The Hermit Club

markat,

KS looked unkempt.

Welcome Sandy! Everyone's different, and reacts different to meds. They didn't really help me want to go out and socialize, but did help me not want to thrash DH over the head with a frying pan. Actually, the valium helped with that I think . I work part time now and I kind of count that towards social interactions. My girls are 7&9 so they keep me busy enough. Before cancer I loved going out, now it just isn't important. My husband has a hard time with it, so I'm trying to be a little more out going. Whatever... lol.



I was a total lazy hermit today. It was like the good ole days (sob).



Teka, I think KS has seen the highlight of her career. One can only watch her bite her lip so many times!



Jazzy, he does look like a Brady...not that I'm old enough to have watched that show I've seen the reruns.



Skittle, Fl, Bgirl, Whaevah, camille- big hugs!

Hey, all.  Thank you for the kind and gentle good wishes.  It was the toughest sympathy card I've ever had to write...  Have spent time with some of his peers, and they, none of them, saw any "warning signs."  Just quiet implosion, they're guessing. 

I agree.  Kristen Stewart looked awful.  Thought Jennifer Lawrence was great when the camera spotlighted her for reaction to the "saw your boobs" song.  Refreshing to see a young actress proud to keep her privacy a little bit.  Also loved the red carpet moment when Bradley Cooper dropped to one knee.  Chivalry is not dead?!

Hope all Mondays went well.  I had a small break from school--had to work on "common core" planning instead of teach.  Had a sub.  Tomorrow will be fun, picking up the pieces.  You never know what to expect.

Has anyone ever adopted an adult dog?  Contemplating adopting a dog the current owners don't have time for.   I don't know how heart-broken the dog might be or how hard he might try to go home...  Wondered if you had success stories or strategies to share.

Hope se's are fewer and less for you all.  Hugs to each. 

Skittle- good to hear from you. I cannot imagine what that was like to write that card. I hope the family (and you too) are surrounding yourself with the love of friends and family during such a difficult loss. 

I have not adopted an adult dog, but wonder if you could take the dog on a trial basis from the owners to see how he/she adapts for a few days and if you bond? I have had friends do that through pet adoption agencies. I am sure you would give the dog a good home, but if it does not work out, then the dog could go back to the owners to find another home that might work? Just an idea.

Radiation Day #1 done. Got some redness (that looks like sunburn but began before the rads today) on the inside of the boob that they are watching and is bothering me tonight. No sign of infection, just major inflammation. Goes with the 26 catheters sticking out both sides. 

Some better news today, I think. Med onc consult today suggested that I would benefit the most from the aromatase inhibitor meds vs. adding chemo to the mix. The later came up as a possibility from the OncotypeDx test on the invasive side that was in the "intermediate" range and there is not any solid clinical data as to whether chemo would help or not. Sounds like it might only help a few percentage points anyways. So now I know the risk numbers upon which my decisions will be made. Got a second med onc apt in my city, and then will make some final decisions about the next step in all this. 

I am glad to be done with Monday! Hugs to everyone out there fighting the good fight.

Camille, KS is Kristen Stewart. She presented with the Harry Potter kid. She had a big bruise on her arm and hair was a mess.



Jazzy good!



Skittle, glad you checked in (((hugs))). I agree with Jazzy about trying the dog for a little bit to see if it's a good fit.



Oh my gosh, have you guys seen the show The Following with Kevin Bacon? So scary and good! It is on Fox Mondays. I wish it was a movie!

Jazzy - good luck this week with rads.  I was an intermediate oncotype too.  Did not do chemo

Cami - hope you are feeling better this week.

That JL reaction had to have been inserted.  She wasn't wearing the same dress in it.

Over cold, but it triggered another round of esophagitis.  Had difficulty swallowing off and on for the last year.  They think it is probably from rads (caused narrowing) and anything that causes inflammation makes it much worse.  Had test this morning ... will see what that tells us.

bgirl--you're way more observant than I am.  Never looked at her dress change! 

markat--DH really likes The Following.  I'm usually comatose by then or trying to grade papers. 

Jazzy--better days, I hope? (my oncotype was 19.  MO put me on five years of anastrozole/Arimidex.)  Wishing gentle days for your future.

Sandy--good luck tomorrow!  Take a friend for another set of ears. 

Thanks, all, for the doggie feedback.  Looks like we'll trial run him when I'm on spring break.  Just really hoping the kitties don't go bonkers or get sad and resentful.  Can't take a lot of hissing and hiding.   Don't know if his picture will load, but I'll try below:

Camille, it was on Fox Primetime On Demand, if your provider has that.



Bgirl hope it passes quickly! Hugs!



Skittle, it comes on at 9pm here. So I'm usually running around and have to watch it at 10. The picture didn't show up on my phone. Hope you had a good day!



Hi FL! Hope work isn't too crazy!



Welp, my stupid yahoo email was hacked last night. Not sure how because I never open spam and have so much security on my pc. Maybe through wifi It's embarrassing! It makes me nervous too!

Hi fellow hermits:

Half way through this morning on my rad treatments for the week! Most everything going okay, but feeling more fatigue this morning waking up. I think it is the cummulative effect of the procedure, carrying around 26 caths in one's boob, not sleeping quite as well (although better than last time) and work remote for my client too as I can. By friday afternoon, I will be done with this part of my treatment and heading back home to sleep in my own bed. It gets old living in a hotel (been there before on long consulting gigs in the past too!)

