May 2010 Chemo

Beth ~ it was a surgical procedure in the hospital right?   What a drag about your period!  I'm going to look up Adrene vive - thanks.  I'm trying to find a naturopath somewhere around here - so awesome your onc's office has one!

Hi guys!!  I'm sorry no group response... but, I've been gone for too long... a couple of things stand out... 1)  My eyesight... had to get reading glasses during all of this... again, like other have said, could be age and coincidence, or chemo... but, I still use them and have troble reading without them (never used them before)... I joke it's the small print on all the pill bottles that made me get them!!    Those that use, or whoever mentioned Melatonin... how much do you take (1, 3, 5)... and do you just take it in the evening to relax.. and does yours have vit B... because I was taking B6 separately, but will stop if Melatonin becomes a regular regimen. 

Surgery is creeping up on me (Wednesday)... It's a single with ALND with TE's... delayed recon after rads... It's just starting to hit me, I think... I know you guys know what I mean! 

((HUGS)) all.... have the Komen walk in the morning, then Ryan's football game.... then probably a nap!!   

Beth...your DMV eye test story cracked me up. The thought of people driving around with 'passable' vision. I wonder if my period is now around the corner as the 2 of us are traveling down such a similar path. Good luck with your color. I used 'organic' but who knows what that really means. I know it has no ammonia or parabens.

Daiva....my parents are Hungarian but my mom lived in Israel for several years before I was born so although my name is not Israeli, the inspiration came from Israel. I guess I hesitated to post it because it is so unusual that it makes me easily identifiable and there are so many people I have not told about this. I just need to get over that. If people find out I guess it's fine. I just hate to be the topic of gossip. I know most people would not gossip about such things but there are always those few who do. Guess those are the types of people I don't need to associate with.

Leanna....if I don't get on here before Wednesday I want to let you know that my thoughts will be with you for your sugery which I know will go really well. I'm sure you will be so happy to get past this next hurdle. Hope you're enjoying your very busy day. I'm doing the Making Strides walk tomorrow. I've been doing that for over 10 years. Can't believe I'm going to be a survivor this year.

It's been 3 weeks since last radiation and the area seems to be clearing up nicely. I have some brown spots (think sunburn that turned dark that peeled but there is still some dark skin left over). I've now been on tamox for 6 days and don't feel a thing. I'm actually a little worried that I have not had hot flashes in almost a month. I'm worried that estrogen is fueling other cancer cells (which I'm really hoping do not exist). I'll give it a little while longer. I see my onc in a couple of weeks for my next herceptin and I'm sure we'll assess the situation at that time. On the suggestion of others on these board I had a trasvaginal ultrasound. The gyn called me with the results and said something like - 'it's amazingly perfect'. Sounded a little funny to me - but at least funny in a good way. I guess they don't normally do these things unless there is some kind of complaint.

Have a nice weekend everyone....I'm gearing up for Game 2 of the ALCS - Yanks vs. Rangers. Last night's game was amazing. Yanks were down 5-1 in the 8th and scored 5 runs and ended up winning the game which ended at 1am. Very exciting!

Leanna - thinking of you for your surgery on Wednesday!

Drim - so funny you told the Israel story - I live in Israel, and as soon as you said your name was ditah I wondered if there was an Israel connection (but didn't want to ask). I know a couple of ditah's here :-)

Thanks ladies for the thoughts!!  I've been trying to rest good, and taking pills to make sure that happens... I'm having trouble "occupying" my thoughts even though I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff done around the house. 

I have to say that I'm now a Rangers fan... well, I would have to be since Nolan Ryan took over (and well, you guys know that my boys names are Ryan & Nolan... and that is not a coincidence!!!!).   

Ditah - I hope your walk went well today... funny, the different light that is shed on some of the things, and charities that we have been supporting for years!! 

Denise - I wish I knew how to sew... hope you are having fun sewing stuff!  Thanks for the words of advise... I am trying really hard to get good sleep... the melatonin seems to be helping a lot!!  HOOT!! 

Magda - Glad you were able to have fun with your friend and forget about this for a while!  It's really hard this month.  All the pink... I appreciate it - but it is just a constant reminder. 

Well, ladies... ((HUGS)) to all... you will all be in my prayers tonight!  Hope all those who haven't checked in are doing well, and not giving BC a thought

Evening ladies!  It feels like it's been forever since I've posted here.  I got a new cell phone, and it's great for reading posts, but I still am unable to post from it.  So my update...I finished chemo on Friday, go for surgery on Nov. 10/10 and start rads sometime after that.

