May 2010 Chemo

Oh Jenn, I'm so glad you are home!!!  Now you can get some real rest.  There is no way to actually sleep in the hospital with them coming in at all times day and night.

Here's hoping you get to do some gentle cuddling with Connor tomorrow.  Hold his little hand, smell his hair -- I'm sure it will be heaven.

Do you have a Caring Bridge web journal?  I found it to be a great tool to keep everyone up to date on what was going on during my treatments.  Very easy to update everyone at once and receive messages without feeling obligated to answer each one individually.  Another tool that was very helpful was MealBaby -- a website for your friends to sign up to bring you meals.  I had a friend who organized it for me and it worked really well.

Get some good rest and good loving, my friend.

Blessings,

Jennifer

Jenn - So glad you are HOME!!!  I'm sure it will be so great to see Connor tomorrow and just hold him!!!  (((HUGS)))

Jenn, I'm so glad you are home. I keep thinking of you and praying for you, because Kim is right - THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER :-). M.

LibraryJenn:  Your feelings were right on point -- the depression -- the stress of not being able to be there for little Connor -- totally understandable for a mother to feel at that time!  You've been very brave -- much braver than I would have been -- your staying on this post and reaching out to others.  You didn't hide under the bed like the monster depression would like for all of us to do -- which I admit I would have probably initially have done!    You have the courage and the strength to fight and you are doing it.  Prayers are being answered and we'll continue to pray for your complete healing.  So glad to know you are home and that your oxygen levels are looking good.  I imagine you are very sore and you are exhausted.  Glad Grandma and Grandpa are caring for little Connor so you can rest and he can get energy out and have some good ole grandparent loving.    You rest -- you eat right -- you do what you know your body needs to heal.  You don't overdo and expect too much too soon but mentally -- that is where your strength will lie to encourage your body cells that healing is the ONLY option.  Positive prayers -- positive love being sent to you and your whole family.  Any video taping and gathering of pictures might be inspiring -- might give you some laughter -- (good memories) to help with the healing -- I do believe that would be a positive.    then when you are healed, you will have caught up with that picture organizing stuff you've wanted to get done but didn't make yourself.  LOL  Hugs and plenty of prayers coming your way!  Much love, Kim  P.S.  Anything unnecessary can always wait -- it always can -- we tend to busy our lives and make things have to be -- no -- they don't have to be -- we can nurture and be nurtured when the time is right.  Right now -- the time is right for you to be TOTALLY NURTURED!  So let yourself feel the love -- and rest and let your body heal! 

May warrior sisters ~ sending HUGS to EACH of you!   ~ Daiva

Jenn, that is so awesome!!  You will have to keep working on those plans to get out to see her as well!!!!!  Post-chemo!    ((HUGS)) always for you!  

So, I had my port removed.  I still had 4 herceptin (had one yesterday), but my port had not given blood for over 2 months and I was driving myself crazy imagining what it was clogged with (probably fibrinogen, but you never know), so I just wanted it out.  Plus, I was afraid they would mess it up while I was having surgery, because they won't use it for surgery (it was like pulling teeth getting them to access it when I went in for my mastectomy because with cancer patients, they think they can't touch ports because they are just for chemo)... well, I figured they would mess it up by taking my blood pressure or something (mine was in my arm) while I was under or not with it.  I'm glad it's gone.  Then, I went for my annual pap.. thought the timing was good, because I have had bleeding for about a month now, and also believed I had a UTI because I started having urgency and frequency.  Gyn gave me rx for antibiotics which worked, but then I got a call yesterday... too much blood for the pap smear.. it needs to be repeated, and my urine culture came back clean... no UTI... ???  I have an ultrasound scheduled for 6/1, but now I am working myself up because I have some of the s/s of uterine cancer, and did not have a UTI which makes my frequency and urgency another s/s.....  P&PT would be great!!!

((HUGS)) to all of you!!!!!!  

Jenn, how wonderful! You are so loved!

Hugs to everybody, still here and still busy!

LibraryJenn:    Your best friend from high school/ her parents and your husband -- ROCK!  How wonderful!  Hoping you had a great visit with lots of funny stories to share and revitalize your spirit -- going back and remembering our youth with friends is like reliving the experiences somehow and that in and of itself lifts your body up to heal!    HUGS to you with prayerful thoughts each day to the continued healing!  Much love!  Kim

Kim, you are so right in every aspect, keep sharing your thoughts with us!

Jersey, yes, I have read about Keratine in one of your previous posts, but my hair is still too short for straightening, you probably finished with chemo ahead of me. Also, it's probably not as curly as yours (LOL Orphan Annie, wow), so waxing is quite enough. I had been keeping my hair short prior to chemo, so I'm happy with anything that starts resembling my original hairstyle ;-)

Take care, girls (with a special thought for Jenn, as ever!)

Jenn, what a wonderful surprise and great friendship you have. These are the things that keep us going!

Sacphotomom, my sister had shingles and said it was terribly painful. Hope you ate feeling better soon.

We had our annual Teaches vs. Fifth grade Kickball game yesterday. Someone tell me why I thought I was up to participating. I kicked the ball, took off running and fell flat on my face. Don't worry I wasn't hurt, but my friend said she looked at the kids and they all looked like " children of the corn". Staring, mouths open. I think everyone was afraid to ask if I was okay, sore joints today but otherwise fine...

Have a great weekend everone!

Denise ~ someone on another thread here on BCO said she had shingles too and said it was quite painful.  What a drag!  How long do they usually last?  Does it have anything to do with being run down?  Ok, and your bangs... to your eyebrows?  Mine are growing soooo slowly.  I wish you'd post a picture.  Hoping you feel better each day this week!

