2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

Hi Ladies!

I just went back and read posts I had to skip and forgot I hadn't gone back to! I don't like missing anything!

Cathy..I am definitely not as busy as you are!! NO WAY! Funny story about the sister in law who wasn't.
I like the breast implant joke and must copy and send that to my dh!

It's hot and humid here big time! UGH! I was at the beach early in the day and it was terribly hot there already. Truly tired me out.

My dh returned last night from 2 weeks in S. Africa. Laundry load is back to normal.

I'm a house cleaner today. Lots of cleaning and organizing to do. Tomorrow is a busy, busy day for me with cooking and then second interviews for a new prog coordinator and then at services with a special farewell to our present prog coordinator and our rabbi. Following week I take my drums and tambourines to services..my turn to lead services. Just call me Miriam!

No way Debbie...One household is enough to manage!

Mary...I missed your post. You sure have sad stories to tell. That is scary. My son just graduated high school and frankly...it worries me every time he goes in the car. He is only allowed, by law, to take two passengers with him. This helps keep the goofing around to a minimum. But it still scares me. He's a teen (18) and acts like one. Behind the wheel, it's dangerous.

Okay..got some stuff done..must keep going...

And where is Kelly, anyway? I am missing her!!! Do we need to send out a search party? Call the State Patrol? Or maybe she told us that she was going to be away for a while and I missed the post?

I caught Kelly wandering around. I believe she was hanging around Joan's panties thread. Anyone been there?
Hope Kelly is okay and not lost,or somethin'.
Kelly..are you overworked? Stick your head in and say hi.

I check in on your women daily (twice daily) but I will admit that although I may skim the active topics, I'm definitely moving on. Do others feel this way?

Rosemarie! It has been a while, hasn't it?

Linda! Glad to see you back. Just hang out here with us Rocktobers and you'll be fine! Good to hear that your sister and Isaac are better.

Debbie: My, my... If you were here I'd lend you my St. Michael pendant. It's been known to keep you away from harm...

Mary, I'm with Laura. Why, why, why...?

Hi all,

it is good that we are all busy and getting back in the groove.

My DD had her Prom grad party and graduation this week. I am exhausted form all the running around. I was so happy to be involved in it all. When I first was sick I was really worried I would not see her graduate. Now I am finding it hard to imagine any of this coming back. I do have more positive thoughts going for sure.



Laura I agree about not wanting test are scans. I used to love them but now I am enjoying my NED status and do not want to uncover something while I feel good.

So glad to hear your sister is improving Linny. Communicating is so important and it sounds like she will find a way. I hope your young son knows what he is getting it to, he is awfully young!

Debbie, you sound a little better, your meds must be kicking in, thank goodness.

Cathy, the photos of the wedding were amazing. I have never seen such an elaborate buffet table. Imagine the cost! Are you Tadah happy with your recon? Did you have a lat dorsi flap?
If so how is your back feeling?

Rosemarie, what a nice trip you have planned. Sounds hectis though. Take some time to rest.

V, how do you manage your work and your painting?

Our race team is being selected on Saturday. We have 37 racers and only 20 will be in the boat on race day. I am afraid there will be bad feelings...wish me luck. Some of the older memebers feel they ahve been on the team so they have priority, some of the newer members want a chance to paddle. I think we should recruit 3 more people and have two teams! I might skip Sat practice as I don't want to be there to see the disappointed people.

Maryanne, what a beautiful daughter! I love graduations. It is the one event where everyone is experiencing the same emotions, to me. A wedding we're all happy for the bride and groom but at a graduation we're all happy for everybody! We're glad that the graduate is glad to be finished, we're glad the parents don't have any more checks to write, its just one big glad fest!!

My recon was expanders and implants. I am delighted with them. It was a painful six months but with God's help and vicodin I made it through.

Tracy: I went to hit reply and hit delele!! Can you send me those questions again?!

