Positive Girls Club

We're at Kill Devil Hills--right across from the Wright Bros. memorial. It's beautiful here and the weather is great too. Sprinkled a little today but since I live in the desert, I LOVE the rain. Also, my onc said to stay out of the sun so cloudy works for me. Where is the foothills of NC?
Cyndi

I just took a few minutes during lunch today to go over the last 6 weeks of postings that I missed. It seems like a lot of positives happened. I will give a few positives/negatives that happened to me while I was away.

negative - one week after my surgery my father-in-law passed away from liver cancer.

negative-turned-positive - My son was able to get 10 days emergency leave from the Navy to come to the funeral. He is stationed in HI and was not able to take leave for my surgery.

positive - my mother and sister decided that I needed a kitchen make-over while I was recouperating. They painted a large free-standing pantry cupboard, moved my kitchen around, and are in the process of painting my cabinets. I will make new curtain/valances for the windows to complete the make-over. I had considered making the changes but had not decided to do it on my own.

I am glad to be back.
Sheila

Hi everyone, hope you have had a positive week.

My positive is I now have 540cc in my expanders and am looking great, my PS says that in 2-3 more injections I will be about the size I am looking for (large . As I was waiting yesterday at the PS office, I saw a woman walk out with the pillows under both arms and the glazed look in her eyes. I followed her out in the parking lot and asked if she had a bi-lat and she said yes. I told her that I had mine June 1, she asked if it got better, she just had drains removed, I told her that she would do great. Last but not least one more night of Vacation Bible School!

Debbie, I have been in my house for 18 years and I have been talking about painting it since I moved in, it just took someone else to take the reigns and start it. They actually started while I was in the hospital.

Sheila

Jule, my friend just had a lump removed from her breast too. It was benign but pre-cancerous. The surgeon said there is approx. a 15% chance of her developing BC. So she is considering her options--even might do bi-lat mast. and reconstruction. I don't know what to tell her. I would hate for anyone to go through this if they had a chance to prevent it.
My positive for the week is that I am at the beach and feeling pretty good after 2 really bad days after tx#2. I spent yesterday on the beach and in the ocean and plan to do the same today.
Hope everyone is feeling GREAT for the weekend!
Cyndi

Hi Folks,

have just found this thread and have decided to join if some other ladies have moved on.

My positive for this week is a very selfish one, but will help someone who works in my office if or when they get cancer. My firm offer an annual bonus but the days that you do not work don't count towards it as you are not actually contributing to the success. Sickness doesn't count, so I was resigned to having a little money out of the pot but not my usual amount. The office notice indicated that if your absence was due to "disablity" then it would be okay and paid. Anyway, after a little query with all of this, cancer is considered a disability under legislation. No one knew this. So now I get my full bonus, and everyone is now aware of the situation should they need it in the future.

Whew! Long post!

Have a brilliant weekend.

My first positive this week may sound a little vain in some respects. When I went to the ps, they said I need to get a bra without any seams. The seams were right up against my incisions and since I have no feeling yet, I would not feel it if I started to get an irritation and it could develop into something bad. So I hauled myself to Walmart and found these sports bras from Fruit of the Loom, T-back style, cotton and best yet, 3 for $9.98!

#2 I started sleeping on one side or the other but still can't sleep on my tummy! When did anyone with implants start to be able to sleep on their tummy?

#3 I am only taking percosets about every other day and only at bedtime if I have ovrdone it during the day and I am sore across my chest. I still take a xanax at night and it helps settle me down.

#4 I get to say hi to a bunch of new people here! I did not take notes but right above me here is Valerie from the UK. So hi there!

#5 My baby turned 14 this past Monday and I just realized he is now taller than I am! When did this happen? So, we are celebrating this weekend since he spent the last one with my ex. Harry Potter here we come! Oh, and add to that Book #7 pick up on Saturday!!!!

Jule, crossing our fingers for your friend. I have gone through it with two of my closest girlfriends. Both turned out to be nothing so I am hoping for the same for you.

