Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part II -GAGWTA!

[luvmarypoppins]

GTAGWTA Good Morning Ladies

Linda - Thanks for the great article. Very interesting. I actually asked my surgeon if they would save some of the tumor material since they were saying it is so rare etc. I have something they call columnar cells which are very agressive, sigh, sigh.

CherylDan - Love your deer and your puppy pictures

Laura - Praying for you and your successful surgery. I am glad you like your surgeon. That is a big plus. Wow, wish I had a private room, you lucky gal!!

Well we got about 15 inches of snow and made the metro news for about the most snow around here.

I have not thrown up today yet and have managed to keep down my synthroid and an orange so far.

I have not thought about lunch yet. Maybe some bites of cold chicken, some grapes and hot tea, oh what fun!! I am tired and exhausted.

Dh is suppose to call the rad. onc. They didnt call back yest. I am just too weak to talk myself. Everything is an effort and yes, I am in pjs again today. I was exhaused just taking a shower. Well the diet is gong well since I am eating practically nothing, 9 moredays of horror to go.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

GAGWTA, Ladies!

Thinking of all of you!

I have an eye infection that is making me very cranky. Going to the Dr. tomorrow.

 

[lookingforward]

GAGWTA, Ladies!

Thinking of all of you!

I have an eye infection that is making me very cranky. Going to the Dr. tomorrow.

Feel better!

 

[lookingforward]

GTAGWTA Good Morning Ladies

Linda - Thanks for the great article. Very interesting. I actually asked my surgeon if they would save some of the tumor material since they were saying it is so rare etc. I have something they call columnar cells which are very agressive, sigh, sigh.

CherylDan - Love your deer and your puppy pictures

Laura - Praying for you and your successful surgery. I am glad you like your surgeon. That is a big plus. Wow, wish I had a private room, you lucky gal!!

Well we got about 15 inches of snow and made the metro news for about the most snow around here.

I have not thrown up today yet and have managed to keep down my synthroid and an orange so far.

I have not thought about lunch yet. Maybe some bites of cold chicken, some grapes and hot tea, oh what fun!! I am tired and exhausted.

Dh is suppose to call the rad. onc. They didnt call back yest. I am just too weak to talk myself. Everything is an effort and yes, I am in pjs again today. I was exhaused just taking a shower. Well the diet is gong well since I am eating practically nothing, 9 moredays of horror to go.

You are in my thoughts! I hope things get easier for you and you can eat more.

 

[snappy]

GAGWTA, Ladies!

Thinking of all of you!

I have an eye infection that is making me very cranky. Going to the Dr. tomorrow.

Is it pink eye? I hate that stuff.

 

[snappy]

GTAGWTA Good Morning Ladies

Linda - Thanks for the great article. Very interesting. I actually asked my surgeon if they would save some of the tumor material since they were saying it is so rare etc. I have something they call columnar cells which are very agressive, sigh, sigh.

CherylDan - Love your deer and your puppy pictures

Laura - Praying for you and your successful surgery. I am glad you like your surgeon. That is a big plus. Wow, wish I had a private room, you lucky gal!!

Well we got about 15 inches of snow and made the metro news for about the most snow around here.

I have not thrown up today yet and have managed to keep down my synthroid and an orange so far.

I have not thought about lunch yet. Maybe some bites of cold chicken, some grapes and hot tea, oh what fun!! I am tired and exhausted.

Dh is suppose to call the rad. onc. They didnt call back yest. I am just too weak to talk myself. Everything is an effort and yes, I am in pjs again today. I was exhaused just taking a shower. Well the diet is gong well since I am eating practically nothing, 9 moredays of horror to go.

Thank goodness you could keep the orange and sythroid down.

You DID not need the flu, that is for sure.

Were you able to eat anything tonight? You do need the nutrition, even though it is so limited. I am sorry you are facing 9 more days. You are being very diligent and that is a good thing.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I was thinking of you guys yesterday morning as I was driving through a foot of snow - steering with one hand, and eating an Egg McMuffin and yogurt parfait with the other.

