Starting Chemo April 2009

Hi everyone. There is no snow here in Toronto ... well maybe we had about 1/4 inch yesterday. So far, no real snow here this winter but it's only Feb. 11 and there's still time for lots of snowstorms. Nothing new with me, except I've been dx with chemo induced diabetes. Guess having 2 different rounds of chemo did me in. I'm depressed. I haven't told my family.

Hey all,

I've had a cold... but the good news, I think my runny nose has caused my swollen breast to begin shrinking. LOL... but truly it's about freakin time! The redness has gone away and also most of the pain. I'm keepin my fingers crossed that this progress continues. My new drugs must be kicking in.

We are having a very early spring here in the NW. It's been in the upper 50's and next week a 60 degree day is in the forecast. We haven't even gotten our normal winter rains, I think they all went to CA. So I can't complain. Sending you all warm thoughts.

Hey girls - Just checking in for a minute.  Got back Sunday night, still trying to dig out and now dealing with a roof leak UGH!  No time to write any more gotta run and change another bucket.  Thanks for checking on me.  I'll write more later.  HUGS, Dawn

Hey kids..how A..R...E....YOU..don't we all hate that question..but actually it doesn't come as often as it used to..maybe just once a week now...

Helen..in the USA it is President's Day...government offices and schools are closed.no mail..but everyone else is open..I don't think that is fair!  I work for a 13 store grocery chain..and well...we never close..we are not Wal-mart (thank God...and apologies to whomever does work for W-mart..but I'm not a fan)...

Dawn..you kill me..do you live in a big old house..what was that movie???  Anyway..you will have to let us know how Disney was..I love that place....we had the best time there several years ago.

Judy..can you go to bed early?  Or do you have to stay up late because of your kids?   I go to bed around 9:30 or 10 during the week..it seems to help....we are going to the Cleveland Cavs game on Thursday..it starts at 8 and I'm freaking that I will be sleeping at half time..I'm just used to it...I feel that I'm making up all the time with the chemo steriods that denied me all that sleep that I needed...

Hi, girls!  Hope everyone is well.  I am at the 1st Cancerversary tomorrow - yup, Valentine's Day.  At least it will be better than last year when I got that crap news.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, filled with lots of love and hugs from your sweeties and families.

You sweet sisters are all my valentines - I could not have gotten through this year without you!!!

 I don't really care where we go, as my focus is on you all, rather than the surroundings. What DOES matter to me is the difficulty of getting there. I really don't want to spend a lot of time flying/driving especially if there are not direct flights and I have to transfer and have a layover, and then having to drive a long way from the airport. So maybe the thing to do is get a list of those who are seriously considering going, and their locations. Then we can figure out a central, easy to get to city. I think if we don't start to get a little more specific about either dates or locations (or both), this is never going to move from an idea to reality.

What do you ladies think?

Hi all,

I decided to ignore my bs advance and hopped in our hot tub last night...it was Valentines Day after all. I was only a week shy of her recommendation. Anyway, my boob swelled and got red all over again. Damn!!! It's a new hot tub which I treated myself to cause I had to deal with this GA disease last year. A gift to myself, paid for by an old cancer insurance policy. It really sucks..now I can't use it. Shit...sometimes life is so unfair. Oh well, I'm hoping this is just a temporary situation. But I know I need to wait another month before taking another dip.

The good thing is I'm not all that sore and I worked out in my garden today. So things are improving slowly. Yippie!

As I wrote on the Sept. rads board. I think if we meet we should meet in April or sometime this fall in a central location. I am throwing out Denver and Kansas City as options as they look pretty central in the US. But I'm open to flying elsewhere. Like Amy...it's the company, not necessarily the location that matters.

Sorry to hear you are all still snowed in. We are headed for a spring week...it's unusually warm here. What the heck is up with this weather?

Dawn how's that leak?

Helen - are you still doing the nordic walking?

Judy - love your hugs.

Titan- the get together will happen! We will make it so, even if it's just the two of us!

I think I missed something somewhere down the line -- "trip to LV"?!?!?! "open to flying" ?!?!?! um HUH?!?!? What?!?! Do I still have chemo brain?



:::faints::::



Um, thanks but no thanks, but you all better make those kinds of plans without me -- I don't travel and don't want to even. Even just THINKING about a big trip like that overwhelms and scares the living daylights out of me, so I'm gonna pass. The rest of you, if you're into all that -- go for it!



Tammy -- you must be one of the only people who has ever described me as "charming" -- unless of course you're being sarcastic! ROFLMAO!



