Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part III - GAGWTA!

[snappy]

Love the Felix Unger reference.

Too funny.

I am debating with myself what to do. I think the sore throat at least initially relates to not being able to breathe at night through the nose do the person resorts to breathing through the mouth.

I had one ear nose and throat doc say to not sleep with a ceiling fan. Guess we are all allergic to dust to some degree.

I have not done well in the past succeeding in avoiding an allergic episode. Teens especially are not compliant. Being a nurse your results may vary.

 

[snappy]

I have been giving her the plain chest congestion / coughing version of Mucinex (SAMs had a genetic version of this now by the way). It is doing nothing for her head congestion though so I think she needs a decongestant. Which one would you recommend, Linda?

 

[Candy30]

PNM Love your insight on Nursing. We have some international nurses and doctors come to the hospital here too. But not to the extent you have it. We have interpretors. I actually am one of sign language but I am so far on the list that I have not actually interpreted. LOL
I wanted to ask about that Neti Pot. My BIL does that because he travels a lot. He will do it after his flights and so forth and it seems to have cut down on him being sick. Not really sure.

Snappy- If you were not good in your profession, the bills would not get paid!!! We need you too. Lights, heat, a/c all that. Do your accounting thing. LOL

LMP- I hope you feel better. Get some rest.

 

[snappy]

Not sure about the bills, lol, but getting those pay checks out seems to be a life or death matter.

I too hope you are feeling better, MaryAnn.

 

[Olallamom]

HI Ladies,

Haven't caught up on the last few pages, but though I would check in.

I had a great time with my youngest son at Disneyworld. It was a precious trip.
It was an absolute pleasure to meet patsmom, sha and her mother on seperate days during my wdw trip.

They are all beautiful people. I will do a trip report when I have time.

My life has been so crazy since I got home late on November 1st.

On November 2nd I went to my plastic surgeon for another post op appt. WELL he was concerned about a couple spots on both incisions that hadn't completly heeled. SO long story short, I had emergency surgery and my right implant had to be repositioned. Woke up with another drain in.

Then on Monday morning I got a call from my oldest sister and my mother had a heart attack.
She will need a 4-5 way bypass plus a mitral valve repair. The cardiologist wants to get her a little more healthier so probably a few days before surgery happens.
The missing info that you all don't have is that my dad had a heart attack at the end of September also. His situation was less involved. One blockage and no damage.
So my life is in a "rain / pour" mode

Hope everyone is doing well and I will catch up my reading over the next few days.

 

[Sha]

R's cousin did another outstanding blog! Here is the link.

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/yoursay/blogs/melanie_oneill/9353881.Well_and_truly_pampered_/?ref=fbrec

off to get some paperwork done. Hope to get back to read the few new posts I see.

 

[snappy]

Wonderful entry in the blog once again, Sha. Thanks for posting the link.

I feel inspired from reading it, watching my fishies swim gracefully (I added new ones recently and I am loving watching how they get acclimated to each other), my latest candle, enjoying the rebirth of my orchid I got back earlier in the year (found out orchid food works wonders), listening to my favorite new age, synth type calming music I happened on fiddling around with Pandora on my iphone- Liquid Mind, and drinking my Louisiana coffee.

Too bad I have to ruin it all and go to work. Oh well, another day, another 90 cents as I like to say since our cutbacks.

Linda, I would love to send you some gumbo. Even better, we need to meet up in WDW one day and I will SERVE you some.

How is that for a good offer?

My fish are calling me. . .

 

[Candy30]

OLLALA- It is a torrential downpour for you. You poor sweetie!!! Hang in there! How are your Mom's spirits? It sounds like it will be a doozie of a surgery!! How long will you have the drain?

LMP- How are you doing Sista?

Smilie- We are missing ya! Hope all is well.How's your daughter?

Snappy- Paychecks are definitely important!!! LOL

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon sistas

Olla - sorry to hear about your surgery and what your mom is facing too. Prayers for the both of you.

Sha - will try and read the blog post soon

Linda - thank you so much for your insight

Laurie - have a wonerful visit with your mom. Funny abut the fish. Ds21 was just asking for some as pets too.

Candy - hope you are feeling better and was trying to understand your post.. What kind of interpreting do you do?

