For those starting chemo in June

Oh, Janie, what a drag. I know I need to tend better to my arm, but I just don't.

Things are great here. Mary, Nathan has been moved to another class and life is very good. Meeting yet another contractor type at mom's house to get some things going there. She'll be here next week! Nathan drew her a Welcome Home, Grandma sign with a bunch of Texas-style stuff like boots and flags on it. Very cute. Hope she likes it.

NL, hope things are good out West. Mary, doesn't it feel good to get those things growing? Spring has sprung.

Paula

mary, what a jerk! i am sure he has not been through even an 8th of what you have these last 3 years! he would never survive it.

nl, any news?

hey hey paula.

the lst day my arm was wrapped so tight the elbow would not bend and the fingers turned blue and went numb. it is obviously doing better now although i am still mummified. going to get a nighttime sleeve to end the wrapping.

yes mary, turning those reports out left and right. we go until the end of may. can't wait to be out for a while.

Hey, Janie, did you figure out how to wrap your own arm? I got the sleeve (which, of course, I rarely wear because I hate it) because I couldn't figure out HOW someone would do that wrapping themselves. What kind of sleeves do they have for night? I might be able to swing that...

Have some guys over at mom's house, demo-ing the bathroom and getting ready for the new garage door Monday. She'll be here for real on Wednesday. Wow. Hope all goes well. I think she'll like it, if she can bear the heat. And I'm looking forward to it.

Hey to all,
Paula

copied from womenshealth.gov:

Breast Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise
TUESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they've developed a breast cancer vaccine that stimulates a powerful immune system response to tumor cells.

In mice, the "synthetic peptide" vaccine stimulated an anti-tumor T-cell response that identified and prevented the spread of breast cancer cells. T-cells are white blood cells that play an important role in immune response.

A team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., tested the vaccine on female mice that had the cancer-producing oncogene HER-2/neu. The mice received the vaccine at the early stage of tumor development.

The vaccine either slowed or stopped the progression of breast cancer in all the mice, the team reported Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Los Angeles.

Because synthetic peptides alone do not usually trigger a strong immune response, the vaccine was given in combination with a "Toll-like receptor" stimulant, which mimics the way invading bacteria would spur the immune system into action.

"We found that we could train the immune system to recognize these synthetic peptides as dangerous foreign agents of the HER-2/neu gene by mimicking what the bacteria would do in your body. The body responded by killing everything that expressed HER-2/neu in high amounts," study author Dr. Pilar Nava-Parada said in a prepared statement.

Using this approach, it would likely take only one immunization to build an immune system response powerful enough to destroy a tumor.

To date, attempts at creating effective cancer vaccines have produced mixed results. This and other new studies suggest that scientists are moving closer to creating viable cancer vaccines, the Mayo researchers said.

More information

Now thats some promising news Janie. Hope all had a great wk. end. Glad your Mom is almost moved in P.J. Hope NL is doing good. Mary

Glad you are o.k. NL. Everyone have a great day. Sounds like your going to enjoy your Mom being out there P.J. Thats great. I sure wish I could of spent time with my Mom but I always thought there would be time some day, that day never came. Janie, hope your arm is better. Mary

Hey Janie, glad your arm is going down some. I hope the ther. helps. They are to call me about some P.T. for my back and neck. I just want the knots rubbed out and I don't want to excercise because I have been down that road and it doesn't help just cause pain. I hope they call next wk.! P.J. must be busy helping mom. and NL must be getting well. Have a good wk. end girls, Mary

Hey Janie, I went to a rheumatologist last wk. to see why I get so stiff from sitting for just a short time and why my muscles feel like they have shrunk and pull on my bones causing pain. He did 11 viles of blood work and said this is a chief complaint of people that have gone through aggressive treatment and there may not be an answer except that the treatments are pretty toxic. I go back next month. He is testing me again for Lupus. The last Dr. did too and they really seem to like to test me for Lupus. I really do not think it is Lupus. Well I better get, I am getting things made for the craft show next month. Later, have a great wk. end girls. Mary

hey, that is funny Mary. I like those cute little pet miniature pigs (which is probably not what they had in mind), and had it second on my list.....but no evidence of the green stuff and i did not buy a lotto ticket, so none is falling in my lap either.

