Sisterhood of the Secret Handshake

Bold is good Leggy, cancer does that to ya.  I love the continuing saga of the bloody pooo.  It makes me feel at home.

Helena....."Crikey?" I like that.  Maybe that should be our code word for our curse words.  Mmmmm, too many syllables.  We need something sharp and quick.  A one syllable something.  Perhaps you can give us an Australian suggestion.

(edited to add: cheers Helena)

Anyway Helena, ...ask and ye shall receive. This is from my blog.  I don't remember how much I shared on BC.org.

Help, I'm melting.
I'd like to add hormones to the list of body functions one should never screw around with especially if they play a big part in regulating your body temperature. 

In case you didn't know, hormones are the directors of your body; they control your growth, sexual desire, sleep patterns, appetite and mood just to name a few.  Physically and emotionally your body is being driven by your hormones and they affect every organ and system in your body.  When your hormones are out of whack it can wreak havoc on your quality of life.

Fluctuations in female hormones, or in my case the complete shut down, tell the brain to wrongly assume the bodies core temperature needs to be warmed up.  The body then responds by raising the heart rate, dilating blood vessels and opening sweat glands creating a festival of hot flashes and night sweats.  Day sweats too. 

When they are prematurely shut down with pharmaceuticals and the removal of the ovaries, the side effects can be extreme, lasting for years.  They say they get better over time but I think they're all lying. 

I have a newfound compassion for boiled lobster....a good ten minute boil and come out soaking wet, bright red and feeling thoroughly violated by some unforeseen force I can't get away from.

I decided to record the nighttime saga but only because I can't sleep.  By the way, we now have a large 747 size fan at the foot of the bed and I no longer drink out of a glass.  It's bottled water only for this girl.  Well I think I'm still a girl. 

Preparation:

Hand towel. Check.

Two dry pillows. Check.

Fresh glass of cold water. Check.

Roll heavy bedspread to foot of bed. Check.

Window opened as wide as it can go.  Check.

Open tacky Japanese paper fan found at a garage sale.  Check.

Take hand full of pills some of which I have no idea what they do.  Check

11:00 PM -  Sleeping aid kicks in.

11:46 PM   Wipe off sweat from furry head.

12:13 AM  Flip off blankets and grab tacky fan.

1:05 AM  Sweat some more. Change cotton t-shirt and flip over pillow #1.

2:16 AM  Nocturnal bladder calls.  More fluid exists the body.  Drink from glass of water in hopes of preventing dehydration.

2:30 AM  Attempt to go back to sleep.

2:55 AM  Scoot over closer to husband to get out of the puddle of sweat.  10 minutes later - body heat causes husband to sweat.  Move back to wet spot.  Drink more water.

4:17 AM  Wipe of head and face with hand towel.  Swing wet towel at daughter's cat drinking out of glass of water.  Vow to only drink from bottle with a lid.  Try to shut out image of cat cleaning self the day before.

5:33 AM  Accidently wake husband up while changing to pillow #2. Ask husband to feel how wet pillow number one is.  Watch husband grimace.  Hope husband isn't thoroughly disgusted by soaker hose wife.  Note to self....Don't mention this to husband again for fear of disgusting said spouse and encouraging his dreams of younger dry female.

6:00ish AM -  Finally fall asleep and dream about beautiful waterfalls.  Oops...that's me sweating again. 

8:00 - 8:30 AM Time to get up.  Change to dry clothing.  Fake laugh at stupid husband's recommendation to sleep on a shower Curtin.  Have coffee, read paper, add the following to my list of things to do:

1. Research: moisture wicking pajamas and herbal remedies sure to be found in our tie die wearing, hairy legged community. 

2. Add grapefruit to shopping list in hopes of having a short reprieve from hot flashes.  (Grapefruit prevents Tamoxifin from working for 48 hours) Recall chemo.....scratch grapefruit off list.

 10:30 AM Doctor returns phone call regarding relief from Mount Saint Helen hot flashes.  Only option.....hormones.  Weigh death over hot flashes.  Quickly choose hot flashes.

Sound like fun?  My savings grace is that I'm not moody or emotional as I had anticipated.  RIGHT MIKE?  He's shaking his head yes.  Or maybe he's just shaking

BRILLIANT...

Will put on my thinking cap for a code word.  My father, all of 86, says "gasp and shudder"... mmmm ...my 7 year old daughter thinks he says "gasp and shuddup" - haven't enlightened her yet though.

Elimar - good luck - 9 months down and doing really well - hardly any side fx to speak of and an Extensive Metaboliser to boot.

This is for all you "old school" gals...on oldie but a goodie

droool.....

Elimar.....everyone is different.  I have an extreme case, the DR tells me.  I don't mind the hot flashes but the sweating is awful.  I sweat profusely when I drink alcohol or meet with clients; just to name a few situations.

