March 2011 Rads

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  • cmbear
    cmbear Member Posts: 1,086
    edited May 2011

    Ok it only took a half hour. I am such a computer moron.

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  • libraylil
    libraylil Member Posts: 528
    edited May 2011

    Cmblastic/Marjie.  You two look great!!.  Mine is grey too, but I help it out with clairol temporary, dark ash blonde.  As a former brunette, this is so bizarre.  I might just leave it light when I go for the big cut/color.  Less root maintenance.   I look and feel like a new person. 

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  • sandymess
    sandymess Member Posts: 299
    edited May 2011

    cmblastic, I love that picture! I think you look fantabulous. Can't wait till my hair is that long!

    libraylil, I think I'm going to go a little lighter, too--because of the roots. I also look and feel like a new person. Somedays that's a good thing, other days not so much. Tongue out

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  • libraylil
    libraylil Member Posts: 528
    edited May 2011

    Sandymess,  your do is quite cute also.  I told someone I feel like a new person (and qualified that by saying I don't mean I am going to be nicer or anything drastic).  Friday one of my Kindergarten students that is SO sweet said she had never seen me with my hair all the way out.  True, by the time school started it was vanishing.  libraylil.

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  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited May 2011

    I'm going to leave mine for as long as I can before/if I colour.  Just curious to see what it's really going to be and plus it seems to be entertaining for my DH, lol.

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  • sandymess
    sandymess Member Posts: 299
    edited May 2011

    marjie, your husband sounds like a barrel of laughs! I love his sense of humor. Your hair doesn't look gray to me, at all. If mine was simlar to yours, I'd leave it. But I've got SO much gray on top that I really look like my grandmother. And I am not ready for that!

    libraylil, don't you love kids? Their honesty is just plain refreshing. My 3yo granddaughter frowned when she saw me and said, "But, Mimi, you look like a boy!"

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  • PitPat
    PitPat Member Posts: 156
    edited May 2011

    Hello to all.

    Well once again I'd gone off the grid. I've come back for some answers though. I am back to reading the boards and everyone's experiences. to compare them to what is going on with me.

    Radiation ended April 29th after 28 zaps with 14 bolus. I had a great time being with family during the treatments and was able to enjoy the coming of spring on the Canadian west coast. The trees in bloom and all the daffodils and tulips where amazing. I began walking a great deal as I was recovering from the chemo and had to begin moving again as I had spent the winter in extreme down mode.

    Now that I'm a month out of pretty much everything I can assess how I'm doing. Physically I'm improving but can't get over how sore I am. All my joints and muscles ache after I've been at rest for any period of time. This does not limit activity as it goes away once I'm up moving. But the more active I've been (working in the garden, or walking the hills) the more I seize up once I've sat down. I'm living on analgesic.

    Sleeping is a challenge due to flushing and so I've just resigned myself to a sleep aid.

    I'm reading as much as I can about whether this is short or long term.

    I hope everyone else is getting through or has gone through their treatments with ease.

    Well I'm off to read!

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  • Pinkprincess
    Pinkprincess Member Posts: 280
    edited May 2011

    Pat- I am also SUPER stiff after I rest at all. It drives me CRAZY! I am on Lupron for hormone supression and think it is either that or just post chemo or rads stuff. I hate it though. I am moving anyway:)

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  • PitPat
    PitPat Member Posts: 156
    edited May 2011

    Hey KC...the funny thing is that no matter hwo stiff and sore I am, I can move well.

     I jsut spent the afternoon in the garden and moved about climbing and raking and digging and watering and I felt great. almost afraid to sit for more than 2 minutes. The aleve has worn off for sure.

    Port comes out tomorrow so I went crazy in the garden so I can rest the next few. Don't want to be getting dirt in the incision!

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  • PitPat
    PitPat Member Posts: 156
    edited May 2011

    Marjie my hair came in 70% grey. I slapped a color on it so fast it wasn't funny. It was a dark color that ended up washing out to look red. so I colored even darker about 2 weeks later. YUCK! so not me.

    As you can see I took out the bleach and took my color back to where I like it best. Now just waiting for it to grow out more than the inch that it is.

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  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited May 2011

    PitPat - you sound just like me...stiff and sore!!  Much the same as you, I feel better the more active I am but also stiffen up quicker.  I am thinking the herceptin is partially to blame, but who knows.  Just trying to deal with it, live with it...for now!  Hoping it goes away sooner rather than later.