Gotta love winter in New England!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Feel better!

Thanks, Maureen. I hope you are not so sore from your surgery!

Is it pink eye? I hate that stuff.

No, this is something else. I had a stye on my upper eyelid. I get them all the time. It has now morphed into I-don't-know-what. I suspect it is some sort of soft tissue infection in the eyelid. It's grotesque.

I was thinking of you guys yesterday morning as I was driving through a foot of snow - steering with one hand, and eating an Egg McMuffin and yogurt parfait with the other.

Gotta love winter in New England!

Linda, OBM asked me if you had been posting here. He misses you on the Photo forum!

GAGWTA!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Linda, OBM asked me if you had been posting here. He misses you on the Photo forum!

Oh yes, I'm around. Like all of us do, I just get busy from time to time. Though it's nice to be missed! (Tell him in the above driving scenario, I would have taken a few pictures, too, if I had my camera with me, LOL.)

I overheard a conversation at work among some folks that were talking about "positives" that come out of challenges like serious illness or family issues....I thought of the wonderful people I've come to meet and/or know here....and that it's going on four years since Linda, Laura, Laurie and others guided me through the early days of my biopsy diagnosis when this thread first started in the spring of 2005!

How nice, Ann. I agree. This thread, and all of you, were one of the good things that came out of my cancer experience. I can't believe it's been four years!

Cheryl, love, love, the deer! You have to post them on the Signs of Spring thread on the PB, they're very good pictures! PS Charlie is gorgeous. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of him!

Feel better jsg and lmp! How are you doing, Maureen?

GAGWTA >>> (DS sitting on my lap with thermometer in mouth; DD was very sick toward the end of last week and this weekend with a fever and body rash )

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well I am still not feeling well. I ate some cold chicken and strawberries for lunch and a lot of gingerale. For dinner I had some of the chicken hot with some steamfresh vegetables. I smothered the chicken with orange marmalade so that helped.

Dh called the dr. and the nurse all day for me. Now the phone is not working. Last message was ffrom the nurse who said she talked to the dr. and now I dont know what the mesage or outcome was.

They are worried about me. I have a huge abdominal hernia on the R side that has ripped apart. Its killing me and I have been taking colace today. They dont like that nothing is happening. I hope I dont have some kind of obstruction. I am wondering if we will go to the hosp. tomm. I am very concerned about this. The dr. said it was fine I didnt eat for days, as long as I didnt have iodine, gheesh. If they had to do emergency surgery I know they cant use betadine etc. nothing iodine based. on me, so I dont know what they would do. My head spins. I need to pray alot.

 

[laurabelle]

Well I am still not feeling well.
They are worried about me. I hope I dont have some kind of obstruction. I am wondering if we will go to the hosp. tomm. I am very concerned about this. If they had to do emergency surgery I know they cant use betadine etc. nothing iodine based. on me, so I dont know what they would do. My head spins. I need to pray alot.

(((((Maryann))))​

Praying for you dear sista...that your burdens be lifted...trading your worries, confusion, pain...for peace, comfort, hope and healing.

 

[Aliceacc]

Hang in there LMP.

 

[laurabelle]

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

It's prep day! Hey, I'm discovering black coffee...it's good! I got my surgery date, April 8th. My kids will be on spring break then. I'll be in the hospital for Easter, maybe home the day after, but I'm not putting any pressure on myself. Sadly my friend with BC mets is not holding up well. She is really having a rough time especially because of the brain mets. Many of her family and friends do not realize how short her time is. My friends want to go see her soon, like this weekend, but she lives 5hrs away and I can't. It's so horrible...

Laurie- Thanks sista.

Cheryl- I loved your deer photos. We have lots of deer here too. I see gangs of young teen deer hanging out on the street corner...thankfully they don't have opposing thumbs, so no graffiti... Charlie is adorable!

Linda- Sorry the kids are sick...stay well mama!

Elizabeth- ick... your poor grotesque eye! Hope the doctor has an easy cure.

