Chemo Starting Sep 09

Vickilynn....LOVE your new photo!!  It looks cold but you look wonderful!  Every time my daughter has a new, delicious recipe, she says it's from some "Pioneer Woman" cookbook.  From now I'm envisioning you (or maybe Don!), out there in the wilderness cooking up a "storm" complete with butane lighter..LOL!!!  Dinner sounded so peaceful..we had quite the opposite, we may have been in a bit of a fog but those 3 little love bugs...complete w/our son's springer kept it pretty wild and crazy!

Oh Patty...thanks for MORE HOPE!  I didn't remember your mom's bc spread...when I read those survival stories I just pray the Lord has that in His plans!  I thought you were already on the CO slopes...but it sounds like you have a very busy week going on!  Good luck w/the BIG SHOW (anybody hear Lawrence Welk's voice right then?).  I just can't think of a more fun job...aside from having to do the work-by yourself...egads.  We've been so lucky to not have had the incredible storms the east coast has had. 

Jane...I hope it quiets down for you...although the buzz means people have $$ in their pockets and that means you'd get to keep some of your workers, right!!!  Hope the family is doing well & your grandbabies (ok..maybe their actually kids, but they'll always be your babies, won't they!) had a fabulous Christmas.  Did you all get together?

BarbAnne...Are you back to work yet, or do you get the time between Christmas and New Year's off?  You're probably ready for a quiet New Year after a buzzing December.  Is DD a new woman with a job????   Hopefully she's still living at home, socking the dollars away

Where's my Idaho gal???  We're traveling over the mountains today, after family pix at our favorite photographer-JC Penney   It should be interesting with 11 of us.  I had my brain/bone scans yesterday...lots of tube time w/prayers.  My EKG was fantastic...heart & lungs - healthy - check!  I've probably already said biopsy Mon and port Wed.  I'll dream of you & DS shushing down the mountains, Patty!

Going to go back to bed for a couple more hours of sleep (until 8 am) so I don't look quite so tired in pix.  I'm in the living room typing and listening to Tom and Addie (grand doggie) snoring in bed.  Yep, she's right in the middle of us.  My son's family are co-sleepers and since they're only in a queen bed at our place, the dog needs more "space!"  Tom says she's our canine therapy.  Vickilynn...do you still have your dog???

Love to all & I feel the chants and prayers!

I just love you ladies!

Yes I am still chanting for the best Ronnie! Especially for next weeks stuff, yay! for healthy heart and lungs!!

Yes dd is still living at home and socking it away, she just likes spending mom's money. But I would rather she embark on the world with a healthy sense of money and a nice nest egg, something I had neither of at her age, she is working away thinking of gettin another pt job when it slows down at her first one after the holidays. And she goes back to school in January.

VickiLynn I love love you new photo! Glad you were toasty warm, sometimes thats what counts, PB and J's can get us through!

Oh and yes I am off until January 2nd, Ive been looking forward to this for months. All that restructuring at work was starting to take its toll, i needed a break from those people.

Jane I hope you get some post holiday peace soon!

Patty thank you for the info, and you are so right take the pills Ronnie if you can.I'm with Patty if they don't take good care of our girl we are all headed out. :-)

Big fat chanting hugs!

Good First Morning of 2013 Dear Sisters!!!   Tom and I just back from taking granddoggie for a walk....so good for the soul.  Why didn't we get a dog when you did, Vicki????  Son is going to head back to Long Beach on Sunday and DIL and Josie are headed for northern WA to see her mother who broke her hip...so they've asked us to keep the dog until DS drives back up, probably in a couple of weeks.  We're all for it.  She's such a great dog  

OK...chants are working, Sisters!  We were in e WA from Fri-Sun and I don't get very good reception, texts, etc., don't go through unless we go to the next larger town.  SOOOOOOOOOOOO, I left a message for the oncology nurse because I read my test results, that mistakenly showed up on my patient line w/my UofW physician site.  Regular dr visits, tests, msgs to drs, etc. are covered there.  But being treated at Seattle Cancer Care, those tests have never been published...I could see them if I wanted but they'd always be decifered.  I was frozen...reading that my "lesions" were 8 and 4 centimeters...ugh. Thankfully, one gal I've been blogging with is the 10 year survivor who had a 9 cm one.  So, when Martha called me, she went through the tests with me, and said it really doesn't matter the size, it's whether it responds to treatment.  You're right Patty...the chemistry can totally change.  After going through that and freaking out about bone loss, which she assured me is ok...she gave me the news that my brain and bone scans were normal...NED!!!  (always wanted to use that!).  As for Brian...he's never shown up...LOL!!!!  I felt like I'd dodged a bullet...or really, more like God already answered prayers!!!!   And so the chants continue, GIRLS!!!!   Biopsy went well yesterday.  Had to go after the smaller spot since the larger was at close to the liver edge and they can't puncture, which could lead to spreading of cells.  Stayed 4 hours for observing but felt fine resting at home.  Needless to say...our New Years consisted of me napping, Tom listening to music and waking up in time to watch the fireworks over Lake Washington from the windows and some of the awful music on tv.  How bout you all....prayers for all to have a blessed New Year...and for the day when we can all come together & celebrate LIFE!  Port tomorrow...darn....but guess that's just the way it is.  Here I finally had breasts and a clear chest and now I'll have that bump again.  All necessary...as you well know!

