Anyone starting chemo in June 08

Bonnie,  I would think about your Dr's visit over the weekend then try make a list of the top 4-5 things you want to discuss.  One being that you don't feel supported by your doctor's office and that is why you are changing.  Maybe having a plan will help you get through it and she can understand what you need from her to help you.  Doctors are not just for prescribing meds, they should also explain how and why something is or isn't working and help you decide what is best for you.

I really hope she is what you need.  I always make a list because it is so easy to get distracted.  Sometimes I still forget some of it and have to email my doc later.  That is a really nice option too, it lets you ask a question or tell them a symptom without having to be on hold.  Ask if they have that. I hope your weekend is better,

Kelly

Aww Bonnie....sorry for your bad days.  I have themtoo.  Don't think for a minute that Tamoxifen doesn't carry some terrible side effects, as well as the chemo and radiation effects still lingering in our body.   I agree with Leggy.  I know I have had some issues with Tamoxifen.  As a women, I thought I always knew my body.  I don't anymore.  I question what a pain is now every time I have one.  The fact that I can no longer do all the physical things I did two years ago before this journey chaps my a$$!  I hope you can get an understanding with your new physician.  My onc listens to me and in turn, I take his advice as I know he sees this shit every day.  He also is compassionate as he has lost two family members to cancer.  Chocolate....don't worry about the plastic surgery.  LMAO about the Heidi Montag comment.  Don't worry, my surgeries are not out of vanity.  I have heard of the bittorrent.  I used to do the music years ago on a file sharing network....Morpheus.  Got a lot of songs that way but I am chicken now to subject my pc to all the malware and crap that can occur with file swapping, and I do have good firewall, antivirus, etc.  My son has a friend that does it and I have gotten some movies that way.  Kelly, glad you are in the works on your porch and sure wish that picture of you and your daughter was bigger.  Also, don't know how much time off I will need for this "turn up."  Hope it will not be too long.  I don't have the time to spare at work.  I also hope you catch a big fish on your trip or at least your husband does.  My son has gone steelhead fishing this weekend and he fly fishes for those too.  They can be 5-10 lbs.  Hope he does well.  Wyoming, hope you are feeling well as can be this weekend.  Hope you get a grandkid visit when you are feeling up to it too!!!  Leggy, enjoy your long weekend and wish I could share in your cab.  My teeth can't take sugar anymore....dang the luck!  Hi Kathy!  Hugs to ya all....this is good therapy.  Happy Saturday....HD

Hey Girls, It's been raining all day, so I had a real good excuse to stay in my pj's most of the day.  My Mom walked Wolfie this morning, so I just relaxed all day, until it was my turn to walk him.  Lucky for me there was a lull, in the rain. 

I bought two big aluminum water troughs, and bags of potting soil, so that I could have a little veggie garden, but I didn't really want to work that hard today anyway.  It can wait. Boy, these are going to be expensive veggie's, The troughs are about a hundred bucks, and then the potting soild to fill them was another hundred bucks. But it will be worth it, in the long run.

Hey Bonnie I went to Macy's yesterday, and Warner's is having a sale on bra's, buy 2 get 2 free, no mail-rebate crap(I hate that).  They have a lot of new bra's without under wire, and I found some comfy ones, but they usually hurt as soon as I wash them and wear them all day.  My scar from my 2 lumpectomy is under my breast and it still hurts. I just hate having to tug down my bra all the time, especially at work, it's like picking your underwear out of your butt, invariably someone catches you.

Hope your feeling better today, Wyoming, When I did TAC the fatigue was so terrible, and it only gave me about two days of feeling OK, before the next infusion.  It was really hard for me to eat anything except, Instant breakfast and vanilla ice cream.  Sometimes Oatmeal, but my friend made me chicken soup, and would freeze portions in plastic tubs and bring them over.  Chicken soup!!!!!!!!  It is a wonder food, I really think I would have died, if it wasn't my friends chicken soup.  Do you have to give yourself shots(I forget what it's called now, Neuprogen?)? I mostly got nausous from acid reflex, but when they gave me meds.(Raglan) for that it went away. Then I just took something over the counter.  The worst thing for me was constipation(and still is from Tamoxifen).  Boy this take me back.  It's not in a bad way, I'm just really surprized I made it through all this, so far.  I give you girls so much credit!!!  I don't know if I could do it again, even if I could.  My Onc. says he gave me the toughest chemo. he could and and I wouldn't benefit from chemo. if I have mets. so in a way I was glad.  Does that sound fatalistic, I hope not?  But the pain I live with daily can only get worse with age, and I just don't know how I'm going to deal with this.  I have a low threshold for pain anyway, and really high one for pain meds. Sorry didn't mean to sound so depressed.