My butt is just kicked from the last chemo.  I developed a sinus infection just over a week ago that I'm still fighting.  I've only ever had one sinus infection in my life, and I definitely knew I had it!  That wasn't the case this time.  The only positive thing about the rest of your body hurting so much is that it makes things like sinus infections seem not so bad.  I ended up blacking out twice though because of headaches, so it was a call to the dr. and a trip to emergency last weekend.  Oddly enough I ended up in the same emergency room in the same small town that I did LAST Thanksgiving!  (Issues from Crohn's surgery last year.)  I was in and out in less than 15 minutes, so I still had lots of time to enjoy the Thanksgiving festivities and turkey.

I can't wait until I have enough energy for a walk!  I feel so short of breath this time around - probably due to the amount of fluid I've retained.  Wearing my rings are definitely out for the mean time.  My poor DH is stuck doing pretty much everything around the house right now.  I'm only good for making an imprint on the furniture and directing him as to what needs to be done  I'm sure he can't wait for me to get better!  I've never been good at sitting still, so I find it even more frustrating when I feel this rotten.  Sigh, it's okay though, cause it's the LAST TIME!

I also have to go get my photo license renewed this month...figures.

Best of luck on the 20th Leanna  

morning everyone:

Leanna:  My thoughts and prayers are with you. I will be thinking of you on Wednesday.

Daiva: My hip and back are hurting ooh so much. I wish I could walk again. I am going to try to get back on track this week and do a few blocks and see how it goes. I used to excercise at the gym at least 3x a week. Last time I excercised was in February.. OUCH

Glad to see we have some Yankee and Ranger fans...For me I love the Mets. I know don't laugh.....

Jenn: YEAH.. glad it is over. You are DONE....You should be stronger by NOvember for your surgery

Denise: You always do fun and intersting things.  But do know what you mean about being tired.I took my granddaughter for a hayride and pumpking picking yesterday. the staff member said the corn maize walk was only a 5 minute walk....well.....25 minutes later I have a 14 mos old crying because she doesn't want to walk anymore. I had to carry her and oh boy did I feel that in my old bones....Teaches me for not bringing the stroller to the maize...

magda: I love being with my friends. They always make me forget my problems. We get together every Sunday night to watch desperate housewives. It is such a funny show and we chat and kabitz around. It makes for a fun evening.

Drim: what is a transvaginal U/S?  why did you want to get one?

Jenn - YAY for being done!!  I'll be thinking of you on Nov 10... that's my son's birthday, so an easy day to remember.  I hope you are getting more and more energy every day!  So glad your  have DH to help; I don't know where I'd be without mine! 

Denise - Your apple pie and sauce sounds wonderful!!  My favorite when we go to markets is apple butter!  YUM! 

Drim - Yes, the Mets were hard to watch... but the Yanks are always easy.... #2 is among my favorite players of all times!!    He's pretty easy to watch!!  LOL

So, as of now, I have 2 calls from the hospital where my surgery is NOT, and NO calls from the hospital where my surgery is suppose to be... I called today just to make sure I am on the schedule at the right hospital, and I can't get an answer!!!  Ugh.... 

Denise - it just seems to me that there are more and more women being diagnosed... is it just me; surely the stats are not increasing??  So, are you going to be on the news out there?  That's cool.  I agree it is a great reminder, and it's not too much.... it's just too much for me right now!! 

I finally got a call from my hospital and verification that the OR is booked.  I just freaked myself out imagining that we wouldn't have an OR.... they call the day before for pre-op stuff, so they will be calling me tomorrow, but looks like we'll have a 5:30 a.m. showtime!  Ativan is my BFF right now.  And, whoever suggested melatonin... I love you... that stuff works great! 

((HUGS)) and prayers to everyone!!

Is it just me or do any of you ladies cry at those "Happy Birthday" commercials put out by the American Cancer Society?

And I am right there with you ladies who have to get a new driver's license with my new minimal "do".

Leanna, big hugs to you and "Angels on your body" on Wednesday.