Jen ~ 3 hr. hike.  You go girl!

Nan ~ I bet that was a site to see!  I'm glad you're ok and I'm glad you were feeling up to participating.

Jersey ~ hurray for hair!  

Jenn ~ praying you have courage to fight this beast and that God would give you all the grace you need and then some.  The fact that your friend came all the way to see you for such a short time speaks volumes about who you are as a person.  Sending love and hugs your way...

My GP put me on Wellbutrin and I'm hoping it helps me feel a bit better.  I've been feeling so "off" and a bit down and edgy.  Yuk!   It's also supposed to give me a bit of energy... I'll take it!!!  

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and find time to do what nourishes your souls and makes YOU happy.  Hugs to all of you!   ~  Daiva 

Denise - Ugh... shingles.  Not something anyone ever wants; I'm so sorry you are having to deal with it!  It can be hard to get comfortable.  I hope they clear up very, very soon!!

Daiva - (((HUGS))) Hope you are feeling like your old self soon.  You still sound great, but I know what you mean! 

I am back home... had the DIEP on Friday and was just a bit bummed, because he was suppose to make my right breast from my belly flaps and I knew he was going to have to stack them to make the boob big enough... and then I was suppose to get a small implant in the left to match... well, when I woke up, I found out he had only done one side.  I guess I only had enough tissue to make one average (about the same size as my old) boob, so he didn't do the other side because even a small implant would have made it larger than the other side.  But, he didn't lift it either... so I have to live with staggered boobs again for at least another 3 months when everything settles and he can go in and clean up.  I will say that this is much, much, much more comfortable than the TE...even with all the pain I am still having.  I still cannot stand upright, and I must be swollen because the scale says I gained about 6 pounds since the day before my surgery!  But, so glad to be home and with my boys... 4 days in the hospital was pretty hard on them, especially my older son.  He did well in his track meet Saturday... 1st in shot and 2nd in high jump.    We're very proud of him! 

(((HUGS))) to all you wonderful women!! 

Hello my dearest May sisters.

I'm sitting here in my office room waiting for what the local weather people (and the NWS) call "a tornado outbreak comparable to the May 3rd, 1999 or the Alabama outbreak of April 27, 2011".

Our state is almost completely in the "high risk" area and they have already issued a tornado watch. Some weather guy said something to the effect of "Oklahoma City is in the bull's eye for an F5".

Scary. No, not scary, terrifying. 

I have been having some really bad pains starting Sunday morning. That area on my right side, the lower ribs, that was hurting before, this time awake with a really bad pain, and me feeling like I was stabbed every time I would try and take a deep breath. I am plannign to go to the ER, only Sunday and Monday we had severe weather in the forecast, and today it's worse. I don't want to be stuck in the ER while a tornado tears through the city - if anything happened to my dogs and I wouldn't be there I would never forgive myself. I cannot go to a public shelter because of them, they are too big to be accepted. I've prepared the inside closet that I use always to ride out the storms. Hopefully there will be no tornado through my neighborhood.

I've been taking Ibuprofen and Endocet for the pain, and also Flexeril in the evening before going to bed (Flexeril makes me VERY sleepy). I've tried first putting warm in the area, but it was hurting worse, so I tried then the cold, and it seems to be working better. I started the ibuprofen only yesterday.

The pain is not only on the lower ribs (bottom two) right above my LD incision scar, but also extends  a little into the abdomen and towards the back. When I bend, it feels like I havea bone there or something, and when I breathe deeply, like a stitch.

Please pray for me and for Central Oklahoma today, pray that no lives will be lost.

Hugs all

Day

I am sorry I am posting so late, but all the excitement yesterday made me sleep like crazy! Well, the Flexeril I took might have helped too lol

The tornado that started in the Chickasha area was heading straight for where I live, good thing was that it fizzed out about 2 miles from my house. I only got some dollar-size hail, but not much. I only lost a couple little branches on the cherry tomato plants and there are lots of leaves all over the place, but that is about all. There were some debris flying around when the core that had the tornado passed over the house, just shingles and branches, but that was all.

They are saying that considering the damage, all of the tornadoes that hit the OKC metro were EF4/EF5 at one point or another. There were even train locomotives upturned. A miraculously saved life, a truck driver who's truch the tornado shredded and jack-knifed but he had only minor injuries. They are still looking for a 3 years old that was taken by the twister in Piedmont from his mom and siblings, their house was totally ruined. His little 15 months old sibling died from the injuries, his 5 years old sister just had surgery and is still in critical condition, and i understand his pregnant mother had surgery as well, but now she is stable and so is her unborn child. The father just got back from out of town and he is devastated.

So much destruction and so much horror. At least I am happy for one thing: even if I live in Oklahoma and tornadoes are such an often occurence here, at least we have the best weathermen in the country. I can say that yesterday (like so many times before) they saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. 

sacphotomom, no skin doesn't hurt. It's like the bone itself hurts and I have someting inside that is hard and hurts when I try to bend. It doesn't hurt when I touch the skin, only when I press on it in that area.

I talked to the oncologist on the phone, he said to keep doing what I'm doing (actually up the Ibuprofen) and if it doesnt' get better in a couple of days, to go to the ER, as it would take much less time for me to get all the needed tests done if I'm in the ER than if I go see him and he gives me the recommendations for it, with scheduling times and all. I have an appointment with him on Friday the 3rd of June.

Yes, Day , so glad you are safe. I used to think hurricanes were bad, but you always have plenty of notice to evacuate.

Jen, I think checkers is a great game, especially when I think of how sore I was the next day...

Sacphotomom, hope you are feeling better. My hair is a mess, still curly, but it has no shape or style. I may have to get a trim soon. I haven't wanted to do that, but I really look awful.