Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part II -GAGWTA!

[TruBlu]

Thanks for the link to the website. I'm going over there to check it out as soon as I can.

My mom is scheduled for another biopsy (a larger one with some samples of skin and nipple this time). She went in for the pre-op today and found out she is dangerously anemic. So, tomorrow morning she will have a blood transfusion followed by a heart scan. Then, if all goes well, next Wednesday they will do the biopsy and install the port for chemo.

Any idea how long she will need to wait before they start chemo.? They want to try and shrink it as much as they can before doing a radical mast.

 

[CherylDan]

GAGWTA!

Seems like homecoming day for all us MIA people today!
I just wanted to say hi, and send out hugs to all who need one. You are all in my thoughts, and I hope everyone has a better day tomorrow!

Things have been crazy here too. Today my mom, age 70, fell and broke her hip, while visiting my grandma, 92, at the hospital. I guess if it's gotta happen, then a hospital is as good a place as any. Except that was a teeny-tiny small town hospital, and surgery only happens a few days a week when it's scheduled in advanced. She was about 200 miles from home, and since she had to be transfered anyway, she just had the ambulance bring her back here. That's gonna be one hell of an ambulance bill! Anyway, she'll be having surgery tomorrow. I'm clueless what to expect after that, but I guess I'll be learning quickly. She lives alone so I think I'm probably in for quite a bit.

Anyway, seems like some happy thoughts are in order....so here's a picture of my adorable new puppy in the snow last week......yeah, the same one who pooped on my rug this morning!

 

[snappy]

Thanks for the link to the website. I'm going over there to check it out as soon as I can.

My mom is scheduled for another biopsy (a larger one with some samples of skin and nipple this time). She went in for the pre-op today and found out she is dangerously anemic. So, tomorrow morning she will have a blood transfusion followed by a heart scan. Then, if all goes well, next Wednesday they will do the biopsy and install the port for chemo.

Any idea how long she will need to wait before they start chemo.? They want to try and shrink it as much as they can before doing a radical mast.

No experience here, but I am sure others will chime in. Does the port site have to heal?

 

[snappy]

GAGWTA!

Seems like homecoming day for all us MIA people today!
I just wanted to say hi, and send out hugs to all who need one. You are all in my thoughts, and I hope everyone has a better day tomorrow!

Things have been crazy here too. Today my mom, age 70, fell and broke her hip, while visiting my grandma, 92, at the hospital. I guess if it's gotta happen, then a hospital is as good a place as any. Except that was a teeny-tiny small town hospital, and surgery only happens a few days a week when it's scheduled in advanced. She was about 200 miles from home, and since she had to be transfered anyway, she just had the ambulance bring her back here. That's gonna be one hell of an ambulance bill! Anyway, she'll be having surgery tomorrow. I'm clueless what to expect after that, but I guess I'll be learning quickly. She lives alone so I think I'm probably in for quite a bit.

Anyway, seems like some happy thoughts are in order....so here's a picture of my adorable new puppy in the snow last week......yeah, the same one who pooped on my rug this morning!

Sorry about your mom falling. She is at the age where bone loss is quite an issue. I hope her surgery goes well today. She is in my thoughts.

Thanks for the picture of your door. He likes to pose doesn't he? Good thing he is so cute. That pooping on the rug thing gets old. We used baby gates to keep our devil dog out of the living room, until she started just crashing through it. We need to do doggie related repairs to our baseboards and trim in the kitchen.

I think we will wait until she has gotten through the teenage year here.

I am getting a haircut today and might try and finally use my massage gift card from Massage Envy (love that name)from Christmas before last.

It is shaping up to be a spa day. I hope I don't lose my nerve.

 

[CherylDan]

Laurie....keep your nerve, and enjoy that spa day! Sounds wonderful!!!

TruBlu....I had a port put in, and chemo started pretty quickly, within a few days. I had surgery before chemo, so I'm not sure if that would make any difference or not.

I'm off to the hospital, mom's surgery is now supposed to be between 3-5 this afternoon.