do you have any blood left? that is a lot to remove. hope it all works out. my right knee/leg has been giving me problems. Chemo, especially taxol, is really rough, as i am sure you know very well. They have run bone scans on me a couple of times.

i will be glad to get the bandages off (why i am not bothering with the capitalization). it is a chore carrying this bulk around all the time.

later gators

Mary, Maybe it will not be long before you can move to Phoenix where you can eat cactus jelly and stay warm.

I am sure you have heard about Josh Hancock, Cardinals pitcher, being killed this morning in a car wreck. He had just turned 29. I know his family and the ball club are devastated.

Hey girls, Yea Janie thats really sad. Thats almost every little boys dream and his was cut short, how terrible. P.J. glad your still there...here....where u should be. Hope all is well at work and with mom. Hope NL is getting better. Janie, maybe we need a good vacation. Sun, surf, cabana boys with their bronze six pack abs glistening in the sun and their frothy hair blowing in the light warm breeze, holding a bottle of cool suntan lotion in one hand and a icy cold alcoholic beverage in the other with a colorful little umbrella stuck in it and some classy cheese doodles on a little yellow plate,looking us in the eyes as if to ask if we are ready to cool our hot bodies with a gentle rub down of suntan oil. EEEEKKKK! Whats that banging? My chase is rocking and someone is pounding on it what the #@**? Oh it's just the toolman, D#*n, he has to fix my chase NOW!!!!!!! Reality bites.... It could have been fun, I would hug you but I have suntan lotion all over. Mary

NL, hope you get good news and glad your back. Gosh it is hot today. I have been getting things ready for the art fair the 19th. I gotta get, later, Mary

Mary, I had something to say about all that, but forgot what it was.

NL, hope your scans have good results

PJ, What job title will you have now? Hope you like the change.

OT did her calculations and said I had lost 40% (I guess 40% of what I need to lose...and had lost 1/2 pound of fluid) so I am getting there. Be so glad to get rid of the bandages. I need to go to bed. Have to get up in a few hours.

Later

NL, waiting for good reports. I did a good one. I picked up one of the grandkids from school(Bailey) aand he wasn't in the group, he went to aftercare thinking it was Thurs. so I had to park and go in. I locked the doors because I left my purse in the truck, I had the pickup. We got back to the truck and I pressed the button to unlock and nothing, I pressed again and nothing, I paniced because now I would have to call the city police to come get my door open(they do that here for free). I said crap Bailey my battery must be dead in my remote and I will have to call the cops. He said Grandma, why don't you use the key? I did and came on home.........I think I should not be left alone sometimes....Mary

Don't you just LOVE computers Mary? I didn't even notice the 2 A's in and until you mentioned it!! I KNOW that I shouldn't be let out alone most of the time!!! But I was kinda like that before BC!! I took a book with me today and asked the tech if I could read in the MRI tube. He said that no one had ever done that before, but as long as it had no metal on it, I could try. I did fine when he had me stuffed all the way to the back doing my lower spine, but the he moved me forward and did the middle and upper by my neck and I didn't have room to hold the book away from right in front of my face. SIGH!! I was in there for an hour and a half and the reading that I was able to do made the time seem to go faster. My doctor said he doesn't want the radiologists to miss anything so he's going to tell them to take their time and look at every picture. I looked at a whole bunch of them with the tech and he told me what all the little parts were. It was quite interesting to see my back from all angles. This guy is way nicer than the ultrasound lady--he took lots of his time and explained a bunch of stuff to me. All in all--it wasn't too bad of an experience. Then my friend who drove me up and I went to the greenhouse and got some really cool flowers to plant. The kind that I got are called Celosia...They're pink!!! When and IF the wind ever stops blowing so hard--I'll think about planting them. Well, better get some daycare stuff onto the computer. Hope you all had a super Wednesday!! Life is Good Smiles NancyLee