"Not Just TNBC: thoughts, humor, pictures on LIFE!"

Hi I saw on the other thread you were setting this one up. I've added to my favourite topics and hopefully we connect here. Thanks for setting up the thread.  

Don't feel bad....I slept in until after 9:30 a.m., which is really late for me.  My mom called and woke me up and my family were already up doing things!  I'm nearly back to normal having finished chemo (TC x4) on Feb. 8th.  However, I start rads tomorrow so I'm probably going to be tired again.  Well  I'm off to do some time on the treadmill momentarily.  I'm hoping I can continue working out while undergoing rads.

Sherri 

Heidi - quick question...when you worked out during rads how was your skin from the sweat? That's my worry as I sweat (...or should I say perspire) a lot when I'm on the treadmill. I hear rads is more of a nuisance.  I'm fortunate in that I live really close to the regional cancer centre (less than 5 miles) and my co-workers have done a schedule and each day someone is taking me to keep me company.  I'm off on short-term leave for treatment so I'm looking forward to seeing them since I've been off since December. 

I can only image how much work horse care is. I have a bichon-poodle who is a bit of work but nothing like a horse. He's my little buddy and has been there for me these past few months.

Sherri 

ooops forgot to copy it in... lol there is another for ya with my still slow brain

Lizard Birth

If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead Goldfish, the story below will have you laughing out
LOUD!

Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet.

Here's what happened:

Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was 'something wrong' with one of the two Lizards he holds prisoner in his room.

'He's just lying there looking sick,' he told me. 'I'm Serious, Dad. Can you help?'

I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and Followed hi m into his bedroom. One of the little lizards
Was indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.

'Honey,' I called, 'come look at the lizard!'

'Oh, my gosh!' my wife exclaimed. 'She's having babies.'

'What?' my son demanded. 'But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!'

I was equally outraged.

'Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce,' I said accusingly to my wife.

'Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?' she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)

'No, but you were supposed to get two boys!' I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).

'Yeah, Bert and Ernie!' my son agreed.

'Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know,' she informed me (Again with the sarcasm!).

By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it.

'Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience,' I announced. 'We're about to witness the miracle of birth...'

'Oh, gross!' they shrieked

'Well, isn't THAT just great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?' my wife wanted to know.

We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.

'We don't appear to be making much progress,' I noted.

'It's breech,' my wife whispered, horrified.

'Do something, Dad!' my son urged...

'Okay, okay.' Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug.. it disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.

'Should I call 911?' my eldest daughter wanted to know.

'Maybe they could talk us through the trauma.' (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)

'Let's get Ernie to the vet,' I said grimly.. We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.

'Breathe, Ernie, breathe,' he urged.

'I don't think lizards do Lamaze,' his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for God's sake.).

The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.

'What do you think, Doc, a C-section?' I suggested scientifically.

'Oh, very interesting,' he murmured. 'Mr. And Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?'

I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.

'Is Ernie going to be okay?' my wife asked.

'Oh, perfectly,' the vet assured us.. 'This lizard is not in labor.. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen.
Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they um . . Um .. . . Masturbate. Just the way he did, lying on his back.' He blushed, glancing at my wife..

We were silent, absorbing this.

'So, Ernie's just . Just . . Excited,' my wife offered.

'Exactly!! The vet replied , relieved that we understood.

More silence.. Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.

'What's so funny?' I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness...

Tears were now running down her face. 'It's just .that . .I'm picturing you pulling on its . . . its. .. . teeny little . . '
She gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.

'That's enough,' I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car.. He was glad everything was going to be okay.

'I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad, he told me.

'Oh, you have NO idea,' my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.

Two lizards: $140.

One cage: $50.

Trip to the vet: $30.

Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie: Priceless!

Moral of the story: Pay attention in biology class.

Lizards lay eggs! 

