April 2015 Chemo Crew... Starting in April? Please join us!

I don't have face neuropathy but I do have a weird hot spot on my left shin...it feels hot. I bet it's the taxol, Addie!

What a difference a half inch of hair makes: my friend says to me yesterday"you are dangerous now, you turned back into a girl". Lol, my boobs did not grow back, so it must be the hair! And the social experiment continues....

Forgot to mention...apparently, the cure for my unending eye weeping was 9 hours of surgery. They haven't watered since right before surgery...except when I was actually in tears from joy or pain. Not sure, but thought that maybe they put some gel in them during surgery in order to keep them from drying out and the 9 hours was long enough to 'heal' them. Whatever it is, I am just overjoyed not to have that side effect annoying me along with everything else. P.s. these drains suck. ;-)

Hi, April women. So far, so good with wearing sleeves and gauntlets preventively on longer flights. I learned something both amusing and frustrating while looking at the research. You may have read a study finding that sleeves may not make a difference on flights under 4.5 hours. Sounds pleasingly precise, yes? Well, the reason it's 4.5 is not the result of an empirical analysis--it's an Australian study, and 4.5 hous is the time a domestic non-stop across Australia takes.

I've had the facial neuropathy since taxol- I haven't had it In a couple days. I don't go back to see MO until Janurary but I can't help feel like I was to request a scan just to put my facing thoughts at ease.

Positive LOVE the photo!!!

Dizzpark glad you are enjoying the fall colors too! It is my fav time of year and the only time Northern IL is very pretty. I so wish it would last much longer. Unfortunately it is shortlived and the days get short and very gray with no sun for days. Seasonal affective disorder sets in fast. Sometimes, I wish we could hibernate like bears and I could sleep the fat off and wake up in the spring fit and energized. Ha-ha

Positive, love that gorgeous view! I wish we had the Livestrong program here, so glad you're enjoying it!! Work can be such a 4 letter word sometimes...

Dizz, sorry about the pain..but getting some of the drains out will help your feelings a bit! Pretty view you have too!!

Addie, glad the numbness in your face is gone. Hope the chiro helps if its your back!! My hands and feet are giving me fits today, some days are better than others.

I'd stopped having hot flashes after chemo, now the Arimidex is giving me mega flashes! I go from having a fan on full force to covering up with a throwblanket...it went on all through last night and the same today. Oh what fun!

Hope everyone has a good week. Is anyone still in rads?

Boob drains are gone!!! AND, I stand a great chance of getting rid of the diep site drain before the end of this week. To celebrate, we made a reservation at another hotel (more fun for DS) for the weekend and then we tentatively fly home on Monday. I am way ahead of schedule so far....surgical team is happy with the results so far. All good progress. Follow up is in late November. Next spring, I will need a little fat grafting done to fill in a little of the upper poles, get a little nip/tuck to clean up the aesthetics, and then I get to decide about nipples...surgical or tattoo. I am leaning toward tattoo.

Medically, I am still technically anemic and apparently only time will help the numbers, but I feel way better than I did 2 weeks ago. I am amazed how fast things are going now compared to slow chemo time. Today is 6 weeks pfc. I would love to celebrate by showing off my hair....but I still don't have any to show off.

Hi - happy Tuesday! I feel like I haven't been able to catch up in a while. The weekend before last we went to the White Moutains in NH, it was nice to get away. Heather, you should definitely come to NE in the fall for a visit -the only thing is that you cannot predict when you'll see the fall colors. This year they have taken their sweet time, but now that they are out, it's absolutely beautiful! The last couple of days I have been taking it all in and trying to appreciate the "light show" that mother nature is putting on. But, I never would have said "come at the end of October" because usually it's all over/gone by now. They are predicting a windy rain for Thursday, so it will probably wipe what's left out.

Here is a picture I took on the way home from (my last) rads treatment:

I know, crappy with the telephone lines in it, but I was taking it from the car. Here's another one (I did not take) from a hill at a near-by town:

This one was taken almost 2 weeks ago, so you can see that there's still a lot of green - by now it must be even more spectacular, although some trees may already have dropped their leaves.

Lynne, those pics are A-Maze-Ing! They look like they are hand drawn...there is now way that nature can really look like that. I will have to post some 'fall' pics of phoenix when I get home. Really, you will understand why I am so excited about seeing Fall this year. Sorry that rads and chemo effects are being annoying. Side effects should get the message and take a hike. I am glad you start PT soon. I know it has to help.

My neuropathy in my feet is just barely noticeable now, but my hands are so cramped up in the morning, it takes a while to stop dropping everything...since I can't bend over to pick anything up, I am constantly leaving a trail of 'lost things' in my wake. My breast area was completely numb a couple of days ago, but now it is tingling and achy...I hope that's a good sign.

I decided to document my hair experiment in a separate post. I mentioned that I was going to try a wash-out color. I did try it - it turns out that "Bronze Attitude" turns gray hair pinky/orange. I think most of it was on my scalp. But, it didn't lie about being wash out - most of it was gone after the first shower, and all of it was gone by the second. It gave me courage, though, and today I'm going to try semi-permanent color - that will be better at covering the gray, but it's not a long committment if it it's not quite the right color. I've actually never colored my own hair before - I have always gone to a professional, so I hope it comes out all right. Here are the pictures from the wash out experience - the pictures make it look better than it was.

Katy, thank you for that link. I just spent an hour clicking around on the Environmental Working Group website. My mind is reeling. I have definitely had my head in the sand about environmental toxins.

Hi all -

Dizz, I'm so glad you got the boob drains out! Drains are a big pain in the neck. Or boob. Or wherever. Hopefully your belly drain(s) will come out soon.

Beautiful pics Lynne! DH and I were in New England a couple of years ago in the fall, it was so gorgeous! On the west coast we don't usually get colours that vivid, but this year is an exception because we have had way more sun than usual.

I have a date for my hysterectomy & oophrectomy - Nov. 19. The surgery itself shouldn't be too bad, only a one night stay in hospital provided there are no complications. It will be another six week recovery but all that means is no heavy lifting/housework. Not a problem, I don't do much of that anyway - haha!

Your hair looks very funky, Lynne!

I'm waiting till my hair gets a bit longer before colouring it. I do want to colour it, I look so old compared to DH! I'm curious to see what it looks like without colour though so I'll wait.

I'm having hip pain - I don't know if it's from chemo or tamoxifen (which I just stopped in preparation for surgery), or if it's a side-effect of my new antidepressant. At any rate, it is quite painful at times - if I'm sitting still it's fine, but getting up or down is often a bit of a struggle. I'll have to see the doc for a preop visit soon and will see what she thinks. My elbows and shoulders hurt sometimes too. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Andrea

Same for me.

Katy, yes I saw your fabulous (heartbreaking) ad on another BCO thread. Thank you for your brave activism.