Starting Chemo in December 2013

Barbara- do you have a SAMs where you live? If you get their members plus card you can get anywhere from 8-40% off prescriptions (cash pay).  May be something to look into. 

Aff- how is your skin holding up?

Holli

holli - so far so good. Thanks for asking.  I'm only 7 in but I'll take it. My foob is definitely pink compared to my natural breast but it was pink on day 2 and has not changed. No other issues so far other than a constant pain at the top of my left shoulder blade. Not sure if it's from rads, cording, or stress. 

oh yes holli, I called...again and asked if I could use the other machine and although they said they usually don't they would recalibrate it for me so I went late afternoon. So now my finish date is back to fri 7/25. God help them if there are any further delays. I hope they know not to mess with my end date anymore. 

Missy lol! good luck with the closet clean out! 

I read and caught up.  Here is what stuck out or what I remembered lol. SE of cancer is like ADD!!!  Annoying!

Holly- cake:) Fab!  I'm like Robin and have a turtle thing.  Tatoo on right hip and all.  But, why turtle with pink?!  That was my sorority mascot and colors just wondering if it was yours too:)

Michelle- closet!! I went home last weekend for the first time since early June.  When I opened my closet, it took me back.  Everything was as it was in late October.  The winter clothes were still hanging and coats were there.  I've been living in yoga pants since DX.  I will be home for good July 28th and I will be hitting my closet as well.  I agree that is very therapeutic!!

Lisa- so glad you get to finish on time!!  I finish that Monday and I really wish it could have been the Friday like you!  Second- your rads top is stylin!   Mine looks nothing like that!  I look like a monk or Kung fu person lol!  Seriously- see photo!

FYI, just scheduled a vaca for 10/4-10/10 to Sedona with husband. Flying into Phoenix and driving to Sedona and staying in our time share exchange. Robin, you are from AZ? I forget if anyone else is as well. It would be great if we could meet up. Post here or pm me!

Robin... Tell me again where you got those coloring pages. They a are gorgeous. 

You ladies have been busy!

Michelle, closet looks great! I'm sure that was very therapeutic! I need to do that myself. Out with the old and in with the new life!

Robin, LOVE the pics. I should send my Mom some of those. She used to paint and draw. I'm sure she would be very good at it, once she got started. 

2 months on Tamoxifen already...so far, so good! 

My brother is planning to come visit at Thanksgiving, from Wisconsin. I am so excited! This BC has def brought my family closer....we are scattered all over the country, but are staying in touch more often.

((HUGS))

Count_It_All_Joy and I are in Arizona! I would love to meet up with you Lisa! Kim (Kjfromca) is heading this way at some point too. If I remember correctly, it was sometime around October also. 

Thanks for the compliments! The books are at Costco. You can find them in the book section, with the children's books. If your Costco doesn't have them, ask to speak with the book manager. You can also order on-line Color Me Your Way Link

I play with the colors in a sketch book before putting them on the picture. I have no formal art training. Those ladies, in the group,are amazing. I don't know how to do most of what they do. I don't know how to blend correctly, I just keep trying different things until I like how it looks in the sketch book. 

The rooster is marker and I bought a 64 pack at Walmart for about $10. Cra-AZ-Art Washable Supertip Markers. In office supplies near the kids art stuff!!

The iguana is colored pencil and I got those on Amazon. Rose Art Colored Pencil Link

For techniques, I have searched for blending and pinned them in my colored pencil art album on Pinterest. Lol! Colored Pencil blending link

I'm beginning to think closet cleaning is the next step in our recovery process!      Mine haven't been touched since last August, and I'm using much of the strength I'm getting back to go through them, one at a time.  The worst one I tackled Friday night - asked my husband to play cards with the girls while I kept working until 10:00… just HAD to have that feeling of closure.  

Robin, my daughter is a compulsive doodler, and has gotten into Zentangles.   ColorMeYourWay is next, I think!

