June 2007 Chemo

Happy New Year!

Melody, thanks for the picture info.  Everyone goes back to work and or school tomorrow so I'll have more time to play on the computer.  I'll have to check photobucket out and see if my chemo numb brain can figure it out.   

Linda, congrats on finishing rads with minor discomfort!  2008 WILL be a good year for all of us!!

Dawn, sounds busy at your house!  Is your son a graphic designer?  I've always regretted not taking more art courses but I do some now at the local Gilda's Club.  Watercolor is my choice of medium....well, I attempt to do watercolor.  LOL  

Hope your daughter and her little dog (I feel like I'm in the Wizard of Oz) do well in their new place.  It's always scary when they first move out on their own and wondering if they'll be able to make it this time.

I hear you about the hair.  I quit wearing head covers about a month ago and my hair is far from long.   It's straight, gray and short but I don't care anymore!   

Here's to a great 2008 for everyone!

Terry - Mike is specializing in 3d!  cool stuff.  hoping to see his name in the movie credits one of these years!  Water colors are so pretty - I am glad you are taking classes.  My artistic abilities end with decorating cakes - lots of tricks to use!! 

My daughter actually graduated from college, married a week later, divorced a year later, moved back home for a year and a half and is now moved out again.  She qualified for the apt by herself and a friend from England just moved in with her.  I'll miss her and her little dog (definitely Wizard of Oz!!) but I know they'll all be over for dinner often!!  Lisa has about 4 dishes that she likes to make! 

Go Linda for finishing rads!!  I had #24 today and my rad onc will reassess tomorrow - she wants to do more whole breast rads depending on my skin which isn't too bad.  couple of places are bothering me.  Guess we'll see.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! 

Happy New Year everyone!!

Dawn

go Terry!  I was negative as well, but I think it's a relief just to have ANOTHER question answered.  My rad onc ordered an mri of my good breast and my reconstructed one.  Weird laying on that table with your boobs in different holes............................hoping your test will be negative like mine was.

I'm hoping my daughter's room-mate (friend from England) has some cooking ability - Lisa has been known to each cheez-its for dinner........................

It is hair!!  Maybe you should be glad it wouldn't spike - I think I might feel more like a chia pet if mine did!!

Today is the first day I've gone out of my house (except to the trash/recycling of course!) without a scarf or crocheted cap!!  I feel kind of naked.  One guy at work said I look about 17 - Not sure if that's good or bad!!!

Saw my rad onc today after tx #25 for reassessment - she wants to do more whole breast rads instead of boosts since my scar tissue is extensive from the first surgery and then the recurrence.  Luckily I won't need the bolus and she's going to target a smaller area so my underarm, above/beside/below my breast can start healing.  My underarm is almost raw - OUCH!!  Not sure how many more tx but at least the area is fairly numb already so hopefully I won't feel it!!!

Oh well.  Onward we go.

Hope everyone is having a good week.  Last "short" one for a bit!

Dawn

Bonnie - my surgeon mentioned in July that I should have an MRI (on both) as well as mammo (on the healthy one) every year.  My rad onc told me that chemo doesn't do anything in the breast tissue since it's mostly fat unless there is a tumor etc so she wanted to make sure there were no other issues lurking.

Interesting stuff that I never really wanted to know about!!

Good luck with your classes Bonnie!

Dawn

Hello all.  I'm continuing to recover from surgery (Dec 3) - no more pain and almost complete range of motion.  I do get tired every afternoon about 3 PM and have to take a 2 hour nap.  I hope this is normal.  I saw 3 doctors yesterday (BS, onc. and radiologist - mapping for rads).  I'll be on Xeloda during rads due to the large number of positive nodes found.  I asked the doctors if they had patients with 21 pos nodes who lived.  Each of them said yes but they hesitated for a minute.  So my rate for recurrence is high (70%).  Good thing I'm taking Effexor or I'd start crying all over again. Next week I'll be getting bone scans and CT scans of my liver and lungs to see if the demon spread.  At least my blood tests turned out OK.  I imagined I had leukemia since I felt so tired.  This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands.

My hair is about an inch long all over and mostly white.  Eye lashes have grown in but are pointing almost straight down.  Eye brows are a little fuller than they were before but that's good.  They were too thin.

Hope you all are enjoying the new year.  Good health to you all!

Thanks, Melody, for the support and prayers.  I'm taking 37.5 mg of Effexor.  Lots of people require more to reach a therapeutic dose for depression.

Shrink, I continue keeping you in my thoughts.   Sounds like your drs have it all mapped out and you're on your way to beating this beast! 

I think napping is very normal for what your body has been through the past year, emotionally and physically.   It needs that down time to regroup.  I still find myself napping about once or twice a week and feel so much better afterwards. 

Linda, I hope you get your studio time.  Do you enter art shows or sell your paintings?  I think we could all take a cue from your oldest and be more daring!  I'm not sure I could do the skydiving though.  LOL  

I realize the first few times we get follow up testing it will be nerve wracking, I'm just hoping it isn't as bad as the years roll by.   My twin had bc 14 years ago, and she still gets a bit apprehensive around mammo time.   

