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

Oh nice! I'm in spanx! How long did you compress for?

Fran, how are you lady???? Thinking of you!

Reporting back from the lipo trenches....zero pain, spanx are itchy, tiniest bit woozy still. PS just called to check on me, and said he got quite a bit of fat injected, and 2 or 3 more times and I may have a perfectly flat stomach! Silver lining! Another weird thing-I have been having neck, jaw joint, and armpit tightness and pain. My MO did an ultrasound and said it's just tight muscles and cording. Well, woke up today with no pain from cording! Guess all it took was a grease injection! Feeling very cautiously optimistic....drinking lots of protein and veggie smoothies, popping bromelian and zinc and probiotics. We shall see! Radiated side already looks better. Go stem cells go!

Littleblue, you need to hydrate like crazy...alternate water and electrolytes. Your tissues are going to suck up your fluids while they heal and leave the rest of you dry. I used Arnica too (there is both a tablet and a gel form available). Also, it's kind of a 'pain honeymoon' immediately after fat grafting. My pain was at its worst 5 to 7 days after...bruising at its worst by about 10 to 14 days. Also...Target caries Jocky brand high waist 'shapers' that are easy to wear and slightly more comfortable than spanx. The compression really does help you heal and reduces swelling so you can see results faster.

No oral antibiotics...they may have put some in my IV overnight. (I was kept one night since they were also doing stage 2 of the DIEP process.) I hope you're still feeling great! In case you're not, I forgot to mention that Ice bags were awesome after Fat Grafting. I did on/off 5 minutes at a time anytime I felt uncomfortable.

I hear you about the compression shorts....most uncomfortable article of clothing ever. As far as results, you'll get a good idea of what you are dealing with once the swelling goes away. However, from what I understand, there are many factors from then on that determine how much of the fat sticks around and how much reabsorbs or dies. Some women are told not to do anything other than walk for 6 weeks. No jogging, no lifting, nothing that messes with body composition for six loooonnnngggg weeks. My P.S. was a little more lenient and said nothing for 2 weeks and then no high intensity stuff (like I'm able to do that anymore?) and very light on the weights until 4 week check up. All restrictions were lifted at 6 weeks. Trying to figure it out online is confusing. I'm at about the 7-8 week mark. All swelling is long gone and I can see areas where the fat obviously filled in some 'divots' and other areas that were once swollen, but are now hollow again. When I saw P.S. a couple weeks ago, he was able to tell me that I'm most likely in for at least 1 more round of fat grafting, potentially 2.

I'm glad that you aren't hurting too much. If you end up needing another graft, you won't have a horrible memory to look back on.

Hi All-Thank you all for checking on me. Seriously, it's so nice to reconnect with everybody-you all are so sweet and caring!!! First, off-OUCH Dizz-holy crap none of that fat grafting sounds too pleasant-hang in there! I'm happy to report that I'm back to zapping those freakin misbehaving cells again. Tolerated my "double dosing" of Herceptin/Perjeta very well last Thursday (although the stupid port was "clogged" for several hours b/c it had not been used in 4 months-never a dull moment!). I have an appointment on Friday morning to see if I'm a candidate for Proton Radiation (whatever that is). Don't think I'll hear anything about the clinical trial for several more weeks. I can't tell you how wonderful my co-workers have been & what a saving grace it is to be at work and distracted from my own nutty thoughts. With only 35 more school days left, I get there and I'm all-consumed with everyone else's issues-it's kind of nice!!! I must say, I am very blessed with fantastic people all around me (you all included!!). Decided to make summer vacation plans and see how it rolls as we go. My kids have always wanted to "cross the border" (yes, they are wacky!!)- so we are going to Quebec City in July! How about you all-any vacation plans yet????

Hi all -

I haven't been on here for a while, but am caught up on your posts. I have been quite interested in the fat grafting experiences, Dizz and littleblue...I will be undergoing that as well once I lose some weight. It's tough on vacation but we go home in a couple of days and I will get back to normal. My PS is great and assures me I will have a nice flat tummy after all is said and done. I am so looking forward to having cleavage again!!

Fran, I am on the other end of the country from Quebec City but have been there a couple of times and loved it! It is so beautiful and very European-looking. My vacation plans are happening right now...Spain and Portugal for the past almost 3 weeks. It has been lovely!

Wishing you the best...always.

Andrea

http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2016...

