Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

LTF, you rock!!! You look so damn good. Have fun!

HUGS!

614: Hope your son is okay!!! I have been through the "crappy insurance for my kids through my ex" and still going through it. The deductibles are so high that it is all out of pocket each time. I could get them better insurance on my own, but because of the weird laws, his insurance trumps any insurance I could get them (mine would be secondary insurance to his).

Thanks for the replies on the joint pain. I am going to keep pushing through. One day at a time. That is my motto lately - just get through one day at a time

Dear LTF: You look amazing and so vibrant. Have fun tonight.

Dear Peggy: Now that your house is perfect, you won't want to sell! Lol. Enjoy the house hunting.

Dear Melclarity: it is good that you are back in your old school with a supportive administration most ration. I agree with you that, "what is meant to be will be." Feel better from the joint pain and body aches.

Dear Ayr: Thanks. My son has the flu. However, he had all of the symptoms of meningitis so I was really scared for him. Thank God he is/will be fine. He is scheduled to take the SAT test on Wednesday. Hopefully he will feel better and be able to focus on the test and do well. The flu take time to recover from so I am keeping my fingers crossed about the SAT's.

Sorry that you are/have had to deal with crappy x husband insurance issues too.

I hope that your joints and aches feel better soon. I love your positive attitude.

Dear Molly: I'm glad that you found your Fitbit

Dear Sloan: I'm glad that you are feeling better.

Dear 1step: Good luck with the chemo and feel well.

LTF, you look hot! I can't decide whether I like your pictures better with hair or without!

Ayr & 614, my kids also have crap insurance. Neither of them work at jobs that offer healthcare insurance. DS is in college, so he's barely working, and DD just graduated from culinary school last summer, so she's just getting on her feet. I pay for their insurance, which thanks to Obamacare went up by $60 for DD and $100 for DS. I"m paying $340/mo for basic catastrophic insurance with a $3500 deductible. DS never goes to the doctor, but DD has a couple autoimmune diseases so she has to go to the doctor at least 4-5 times a year. Since she can't pay, I do. Last year, between DH & I, plus our kids, we paid over $20,000 in healthcare expenses.

I am so over it. I am seriously considering dropping their insurance and letting the chips fall where they may. They're never gonna hit their deductible in a year unless they're hospitalized. And if they were sick enough to be hospitalized without insurance, well, they're young enough to declare bankruptcy without it affecting them too badly. (My nephew had lymphoma at age 20; he racked up almost $1million in debt, which he will never be able to pay back in his lifetime--bankruptcy is his only hope.)

Dear MustLovePoodles:  I am so sorry that you have the insurance woes and exhorbitant expenses on top of all of your bc horrors.  Your daughter is so young to have autoimmune diseases.  How awful for her.  At least she just finished culinary school and is starting out in a field that she loves.  Your son is in college so he will be able to do well for himself in the future.  You keep such a positive attitude and outlook on life so I applaud you.  I hope that you are feeling better and that the vacuum contraption is continuing to work. I am so sorry that your nephew was diagnosed with lymphoma.  Hopefully, he beat it and he is ok now.

My brother dropped his health insurance years ago.  He was paying so much each month and nothing was covered.  He had to pay full price for everything because his deductible was so high.  When he finally reached his exhorbitant deductible, his insurance co didn't pay out.  The hospital said that the doctor who treated my brother was an intern and therefore, the insurance company did not have to cover the bill.  My brother ended up so deep in debt that he will never be able to pay back his medical bills.  He dropped his health insurance after that incident.  Now, he is covered throuh the Affordable Care Act.

Dear LTF:  You and your husband look so happy together.  What a beautiful picture of the two of you.  Happy Birthday to your DH.

Jill, you look great either way--but have you thought of some outrageously bold dangly (possibly asymmetrical) earrings? Truly badass and gorgeous! I guess things are different here in the States--we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. But what I don’t get is why the union rep seems to outrank HR and management, even though the latter are more accommodating than the rep seems to be. Here the union gets involved only when the employee asks it to intervene.

Bummed out tonight. For the second time in a row, our house concert was postponed--this time due to a nasty bug going around that decimated our audience and caused a raft of RSVP cancellations. (Bob himself was up half the night with a hacking cough). Getting really antsy to perform--next gig isn't till May (the weekend before my benefit concert for Vital Touch in Hickory, NC). The weather is gorgeous this weekend--but Tues. through Thurs. winter's coming back, with snow. Might make it difficult for me to attend the BCO Michigan meetup Sat. morning in Jackson--thinking I need to go Friday evening and stay over nearby).

