world!  I am glad (not really) to hear that others have the neuropathy thing still as I was beginning to worry that it was permanent.  Mine does involve my whole foot and hand and is quite painful at the beginning and end of the day. It sometimes goes all the way up to my knees and elbows and the throbbing is horrible.   I am also losing toenails. Jess  thanks for the peroxide/epson salts advice.

Phyllis:  Glad to hear surgery is done and you are feeling well.  

Lisa:  Missed the chance to vote as I was out of town, but so happy that you won.  Went to the web site and some of the pictures there are wonderful.  Hope your family picture turns out to be all that you hoped for.  When will you be having it done?  Hope you are or did have a great vacation.

Jilly:  Way to go!  I hope to get involved in a walk here as soon as I feel up to it.  Have a great time. Good Luck.

Kim:  Saw my onco dr. for final visit after chemo and will not see him again for 3 whole months!!!  He started me on Boniva as my bone scan showed thinning of the bones, not osteo, but pre.  So before he starts me on Femara, which will be my drug for the next 5 years, he wants to start the Boniva.  i think it may be harder to remember a once a month pill, but maybe I can do commericals with Sally Fields??? lol  No SEs from it that I can tell but at this piont I am not sure what are new SEs and waht are lingering. Dr. is not starting me on femara until I am done with radiation.  He said I had such a hard time with chemo that he does not want to put SEs on top of SEs so we can wait until rads are done.  How nice of him.  

Have had 7 or 33 radiations.  Are definitely a breeze after chemo.  Going EVERY DAY is a pain but I guess I'll get use to that too like I have a choice.

Summer seems to be flying by and I already received my calendar in the mail for the next school year.  Of course, I put it aside and pretended I did not see it as I am no where near ready to even think about that.

Vacations are over for me as I have to do  rads every day but I still don't want to think about school.

I have been doing some walking and I am starting to feel more energentic.  I may even try going to the gym sometime  this weeks.  Going to talk to rads dr. on Tues about whether or not I can start working out with weights again.

Catching up with all of you has been fun.  Take care.

Patti

Hey all.  I was officially attuned as a Reiki healer today.  I can now do physical hands on healing.  It was a very interesting day of training.  I really enjoyed the healing I recieved. I was not sure I was doing anything when I gave a healing but my "client" (the new healer I recieved from) said she did feel something.  All evening I have been playing with trying to get the energy flowing in my hands.  I healed out dinner before we ate it.  Thats something I think I will try to may a habit of.  I need to go practice on my hubby before going to sleep.  Night!

kmmd:  My sister who is a nurse told me when I was dx that everything would be alright but I should plan on taking a year out of my life to treat and recover.  I thought she was being dramatic but apparently not.  As you said Thank goodness I  did not know that going into this.  Already feels like I have been dealing with this FOREVER.  Well since I  was dx in Nov. 2008 it has been 9 months now so I guess I am over the hump.   Is the neurontin/gabepentin a prescribed medicine?  When I saw my onco dr. he said he would expect me to still be having neuropathy problems at this point and would not worry about it for a few MONTHS!!!  Did not give me anything for it though.  I have just been taking tylenol and sometime my Lortab (pain killer) when it get really bad.

Renrel:  Do not know anything about Reiki really another than having heard the name.  Sounds interesting.  How long is the training to become a Reiki healer?  How does it work?  I think I may have to google it when I have time. Congratulations!

Anyone heard the latest on Lance Arnstrong in the Tour De France?

Hope you all have a wonderful day.  I am going to a coworker's house this morning.  She is hosting an "end of chem celebration" for me.  Hope it is not too emotional, but should be fun have not seen any of my coworkers from school since we got out for summer break.  Sure wish I had more hair to show them. Speaking of which...when is it going to start growing again.  Mine has stopped and my eyelashes and brows are non-existent.  UGH!

Patti

Ladyjane, yep its perscribed, I've done well with it but the package insert would curl your toes so I guess it depends on how much pain your'e having

'hotbolt: Mellencamp is good I like Mellencamp

With wine we'd definitely need crackers and cheese, anyone from Wisconsin in the group?

Jess, had to laugh that brought back so many memories.  I don't know when the last time was that I saw a carling black label can

Bev, I'm so sorry, that is the pits

Lisa---What a relief!!!!!!!  That is wonderful.  Now go and have loads of fun on vacation!!

