Rosevalley - this is for you!

Rose very sorry about the taxol, nasty stuff though it is, and so much wishing you well for the new treatment.

Hostas ROCK

You referred a few times in recent posts to using sick days and sick time? Wasn't sure what you meant by that?

XXX Susanna

FF- I am not working, but my DH has a job. In order for him to get paid, any time off has to be accounted for by using banked/accrued sick time or vacation time. So when we use hours for chemo that gets stopped and doesn't work we wasted those hours. Luckily my DH has lots of sick time. I can't take these premeds benadryl and all and drive 2 hours to the cancer center. I fall asleep. Traffic is hideous. So DH drives me.

We found a private nursery near us that sells nothing but shade plants. They had tons of different types of hostas from tiny to giants 6 feet across. We were smitten and bought 6 different types to put along the East side of our house. The hostas are doing really well. We mix them with foxglove. I never knew how many types of hostas there were since you usually only see 2 varieties. It's going to be 90 degrees today. Sunny! DH and DD2 are going to a soccer game! We are soccer fans big time. Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

I went along for the ride, but didn't go see the soccer game. They won too! Whoo Hoo. I love my daughter to death but she's a slob. I deep cleaned her kitchen and bathroom and played with her cat. We all ate dinner together and enjoyed company and rehashed the game. Portland does so love it's Timbers! They did better last year but they won today. Stephanie I know what you mean about slugs and snails.. a little beer in a pie plate. Not terribly Buddhist of me. Hostas do great here because it's wet, cloudy and mild.

We connected with a neighbor whose folks passed within a day of each other. They were married 69 years. The Dad died first, then the Mom. Following each other and all the kids were present. Does it get any better then that? I had always thought we would grow old together, then came cancer. Twenty seven years is good (how long we have been married) but 69 is amazing. What a love story. I love it to hear of couples together so long and passing on together. It's like they found each others missing piece to be as one. Of course you get orphaned at once too. May we all find someone to love or to be in happy solitude and at peace. Like Thomas Merton or Mother Teresa.. solidly alone, connected with everything and utterly grounded. Maybe next life I would like to be a monastic. Owning nothing and living in community sounds pretty neat. Isn't it interesting the paths we take or the rivers that sweep us up and off! My raft has no steering anymore and I drift.. on that note. Sleep well. Lovingkindness to all

rosevalley

"Where are the Hostas? Let me at 'em"

Happy & excited for you, dear Rosevalley

Glad you get special time in the sun with your dog today.

I too am crossing fingers and toes that this is a safe and effective regimen for you now.

loving kindness always, Stephanie

(shyly) In your pocket for tomorrow. Even my pansies are fading, but I can send along a bouquet of roses now, and basil/thyme for the next treatments.

Only best wishes for you, Rose.

Best wishes Rose. XX

Rosevalley, so happy for your another good turn! I am toasting you with another cheese and tomato grilled sandwich. Isn't simple food so delicious

Ebru- my DD2 loves to make things in the kitchen but she isn't so good at the cleaning up part. The boring part. It's my fault since I gave her donut pans and all matter of baking items. I love to cook, and like trying out vegan recipes for her. I just wish she was vegetarian since there are so many things to make, vegan is harder. She is an art student and there is by nature a creative energy and mess that goes along with good art. She's a good kid, hard working great grades and works part time at a coffee shop. Then there are friends and places to visit. Cleaning in't her thing...pots and pans especially. :-) So I clean periodically... oh well. Makes me happy spoiling her.

Mominator- You really did get close to that bunny. When I was in our Pennsylvania high school a friend and I would wake up hours early and ride our bikes through Ridley Creek State Park and up to high school. Kathy and I enjoyed our startled pheasants, quail and bunnies we would see riding in the early morning. It was magical -deer in the fields and so many animals. It was worth the cool morning ride and painful steep hill at the end to bike through the park before school. I rarely see bunnies here in Oregon maybe because there are so many raptors- Eagles, Hawks, Kestrals, Owls are just every where. I know back East bunnies were much more prevalent. Up at the cabin I saw Owls and Eagles and Osprey but rarely bunnies. In the 8 years we had the cabin I only saw maybe 8 rabbits.. and lost count the number of owls and osprey and eagles. I miss seeing the salamanders and slugs and mushrooms I would find on my walks. I miss the old growth woods.