Things are gonna get very, very dicey in my neighborhood this week--from 3am-6pm Tuesday (when it’s supposed to snow), Chicago Fire will be filming one of the scenes in the season finale, in the former bank building (originally an auto dealership, now on the National Register of Historic Places) where I used to have my law office on the mezzanine....two blocks from my house. Broadway will be closed from my street down to past Thorndale, and the side street where the bank is will be closed from B’way to two blocks west. It’s gonna be a mess trying to get to Lake Shore Drive (our lakefront freeway), not to mention trying to shop at Whole Foods. Nonetheless, I wonder how close they’re going to let onlookers observe (no chance of being an extra--they cast those months in advance, sometimes from NY agencies since it’s a Dick Wolf show). They’re turning the bank (which in real life is becoming a banquet hall) into a large Italian restaurant called “The Vault” (and possibly keeping some of the interior decor & furniture, since the interior of the bank is drop-dead gorgeous with 1920s-era marble, original terra cotta, chandeliers, etc). The plot is that there’s supposed to be some kind of fire (duh) or explosion in the restaurant’s wine cellar--but the actual fire will probably be CGI-ed in postproduction.

Ironically, I have a directors’ chair autographed by the second season cast--one of Bob’s hospitals (Holy Cross) merged with Mt. Sinai on the near SW Side--which is blocks from the actual working firehouse used for exterior shots. Most location shots are filmed in the surrounding neighborhoods, but occasionally there’s a downtown shoot (Wacker Dr. is pretty often used because it’s iconic) and sometimes--like this week--they venture all the way up here and even to Rogers Park near the Evanston border. (The far SW Side neighborhood that in one episode was hit by a tornado, Chicago Lawn, is where Bob’s main office is). The non-location interiors are shot inside Cinespace Chicago Studios in the nearby Bridgeport neighborhood (other series shot there include Chicago PD, Chicago Med, Empire, and the defunct Boss & The Chicago Code). Rush-Pres. St. Luke’s (where Gordy was born, I bid adieu to my gallbladder, and I had my shattered right leg pinned together) serves as the exterior of Chicago Medical Center. Cinespace Chicago was where Mt. Sinai held its biennial Black Tie Gala From Hell fundraiawe.

Interestingly, very little of the long-running Chicago Hope and ER were filmed here, except for some location shots for the latter--both were shot on Hollywood & Burbank back lots. For ER’s first season, they used the ambulance bay at U.of IL. Hospital--where Bob & I used to sit & drink bad coffee out of paper specimen cups on his on-call nights while waiting for “incoming.” From the second year on, they built an exact replica on the Warner Bros. lot--right down to the loading dock and CTA elevated tracks. (If you look carefully at those episodes from season 2 on, you’ll see there’s never any train running by the hospital--when they wanted to show a running train, they’d come here and shoot all over the Loop and River North, nowhere near any actual hospitals).

That really sucks that some of you are having trouble at work. Politics, red tape and they're worried about lawsuits no doubt. No " one size fits all" with chemo and cancer. Perhaps you can find and copy some printed material to back you up , as well as a note from your MO.

Chicago Fire used to film a lot in my old neighborhood in the West Loop. I watched them occasionally and you can get quite close If there is movement in the scenes they just moved the onlookers back. Some of the actors are actually quite friendly. They toolk pictures with my daughter and played with my grandson. Except Taylor Knney who holed up in his trailer. Lady Gaga used to come watch them film also.

7 rad sessions so far. RO met with me to see if I had any problems yet. The only thing, besides change of color, is puckering of my incision.

I'm having trouble with my joints too. Not sure if it's from the chemo, the Arimidex or being old lol. I noticed that I even walk differently than I used to.

LTF loved how you put how being bald makes you feel and you look great.

I hope everyone else is doing well. We should all plan on going on a get together lumpie cruise! That would be fun.

ChiSandy, many many years ago a movie filmed on my street just a block from me. I forget what it was since it wasn't one I was interested in. But #2 son saw it not too long ago and said, gee that looks familiar, and remembered that it had been here. Sounds like getting around is going to be challenging.

Hope DH feels better soon. There's a lot of crappy stuff going around.

