Apparently I Am "Just Diagnosed." :(

wonderful news today for you LW. Not having to have that surgery? Plus the weight of a 2nd dx or related... gone! Phew.

Very happy for you, LW, on the benign uterine biopsy! I hope you're still doing well after your first chemo. Like MinusTwo, I had success with Claritin helping the bone pain. One interesting thing I learned during chemo when I mentioned to my MO that my feet wouldn't hurt when I'd get up in the morning like they normally do (arthritis, I guess). He said chemo actually improves arthritis while you're on chemo. I found that so interesting. I'm back to hobbling around for the first five minutes in the morning.

Stay warm Houston ladies! Next time I watch the weather I'll have to look at what they're expecting in Woodville--bet it'll be pretty chilly for you, Jana!

LW, you might want to message your MO/nurses through MyChart and ask about whether they are rescheduling. Ice and Houston drivers are a pretty bad mix.

https://spacecityweather.com

By the way, I never piped in on the icing of hands and feet, but I'm a believer. I actually found breastcancer.org through searching for "ways to prevent neuropathy with Taxotere." I had a friend with IBC in the 90's (32 at the time and very much alive today!) who was the first person I knew who took Taxol. My friend had such bad neuropathy she begged to quit but fortunately, her 2nd opinion doctor, Frankie Ann Holmes, wouldn't let her. Holmes was also my 2nd opinion doc with my Phyllodes tumor in 1997 after she'd left MD Anderson--she's brilliant, and caring. She performed the first clinical trial of Taxol resulting in approval for use in breast cancer and was the principal investigator for the clinical trial that led to the approval of Neulasta. Here she is on a short podcast where you can hear her talking about Nerlynx, a drug those of us who are HER2+ can take--but it's a great overview of breast cancer: https://healthprofessionalradio.com.au/nerlynx-update/

Beesy-T-O-O, I'm in New Braunfels and then temp is sitting right around freezing with warnings about power outages if the lines ice up over the weekend. 😱

Minus, that is very encouraging about the basal cell improvement--even though TCHP is quite the overkill! Ha! I've only had one MOHs surgery, and it was before breast cancer, so here's to hoping that will be my only one thanks to the Taxotere and Carboplatin. Regarding your tomatoes, I saw a man in our neighborhood who has beautiful beds of flowers who put Christmas lights around the flowers and then covered them with sheets and clear plastic (you can see the lights twinkling underneath 😉). I'm assuming he's hoping to heat it up a little around those beauties . . . and I hope it works! Not sure you'd want to get out there with Christmas lights now, but in case you're extra motivated . . .

Beaverntx, you live in a beautiful place! My in-laws live in Gonzales, TX, not too far from you (it's not nearly as pretty, either). You are right that it's the ice that could be a problem state-wide. I haven't watched any news all day but looking at my phone, they're making it sound as if Monday (here anyway) is going to be the bad day. For anyone reading not from Texas, we're usually starting to plant spring flowers by now!

Also, Beaver, I'm Beesy_the_other_one because I chose my name (just Beesy then) not realizing there's a BEESIE on here and people were starting to confuse us, which is not fair to her! So out of respect for her, I added "the other one" to try to help keep down the confusion. No one has ever abbreviated it TOO before--BeesyTOO would have been better--and EASIER! Maybe I'll change it! BEESIE was a nickname for her as a child and it was for me also. In my case, my maiden name ends in BEE. She happened to choose the spelling Beesie and I chose Beesy, though neither of us had ever spelled it prior to choosing our names.

LW, they'll be able to reschedule you pretty easily. I think it's better than stressing about getting there on icy roads, and they will prioritize you. ❤️

Yup, here in Vermont even with excellent Hakkapelitta ice-rated snow tires, we stay put in ice storms. Last night I had a nightmare about a school bus sliding sideways down a curvy hill in an ice storm. Just hunker down and stay safe!

We had our power restored after 36 hours without--about four hours ago. Houston homes are not built for no power in sub-zero temps! We turned off water to the house and drained the system so the pipes wouldn't burst; sadly many of our neighbors did not and many have pipes bursting like crazy as things thaw 😕. We were grateful for a gas log fireplace (which we normally delight in getting to use just for "ambience") and a gas stove that we could light manually. The cold weather is one thing, but having electricity cut to over 14 million homes is only something you'd expect in 2020-2021. Next time Beaverntx mentions possible power outages, I am going to take that as a clue that it's time to download movies to my iPad--immediately! I did it first thing when power was restored in case they shut off power later! I feel prepared for the worst now!

I hope all of our Texas friends have power and are staying warm.

Yes, Astrid, the state of Texas is a real mess right now. Since our power was restored after 36 hours, we've had rolling blackouts (three hours on/three hours off--1 ½ hours on/ 1 ½ hours off--which is totally doable!). I just checked, and Jana and MinusTwo haven't signed on in days, making me concerned they still have power outages, or worse, are now dealing with water in their homes from burst pipes. LW422 signed on 20 hours ago, which is an encouraging sign. Beaverntx signed on three hours ago--a very good sign since she lives west closer to my in-laws who have no power or water. Water pipes run up into our attics, which is almost never an issue for us because our weather is rarely--almost never--this cold. If homes had been able to be heated (had we had power) it wouldn't have been *as* bad, but without power to heat our homes, pipes froze in attics and broke. When power is returned, water runs down into homes. I live in a large neighborhood and I could attach photos that would make you cry. Fortunately, neighbors are helping one another to cap the breaks so that they are able to get the water back on in their homes, but the number of homes with extensive damage is heartbreaking. Honestly, Astrid, I turned on the news this morning and it's the Texans who don't live in cozy homes that concerns me. I saw a few people interviewed who lived in an apartment complex where the fire sprinklers broke and ruined all their (few) earthly possessions. Many people are suffering.

Because we were some of the first people to lose power, we opted to fill tubs to flush toilets and turn off water to the house. When our electricity was still off, my husband went into the attic when it was 12 degrees outside, and our attic was 21 degrees. We probably wouldn't have turned off the water had we not lost power so early on, but that made it more clear to us. We've lived here long enough to have lived through a few of these cold snaps (none quite like this) to know that pipes end up being the problem.

Jana and MinusTwo, we're thinking of you and hoping you are just cold and without power and not wet and cold. ❤️

Beesy you rock for keeping an eye out for our TX members. The pipes run thru the attics? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Echoing Astrid- Sending love to all our TX members-

Java - amazing you didn't loose power? We lost power for almost 48 hours. Got down to 44 in my house. Luckily I have lots of sweater & blankets. Then I lost my phone line (hard wired & DSL connection) so still no internet. And finally after one night with power & heat, the power went off again yesterday, we lost water. I had power last night and today have small trickle of water. Enough to fill the containers again to flush the toilets. Not quite enough to take a shower. But of course not for drinking or even brushing our teeth since we're under "boil" orders Thanks everyone for caring.

LW - do you have a new schedule?

ooh. Hang on I found LW on chemo thread. Seems her tx are rescheduled for Fridays now so she won't have had 2nd tx yet.