Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part III - GAGWTA!

[lookingforward]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

[wdw4us2]

Well, I didn't get to have my full chemo today because my Platelet count is too low. I asked the doctor if there was anything I could do about it - and of course there isn't. They're making me wait until next Friday to redo my labs and will determine if the Platelets count is high enough to do the full chemo. I'm annoyed since this will prolong the chemo, but there's nothing I can do about it so it is what it is.

On the plus side, I told DD18 that she gets to spend her remaining week here with Fun Mom instead of Madame B***h. I'm looking forward to it!

 

[NHAnn]

GAGWTA!!

Wishing all of you and your loved ones blessings in 2010!!

Bye bye 2009!!

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

GAGWTA!

I hope you don't mind a newbie imposing here. Everyone seems to know everyone and I feel like an intruder. I have a question though and I don't know where to go for an answer and I feel like someone here might be able to help.

How does one care for a bald head?

Between surgeries and feeling rotten from chemo I have watched more morning shows than I care to recount and I have seem a lot of segments where they show how to shampoo and condition long flowing hair - well I had waist long blond hair for over 40 years - I KNOW HOW TO CARE FOR THAT! What I want to see is "Tomorrow on Today - How to shampoo and condition a bald head"

So - any a helpful hints - shampoo - soap - moisturizer?

Thanks for any help that you might be able to provide. I have received much inspiration from lurking here even though I haven't chimed in much. Thanks for providing this thread.

My heart goes out to all of you wonderful women who have to travel this journey that no one should have to take. Keep the humor in your lives and here is hoping everyone has a good weekend with minimal side effects.

 

[wdw4us2]

KJ - Welcome! To answer your question, I will tell you what my hair stylist has me doing. She said to continue to use a tiny bit of shampoo once followed by a small amount of conditioner about 4 times a week. It will help keep the follicles healthy.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

GAGWTA, Ladies!!

Happy New Year!

 

[snappy]

Another big big welcome, KJ!.

Intruder, not in a million years!!!

We love widening the circle here, absolutely.

I can't help with the bald head.

Have you tried looking at breastcancer.org?

I am with you on the humor. It would be a dull world if we don't laugh at ourselves.

GAGWTA!!

Hope everyone was good last night

I had to traispe down to New Orleans Wednesday to drop DD19 at the airport there so I visited my New Orleans friend and spent the night at her very cute camelback house at the point.

I just love the new stuff she has done with decorating. it is coming together.

After I got back last night, DH and I went out to eat with a new lady who DH works with and her DH at a nice restaurant here. We hardly ever do that but enjoyed getting to know them. Her DH is one interesting character. I am not sure if all his stories were 100% legit but it was entertaining to say the least.

Gotta get the Christmas stuff down, a shame we just got most of it UP.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Laurie, the best thing about not putting a tree up this year is not having to take it down.

We went to PF Chang's for dinner last night. It was marvelous! DH fell asleep in his chair when we got home. DS fell asleep on the floor. But we were all awake again by midnight. It was COLD so there was no way I would have wanted to go out. There was a big celebration downtown, but watching on TV was FINE with me!

KJ, WELCOME!! The baby I nanny just turned 3 mos. old and she is bald. We use Aveeno conditioning baby shampoo on her little head. I will have to ask my mom what she did to care for her head while she was bald from chemo.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Shoot, lost my post.

Happy New Year, everyone! We are having a quiet day today. Everyone's finally feeling better, but we're all pretty wiped out.

Welcome, KJ. My SIL who's a hairdresser gave me some Tea Tree Oil shampoo, I think it was by Paul Mitchell IIR. It helped soothe my aching head for a while after "shampooing" (it was kind of tingly). That was the only thing I did other than try to keep it warm and comfortable [with cotton lovies]. Don't be a stranger.

 

[snappy]

Glad your family is finally healthy again, Linda. I hope 2010 proves to be sickness free for everyone there.

We had another trauma drama with my errant brother in Costa Rica yesterday. Not sure how this one is gonna turn out.

I will know more tomorrow and am trying not to obsess about it. We watched the first disc of the blue earth series DS21 bought me for Christmas. It is a Nat Geo production and was well done. It was about drifting ocean life. It was very relaxing to watch. The video and the fire and fireplace just about had me in lala land.

Had a very relaxing and calm day.

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

Thank you everyone for the welcomes and for the information on caring for the bald head. It' so nice to share tips.

