Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!

Sandy - So sorry about the mole. More worry is not what you need! Hoping you get the all clear and can go back to preparing for your trip to Italy

It's been a wonderful morning. The kids and I have been going through photos - many that they've never seen before - of their dad. Reminiscing with lots of smiles and laughter. Nothing sad today. With luck we'll even get the displays done today.

Octogirl, photos certainly do make the home!

HUGS!

DH and I are headed to north Georgia to spend the long weekend in the mountains. I will prolly be off the grid, mostly. Lord knows, we need a getaway.

Oh Sherri, I am so upset that your son's painting is lost! It is very beautiful and he is obviously talented. Does the friend have any idea where it happened, within a couple of miles? I would be tempted to mount a search party to comb that are of the road on both sides. I don't think you can rely on the Road Rangers and Highway Patrol to do the best job possible. Is there somewhere, such as a local Pennysaver or Craigslist where you could post an image of the painting and advertise a reward, such as $100?

I think I know the answer about Sandy's DH smoking cigarettes - nicotiene is the absolute hardest habit to break! Some manage to break it, but most don't.

Sandy, I'm upset to hear your dermatology finding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it is nothing and waiting to hear the results!

Peggy, it must feel very good to finally have your kids there. I hope the rest of your weekend goes as well! HUGS back to you!!! I'll be there in spirit along with Octo

Heathet, I'm glad your procedure went so well. My main concern is having another hose shoved down my throat. Did you have that? I've got a touchy throat right now. Even when I'm 100% healthy I usually get a sore throat from that, for a week!

I am still sick and still have a fever.The good news/bad news is that my two friends I hiked with on Saturday AND the one other friend I hiked with on Sunday both came down with the illness. What's good about it is that I can probably rule out Valley Fever as the cause, which was suspected by my GP. Valley Fever is not contagious. It is caused by a fungal organism and I live in an area where it is endemic. I have lived here for 28 years and never got it, but my dog Cooper got it a few years ago and took months to get well.

balding, I finished rads 2 weeks ago and would have started this week if not for upcoming hysterectomy. I will start when go back to MO at end of next month. He told me that it's ok as long as we start within a year of diagnosis

614, loved the picture of the painting! The next one will be even better!!

Sandy, I will keep you in my prayers for good test result, like you need ANOTHER test to wait around on!

I can't keep up today with so many posts, my brain is fried! Lol! HUGS to all I may have missed!

614, why does my cardiologist husband smoke? Why is the cardiologist’s lawyer wife overweight and has yet to update her will? The shoemaker’s kids go barefoot. He smokes 3-4 cigs per night, never during the day and never indoors. (I’d rather he vaped--it’s better for his lungs and he could do it indoors). Back when he was in grad school in the ‘70s he smoked a pipe--collected them, in fact. When he switched to the MD-PhD program and began his 3rd-yr. hospital rotations, he found himself on call overnight every few days. He couldn’t smoke a pipe indoors (yes, they smoked in hospitals back then, albeit not around oxygen) nor could he exactly bum a bowlful of Borkum Riff off the nurses. Pipes were high-maintenance anyway (when he was a resident and I worked in the Loop, I’d often take them into Iwan Ries, a tobacconist with a DIY-pipe-polishing room--there was a sort of zen to it). In general, smoking was more socially acceptable back then, with most restaurants’ “no-smoking” sections being small islands or even toward the back (where one would still get smoke drifting over, or had to hold one’s breath before getting to the table...still coming home reeking of smoke. But indoor pipe and cigar smoking--except at private cigar clubs or at tobacconist shops--was a faux pas even back then. He quit once, using nicotine gum, but he didn’t like what it did to his moods and alcohol consumption....so he eased back in with pipes and cigars again, only outdoors. Cigs were cheaper and easier to get, soooo...... Bummer about your son’s painting--he is so talented! His drama teacher is an idiot. I get the feeling he will truly blossom in college.

Trish, I too decided to get rads behind me before starting AI treatment. My MO said it was okay to wait till after the cruise--till New Year’s, in fact, so side effects wouldn’t get in the way and ruin my holidays. I might have started sooner had the Femara I ordered from CanadaDrugs not taken so long to arrive--I gave in and had my MO’s scrip filled locally with generic letrozole. It was the last drug I bought before Medicare kicked in. Maybe, in retrospect, that’s why my cost was so much lower than refills--my UHC drug coverage paid for it but my Humana Part D won’t pay at all --not even for the generic--unless I first “fail” generic anastrozole for 90 days. $27/mo. is doable--it’s less than some of the drugs I must take (Benicar, Dexilant) which have no generic versions yet.

I started AI (Femara) after 2 weeks of rads. Hadn't had any SE's from rads at that point and MO said it'd be fine to start AI then. So far, so good. (Finished with rads now, and have been on AI for 2 months).

Moondust- let them know the difficulties you had last time, especially if you're getting it done within the same network of hospitals. They might be able to use a smaller ET tube. Good luc

Peggy, Just thinking of you and hoping your family and friends are bringing you many smiles.

Peggy- thinking of you and your family.

Monica, ask for a “pediatric airway” to keep from bruising your vocal cords. And Peggy, may today’s reminiscences conquer yesterday’s sorrows.

Peggy / thinking of you

Thank you everyone. The celebration of life went off beautifully! There were about 50 of us with some stragglers coming later. I got through the eulogy okay but I had a poem at the end and that did me in. But still good. Both sons spoke and did very well. Had lots of displays and everyone loved those. First thing this morning all Chuck's family, the kids and I took his ashes (which were really heavy - I was surprised at that) to the state park where he liked to fish. I said a few words and covertly deposited the ashes into the water and one brother stirred them around so they'd disburse. No park ranger made an untimely appearance so we didn't get arrested. Then tonight after the celebration of life the whole family (22 of us) went out to dinner. Chuck's step brother got extremely ill at breakfast following the ash ceremony. I wasn't with him. He went by ambulance to the hospital and quickly ruled out a heart attack. Eventually they diagnosed pancreatitis and he was admitted to the hospital. He lives in Phoenix so this is not terribly convenient. But know he's where he needs to be.

So now Chuck has been properly celebrated and memorialized and given the send off he deserved. It's nice to have it done. I can concentrate on my move to Spokane. AFTER we celebrate #2 son's birthday tomorrow. But life is good.

The nicest thing was at the dinner all the family got small gifts for me for now or while I'm travelling to help me on my way. I got a t-shirt from my favorite restaurant and one from Spokane, soap, gas card, one brother-in-law makes maple syrup and he gave me 2 pints. Also a poncho (good because it always seems to rain at the Spokane Indians baseball games!). And a stamp with my new address on it. That was so thoughtful. I cried, of course.

Time to go to bed. I'm exhausted.

Appreciate all your support.

HUGS!

What a perfect day, Peggy. So happy for you!

Peggy, so happy for you!

ejmann, I do not have hardly any soreness or pain at the node sight. But, the back of my arm above my elbow feels bruised to touch and the outer edges of my arm pit, especially by my shoulder is sore/bruised feelng. It does not feel hot. The middle section of the back of my arm is numb as is the center of my arm pit. I find myself holding my arm out so the underarm doesn't rub.