GAGWTA!!!!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon sistas!!

Laurie - I hope your spa day is so relaxng and totally refreshing, a real pick me up for you, you deserve it!! and I hope your dd' s drs. visit goes well.

Ann - your trip sounded like a lot of fun

TruBlu- I hope the transfusion will make your mom stronger and her blood count alot better. I had to have 3 transfusions too in sept. for anemia, that was before they even knew I had cancer and then 6 more in Jan when I almost bled to death. I am glad my 3 ds see the value of being a blood donor these days for sure. Ds 2 just gave on tues.

Cheryl - saying a prayer for your moms surgery and that your precious puppy will be a good boy.

Laura - that was so sweet that you and Laurie got to talk to each other.

Well maybe we might be seeng some light at the end of the tunnel, or at least another person is on our side, PTL because I have been doing way too much crying around here lately. I asked dh to call the rad. onc. nurse and then call me back. If I talked to her I would probably just cry etc.So he didnt get her but he did get the clinician who is a nurse who used to work on the oncology floor but now she transferred to the rad. onc. dept.This sweet lady even came up to see me during my last hospitilization and saw how pathetic I looked with the NG tube stuck up me etc. Dh asked her what are we suppose to do etc? She said keep on the diet, come in on monday as planned for the shot and she will talk to the rad. onc. the lst thing when she comes in on Mon. morning and she said also she sees no reason why the rad. onc. cant do the radiation since the wound might not heal for another month.

I guess the only problem will be with me chaning the dressing since I am assuming this will be radioactive too, oh what fun. I am sure glad my dh has a background in all of this stuff. He said he would help me etc. I told him to just stay away, far away from me etc. Hmm, this should be real interesting. I know they said when I do go in to the hosp. on the admission day they will have a radiation safety officier come speak to us, hmm, dh will feel like he is at work for sure

Blessings to you all.

I am going to eat some natural no salt added peanut butter and some cherry jelly on unsalted matzo for lunch!! Oh what fun!! I was getting sick of lettuce every day etc. So we will see how this is.

 

[lookingforward]

A hug and a girls night out sounds wonderful. Actually just reading all your posts always improves my mood and outlook.

I had a nice cell phone tete a tete with Laura today and that sure brightened my day. With all she goes through she was cheering me up. Oh my goodness I am a wimp.

Mysurgeon today was detained at the hospital so I opted to reschedule my followup appointment for next week.


DD13 fainted again, this time during Communion on Easter Sunday. I am taking her in to see the very kind pediatrician who came running to our aid from four rows up. He even missed taking Communion himself to go outside with us after she was able.


For a soccer playing gal she sure looked peaked. She is a very light skinned ,red haired blue eyed thing naturally but when her pressure dropped that low she looked like a ghost. We had three pews of the congregation helping us.

I think I am still trying to recover.

Probably just because she was kneeling so long, no breakfast and having the flu a couple of weeks ago. It also happend on Christmas eve in our bathroom and a near miss in the movie theatre in November, and just after a tree climbing incident several years ago.

There are tests they can do to rule things out. I just don't want her to fall and hurt herself when this happens. She fell right over towards me and I could not hold her up myself, hence three rows of people helping us.

The pediatrician called it a vasovagal episode. We could not find a pulse and she was unresponsive. Her pulse remained low for a good while after she woke up.

Seems fine now though but the doc suggested we follow up if it happens again. It has not but since there were previous recent events, he is going to see her Friday.

GAGWTA!

Nice trip, Ann.

I am sorry she is passing out. I used to pass out in church when I kneeled down for a long time, when I was younger. Not sure what caused it, but I always woke up outside with my parents standing over me. Hopefully she won't have any more problems.

Hope everyone is doing okay. I am stressed at work and wish I could quit. Not for a few more years. Sigh.

 

[CherylDan]

Laurie...how's your daughter doing? Hopefully everything went well with the follow up visit. And your day at the spa?

LMP...glad you are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. It's just so hard sometimes with all the hurry up and wait, do this - no, do that roller coaster ride. How were your peanut butter and jelly crackers?

