The Hermit Club

Curveball we all pray u'r mets can be treated too. we're ll on u'r side and hope for the very best results. Everything hppens so fast sometimes with is damn disease it jolts u. I hate this for all of us.

Jazzy after tomorrow u'll be home like u said in u'r own bed and u can relax much better, sorry you are not feeling well.

Jinkala oh I hate those machines too--and not moving is my hardest cuz I tend to talk alot and my nose always gets itchy every single time. I have my mri next week so I know the feeling of just get it oer with. I know I should have gone this week but they said this is the bigger machine so I waited to get this--see if it's any better. My sister says the rosary with her eyes closed everytime--she has patience. I don't. LOL

So here's to a day that hopefully brings us to feeling well and better news.

Hi again hermits:

Jinkala- sorry to hear about your feet. I get lots of advice to eat healthy and exercise, yet have been too fatigued most of the time to even consider doing much on the later. I hope your CT scan is okay. They watch us all very closely going through this.

Teka- I with you, may March be kinder to us all!

Hang in there sisters!

Hi hermits: getting ready to go back for round #2 in another hour. Then Day 4 of 5 will be done! Feeling a bit better as they day has gone on.

Curveball- so glad you had the plans in the works to retire this spring. That will make things easier for you if you feel ready to do that. There are pluses and minuses to the whole "work thing" when you are going through this. Some women are able to work through treatment, others not so much. You just take super good care of yourself.

Cami- thanks for your kind words to myself and others. I liked what you said about your sister and the rosary. Whenever I am having anything done (like rad treatments this week), I repeat the 23 Psalm to comfort myself. You know, "the Lord is my shephard I shall not want...."

I am wishing for good energy, clear CT scans, and better days for all the hermits here!

OK Jazzy u'r almost done----i more after today. Then that's it. YAY

bobo I really was like u with Drs. at first I felt like OMG I don't want to bother them or take up to much time--etc. Well In a way I still am cuz I wait to long for things--but that's what the Drs. are there for not just to treat our immediate care but calm s for all that we go thru and make us comfortable as possible. I learned that after a ittle while and realy unless u have someone mean, which I doubt they always give u something to take stress away cuz that's an enemy for us. So sleeping and pain we can get something for at all times u just have to be honest about how u feel.P>S> Alomost everyone on these boards are on some type of med to help them, anti-depressants, anxiety. sleeping aids or pain pills or almost all or all of these meds--So don't put u'rself down or in fear of taking anything--My  motto now is Say yes to drugs. LOL

curveball... hugs and prayers.  I agree with all... deal with it all how you can, and don't worry about the rest.  No need to broadcast, especially since there are options most likely to hear rom your drs that will help give you more info to make decisions with.  We are all here to support and care.

teka--amen

jazzy--safe trip home!

Hi FL warrior!  

@skittle after I wrote that about not wanting anyone at work to know I have mets, it occurred to me I might have to renew my FMLA application and that info would be on it. I think I have to get my supervisor's signature at least for that. I have a ton of sick leave, but don't want to burn it up because we get a great benefit, called VEBA, at my job. If approved by a union vote at the time of contract negotiations (and it was approved the last time around), 35% of an employee's unused sick leave time goes into a tax-deferred health savings account at the time of retirement. The account grows tax free and IIRC the withdrawals are tax-free also. Before cancer, I had over 1100 hours of unused sick leave, and I still have a little over a thousand of them left, which will give me a five-digit VEBA balance to start off my retirement with. VEBA was supposed to be my "slush fund" for expensive dentistry, since I plan to pay out of pocket for dental care in retirement. I haven't had a cavity since I was in grade school, the dentist never has to do anything to my teeth but clean & polish. But if in the future I ever needed a crown or an implant or root canal, that VEBA account was how I planned to pay for it. That thousand hours of sick leave was accumulated over my entire 27+ years with this employer. It's irreplaceable and I don't want to lose it.

But now, with mets, does it even matter?

Or maybe I will use it for something different, that isn't covered by my health plan, like that testing to see which chemos your tumor is sensitive to...

@Jazzygirl, I am SO ready to stop working. Even if my lump had turned out not to be cancer, I was seriously thinking of selling my house right then & there, and pulling the plug as soon as I had a buyer. When it turned out the lump was cancer, I put my house went on the market as fast as I could get moved out of it. Now, I can't think of a single good reason to continue working. I don't need the money, by this time last year I had enough to last me until age 100. About the last reason I wanted to stay on the payroll was to avoid switching from employee coverage to retiree in the middle of treatment, but now, maybe I will be "in the middle of treatment" for the rest of my life, so that's no longer a reason to delay retiring.

Thank you everyone for your hugs and prayers.

Good morning hermits: Day #5 and my final day of radiation treatment. I cannot tell you how glad I am that this part is wrapping up! It is certainly not as bad as other things I have gone through (or any of you are going through with chemo), but like all these treatments, it wears on you.

I chatted with a nice woman at the center yesterday and referred her to this web site. She is doing external radiation and is like us, trying to keep things private and/or a bit of a hermit going through her care. She loved the idea of a support group on line. 

Curveball- it is good you have really thought through all the work related/financial issues. I wonder if you do need to go into detail on your FMLA application about the mets, maybe so. Will you continue to have some sort of med benefits when you retire? Like private insurance, Medicare, etc.? It seems these days, most people have the money to retire but are in an insurance gap. My sister is in that situation, a few years shy of Medicare but wanting to retire sooner. You will make the right decision for you and we are here to support you!

Blondie- so sorry about the nausea. I hope you can get some relief from that soon.

And to pipe in about the meds, my doctors have given me scripts to for sleeping, anxiety, etc. I don't need to take them all the time but if you are going through a tough time, they do help. 

Thanks to everyone on the good wishes for my final day and trip home. Fortunately, I only have a short flight this evening, but it will be a long day. But I am ready to get this done.

TGIF and blessings to everyone as the week ends and weekend begins. Will pop in again after I am home and rested.

@Jazzygirl, the doctor's part of our FMLA form is pretty detailed, so the HR department has enough info to evaluate whether you qualify or not. I guess the forms vary from state to state and employer to employer. Now that I think of it, I doubt that mets treatment with an AI only would qualify, because unless the particular AI causes bad SE for a specific employee, the treatment wouldn't affect the ability to continue to do one's job. Surgery to remove mets would qualify, more chemo would and reconstructive surgery would. I think HR is prohibited from revealing the info on the forms except to the employee's supervisor, but if, after telling everyone in January that I was done with chemo, I start taking FMLA again in March, people will probably draw their own conclusions. I think I'd rather just retire, and then they will only think "no surprise, she's been hinting for years that she was going to retire in 2013".

I am an employee of local government, and will be able to continue almost the same medical coverage after retirement and have the premiums automatically deducted from my pension check to ensure there is no gap in coverage, which is a huge blessing.

Oh - I have been working through the whole ordeal.  I had been on FMLA intermittant leave - which is basically submitting one form to cover a lot of off time interspaced with work.  I work for a municipal government as well though I am not close to retirement age yet.

YAYAYAYAYAY JAZZY!!!

Welcome home!!

Jazzy I'm glad u'r home and settled and take u'r own advice and Pace u'rself--u srill are healing.

checking in HAPPY SUNDAY!!

Thank you everybody! Having a good day today. I hope you are too!