Ladyjane - Reiki is a form of energy work. The theory is that there is benevolent healing energy in the universe and that if you are attuned you can act as a conduit to bring this energy through your body and hands and into who or what needs healing.  I used to think it was too weird to but any faith in. But then I met some people who had really good results even though they went in as non-believers and thought about my sense that "g-d" is really the interconnection of everything and the studies that show that prayer works even if the person prayed for does not know they are being prayed for and started to rethink my sceptism.  I tried one session during chemo and could not tell if it helped or not, but the cough I had just gotten the day of the treatment passed much more quickly then I would have expected.  Just a few day instead of a few weeks.  The yoga teacher who does a class in my neighborhood was organizing this class so I decided for $100 I would take a chance.  After all that is less than 2 massages or accupuncture treatments and once attuned I would be able to do Reiki on myself.  If it worked that was a great deal and if it was phuee, well it was just $100 and I would have learned something.  The class was very interesting.  I learned about the endocrine system and about chakras and as well as the history of Reiki.  Then we went though a ceremony where the master gave us our attunements.  The she taughts us the hand positions and how to give a treatment.  We each gave and recieved one treatment.  I definately felt something going on during the treatment I recieved.  The weirdest things was that still felt the practiciers hands on my stomach after she had lifted them to hoover them over my pelvic area.  When we asked the teacher about this she said it meant that there was some other spritual healer in the room with us helping.  (She did ask at the start of the healing for Budda and Jesus and other healers to come and help us.)  And when I gave Reiki back to the woman who gave it to me she had the same sensation.  It was very strange but not at all frightening.  And the woman who gave me the Reiki?  She was able to feel in my aura that I had an issue in my hips.  She made a point to spend extra time there and today my hips were both feeling wonderful.  Better than they have in weeks. In the evening, after standing along time I felt a shadow of the pain I had felt before but not the actual pain.  I have been playing trying to turn the reiki on and off in hands and I can definately feel a energy and generation of heat in my hands some of the time.  I tried to purify our dinner tonight and put my hands over the chicken and I was shocked at how strongly I could feel the energy comeing from my hands.  I am guessing that it takes a lot of energy to lift up an animal though it death for the purpose of food rather than to have the food bring us down to the level of the animal.  I actual went vegitarian for the past week to try and purifiy myself for the class and avoided sugars for the last two days.  This is all very weird and fun and fascinating.  I know it sounds weird.  I am someone who can suspend reality to concider the possibility of "magic" in the world in the form of "G-d", angels, futune tellers, ghosts, spirits, ect.  But I mostly live in the modern, "real" world.  I am definately looking forward to playing with this new part of my life though. The ability to "channel" a healing energy to where it is needed is a wonderful feeling. I really hope that I can help to allieve suffering in the world with his gift.  

 On another note, I am 8 weeks post chemo, (the end of the three week cycle, not the last infusion) and my hair is getting very thick.  It is black and white.  Today someone thought I had it cut this way on purpose. They commented that they had done a similar cut a few years back and how nice it is in the summer.  I still have pretty think eye brows, but that does not mean they did not thin because mine were always very thick.  But they are gray on top and I find that the oddest thing.  I can deal with my gray hair put not the gray eye brows.  I have about an inch of full length eye lashes on each to lash and little new growth everywhere else.  My energy is much better then it was.  In fact today I felt great.  I think it was the Reiki stuff yesterday that really gave me a charge.  

 We have finally booked our family vacation.  We will go to the North Conway area of NH in a couple of weeks and stay at a condo resoort.  There will be pools and some family entertainment at the condo and lots of stuff for our son in the area and lots and lots of nature.  

 Life is starting to feel normal again.  We are finally moving forward on remodeling efforts that got dropped last year because we needed a rest and did not get pick up for obvious reasons.  We have done a lot of casual entertaining and/or visiting with friends.  

I was informed that a woman who belonged to my book club before I joined just died. She was very sick for awhile.  I plan to volunteer to help out at her home later this week when they have vistors over to comfort the morners. I did not know her and do not even know what faith she was to know what kind of ritual this comforting will take. But so many people have come out of the woodwork to help me I want to be the same kind of neighbor back.  

Thats if for now.  I want to try and give DH a full Reiki treatment tonight so that I can practice and maybe heal his elbow.  He is a real doubter so it would be really reall cool to have a noticable effect on his health and of course wonderful just to make him feel better.   

From my two hometowns........Nova Scotia lobster from where I grew up and tasty Black Angus steak from Alberta....steak and lobster...yummy. 

Have a great week Jewels!

Lisa, I missed your post about the PET scan, wonderful news! 

Thanks YearoftheHat:  I loved and wore that pin long before I got breast cancer.  My Mom hasn't taken hers off since I was diagnosed.  I talked about it on one of the other threads once.  When I was growing up women became teachers or secretaries or nurses.  I remember when Title iX was passed.  "Girls" weren't expected to like science or math.  Girls weren't expected to want to do sports and god forbid they put on some muscle.  Pink was girly.  I love the color and always have.  Love even more that now you can enjoy a pedicure, put on pink nail polish, and still take an advanced math or science class, run a marathon, and become an engineer, executive, doctor, nurse, secretary, teacher, or anything else you want.  So the pin to me not only supports us breast cancer survivors, it celebrates how far women have come. No more waking up from a breast biopsy with a radical mastectomy. 

You'll have to bring the corn, love it.  Hope it works out and down the road we can all get there and meet one another in person and enjoy our feast. 

Jilly:  Awesome fundraising!   It will be life changing - and healing. 

Just in from vacation at the lake - checking to see how everyone's doing.  See my gyn for ooph recommendations in a few weeks.  Hope you all test neg for BRCA --  sure has thrown me into a tailspin.. felt like the end was in site and now the finish line has moved.  Some days are OK -- others I am down...I guess that's all part of it.  Have to keep fighting like a girl!     

LadyJane, crossing my fingers for you too, mostly because it would be nice to not have to think about additional surgery, talking to family etc that it would bring

JillyG-- good luck on your weekend walk!! We're all walking with you!

Lisa- congrats on winning the photo contest. You and your family deserved it!

Phyliss- hope all is well after your surgery. Rest, soak up all the love and heal!

I went to see my rad doc and got a mild scolding today. He said my breast was too tan. I like  going outside without a top on when I do yard and garden work. So now I have to cover up!

Take care everyone!