Barb...so happy daughter's in a good spot, and wanting to work more hours!!!  That's fantastic...and some day will be really good for your bank account, just not yet   And  nice that you had the holidays off...the best part of working in education, don't ya think!  Haven't heard much about your weather...has it been a winter wonderland like Vicki's????  

Vicki...I took my first real...meaning deep & hot...bath about 2 weeks ago after all the surgeries (elbow, hard to lower myself in, and diepx2) and it felt so good...needed it!  Love that you had gentle bubbles...any food coloring????  Ice is such an awful part of the beautiful wonderland!!  When you get as much snow as you have, I'm sure the new coating is over the melted/icy part of the day before.  Hope Don got lots of TLC  

Waiting to hear if you're a snowboard queen, Patty!  And really just want to hear that you looked amazingly beautiful in the lodge!!! Funny story: our niece and family (4 kids), were on their way from e WA to Yellowstone (2 day drive) for a 2 week vacation in the snow to celebrate hubby's birthday.  They're big time rancher, farmers, so they have all the big rigs..snowmobiles, etc.  They had the trailer w/all rigs on it and the cat kept hopping on as they were leaving home. They got to the first stop, about 4 hours away, and there was the cat peering out from under a tarp.  They totally freaked and the cat ran off (a domesticated farm cat so she's pretty savvy).  They took off again, mourning the loss of kitty for the next 8 hour drive.  They got to their cabin for the first night & went swimming in the lodge pool.  Came back to their cabin and kitty was sitting at their door!  Such happy kids..and a mom & dad asking what the heck they'd do w/a cat on vacation for 2 weeks a couple thousand miles from home.  So kitty's in a nice vet's office in Montana, awaiting family for the pickup on their way home.  I know I type too much all the time, just thought it was such a sweet story.  And she'll get to ride IN the suburban on the way home

Jane...what a thoughtful daughter, knowing that you need a spa treatment..and also that she's successful...what you hope and dream for for your children   I can only imagine how relieved you are after this holiday season (the working part of it!) and I know you're the very best at what you do!!  Is hubby still doing well?  I don't remember if he's retired?  Nice to get this time on vacation & maybe you'll get fun time w/grandkiddos too! 

Patty...since the onc said that I should take a break (aka quit) working, I'm wondering what I'll do at 4 am   It's been my wake up hour since chemo and after taking this job, I just sprung outta bed and got going for the day.  There's always those thoughts in the back of my head that it was too stressful, I didn't drink green tea, what if, what if.  My onc said to stop that.  It's cancer..but I like everything justified.  Why 3 times????  I asked about the lymph nodes being clean, she said capillaries also carry cells...so why don't they get those??? My sister said that maybe those same cells that multiply the bad stuff, are also multiplying good stuff...the reason that I bounce back so quickly. I pray so!!!  

Another rambling Ronnie...my DS, unbeknownst to us, sent an email asking our priest if he would baptize Josie while they were in town, since it was something Tom and I have always wanted done.  Our priest agreed to this...forgoing the studies normally required by the parents & godparents before the sacrament, making the only request that their family find a church to belong to when they go home, helping Josie understand her being a child of God, to be prepared for her first communion in a couple of years. We're blessed with a very understanding, very Godly man, who understands the world today and we just love him.  So...baptizm Friday afternoon...a warm heart.

AHHHHHHHH....love you all!!!   Now to get ready for the whole crazy bunch to arrive to eat Grandpa's pancakes!!!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm lounging in front of the fire and thought I'd check in. It is brutally cold here in the Colorado mountains...high today will be about 14! DS took a snow boarding lesson yesterday and let's just say it is not his "thing". Much drama. So we are just relaxing today. There is really something to be said for putting your feet up in a cozy condo far from home with nothing calling out to be done.