There are still a few wisps yet that my husband is reluctant to shave off. He was all brave about it when I had a full head of hair but now - not so much. He calls me his "little old lady wife" (I'm 49 but look much older with those wisps blowing around). They are going today if I have to shave it myself. Once I get the clippers out and plug them in, I bet he'll come running.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

They are going today if I have to shave it myself.

LOL, that's what I did too. I couldn't stand it, either. I hated the way it looked so I threw caution to the wind and was glad I did. It's hard enough to look in the mirror with just a bald head, let alone a bald head that's messy, especially when you're a "hair person" (as I am too). I swear I always thought the hair issue was one of the hardest to deal with in the whole experience. Looking forward to the time when it grows back for you.

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

Yea - husband just shaved my head. It feels so good. He said it was hard for him to do but now he can't stop from rubbing my head - and he likes the way it looks . Just all part of the healing process. If this is what is takes to be in remission - bring it on!

Hope the weekend is good to everyone. Again thank you for the kind thoughts and to everyone for what y'all are going through.

 

[snappy]

KJ, glad you are over that hurdle in such a positive way.

Your DH sounds like a keeper!

We would love to know more about you and your journey to this point if you are so inclined.

I am 56 and an 5 and a half years out from a cnacer diagnosis that ended up being boatloads of DCIS but very little invasive component. I did a delayed free tram flap reconstruction and reduction of the unaffected side in august 2006 when I finally felt ready for that step.

As I had the ultimate in mastectomy as far as tissue removed, I really needed that reconstruction. My little prothesis friend was a giant in prothesis world. Too hot and heavy to tolerate in our humid climate.

No radiation no chemo. Had about 16 nodes removed so some residual pain under the arm but I can pretty much tolerate anything these days.

Love this thread, have been on it since inception and have been fortunate to meet several of our friends here for the Orlando race for the cure and am in touch by phone and email some with others.

We have goood support here and have a lot of laughs. We are so fortunate to have not only breast cancer survivors but survivors of other cancers and relatives of survivors. All are treasured.

Many have different types of cancer and different treatments. Someone usually posts from personal experience no matter the questions posed, as you have already witnessed.

Again, welcome to our little merry band.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

WELCOME KJ!! Thats what everyone is here for to encourage, to cry, laugh, share etc. The more the merrier. I dont have breast cancer, I have thyroid and I had radiation and no chemo but I think your dh is great too. Mine has changed my neck drains for about a month, did 300 bandage changes this year due to my other operations and emergencies that were not even cancer, dealt with the drs., ins. companies etc. My kids however, dont deal with all this stuff well.

New Years eve was a bust. A total nightmare from what I envisioned. Lets just say it started with dh sleeping in his chair and being grumpy when he woke up, enough said.

Yest. dh other best friend from texas called. He is here in Ny visiting his elderly parents. so we went out to chilis with him. 2 of the ds came too. He was an usher in our wedding and went to college with dh. He is among the ranks of the unemployed too right now. He does top secret stuff and has a very specialized field so he will have to really look hard for a job, probably govt. related. He has a Q clearance so that should help him out alot. He is single. Dh and I backpacked in europe with him once. It was interesting.

Its snowing here again, sigh, sigh, Well tues. is the voice test and then in the afternoon ds22 is coaching a home game and ds18 is suppose to announce some stuff so dh and I want to go of course.

I need to schedule the mamo,dentist,eye dr. reschedule the rad. onc. etc. Oh what fun!!

GTAGWTA. Have a great week end. Blessings to you all always.

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

DH is a keeper . He's been so supportive and keeps me laughing through all of this.

Snappy: My journey started Oct 1st when I was told I had breast cancer at the age of 49. I had four lumps in one breast. The largest was 4.5 cm and it was laying on the breast bone so I had to have the chemo and radiation since the surgeon wasn't sure she was able to get every little cell. I did have a mastectomy of course (with four tumors in a "nearly B" - okay I'm an A but a nearly B wanna be ) there probably wan't much left. I did have a saline expander put in right away so I wouldn't be "off-balance", not that I would have been by much. But I didn't want to go through a series of surgeries again later to do this. I guess that's about it up to this point. Two rounds of chemo down, two more to go, then 6 weeks of radiation, then four months later I get my real Soob (saline ****) I didn't realize I couldn't type that word, it came out as asterisks - too funny.

luvmarypoppins: I'm sure it's hard on kids - even older ones to think about one of their parents having a horrible disease and seeing them in pain. Sometimes they manifest that in a negative way instead of just saying what they feel and being supportive. I'm sorry you are having a hard time with them.