 

[laurabelle]

Some interesting things said...my onc told me on our first visit that she views cancer as a chronic disease...


(CNN) -- President Obama's pledge to conquer cancer "in our time" is a great goal, but one of America's top cancer experts isn't sure he'd use the word "cure."

"The idea of [calling for] a cure does scare me a little bit because, I don't think that's realistic in some cancers," says Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "But I like the general overall idea, and I'm thrilled about the focus on health."

Obama's first proposed budget includes $6 billion for cancer research by the National Institutes of Health. That's on top of the additional $10 billion provided by the stimulus package for 2009 and 2010.

But some cancer specialists say that rather than finding a cure, a more realistic scenario is that certain cancers that are fatal today will move into the realm of chronic illnesses.

By chronic disease, doctors mean "the way we think of diabetes or heart disease as chronic diseases, where people could live in peaceful coexistence with cancer, as opposed to the cancer continuing to advance," said Brawley, who also is CNNhealth.com's conditions expert.

Dr. Tony Reid, an oncologist and director of clinical trials at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, shares this view. He sees the long-term management of certain cancers as chronic illness as a "primary intermediate step" as researchers work towards cures.

Prevention efforts, including discouraging smoking, obesity, and environmental hazards, are also important components of the cure, Dr. Andreas Ullrich, medical officer in cancer control at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.

How long it will actually take to cure cancer is anyone's guess, but Obama's initiative is encouraging, he said.

"We need this hope," Ullrich said. "We need to invest in our efforts in research, in basic research, and also in social science to understand why people behave in a risky way, and how to prevent people from exposing themselves to cancer risk," he said.

Given that "cancer" encompasses more than 200 diseases, it makes sense that different varieties would require different approaches for saving the lives of their victims.

From Brawley's perspective, a cure happens when the disease has gone away and it's not likely to come back, and the person is likely to grow old and die from something totally unrelated.

Reid put it in terms of years of survival -- with pancreatic cancer, which normally takes lives within six months of diagnosis, you're probably cured if you're still alive five years after surgery, he said. But breast cancer can come back even after 10 years, he said.

About 11 million people living in the United States had a history of some form of cancer as of 2005, according to the latest statistics from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database.

There has been progress, however. For American men, the risk of death for cancer is 20 percent lower than it was 20 years ago, Brawley said.

Rates of new cancer diagnoses and deaths for U.S. men and women simultaneously fell for the first time since reporting began in 1998, according to a report published in November in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. See a map of lung cancer in the U.S. from this report »

Already there are cancers that respond well to drugs for several years. Patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors tend to tolerate the drugs well, for example, Reid said.

"I have many patients who will come back and say, 'Except for the fact that you tell me I have cancer, I don't know it,' " he said.

But after a while, these patients' cancer cells mutate and evolve to become resistant to the drugs, finding ways around almost any drug, Reid said.

Some breast cancer patients take medications for 10 years to prevent recurrence, said Dr. Stephanie Hines, physician at the breast center at the Mayo Clinic's Breast Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida. But great strides have been made in such drugs, she said.

"There is real promise at eventually eradicating breast cancer," she said. "I would say maybe not in the next five or 10 years. But it may happen -- I don't know if in our lifetime."

Still, only a few kinds of cancer are currently cured, and that's often dependent on early detection -- testicular and early stage breast cancer are two of the few examples, Reid said. About 80 percent of lymphomas are cured, Brawley said.

Metastatic lung cancer and metastatic breast cancer, on the other hand, are more likely to one day become "chronic diseases," which would be treated throughout a person's life rather than eliminated, Brawley said.

"Once it's metastasized or spread, you can't really do surgery unless you want to do almost cherry-picking throughout the body, which doesn't really work," he said.

Currently, some breast cancers regress even with chemotherapy. Cancer specialists compare these breast cancers to "a smoldering fire which flares up every once in a while" and requires more water, Brawley said. Extending the amount of time that a person could live like that is a "reasonable goal," he said.

