Dis Breast Cancer Survivors - GAGWTA!

[NHAnn]

Beth...I can feel your frustration and am sending many hugs and good thoughts and prayer your way!

And for Claudette too. Sanppy....that bridge would freak me too!! I still haven't put away my collection of Xmas CDs The Kenny G one I especially enjoy all year

I believe Linda is correct about Lessa...I don't believe she posts on the DIS anymore. I too hope she is doing well.

As for the house....I did have a "new" place when I bought a little townhouse after my divorce. It was the model for the development though, so I didn't pick out anything. I'm petrified at that part! I don't have a lot of confidence in my decorating skills when it comes to putting together the whole thing ...materials as well as colors....flooring, trim, appliances, fixtures etc. But I know what I don't like and I know several people who will help me.

The house itself will be a modified cape...tuned sideways so that you are looking at the short, peaked end...its actually a modular home so we should be able to be in this summer if all goes as planned. Downstairs will have a living/dining space across the front of the house, which is open to the second floor (cathedral ceiling), two bedrooms in the back (one decent size, one pretty small. In between will be a full bath and the kitchen area and a little pantry and and the stairway to upstairs. The kitchen and dining and living space is all open to each other. Upstairs there will be a small loft area at the top of the stairs which is open overlooking the living/dining space. Behind that ,at the back end of the second floor is the master BR with a walk in closet and full bath with a shower stall and a jacuzzi bath YIPPEE!!! There will be an enclosed breezeway with a small farmers porch attaching the house to a 2 stall garage. The breezeway will actually be the main entry to the house, you'll enter the breezeway into a mudroom/entryway and there will be a door on the left wall to the garage and a door to the right to the house..into the living area which is all open to the dining and kitchen spaces. Not sure if that explains it clearly... I am so excited about it but as I said I'm nervous about all the decisions decision decisions

Beth and Laura...I'll be keeping you in my prayers this week...well I always think of all of you but special surgery ones ...

Donna...nice to hear from you...how nice that you are going to meet Monique and maybe Linda! I wish I was a bit closer to that part of MA!

gagwta!!!

 

[mickeymost]

GAGWTA everyone!

I've been away awhile, but wanted to stop in and say hello and let all of you know I'm always thinking about you.

For those of you going through rough times, my prayers and thoughts are with you.

I see a new oncologist this month. It's tough moving and starting over. I really trusted all of my old drs. I picked a woman this time. I figure when I go back to visit I can see the old drs and compare notes. Still deciding what to do about replacing the implant I had removed. I don't know that I want to be bothered trying again! If I don't replace it, I think I'll have the other one removed. Doing a lat or tram is more surgery, and I don't know if I'm up for it, at least right now. Time will tell I guess.

Laura, I'm thinking of you

Kelly

 