Yes I ate my comfort grilled cheese and tomato in my new shirt. It felt wonderful to have something fit. To be able to eat something and have it nourish and feel good and not make you sick. That's a blessing. Simple things really are the best. Like cool lemonade when you are thirsty. A homebaked cookie warm from the oven. Nothing fancy just good and simple. Company with friends. Prayers and meditation time to center. It's all good. Making a life while having cancer takes intention and thought. Lovingkindness to yourself and others too. good night.

rosevalley

Hummingbird your Rottie sounds like a perfectly behaved pet! I love it when a great big dog is sweet and the opposite of "breed" perceptions. What a love. It's the way you raise them and some temperment too. Years ago we had a Setter/Dobie Sheppard mix, 75 pounds looked like a setter with black Dobie markings - who had a prey drive that wouldn't quit. He chased everything. One time at a park he was in full on chase to a rabbit and the rabbit stopped short and the dog ran right over top! The rabbit then high tailed it down and got away! It was just like a cartoon and we howled with laughter. Smart bunny. The dog was like "where did he go??" Hilarious.

We have a 11 year old Border Collie who is a big baby. She grovels and inches up to people for a petting when we are on our daily walks, always mindful not to scare folks. She just loves people and stays very still and sits for a pet. Sweet. I trust her with kids and people. She's not real good with other dogs but kids and people she loves. She likes to bounce backwards, pulling on the leash ... we go for a pull sometimes instead of a walkie. She could care less about squirrels and birds in the yard and the towhees look for worms in the grass and kick up leaves and she ignores them. She will drive you nuts with a ball or frisbee... play! She is my happy girl and I never feel sad when I am around sweet Tess. A black and white antidepressant she is!

I am so happy Taxol worked for you. May it continue. I wished it worked for me since my markers dropped like a rock.. 100 points in one dose. My onc does not bring up scans and I am fine with that since my symptoms are so dead on that I can map out where the cancer is active by where I ache, ascites fluid increases, puking and nausea and then add tumor markers. When the 50$ lab goes above 800 I puke and get more intestinal issues and misery. So I know pretty much where I stand and a scan won't tell me more then I already know. Save the $ for the drugs. I am lucky the tumor markers correspond. Cheap indicator and we are going for QOL and palliation so this works. Good to hear your onc says the same about the scheduling and side effects. Sharing this kind of information helps patients and lets them see what the doctors are thinking. BCO is so valuable for that.

Hugs to all. May we enjoy this beautiful summer.

My tumor markers just came back and that one dose of Taxol is still working... 690! It hasn't been 690 in months... WOW!

We get the digital NY Times and in the health section is an article called-"Putting Breast Cancer on A Diet" by RC Rabin. It doesn't address the issues of stage 4 folks but we all know those diagnosed and waiting. It seems obesity increased the rate of death by breast cancer by 41% and those overweight and whose body index was under 30 only had a increased rate of 7%! That's from 80 studies and 200,000 women. That's huge. The article went on to say that obesity fuels cancer growth by metabolism, increased insulin, inflammation, increased proteins nd nutrition all provide optimal environment for cancer to get a foothold and grow. So good information to pass on to all our buddies in the wing who we don't want joining the club mets.

Rosevalley, thank you for your good wishes and I so enjoyed hearing about your dogs. I'm a big dog lover. Mad that cancer has side-tracked me - when I retired, I always wanted to get more involved in dog rescue. Well, I do what I can now.

I got a call from the nurse this morning - had bloodwork yesterday after chemo and my TM's went up. My oncologist moved my scans up to next week and she said I can choose whether or not to go to my scheduled Taxol on Tuesday. Am I done with Taxol? Could be. I chose to go for the infusion just in case my scans look stable. But - here I go! Just have to wait now. Well, I got 5 months out of it. Hope I can continue though, of course. Keeping my fingers crossed.