Just wanted to share a coouple of funny incidences:

My oldest daughter who is now 24 was 2 at the time and had just started attending daycare. Her verbal skills were great for a 2  year old but this one particular time she really had me going. Everyday I would ask what she did that day and would get pretty clear answers. One particular day I asked and she said, "we had sex at the nursery". Surely I didn't hear her right so I asked her to repeat it. Again she said the same thing. In fact I asked several more times and you know a 2 year old, she got irritated with me and just shut down, refused to repeat it or say anything else for that matter. Of course I was freaking out. My family was there and everyone was trying to calm me down as well as get her to repeat it.

Finally after taking a few deep breaths, I decided to take another approach. I asked her,"what did you do when you had 'sex". She said we ate cookies and had juice! She was saying 'snacks' not sex. I was ready to kill somebody. We still laugh about it now!

Some years later, my niece came home and said she had a 'prostitute' (subtitute) teacher that day. We had a good laugh behind that one also!

Thank you so much for the information!!

Heidi - thanks for sharing!  That's interesting about the staging because my surgeon said the same thing.  He explained that they don't stage like they did before and that it's more the biology of the tumour (we spell different here in Canada) that treatment is based.  That's great news that you were downgraded.

Sherri  

Yes, we spell things differently here in Canada...tumour, centre, neighbour, colour, etc. 

I also wondered why each of my doctors wants to see me and that makes sense that they're looking for different things. I guess I never thought of it that way.

Gotta go...for some strange reason, my dog has just jumped into the laundry tub, which is high up and he's a small dog (bichon-poodle)! He's barking for me to rescue him. I think he's the culprit for the missing socks!

So you guys are dog people...I'm a cat person...we have two..one is an "old girl"..we got her from the Humane Society..she has never really been a normal cat..for one thing she really doesn't have a tail...we used to live on a farm and had tons of cats..I mean tons...we were almost like Heidi as we seemed to rescue them..we had 18 at one time (outside)...We were like a cat farm!  Now since we moved we just have 2..the other one is not quite a year old and he is a handful...He keeps us busy..and since my kids are both at school it is probably a good thing..I never thought we would have 2 cats in the house...!

Payton..I have a friend that told me.her cat used to take her son's socks out of his drawer and hide them under the bed..how the cat got in the drawers I don't know..the cat only took the boy's soccer socks..very weird...do you know that you can buy a collar camera to put on your pet and that you can find out what they do all day when you are away?  Not sure if we really want to know!   Whatever we have as pets..they really help with things...!

 When I was getting chemo one day some Cancer Dog group came in with a couple of dogs for we patients to pet..the dogs just layed on the floor....didn't do much...I guess it kind of hit me then..that I was a cancer patient...didn't like it much...

Heidi - how do you insert a photo? I was trying to put in a photo of Brandie my dog in my earlier post but couldn't figure out how to do.  I see the icon to insert a photo but it's asking me for a URL and it's on my hard drive.  Do I need to post somewhere first?

Sherri 

OMG Heidi!  Your Butt looks like MY cat!   And how in the heck did you get him to sit that way and stick his tongue out? 

Oh yeah....the cancer dog experience..I told my Dh that I would prefer bringing my cats in...they would have had a good time...chewing on the chemo drug bags and scratching on the furniture, climbing up and laying on. the nurses station and hanging from the blood pressure machines..

Sugar..even free pets aren't free are they?  Along with our having cats with no tails we had a 3 legged cat also...He got caught in a trap...$800.00 to operate with therapy or to just remove it...we had it removed...He lived 13 years...and with all his issues that was a pretty long time.

Titan - don't laugh but since I paid for my dog on Mastercard, I called the card company because I knew they offered added protection for items that break. They looked into it and informed me that the protection only covers non living things...like clocks, coffee makers, etc. I figured it was worth a try! I bought the platinum pet insurance plan a few days later (his leg is noted as a pre-existing condition) and have never needed it, thank goodness.

I got a package delivered by Canada Post a month or so ago.  I was surprised because I wasn't expecting anything...all my eBay purchases had already been received. When I opened the box, I was surprised to find a quilt from a charity that hand makes quilts for cancer patients. Someone had contacted the charity and requested this quilt for me. It was a lovely gesture and the quilt is beautiful but it really made me feel like a cancer patient.