Washington Ladies/Men???

Alaskan Deb, for one stop shopping in the cancer dept, I would suggest a meeting with the docs at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA).  My initial visit was with a oncology surgeon, a oncologists and a radiologist.  This is a one day appt and you see them all.  They all come briefly into your room, introduce themselves, did a quick exam, go over your history and then you take a lunch break, and they take your case to the "Tumor Board" of docs.  In the afternoon each doc comes back to your room and goes over your case (with a tape recorder going) which is great since there is so much information.  The whole appt last upwards of 5 hours.  I had chose to have the surgeon whom I met at that appt do my mast and node dissection.  I had a followup appt with the onc, but decided that I would do my chemo txt at a office closer to my home.  Both oncs agreed to my txt plan so it was just a matter of convenience.  I would recommend SCCA if your able to go there.  Remember that second opionions are a good thing, I have not had one doc bat an eye when I said I would be going for a 2nd!

Hope this helps a little, Carol

Kalen, just checking to see if you might be "lurking" on the post ... hoping that your se's are staying at bay!  I believe you had your "Nasty" shot yesterday, hope that all is well, Carol

Kalen, hoping that your se's are down to a minimum, I'll give you a call over the weekend to check and see how your doing.

Off to work,,, Carol

hi

Washington ladies, hadn't popped in here for some time. 

Karen, I have seen your posts on numerous other sites, will be interested to see how the rads go.  I'll be in for it come June when my regimen of CMF is through.  Noticed that you post on the SNB Recovery post with D1. I'll have to put that post on my favs.  I spend most of my time with the Jan 08 group.  Its quite the chatty post, find its hard to have time to check out much else!

Looking foward to your future posts.

Carol

Hi there,

I thought I'd jump in here even though I live in Idaho because WA is just over the Snake river (5 minutes from my house).

TannB

Hi everyone.  I haven't had much time to check in with you all lately.  I've had a really busy month since starting rads, and like you Carol, I spend most of my computer time on another thread with a VERY chatty bunch of ladies (we're fun though, aren't we Jule?). 

I'll be finishing up week three of rads tomorrow.  The time really is flying by.  The only really negative se of rads for me, is the fatigue.  I'm sooooooooo tired all the time!  Chemo made me feel crappy, but because of the steroids, I never really felt tired. 

Are you guys all having crazy weather too?  It's been snowing, on and off, here since last night.  What's up with this cold weather anyway??  I'm ready for some nice weather.  It's spring, for goodness sakes!  Grrrrrr!!!!

Take care everyone!

Karen

Just popping in from Poulsbo, been on vacation last week, then back to the "chemotini lounge" yesterday.  Hard to go from paradise to the reality of what the next few months has to offer.  I keep telling myself, one step at a time!!!

I'm off to HarmonyHill on the beautiful Hood Canal today.  Todays one day retreat is for all types of cancer patients.  Should be quite interesting to here some stories, an all organic lunch is also provided.  I'll come back to report how it all goes later, maybe a pic or two as well.

For those who may want to check their website, go to harmonyhill.org  its free to cancer patients and their caregivers. 

Kalen, hoping that you hanging in there gal, I'll give a call in the next day or two.

A pleasant day to all,

Carol

To my fellow Washingtonian's,

Just wanted to synopsize my day at the free retreat I went to on the beautiful Hood Canal yesterday.

Had a great day at Harmony Hill, walked in a little nervous, and was greeted by a very nice facilitator.  The setting was in a "Yurt", never even heard of a Yurt before today.  It was very cozy, with chairs all in a circle.  Blankets were placed on each chair, many took there shoes off to get comfy.  There we're 8 of us undergoing txts at this time and three spouses in attendance.  A very personable sized group.  I was the only one with bc, four women had non-hodgkins lymphoma, and I thought bc was the popular cancer.  Unfortunately two of the attendees we're dealing with stage 4 cancers.  It was pretty hard to hear their stories and then share my own, quite a few tears we're shed by all in the first hour.

Things lightened up with some breathing exercises, and then some basic yoga stretches.  All new to me, never knew I was supposed to be doing deep breathing through my nose and not my mouth.  I did have to ask how the heck you can do that when your nose is stuffed up like mine is half the time.

Lunch was interesting but good, very organic and free of just about everything that is supposed to be "bad" for you.  It was served in the main building dining room.  The grounds are quite large, with accomodations for there 3 day retreats as well, there was a nurses retreat taking place on the grounds for these 3 days.  Thats probably why we were in the "Yurt". There is a scheduled 3 day retreat for bc patients, but unfortunately they scheduled it the same weekend as the Komen 3 Day, which I plan on being a cheerleader at this year.

Had time to just visit with one another for about an hour after lunch, I spoke in length to a gal with lymphoma, who was also diagnosed with thyroid cancer within the last 6 months.  She had a great fighting spirit but was just tired of not feeling "normal".  I had very little to complain about after hearing her story.

We returned to the Yurt, and learned about some self facial massage, and then listened to a tape on Relaxation and Wellness, by Belleruth Naparstek.  We we're each asked to get as comfortable as possible, many took blankets and pillows to the floor, I noticed the sun coming through the window and decided to pull my chair into the warmth.  About 10 min into the tape my head was bobbing, and I literally missed the last half of the tape.  I'd say it put me into relaxation mode with no problem.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day, it was definitely not something that I would have ever thought I'd be a part of, but then again I still have a hard time believing that this isn't all a dream.

Some of you may want to check out their website harmonyhill.org the retreats are free to cancer patients and their caregivers and I could recommend it to anyone.

Kalen, are you doing okay?   I've lost tract of your txt days, thats what a getaway will do to ya!  I'll give a call in the next couple days, you've been in my thoughts!

Carol