Laura, any improvement with your flare up? And how is DH?

Ann, congrats on the fly fishing trip! And a completed laundry room.

Maureen....hang in there, the weekend is just about here! Well, assuming you are off on weekends. sorry you are so stressed, hopefully it is just a temporary situation.

Mom's hip surgery went fine, they will be getting her up today so that should be interesting. At this point it sounds like I will need to stay with her for awhile when she is released. Our house has too many steps, so I'm thinking me and the puppy will be staying at her house. I guess it just depends on how well she is able to get around. Anyway, I'm off to the hospital.

GAGWTA!

 

[MerryPoppins]

Oh my gosh, I'm finally able to post again! I won't even try to catch up, it'd be too long and then my reply may not go through. I've been reading and praying for all of you. It's so good to be back. My computer issues are not over, but much better. If I disappear again you'll know it's because everything is still sort of iffy.

My biggest news includes DD deciding to go to OU, so I'm thrilled. And we lost our beloved cat Cricket to kidney failure last month.

 

[snappy]

Glad to see you are able to post, Merry.

I sure have missed you.

Congrats on your daughter's decision.

Dd13 is fine, no further testing unless another faint occurs in the near term.

Busy with soccer tourament. Very tiring.

Cheryl how did your mother do on her first day moving around?

Maureen, the pediatrician said about 90 % of the faintings he sees is in church, even brides and grooms are prone to it.

We are not letting it affect her life.

I felt better after she got thoroughly checked out.

Maureen, it sounds like you might have job burn out. Are you working too many hours?

My experience has been once people start getting laid off right and left, the ones left standing are in for a rough ride.
I think I aged 5 years during 1993-1994 since I was one of those left standing.

How is your dad?

 

[laurabelle]

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

Melissa-back! Aren't computers wonderful! I'm so excited for your dd! I'm sure you'll be busy with graduation activities soon. I'm sorry to read about your cat.

Laurie- It was so good to talk to you the other night! I'm glad your dd checked out ok.

Cheryl- I hope your mom is healing well. I'm sure your puppy is keeping her entertained!

Maryann- Thinking of you...I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow.

Ann- to your dad! Your trip sounds like it was fun. And fly fishing, wow! We'll need a trip report from that one. I'm glad your w/d finally came!

I'm fine. The flare is minimal, really just a blip. I'm a little itchy from the shot and the increased steroid dose (will I EVER get off it...stay tuned...) which has me waking up too early, but over all I have nothing to complain about. We had a gorgeous day yesterday. My dds were invited to a Sweet 16 party last night and hubby and I took advantage of the evening and went out to dinner, which we haven't done in several months. We splurged on our favorite restaurant. Everything was lovely. I was bad and shared a bottle of wine with him and got a Spanish coffee with dessert. Shh...don't tell my doc.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good evening sistas GTAGWTA

Melissa- So nice to have you around again. You were missed. What great news about your dd So sorry about your kitty

Laurie - I am glad the news about your dd was positive

Maureen - I hope you can find some ways to pamper yourself so you dont get burned out. I am supposedly having a shot in the butt tomm. too if all goes well and another one on tues. Hmm, I feel your pain sista!

Ann - I love fishing too, never tried fly fishing though. We actually did the family bass fishing trip once from the Polynesian, and I of course, caught the most fish.

Cheryl - Hope your mom is on the road to recovery and getting lots of TLC from you!!

Laura - Hope your side effects are subsiding and that your dh is doing well

Alice - Have we had some nice weather around here lately or what? Yup, the time of the singing of birds has come!!

Well sistas, I have been doing alot of praying and crying around here this week end. I am just thinking that the rad. onc. will say no agai tomm. My ds say, oh mom, you can do more of the bad food. diet They just dont get it, I said, its not just the food, everytime she says no, its just more time that the cancer is growing and maybe spreading etc. DH says I should go in there tomm. and have a full blown crying fit because this dr. has a heart of stone and is so impersonal and she needs to see the personal side of me and I should beg her etc??? My head spins. I went to our churchs anniv,. dinner. It was hard watching the people eat and I was so tired by the end of the night. The nice ladys said they put us at a table far fromn the food so I wouldnt have to keep smelling it etc. Nice of them. Also my friends dd is back in the hosp. in ICU and now they are talking of a probable heart transplant again. My heart aches for them, she is the one who already had the bone marrrow transplant for leukemia when she was 2.

