Post Chemo Spa & Shape Up

Blue- I started yoga a couple of months ago.  There is a class twice a week at my office.  I love it, although I am the least bendy/flexible person EVER!  My yoga teacher is very encouraging, and says the important thing is to breathe and quiet your mind.  My mind needs some quieting, so I am sticking with it even if I can't touch my toes!

Casey, I hope you have a great trip.

How's everybody else?  I'm still hitting the gym and watching what I eat, but those 5 bikini pounds I'm trying to lose are just not coming off.  7 weeks until the beach.  Must. Lose. 5. Pounds.

Mary

Hey Casey...your vegetables sound delectable...I just love those greens...I think one of my favorite lettuces back in the days when I could grow a garden was--geez I can't remember the name---something simpson?  Really crinkly.  And I just love those yellow summer squash with the real thick, rumpled skins.

Very busy these days...lots of sewing projects to finish so I can get ready for a show in May & a trip to DC (maybe).  

How's the Yoga going Blue?  I like that personal journey idea...

Mary..I bet you're too skinny already...you know, you got to have a little thigh to look good in a bikini!!! 

XXXOOO Miz 

Hi, ladies.  I've missed you. 

My surgery is over and I'm recovering.  Very impatiently.

Puppy, where DO you get those funnies?  Miz, too???  You guys just crack me up.

Cannot exercise for a while due to the stomach incision but when I go for my doc's visit this Friday I will try to get some idea of what I can start doing.  I really need to move!  I feel like a lump.

Tina

Tina, so glad it all went well.  Make sure you give your body time to heal, take it easy for a while and follow the Docs orders.Welcome back. Carol

Tina, we're so glad to hear that you are home from surgery and recuperating...impatiently!!!  Those surgeries can hang you up for a while...it just seems so unfair to have to endure an injury you didn't get while doing something!!  I remember December 2006 when I had my lumpectomies...what a nut I was...no, these things were not going to interfere with my life.  I went running anyway, even though I had to bind my chest and hold my arms crossed over it.

Cathy...we are very, very sorry to hear about your pneumonia.  Is it viral or bacterial?  You just tell Mom and Sis and your other guests it's time to take care you *YOU*  Do you have a temperature?  Do you have to stay in bed?

Carol..how does it feel to be human again?  I mean, to have all your normal parts in working order?!!!

Very good news about Puppy.. the bumps in her throat are from a lingering staff infection and can be treated with a new course of antibiotics...no cancer has yet been diagnosed, so she can go ahead with the brain surgery to repair the aneurysm next month.  Her surgery is scheduled for May 18; this is a very major operation; she will have a craniotomy and will probably spend weeks and/or months at a rehabilitation center recuperating.   

My medical news has been good...the UT problems are now fairly well controlled with medication.  My gastroenterologist tested me for C. difficilis last week, but fortunately the tests came back negative.

Spring has officially sprung in Michigan.  Lots of pleasant weather...today was very balmy, windy & rainy. The air is warm, there is no snow on the ground, but no foliage yet (we have to wait until May for that). The cats can come in and out through a small swinging screen door in a window, so they are in and out.  A few days ago we took Marissa to an animal opthamalogist.  It was quite a long car trip and she spent most of it huddled under my jacket.  We found out the poor thing had had a Herpes infection, a very painful condition; our regular vet had told us that she simply had blocked tear ducts that could not be fixed.  But the eyedrops & lysine are already working, and for the first time in over a year she has beautiful clear eyes that feel comfortable too....

Anybody heard from Dottie lately?

Mary, how is yoga going?

Hugs to all & good luck with the gardens!!...Miz 

Cathy, I am so glad you seem to be on the mend.  I love HGTV - watched hours of it when i was recuperating from the hysterectomy.

Mizzy, I am so glad all the tests are coming back negative and you are comfortable.  I still ahve astent in place that comes out in a couple ofweeks.  It is a bit uncomfortable but hopefully, not for long.

Puppy!!! I am glad for the good news and have you in my prayers for your next operation.  I will be thinking of you constantly and hoping for the best possible outcome.