[laurabelle]

~~~***GAGWTA sistas***~~~

Linda -We were discussing it on SIS and someone else brought up that her onc never did mamms on her reconstruction because there isn't any breast tissue left. I guess alot of people think that but actually there is a small amount of breast tissue remaining.
This is from the Mayo Clinic site:

Breast tissue is widely distributed on your chest wall. Sometimes it can be found in your armpit, above your collarbone or on the upper part of your abdominal wall. For that reason, no mastectomy can guarantee that all of your breast tissue will be removed, and any remaining tissue can still develop cancer.

One of my sistas found this link about Tramograms:
http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2002/tramscreen.htm

Laurie- Glad your dd is doing better. Saying prayers for Claudette...BTW- I hate bridges, but I just try to remind myself that I am capable of doing so much... look at everything we've done!!! Driving over a stupid bridge (or whatever obstacle you're facing) isn't such a big deal, you can do it!!!

Donna- Praying you get good news! I can't wait to hear about your meet with Linda and Monique! Tell Monique I said hello!

Beth- You are in my thoughts and prayers...

Kelly- Thanks! I have silicone cohesive gel implants. They're like gummy bears, if you cut into them, they don't leak and they're supposed to be rupture proof...

I'm sorry to hear Lessa isn't posting here anymore, I hope she stops by sometime...

All the house plans sound exciting! I'm not sure exactly what we'll be doing on our kitchen yet. We got measured and just need to make an appt (when things settle down) to meet with the guy who will plan it with us. We have a small eat-in kitchen, but we use our dining room, so we have alot of wasted space. I did find some cabinets that I love, and on the website, they list everything that's in the room, so it makes choosing the countertops and flooring a no-brainer, which I need! So if we can swing it financially... (which means no Disney this year )
Here's a link if you'd like to see it: http://www.thomasvillecabinetry.com/Products/Product.asp?DSFRID=389&PhotoID=1327&bhcp=1

Surgery is tomorrow morning, 1st case, so I probably won't be posting again...lots to do today. We finally took down our Christmas stuff yesterday. I'm nesting now!

 

[NHAnn]

Laura....will be thinking of you and sending prayers and good wishes!!


GAGWTA!!

 

[snappy]

Thinking of you, Laura. Good luck tomorow!!

Good to see you posting here again, Donna. What kind of classes have you taught during tax season?

Ann, your house plans sound so nice. I love open spaces, and your plans sound open both vertically and horizontally.

Welcome back, Kelly!! Hope you are settled in your new home. It is difficult to change doctors, dentists, etc., even when everyone is basically healthy.
Starting over when you area BC survivor is another story altogether. I wish you luck with your new doc. Hope you found a good one!!

Quiet day for me, housework, took care of some insurance stuff with our agent, DH working very late. I hate the year end financial blitz.

Anyone else worrying about federal income tax issues yet? We lost one of our child tax credits since DS turned 17 before Dec 31. I think we should be able to deduct some of the cost of the mission trip DS took to Honduras last summer, which should somewhat offset the loss of a credit for him. We don't have all our info yet but for some reason I have an urge to obsess over it. I must have too much time on my hands.

GAGWTA!!! Hope everyone steers clear of all the germs out there. Half the congregation was coughing last night at church. I hated to shake hands with anyone, thinking of what I might catch. Sure enough my throat feels a little scratchy today. I am on Airborne and Zicam. No time for being sick here. I am waiting for MIL to get over her cold to go and see her.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Laura, good luck tomorrow, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers. (Post when you can). BTW, I like your cabinets a lot and your plans sound cool. Thanks for the mammogram article.

Ann, I agree your house sounds so nice! I picture it very modern and sleek, yet I bet it's in the woods somewhere beautiful up north where you are.

Laurie, thanks for the info on OKW, sounds like we'd like it a lot. Am going to have to check it out next month. Speaking of germs, I spent two hours in a car today with someone coughing. Let's see, about 72 hours from now I'll probably be LOL.

Kelly, nice to see you post. I figured out not too long ago all but one of my doctors including dentist and pediatrician are women. Just worked out that way but I like the sensitivity factor (for the most part). (The one man I have is awesome too, even though he happens to be my GYN )!

Continued hugs and prayers for Beth.

I'm looking forward to meeting Monique and Donna tomorrow, will post tomorrow night.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

GAGWTA!

Thinking of Laura and Beth and hoping everything's going ok with them.

