Starting Chemo May 2008

Thinking of you Julie-and praying for yur FIL.

Thinking of  you too, Jen--hope that all goes well with your visit with the surgeon.  You are braver than me....

Have appointment Tues. to be evaluated for lymphadema in my right arm--it isn't too bad right now, but I want it under control before it gets any worse.  

Hope that all of you are having a great day!

Wow Jules....what a day. I admire your patience and your love and your perspective. And, as for your daughter, I believe she has a very strong guide....love you all.

Dana...eating better?

Julie - it always struck me  funny how grade school boys and girls think they can be "going out".  Where do they go?  To the monkey bars?  And the class bad boy?  Was DD flattered or creepy out?

I'm sorry to read about your FIL diagnosis - hopefully MIL will take her eyes off herself and realize she has someone nearby who understands more than most and can offer insight.

Jackie - have you fought against lymphedema this entire time?  Will your be going to therapy for this, wearing a compression sleeve or ???

Eddie - Fabulous picture! 

Rock - when do you come home? Are you ready or wishing for more time?

Jen - hurray for the upcoming TRAM.  Mine is scheduled for Jan. 11.  How long will you be in the hospital? And how long did your surgeon say you'd be out of commission? Let us know how the Christmas lights appear through the drug altered vision.

Everyone else - I've been reading, not posting.  (is that similar to long time listener-1st time caller - I don't think so as those call in shows don't care about each other the way my May sisters do) It's good to keep up with the happening in your lives through this site and FB. 

The past two days DH and I have been baking cookies - first time doing this together in 20 years of marriage. The experience was enjoyable!  Initially he was driving me nuts, he hates messes so he would clean up as we went and I couldn't find some things when looking for them as they were washed dried and put away. In the end it was a real treat because he left minimal for the big clean up.The sugar cookies didn't turn out very well - tried a new recip, cookies didn't hold their shape, candy canes morphed into saxaphones and snowmen into blobs of odd shapes. They do taste quite good though.

My classes have gone well.  I'm just finishing the 2nd 8 week block.  Proud to say so far I am an A student!

DS, still working with YWAM is co-leading a 2 month outreach to Taiwan and an undisclosed location.  He has matured late in life and I'm astounded with the change in him.  God is going a good work both in him and through him.

DD will be home for Christmas break this Friday.  Looks like she'll complete her schooling in two more semesters.  Three weekends ago we met in Denver, saw a play, talked, and walked around downtown Denver.  It was a priceless weekend.  Don't know what I enjoyed more - seeing the play myself or witnessing her reaction. (As I'm writing this I am thinking perhaps I already shared this with you - but since I took the time to type it I'm leaving it in this post)

I have a dear friend who has been recently diagnosed with Stage I BC, scheduled for lumpectomy early January.  At this point she is refusing radiation.  Instead she is eating an alkaline diet, and will be taking home hyperbaric Oxygen treatments (her DH rented a chamber and will be setting it up in their living room). My instinct want to shake her and say take the damn radiation BUT this is HER journey, not mine. I've learned on our blog and on BCO that women handle this "darkness" many different ways.  The chosen way has to be the one that the woman can live with. After 6 months of hellacious Femara treatment I stopped taking it, instead taking supplements that I believe will make a difference in the long run. Several of you felt I made the wrong choice, voiced it lovingly and then let it go.  I am go grateful that we accept each other and our decisions.

There are still a few cookies to be iced so I'll sign off for now.

Love to all!

Robin

Robin, good to hear from you.  I laughed at your description of candy canes morphing into saxophones.  You know, I do a lot of cookie baking this time of year, but never cookies that are supposed to look like something.  They're beyond me.

Cris, you better get better soon.

Jen - what a Christmas present you're giving yourself.  When you decide to do something, wow: you get it done. 

Julie, thinking of you; thinking of everyone.

Linda

Cookie hints from the kitchen of a person who bakes way too much during the holidays. ~invest in a mini icecream scoop or cookie scoop. They are cheap, and all the cookies come out round and the same size. Sugar cookies....... MUCH easier to just buy a rool of premade and roll it out. You will be spending a ton of time decorating them afterwards to make up for the "not being so homemade " part. Pillsbury tends to not turn hard as well. Give this a try.... make up the nestle toll house cookie recipe but instead of using chocolate chips, use butterscotch and then add in some toffee bits. YUM!

Cris~ feel better soon!

Linda~ They said they could do it after the holidays and I told the doc that if I can get it in before the 1st my deductible was covered already. So they called the hospital to see where they could get me in. He even offered to do it on a saturday.

Julie~ you naughty thing, I'll be singing that for days ROFl!

Robin~ GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up them good grades girlie :O)

I also am a lurker and no poster lately. Blame it on the ________ <---- add whatever works for you lol

Good morning ladies! thought I would drop in and pull some strength from you guys this morning. I have a mammo and ultrasound tomorrow morning. This is the first one that I've kinda been nervous about, not that I have found anything or such. I think it's mostly to do with the upcoming surgery, and the thought went thru my mind..... what if they found something on the other side???? I guess this underlaying fear will be there for the rest of my life, just wish it would go away! Doc said he won't count me as clean until I hit the 2 year mark.... in april. Gads! Almost 2 years since all this crap has started.. can you believe it? Last year most of us just had fuzz on our heads for cmas.

