Starting Chemo March 2015

I'm so sorry this is happening...thinking of you today Karen.

I had no idea there were so many of us on this ledge. I find comfort in all of you here, but I hate being here! But Eileen is right, we have been strong this year, we can do this and get past this, and get off the ledge! Hugs to all who are here...

Now to focus on some good news...congrats to Allison for being done with rads, and to Leigh who is nearly done! It looks like you both made it through ok, so I'm very happy for that!

Katy...I agree with Lee, do you have time for a Jack and/or Tutti pic? We could all use a smile around here...😊

PB

Clean bill of health from my surgeon. That's the last I'll see of him (he's retiring). Nice guy.

Yay ksusan! Way to go!

Has anyone heard from Whitney lately? It seems like a long time since I've seen a post from her.

Ok - some good news on the thread. Glad for the clean bills of health & finishing rads. Good luck at the doc's Katy. I go on Thursday.

Had a great job interview today. They want me back next week for part 2.

Yay for all the good news! It's always nice to hear. I hope that all who sit on the ledge find their way back to safety quickly and we get even more good news. I've visited to the ledge yesterday for a bit, but I'm doing a little better today.

I was wondering about Whitney too. We haven't seen her here in a long time.

I haven't gotten the MRI approved yet, three times, two different specialists have been denied already. And the time is ticking, the breast is hurting.

I had a flu shot today at the advice of my MO's office. I've never had one before; I hope this one doesn't give me problems.

I'm seeing my eye doctor tomorrow for my yearly exam. I know my prescription has changed, I'm just worried that there are some other issues too - my vision changed a lot. It dawned on me that my eye doctor is an optometrist, and my husband says that I really should see an ophthalmologist. I don't have one and at the end of the year it's not easy to get to see one being a brand new patient. I finally was able to get an appointment in two weeks.

Excellent, Eileen!

Eileen, fingers crossed - a second interview sounds promising!

Whitney is posting on Facebook, seems totally into cross-fit, seems to be living life large. I haven't paid attention to when she posted last, but she seems to pop up every couple of days with a new quote or comment.

I need to schedule an ophthalmology appt. Prior to cancer I went for an optometry appt and they noticed something like a freckle around my optic nerve. They sent me to the ophthalmologist for eye scans & pics. I have to get it rescanned yearly to make sure it doesn't grow/turn into cancer.

Hey, lots of good news!


KBeee, I'm not actually enrolled in the clinical trial, but I took the information about the trial to my MO and he (at the time - he has moved away and my new MO is a woman) was fine with me taking the clinical,trial dose. Since it's an ongoing prescription, I also went to my PCP, and she is the one who prescribes it. Since Metformin is an old drug, with few side effects, both docs are of the view that it is unlikely to do any harm, and just might do some good. My only sides effect is an tendency to diarrhea, and given that I usually tend the other way, it has been no problem at all. One benefit of not being in the study, I suppose, is that I don't have to wonder if I'm in the placebo arm.

I don't think the study is still recruiting, but it's a ten year study, I think, and won't report out until after 2020. Fingers crossed!

What's the metformin dose?

Katy, sorry for your woes.

Alison, I'm so busy feeling sorry for myself I didn't realize you ARE FINISHED!!!!!

🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉💃💃💃💃💃🎉🎉🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔

Well done! You have handled all of this so well and I know you had more than yourself to take care of. I hope your skin held up really well and you are feeling stronger every day now. You have had as much shit thrown at you as anyone here. Surgeries, chemo, rads, kids, husband..... And now Tamoxifen. I am so glad you'll be able to look in the rear view mirror on New Year's Eve and kiss 2015 goodbye. And tell cancer it can fuck off as well!!!!

Allison, congrats!

I saw an optometrist because I didn't think about it really. If I were having problems with vision (other than my normal astigmatism) I would probably gone to an ophthalmologist given the history of cancer and I have hypertension too. But since my eye exam was just a routine thing I didn't give it a second thought.

I had fat grafting from my belly and it was definitely more sore than my breasts! Plus I'm only 2 1/2 weeks post op and I still get swelling in my belly late in the day. I had a pretty flat tummy before - just a little bit of fat there but it does seem flatter (in the morning) now. Will probably need more fat grafting though because my breast skin is so thin and you can see rippling in several areas

I was going to try to get into an ophthalmologist by year end (deductible met) but I know doctors are booked up this time of year because of everyone trying to do that. I just have these ugly blood vessels in my eyes which I never really noticed until I had the magnifying mirror looking at brows and looking for hair. lol. I doubt there is anything she can do about them but I need to go anyway for a checkup. All the routine maintenance got put on hold for obvious reasons.

Seeing my MO today to get my Tamoxifen. I am on the fence. I am going to try it but if I am miserable, I don't know. We'll see.

Katy: You need to get those cataracts taken care of. It's an easy surgery. Just make sure you find a really good doctor.

So much of how we are after any surgery is related to the doctor we choose. My hair colorist said she had breast implants and was telling me all about her problems. But the PS she chose doesn't specialize in implants. He's a face guy. In fact, my husband is having some minor cosmetic stuff done by him next week. He has those big Italian people bags under his eyes and he is getting them fixed. But she could have avoided problems by finding a guy that specializes in breasts. Now she has 3 kids and can't afford to go anywhere to fix it.

I got my hair colored yesterday. It felt so good to go to a hair salon. I had a stylist dry it because I hate going out with wet hair and she goes 'Gee, your hair is really short'. I felt like saying "Wow, ya think'? Just told her it was chemo. I was waiting on the inevitable 'My mom died of BC' but she just tried to sell me some expensive hair product.

Thanks for all the congrats. Skin is still itching but improving every day. I know it wasn't anything like what Karen went through.

We went to pack boxes last night for hungry kids around the world with our GS troop. It was so wonderful. THAT'S the kind of stuff I want to be doing with my kids.