Met up with Monique and Donna last night! Spent an hour with Monique but unfortunately only saw Donna for a minute (since the Look Good Feel Better class they were attending was starting and she was unable to meet us beforehand). Both looked great and had nice smiles on their faces despite all they're going through. I would have liked to talk to Donna more, but I can say that for Monique, she has a wonderful, strong resolve, and I was impressed with her kick butt, "can do" attitude. I hope they had a good time at the class and will let us know how they liked it.

Let's keep them in our prayers, they are both going through a lot right now.

 

[snappy]

Thinking of you Beth, Laura, Monique and Donna.

Had to delay my trip to New Orleans to Friday because everyone down there has colds. MIL sounded better yesterday, Claudette is slowly improving, still in hospital but family is staying away due to colds. Can't risk sneezing on her.

Hope you are still healthy, Linda, after being exposed to coughs,etc.

I am relying on Airborne, it is amazingly working.
Sam's has a sixpack of them. Best "sixpack" I ever sampled.

I am trying to convince DH that DD10 and I can take a quickie trip to WDW
before our AP's expire (Feb 8). Hoping for another southwest ding.

 

[donnabres]

Good evening all,

Well, I was so excited last night to meet Linda and Monique. As Linda said it was only for a minute, but it was great. Thankyou Linda for your gift, I have it in a special place in my living room.

Monique is as special and nice as I imagined she would be. I really enjoyed the session and it was one of the most positive things that I have been to since I found out about having cancer. The girls that ran the session were really great and caring. I really want to thank Monique for suggesting that I go to it.

Snappy, I teach income tax classes, mostly in the summer and fall. But once tax season starts, I usually teach the tax changes of the federal and Massachusetts returns. It's always been a great way for me to really get to know the information. I skipped out of it this year, but instead went and let someone else teach me. It was strange sitting on the other side, but that's ok. You should be able to take costs of travel, meals etc. for vol. work done during the year for a qualified charitable organization. I know what you mean about losing that child tax credit. $1000 is a lot to lose, everyone usually says to me, but it costs so much more to support them now!!!!

I also get nervous about our return. I just put the last piece of information in the computer to see where we stand for the year!!!!!!! Our return will be filed as soon as the last w2 comes in. My husband can't believe that I get it done so quickly. I don't want the IRS to have my money 1 extra day. I always owe the state, but they don't get it until the last day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God bless all of you special people.

Donna

 

[NHAnn]

I am relying on Airborne, it is amazingly working.
Sam's has a sixpack of them. Best "sixpack" I ever sampled.

I am trying to convince DH that DD10 and I can take a quickie trip to WDW
before our AP's expire (Feb 8). Hoping for another southwest ding.

Haha too funny about the six pack! I started getting that tickly nose fuzzy head feeling last night and had an Airborne before bed....then at breakfast, lunch and 4 pm......I am willing it to work but boy do I have that "Yuck I'm getting a cold" feeling and have sneezed a few big sneezes today...but no congestion ...so knock on wood. Haven't seen the six packs, just bought "singles" at the grocery store

I hope you can squeeze a trip in Laurie....and I am pleased to announce that my DD and I are sneaking back for a long weekend in May just booked today. Another DIS friend has a son marching in the parade and several of us talked about meeting up down there....I think I'm the only one (besides the mom of course) who has booked though. I was just aching to get more use out of that AP and DDE card and I had some ticketless travel credit with SWA due to a change in my favor on our December res, so it didn't take much arm twisting. DH can't get away but DD and I will have a little bonding time.

Thanks for reporting on Donna and Monique, Linda. I have been thinking of them and will continue to keep them in my prayers. I did the LGFB program, it was the "finale" to the 6 week ed/support program at my treatment center. We all really enjoyed it, our presenter was great, I hope they enjoyed theirs. We got fantastic stuff in our kits!!

Still thinking of laurabelle too and sending good thought her way

GAGWTA!!

 

[snappy]

WOW!!!

No postings today??

That's a first.

Hope those in the hospital (Laura) or with recent tests/treatments (Beth, Donna) are doing well and receive nothing but good results.

GAGWTA!!!

 

[snappy]

Just read this on a weekly affirmation site I receive emails from. Thought you sistas might appreciate it.



I spent a lot of time beating myself up when I was diagnosed with cancer. Why had I smoked as a teenager and young adult? Why had I allowed those extra pounds to creep on in middle age? Why had I not exercised or eaten an apple a day or binged on broccoli instead of cookies?

