Starting Chemo in December 2013

I wish I didn't do the update on my iPad and iPad mini. It is worse now even with the newer iOS. Argh! Still have iphone 4 so can't update that. Good! Can I go back to the older iOS? Both devices keep freezing up when typing(especially on here) and then I loose everything I've just typed. Hate technology sometimes. 

Robin, yea for your adorable new puppy. How is your other dog doing with the new pup? I see your lymphedema sleeve folded back at the top. (You're not supposed to do that) Is it a custom or ready to wear? How is your LE doing? I guess I should wear mine for the flight this wknd. Hmm almost forgot about it. ( don't have le but got a sleeve when I took a flight in April as preventative) Occ fingers swell with the heat and when walking and arm is down but this happens to both hands but I should take extra care with lefty, I know.

Robin, so cute!  Love lab puppies, she's darling:)

Keep the faith, good luck, it's a good thing for our Dr.s to be cautious.  The anxiety is the worst!

Robin love the puppy, she's so cute. 

 I just got an email from my MO.  Because I am anemic, I have to get a colonoscopy.  She wants to make sure that I don't have bleeding polyps.  I leave for Talledega in a couple of weeks, I will make my appointment after I return.  Oh and my white blood cell count was down from 4 days earlier...  I am not a happy camper. 

Keepthefaith - The never ending tests..... sending a hug your way!

Lisa - Wishing I could meet up with you ladies in Arizona, but the family party was rescheduled, so I won't be headed out there.

Kim

Good question  I am thinking my surgery date when the little bastard was removed

Well this is disappointing...I just read that if your period doesn't come back in a year, then it probably won't.  It would have been a year in Jan.  I just started  Robin, congrats on your new pup!  

a lady on the DIEP board said that she considers her date to be the day she got the mammogram results. She said that since she didn't die that day from the shock then that must be the day she started surviving!! So my mammogram date is Oct.  16.  My biopsy results came in on the 23rd. But I knew it was cancer when the radiologist at the mammogram place walked in before I left and told me it was highly suspicious. I could see it in his face and I knew. My husband and I just talked about this last night. He said he still held out hope until the biopsy results. He confessed when I called him at work and told him they were positive that he had to run to the bathroom because he got sick. Poor guy. :0( but that phone call didn't bother me at all because like I said... I already knew after that mammogram. Plus I knew what questions to ask during the biopsies...

I also think i'll go by my diagnosis date......October 22nd.  I was wierdly calm....like most of you, i had a sneaking suspicion although i had no symptoms.  My biggest fear in life, other than something happening to my kids, is (was) getting cancer because I had seen both my parents go through it and the devastating side effects it could cause.....well my worst fear became reality and i'm proud to say i've been able to get through it with grace and courage and have done it along with some of the most incredible women out there....all of you. 

A year ago my best friend Denae made me get an appointment along with her to go in and get our mammograms...i did so reluctantly.  We went in for our mammograms on October 4th.....a week later i emailed her at work and asked her if she had heard anything yet as I hadn't....she told me she had received a letter in the mail the day before, i didn't get one.  I knew at that instant that I had cancer.  I got a call a couple of hours later wanting me to come in for additional tests.  Those were the longest couple of weeks of my life.  I'd never felt so alone and helpless and pissed off at the entire world because this was happening. 

I head back to the Mayo Clinic for appointments on October 22nd....exactly a year to the date of diagnosis.  This time though, along with meeting with my surgeons, i'm meeting with the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SURVIVORSHIP program! Last year, i just prayed to survive....and i did. 

Happy Breast Cancer Awareness month ladies (said with just a slight hint of sarcasm!)   May our breasts be fondled only with love and no longer by machines, strangers hands, needles, scalpels, ultrasound machines and whatever else has touched em' this past year!

Love you all!

Michelle

Michelle - I meant to say blessing not proverb....I think, now I am confused....lol

Keep the faith- praying for you and your DD. Keep us posted. 

Holli

ok my first haircut 5 1/2 months post chemo. He took a lot off the back and sides and nothing off the top or front. More of a shape now rather than like a ball or poodle or top of a bad q-tip, lol, you get the picture. I think I'm going to keep the color for now. It was so good to have the feel of a haircut again even though it's still short. I'm afraid it looks old lady like though. He said once the top is longer we can work on a more edgy style. He worked on it with a small round brush as its not quite 2" long yet (haha just went to measure it, lol!) and that's about it. (The car is a good place to take pictures it seems, there have been a lot taken in cars posted here)

Oh and I got this cool ear cuff this weekend at a craft fair. Think it looks cool with short hair (pre-haircut)

Hope all of you are well and those having yearly mamos, scans, appts get through with flying colors. I talk about how much this group has meant to me to everyone that asks how I'm doing or what helped me get through. its girls that really, really understand. We've pulled each other through, kicking and screaming and crying sometimes, but we did it. You are a part of my recovery and I thank you

Chico - I will PM you my info.  

Lisa - Love the ear cuff, I want one.  Your hair looks great too.  

Terri - So glad to hear that all went well for both drs. appts.  I will continue to pray for your dd.  What's her name?  

Kim

Lisa, your hair is too cute!

Mikesgirl, no period for me yet either...grrrrrrrr,  I'm getting nervous,  My last period was a week before chemo so the beginning of December will be a year with no period.  My MO said it could take up to two years...sigh

one by one we will be fast approaching or pasted our 1 year anniversary date. I truly wish everyone clean scans, mammograms etc. I just want to forget the past year and start 2015.  Unfortunately I will still have a disabled and worsening husband to deal with.  2015 may be the year of the nursing home, trying to keep him home as long as I can. 

Gee I would think you younger gals would be happy no more periods.

Everyone's hair is growing in so nice.  Mine is still thin enough on the top that I use white hair powder on it so the scalp does not show through as much.  

Terri glad the mammo was OK

Michelle, love then ending of your post.

Lisa, she is  1 week post radiation. Some bladder irritation and not wanting to pee for 12-15 hours at a time but today she is acting more normal and peeing better.  She ran up the stairs to see me today when I was making up my husbands bed this afternoon then ran back down them when I came down again.  It is so nice to see her acting happy again. I guess radiation must be fatiguing to dogs also.  

Still considering starting the chemo on her in 1-2 weeks. 

Sedona should be a healing place for you. How fun to meet Robin. 

Holli - LOL    I could go off on a rant about women wanting big boobs to please men......but I won't.    How is the surgeon planning on making your nipples?  When the time comes, I am thinking that I will have a tattoo.  I just need to find the right tattoo artist with the right criteria.....Good looking and experienced in tattooing nipples.

Barbara -  Sending a hug your way.  You are an extraordinary women.  Whatever decisions you make regarding your fur baby's cancer treatment and your husband's care decisions, will be the right ones.   We are here for you.

Lisa & Robin - Excited that you two get to meet. 

Ladies -  I think that we should try to plan a weekend somewhere to meet up..... in the spring?  

Kim