Lisa - hope you are enjoying your time off. I will have to see what my schedule is when you are there. Of course somehow my disney trips always revolve around the adrs lately.

smilie - thinking of you

Cheryl - I dont know how you survived that reclast infusion. Do you get it every year?

Well first ds21 had some oral surgery complications. This time he went to the head of the group for which I was happy. He said there was a slit in one gym that did not heal, not infected, no dry socket, just did not heal, so it would/will still take more time. Painful for ds and he gave him more pain pills. Went with ds back to his regular oral surgeon today and said he was doing fine. His face is still swollen.

The infusion made me so sick. For days. The first night I spiked such a high fever and was dillusional. The next day I could barely walk and all my joints hurt. Dh had to almost pick me up out of the chair. The pain was horrid. Then I got other symptoms like nausea,, chest soreness and now a slight cough. This was so not fun. Its suppose to be done once a year. I told dh I just dont know how I could possibly do this next year.

My endo did not tell me I needed the creatine level done before the infusion. Thank heavens I had gone to dr. waste my time and had that blood work. She looked at it and said it was good. Hmm, good as dr. waste my time has not called me back. I suppose it will sit on his desk for another 5 weeks. She did give me some names of drs. I will check them out and maybe switch in the new year.

She also said my blood pressure was too high so she is switching meds. O.K. I wish she would not do this during the infusion etc. as it might be hard to distinguish symptoms of each. So she said come back for a bp check in 2 weeks. I dont know if I am tired or its the med or side effect of the infusion. I feel crappy.

We talked about my other symptoms and I told her of my appt. on mon. She said she thinks the dr. will probably do a biopsy. I said, well I dont want to hear the word cancer again. She just looked at me.

Dh leaves tomm. for 11 long days. Doing his laundry now etc.

GTAGWTA.

 

[snappy]

MaryAnn, I am sorry your DS had complications with the oral surgery. Mouth pain is particularly bad, maybe because of being located close to the brain?

Hope the healing accelerates. Good to know it is not dry socket.

Your ordeal with the infusion sounds terrible. I don't blame you for not want to do this agin next year. Try if you can to focus on getting your strength back now. Have you had this med previously? Did you have similar symptoms? I wonder if you caught something at the same time.

So your husband is going out of town after all. Please let us know how the appointment goes Monday. Bad timing for you to feel so bad right before your trip. You will really have to pace yourself. At least it is easier when the weather is cooler.

I am glad you have it planned, something to really look forward to.

Ollalamom, I forgot to comment on what you have been through lately. No wonder we have not heard from you. first, further surgery on the second. If you are like me, you probably were not recovered from the trip yet.

Wishing your mom well for her surgery. Does your mom and dad live far?

Sha, any word about the kitties?

It looks like I am giving up my Mardi Gras trip. DD16 is going with her youth group. I could chaperone but sleeping on a bus going up is not my cup of tea. I will only do it if they need an emergency fill -in, and I am not at the top of the list either.

GAGWTA!


I may try and reschedule for May.

More focused on this weekend right now, with my brother coming in tomorrow and DD21 and her BF the next day.

I sure have to try and whip this house into some semblance of order. Fat chance!

 

[CherylDan]

MaryAnn, I didn't have as bad a reaction to the reclast.....lots of body ache, felt like the flu for a day or so, but nothing like what you felt. Maybe Laurie is on target with thinking that you might of had something else going on too? I just had it one time, right about a year ago....guess I should be getting it again, but things like that just don't even seem to on the radar anymore.

Laurie, sounds like a party! Have fun with all the visiting!

Olalla, wow, you have a lot on your plate.....be sure to take care of yourself!

Lisa, are you starting to feel better at all yet? I know it is such a slow process.

Pats mom, how are you doing?

I'm up late tonight....trying to find something on TV, but I'm pretty sure it's a hopeless case. As I type this there is some infomercial on for a DVD set of all the shows from The Midnight Special! OMG! I remember being in Jr High and watching that show religiously every Friday night. good times.

DD22 hit a deer last week. She is fine, but her car was pretty damaged. Over $3100 and a week in the body shop....insurance is a wonderful thing.

Got snowed on today. Sooooo not ready for winter.

GAGWTA!!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon ladies

PatsMom - thinking of you too

Barbara - enjoy your trip

Linda - shared your comments with ds, Thanks again. he is working on applications today.