    As for my hair, I started clipping the fluffy grey ends off and it seems to be getting darker but it's more of a dark black/grey.  Ah well...at least it's there!!

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  • Angelice
    Angelice Member Posts: 1,739
    edited May 2011

    hey ladies your hair looks similar to mine lol

    must be same hair dresser  :)    i also got my ends taken off now its darker

    i also feeling so stiff i cant get up and go its like i have to wait to move and and get the body going  im like walking robot

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  • thegood5
    thegood5 Member Posts: 478
    edited May 2011

    i walk like my husband's 82 yr. old grandmother..

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  • cmbear
    cmbear Member Posts: 1,086
    edited May 2011

    I can move great in the a.m. I work retail so I am on my feet for 8 hours. When I get in the car to drive home, its like someone unplugged my energy and let it all spill out. I walk into the house all crumpled up and I am pretty much done for the day. Sometimes I feel like the energizer bunny!!

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  • Pinkprincess
    Pinkprincess Member Posts: 280
    edited May 2011

    LOL! I know...when does the stiffness go away? Is it the hormone supression, the chemo, what? What has turned us into our grandmas?

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  • sandymess
    sandymess Member Posts: 299
    edited May 2011

    Pitpat, love the new avatar. You look great!

    I have also joined the Stiff and Sore Club.I am not on a hormone suppressor yet, so it can't be that for me. I also have Fibromyalgia, but the stiffness and pain are much worse now. Anyone else get out of bed feeling like a 90 year old? Marjie's right, at least we are here!

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  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited May 2011
    "The Stiff and Sore Club"  ..... gotta laugh Laughing!!  If we have meetings what shall we do - race our walkers???
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  • thegood5
    thegood5 Member Posts: 478
    edited May 2011
    (786) 326 7218 _ Gmar Pictures, Images and Photosthis is the kind of walker I would like....keeps me feeling young!
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  • sandymess
    sandymess Member Posts: 299
    edited May 2011
    One of the "Club" events could be a race to see who can straighten up from a sitting position the quickest. Tongue out
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  • PitPat
    PitPat Member Posts: 156
    edited May 2011

    oh my feet! they feel like stiff concrete, and fingers.

    the upside. If I keep moving, I'm good. If I want to feel like crap I must sit. So in the end it is reverse biology!

    I have a plan to run a half marathon at my one year post treatment anniversary. I haven't run since high school, but I haven't forgotten how to (and we have bears around her, I may eventually have to test my sprinting abilities). Moving moving moving, that's the only way to feel great for me.

    My state of being I attribute to the decline in physical activity during chemo and radiation. Though during radiation i began the process of getting this ice-cold-stream-engine moving again. I currently place myself in defrosted but need joints oiled and moved. From this point on, steaming down the track is not far off.

    Hugs to all of you you go through this too. We need each other to know that what we are feeling, we are not alone.

    Patti

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  • gingerstx
    gingerstx Member Posts: 91
    edited May 2011

    The Good Five:  I wonder why they don't make colorful walkers like that for seniors?  I'm not there yet, but that's what I'd choose when the time comes!   

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  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited May 2011
    You guys are too funny!! This Stiff and Sore Club sure sounds like fun, lol.  So....I did it....got a tattoo today and NOT for radiation.  I'll have to post some pics soon, it's nothing exciting, just words but I like it and that's what counts right??!  Wink
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  • thegood5
    thegood5 Member Posts: 478
    edited May 2011

    Congrats marjie!  I have an ankle tat that my husband designed that is his name and my name connected going around my ankle with his "i" dotted with a heart and my "i" dotted with a shamrock to represent our 1st baby that I miscarried who was due on St. Patty's day.  Love the writing tats!

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  • msjag
    msjag Member Posts: 416
    edited May 2011

    Marje, glad you got your own tat!!!

    I am going to talk to my rad onc on Friday about my soreness and stiffness, has to be the chemo/radiation.  I am so sore in joints that I didn't even know I had!!  have to be moving, sometimes my knee won't bend "all the way" Its crazy. I feel great, have energy..but just can't move sometimes!!!  Anyone having burning on the tops of their feet?  Didn't have any issue with chemo, got through rads with no pain, or major redness, and now I feel like I'm 100 yrs old when I get up from sitting/resting after five minutes.  I'm prepared for the usual remarks, "well it can't be rads" and then "well it cant' be chemo so late" the usual stuff!!