Helen -- no snow for you this year? Sounds to me like you've got ONE thing to be positive about! LOL



Betsy -- you mean you can't EVER use the hot tub, or you just can't use it for some TIME yet? :-O



Judy -- I recently (last 3 weeks or so I think) discovered and started taking this "new" (to me) OTC sleep aid with melatonin in it too, but it's not really any better than the stuff I was taking before, neither of which were really too good: yes they made me sleepy at bedtime (and so does MidNite, the "new" stuff with the melatonin in it), but I'm STILL not able to sleep ALL THE WAY through a whole night without interruption! GRRRR. Still though, the MidNite is not any worse, and, (a) I don't need a prescription for it, and (b) I was on the other one so long I really SHOULD take a break from it anyway. So, is the melatonin helping you any?



Titan -- Diamonds?! Um, whoa! did you get any? that's definitely not US! ...my Pack Rat gave me a wireless router (:-D YAY! my new DSL is now playing nice with my Ethernet network, and, I can go high speed wireless online in the living room with my iBook now too, legally LOL), a box of chocolates (for the first time ever, probably because this was the first time I'd have ever actually appreciated that; I've never been much of a chocolate fan but after I quit smoking I finally picked up a little of a sweet tooth!) and a bunch of pairs of warm fuzzy socks in various colors. Fuzzy socks! Cool! I love fuzzy warm socks! Sooo.....I spoiled him rotten, plus I got him drunk and took advantage of him. Heh heh heh -- yup, well...apparently I don't go into heat spontaneously anymore like I used to (NOT talking about the goshdarn hot flashes), but if he's around I sure do, and am every bit a good wild Sewer Rat.



So my already messed up body clock is now REALLY wacked (my Pack Rat had to get up at 5 this morning and I ended up getting up with him and seeing him off at 6), plus...well, I had to "sleep him off" too...my endurance is NOT what it used to be, not even now, 7 months PFC)...I went back to bed at 7 AM till noon, been sleeping on and off most of the day actually. He's worth it though. ::::sighing and swooning:::::



~Lena.

I have to admit to all of you that since it got cold outside (i.e. winter) I haven't been using my nordic poles but I intend to when the weather warms up a bit. We haven't had any significant snow fall this winter so far ... a few flakes here and there but nothing much. It's most unusual but we still have more than an official month of winter to go and sometimes the worst storms can be in March. The good news at that time is that it melts quickly. While I would love to meet all of you, I don't think I'll be able to come to this year's get together even though you mention some great locations. My son is getting married this spring so I'm focusing on that. I'm working full time again and trying to get to the gym a couple of times a week. I'm trying to get back into yoga but it's difficult as I've lost so much flexibility and strength over the past year. I will keep trying. Has anyone been watching the Olympics. Needless to say we are all pleased that it's being hosted in Vancouver and our athletes are doing well. I know the U.S. is tops in the medal department but our guys are winning too.

HEY GIRLS - Just a quick hello!  UGH on my house.  Drywall off in my kitchen, carpet has to be replaced in my family room, hardwood has to be redone.  My daughter's room and the master bath have minor drywall repair.   Looks like I'll be dealing with this for a while.  I'm way behind here so I'm not sure I can catch up with all that has happened with everyone.  We must all be busy as no one has been on here in a bit. 

 JUDY - I hope you're doing OK, you always popped in to say hello and I haven't seen you in a bit.

TITAN - I would be interested in getting us together, unfortunately I don't think I can go far.  We could pole everyone that would be interested and see if there is a central point.  Let's keep the topic open.

Take care everyone.  HUGS, Dawn

Hi all, sorry that I have not been here for a while, I have been overseas in the UK visiting my family. I took my eldest daughter with me and we had such a good time. It was so refreshing to get away.

I am doing ok, although the travelling and time difference has knocked me out a bit. The melatonin I am taking doesn't really help me sleep as much as it keeps me fairly relaxed whilst I am lying in bed not able to sleep.

I hope you are all doing well and I will start visiting regularly again over the next week or so.

I think it is a great sign that we are all busy on this thread. Dawn, good luck with those repairs and Helen, how exciting that your son is getting married. Betsy, how are you feeling? Lena and Titan, I always enjoy your posts.

Hugs to everyone and take care, Judy xoxoxox

Hi all,

I've been busy making drs. appts. I go in tomorrow for my 6 mo. onc appt. Monday, a BSGI to rule out more "cancer". I really don't think that's the issue. It's inflammation that's the problem. I have a page and a half, albeit a small page, of questions to ask the onc tomorrow.