Ronnie I'm so happy to hear your test results! So...what is the chemo they are recommending? Get those Ativan pills to keep you calm. Good luck with your port installation. I know you don't like the bump, but I actually preferred it to the big divot I have now. I loved, loved, loved the kitty story. Very persistent that little kitty!



Vicki, I hope DH's concussion clears up quickly. It is nothing to take lightly. Look at all the trouble Hilary Clinton is having from her fall. I had never considered spending New Year's Eve in the ER...but now I'll know to decline any invitations I get to do so.



Good to hear from you Gill. Sounds like you had a busy holiday. I took the Christmas decorations down before we left California...I didn't want to face doing it when we get home. But I'm always torn. The house looks so pretty all decorated. Oh well, there is always next year!



Jane enjoy your days off...if you run out of closets to clean I've got a couple for you. Barbara you have a wonderful break too! I love your new Avatar and yours too, Vicki. I may get inspired to put up a new one too.



Patty

Hello SOSisters.... Happy 2013.  Yes, I have been enjoying my time off.  Closets have yet to be cleaned but I have a few days left   Went and signed up for Weight Watcher's yesterday am, it is so so time for me to do something about this weight. Funny story, did not plan to start WW until this am so had already made lunch plans.  Went to Chili's for lunch and was sitting there with my WW nametag on!  DH thought it was quite funny.   Also went to the spa and got manicure/pedicure.  Today went grocery shopping for my new healthy foods and dental appointment.

Ronnie Kay - I am so glad that you got clear results.  I knew you would, had absolutely no doubt and I'm sure all of us will keep chanting!  I have quite a divot from my port and I agree it's our badge of courage.  Is this new one bothering you at all?  When do you start your chemo?  So wish we could all be there with you!

Gilly - so good to hear from you.  I took my tree down on New Year's day, was so ready for it to be down.  It's just a little 4 footer, no room in the condo for a big tree.  I gave DD all my treasured ornaments that were to big for the tree.  It was sad but I wasn't using them and she will enjoy them.

VickiLynn - I am so sorry to hear about Don!  I spent considerable time in the ER with both my mother and aunt a few years ago.  I know what a delight that must have been for you and Don.  I'm saying a prayer that Don recovers quickly.  You are so brave to drive on icy, snowy roads!

Patty - okay I'm not the cold weather person but a nice fire with feet propped up relaxing sounds pretty good.  So since DS is not going for a career in snow boarding will you go back next year or try for something more tropical.  Still trying to talk DH into Key West, and yes I'm making some progress!

Take care dear sisters.  Thoughts, prayers and chants are with you!  Check in soon.

Jane

Dearest SOS!!!   I had my meeting with the oncologist yesterday....almost 3 hours.  We dropped Megan off at home and then went to drop Mollie off when she told us they had arranged for us to have dinner at Tom's favorite "steak" restaurant...which also serves amazing seafood...my favorite.  We had a wonderful, cozy dinner...hadn't been along for a few weeks and it was wonderful. 

So...for the scoop...stage 4-bc in my liver and my oncologist said she has a feeling it may have been there from the start...possibly just minor cells.  I was healthy enough to keep it dormant but maybe after all the trauma I've been through, it's possible with my immune system being overloaded, the cells spread.  She said they'll never know...just a thought on her part.

SO....for the good news!!!  Such blessings that my brain and bones are clear and we need to keep them that way   The pathology is the same - YAY - because being on the + spectrum, there are more drugs available.  I will start on something called Navelbine & Herceptin (she said she would've liked me to have stayed on herceptin from the start but it's never approved until you get to this point...she also hates the insurance institute!).  So I start TODAY at 5:00 pm.  She said I will stay on these drugs (and one other being approved) as long as they work.  When they stop working, they move to another type drug.  They keep doing that until the meds no longer work.  I'm hoping that's a LONG time from now!   She also said that since the tumors grew so quickly, there's hope they'll shrink quickly.  I know it all sounds so scary...but I have faith and hope that I will live...I want to be Patty's Mom!!!!   So many prayers have already been answered...many of them from you, dear sisters!  The ses are supposed to be minimal, fatigue and nausea, but I can handle that.  Am so happy I get to keep my hair! 

I don't know about working yet...will see how the meds treat me...but I'm hoping to possibly work part time/part time   Will talk to our HR people today. 