Now that we're all done with chemo for a while… anyone else still having bad joint pain?  My hands and feet have gotten worse - especially while sleeping (trying to sleep!) and first thing in the morning, but also throughout the day - and now it's in my wrists.  I was tested for RA, came back negative, plus I don't have the other RA symptoms.  Wondering now about just osteoarthritis.  I've read it's another of those things that MO's swear is not chemo-induced, but lots of women seem to get it right after chemo.  sigh.  I'm hoping this is temporary, but so far it has only gotten worse with time.  

count_it_all, my feet hurt alot and has def gotten worse since finishing chemo, again wondering also if I'm doing more, (which I am) or something related to chemo. Never had this joint pain before even when I did a lot. I'm just pushing through and trying to ignore most times and sitting down when needed. Yesterday just standing at the deli counter waiting made me antsy and my feet hurt, I would have jumped into the child seat if I would have fit lol! My hands and fingers are very stiff in the morning too. So you're not alone but nobody has a real explanation and they just say it will get better, so,let's hope it does.  Also..oh wow.. We were diagnosed on the same day. Let's try a get together in oct, a drink definetely is in order. Sedona bound 10/4-10/10... Anyone else close by? A December chemo gathering (I'm really a jan chemo gal, but it knew this was my group from the beginning) would be great. I know RobinK is from az too.

Good luck tomorrow holli, we will all be in your pocket...wear big pockets girl!

I'm so glad to hear you all are having the same pain issues in hips and joints ...i mean, i'm sorry you all are in pain....that didn't come out right, but i'm just glad to know i'm not alone! I had convinced myself that it surely had gone into my bones and that is why I am in pain.....good ol' mind working overtime!   But now i'm thinking its from the Tamoxifan that I've been on now for 3 months and also a combination of everything else. I am proud to say i've also gone down in age to 92 from my 110, so we are all improving! I have a PET scan on August 11th...scared to death to have it done. 

Holli, good luck tomorrow and like Lisa said, we'll all be right there with you!!

sorry you all are having joint pain. I haven't had any for quite a while. I hope Tamoxifen doesn't change that!

Holli, Good luck with your surgery tomorrow! Keep us posted. One step closer!

Hi ladies.  I don't get on this thread every day, but when I do it is great to hear all the stories.  My friends and family just don't get it the way you do.  Unless you've gone through this, I guess it would be hard to understand that it's never really over for us.  I just saw the closet cleaning post and it made me laugh.  I had a pile in the back of my closet that I had to stand on to get to things and it was driving me nuts.  Last night I decided to put my wigs in boxes and one thing led to another.  The next thing I knew, the pile on the floor was gone, I had a stack of things I didn't want by the front door, my dresser no longer had wigs on it and the floor was vacuumed.  I felt awesome!  Okay, I have an eyebrow question......My eyebrows came in fast and full 2 months after my last chemo.  Well, it's been 4 months now and I was looking in the rear view mirror yesterday and I was shocked.  My brows have started thinning AGAIN! They aren't the same thickness, that's how I noticed. This is depressing to say the least.  Has this happened to anyone else?  I am putting model supplies rapid brow growth on hoping to stop the progression.  Chemo, the gift that keeps on giving.

I finished rads yesterday, woo hoo!  Afterward, went with my family on the "capital wheel" - the new ferris wheel at national harbor (near DC) and then out to lunch to celebrate, followed by a spa day w/ massage .  It was a great day.

I'm with DJJ.  I no longer feel 90 years old, only about 75 .  I have started stretching every morning when I get out of bed.  I can't narrow it down to specific joints, more like a dull ache/pain/stiffness all over.  I think it's improving, but sloooowly.  I also still have fatigue, but that is improving too.  I mainly see it at night - just exhausted by the end of the day.  Usually, once my girls are in bed, I'm ready to lie down too - at 9pm!!  After my 10 yr old's slumber party Sat. night (girls were up to 1am, then woke up at 6am . . .) I was utterly wiped out.  My husband was really tired and dragging too, but I felt hungover all day for lack of a better description.  Ached everywhere.  Hard to say whether this is chemo aftereffects or cumulative rads effects.  Now that I'm done with rads, I'm ready to see continual improvement!

And for anyone who was following this . . . I posted on the rads boards my experience with rads & swimming.  I was able to keep swimming all the way through, and per my doctor, my skin looks "fabulous."

Holli, check back in and tell us how it went!

oranje-Congrats on finishing rads! YAY!!!