For the BCO meet-up, OUR weather looks quite boring - at least that's the forecast. Originally it had sounded like we might get snow or something Saturday but even that is down to a 10% chance. Tuesday maybe 1-3" of snow. Oh well. Did you get info on hotels? Can't wait to see you!

614, I am NOT changing my mind about selling now that the house is immaculate. But it is rather sad that I will be leaving behind 48 years of memories moving to a house that DH never occupied. Maybe I'll take some of his ashes with me. That sound weird?

HUGS!

Peggy- by all means take dh ashes! And no.., that doesn't sound weird at all. Big ((hug))!

MLP3, I am in tears from your friends note. So beautiful and defines you perfectly. Jan, a cruise would be awesome. Peggy, I actually strongly urge you to take some of DH's ashes with you. Once I get the chance to spread my dad's ashes I plan to keep some here at my house. He put his heart into building our addition for the sake of my DS.

614- so sorry about your son being so ill- is it the 'flu? My PCP told me that she has really seen an increase in cases in the past week. Also sorry you are having to pay out of pocket!!)

beautiful note Michelle

614 Hope your son is better ASAP. Sorry about the insurance issues.

The picture of me and my husband is before I lost my hair, it was from my daughters but mitzvah one week before my surgery. I shared it to show what my husband looks like, because last night somebody at the restaurant suggested that I was his mother! He is youthful looking, but really?

I'm feeling quite depressed because even though my cold symptoms are getting better, they are still there and I feel rundown. I do not think it is the chemo I think it is the cold (everybody in my home has one), they are typical cold symptoms of a runny nose and stuffy head. But I'm just upset because it came right after chemo, so I'm still waiting to start feeling better when normally I'd be great by now! Having a cold sucks enough but having a cold whenso much of my time I already don't feel great sucks more. I want some time to feel normal before my next infusion, and because my medication is changing I don't even know how I'm going to feel over the rest of Chemo! I hate that I cannot do the normal things I would do to help overcome it, like taking loads of vitamin C and oil of oregano!

Cheers to everyone! I hiked up a steep trail yesterday so I'm expecting sore legs in about 4 more hours. I was hiking alone, and what do you know, I found my thoughts turning to my Dx and treatment very often. Everyone said "don't look back" when I decided against chemo, but on the hike yesterday it became very clear to me that I need to have it. My Onco score is 26. My Ki67 was 30%, although my MO did not want to consider that number. My tumor is ER+ 80% and PR+40% according to the path report, but on the Onco report it came back as ER+, PR-. My MO said the Onco report means something different, but she really didn't explain it. The way I see it, 20% of my cells are ER-. Of those 20%, 60% are PR-. That means 12% of the total tumor cells are triple negative. If even one of those escaped detection and is waiting to seed a distant recurrence, then I better have chemo. I think I am Luminal B, despite my low tumor grade. Luminal B does not respond as well to hormonal therapy, but responds well to chemo. I will wait to finish rads before I have the chemo.

Jill, I hope you didn't give that waiter a monetary tip. His tip should have been "don't make comments about women's ages or pregnancy status". What he should have said is, Adam must have fathered you when he was a teenager You look gorgeous! I think I would make some unkind remark to the union rep, like "when did you get your medical degree?"

Poodles, I will stay tuned for what the doctors think of your shingles diagnosis! At least if it's shingles it will eventually go away. If it is shingles, you are lucky you didn't get it in your chest or abdomen area like so many do.

Peggy, I laughed when you mentioned the cleaning crew being there eight hours. Then I looked around at my house and thought it would take them even longer here. I think a lot of people keep ashes from a loved one. When my mother died, my brother put the ashes in two little urns and gave one to me. I had my DH sprinkle some of her ashes on each golf course he played, since Mom loved golf. I would like my ashes sprinkled on mountain tops when I'm gone.

Jclc83, I've had 4 rads and the skin over my former lump has developed an orange peel appearance. But still not pink.

MLP, what a great note from your friend. It's so nice to have friends like that!

614, thanks. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. That's terrible news for her, but hopefully she will live for many more years with a good quality of life. The thought of getting a result like that is exactly why I have re-thought my chemo decision.

Luminal B, in my limited understanding, is anything other than the garden variety ER+, PR+ tumor. I am luminal B because my Ki67 is high and because even though I'm technically classed as PR+ by pathology, I am not strongly PR+.

Moondust, with your stats I would probably opt for chemo. I keep thinking something has been overlooked with me. Why can't I just shake this feeling?