How's it going HunkyD?

Love to all

Leggy & Vicky, you are scaring me with your early rising canine companions! We are getting our puppy at the end of July and I need to teach him to sleep in starting at day one.  Any tips anyone? - no, not from Leggy or Vicky - I can tell a sucker when I see one. LOL. I'm sure I'll join you soon.

I can only wish it was time to plant flowers.  The temp is warming up here, but we got snow again last night. And the winds are too strong for me to even go out for a walk! I'm hoping that May will bring calmer sunny days.  My tulips are up, but just the leaves. I guess the ground is still frozen here. But those Rocky Mountains sure look beautiful with the snow caps. And my little wild crocuses are starting to appear all over the ground.

Bonnie, how did it go at the doc's?

Kelly - your photo inspired me.  I signed up to become a Girl Guide leader. Actually Sparks, who are 5-6 yrs old.  One night/week for 1.5 hrs starting next Sept. Yay for me! I was a visitor at a meeting last night and it was so much fun. I cannot wait! And maybe we will get to go camping too. :-)

ok, gotta go into town and get my weekly healing touch appt. I cannot miss it. so relaxing! cheers gales. oops - i mean gals! hahaha. too much wind on my mind. (Hunky dont go there!)

xo  Choc.

Choc, I thought we were pretty boring compaired to a lot of other threads.  Maybe it is just the "wind" blowing in some bored readers....LOL!  Hope you are all doing well?  I am very sore and still off of work.  I did not like that last surgery.  I think the twilight medication I was on was LSD.  Wow, it was something else.  Very embarrassed to see the PS again.  I know I was a chatterbox for sure.  We might hit the 70degree weather here gals this weekend.  Wahooo.   Take care all....HD. 

Went to the Doc's and she sent me for blood work, urine, xray, and ecg. I will see her next week when she has the results. She asked if I worry about the cancer coming back, of course I said yes, it is always on your mind or at least at the back of your mind just waiting to pop out at you.  If everything is clear then she said we will have a talk about everything, sounded good to me, just talking to her made me feel mentally better.

She asked if I had heard from the plastic surgeon yet and I told her the receptionist said I will probably get an appointment in the beginning of June (hopefully). She looked at my scars and said that must be very uncomfortable because I have a piece of skin & fat I guess just hanging at the edge of my back and the scar is really tight under my arm area and the bras just rub it raw. Although she also told me that whoever fitted the bra didn't do a very good job. Thats what I thought. Oh well see what happens next week.

Choc a new puppy how wonderful, they usually grow up a little in about a years time, during that first year you will definitely be up at night, cleaning up messes, and making sure the puppy isn't chewing anything it shouldn't be. LOL  I have a dog and really the first year goes pretty fast and they are a lot of company.

Anyway I better go waiting for my son to call as we are having a baby tonight, just phoned about an hour ago to let me know they were at the hospital.

Take care everyone

Bonnie

Bonnie congrats on the new baby. What did you get? We want name, weight, and height. Hug you new baby for us. Bonnie sounds like your new doctor is more sympathetic and willing to listen.

Michelle, I love new puppies. They are so cute because they don't know any better. They just feel good and are happy all the time. What kind of puppy are you getting? You probably already told us but I have chemo brain. LOL

Kelly I hope you start to feel better. If it helps to rant go for it. We all have wide shoulders.

HunkyD sorry about the soreness. Are you finished with surgeries? I'm getting warmer weather also but the wind is blowing hard.

Leggy how is work going? Don't work to hard and get plenty of rest.