Well I will give an update tomm, good or bad news, but I could use all the prayers you could spare.

Blessings to you all.

 

[snappy]

I too am having posting as I lost a post last night that was nearly completed.

I think my situation is caused by ineptitude on my part.

We got a new mouse while DS20 was home for Easter break as he was working on two papers and quickly became very frustrated with our old one.

The new mouse and I have not made friends yet. I think it might be an alpha mouse.

I think I may blame the posting failures on it. (Why not?)

Speaking of alpha, I just caught our alpha dog Naj on the dining room table helping herself to the candles.

MaryAnn I prayed for you last night in church (and we did NOT have a fainting incident).

I hope the radiation doctor starts your treatment today.

Please let us know the outcome.

I better hit send so I win this round.

 

[BeadyLady]

GAGWTA!

Blessing to all! May you have the strength, courage and support you need to get thru these rotten times!

 

[Sha]

Evening Ladies

I have been thinking about you all and been trying to read up on everything.

Laurie: it's just PC gremlins stealing posts.. no worries... it's not you. I hope your DD is doing okay. I keep thinking about iron for some reason... but as you said, having been sick, and possible dehydration. Hope it doesn't happen again. I hope you did go to the spa.

LMP: I hope you got the go ahead... I can only imagine how frustrating this has been.

Cheryl: how is your mom today? Hips are easier with getting up and moving vs knees per the PTs I work with. I hope she will use her pain meds and drinks LOT and LOTS of water. Is she on any blood thinners?

Laurabelle: glad you had a nice time out

MerryPoppins: am so sorry about Cricket. I would like to think Cricket and my George have become friends... Congrats on OU for your DD! That is a good school!

I know I missing several on here... and I apologize. I have been a bit distracted with some things here at home, and hoping that something works out and is real. Sounds vague doesn't it? I hope to give you some good news soon about my secret (not getting married and not pregnant), just not sure how soon I can. (but please feel free to pray for good things in this regards... okay... it is about a guy )

On another front of good news... anyone get the "Celebrations" magazine (www.celebrationspress.com)???? I have an article in there with a couple of my photos (and a small pic of me in the front with bio). It is my first article, and it was edited down a little, but done well I think with the layout.

oh.. speaking of prayers.. not breast cancer, but a friend's mom, Anne, has liver cancer, and not doing well. Can you please include her and her family. Miss Anne's cancer actually started in her pancreas Thanks

Hugs and prayers ladies!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good Evening Ladies and Praise the Lord!! It is a Very Good Evening Around here, Thank you all for your prayers!!

Here is the update; Dh took me for the shot, The nurse wanted to look at my wound before the shot, She said, hold on, I am getting the doctor, Well as soon as she said that and left the room, of course, I started to cry. I was thinking this can't be good. Well the rad. onc. came in and said she talked to the surgeon and she told us, she changed her mind!! and would gve me the radiation!! She is still working on a discharge plan, hmm, what does that mean? She talked to the chief radiation officer of the hospital. I got the lst shot. The side effects are headache and maybe nausea, nothing so far. I also had to get a pregnancy test (Hello Alice, are you reading this?)

Tomm. is shot #2, and then they will call either tomm. night or wed. morning when a bed opens up. The rad. onc. also told us she had a terrible vacation, couldnt celebrate the Passover because she had a 102 fever, her cousin decided not to come which she was happy about, her computer with the main link up to the hospital crashed so she just ended up reading some books, so it looks like a little sickness (she still sounds sick) and some rest and recuperation have definetely helped improve this doctors bedside manner for sure. She was so much more nicer today to us for sure.

