Starting Chemo February 2009?

Judy~ Sorry to hear about your daughter's tooth ache.  Ugghhh poor baby

Apple~ Great picture.  I love you neice's expression.

Day3 and well the fight began this morning.  She is tired and doesn't want to wear what I picked out for her.  She always wants to wear a dress and today was gym day so I had to threaten that she couldn't go if she didn't put her clothes on.  It's only been 3 days and I am ready for the end of the year..lol...  I am tired of homework already...  The worst part is they are repeating their letters yet again and she has known them since she was 2 so she is bored out of her mind. 

Today is laundry day...oh fun...NOT..

Cheryl~ Is it a regular check up ??  I hope it's just normal stuff.

Okay why does my pictures do that ..grr.r..  cut off the other half but you get to see my curl

Jaimie - That sure is hair!! It is great isn't it! I will never complain about anything to do with my hair ever again. Sorry about the school meltdown, i think they just get really tired getting back into it all. we will need to be out the door at 8:30, will be a rush.

Cheryl - hope mammo goes well today.

I have just had to go over to my Oncs office to pick up a requisition for blood, then go give blood. Even though it is only blood work, I still get nervous being in my Oncs office....Not even sure what the blood is for, her Secretary is half vacant. She rang yesterday at 6:00pm, I had two fighting kids, was trying to get dinner made, etc, and she said "are you going to pick up this requisition or what?" and I am like "what requisition is that" She said, "well, I was just going through your file and found it." OK, like, how I am supposed to know it was waiting...??? Grrr. Anyway, it is done now.

Cheryl~ Your lymph nodes could be swollen still from surgery, a cold or many reasons besides the beast ((bighugs)).  I hope they get you in quickly and get you some answers.

yes, most likely nothing Cheryl.  Really.  You had major surgery on that ide, then expanders (foreign material), then surgery again... it is no wonder the LN are big! They've been working!  It will be OK.  But, I can understand your anxiety... I was crazy-stressed about that lump on the right (eventhough I had had a clean PET!).  Cancer is crazy-making!  Pls post as soon as you hear something.

Good luck on Arimidex Kerry. 

 I am on zometa infusions.  4 mg once a month for 6 months.  Once every 3 months for 2 1/2 years after that.  I had flu symptons after the 1st infusion but not nearly as bad as chemo.  Some achy joints after 2nd and 3rd.  Hard to say for sure if it is the zometa or the tamoxifen though.  But, I do seem extra achy today and had my 3rd infusion yesterday.

Bev

Kerry: It rained here today, too. And so chilly!  I'm so not ready for fall, I want more summer!!!

Cheryl: Big Hugs to you (((((((hug))))))).....I'm sure it will be nothing, try not to worry too much (I know that is hard though)  let us know when your ultrasound is scheduled.

Jaimie: your hair is really coming in now....where are your gray hairs???? Am I the only one who grew hair that was salt and pepper colored? Geez, I'm not that old, am I??? lol

Liz: Hi, good to hear from you....yoga sounds like a good idea, did you used to do yoga before your dx?

Artemis: oh, I'm glad you had such a nice dinner out with your family...it is nice to feel normal isn't it.

Apple: cute pic....did he raid the box of bandaids, or have a whole lot of boo-boo's?

I will probably find out tomorrow what the deal is with the swollen lymph glands the surgeon felt today. I am not too worried. I kept myself busy today. This afternoon I got a haircut to even out  and shape up the hair on my head. Here is a picture!

Cheryl - let us know as soon as you know anything.You are looking great!

Jaimie - hope it goes well today!

Helen - good luck with Rads, I found it not too big a deal.  Hope you get used to it, it sounds as though you had a tough time yesterday. And what does the stupid radiologist know anyhow?

 Apple - love that photo! what is it with kids and band-aids?the favourite trick of mine right now is to peg clothes pins all over their clothes, and walk around saying "Hi, my name is Peggy". They think they are hilarious!

Bev - great to hear from you. I am so happy you have eyebrows back! I am hopefully going to get Zometa soon - my Onc is setting it up, but they can't give it to me in the hospital as it is off-label. Think they might give it to me at home, I am not sure yet how it all works.

Judy - hey to you! I tried to neighbour you on farmville - did it work? I keep killing everything, I forget to harvest, i am really crap at it! I am getting loads of real tomatoes from my real garden though....

Anyway, freezing here this morning on my walk. Cold and dark at 6:00am, hello Fall.....Hope everyone has a great day!!

nice hair Cheryl  and Kerry - peggy is quite funny.

i was stunned that my hair took so long to come in the first time.  I expected it to start growing immediately.  Now that I am on Femara, it is coming in oddly.. perhaps it is thinned as well.  That, coupled with the long straggly hairs i managed to keep.  I keep trimming the extra long hairs (as long as it won't show).  It's still short short short.

We took Pal our dog, (he's a metrosexual) pictured below in his finery, to a farm this last Sunday. There were 20 cows, acres of rolling meadow, 3 dogs, some chickens and other farm stuff. We were visiting in a makeshift saloon/barn. After a couple of hours of running around with the other dogs I saw Pal head for the house. Curious, I followed him inside to see him drink out of the toilet.

No drinking out of the cow waterer or running stream for him.

I believe 2 is intermediate and 3 is positive.

Well, I heard from the doctor today and everything is normal. The lymph glands that are enlarged are that way due to compensation for the sentinel nodes that were removed. They will probably always be that way now. The mammogram showed only normal breast tissue.

Jaimieh, yes, I will continue to keep my hair short. I do not look good with longer hair. All my facial features are small and longer hair just swallows them up and makes them look even smaller. Judy, I did dye my hair darker since we met in MI. My hair came in salt-and-pepper colored and I did not like it.

I was told today when meeting with my oncologist that my estrogen level is within menopausal range. If it stays that way, no more periods for me! Woo-Hoo!! I would be soo happy not to have any more visits from "Auntie Flo".

Wonderful new Cheryl.  I thought you had shorter hair back when we were showing pictures prior to Chemo.  It looks great on you. 

Great appt. with new kidney doctor   I am having it removed next Thursday in the office with my friend xanax or ativan in addition to a local numbing agent.  It should take 30 seconds and I talked to someone in the office that had it done a couple of months ago and he said it hurt for a second and was done.  This doctor made me feel human and left the choice up to me.  I will be having the hellish test 5-6 weeks later which is the lasix test and then if it comes back good than they would repeat the test in a year. 

So next week I have 3 doctor's appt on 3 seperate days    I go for herceptin on Monday and I am going to keep my drip slow because I have been feeling a little better joint wise.  Tuesday I have a follow up with my PS and then the dreaded appt. on Thursday but I know I will feel so much better once the stint is gone.