Starting Chemo March 2015

Yeah, PB! With you in spirit. Take it easy and watch some bad TV or something.

Pboi, yeah! My drains were dry but I had them in forever (maybe 19 days? I'd have to look).

Sloth, sorry, that sucks. We are freezing her in San Diego, a hot tub sounds so awesome. How do you identify issues across your chest area

The truncal LE in my case is visibly noticeable at the base of my ribcage and across my back under my shoulders. Then right across my flat chest is where the tight feeling is most annoying. I had a whole gang of lymph nodes removed so I hope I'm an exception rather than the norm when it comes to hot tubs.

Sharon: I am sorry about you and Andrew. It sounds like you are starting to get back into stuff that you love, so that's great.

The one thing I never cared about was going into a hot tub. My skin is so dry, a hot tub makes me miserable after I get out. A hot springs sounds kind of cool though. I hope you are able to resolve it, Sloth.

Just trying to make it through the rads. 6 to go. I seem to have finally gotten the itching under control to some degree but now my underarm is starting to really hurt. I think I can get through it though. The itching was the worst.

Sharon, I'm sending big hugs your way. Even if things are for the best it doesn't make them any easier or less painful/sad.

Leigh and Allison, you're in the home stretch with rads. Hang in there! I was surprised how quickly everything healed up once I got past the 2nd week after my last treatment. I hope you have the same experience.

So wait, your face was just dirty?

Well, I know you feel stupid but YEAH for not having to have shots in your face! I am sure you feel the same relief I felt when that creepy white thing on my tongue fell off before I had to have it surgically removed. I wasn't any more excited about shots in my tongue than I know you were about your face.

I am sorry you are having a hard time. Have you met with your psychiatrist lately?

Allison, yes, a shot in the tongue would rank right up there.

And yes, I see my shrink regularly, usually every 3-4 weeks. I am just fragile still, worse than when I was going through treatment. Exercise helps, and I try to stay on schedule with that, but rainy season has arrived. I wouldn't do a gym even if there was one near, but I stopped going to yoga (because of some annoying disrespectful old codgers), and I'm thinking maybe I should swallow my issue and go back. The Furry Friends outings with Jack help a lot too. But even with all of that, I am often awoken in the morning by a pain in my gut, somewhere between a knot and nausea. It's the first thing I'm aware of in the morning. Not a nice way to wake up. I am very slowly weaning off of my anti-anxiety meds, I don't think it's related, but I sure picked a bad time to stop. But I need these meds as part of my long term "psychiatric tool belt", and they won't be helpful for break-through issues if they're part of my daily plan.

My shrink actually thinks that for me, I'm not doing too badly, considering the stress and triggers of the last year, and already, less than a month away, my first cancerversary. I suppose that my body may have hijacked me, and this upcoming anniversary is the culprit. The mind works in mysterious ways

My exchange surgery is scheduled for 12/14. Yay - keeping cancer confined to 2015.

Hang in there Katy. We are all here with you. (((hugs)))

Hey by the time we all get together I bet we won't have to give gentle hugs but can give big bear hugs!!!

I've never had a reason to celebrate the new year as much as I do 2016.

Katy, I scared myself with chocolate, not as bad as you did. I don't remember the exact details but looked down to see a growth on my chest, hello adrenaline rush! Big glob of chocolate! But sorry it affected you so much.

My husband taught me how to give big enveloping hugs without squeezing the person to death. Makes you feel that rush like good sex does lol!

Allison, I have pretty much quit googling everything. Most of it is wrong, and leads me to believe death is imminent.

Pboi, I think read you are getting your drains out! Woohoo!

Sharon, sorry about the break up, and wishing the best for you.

Grandkids just left, I'm beat. But they were too. The four year old was laying his head on the kitchen table saying I really want my bunk bed lol. My kids love grandma day. All three grandkids go home completely trashed, and I cook my kids dinner to go. My daughters two babies fall asleep on the way home, sometimes one block from my house. So the parents all go home and get adult night on Tuesdays. The two girl cousins hugged each other a bunch today and kept saying I love you to each other, melted my heart. Hope I'm around long enough for them to remember grandma

Hi gals. I had my exchange surgery with fat grafting last Friday. Everything went well but they had to really be aggressive to find some fat on my belly. At 100 pounds, there just is t much there. The belly hurts worse than the boobs at this point. I haven't been able to see them yet because they are still wrapped in gauze. I will see them on Thur when I go for my post-op visit. I don't even know what size implants I ended up with. DH and I were so happy to have surgery behind us that neither one of us asked LoL.

I'm supposed to start Tamoxifen tomorrow. I'm a little nervous because side effects seem to the the norm for me. Then I get a call from my primary doc tonight and she says "meja...I have bad news. You can't take Wellbutrin anymore because it decreases the efficacy of Tamoxifen". I love that she calls me 'meja' - it's a Hispanic term of endearment like a mother would say to her daughter. Anyway...she wants me to stop the Welbutrin and double the Lexapro. This makes me really nervous because it took years to get me on the right combo and now cancer is going to derail my mental health (again). Sigh...I guess I'll be a good little soldier and see how it goes.

Here is my most recent hair pic from last week. I've since colored it a little darker but you get the idea.

Bekah

Katy that would happen to me. I completely feel for you. Oh gosh the relief tho!

Bekah you look great!

Sharon, I am terribly sorry to hear about your break up. I am sure it is incredibly painful. I am glad though that you got to ride your horse.