I too am feeling like I'm over this board. I think that once we all meet and establish relationships face to face that we'll eventually interact offline. Every once in a while I post in other forums but I am past cancer now. Sure I imagine that all my aches are cancer related but I don't think about it much at all aside from that. It makes me feel a little bit selfish that now that I'm done I am withdrawing my support, support that was there for me when I needed it but sometimes its easier to wear slippers than it is to carpet the entire world! That's my favorite saying, I remembered that question Tracy!

Amen to that Tracey !!
Maryanne - what a great picture - what does she plan to do now?
My Dr says I can go back to work on Monday - Woohoo!! He wasnt impressed with the idea but he agreed on me just doing mornings for a while to see if i could do it. I want to go back to tie up all the loose ends and sort out the class transfer. I have a hospital app on the 19th with my oncologist and the 20th for the Thyro man - then i hope someone will insure me to travel - the last firm pulled their offer. My dr told me today that he would be happy withme travelling with insurance that excluded thyroid as he cant see me having problems - fantastic!
We are having problems with the return to invoice insurance on the van - because it was an import they are suddenly deciding that its classed as pre owned , even though it had 0 miles on the clock and was new - inported for us. Why didnt they decide that when they sold us the insurance ??? Of course theres a postal strike so all of the correspondance is jammed somewhere (prob in Debs neck of the woods!) and conveniently there system is down - or so they say - Gosh i feel cynical!!
Its not rained too much today - whichis good as it is Cats 16 mile sponsored walk - rather here than me!

Today , after being told i could go back to work , i took a leaf out of TraceyNYs book and went for some retail therapy. I bought a couple of handbags , a pair of trousers and 5 bras - i have finally lost my chemo weight and some more due to my thyroid and gone from a 38DD to a 34DD - no wonder it felt like i could turn around in my underwear!! I also managed to wangle some samples from the Clarins stand so a good day had by all!!

Wow - where are all of you today? Must be out busy with LIFE!!! That is so cool...

Someone emailed this to me today and I thought it was really worth sharing will all of you, especially those of you who have kids:

EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ ALL OF THIS and HAVE CHILDREN

READ IT TOO!



After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab

a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name

ByAngel213.

She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an

instant message:



ByAngel213:

Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was

following

me home today. It was really weird!



GoTo123:

LOL You watch too much TV. Why would someone be

following you?

Don't you live in a safe neighborhood?



ByAngel213:

Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my imagination cuz'

I

didn't see anybody when I looked out.



GoTo123:

Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done

that have you?



ByAngel213:

Of course not. I'm not stupid you know.



GoTo123:

Did you have a softball game after school today?



ByAngel213:

Yes and we won!!



GoTo123:

That's great! Who did you play?



ByAngel213:

We played the Hornets. LOL. Their uniforms are so

gross!

They look like bees. LOL



GoTo123:

What is your team called?



ByAngel213:

We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger paws on our

uniforms. They are really cool.



GoTo1 23:

Did you pitch?



ByAngel213:

No I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to

be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye!



GoTo123:

Catch you later. Bye



Meanwhile.......GoTo123 went to the member menu and

began to search for her profile. When it came up, he highlighted it

and

printed it out. He took out a pen and began to write down what he knew

about Angel so far.



Her name: Shannon

Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985

Age: 13

State where she lived: North Carolina



Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the

mall. Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because

she

had just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every

afternoon until her parents came home from work. He knew she played

softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team was

named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her

jersey.

He knew she was in the eighth grade at the Canton Junior High School

She had told him all this in the conversations they had on- line. He

had

enough information to find her now.



Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on

the way home from the ballpark that day. She didn't want them to make

a

scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games. Parents

were always overreacti ng and hers were the worst. It made her wish

she

was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and sisters, her

parents wouldn't be so overprotective.



By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps

following her.



Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt

someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came back. She

glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her

closely.



He was leaning against the fence behind first base and

he smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly

dismissed the sudden fear she had felt.



After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked

to

the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He

nodded and she smiled back. He noticed her name on the back of her

shirt. He knew he had found her.



Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was

only a few blocks to Shannon 's home, and once he saw where she lived

he

quickly returned to the park to get his car.



Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat

until the time came to go to Shannon 's house. He drove to a fast food

restaurant and sat there until time to make his move.



Shannon was in her room later that evening when she

heard voices in the living room.



"Shannon, come here," her father called. He sounded

upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the

man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa.



"Sit down," her father began, "this man has just told

us

a most interesting story about you."



Shannon sat back. How could he tell her parents

anything? She had never seen him before today!



"Do you know who I am, Shannon ?" the man asked.



"No," Shannon answered.



"I am a police officer and your online friend,

GoTo123."



Shannon was stunned. "That's impossible! GoTo is a kid

my age! He's 14. And he lives in Michigan !"



The man smiled. "I know I told you all that, but it

wasn't true. You see, Shannon , there are people on-line who pretend

to

be kids; I was one of them. But while others do it to injure kids and

hurt them, I belong to a group of parents who do it to protect kids

from

predators. I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to

talk to people on-line. You told me enough about yourself to make it

easy for me to find you. You named the school you went to, the name of

your ball team and the position you played. The number and name on

your

jersey just made finding you a breeze."



Shannon was stunned. "You mean you don't live in

Michigan ?"



He laughed. "No, I live in Raleigh . It made you feel

safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?"



She nodded.



"I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she

wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and murdered her while she was home

alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet

they

do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick you into giving out

information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you

have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you

have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it

again. Tell others about this so they will be safe too?"



"It's a promise!"



That night Shannon and her Dad and Mom all knelt down

together and thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have

been a tragic situation.

Hi Girls!

At 1:00 today I am meeting some of the girls from the Illinois Survivor Thread in the Help Me Get Through Treatment forum. One of the girls lives literally 5 minutes from me and we're all meeting there for lunch. I just spent 2 hours making a dessert...hope it will be worth the work! It's a peach and blackberry trifle. I used fresh fruit and had to blanch the peaches (never did this before). And I made home made whipped cream. If it turns out good, if any of you want the recipe - let me know.

Hope you're all having a good day. I'll check in later...have to jump in the shower and get ready!

-------------------------------------------------
ravdeb -
For some reason - when we got together, I never once even thought about you or Rosemarie being weirdos! LOL I think it was because we had seen photos of each other and the fact that we all had bc and we talked on the phone prior to meeting. Although had I pulled into your parking lot in Oak Park that day and saw a big scary dude standing where you were, I would have sped away very quickly! LOL


Mary-Anne -
That photo is beautiful and you two look FABulous. You must be very proud!

Debbie -
Sooooooooooooooo glad you are feeling better! I've been worried about you. Retail therapy truly does work!

Michelle -
The photos are great...you look cute with your hair pulled back. That beach looks like a Norman Rockwell painting and your cottage is adorable.

Hi gilrs!!
as i am slowly getting through the posts, more get added... i just cant catch up!! you are such chatterboxes!

yeah, that on-line stuff is scary. Now, to scare you a bit more, this is what was emailed to me (i am not sure its 100% correct, but wouldnt hurt to know). Its about what to do in case of having a heart attack:

Let's say it's 6.15pm and you're driving home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job.

You're really tired, and frustrated……

YOU ARE REALLY STRESSED AND UPSET ….

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw.
You are only five miles from the hospital nearest your home.
Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far

WHAT TO DO ???

YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINED IN CPR, BUT THE GUY THAT CONDUCTED THE COURSE DID NOT TELL YOU HOW TO PERFORM IT ON YOURSELF !!!

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE?

SINCE MANY PEOPLE ARE ALONE WHEN THEY SUFFER A HEART ATTACK, WITHOUT HELP, THE PERSON WHOSE HEART IS BEATING IMPROPERLY AND WHO BEGINS TO FEEL FAINT, HAS ONLY ABOUT 10 SECONDS LEFT BEFORE LOSING CONSCIOUS

WHAT TO DO ??