Jennifer

Good morning girlfriends,

seems like there's so much going on lately - all of us moving on from your personal "Ground Zeros" :-). I went to a cardiology check-up yesterday, my heart is working 100% but my pulse was 121 bpm after I climbed I flight of stairs to the first floor...  Truth is I'm breathless all the time. The doc said it might be my thyroid so he took yet another blood draw and I'll see next Monday. He said my worsened liver panel might be a consequence to that. Anyhow, with my heart being healthy as it is, he sees it as a minor complication, so I'll gladly believe him :-).

Drim/Ditah There's quite a lot of Ditahs in my country as well - in between the two WWs there was a strong Israeli community and the old Jewish Quarter has been getting lively and cheerful these past 20 years again :-).

Daiva Oooh, how I'm looking forward to walking again. My legs are achy and swolen now and when I try to walk a little briskier I get cramps. But this will soon pass, I can see light at the end of the tunnel :-) .

Jenn You're finally done with chemo, woohoo!!! I'm glad you could enjoy Thanksgiving in spite of all your problems. I hear you on your fatigue - I feel I'll need plenty of rest before my surgery too! I'll be thinking of you on Nov 10! 

Leanna  Will say a prayer for you tomorrow!

Denise Funny how one keeps bumping into people with similar experience. Before my dx I hardly new anyone with BC, now I know so many women who share what I'm going through... No idea if the stats are increasing, but to me it seems that there are more and more cases... Hope your experience will help the newsmans wife!

Jen There's no such commercial here, so I can't say. Instead I got angry at a singer who has recently had BC and who put up a campaign with her bald photo saying "Want to end up like me? Skip your prevention check-ups!" As if hair loss was all there was to BC... and I didn't skip anything, there's just no screening for younger women!  BTW she's under 40 too, so WTH... Am I too sensitive or am I right to think she's not being fair to the rest of us?

Hugs to all you guys!

Davia .. I just talked to my surgeon and we set up an appointment for after rads to take out my port, it will be w 1/2 hour appointment...I will be so glad to get it out..we also talked of the reconstruction on my underarms....but that will be later because I want to lose some weight before he fixes them..

GolferGirl  I had my hat on so you can only see the top of my neck.... but my hair is growing in so weird it need some taming..its still very short but it does get messy..I can see where it will be curly there are swirls in it and I get little wings on the sides..looks funky

PackJenn   I found my self leaving the room when that commercial comes on..it does affect me..but mostly because I don't like the way the kid sings it ..sounds like a bad imitation of Marilyn Monroe..

About meeting so may women with BC.. funny how they will just lift there tops to show how good their recon looks...lol..But I think is seems like more share, because people will bring it up when they find out about your BC..One of us was saying that they were glad to be working some where no one knew she had BC, so unless someone else brings it up you would never know who has had it..And it probably wouldn't come up.I think that's why it seem so many have it we didn't notice it before ..but if stats are true 1in 8 women will or have had some type of BC that is a lot of women..this might sound  bad or strange but its like having a big zit on your face if you don't bring it up not many will notice but once you do .its is like a mountain on your face and every one notices..Wow I'm on a roll here..this bring me back to the reporters question if the pink month was too much .Again my answer is no! its got to be out there so people get checked as soon as possible..even it it scares them into it!

ok I'll stop now..

Denise - your comment about looking at peoples breasts to see recon reminded me that I went to a local BC fundraising walk last Friday, and i had a scarf on, and so many women came up to me to talk to me and ask how i was doing, and every single one of them offered to show me their recon (of course I said yes because I am pre-surgery still and wanted to see if I liked what they did and who their PS was...)

At the same event, i went to a panel Q&A session with all kinds of top experts (oncs, rad oncs, BS, PS, etc.) - one of the questions was whether there is an increase of BC - apparently over the last 50 yrs the numbers have been rising a lot, but a lot may be because there is more awareness now. Also apparently in the last 2 yrs there has actually been a decrease and they think it is due to less women taking HRT.  But the other thing they said is that life expectancy has increased a lot over the last 50 yrs because of developments in tx, which i think we all know but is nice to hear again.

Has anyone heard from Day lately?  Did she just drop off the face of the earth?

redbarb  I want to do the 3 day walk, next year in San Fransisco its in September.. I was going to wait till Jan to really make the commitment..When I suggested Prozac it was from when I was in the throws of Peri-menopause.( is that what its called?).it really helped me then, but I was taking any other drugs at the time ...of course was thinking about BC then..that is a drag it affects Tamoxifen ..

Latte...that is good to hear!

Time for bed...good night all!