    Finally two consecutive days of sunshine!! yahoooo!!!!

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  • gingerstx
    gingerstx Member Posts: 91
    edited May 2011
    msjag:  I've been reading the Emporer of all Maladies about the development of all these great ways our doctors now have to combat cancer and what I'm learning is that the docs don't know everything!  You've had poison put into your body for months during your chemo, been zapped daily with radiation during rads, and of course your body has been stressed to the max both physically and mentally.  I really don't think the effects disappear right away.   Look at your skin, for example:  I'm a month out of rads and the tan I got from my radiation burn is still very visible despite not having been exposed to any further sun.   So if it takes this long for the skin to return to normal, imagine how long it takes for the rest of your body to adjust.    When I was a teenager my friend who had beautiful skin on her face suddenly had zits pop out on her back.  Her comment was, "well, the bad has to come out somewhere."  I'm thinking the same thing about all the stuff that invaded our bodies during all those treatments.
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  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited May 2011

    gingerstx - I agree.  It's hard to even imagine what all these drugs and radiation have done to our bodies.  My onc looks at 6 mths out of chemo PLUS 6 mths to recover from radiation before you start feeling a little like your old self.  I'm just to darn impatient!

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  • msjag
    msjag Member Posts: 416
    edited May 2011

    I'm right with you Marje.  Have lots of energy, but want to be able to use it after sitting for 5 minutes!!

    So true ginger...just think years from now chemo/radiation will seem like barbaric ways to have treated cancer.  A simple pill or immunization will be developed (hopefull) . 

    My hair is growing back so thick on top, and has a wave to it..actually over my ears a bit..WHOO WHOO!!!  haha!! the little things that mean so much!!!

    I went to a training for work, had to break into groups to talk about obstacles in the work place...I said my piece then said, But I really don't care about those things much as I kicked cancer's ass a month ago!!"  And that's how I feel.  I have never been a person to put myself first, and I still won't but I certainly will be right on top with everyone else from now on!!   I plan on traveling in the next few months and can't wait!!  Wish we could all take a road trip together!!

    Going to see my rad onc for final appointment of the year, anything anyone would like me to ask her?

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  • sandymess
    sandymess Member Posts: 299
    edited May 2011

    A road trip with all of us! That would be awesome, msjag! Laughing

    Went to my oncologist today. She put me back on calcium so I can take an AI. I told her my GP took me off the calcium supplement because of the new studies relating it to heart problems. She said the danger of breast cancer cells going to some other part of my body far out-weighed the threat of heart disease in the future. Sheesh! 

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  • GirlFriday
    GirlFriday Member Posts: 461
    edited May 2011

    I just went on a road trip...purely unplanned.  My mother is ill, so I went from Maine, to NYC, to Pittsburgh, to Anderson SC, to Leesburg VA, back to Pittsburgh, then to NYC, then home to Maine...11 states, 9 days.  I'm beat. I never get to see my family without some sort of crisis occurring.  I started Tamoxifen May 19...not sure what I think about it yet.  Can't say I have direct SE's because in SC it was 97!!!! So if I am having hot flashes I can't tell. :) 

    My skin is fine from radiation...but I noticed in the last week I have nerve endings firing up that I did not have before.  Overall, I'd say I'm just done.  I'm tired. I'm frustrated. I'm trying to piece my life back together, and I keep running into road blocks...I think I now understand why so many docs prescribe sleep aids and anti depressants soon after giving a BC dx.

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  • msjag
    msjag Member Posts: 416
    edited May 2011

    GirlFriday, sorry to hear about your mom, that's quite a bit of traveling there girl. I bet your exhausted.  I talked to my onc on Friday about nerve endings on tops of my feet coming and going, and nerves that kick up on my left side (radiated side) from my feet to my behind! She said usually get those right along with chemo, don't think they are from radiation.  OH YEAH, THEY ARE...onc nurse said, you won't feel completely like yourself for a full year after the rads, especially since I had chemo.  Never ends....

    I agree about the docs prescribing sleep aids/anitdepressants, its quite a journey.  Went to three parties this weekend, felt so good to see friends and laugh, and even had a few Mikes lemonades!!! 

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