Cancer doctors emphasize that Obama's initiative is a tremendous asset to cancer research.

"I think that all the tools are there -- it's just, we have to do the hard work of testing them, evaluating them, and making them available to patients, Reid said.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Laura, great article. You hang in there, am keeping you in my prayers. I'm sorry about your friend. That sucks.

lmp Colace doesn't do much other than "keep you soft". If you want to "go", try Senna/Senakot tabs (OTC), with your team's approval, of course. You can take two twice a day and you will have no further probs. Cut back once you're regular. I hope everything's ok. You're in my prayers, too.

GAGWTA

 

[snappy]

LMP, I was thinking you needed a true laxative like LInda suggests with the pain meds you are on.

I have been there.

We are praying for you too, LMP. I hope you get relief today and don't have to go through the emergency surgery.


Can you friend get a note to us if you do go in today?

Sorry about your sista, Laura. Her family members must be in denial. How hard this must be for all of them.

Laura, thanks for that article. I noticed the extra money in Obama's speech for cancer research. I hope the money is used wisely and not a pipe dream to "cure" a disease that should more often be treated as chronic.

I know you too are facing a lot, Laura. You carry it all off with such grace.

Good luck with the prep for the colonoscopy. You have lots of experience with those for sure. Did you use the low fiber diet before prep day from that website you posted about several years ago? I thought that diet really made the difference for me when I had mine in 2006. I remember being so grateful for the info from that site. I sure hope I thanked you back then, just in case, a BIG THANK YOU today

Linda, were you texting too when you went into work with the snow and breakfast?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Linda, were you texting too when you went into work with the snow and breakfast?

I don't text, but I had my phone nearby in case anyone called.

I noticed the extra money in Obama's speech for cancer research. I hope the money is used wisely and not a pipe dream to "cure" a disease that should more often be treated as chronic.

I was thinking something similar as I was reading that.

I'm not sure where all this money is coming from, either.

Obama's first proposed budget includes $6 billion for cancer research by the National Institutes of Health. That's on top of the additional $10 billion provided by the stimulus package for 2009 and 2010.

 

[snappy]

Oh that is easy, from all of us.

With interest costs not telling what the bill will be.

Front page news here is that no jobs created only jobs retained from the stimulus road funds we are slated to receive (about $308 million). This amount is not enough to do much statewide, obviously. The loop around our city that they have talked about for eons is at tleast 3 times that figure.

Personally, if my take home would go up more than just the $13, I would be spending it and do my dead level best to stimulate the economies of both Baton Rouge and Orlando (and possibly NYC).

As it is I am mostly just working the yard when I can and thawing the good stuff out of the freezer to eat.

I have noticed even Walmart is empty. Not a good sign.

Hey, milk prices for the type I buy went down more than 10%, lowest in years. I think it might have been a mistake, but it was on the price thingy.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Laura, great article. You hang in there, am keeping you in my prayers. I'm sorry about your friend. That sucks.

lmp Colace doesn't do much other than "keep you soft". If you want to "go", try Senna/Senakot tabs (OTC), with your team's approval, of course. You can take two twice a day and you will have no further probs. Cut back once you're regular. I hope everything's ok. You're in my prayers, too.

GAGWTA

GAGWTA!

Laura - I hope your procedure goes well today! It sounds everything is in place for your surgery.

Maryann - I hope you get to speak to your Dr. today!

Of course since I am going to the Dr. my eye is better now. Not completely better, but WAY better than it was yesterday! We'll see if she has anything useful to say, other than telling me to use hot compresses. I am REALLY tired of hearing that is the only treatment when I feel like my eyeball is going to spontaneously eject out of my skull.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

jsg, did you use any antibiotic ointment? I keep a tube of EMycin ointment on hand (pediatrician will call it in to pharmacy without seeing kids, one of the few things they'll do that for) and at the first sign of any type of conjunctivitis, I just start using it. It never gets very far. Hopefully it's something simple like that. Glad it's feeling better, anyway.