I'm now on my 4th antibiotic and it's bringing back those wonderful stomach pains from chemo. Judy I know you can relate to this. My heartburn is beginning to kick in again. Oh joy...but only 8 days to go.

I don't think I mentioned on this forum that my drug...trental..is not available in the US temporarily due to an issue at the manufacturing plant in China. So I ordered my drugs from Canada and hopefully they were shipped from India on Monday. Hopefully, I will get them before I run out on Sat. Judy too bad I didn't know you were heading to the UK...you could have picked up some for me.   

Dawn- sorry to hear that the damage to your house was so major. Sounds all consuming.

Lena- I tried the hot tub this past weekend, just from the waist down, and I still flared up. So no hot tubing until I lick this infection, or whatever it is.

TITAN - Oh yeah - I'm having fun alright.  Thank goodness for homeowner's insurance. LOL

JUDY - WOOHOO what fun.  I'm glad to hear that you got away.  My husband went to school in Leeds for the year we were engaged and I went over and visited him for a couple of weeks.  Now that my kids are older and I think they'd appreciate the experience I'd like to go back.

BETSY - BOOHOO - get better girlfriend.  Keep us updated.

HELEN - A wedding - what fun and how exciting.  Hope you're doing OK.

LENA - Hey girlie, I love your stories

HI AMY & CHELEV

HUGS girlfriends, Dawn

Okay,  saw the oncologist last Thursday (2.18.10) as scheduled...got both good and bad news here -- with regards to my BC, the news is good: I'm having an affair with the Stable Boy (um hmmmm, guess I should teach my Pack Rat that expression huh? LOL). That is, my scans were all good concerning my primary tumor, bone met and nodes (no progression of existing tumors, no additional mets, nodes still clean). BUT....

I have a partial splenic vein thrombosis (blood clot in a vein in my spleen). Since I didn't have an issue with my blood being too thick (if anything, my platelet count is still a little low!), apparently my onc thinks it could be the Tamoxifen -- so he told me to go off it and made me have another blood test yesterday. So I had blood taken yesterday --  and go back to the onc on Monday (3.1.10). 

Oh, and it's snowing again too! GRRRRR I hate this winter crap!!!! (I did just send one of my sims to a summer tropical beach resort vacation...LOL).....

Titan and Helen -- about your respective daughter and son engagements and weddings -- tell them I think they'd be MUCH better off if they'd go to the movies instead. That's a piece of advice I was given when I got engaged -- actually my fiance and I were together and the person gave us this advice jointly when we told him we were going to get married -- and I ended up EXTREMELY SORRY for not taking it.

Betsy -- hope the infection is getting better.

Judy -- yeah, that sounds about right concerning your description of the melatonin...it's relaxing but doesn't really help you fall asleep or stay asleep.

Dawn -- normally I'd say I'm glad not to be a homeowner and have to deal with house fixing-upping, but right now I feel like the owners of my apartment building are freakin' slumlords who don't give a donkey's ass! One washing machine in the basement laundry room has been "down" for SEVERAL WEEKS, and the other one went down TWO WEEKS ago too.  Yes I've complained to both the superintendent and the office, repeatedly, for weeks (on the first one) and three times more since the second one died.  GRRRR. The laundromat is not an option for me -- hell I can only just manage to carry my laundry to the REGULAR laundry room which is now sporting the two washers out of order -- so carrying it out to where my car is parked so I can take it to the laundromat is considerably beyond my physical capabilities -- even if there wasn't all the damn ice and snow and I wasn't also hurting from two recent falls. So I gotta wait for them to get off their f***ing duffs and fix the washers.

Well hope you all are feeling happier and healthier than me!

~Lena. 

Hi everyone. I haven't been on for a while. I have 3 sons - oldest is married with 2 children, middle one is one getting married in June. Last week my DIL's mother died ... breast cancer of course. It metastized to her bones 2 years ago after she had been clear for over 8 years. While we knew the end was inevitable, it actually came suddenly. She had still been in active treatment but she developed a bladder infection and she was just too weak to fight it. It spread quickly to her heart. Anyway we've been very upset and it's been a busy week with the funeral and the shiva. The future DIL stepped up and was amazing - don't know what we would have done without her. I have to admit I stopped thinking about my hair and my issues for a few days. We finally got a few inches of snow here but still no major snowfall. And we are all into the Olypics and cheering for more medals for Canada!!! But as usual the US is beating us in total count. Have a good weekend everyone.