ANSWER:

DO NOT PANIC, BUT START COUGHING REPEATEDLY AND VERY VIGOROUSLY.

A DEEP BREATH SHOULD BE TAKEN BEFORE EACH COUGH, THE COUGH MUST BE DEEP AND PROLONGED, AS WHEN PRODUCING SPUTUM FROM DEEP INSIDE THE CHEST.

A BREATH AND A COUGH MUST BE REPEATED ABOUT EVERY TWO SECONDS WITHOUT LET-UP UNTIL HELP ARRIVES, OR UNTIL THE HEART IS FELT TO BE BEATING NORMALLY AGAIN.

DEEP BREATHS GET OXYGEN INTO THE LUNGS AND COUGHING MOVEMENTS SQUEEZE THE HEART AND KEEP THE BLOOD CIRCULATING. THE SQUEEZING PRESSURE ON THE HEART ALSO HELPS IT REGAIN NORMAL RHYTHM. IN THIS WAY, HEART ATTACK VICTIMS CAN GET TO A HOSPITAL

TaDah, i just loved that saying about slippers... so true..

Paula

I'm up late and saw your post about the cough CPR and ran it through Snopes/Urban Legends and this is what I came up: http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/coughcpr.asp

Sounds like it's one of those things that we're warned about, "Don't try this at home." Or in the car either for that matter.

The Urban Legened site is: http://www.snopes.com/ I find it helpful to check out any e-mail I get from my friends who are passing on general information.

Hope your cold is better.

Mary, I finally made the hotel reservation. Can you believe it. I'm such a procrastinator.

It's too late for me to think or post more.

Love you all and Good Night!

Victoria - I would love to see your studio, I can just imagine what it looks like with the paints and the canvases and the paintings that you are working on.... I feel priviledged to know someone who is a true artist. Very Cool....

Gail - I agree, maybe it is an estrogen thing. I often wonder if my lack of energy is realted to the lack of estrogen. I also find myself being very impatient and having trouble concentrating on one thing for a long period. I figure that could be due to the effects of the chemo or the estrogen or a bit of both. It concerns me starting a new job where I need to be focused to learn and retain the information.....

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? We will all be together NEXT MONTH!!! Wow. How very cool.... I can't wait to just hug each and every one of you!

Hey Cathy - guess what I FINALLY have??? Those pictures that Dave took of the two of us! He finally got the film developed. So much for the OLD FASHIONED camera!

Well, summer has arrived in Seattle and a bit early too! Normally our summer doesn't start until after July 4. July 4 is known to be raining and cold, but this year they are predicting 85 degrees and SUN!!! Wahoo!!!

I am off on the 4th and also Thurs and Fri. Thursday is Dave's birthday - he is going to be SO SURPRISED - I got him a one day fishing charter trip and I have talked his best friend into going with him.

Thursday we are going to Mt. Rainier - I have lived here for 10 years and have never been there. Friday we are going to Jetty Island which is an Island just off the coast from Everett, WA that has been turned into a park. You take a little boat over there - Dave's daughter and grandson are going with us....

Fun week and then off to my new job on July 9!!!

Graycie -
How are you feeling? Didn't you have these symptoms a couple of months ago? I'll e-mail you the recipe. Actually it turned out okay...it was a ton of work...but you should try it.

Debbie -
Glasgow is frightening...try not to freak too much. How are you feeling? Congrats on the weight loss...that's hard to do!

--------------

GIRLS -
My Illinois Survivor meet was fun! Everyone brought goodies and the hostess did a a great job accomodating all of us, preparing everything, etc. She has a really nice sun room and it was really big, so we had lots of room to sit around, eat and talk, talk, talk! We could have hung out for an additional 5 hours and I still don't think we would have run out of things to say. Everyone was really nice. Two of the girls are still going through treatment and were bald...hard to believe we were in their shoes not that long ago! Hope you're all doing well...