Breast Cancer and Fat Intake

A history and critique of our understanding of the relationship between dietary fat and breast cancer risk

By Jacob Schor, ND, FABNO

Abstract

In the 1980s national policies directed at lowering fat consumption emerged. One of the many reasons for recommending fat restriction was the apparent association between high dietary fat and breast cancer incidence—an association based on epidemiological and case control data. We now know that epidemiological studies and case controlled studies are poor predictors of how dietary patterns influence cancer risk. Furthermore, newer, prospective studies no longer support the association between dietary fat and breast cancer except in a small subset of cancers. This paper reviews the evolution of the evidence on fat intake and breast cancer risk.

Losing some weight while swilling olive oil sounds like a neat trick.

Hope all you great moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!!

Yes. Very hard not to put on the pounds while swilling olive oil. However, this makes me feel better about all the kalamata olives I graze from the fridge. Same thing about Avocado oil. So those chips I bought made with Avocado oil are good for me.....okay, maybe not. But I feel better and less deprived having my weekly PB&J date with DS each week. Once a week we've always had a weekly PB&J date. When it's cool enough, we pack it up in a picnic and head to the park. Since we've 'cleaned' up our pantry, now it's natural peanut butter and non-HFCS Jelly on whole grain bread), kettle potato chips fried in avocado oil, carrot sticks, and chocolate avocado brownies.

So 15 months ago, we lost both our dog and our cat to old age (16 and 20). Six weeks later, I had BC DX and it seemed like the universe was just crapping all over us. Eventually, we realized how much easier our lives were (dealing with BC treatment) without nursing our senior animals. Every once in a while we'd get an emotional pull that made us want to get another dog, but mostly, we've enjoyed being able to travel and run around town without worrying about the animals waiting for us back at home. So, last week, we had a few days of Springish weather and everyone was walking their dogs around the park. In a moment of weakness, I asked DH if it was time to think about adopting another dog. To my surprise, he was all over the idea and so was DS. Well...like a snowball rolling down hill, this idea hit it's momentum pretty fast and now I introduce you all to LIZZIE!

Ya'll! Don't get me wrong, she's super sweet and such a good girl, but WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING! We were so free. We could stay out all day and go anywhere we wanted on a moments notice and now we're all tied down again. DS loves her. She slept all snuggled up to him last night. He's been having so much trouble sleeping since my DX and is always wanting DH to sleep in his room with him. So, maybe this will help DS feel less alone at night and improve his sleeping. DH has been feeling a little bit of what I've been feeling too, but we are both animal people and so that emotional tug is just too much for us. We feel so guilty feeling any regret for deciding to get a dog.

So, we now have a dog again. We're going to get her acclimated to our local animal boarding/doggy daycare facility right away. Since she's young and healthy, she shouldn't be as much work. It's not like with our senior animals (bladder problems, medications for chronic illnesses, etc). It was hard and expensive finding places to watch them when we were away. Fortunately, so far, she's quite a couch potato and sleeps in quite late. We'll see how long that lasts. Our biggest issues are that she only wants to eat dog food if we feed it to her by hand and she broke out of 2 crates yesterday while we tried to introduce crate training. Apparently crate training isn't happening.

Poor dog was abandoned in an apartment with 14 other dogs (6 of them were her nursing puppies). The Humane Society took them in early April. The puppies were taken from her early last week after they were weaned and then placed into foster care until they're old enough to be put up for adoption. She was spayed on Wednesday and we found and adopted her on Friday. She's had one hell of a Spring. I hope we can help her feel more secure and part of our family.

Congrats on that new furbaby! They are the best therapy. I love doggies too but my preference is kitties. They are low maintenance for freedom to leave home, incredibly funny to watch, and super relaxing for the blood pressure.

Hope you allenjoyed mom's day. May is going to fly by pretty fast and memorial day will be here before we know it!

Cute dog! She's had almost as hard a year as you.

Fran, uccchhhh. I'm glad there's a plan.

Fran - that really stinks, I'm sorry - I wish it could be easier!

I had Rheumatology follow-up today. He doesn't feel like it's sero-negative R/A, but the U/S does show synovitis (joint swelling). So, we're treating the symptoms of R/A that I have even though I probably don't have R/A. It will take 6-8 weeks for Plaquinil to build up in my system and potentially diminish my symptoms. "IF", the symptoms go away, I'll stay on the Plaquinil for about 6 months and then slowly reduce the dosage while seeing if the pain returns. If it doesn't, hooray! If it does, I'll be back on the med for another 6 months before we try to reduce it again. Sigh! At least it was a fairly cheap prescription. Oh, and the DEXA scan confirms osteopenia at -2.3 and 10 year fracture risk is only 3%, so I shouldn't need meds for that and hopefully the bone density will improve as I get further out from chemo.