2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

Hi everyone,

Michelle, I meant to respond to you last night about the sore feet and hips - YES!  I have it too and some days I can hardly walk.  Once I stand up and start walking it goes away but man - it hurts!!!  I met a 5 year survivor this weekend - she just stopped taking Tamoxifen last week.  She said within 3 days there was no more joint pain!

V - thanks for your sweet words...  I wish you were coming up toward the Seattle area!

I am looking forward to our trip to Canada, but Dave is still on crutches so that is going to slow us down a bit.  He has been busy confirming all of our reservations and reading the Alberta books.

Tomorrow I am recording a Radio spot for the Making Strides Walk - Ive never done that before - something new to experience!

Mary - you are in my prayers, your church and community are so lucky to have you.  I know that you are a huge support to all of the kids who are dealing with loss.

Ravdeb - glad you made it home, sorry about your luggage though - that is two Rocktober bags that got lost (mine too!)  Mine made it back safely with all of my Rocktober treasures so I know that yours will too.

Laura - hugs and love to your Mom & Shelby.  Thank you so much for helping me with my speech video.

Paula - I think the tour bus I was on drove past those beaches.  I hope you are feeling better.

Everyone else, Hi and hugs!

Well, I have to do some computer work for Dave (who doesn't believe in technology and hates computers but sure has a lot of "stuff" for me to look up or type).

Catch you all later......

Does everyone have to have gmail or can we just use our own email?  My yahoo email and personal email don't have limits that I know of ...

The only thing I can say is that gmail is an e-mail acct like any other e-mail account EXCEPT that you can have running conversations.

So, Kelly, if you use Yahoo, that's fine. I don't have yahoo and I only know that all my other e-mail accounts are not set up like gmail where it can look like the boards if you want to see all the comments. It's as private as you make it. If you have an e-mail acct only for rocktober girls and you always sign in with user name and password, then only you can see it. But remember..it's internet. I don't know how others can get into your acct, but they do. Nothing on the internet is private. It's as private as it can get.

Oh no - why wont my picture come up??? Did it with resize2mail and tinypic.com ??

Debbie



Your sense of humor always lifts me up--Mark in a Panda crate indeed! And am still chuckling over your Napalm comment!

ok girls,

i am trying to keep track of who is using what...

so i sent you all emails with the list of people and their respective email addresses.

I have used gmail addresses for those that are using gmail (there are 9 of us at this stage). To the others i sent it to their usual email address.

If you havent received an email, but want to be included, pls email me, or PM me.

Amy and Mary-Anne, I am not sure if you want to be a part of our email correspondence, so i havent included you. If you are concerned about your inbox being flooded, you can always create another email account, be it gmail or whatever, just for our group! Thats what i have done.

And girls, since we are now switching (possibly) to email communication, lets be mindful of other's wishes regarding jokes/inspirational/chain emails. Once we establish proper communication, we can decide who is happy to receive what.

phew, i sound like a teacher!!

Please dont give up if it all seems too complicated. Gmail is very easy to work out, and it practically has no space limit, so we can send pics with no problems. I actually use Gmail as my virtual hard drive!! and keep lots of stuff on it. 

Or you can just create another hotmail or yahoo account. If you have any technucal questions re Gmail, let me know, i'll try my best to answer them, as i have been using Gmail for ages (ever since it came out a couple of years ago in fact, i was one of the Beta testers!).

ok, i better finally get back to work..

Hi Ladies...

Well, I've started a new gmail acct only for rocktober women so I hope that clears up my boggled mind.

I will need to figure out how to get my smilies over to gmail. I can't live without my smilies! I know how I can use them but I need something a bit more convenient than my present invention.

Paula...teach away. I have gmail but only started it this summer and I continually get confused and have missed messages because of my dumb brainial functioning. (Brainial is a ravdeb idiom).

V..you have successfully grossed me out with Abby's poor choice of vomit spot! YUCK! Did she not clean it up on her own? My dogs have always cleaned up that type of mess. yucky phooey! My dh would have had her flying if that had happened here!

This new format on here has me bug eyed.

And now gmail and guess what..my server won't let me get into my regular outlook express acct. Something up there. New year (Jewish New Year) and they have decided to change numbers again, I'm guessing. This happens with no warning and then try...just try...to get them on the phone. thank goodness for gmail!

Nope still no joy - guess you are destined never to see Mark in a Panda crate!!

Debbie -

IN THE PAST, after you sized your photo and browsed for it in TinyPic or where ever you go for yours, you selected the one that had the IMG at the end...

but now you need to select the one that says DIRECT LINK or .gif. Once selected, hit control-c (copy) and then in this response box, at the top - inside this box, click on the little photo of a tree. Once opened you will be able to control-p (paste) it. This should work...I did it this way when I attached the lighthouse. Hope you four are doing well! How's Sam...did he go nuts when you arrived back home?

GRAYCIE -

YOUR GUESS - IS AS GOOD AS MINE!