One of the first and toughest things I had to do in order to begin the recovery process was forgive myself for a lifetime of taking my healthy body for granted and treating it with less than the greatest of respect.

Forgiveness is always in season, but the beginning of a new year is an especially good time to forgive ourselves and to remember that regretting past mistakes and worrying about tomorrow do not support our health goals.

Perhaps more than anyone else, cancer survivors and others facing serious illness need to let go of the past. We need to remember that in many cases, there are no answers to the riddles of disease. Many people who have taken incredibly good care of themselves all of their lives get cancer and other serious diseases, too. We need to let go of the obsession many of us have with finding out "what went wrong." And if we imagine that it is something we did or didn't do, we need to forgive ourselves. One way to do that is to turn our backs on the past and learn to
live in the moment.

How? We can take a cue from those recovering from the illness of addiction, those who remind themselves and one another that we can only live our lives "one day at a time." There are even days when we can only endure an hour at a time, even one minute at a time, but the minutes and the hours and the days endured are victories in and of themselves. They are battles won, and they are to be celebrated joyously. These are the moments that add up to the sums of our lives.

Resolve to celebrate every morning that you open your eyes, every contact with a loved one, every moment that you draw breath, the breath itself, every seemingly inconsequential thing or occurrence which, if examined closely,
reveals a miracle.

When you temporarily lose your resolve, don't give up. Remind yourself that this is a new approach that requires practice, and gently return your attention to the present moment. If you can focus on this task and make it a conscious practice each and every day, its promise is that the joyful moments will greatly outweigh the sorrowful ones when the sums of our lives are tallied.

Dear God, I've been awfully hard on myself lately, blaming myself for mistakes real and imagined, and convincing myself that they are the reasons I have cancer. Please help me get past this. Help me in my resolve to build new healthy habits, to forgive myself for my old unhealthy ones, and to live joyously in the moment every moment for all the rest of my days. Amen

 

[NHAnn]

Laurie..."thank you" is so inadequate. I've had a really rough week at work, and I have a yucky stuffy nose head cold (first I've had in nearly year) and was feeling a little low. During my radiation treatments for some reason it seemed easier to take care of myself spiritually than it does now. The piece you posted was just what I needed today, in fact I'm going to print it out to refer to.
Thanks.....to you all for being here
Hope you all have a great weekend!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I agree, Laurie - thank you, it was a nice article and great reminder. I sometimes try to remember the good things my body has done like bear two children or help others, too. I may get worried about things but I don't get mad at myself, there's really no point, and I really believe there's more to our lives than what we know, so whatever I happened to me happened for a reason, and I don't wish it away, as hard as it is to live with it.

 

[ripvanwinkle]

I agree, Laurie - thank you, it was a nice article and great reminder. I sometimes try to remember the good things my body has done like bear two children or help others, too. I may get worried about things but I don't get mad at myself, there's really no point, and I really believe there's more to our lives than what we know, so whatever I happened to me happened for a reason, and I don't wish it away, as hard as it is to live with it.

You sure about that?

 

[MerryPoppins]

Hi. I haven't been around for a while. My mom had another attack of pancreatitis (I think that's how you spell it). She came home from the hospital today, but she'd been there about a week. They can't find the cause but they've ruled out cancer. I think in a couple of weeks they are going to remover her gall bladder since that is the most common cause.

I'm looking forward to spending some time at home and taking down my Christmas decorations. (We always leave them up until Epiphany, but this year the hospital visit got in the way.)

I enjoyed your post Laurie. It's always good to be reminded to think positive and celebrate life. Thank you.

Hopefully, I'll be around more. I missed you guys. GAGWTA!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

You sure about that?

Positive.

 

[donnabres]

Snappy,

Thankyou so much for that article. I saw my cousin for the first time yesterday since my diagnosis. She had come into the tax office to pick up an amended return I had done for her. I had not called cousins to tell and figured I would tell her after I explained the changes to her return. At least the changes were good news to her!!!!!