Hope everyone has a grand weekend!

Gee, it was nice to see all the posts this morning!  Welcome, konakat!  This is a great group of gals and I don't know what I would have done without them over the last 6 months.  I'm sorry you didn't find us sooner.  I don't have any answers for you about your mom.  I expect she might suspect something, but no matter what she will be so happy to see you!

Guess what I did yesterday??  I got a hair cut! Hah!!  My hair was so shaggy around the ears and on my neck that I went in and had it shaped and trimmed.  It looks soooooo much better, still very short but now it looks more like I wanted it that way.  It was sure a strange feeling to be in the hair dresser's chair.

I received an email the other day and wanted to share it with you all as it really expresses how we have all helped, supported and felt about each other over the last many months. 

Time Passes.

Life happens.

Distance separates.

Children grow up.

Jobs come and go.

Love waxes and wanes.

Men don't do what they're supposed to do.

Hearts break.

Parents die.

Colleagues forget favors.

Careers end.

BUT - Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you.  A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her.

When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.

Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you, or come in and carry you out.

Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, mothers, grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins and extended family all bless our life.

When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead, nor did we know how much we would need each other.

Every day, we need each other still.

Hugs to each and everyone of you!

Hi, my son is teaching me how to upload pictures from Photobucket and you're the guinea pigs.  :-) 

Here goes:

Me, at my last chemo, 9/26/07: (edited to remove HTML lingo)

LOL, we're obviously having difficulty...removing other stuff....

Hi all...Welcome Konakat....I was warmly welcomed and sort of fell off the map but I wanted to respond to your mom question.  I too dreaded that conversation since my mom is a chronic worrier and tends to the negative.  I had no choice but to tell her and she handled it pretty well.  I insist that she only talk about my prognosis  in the most positive way.   So far so good.  I have a feeling that if your mom figures out that you've been going through more than a busy work schedule, she'll handle it okay.   Blessedly the cancer diagnosis of "their" day is much different than today.   Good luck with your visit!  I wish my hair was long enough to look stylish!  I still look like a balding man...ugh.

I've loved keeping up with everyone else.  Just started rads and since I'm a warm NYer (Hudson Valley) no snow days yet!

Hello All!

Welcome to Konkat! We are a great bunch of gals ....if I do say so, glad to have you here! Hope you come to a decision about what to do with telling your mom. I lost my mom 3 yrs ago and how I wished she was here for some of my down days!

Debbie, I had to get around my ears trimmed up as well; I just had my son's gf do it for me, she's such a sweetheart! They are both almost 21, been together 3 yrs......I know they're young still but I hope she's the one!

Dawn, I have to agree with you, the 3 months of chemo was a breeze compared to how the rads treated my skin. Thankfully it's all cleared up now!

Terry, you looked great in that pic! Did you get that awful wind last night and today?? From one extreme to another in old WNY!

Well, today was my 3rd day of classes. I'm not as exhausted as I was on Monday. Yesterday we had our first test (really cramming it at us, it's only a 4 week course, not 6) anyways, I was the only one in the class that got 100%,pretty proud of myself!

I think I'm going to like it!

Dawn, I'm sorry to hear your rads tx is more than you bargained for.   Hope the burns clear up fast.   My sister had rads 15 years ago and she burned all the way through to her back.  :-/

Bonnie, great news on your classes and especially the test, you go, girl!  Show those young whippersnappers who's what.  LOL   And yes, we had horrible winds for almost two days.  The temp has returned to normal too, back to winter.  

I had my follow-up with the genetics testing and I did come back negative, yippee!   I have to get an MRI next week and then mammo and US in May, all for follow-up scans.  Methinks this is going to be our lives from now on.  

She was giving me instructions on care and mentioned monthly breast self exams...ha, ha, ha...I told her I couldn't even touch my breasts yet for fear of finding another lump.   I figure as many times I'm being prodded still by every dr, then I'm safe for awhile.  She told me she's four years out and still can't do them for the fear and yet, there she is telling the patients to do them.   Man, what a struggle for her, huh?  Being a survivor and dealing with all the patients coming through the office..I'm not sure I could distance myself emotionally. 

Enough of my rambling...hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Oh, as far being bald, I was in a private room for chemo that day and took my hat off...so just my husband and the chemo nurses saw me.   But I never wore my wig, just baseball caps anyway.  

Some good news at last!  All of my post-mast scans (bones, liver, lungs, etc) were negative!  Guess that makes me NED for now. I am so relieved considering the number of positive nodes found during surgery.  Thanks for your support along the way, Ladies.

Hi Dawn.  I'm having radiation for 6 weeks along with Xeloda to catch and destroy any remaining cancer cells.  How are you doing?

My SO and I just had a Baily's on the rocks and toasted each other and our health.  Since I rarely drink, this was a big deal for me.  I'm thinking of some other celebratory behavior later this evening.

Some other good news - I'm fitting into my skinny jeans as a result of weight loss due to nausea due to pain killers and antibiotics due to surgery.