Girls -

I haven't been "communicating" as often as usual because I just can't keep up with all the different forums, e-mails, etc. Sorry, but due to a lack of time to sort through it all...I will hang out here until it's all worked out and then decide what to do. I'm impressed with all of you that have been involved with finding a "home" for us. Thanks for your efforts. However, my vote is to stay here...this is where we originated, this is the easiest (IMO), and this is "one stop shopping" (again, IMO). Why don't we just keep the e-mail list strictly for private issues? Although, I am still un-clear of exactly what "private issues" are. Of course, it would be pretty lonely to be the only one left here, so I'll hold on to the apron strings so to speak.  Please keep me posted on what's decided and what's ULTIMATELY agreed upon. I don't mind CHANGE for the better. I think of my life as an upgrade...but let's please all agree exactly why and what we're changing for.

Hope you're all doing well. I'm swamped as usual. And me, being the glutton for punishment that I am...have added volunteer time to the Komen Foundation. In light of today's loss of one of our sisters, I am more committed than ever to help FIND A CURE! JanClare joined me today to volunteer. I told her that if she did, maybe it would give her an opportunity to be a model at next year's Ann Taylor Fashion Show.  So she did...AND GUESS WHAT (LOL)...it just so happened that one of the models had to cancel - because JanClare was with me today, they asked her if she wanted to take her place! OMG - what frickin luck! OF COURSE JanClare said YES! So, she and I get to go shopping together at Ann Taylor for the clothes we will model! OMG - this is sooooooo cool! And...I will be less nervous the day of the show - with having a home-town "sister" right there with me! YAY! 

On Friday, there's a corporation that wants a Komen Survivor to visit and register their employees to be participants in the walk on sept. 29th. So...I am going there and will give a little speech and explain all the details of the walk in an effort to recruit participants. AWARENESS is key to finding a cure...TracySeattle...this pales in comparison to your efforts...but I'm learning from the best, sister. LOL 

Oh... i just read about Shelli...  yet another victim of this damn disease... will it ever stop???

I will admit that I've gotten used to the new BCO format and it's not all that bad. I don't care where we talk but let's agree on one place. I agree with Laura..it's too much to keep up with all the different e-mails and I get a lot of them from lots of people outside of the rocktober women!

I set up a gmail strictly for the rocktober women but it means signing in and out. Of course, I sign in here, too.

I am so saddened by Shelli's passing. She was so tough and had so many difficulties at the end but sounded in good spirits until she could no longer post. I'm so sorry. And she left young children and a young husband behind.

BC is not pretty or fun in any way. We had fun on our weekend meeting each other but the fact is that BC is ugly and deadly. I was distraught in many ways over the pink mania that is happening in the States. This is not something that is happening in the rest of the world. BC has turned into a commercialized frolic in America and I was stunned by that. Here in Israel there is little "pink" around although the idea is beginning to catch on and I did find something that you can buy and a small donation will be given for bc research. Israel enjoys copying America's gimmicks but I really hope that it doesn't do what America has done. The walks in America are great and I wish we had that here, but the rest of the pink stuff can go, IMO.

When a bc sister dies, is suffering with mets or whatever, it confirms my feelings about this.

My friend here is suffering with lung mets from bc and will be on treaments all her life, probably, with all the side effects. It's not pretty and it's scary.

Laura....

I agree with you on a certain level. It's all about how one markets something.

I was getting the feeling when I was in the States that it was actually a "cool" thing to have bc as opposed to a scary thing. It's now very in to wear necklaces with bc ribbons on them. I was given one by a woman who had bc and is now making them. And I love it and have worn it. But, it's popular to have bc now. I mean..it's prevalant but it's also a "popular" thing and the "in" thing.

In some ways this is good for those who are suffering with it. It almost puts us in a fairy tale existence while we go through chemo. It's like it's okay...even good to have it. And that's where I stop. It is NOT good. It's deadly. It's NOT pink. And in fact, it's not a woman's disease. My uncle died of breast cancer. I didn't know this until this summer. (he was not a blood relative of mine).

I agree...people need to be aware of it and get early detection. People need to help us find a cure. I agree. I think the walks are a terrific way of raising funds, meeting others with bc or those who are friends and families or just supporters for the cause. And I think that the fact there are so many walks across America, there is lots of awareness. I think the talks that people give like Tracy is doing and her work with ACS is terrific. Over our Rosh HaShana holiday a rabbi in Illinois gave her sermon about awareness of BRACA after a congregant died of ovarian cancer.

I'm all for that. I'm not for the pink (pink is one of my fav colors but I won't admit to it! I do like purple when I'm not into pink!) that is everywhere and every little thing you buy has something about giving to breast cancer. I AM for teaching others about it and making them more aware. I don't even trust those companies and wonder if my money is really going there.

Okay..I'm off my soap box.

My mom is out of surgery. She had a knee replacement. Just spoke to my dad. I wish I was there. I had my flight arrangements before I knew she needed surgery. I wanted to stay but I needed to get home. My dad is well equipped to care for her. Still....she's in pain but in good spirits and wanted to know when she could start her exercising. She is not even out of surgery 24 hours!

Be well, Ladies.

HURRAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(And you thought i was joking!!) He was Ok - I gave him some crisps and a bottle of pop for teh journey.