Bgirl and Skittle- thanks for your feedback on your Oncotype experience and where you landed. For those of you doing the aromatase inhibators, any feedback on the experience so far? I have heard there will be joint stiffness, possible bone loss, elevation in cholesterol. Have any of you found the experience to be problematic with respect to daily activities or just another one of those things we must manage?

Cami, markat, teka, Fl Warrior, Blondie, and the rest, hoping your "hump day" is not to humpy.

Blondie- sounds like a long day for you. The chemo stuff is not easy. My sister did and she said the anti nausea drugs really help. I hope you can take it easy and that the SEs are not too bad for you. Sending good thoughts your way.

Well hermits, I feel more than ever like crawling into a hole and pulling it in after me. I just found out today I have mets to liver. Two spots turned up on an ultrasound I had in December to check out something else, and after a delay of about a month (CT scan canceled once because I was in the hospital with toxic reaction to chemo, and postponed a week the next time round because I had had a different scan the day before and you're not supposed to have contrast twice in under 24 hours) and two inconclusive results, I had a biopsy last Friday to pin down what they were. Today my onc called with the biopsy results...liver mets.

Last week I went to the Home Show with a friend of mine from choir. I've told her I don't know why I don't want to tell anyone where my new house is, but I don't, so I won't. We went out to lunch the first Sunday I was able to get back to church after being hospitalized, and everyone pounced on her at the next choir practice and peppered her with questions. She says maybe now she sees why I am feeling so secretive. Anyway this new diagnosis has just doubled my reluctance to tell anyone anything--except my immediate family--well, them and you guys. In fact I haven't even said anything to most of my family yet, my mom is the only one who knows because she picked up the phone before I did when my onc called and heard the whole conversation (No objection from me, I could hear the TV over the phone and if I didn't want her to hear I would have asked her to hang up). And even less than my choir mates do I want to tell anyone at my job. They know I have cancer but my original dx was early-stage and I told them there was a good chance I would live to be an old lady and die of something else. Maybe not so much now but I don't want to talk about it with them. I've been eligible to start drawing my pension for several years now and I'm having a hard time not just sending in my retirement application tomorrow, but I'm going to force myself not to do that quite yet. My onc is going to request a PET scan to see if there are other mets beside the two on my liver. If not, maybe they can be removed surgically. I hope so. I was planning to stay on the payroll until after DIEP surgery that was scheduled for the end of April, but if the mets are operable that will have to be postponed and I'm darned if I am going to keep going until after an abdominal operation plus delay of maybe a couple months to heal up from that, and then DIEP and recovery. That could be the end of the summer. No, and no, and no!! I am not waiting that long to retire! Maybe I will download the form and fill it out except the effective date, and not send it in yet. That might get this urge out of my system.

I want to go live in my housethat I bought! I will have been living with my mom the better part of a year by the time I get moved in. My mom has been great to let me show up on her doorstep with basically no warning at all and move in like I own the place, but I am getting so antsy to be back in my own place, even though it's an "own place" I've never lived in before. 

But right now I just feel stunned. I think I was about the same when I got my original dx. I got my feet back under me after that, maybe I will be able to do it again. My little brother will know where I'm coming from, he has colon cancer and was stage IV from the beginning, which was 9 years ago. I guess I probably was too--I just didn't know I was, until this afternoon.

curveball I am so sorry, things just hit you when it is unexpected....I understand everything you say...rest, eat and take care of yourself and you will figure out what to do.....

I don't know anything about cyberknife...

Jazzy how r u today?

I have to geta CT scan also, haven't had one since July and that i when we found out the gemzar wasn't working had 1 treatment of taxotere and got septsis with the abcess was in the hospital for 12 days and off chemo for 2 months (my choice)....just had completed my 4th round but I am on it until it doesn't work and then on to another one or until it is stable and then he said something about putting me back on hormonal therapy, whatever....so will make the appt today and then he said depending on what that says getting a PET scan haven't had one of them since 2009 when I was diagnosed with the recurrence....i do notice that the lymphnode under my arm is going down, but the mass in my chest that is on the chest wall that i can feel with my hand is still there....so maybe it is working......now about the stupid chemo I got yesterday, well really the pre-meds...I get 7 things and that isn't even including the sodium (flush) I get between which is why I am there for 4 hours...anyway they give me 2 anti nausea medications and well they aren't working and just saw the dr. yesterday...have to tell him...was nausous last night an am nauseous right now......the friggin steroids usually have me up 27 hours at least, but am now taking benedryl and it worked until 430 so have been up since then and the stroids will keep me speeding until tonigh......so now that i have bored you with this long message...I will move on...thanks for listening

Curveball ... try to breathe and see what the dr has to recommend.  One step at a time.  I think it is normal to feel very private right now.

Hopefully, March will be easier on all.

good for you curve, I am sort of retired, I get SSD disability but I work as on on call at Macy's and they are so gracious knowing of the cancer and don't give me a hard time about not going...I work a couple of days a month if I can get the hours around the chemo, but I am 3 weeks on and that means I really can't do anything until maybe sunday or monday....but it is getting more into tuesday or did the last time.....I am only doing 4 or 5 hours if I can also. 

I made the appt for my Ct scan next week, hope yours is ok......

Jazzy take care of yourself....