Thanks everyone for the welcomes and making me feel like part of the group. I have been lurking for awhile and gleaning information from all of you wonderful people.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

KJ, thanks for sharing your story!

My mom had her first mammo in March, 2008 at age 60. She was diagnosed with breast cancer as soon as they looked at the films. It turned out to be stage III ILC. She started taking Arimidex to shrink the tumor because it was almost 5 cm and the surgeon wanted to see if they could get it smaller before they tried to remove it.

She had a lumpectomy in June '08 and started chemo in Aug. '08. She did 4 rounds of A/C, followed by Taxol, which she didn't tolerate very well. They switched her to taxotere to finish out, but in the end she didn't have as many doses as they originally planned. She did 30 doses of radiation in Feb. '09, and now she is doing well. She does have issues with lymphedema in her arm, but the cancer appears to be gone.

The ladies on this thread are fabulous. You will be glad you came out of lurkdom.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon ladies

Its so cold and icy here. Only ds22 went to church today. I noticed also my neck gets tight if its in the cold so I dont know if that will be a constant thing to worry about now too.

Well dh has informed me he is not going to be able to go with me for the voice test. Ds 19 will take me. I dont care too much. He can meet the dr. who saved my life, but if there is any decisions to make etc. I dont know what is going to happen. I know the only thing he was talking about so far is speech therapy.

I asked my bff in Texas why I didnt get a christmas card from our mutual friend. She just e mailed me and told me she thinks they are having some serious marriage problems. I feel so sad. I told dh I thought that might be the reason too. I hate when this happens, but could tell by the tone of previous chrsitmas letters and how they acted with each other last time we were in Texas.

GTAGWTA. I thinks its soup for today here, maybe that will warm things up!!

 

[snappy]

Maryann, I sure wish your DH could go with you. I wish I was there, girlfirend, I would be your escort!

Do you have a small audio recorder? Taping the visit might keep your DH in the loop.

Sorry the cold is keeping you indoors. We are unseasonably cold here too. I am really wondering about the soccer game tonight. I figure DD14 will be fine IF they let her play. She missed a practice and two games last weekend. They may not let her play unless they NEED her.

DH though will neeed to wear his hunting gear, long underwear and all. It will be cold if you are not running.

We got the tree out. A good thing as it was drier than a bone. I have done a lot of vacuuming. DH boxed up all the outside lights too. Those poor frustrated squirrels ate through 2 strings of blue netlights I just bought before Christmas this year. I am not so happy with those critters. They only go for the ones we put in the azaleas under the big trees outside my kitchen and breakfast table area. I love to see them there from the inside but I guess I will have to give that up.

This has happened before. The squirrel buster birdfeeder is very effective.

Anybody planning any WDW trips? There are some good deals. I would be tempted to plan something but we have some college room and board costs to deal with. This year I only have enough points for 4 days in my Boardwalk view 2 bedroom so I have to get creative. DD14 wants to stop off at the Florida panhandle beach area on our way home this year so we will no doubt keep the WDW part of our trip shorter this year.

There is a 2 bedrrom at the Waldorf but it is $499 a night. I can't expect there will be discounts on those rooms either. And I am not sure if my motley crew is really Waldorf material. I am not so sure DH and I really measure up either but at least we don't spread our stuff everywhere on vacation like at least DD19 does.

GAGWTA!

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

GAGWTA everyone.

Boy - it sounds like it is cold in a many places. We had 20 below on the thermometer this morning. It was around 30 below with wind chill. It's not unusual for this time of year but somehow we always seem surprised when it happens .

We hope to go to WDW in November. We had to cancel two vacations because of this thing called cancer but hopefully by then the surgeries and chemo/radiation will be over and I will have my energy (or at least some of it) back. We are going to throw caution - or at least money - to the wind and stay at a deluxe. The Yacht Club with a 40% pin code that came in the mail will give us a rate that hopefully we can manage (if we don't eat for the rest of the year ). We don't go to movies or out to eat or have any toys like snowmobilies or boats or anything like that so this will be our one indulgence. Our vacations usually consist of camping in the wilderness, cooking over a fire and making coffee only after chopping through the ice to get to the water since we camp at elevations over 8,000 feet in late fall. So I think this will be a nice change.

Well, here's to a good week with few side effects for all.