I'm desperately trying to find a cold pack that resembles a scarf to maybe prevent some embarrassment with clients.  It makes me look nervous.  I hate that.

I'm now taking Clonadine(sp?).  It helps but I've noticed that when I eat less, and healthy, they diminish in frequency and severity.  I get maybe one or two per day....when I eat well.

Contrary to my behavior on this site lately, (I've snapped at a few people that I thought were not being kind to my peeps) my mood and disposition are better than ever before.

Maybe I'm just happy to be alive.

Hi girlies!  So I went to the mall to do my walk the other day and got a kick out of a couple of older ladies...they stopped ahead of me and were staring into the Abercrombie & Fitch store, they started giggling and then finally sauntered off.  So I peeked over in the direction they were looking and saw the 2 HUGE pictures of 2 of the cutest guys that looked like Paul Newman above in Helena's post (HI HELENA!)...I got the biggest kick out of that!

edited to add link:  http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/home_10051_10901_-1 

Onc appt. yesterday was uneventful, she still doesn't have the results of the CYP2D6 test and after talking to her more, I am going to look into the genetics testing further.  Gained 3 pounds!  She said Tamox could cause this but asked if I'm eating more these days and I said well yeah, and she laughed but did say I got very thin during chemo and I look great, so there!! 

ooooohhhhhhhhh, Helena, thanks for the picture of Paul Newman. sfggsg rfgt ---  sorry, drool all over the keyboard now....Now, there was a celebrity worthy of adulation, as good on the inside as on the outside. Married to the same woman for 50 years (his quote, when talking about infidelity: "Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?"). But yep, have to agree with Rachel, that cigarette is the only thing wrong with that picture -- and lung cancer was probably the cause of his death.

Renee, how funny, I was just reading your blogg yesterday and ran across the hot flash diatribe. You describe it perfectly! For me, that's the worst SE of Tamoxifen.....so guess that's something I'll learn to live with.

I feel so badly for those of you who can't sleep. That is one thing that really affects me. I feel such a physical difference the next day. Usually this hits me only when traveling, but I did have a bout right before my mastectomy and finally saw a Dr. about it. Gave me some pills that worked fairly well -- that I can't take now because of the Tamoxifen, but that's OK because for now, I'm sleeping. And because of our SFBC, I think our sleep is ESSENTIAL to our health!

OK, need to get my act together and make my usual trek to my hometown today to play with my 7-year great nephew. He gets out of school at 3 so have to be out of here by about 2. We have such a good time together and I truly think he helps me stay young (at heart, anyway).

TGIF!!!  Have a great weekend, ladies!

The first guy I had the real hots for in high school reminded me of Paul Newman.  My guy Jeff...good memories  I heard through the grapevine that his wife was just dx with SFBC....

Rach, Oh how I have been chowing down on steaks and all kinds of stuff since chemo left me crying over not being able to eat!  Leggy and I had a mutual lovefest over this topic...YOUR KID IS SO VERY CUTE!!!!!  a little heart breaker in the making, that boy.  How cool is that filling in guy?  That's great!  I work amongst commercial real estate agents and you wouldn't believe all the freebies going around right now, so makes sense that residential would have some goodies to throw in too!  BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK!!  Way cool about that guy noticing your heart breaker kid, just fabulous I say!!!

PattyB, hope you enjoy that great nephew and have a wonderful day!

Crystal, yay for the good appt. post chemo!!

I peeked in and said hi to one of the chemo nurses yesterday, she was like "your hair is so cute"!!  Then she asked if I was coming in to the chemo room (edited to add into the chemo room for a treatment), I said "oh hellllll no!!!"  we had a good laugh and a hug.  Those girls are the best! 

Kari- i know what you mean about those chemo nurses. They are the most knowledgeable, professional, compassionate women I have ever had the privilege of being around. On my last day of chemo many of them cried with me as I left. I miss them!

Kari - yes I had my favorite also. And the one not so favorite...the butcher!

Hi kfinnigan--small world! I was just at Valley Fair earlier this week. How you liking Sacto?

lisa-e, nice to meet you! I had looked for a bc group in this area and only came across a post about a year ago from a girl in Pleasanton, looking for more of us in this area. She never got any replies. You climbing inside or out?

Good weekend to all!

It is getting ready to snow in Denver tonight. This is a good thing, it means that when I am sleeping with all the windows open I will cool down a little quicker. I guess my DH will have to sleep in his ski clothes tonight!

Debbie, both - a friend and I are going  to the Pinnacles on Saturday, then I am climbing at the local gym on Sunday with my dh.  Any chance that you are a climber too? 

Rachel, it is true about keeping up with this thread, unless I am avoiding work . . . I am the queen of procrastination . . .