All you other girls, have a great day!  Carol 

Well Mary...lucky you...planning on a bikini...I thought I was OK just dealing with shorts and Coppertan Sunless Tanning Cream!!!

Woohoo...the trip is on to DC.   Erik & I went to a concert last weekend featuring a guitarist whose main inspiration in life is Michael Hedges.  Well, Michael Hedges was kind of big deal for us too, but as we listened to this man's guitar work we were a little unimpressed, he could play very well but almost everything was just an undeveloped idea or an imitation.  Then towareds the end of the concert he mentioned that he had *never* seen Michael Hedges in person (he died around 1998).  We saw him at least three times and I think we know him better; he was someone with a deep dedication to music, very shy, but very focused on his work.  Art is more than mere imitation.  Habib Koite is now our favorite guitarist in the world (if you're interested, listen to this) and we decided that we just had to see him one way or another. So we got out his concert tour dates and did some figuring and found out that we could drive to a concert in Arden, Delaware, about 2 hours from DC.  So we are going to keep our trip just as it was originally, except we won't being staying in DC the first night.  We'll stay in Delaware.  Know anybody who would like a nice stay at a very posh, historic hotel in DC on Thursday, May 8?  We didn't get our money back so they are going to make us pay for the room even though we won't be there.

In any case, I'm really excited..it's about the only vacation we have planned this summer (apart from camping in our fabulous new camper) and a trip to DC is a big deal for me.  I get to wear fashionable clothes and go to art museums and dine out in some wonderful restaurants everyday for a few days!

One Grossa Problema...the clothes that I've been sewing don't fit because I gained about five pounds!!! Help!!! How can I lose 6-8 pounds in three weeks?  So I'm with you Mary....I NEED HELP!!! Maybe a bike ride every day?

Just got home from the GYN and everything is A-OK....Friday I see the gastro guy...am getting every orifice sniffed and scraped and checked, and so far everything is just fine.  So maybe I can stop worrying.  You know, the thing that bothers me more than anything else is the idea of having to do chemo again...it is so wonderful to have wearable hair.  Nobody is taking that away again!!!  I think I'd rather die with a full head of hair rather than do chemo again!!!

It's a beautiful day here...very warm, just waiting for things to sprout and flowers to bloom...

Love to all,

Miz 

Hi!  I'm around and about just not checking into this thread so often.  Hope everyone is "cool."

I'm continuing to recover from my free TRAM of four weeks ago, yesterday.  Happily, healing is progressing very well, considering the flap was touch and go for a few days.  My ps is extremely happy and relieved.  He hasn't lost a flap in years.  Well, I am pretty damn happy, too, as you can imagine.

My tummy tuck incision is also healing well.  Can you believe I never had any pain from either part of the surgeries?  Plus, they had to open me up four days after the TRAM to evacuate a hematoma.  I guess I am one, tough old bird.   Not one pain injection or pill the whole time.

The only bad thing so far is that I seem to have a nerve stretch or compression injury that affects the very tip of my right index finger where I cannot fully bend it so that it is very awkward gripping small things and doing things like tying knots.  I have been sent to a hand surgeon to check for a ruptured tendon but he thinks it is the nerve injury, which SHOULD heal slowly.  In the meantime, I am off to a neurologist next week for an EMG test or something like that that test the conductivity of your nerves in the arm.  That should help tell the story.  Can you believe all this???  I am so sick of all these specialists but I guess I should be grateful that they are there for me and that my insurance covers it all.  (After my $1000 deductible for the surgeries, which is a drop in the proverbial bucket as you ladies well know.)

So, that is my boring tale.  Now, who can one-up me?  LOL  Show you my scar if you show me yours.......Just like little girls.  Boy, it's good I have you guys to spiel off to as I would not even begin whining to anyone in my "real" life.

Weather is so fine here.  It's been unseasonably warm in the Northeast and I'm lovin' it.  Cooler and rainy weather is coming in towards the end of the weekend so I am planning on using up that Easter hambone I stuffed in the freezer to make pea soup on Sunday. MMMMMMmmmmmm.

Have a great weekend, ladies!