OK, did not yet get that "special" weekend yet with dh. I know, last weekend was the one but he hurt his neck at work and that was all she wrote! So, this weekend we are celebrating ds birthday and it looks like next weekend we will try for. It will happen eventually.

I also noticed that I have read so many psots about those will implants and have no clue how many cc's I have or what the exact name of the procedure for my bilat mast was called. I do know after all the recon is done, I will have a C cup. So the next visit in August, I will find out!

Have a great weekend kiddos! Love you all.

Hi gang!

My positives for this week are that my hubby & I were the recipients of a care package of 2 delicious homemade meals of authentic Mexican food made by a dear friend who then drove over an hour each way to deliver them
AND
While I am still waiting for my HMO to approve some more testing before my treatment can begin, I think I made a real friend in the insurance coordinator's office. This woman seems to have taken up my cause and has been going above & beyond the call of duty to get my HMO to get its rear in gear. So I think I have an advocate now I really want to find out more about her personally because I want to send her a special thank you gift and write a commendation and send it to her supervisor. She has been wonderful and if it weren't for her, I don't know what I would have done this week. You might have seen me on the news because I was close to going "postal" at one point in time!

Hope everyone continues to do well and that you all have a great weekend.

Sharon

May I join the Positive Girls Club? The shock is over and the mastectomy was a week ago. For some silly reason I left the hospital happy. I could feel all of the positive energy being sent my way when I went into surgery and I was overwhelmed by that same feeling when I came out.

My positives...
I am alive; I have friends and family who love me; I first tested HER 2-neu positive with the biopsy. The pathology done on the actual tumor came back HER 2-neu negative (have requested a 2nd opinion on the path rpt just to make sure); my nodes are clear; I qualify for the Oncotype DX test; the pain is nothing compared to my hysterectomy 3 years ago; I am getting used to looking at myself, I wish to God that this hadn’t happened but it did, I will live thru it and I still feel whole. I still feel like me in my heart and with the help of my PS will look like me again too.

My theme song “Stand” by Rascal Flatts

Sue Ellen

Hi to all the regulars and to the newbies. My positives for this week are:

1. I made it through another week of rads. Nine down and 24 to more to go. I'm only slightly pink in the area around my incision. I guess the Aloe gel and Aquaphor ointment are doing their jobs.

2. I made it through the second diabetes class this morning before going to rads in the afternoon. I didn't get lost this week between eating lunch and going into the cancer center the "back" way. I've been a bit discouraged this past month since I was officially diagnosed with diabetes, but, now, after attending the classes I know about how to monitor my Blood Glucose levels and how to eat correctly by controlling carbs. I feel that I can deal with this condition as I continue through the BC journey.

3. The new Mexican food place near us has low carb tortillas. There was a coupon in the Val-Pak we got the other day, and my husband wanted to try eating there tomorrow. When I checked the menu on-line, I found the nutrition info link and learned about their lower carb choices. Hooray, I can get a full meal and still stick to my food plan.

I hope everyone had a good week.

Thank you for such a warm welcome to this thread! My positive for the week:
My daughter and I have decided to train for a half marathon that will take place in December. Now this is a pretty HUGE undertaking for me. I really have never run more than three miles at most. I do workout consistently, though.
Last year my husband decided that if I can go through Chemo and radiation then he could run a marathon. Well I survived the treatment and he completed the marathon! Thought I would celebrate this year by running (maybe walking some )with my daughter. My husband will once again run the marathon.
Figure if I am consumed by my training schedule I won't have time to think "negative".
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share this personal goal.
Mimi

Hi Ladies - I apologize for not being around much lately.

Welcome to our new ladies and a shout out to all of you that are continuing on your journey.

The past few weeks have been a little rough for me. I posted on another thread about my DH obsessing over a NYT's article he read about how NHL never goes into remission. He has been very depressed lately. The one positive is that I think I convinced him to go back to his therapist. I pray he does.

Other then that my life is pretty boring, which I guess is a good thing!! LOL.

My other positives are:

I was on vacation this week and along with getting all new windows installed got a ton of stuff done around the house that I had been putting off since treatment.

Had lunch with an old friend.

Thats about it from my neck of the woods,
Take care everyone,
Valerie