So bundle up tomorrow morning its a tad chilly here and be ready to go at 10am :O)

I'll be there, Jen.  Hey, isn't that a Jackson 5 song?:  I'll Be There.

otter 

I'm with all of them and you, Jen.

That's a great idea!

OK..~~~whispering~~~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE

(I was whispering in my head - typing in a loud voice)

Thanks for the birthday wishes here and on FB.  It was a pretty low key kind of day, which is good this time of year. 

Robin - we'll bring the party bus to your place once we get done with Jen in a few weeks. 

I feel like everything we have going on is in the next two weeks.  PET scan results for FIL was good.  The tumor is contained within the lung and hasn't spread.  He is tentatively scheduled for surgery on Monday.  He has to pass his pulmonary function test on Thursday first.  I do get to go along after all, they don't like to drive in bad weather and we are expecting lots of rain and cold.  I could use a few or more of you to hang out in the hospital with me.

Hugs to all  - Julie

Instead of a party bus wouldn't it be a booby bus then??? *snicker*

Robin~ I had the same problem with the sugar cookies last night. My snowflakes turned into flowers. But then again this year I am forgetting too many things and messing them up. It's not fun for some reason this year. :O(

That's good news, Jen. I just wish they could tell you right away, even if you had to wait a few minutes for a radiologist to look at the images.

Now can we have some cookies?

otter 

Just finished the last batch of cookies - will send them to family in Ohio tomorrow.  Mom can't bake anymore, a sister has just taken in her daughter and 2 grandsons, oldest sis is chronically ill and the rest of the fam simply likes cookies. And yes - I send the old shapped ones also. They taste the same!

Julie - we have had bitter cold but snow was minimal.  

Jen - glad with squishing is over.

Otter - have all the cookies you want!  When do you leave for your Christma trip? - never mind.  I just reread your post.  DH wants to make a fruit cake - think he just wants to soak it in rum or brandy or something with alcohol.  Fannie Farmer, huh?  I'll see if I can find it on the internet.

Linda said she used the dark fruitcake recipe from the Fannie Farmer cookbook.  I googled "fannie farmer" x "fruitcake" and came up with this recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Dark-Fruit-Cake-236603

If you read the reviews for that recipe, plus anything else about making good fruitcakes, they say it's better if you use dried fruit instead of candied (sweet) fruit, and soak the fruit in liquor (e.g., brandy) before using it in the cake.  I wouldn't know; I've never made a fruitcake.  This will be a first time for me.  It won't matter how it comes out, though, because dh eats anything.

Our holidays are going to end up kind of stressful.

My MIL is in a physical rehab center.  She has had severe pain in her hips and lower back for months now, and it finally got so bad that she couldn't walk and ended up going to the hospital.  None of her doctors have been able to figure out what was causing the pain.  She had both hips replaced awhile back, and her primary care doc thought the replacements had gone bad.  The surgeon who did the surgeries said there was nothing wrong with the prosthetic joints -- the pain had to be from something else.  Finally she consulted an orthopedic surgeon who knew what he was doing.  He told her yesterday that both her prosthetic hip joints have worn out.  Their lifespan is (was) about 10 years, and it has been that long.  So, she is scheduled for hip replacement surgery in mid-January for one side; the other side will be done about 6 weeks later if the first surgery goes okay.  All this depends on a medical "clearance" from her primary care doc -- she is in her mid-80's and has to be able to tolerate the surgery. In the meantime, she'll be in the rehab center in a shared hospital room instead of her apartment.  <sigh>

And, I talked to my mom a few days ago.  (rock, are you reading this?)  My mom sounded kind of sad.  When I asked if she and dad were okay, mom said they were having "some problems."  ("New problems?", I thought. Oh, no -- now what's happened?  I assumed dad must be back in the hospital, and she hadn't called to tell me.)   What problems?  Well, it had snowed 4 inches, and mom realized she would have to take out the garbage herself and she didn't have any winter boots. That was the "problem".

Until now, dad has pulled the big, wheeled trash can down to the curb the night before the weekly pick-up.  Mom said she can't ask him to do that anymore (for a variety of reasons, one being that he might wander off down the street and not come back).  So now she has to figure out how to get out to the garage and drag the plastic container through the snow to the street. 

And, she said, she doesn't have any winter boots to wear. What?  Living in snow country, and no boots?  Since when?  She said she hasn't had any boots for years.  And now, she doesn't know what to do about the garbage.  Call a neighbor?  No, she can't bother a neighbor with something like that.  Skip a week, so the driveway will be plowed and the sidewalk shoveled (those jobs are hired out)?  No, can't skip a week -- they make too much garbage.

I am thinking, what am I supposed to do about the garbage, or buying her some new boots, when I'm a 13-hour drive away???  And, if she is having trouble figuring out what to do about the garbage, how can she do all the other things that need to be done to keep a house?  Is it finally time to move to a retirement center? How can I convince her of that, when she gets angry every time the subject is brought up?  <sigh>

Oops.  TIme for lunch.  Granddaughter Annie is hungry.  Thanks for listening.

Hugs to all...

otter