I am starting chemo in July 07. Anyone else?

Hello everyone I have not been on for awhile and thought I would add some info.

I finished with chemo in Dec '07 (taxol, carbo and herceptin) had lumpectomy and sentinel nodes surgery on 1/9 "NO CANCER" found all was clean. Having the chemo first shrunk the cancer from 3.5 cm to 1.25 cm and then no cancer. Surgery was allot easier than I thought except for the ache in my breast Doctor said it was partially due to the size of my breasts 34 DD, but the ache has gotten better every day.

I go on 1/4 for CAT Scan to set up rads then start on the 11th, also start the 16 weeks of Herception.

I start Tamoxifin soon always open to any suggestions from you all.

Keep smiling and dreaming.

OUCH, Abbi! I'm always afraid that will happen to me, as I'm losing the first 3 nails on each hand. I guess I will stay away from that game you were playing!

Margie, to me it didn't feel any different running with the expanders in. My PS just said to make sure I wore an exercise bra. Some of them had straps that rubbed against my port and that was annoying. And Abbey is right - your hair will be in soon! Mine was growing in just like you say - bald man style. On Christmas Eve, my niece came into the room and commented that when she saw me she thought it was my father sitting there. I have to say that hurt. But now it is all filled in and I'm just waiting for the hairline to get a little longer. Happy birthday to your little one.

Glad to hear everyone is doing well and getting back to having some fun.

Donna

Hey, girls.  Same old, same old here.  Still chugging away at rads.  I've yet to have a full 5-day week.  There's been MLK birthday (closed), 2 separate power outages and 1 machine-down cancellation.  Very frustrating as I am really tired of doing the cancer dance.  I want DONE and on with my life.

My finger that DH smashed is doing all right.  Will probably take a few months for the nail to actually grow enough to cover the quick.  So a band-aid is a constant.  But most of the pain is gone until I bump the quick area (which I seem to do a lot).

My car was given the death sentence over the weekend.  It needs more work than it is worth to pass state inspection.  So I'm getting a new (used) car this week.  Looks like it'll be a 2003 BMW 325i.  DH has a 2002 525i and I really like it.  The 325 drives very similar, just a bit smaller car.  While it's exciting to have a new car, I wasn't counting on a car payment quite yet.  I was hoping to wait until I went back to work.

We go to Florida for a vacation 3-14.  My birthday is 3-16 and my one year anniversary of "gee.... I don't like this lump" is 3-15.  Assuming that rads doesn't get cancelled too many more times, I'll be done with treatment by then, so I'm ready to really celebrate.  Then I'm going to come home and start job hunting.  I'm ready to get the heck out of the house!

How's everybody's hair coming.  Mine is maybe an inch now and crazy curly.... sticks out strange all over the place.  It's quite a look.....but at least it's HAIR!!!

Just this week, I've noticed my eyebrows starting to come back.  THAT I can't wait for.  I'm not very good at drawing them on!

Hope everyone's well and on the mend....

Abbi

Hi ladies.  Just had my ALND on Wednesday...my drain is really uncomfortable.  I feel like I can't put my arm down when I stand up...and sleeping is not fun since I can only lie on my back.  I cannot wait to get my drain pulled on Thursday morning...it is not coming fast enough!  The muscles in my shoulder blade are going to be sore from holding my arm out to not rest on my drain tube.  My surgeon called me Thursday night to let me know that 8 out of 8 lymph nodes all came back normal!  I guess I had a really low number of nodes in that area.

Donna and Abbie...I'm jealous that you are both going to Florida!  Enjoy your vacations.  Hope your 2nd interview went well, Donna.

Hope everybody had a nice Valentine's Day...enjoy the long weekend (I know most districts have Monday off for President's Day).

 Hi Ladies.

Abbey, I can't think of anything I hated more than the drains. It creeped me out how they were just hanging there, at the end of tubes that ran into my body, held in place by a few stitches. I was always afraid I'd accidentally yank them out!

So very glad to hear that your nodes were clear!!!

My interviews went well, because....I got the job!! They need me to start in March, so the timing couldn't be better since we return from Key West on the 26th. I'm really excited to be working in a school again. I really missed it.

Margie, a 10% risk reduction sounds good. I wish you the best with that.

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow! There's not much to cut but it does need a trim. My hairdresser is going to try to color it also, but she says she doesn't know if the color will take because my hair is "new" and very gray. I'll report back on how it turns out. On Saturday I went out in public for the first time with a bare head. I put some mousse in my hair so it was sort of toussled/sticking out. My girlfriends said it looked very chic (and they are good friends and would never lie). My husband said I looked like the Cold Miser in "The Year without a Santa Claus". He lost major points for that statement. Lucky for him he was able to make up for it by vacuuming the whole house for me..................

Well, ladies..... today is the day.  My last radiation treatment!!!

That means that (other than the 5 years of Tamoxifin) I AM DONE!!

What a year it has been.  I'm sure I'd never have made it without all the support and information from these boards.  I'm soooo glad we've had each other.

Champagne is in the fridge!!

Abbi

Hooray Abbi! Isn't it great to be done?? I bet that champagne was good!

Abbey, speaking of upper body weight lifting, we went charter fishing in Key West last week and my husband had to help me finish reeling in my fish because I just didn't have the arm strength to do it. At least it was a big fish. I still get frustrated with how far my fitness has declined, and what a long road back it will be. But I guess I must remind myself I'm alive and well and the rest will come.

Stopped wearing my wig, too. Yippee!!