Calling all TNs

I have a followup with my onc tomorrow and haven't even begun to dig my car out of the inch of ice it's encased in. I haven't even been outside because there's that same solid inch of ice on my porch. *whine* I hate winter.

I'm contemplating leaving my house 2 hours before my appointment, and once I get INTO my car and start it, just sitting in it reading for the next hour and seeing how much melts off that way. Even if there's some left, it would have to be easier to get off. And I have a full tank of gas...

Luah - great news!



I can empathize about the weather. I have my GI appointment and my Neupogen shot tomorrow starting at 8:45...we were lucky and weren't in the ice line, but ugh, way too much snow on the ground.



Riley - your idea sounds good to me!

Luah- what wonderful news truly great to hear.

Hey guys - I would love to be kept in the loop on the DC trip.  I don't post as much as others, but read often.  You all sound so great and it would be nice to have a positive come out of all of this mess.  

The only problem for me is that I already have 3 vacations on the books for this year, so it may be difficult in terms of time off work and expense.  But still keep me in the loop.  That picture of DC with the cherry blossoms is gorgeous!   

Thanks laurajane for the good thoughts - same to you! 

 I had very few few SE' on the taxol.  The AC wiped me out.  Plus I had an infected port that had to come out so i was in the hospital and am still having my wound packed every day by DH and a visiting nurse that comes once a week.  I have only had one dose of lexmpra and go in on tues for #2.  I take the xeloda pills for 14 days.  My fingers tingled for about 2 days after treatment, and I did get a couple of small blisters on my fingers.  i guess the one I am now it is all about hand/foot. No nasua, but very tired.  The sofa has been my friend for too many weeks lately.  I do think fighting an infection while on chemo was a factor, but the onc says no.  I don't know about that. the body can only take so much. 

I noticed you said you had to get a new onc?  me too.  i kind of knew from these boards what 'progression' meant.  When I was on round 5 of the taxol (I was scheduled for 6), I small bump appeared on neck.  I showed it to onc, and he said, 'oh, its so tiny', let's continue and finish.  My instincts said, 'wait, doesn't this mean we should stop now and rescan and switch to something else?" but I think I was in denial and wanted to believe that it was no big deal.  so another month of everything getting big again!  Oh well.  I can see how so many, including myself, falter during treatment because of little missteps like this.  glad you had  your emergency surgery, I hope I get mine soon.

Titan- You have to make it to DC. Well I guess I should say, "I sure hope you can make it". You are the main reason we have all gotten to know each other. Remember, you started this wonderful thread. Thank-you for that.

Lindaa- So sorry to hear about your port. That is so scary. I had the same reaction to AC and Taxol as you did. The lexmpra and xeloda sound scary to me too. The Carboplatin and Gemzar are not as bad as AC but not as easy on me as the Taxol was. Sorry, easy isn't the right word, I hope you know what I mean. I've learned to know my couch well too! I did get a recliner right before surgery and I think it likes me better. When I am feeling better I should know how to remodel every room in my house myself I've watched so much HDTV. I agree with you about the infection/ chemo. Thats hard on anybody to fight at the same time. I hope your new onc is more on top of things and takes you seriously. We know our bodies better than anyone.

I hope everyone has a great evening. 

Yes, tif, I really have to work on keeping these infections away.  When I was on taxol I got a nasty boil on my bottom that had to be lanced.  Awful and painful.  I couldn't drive for a month because I couldn't sit right.  I can get through the SE's ok, but these other things make feel like a cancer patient and I don't like that.  Before the boil I was walking 2 miles every day. I still haven't gotten back into it.

My port got me hospitalized for 6 nights and I barely made it home for Christmas. I did the IV antibiotics for 20 days total.  I have a picc in my arm now.

Good lord Linda! I have been off the antibiotic for 6 days now and I still see some red up by the original incision by my neck- I sure hope the infection dr. is open tomorrow-I am really worried that it's not completely gone and he won't prescribe a different antibiotic without seeing me first. Even though I was done with tx I asked for a picc because the IV antibiotics were killing my arm, but dr. wouldn't do it-said the catheter for the picc would be too close to the infection. This is supposed to be a time of getting my life back (after chemo) and it has been pure hell. I think I have another 3-4 weeks before my incision closes up. I had to skip a fill because of the infection, so I imagine it will push my exchange surgery back.

I sure hope things get better for you soon. Having chemo is bad enough, but all these little "extras" are just plain unfair.

Tiffany

Hi Everyone.  I can not believe that I had 4 pages to catch up on.  I am usually reading the boards daily. 
Although I do not post very often I feel I know most of you from reading your stories. 
DC is not a possiblility for me but I will think of you and hope you all have a great time. 
I am going to try to post a picture (hope it works), the shovel fairy visited me today and I am very happy about that. 
If it does not work, I will look it up directions and try again. 

Titan:  I'd absolutely love to hang out and meet everyone here, and under other circumstances if I had vacation time and wasn't needed for the new business, I'd definitely do it.  But, I'm currently the administrative assistant/accounts rec and payable/secretary/receptionist and more here so I can't leave.  I do everything but repair computers!  lol  And I must say, it's probably one of the harder jobs I've had.  And the pay isn't all that great either right now... actually it's nada, zip, zilch, zero!  However, the American dream is to be able to have success, so we'll see how that goes in this economy!  I'm an hour from Columbus.

Luah, happy day!

Lindaa: That was a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.

Navy

Linda:  Thank you for sharing your beautiful story.  That was meant to be and gives us all so much hope for the future!

Luah:   WAHOOOOO!!!!!

Lovelyface:  On an emotional roller coaster right now and just trying to not be on a roller coaster.  I'm sure I will figure it out.  Thanks for asking!  Hugs.

Titan and all of the wonderful women on this board:  Thank you for all of your support, encouragement and friendship!

Heidi:  Wow!  What a beautiful picture of Spring in all it's glory!  Thank you for posting that.  I would so love to go but I don't think it's possible--I already have 3 trips coming up, two of them weddings and all of them are going to be expensive.  Lots of pictures, please, as I will be there in spirit!

Ladies, I am happy to report that my mammogram and ultrasound yesterday showed no suspicious stuff.  Everything was declared normal.  I asked the Radiologist who was a wonderful man, why he had not picked up anything from my mammo from January, 2010.  And then 6 months later, in July 2010 I was diagnosed with cancer when I found the lump myself.  The Radiologist took me to his room and showed me my 2004 mammo and 2010 mammo on the big lit up screen.  He said they both looked the same.  There was nothing showing, as the cancer was hiding behind the enhancement.  He said he has gone back and looked and tried to figure out how he missed my cancer.  He said if he read my mammo today, he would still rule out that there was any cancer.  If only in Jan. 2010, if I was sent for an ultrasound, they would have found the lump.......maybe at that point it was DCIS.  Anyway, he said I was going to be watched very carefully from now on.  He is one of the main radiologists there, so I am really happy that I am being marked.