Tina

Miz, what's a Habib Koite?

To answer your question about cosmetic results, I have to say I'm getting happier and happier by the day.  At first, the breastoid was very swollen and congested, probably due to poor venous drainage.  At about the two week mark, I started seeing marked improvement and softness and now, at just over four weeks, it is starting to jiggle a bit with prodding LOL.  Which is to say, it is gettin softer and more realistic each day. 

My stage 2 outpatient surgery won't be until at least the beginning of July and as soon as I can convince my ps to do it.  In the meantime, the recon side is a bit wider and flatter than the real thing but even that is improving each day with the softening/relaxing.  Things look very good in a (shaped) bra and I am even feeling good about bathing suit weather even as is. 

Of course, the real boob is hanging lower than the recon but I will in all likelihood have that one lifted a bit to match but not until we see where the recon side settles.  I suppose it's too much to hope for that it will droop just like the real side so I won't have to have the lift.  The less surgery the better.

For all you cat lovers, especially ones that are married to engineers, here is a link to a video that will crack you up.  Puppy, are you still out there?  This should be right up your alley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4

Stay well, everyone.

Tina

Take heart Holly, you lost it once you can do it again!!  Did you gain the weight back during treatment? 

It is probably a good idea to keep a food and weight diary; if you join a group like Weight Watchers, they provide them to you.  I buy mine at Borders.  This way you can track what you eat and how it affects your weight, so you can identify where the problems are.

Glad to have you here!!!

Tina, Habib Koite is wonderful African musician that a lot of people have never heard of...click on the link in my earlier post to hear a sample.  Enjoyed the cat video...wonderful!!!  Have you ever seen Nora, the piano-playing Cat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ860P4iTaM&feature=related 

Hope everybody's enjoying the beautiful spring weather this weekend!!!

Mizsissy 

Hi Everyone,

I found a good site for keeping on track with weight loss. They have all kinds of tools, you can even enter your favorite foods and get a calorie count. Look around and I am sure you will find tools to help you. Holly, you can do it, you did it once. I found that entering all of the foods I eat on sparkpeople.com really helped me to see that i am eating way too much volume. Writing it all down was a big eye opener.

Tina, so glad you are feeling well and the result is pleasing. I still have my expanders in and won't take thenext steps till after the summer. I hope you all ware well. Carol







sparkpeople.com

Hi All!

Carol- I'll check out the site.  I'm disciplined at breakfast, lunch, and snacks, but I tend to overdo it at dinner, especially when eating out.  I still have 4 pounds I'd like to drop before my trip to Mexico.

Holly- welcome!

Tina- I'm so glad you are pleased with your recon!  Good luck with the next steps.

Casey-  welcome back.  How was your trip?

I had a super busy week at work last week- overtime getting ready for a high school redesign summit we hosted.  I didn't make it to yoga and skipped a day of running and a day at the gym.  And I am exhausted.  But I'm back on track this week- in fact I just left my lunchtime yoga class.

Have any of you ever attended the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival?  It was last weekend and will continue this weekend.  Some friends from Portland will be with us next weekend-she's a BC survivor of about 10 months.  I am really looking forward to seeing her and hearing all the music and eating the great food.

Take care!

Mary

Mary, you are in NOLa???  My favorite city???  Lucky you.

Miz, I love the chicken maze.  Is caffeine and alcohol the new cocaine?  FWIW, I find that having a can of seltzer water by my side in the evening helps me avoid looking for something more "interesting" to imbibe.

I picked up a Habib Koite CD the other day at B&N and have been bouncing about to it in my car ever since. 

I will keep Puppy in my thoughts and prayers.

Workout: In two words, I sucketh (well I work a lot - that's my excuse- rigghhttt). I went to Ft. Lauderdale three weeks ago with a girlfriend and was gung ho prior - running every night, doing my girl pushups. I ran one night last week - 3 miles - and haven't run since. But I have been doing my girl pushups - three sets of ten each morning. That's somethin, right?

I really want to join a pilates studio!!

How bout the rest of you?

OK..here he is

You can listen to some of his music on this UTube link...

His music goes right to the heart..

Miz