Anne - continued prayers for Avery

Cheryl - funny what you said about that infomercial on tv. Last year when we went to Disney from our trip at christmas, came back and saw ds had ordered stuff for me from HSN or something like that, wolfgang puck knives. Hmm, tv is persuasive.

Also know what you mean about the deer. Ds21 did that the other year too and had about the same amount of damage. We never did find out what happened to the deer. It was limping and went back into the woods he said etc.

Well todays infusion side effects were I have carpal tunnel stuff in both thumbs, so bad I could barely hold a bar of soap and in my 2 big toes too. No, I wish I had something else. These are side effects of the infusion or maybe the new med. Whatever could go wrong does always go wrong with me. The drs. at the univ. know to think outside the box when diagnosing stuff with me. I had already expressed to my endo my concerns about the infusion side effects as I have read about this on the internet. She told me I would be fine, yeah right. Some people get horrid bone pain weeks and months later. Some people said, do not ever get this infusion. Hmm.

GTAGWTA.

 

[Candy30]

LMP- I hope you don't have ALL the side effects. Take it easy. I was going to ask if your Hubby was going away. Interpreting for patients at the hospital here. I can do sign language in bind. The haven't called me in over a year so....I think now I have to take some type of certification and I haven't.

Cheryl- Wow! I am glad your daughter is ok. I knew deer causes a lot of damage but didn't know it was that much.

Snappy- Just enjoy your family. Don't worry too much about the house. Have a great time.

PNM,Lisa, Smilie, Ollala, Patsmom- Have a good weekend!

My Foster Daughter's job ended. She is so sad. Her car broke down right after. Trying to help them. My Grand baby girl is getting so big!

I have to work a lot this weeked so I plan on going home and going to bed to rest up. I work Saturday and it is a late one over at 1:00am. I work Sunday at 1:00pm and then Monday after work at 5:00pm. My husband is not too happy about this schedule. So I don't think I will be pulling this schedule again.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Candy - wow, that is alot of hours, dont tire yourself out. Can your ds cover for you for any of them? You have such a giving heart to help your foster dd too. I am sure she is grateful for all you do for her too.

Lisa - What days are you exactly going to be there. For Nov. 30th we had lunch at the Grand Floridian at 12:45 and then Kona at 5:45 as we werent planning on the party as of now.

The lst we have LTT at noon as we have to get back to Epcot for the CP dinnerr at 4ish at Tutto for the 6:45 show. I could change LTT . I dont want to intrude on your family time but hope we can work something out. Let me know.

 

[wdw4us2]

MaryAnn - We are only going to be at WDW Nov. 30 - Dec. 1st. We probably won't be on property until 4:30. Not having much luck with ADRs - we are dining at Olivia's at OKW at 5:30 on the 30th and we have an ADR at Tony's Town Square at 12:05 on the 1st. We hadn't planned on going back to MK on Thursday since we're going to MVMCP on Wednesday night. We need to head back home by 5 p.m. on Thursday so Chase won't be worn out for school on Friday. Maybe we can meet you after lunch on Thursday before we head out to another park.

Candy - Don't work too hard this weekend!

CherylDan - I loved your post about the Midnight Special DVDs. I remember watching that a lot when I was babysitting since most of the people I worked for didn't get home until the show was almost over! Glad to hear your car was the only thing hurt when your DD hit the deer.

Laurie - I hope your company doesn't wear you out too much this weekend.

OlallaMom - to you. I'm beginning to think that when it rains, it pours. I hope things go well during your Mom's surgery.

Yes, I am starting to feel better slowly but surely. I managed to take showers the past few days without having to use the shower chair - yea! DS and I also went to the Veteran's Day parade yesterday and stayed for the program afterward. It was nice to see the big turnout for the parade. I was also touched by the fact that one of the speakers recognized all veterans instead of just those who served in wartime. I was surprised that when I looked around at all who served, there were only three other women besides me. I figured the number would be greater now than it used to be. DS and I then went out to lunch with one of Meg's friends afterward and had a great time. We didn't get home until after 3 pm - so that was six hours total. I'm beginning to think the WDW trip won't be as hard as I thought it would be.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Lisa - yes that might work, a quick hi after our lunches as we both need to get going. Quick is good too.