She mentioned that one of my friends had just told her the day before. I had told her that at first and for quite a while, I had been beating myself up because I had not gone for a mam for a few years. Time just got away from me, and I had been healty. Or so I thought. I have been using the one day at a time approach now. Each day that God gives me that I feel well, and get to see family, friends, and work I appreciate so much more than before.

The article was just what I needed to reaffirm everything about forgiving myself. Thankyou will all my heart.

Hope everyone is doing well, and have a great weekend.

Donna

 

[snappy]

Glad you guys liked the article. It was kinda long (or sexy, as Popdaddy would describe it), but I thought you all could handle it.

Donna, I know just what you mean about delaying the mammos. I actually had let mine slip a little over 4 months past a year when I was diagnosed.
I decided that it was highly likely that if I had had the mammo in Dec. 2003, on schedule, the radiologist might not have found it since the onein Dec. 2002 showed nothing. I was actually inspired to this by a talk at a Hope Chests meeting by another survivor who spoke one night back in Novemeber 2004. She was busy taking care of her ailing mother and let her annual date pass by, and when she finally got her mammo, you guessed it, she had BC.

I did not have a family member ailing at the time I "slipped," but I was very involved with a Come Lord Jesus group for our 8th graders at my kids' grammer school. It is just an hour a week but I really went overboard preparing for it each week. Like you, Linda, things happen for a reason, and I would not trade my experience with my Come Lord Jesus group for anything in the world, even having BC.

Donna, I take it you are a CPA. Do you work for an accounting firm? I worked for 2 years with the New Orleans office of Deloitte and Touche out of college (back then it was Deloitte Haskins and Sells.) I left (did not like traveling for months on end) and went to work for a Fortune 500 company in oil and gas accounting, sulphur and chemicals accounting, later financial reporting at the corporate level, which I liked the best. I had to drop down to part time in 1996, and moved to Baton Rouge in 1999 and I had to quit working. I would like to work here now, maybe part time, but at my age it is difficult. I'd really like to work for a subcontractor working on rebuilding New Orleans. I would love to contribute something to that effort and make a little vacation money to boot. I need to find the right company. DH works long hours sometimes though so right now it is difficult. DS17 is driving and DD15 now has a used car and is practice driving, by the time she is 16 in June she should be more independent. I find I spend a lot of time still carting the younger two around.

I postponed my WDW trip. Too much going on, and this week, the garage door opener and the washer both broke. I guess I also hit reality when I paid the insurance premium Tuesday on DD15's "new" used car. Now we are paying for two teens, our insurance right now is about $3 grand every 6 months. It makes more sense to schedule a longer single trip for us rather that 3 or 4 short trips. So, rather than AP's next year we may settle for the MYW expiry tickets and stay for 10-14 days. Everyone might enjoy the trip more that way without all the travel, the driving last year was really a bummer, especially when we stayed only 7 or 8 days. I am shooting for Thanksgiving right now. Last July just about did me in, I need cooler weather.

GAGWTA!! DH and I are off to New Orleans today, to pick up MIL and bring her to see Claudette in the hospital, and bring a cane and walker to Claudette.

 

[laurabelle]

~~~***GAGWTA sistas***~~~
My 23 hr stay didn't turn out the way we planned. I got myself sprung yeterday, boy, have I felt like crap. Apparently I lost quite a bit of blood during surgery and since I don't have drains, they think the blood in my belly is causing all my pain and the fever. I could not get good pain control in the hospital, the only thing that worked was Dilaudid, which I ended up itchy from, so I'm probably allergic (I know I'm allergic to Percocet) I'm so swollen look like I'm pregnant. I'm having a hard time eating. I probably shouldn't have left when I did but I had the worst nursing "care". At one point I had a pain patch on and they switched me back to morphine and I asked the nurse if I should take off the patch and she said it was ok to keep it on, since I was supposed to leave it on for 3 days. When the pain doc found out he had a fit. My sister said they could have OD'ed me, nice huh. I honestly don't think that's possible, becuase I was on big time narcotics and nothing maintained the pain control. I'd have time when it wasn't too bad but most of the time it was awful. So I begged to get released. Last night I only had a little fever, but the night sweats started and I'm feeling very grumpy today...so I feel a teensy bit better, lol, and wanted to post. I go for f/u on Wed.
love to all my sistas!