Starting Chemo April 2009

Lena...

Now you know why they call medicine a "practice" we are all freaking guinea pigs. Sorry you are having to endure so much crap. I hope you feel better soon and if you don't feel better at least get some good drugs!

Amy...glad you enjoyed the Rockies but they are only part way to the NW. If you or any of you ever want to visit the NW, you have a place to stay. Portland is an hour from the coast, an hour to the mountain (Mt. Hood) and three hours from Seattle. I lived in Spokane for a couple of years after I graduated from College (Central Washington). The climate is much drier in the eastern part of both Oregon and WA, we have more of a marine influence. ie...this year especially lots of RAIN. I know you all have been talking about heat all summer long. Well...our summer began today. We actually hit 80 degrees. AFT. Its been cold, gray and rainy. I am so ready for some summer. Although, I guess compared to you all...I have nothing to complain about.

Judy...oh Judy...you need to check in.

Titan...how's the wedding planning going?

Helen...is your retirement official yet? I've lost track...sorry.

I'm half way through my assistant's sabbatical. I'm surviving. My boss told me yesterday he is having a prostate biopsy tomorrow. He has a family history so he is very nervous. I can't blame him on that front. It brought back all the memories of going in for the biopsy, communication of the bad news, etc.

I'm heading to Seattle for the weekend (family reunion), so I won't be checking in. Lena sending you healing thoughts.

Hugs to all.

Betsy  

if you need help to ream anyone out, Lena, I can put it in a message for you and then just show it to the doctors/nurses. I'm interpreting your going home as a positive sign even though you are still not well. Is someone checking in on you regularly?

Betsy, enjoy your weekend in Seattle. My retirement is official on August 31 but I'm moving into a retirement pace already.

Titan, haven't heard from you for a while - you must be busy with wedding stuff

Amy, what's doing with you?    .....and where is Judy?

If anyone wants to see photos of my trip, they are here:

Glacier Photos

Montana and Idaho photos

You do not have to be a facebook member to view these.

Hiya all, squeeeky squeek....

OMG Amy on that horrible poison ivy and rash -- that probably took as much fun out of your vacation as all this illness and radiation has taken out of my summer.  :-( Glad you're starting to heal up, though. Oh, BTW, I got the same result Helen got when clicking on your links to the pictures of your trip -- nada.

Rads at 12/33 now and SEs are starting. The coughing began over the weekend and on Sunday night when my Pack Rat was here, all of those multiple coughing fits that woke me up woke HIM up too. Got both Dayquil and Nyquil now, so I think I can start to control it. Skin is beginning to get pink today too in spite of my slatherings of Jeans cream immediately after every treatment and then again a few hours after I get home.  I tire very easily and have next to no ambition, but I'm still not sure if I can blame the fatigue on the rads yet though, seeing how I'm recovering from what almost amounted to near fatal kidney failure too (and was also just as tired and unmotivated from the time the "mystery ailment"/blocked ureter problem started almost a month ago)... The only real burst of energy I really had was Sunday when my Pack Rat was here (yeah, we're back to you-know-what already) so maybe I just need another good jolt from him and tomorrow is Hump Day so gotta invite him over. ;-)

Oh yeah and Shuttlecraft T'Kiri (my car) is now "fixed" -- my Pack Rat did a great job with the new fender. He found the same color -- amazing -- it's an odd sort of metallic teal-ish color, not something simple and easy to find/do...so he painted the fender and installed that and the new headlight assembly so now you have to get real close and look carefully in one certain area to even be able to tell anymore that I had the accident -- and it only cost me $300, not the $2,000 I was estimated it would have cost in NJ (he did the work but I paid for the stuff). So now I can expect Shuttlecraft T'Kiri to pass an inspection so I can get her all New Hampshirized....but for this whole month my medical schedule has not only ruined my summer but makes it almost impossible to find the time to do it all (need to do the license and registration stuff as well as inspection -- my NJ license and plates don't actually expire till June 2012 so even though I "should have" changed over by 60 days living here, I'm not a cop magnet driving around with expired stuff so I'm getting away with it)....

OHHHHHHHH WAIT!!!!!! The rads techs "owe me a favor" because on very short notice I agreed to reschedule two of my treatments to make things easier for THEM (instead of my usual 11:45s I had today's rads at 2 PM and Thursday's will be at 3 PM), so I'll pick a day then tell them I want to come in at 9 AM so I can have the rest of the day to take care of my car business. Except now when I open my iCal and see my medical schedule it practically drives me to an anxiety attack. :-P

...so who knows...between almost no energy/motivation and an aversion to looking at my schedule or planning anything, now I dunno when I'll do it.  LOL 

Feel well everyone. 

Lena,

Love the name of your car...

You might try using Aquaphor...it feels like you've been slimmed but it worked well for me. I'm allergic to aloe so all the other creams recommended I couldn't use. I didn't start charring until my boost (last seven treatments) that's when my skin turned black but hey...on the bright side. The rads burnt my scars off. You can hardly tell I had surgery. Even doctors point to the wrong scar when they examine me.

Sorry you are feeling weak but it's not surprising. Rads will take you down a notch. Get those hump days in now... as rads progresses you won't want to be touched or hugged.

Helen....August 31st that means you are in count down month! How exciting.

