Calling all TNs

Hello Ladies,

Finally got the second drain out yesterday...Port will go in within the next 2 weeks. My first appointment with my oncologist is Nov. 15. Surgeon feels I should be all healed up by then. Getting a little scared of the Chemo but I know at the end all will be good....

Going back to work as a teacher on Monday...YEAH I really miss my students....they make me laugh and I really need some laughter right now....Just really sick of dealing with this sh**t and I know my journey is just beginning....

Did get to take a shower for the first time since Sept. 24....It was the longest shower I think I have ever taken....

Can't believe how stressed I can become - instantly... with a phone call 5 minutes ago that they need to do another mammo on me.  Had gone for my first annual follow-up Friday, now they want more images on my diseased side.....  I know it may be nothing, but I just feel like my world plummeted.   

Time for a little photo pick-me-up:

Some of you may have already seen this. It's some of the foxes I rehabbed last summer.

thanks Heidi.

monish - I am so sorry you are struggling with pain.  I struggled with a lot of lower back and leg pain while on Taxol (in the same family as the one you're taking).  Day one I was fine, but by day 3 I couldn't stand to be touched and the pain in my legs was terrible.  I can't remember who told you this, but they said to stay on top of the pain with medication and it's true.  I really didn't want pain medication, but when I didn't take it regularly for those few days I was miserable.  And....not that this makes the pain go away, but sometimes a nice soak in the tub helps reduce the stress of the pain and can take your mind off of the pain for a little while - that or a brainless movie.  (((hugs)))

A belated Happy Thanksgiving wish to those of you in Canada.  I apologize for missing it - I've been offline for a few days.

heidi - LOVE your pictures - the foxes are so cute.  Where did you release them?  Or..did they stay in a zoo or wildlife refuge.

Laurajane - thinking of you........

Heidi:

They are beautiful - did you really rehab them???  Wow! 

I would LOVE to rehab red foxes!!  I had a pet rescue for about a year from 2005 to 2006.  I had to stop because my mom was hit by a petroleum truck and I had to care for my grandma... was guardian over 2 gma's at once!  We took literally everything (snakes, chinchillas, ferrets, literally everything), and had raccoon babies at one point, as well as a baby squirrel.  We had to find a rehabber for the coons.  Those red foxes are absolutely gorgeous!

Heidi - you are amazing, truly amazing.  I wish I lived near you.  I would so love to really, really know you!

I must live close to you Heidi, the coincidence is we both live on Earth, as opposed to..........

I agree, we need to hear from Laurajane.

Sugar:  OMG:  Your hair and picture are so cute!!! 

hfhfheidi:  Love the pictures!  Keep them coming.  BTW:  My hair came in steel grey and now it is back to black with pepper, so bring on the hair dye!!

RE: Vitamin D3:  There is a very informative vitamin D site with more information than I could ever remember, but if you go on line I am sure you can purchase this.  I pay $15 a bottle for 120.  "Designs for Health: vitamin D Synergy with vitamin K1:  each tablet has 2000 IU of Vit D3 and 200 mkg of Vit K1.  This is given to me by my dr.

RE: Citrus Pectin and other supplements:  I took this after my surgery for 3 months and my dr also has me take 5 tablets of Wobenzym N with 1 vit C 1000 mg tablet 3 times a day on an empty stomach and this is also supposed to help with recurrence.  Also great for inflamation and the joints.  In Germany they use Mistletoe Extract intraveniously for long term prevention, but it isn't available here in the states.  "Native Remedies" makes a great product called Immunity Plus which has Echinachea and Misteltoe Extract which I take 2 x a day 10 drops for extra insurance.

Does any of this work?  Don't know but I would like to think that if it has some scientific clinical evidence to support the use of some of these things and also makes me feel that I am doing something, then it certainly can't hurt and who knows, maybe it will help.   BTW:  None of these things will work without the chemo, surgery, rads.  We need it all.

MonicaV: I just saw your post a few pages back:  Where does your friend live?  If she is in California, MediCal pays 100% for women with either BC or Ovarian Cancer.  that's what I have.  Other states all have some kind of program to help pay, but it took me over a month to find out this was available to me.  In New York some of the major hospitals have grants.  Sometimes it just takes writing a letter.  I know of a woman who got free care doing this.  If you are resourceful, there is help out there even the American Cancer Society couldn't tell me about.  Tell your friend not to be discouraged. 

MBJ - I was wondering why you haven't been on in a while.  Did you go something nice for a vacation?

tatasister - I'm glad you got your drain removed.  Good luck on the chemo.  I am almost done with chemo  - thank God!  Do you know yet what regimen you'll get?

Laurajane - where are you?  what's going on???  I'm keeping positive thoughts for you!

Heidi - I love the fox photos!  I love animals! 

Hi everyone - I've been away for the last week and had no internet the whole time. Talk about culture shock!.

I've been catching up on all the news and like all of you have Laurajane on my mind. I do hope we hear from her soon, I am praying that she has good things to report when she comes back online.

Those of you done with chemo or close to being done hip hip horray! I have 2 more taxol treatments over the next 3 weeks and I will join that happy group. In the meantime, I have had more SE's than I expected. Bone pain, bad taste in my mouth, and sensitivty on my fingers and feet. But its tolerable, and I'm getting through it. While I was away I had terrible bouts with diarehea, so bad it was bloody and crampy worse than childbirth. My onc says it wasn;t the taxol, but I probably got food poisoning. Luckily all subsided after 24 hours and I am ok now. 

HHeidi your pix are amazing!

Sugar I love your hair! Can't wait til I have hair again.

Laurajane:  Hope you are doing well and we all are looking forward to hearing from you soon!  Hugs!!!

Sugar & Jenn3:  My husband had business in London for 2 days and then we caught a flight just for some R&R to Madrid for a few days.  We really lucked out with the weather--It was raining in Madrid when we arrived and was supposed to continue until the day we left but it ended up being quite nice an sunny for most of our trip.  Went to all of the museums and sites and walked until our legs almost gave out.  Don't think we will ever go again as the tapas got pretty old pretty fast and other food options were limited and overpriced, but it was quite fun to just wander from tapas bar to tapas bar.  It used to be the law that if you served booze you had to provide food so you don't even have to pay for food, they put out free food everywhere.  Unfortunately, that mostly meant variations of ham and cheese though we did find a couple places that were far and above the rest.  While we were there we also had three or four servings of "hot chocolate" with churros which is more like melted chocolate pudding with doughnuts .  Although they had a salad bar restaraunt, kind of like Sizzlers without the meat, fruit and vegetables seemed to be kind of non existant here.  Maybe Madrid is meant for tourists only and the locals eat differently, but seriously, it was all deep fried calamari and seafood, ham, bread, cheese with some occasional olives or chorizo thrown in.   We were so happy to come home and be able to have a variety of food choices.  Who knew I would get to a point where I just prefer eating healthily!!!  Great vacation though.