O.K. I am having food fantasys here for sure sistas. I think I told dh I want an egg Mc Muffin, a chocolate milkshake, a bagel etc, you know, the much denied bread and dairy products etc. Visions of Linda and her cake quest are dancing in my head

Thank you again for all your prayers sistas! Blessings to you all.

 

[snappy]

Prayers for your friend's mom Anne are being siad, Sha.

You really have my curiosity peaked.

MaryAnn, I am beyond relieved that you have started your shots. I am glad the doctor is more pleasant.

You are on your way, sista.

I am trying to clean. I have really let things go. My little cleaning lady Gloria is coming to clean tomorrow but I am so embarassed at how bad it has gotten that I am doing some prep work. Lots of rain+a digging puppy (3 holes in the doggie area so far)=mud city.

 

[CherylDan]

GAGWTA!!

LMP....sounds like you are finally getting somewhere! You'll be having that egg mcmuffin before you know it!

Sha....congrats on the magazine article! That must be so cool to see yourself in a magazine. I tried the link but it didn't work for me.

Laurie, good luck with that alpha mouse! - I hope the two of you learn to peacefully coexist!

Laura, your date with your DH sounds wonderful! Glad you are feeling better.

Merry, sorry to hear about Cricket.

Mom came home from the hospital today, she is doing pretty well. I will be spending quite a bit of time at her house for at least the next week. Someone else is spending the night tonight and tomorrow night, so at least I will be home a bit. No internet at mom's house - I think I'll be having withdraw systems! She is able to get to the bathroom by herself using the walker. She is on blood thinners, she has to give herself a shot in the stomach everyday for the next 10 days. She wasn't too thrilled with that! PT will come to her house 3 days a week, so that is nice.

 

[MerryPoppins]

Sha, I can't wait to hear what you have to share. Sounds interesting. My imagination is running wild.

LMP, I'm so happy about your news! Hang in there.

Laurie, your story makes me think of my DH's laptop. I'm not really crazy about using it. I'm much more comfortable with my mouse and keyboard. So I completely understand.

I'm a bit down tonight. A couple at our church is having their first baby this summer. They are also the sponsors of our youth group. I've been quietly working on a baby shower after a Sunday night service for them. I'm buying the cake, so that the youth can give them a party and invite the whole church to come. It's supposed to be a surprise. The other day I was telling my mom about it and she said she wanted to help me. I said sure. I didn't know helping me meant that she'd go to the couple and tell them we were planning a shower for them. Now I don't know how to fix it. Obviously the surprise is spoiled. I'm contemplating throwing another party for them with my mom, so that I can still let the youth have their surprise, but with graduation coming up money is going to be tight and I really didn't want to have to come up with the funds for two parties. And my mom is upset with me. She says I never told her it was a secret and she's making out it's all my fault. She says the surprise isn't important. They'll love the gifts no matter what. Sigh. I'm just so bummed out. When I suggested having two parties she said I'm just trying to make her feel bad and I cried. It's rough when you have to start realizing your parents don't hear well or don't listen. I want her to straighten up, but maybe she's just not able? Boy am I a downer or what?

 

[Sha]

MP you're not a downer! I am sorry your mom has spoiled the surprise. I understand completely where you are with your mom (or at least think I do). If she would wear her hearing aid, I think that would help in my case. Then I would know if it's forgetting, or not hearing. I fear the forgetting....

MP, Laurie.. I hope that I have good news.... today could have been the day to know a little more (on my part) but it's delayed until maybe Friday and hopefully Saturday

I fixed the link to the magazine (but it doesn't take you to the article).

Sounds like she is on Fragmen or Lovenox Cheryl. I like that better than Warfarin sometimes. As long as she is up and moving, drinking water (again, lots) and taking pain meds, she is a little ahead of the game.

Thanks for the prayers for Miss Anne... Cait (my friend) called last night, her DMIL, Wanda, fell with a broken hip and had a partial replacement last night. Miss Anne has left the hospital to return to a rehab/skilled nursing facility for now. She would like to go home but they don't think she could handle it, or her husband. Also talking about Hospice care.