I met my new doctor yesterday. The hospital had a going away for my old doc and a meet and greet for the new onc. He seems very nice and caring. I told him I was one of his patients and he grab my hand and asked how I was doing and feeling. I will see him and my old onc on Friday for my treatment. I found out this morning that my principal is retiring. He is the best to work for. It will be hard to have a new principal. My principal said my health was one of things holding him back from retiring as he wanted to make sure I had time off without worry. I told him I was appreciative but he need not worry about me and do what is best for him. I will miss him a lot.

Gales (gals) have a good day

Vicky

Hunky, I laughed when you said you chattered away - that's what i'm like on good drugs too. I hope you're feeling better now. glad it's over.

Leggy, you gals make me smile everyday. what can I say? sometimes I tend to joke when I'm stressed (which is a lot lately) but usually I can see humour in most everything. I know we share similar senses of humour; all of us. It's such a great group to have my back!

Kelly, please dont feel that we dont get it. Rant away. I am stage IV also, and have seen the other threads. Some days just suck, plain and simple. No-one gets it. There is no nice way to say that we hate this disease. It has robbed us of so much; mostly for me it's taken my hope for the future.  Tell us how you feel. And if you dont want to joke about it, or lighten it up, its ok. It's ALL ok. 

Bonnie, I am sooo happy for your family. A healthy baby girl. so sweet. I also live in Alberta, let me know when you are coming - we should all meet!

bye for now. hugs to Karen & Vicky, also.  Choc.

Choc where in alberta, I am going there in May for my grandson's grad. which is in Camrose.

Bonnie

Oops I meant to add that I am feeling better now.      Kelly

My Onc. made an appointment for me for June 7th.  Last year I had my mammo. in May and really freaked out when I didn't hear anything from them, and hadn't seen my Onc. in over 6months. I let two weeks go by, and then emailed my doctor twice about whether they were going to make an appointment for me or what...Now I don't even want to see him, and he makes the appointment, way in advance.  Probably doesn't want me freaking out again.  So, I expect to see an a card in the mail, any day for the mammogram.

CALM

CALM....

oops, sorry Kathy, why did I call u Karen? lets blame chemo. hehe. always a good reason! I'm going to Ontario for the May long wkd, and fly to Toronto, but then go to Barrie, Newmarket, Alliston, & Everett to see family.  It will be my Mom & Dad's 70th birthday on the 23rd, so we're planning a party for them.  That reminds me - I need to make a car rental reservation. It will be a busy trip!

Bonnie, I am about 1 hour south of Calgary, so 3 hrs away from where you are going.  You will most likely fly into Edmonton, as that's much closer. too bad.   When are you coming?

Nice weather now so we're out to do yard work before the winds pick up again.  Mostly dh does the work and I bring him drinks, and make suggestions. ok, ok. I tell him what needs doing. Well, I'm good at that! lol.

Hunky do you have a drain? or did you? I hated sleeping upright. It's awful. It's like trying to sleep on a plane - for 5 nights in a row. Horrible! Here's to you getting horizontal again very soon.   now, now, don't go there either. Sheesh you girls. Minds in the gutters! LOL

ok, have a great day all.

hi Leggy and Kelly and anyone else I forgot. love you all, xoxo Choc.

Hello everyone, I had my first apt with new doc. My old one was there also. I think I will like me new doc. They were talking back a forth and I caught every other word. Sounds like they both have the same philosophy.

You gals make me laugh. I love your sense of humor.

Bonnie yeah on your new grand baby. I love her name. Give her kisses from all of us/.

It must be the weather or time of year. I sounds like we've all had our down days.

I got a weekend of grandbabies so I'm flying pretty high today. They make me laugh and my hearts swells every time they look at me.

I have to remember to celebrate life.

Vicky

Hi Karen, your right about the chance of frost date.  Even in CA, there's still a chance of frost until May 15th...they say.  But I couldn't wait, and I hope I don't get caught unprepared.  One of my friends is a former winery owner, and he keeps me weather wise.  He has a frost alarm at his house, since he still works for the winery. 

Soft hugs to all.