My love & thanks to you all.....sorry I keep throwing a wrench into the healthy party!!!!    XOXO

We can cuddle in my King bed or the Queen guest bed!!!!   No hotels needed...wanted, maybe - needed, naw!!!!  I promise we would have a fabulous time & we'd go to the top...well, almost...of Mt. Rainier...ferry to Vancouver Island for a Native American salmon bake, the list goes on & on!!!! (No snowboarding Patty!  Only looking at mountain brooks and wild flowers). Summer????   Early Fall?????   Winter????   Spring????  I'm game!  

Patty...I keep reading & reading your Mom's survivor story & keep it with me!  I've had 2 treatments...2nd was last Friday and still don't have approval for the 3rd drug, dang it...but no side effects.  It's a true blessing!!!  I had pre-meds so no reaction..yeah!  AND, my counts were good so no neulasta!!  My first treatment (I see my last post was right before my first treatment), was a little tricky.  They didn't give me premeds because they said my body would recognize herceptin since I'd had it for a year.  WRONG!!!  I got a fever & chills, bp spiked, felt terrible. They shut it down, gave me benedryl, fluids and tylenol, waited a half hour and then started it at 1/4 speed (it had been at 1/2 speed). It took over 3 hours & I had a head ache for 2 days following, but that was easily tolerated and the only side effect...praying that's how each treatment is!

My girlfriend's mom has the Kangen water system...totally alkaline...which is supposed to be miracle water cause bad stuff, aka cancer, can't live in an alkaline environment (which is the type of eating I'm doing), so she's been giving me the water.  It's a $4000 system so she goes and picks up the water for herself and me.  Well, today my pharmacist asked me why I'm drinking Alkaline water (I asked for the saliva test strips to see how alkaline my system is) and said that she thinks I should just drink regular water because that would be what chemo is based upon...alkaline water may not let the chemo do its thing.  OMG...what if I totally blew it for a week????   This is my first soiree into the "holistic" setting and I'm totally freaked out.  I'm waiting for a call from Seattle Cancer Care's breast pharmacist to tell me what to do....ugh.  Neither my onc or any of the onc nurses I spoke to knew anything about drinking this water.

I went to work for 4 hours on the 14th and 15th, basically just to clear up stuff.  It was pretty trying...in that there were people that were ill and my mind wasn't on working.  I'm on leave now and will decide after 10 weeks what to do.  I won't have another scan until 6-8 weeks and that will tell whether treatment's working. 

Thinking of all of you...hoping you're thawing out Vickilynn!  Barb...you kept me in stitches, and Jane...I hear the chant!!!  Gill, we're heading over the mts this weekend to retrieve our DIL and Josie from her mom's place & hoping the pass is clear and dry...I'd settle for clear & wet...just NO SNOW!   Nice to look at but oh how I hate to drive in it...or be driven in it!!!

LOVE & HUGS

Ronnie - I hope the weather is kind to you. We are supposed to get some snow tonight, but don't know about the weekend. It is cold!!

I will have to check out your site Gilly!

Barb-Anne could you make it to Seattle?

Good morning SOSisters.... off today, going to be 76 but with severe weather and 50mph gusts.  I was hoping for warmer weather, just goes to show you have to be careful what you wish for!

Neece - I'm so glad you posted!  We have been worried about you.  You can tell from the posts that all of us are posting less than we used too.  It is good you are so involved with the Breast Cancer network.  We need all the help we can get!  I'm doing two walks in the next couple of months to raise money.  I can relate to the elderly parents, went through same with my aunt and mother.  How exciting, you are going to be a grandmother!  Do you know if it's a boy or girl?  Not that you'll care, you'll just be delighted to have a little on around. 

VickiLynn - thanks for emailing Neece.  So glad she's ok!  Are you still snowed in?  We lived in NJ for 10 years, went through alot of snow and a blizzard.  I am just not a cold weather person, wish I was, always wanted to try skiing.  How is DH doing?  Recovered from his fall? 

BarbAnne - hope all is well with you and work is going ok.  Are you busier now than before Christmas?  We don't ever slow down, just go from one event to the next.  How's DD doing on the next job search?

Gily - I haven't been on your website yet, but I hope to get there in the next few days since I'm off.  How is the weather treating you in Moscow? 

Patty - how are you  doing?  How did your big bridal show go?  I would love to go to one of your shows, see all the vendors and to-be-brides.  I bet it is so rewarding.  How many actual weddings do you attend each year?  I bet you get a lot of invitations.

RonnieKay - thinking about you and wondering how you are doing.  You know all thoughts and prayers are with you.  So how goes chemo?  Is it treating you kinder than first txt?  So how is Spring in Seattle? 

Take care.  Thoughts and prayers are with you.

Jane