MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

elimar, so good to run into you again and thanks for the welcome! Silly me, I posted here without realizing that I've not posted in this thread before-- so sorry to burst in without a proper intro like that, LOL. Hard to keep track of such things when you've been around the BCO boards for a decade. We are now the old-timers here, I guess.

Kale Cheetos, ay? Just imagine the dragon green fingertips! Frito-Lay is headquartered not too far from where I live, I do believe. Just saying... it would be nothing for them to deliver me some freebies for, umm, product testing.

I'm hanging in there. Tumor marker went up one week and had it retested the following week and it went down. Freaking roller coaster ride from hell. Fatigue and lack of energy is my biggest complaint. My hair was growing now seems to have stopped at one inch and it's straight 😖. Never had straight hair. Not thrilled about it but at least its hair. Having a different procedure tomorrow for the naphostomy tube, maybe. I have a ton of questions first. Want to know how many times she has done this, how painful is it, is there a higher risk for infection and how often does it have to be changed out. She wants to go through the hole in my back, down through my kidney and through the urerter into my bladder. I will still have the tube out my back but no bag. If it fails I can attach a bag. Not looking forward to it. I would love a miracle that when she puts the dye in it all goes through on its own but that's a total long shot.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. We went to a ball game, did a little fishing and went to the casino for a couple of days. I played a table game that's like poker called let it ride. Got 4 beautiful kings. They paid me 900.00.

It will be a year next month and our relationship has not improved whatsoever. I hate the dam thing!! Not sure what color I would be so lucky to pee out lol. I told my DH that when I die the first thing I want him to do is remove it!

My 6 month check post surgery went well, but the Nurse Practitioner made this off-hand comment about my "enjoying retirement". What the he'll? I am 50 years old. I am not working because I've been in treatment. Just because there's not a work phone # does not mean I live a life of leisure. Meh.

MexicoHeather: I hope that you had a good, snarky response to that NP!  She deserved a good verbal slap upside the head.

DianaRose: Sorry to hear about your problems with the tube.  Don't these cancer gods know that you have already had your share of hell?  You are long overdue for a break.  I wish that there was a magic wand to fix this.  Wouldn't it be nice to just concentrate on getting better, and not be distracted by constant pain and misery?  Hang in there.  This road that we are on must take a turn somewhere.  While you're traveling through it, just know that you've got support here.  Come and vent whenever you need to.

KLT5817: Thanks for the poem reference.  Very inspiring. 

Retirement? What the bleep?

If this is retirement, I'm in the wrong parallel universe!

Beam me somewhere else, Scotty!

My poor little bladder has been used to one kidney for almost a year now. Needless to say I was up nine times to pee in the night. Still feels like peeing razor blades.

Hi, Elimar.  Ibrance has been good to me so far.  I definitely noticed a difference in the primary tumor, even in the first month.  (One of the advantages of NOT having breast surgery is that it's easy to see progress without scans.)  I would describe the change as, "the edges are less defined" and "the tumor seems softer".  Basically, the tumor is less "angry".  Currently, I'm in love with Ibrance.  SE's are minimal for me as long as I take the pill after a high-fat, high-protein, high-volume meal.  I'm hoping that this trend continues, though I've read that every month is a crap-shoot.  You never know which SE's will decide to show up.

Even with the Ibrance success, I have been having some anxiety lately related to estrogen.  As expected, my joints were feeling awful after starting Letrozole back in May.  But within the last few weeks, my joints are feeling better.  While this is normally a good thing, I'm worried that it is a bad sign and that I'm no longer in chemo-pause as expected.  My MO and I decided that we would pop out my ovaries instead of doing the Lupron shots.  (I'm too lazy to go in for monthly shots for the next 5-10 years.)  Unfortunately the next available surgery appointment was 3 months after that decision and 4 months after chemo was complete.  My surgery date is this upcoming Friday, July 14th.  That date can't come soon enough!  I want a guarantee that there is no more estrogen floating around to feed the beast.  I feel like, every day before the oophorectomy is another day that the beast is being fed and is growing.

Dianarose ((hugs))

{{{{{{ Dianarose }}}}}

I wish I could tag-team in and fight for you.  Do your best to keep fighting.  Just one foot in front of the other.  That's all you have to do today.  Nothing more.  Just one step.  Just one breath.  That's all that's needed for now.  Just one.  No more.  We'll deal with the next moment when it comes.  Let's conquer this moment for now, and leave it at that.

{{{{{{ Dianarose }}}}}

I was told they are not staffed on the weekends to do the procedure and to call Monday. I am in so much pain!!!

DR...MAJOR prayers for pain mgmt. If it gets too bad, go to the ER. Don't try to tough it out.