I am beyond sick again. So much so that I even took one of ds percocet from his oral surgery. My both hands are terrible and I tried to put my sneakers on and my feet are so swollen. I am not going to be taking that new bp med any more and see what happens. I still have some of the old one left.

The pain is so bad the ds got the walker out of the garage for me.

I am leaving a voice mail for the dr. tomm. and hopefully she will hear it on monday. She needs to rethink the bp med I think.

Thurs. I was actually feeling better, did 3 loads of laundry etc. Now its downhill again. The toes are better but now its my R knee too.

The ds have been pretty helpful, thank God. I think I will skip church tomm. if I am not feeling better. The pain is taking a toll on me as well as the swelling etc.

GTAGWTA.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

lmp I am a little worried about you. Have you had swelling in your legs before? Are you short of breath at all? Would you mind sharing the name of the bp meds (before and now)? Do you have an appetite? What have you been eating for the last few days? Drinking? Are you chairbound now?

 

[luvmarypoppins]

lmp I am a little worried about you. Have you had swelling in your legs before? Are you short of breath at all? Would you mind sharing the name of the bp meds (before and now)? Do you have an appetite? What have you been eating for the last few days? Drinking? Are you chairbound now?

Linda thanks. I was taking lisinopril 40 mg. Have taken it for years. Never a problem. Now the endo says she doesnt like my bp numbers. I think last one was like 144/88. The med she put me on was norvase 5 mg. I asked her what the side effects would be and she only said ankle swelling.

I honestly dont know if this is a reclast side effect or a norvase side effect. That is why I am stopping the norvase to see if the swelling goes down.

No short of breath. Well I ate a normal dinner I cooked thurs, chicken stuffing veg etc. Sadly friday and today its fast food as I am too sick to cook anything and havent been able to go to the grocery store. I am using the walker to get around. I only took 1 percocet at around 2pm so far. Seems to make it more bearable.

I really want to be able to get to the gyn on monday. I dont know how that is going to work out.

Any insights or advice? Thanks for caring sista.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

lmp, I am surprised to hear that an endocrinologist would make a change in something like a bp med without the knowledge of your primary care physician. The PCP has a much broader view of your overal health status and management of your health and had you on lisinopril for a reason - and it sounds like it's been working well for you.

Lisinopril (an ace inhibitor) and norvasc (a calcium channel blocker) work in different ways. Lisinopril lowers the workload (called afterload) your heart has to pump against. This keeps things running smoothly and easily. The sudden swelling in your legs, to me, means that your heat may be having a harder time pumping than it should and there could be a little "backup" of fluid waiting to be pumped. Over days, this can become quite serious, even going to your lungs and abdomen in addition to your extremities. (We see this ALL the time!)

Some of this swelling can be due to pressure if you've been chairbound and fluid gets stuck in your lower extremities and can't get back up due to position. Make sure you get up and walk around, stretch your legs frequently and try to straighten your legs and keep them up when sitting. But whether it's the former or the latter should be evaluated by your primary care doc. (Cause even if your PCP was made aware of the med change, he or she needs to be aware of what's going on now.) If it were my mother I would be on the phone tonight with the PCP's office to tell them about this change and your current symptoms. They might tell you to stop the norvasc and go back on the lisinopril, but it's impossible to know why they endo made the decision he made (it may have something to do with calcium related to the reclast ) so only your care team can tell you what the best thing to do will be.

Be very, very careful over the next few days of eating salty foods as this will cause you to retain fluid which will exacerbate the swelling and contribute to the excess volume that your heart has to pump. Also do not overdo it with fluids, either, especially in the setting of excess salt as together this can make you quite overloaded. Please get in touch asap with your PCP, they should have someone on call tonight. Keep the story brief, Just the facts, Ma'am. ("I had a reclast infusion last week and my endo changed my lisinopril to norvasc. Now I'm having swellling of my legs and feet and pain in my hands.")

BTW did you know that swelling causes pain? You could have fluid in the tissues inside your arms and hands as well. I never realized this until my experiences with lymphedema in my arm. Severly painful. Please let them check you out.

 

[snappy]

Please let us know how you ard doing, MaryAnn. I too am worried about you especially since you DH is out if town. Are your sons available?