My boss told me today he has prostate cancer. So now of the 5 people I work with 3 of us have or has had cancer. Colon, breast and prostate....I think something is in the water or the air. It's just not right. 

Amy...glad you are past the itching stage.

We had a great family reunion. Also had a block party on the street I grew up on. I saw people I had not seen in 25 years. It was a blast.

Suttlecraft T'Kiri makes me want to sign off tonight with ...live long and prosper! Hugs...

Betsy

I deleted the posts with links to my photos. They didn't work anyway and today a woman from on here (not someone from our thread) sent me a facebook message. I asked her how she found me and she said she figured it out from the photo link. While I'm not secretive, I'm not totally ready for there to be a direct connection out there for anyone to find me. Just wanted you to know why the posts are deleted.



I am a bit worried about Judy too. However I know that services can move VERY slowly in Israel so possibly her Internet isn't hooked up yet. I hope that's all it is.



Titan....how awful about your son. Is there lasting damage or is his finger going to be ok?

Just want to "check-in" say hi and let you know I am ok and thinking of all of you, but have had no time to really post.  Lena - your whole experience sucks!  You don't need me to tell you that, do you...hang in there, as you always do!

Titan - awful about your son, and then you not feeling well either.

Amy - glad your vacation wasn't totally ruined, but bet you could have enjoyed it more without the rash.

Betsy - how are things with you?

Helen - really wonderful that your former student is so successful and smart enough to realize your role in that success.

Please forgive me if I've forgotten to mention anyone, but it is late for me, and I am very tired.  Having issues with pain down my posterior thigh into my calf keeping me awake at night - I'm thinking it's sciatica (have back problems, but never had these symptoms).  Have an appointment for follow-up with the onc, and since that is for Tuesday, I will just tough it out till then (and a little Percocet to make it less tough).  Try as I might, the mind wanders to that "dark place" whenever there is a new pain...oh well.

I also am really concerned about Judy - so unlike her, mama bear that she is.  Hope we hear from her soon.

Lena, on August 31 you and I will make a virtual toast to good days ahead



I'm losing my faith in our politicians as well because we continue to have our share of scandals, often once they've been in office too long. What we don't get however (and with all due respect for the democratic process which we all cherish) is what went on in the USA for the past few weeks where it appears to those of us in other countries that your guys had les interest in resolving the debt crisis than they did in trying to make themselves look good. I could be wrong and I don't mean to offend anyone - it's just how it was portrayed. In our government, when the Prime Minister has a majority government, there wil be debate but in the end when the vote is taken the Prime Minister gets his way. Also our Senate is not nearly as powerful as yours and I think they are pretty ineffective. It's a different form of democracy and also has it's problems. Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a political discussion



How do we go about finding Judy? Israel is a tiny little country

Overall though I think those of us who live in Canada and the US are very lucky. There are many places in the world where we would not have the same rights. Now we just need someone to cure this f'n disease. Lena, every bit of good news counts so congrats on today's news! Hope the rest of the day continues to get better and better

uh-HUH, well, anyone want my cold? Dunno where I caught it from, only that it leveled me for the whole weekend (probably in combination with everything ELSE), and oh yeah I have to have surgery on Wednesday to get those darn nephrostomy tubes out, but that'll be a same-day surgery like the BMX was -- no protracted hospital stay. So much for good medical news. When my Pack Rat called me earlier I told him, "You know, I think I was healthier in Superfund toxic waste garbage state NJ". He says, "Except for the cancer?" I said, "ALL I had was the cancer -- my kidneys didn't almost fail in NJ and I didn't get colds like this." 

(no, I am NOT planning to move back there...it was just a twisted observation.) 

I told him to stay home tonight (he often comes over on Sunday nights) so he wouldn't catch my cold. 

Hi,

Amy, I was thinking the same thing...could it be that once Judy made the move back to Israel, she wanted to leave this behind and start over?  But then again, like you, it would seem so out of character for her to just disappear.  I wonder if she knows how we all miss her?

Lena - feel better

Everyone else, have a good week.  I have my onc 3 month follow-up tomorrow...wish it didn't always bring such angst.

Geri 

JUDY!!!!!!!!

Your note made my day. I know others in our little group will post soon to say the same! We were really getting concerned about you. So glad you are doing ok.

Sending love across the ocean to you - we really really missed you!!!!

Amy

JUDY! JUDY! We have missed you so much! So happy to have you back here with us. When you get time, please tell us more about where you are living and how it feels to be back. I think someone referred to you as our mamma bear. I do hope you are feeling well. Do you have doctors that will continue to follow you?

Ah-HA!!!!!!!   See everybody, what did I TELL you? Judy came back almost EXACTLY as I predicted (today's the 10th, remember the 4th when I said she had 5 more days? LOL)! You all are just a bunch of worry warts LOL. 

HI JUDY!!!!!!! Welcome back!!!!  :-D

Yeah I can indeed imagine how disoriented you feel from the move. Even though I only moved a few hundred miles instead of halfway around the planet, I felt that way too when I first moved here, and then again recently when I came home after a protracted stay in the hospital. It'll take awhile, but you'll get used to it. Is this apartment anywhere near where you used to live in Israel before you went to the USA? 

OK -- here's the report, everyone: the damn nephrostomy tubes are OUT and as of tomorrow I can start taking REAL showers again! FINALLY! Surgery went well -- no problems whatsoever either going down or coming back up.