Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part III - GAGWTA!

[NHAnn]

Hi ladies! GAGWTA!

We have dodged all of these northeast snowstorms in recent weeks! Quite different from the usual course of events here in NH. I hope all that "sneaux" stays away until after mid-week when I leave for the happy place!! I am looking forward to the trip, at the same time a little anxious, my father is not doing well recovering from his broken arm. A real set back and acceleration of the Alz process with the trauma, pain meds, routine disruption, and limited mobility--he had been using a walker and can't with one arm.

Lauire--I LOVE all your posting!

Sal, I am so sorry for what your DD is going through, and like others have said I am glad she has you. Do keep us posted and let us know if you have questions or just need an ear or shoulder.

Honugirl...: we all go through those periods from time to time, everyone handles things differently. You have a lot on your plate. Thanks for checking in

Anyone hear from Laurabelle at all?

May I be first to wish you all a happy Valentine's Day ... you all hold a special place in my heart!!

 

[snappy]

I am glad you guys are still gonna let me come play, er post.

LMP, I had forgotten you are stage 4 thyroid cancer. You are such a survivor. It is not easy to pin the docs down. I hope the right words come to you during your upcoming visit.

Sorry to hear your Dad is struggling so, Ann. Please enjoy the trip. I think you said you were traveling with your DH and your daughter? How fun.

I have not received an email from Laura since September. I hope she is better. Anyone else in touch with her? I will send her a quick email and will post when I hear from her.

Honugirl, I hope your find at the Univesity of Utah works out. It sounds very promising.

DH just returned from a very long day getting DS21 situated in the apartment. DS21 was very appreciative of everything DH did and everything I sent. I stayed home. Even though I would have liked seeing him again (we bought him dinner two weeks ago), I did not want to be in on the moving furniture around and buying and installing locks.

DD14 is in Mississippi with a friend at her great grandmother's house this weekend, checking out some local Mississippi parades.

Now that DH is home, we should have a quiet night. He plans to work tomorrow and I guess I will too. I need to finish the year end tax reporting stuff. I really don't like stuff hanging over my head but needed to do other grant reporting since we have some serious cash management problems right now.

I would not worry about the sneaux, I really believe that was a serious fluke here. My sister lives 30 minutes down river towards New Orleans, she had no snow, just cold temps.

I am hoping you have some nice warm but low humidity days for your trip, Ann.

I am anxious for my March trip, sorry we will miss you guys, Ann. Planning this one has been a saga for me. I hope my mom has a good time. We need some nice weather too so she can use the lazy river.

GAGWTA!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

GAGWTA, Ladies!

Thinking of you all! I hope everyone has a nice Valentine's Day!

I HATE cold weather, and snow is quite unacceptable! Not sure of the exact total at our house - somewhere between 6" and 10". Airport had 12.5" but I don't think we had QUITE that much. DS had a snow day Friday, which means he will have to go to school on Good Friday. I had been pricing airfare for us to go see my mom that weekend but I guess that won't happen. He is a good student but missing a day really discombobulates him - he seems to take a long time to get back on track so I don't want him to miss unless he HAS to.

Sending hugs to all!

 

[snappy]

Hope things are warming up your way, Elizabeth, and everyone, for that matter.

I am off to Mardi Gras with DD14. DH has doggie duty and is swamped at work any way so cannot go.

Happy Mardi Gras!!

 

[wdw4us2]

Have fun at Mardi Gras Laurie!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

GAGWTA, Ladies!

Laurie, I hope you have a terrific time at Mardi Gras! Any word yet from Laura?

Honu, these new developments sound promising! I hope things work out!!

Ann, good thoughts for your dad!

Maryann,

Crunch time here for DS's school play. He has rehearsal until 8 PM today and tomorrow, the show opens Thursday (but he isn't performing Thursday), and he has 3 shows Friday. He just came into the kitchen and said he is tired. Oh, dear. That isn't likely to change before Sunday!

I hope everyone's treatments are going well, and that you are all staying warm in this gross weather! Our weather actually isn't bad this week, but I am still in shock from the snow. Not supposed to snow here.
DH has some sort of cold/respiratory thing. I am hoping DS doesn't catch it. That would effectively ruin 5 months of rehearsals.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good morning ladies

Lisa - Souns like this new dr. might be just what you are looking for. Hope it all works out for you.

Laurie - I too pray and wonder about Laura. Hope she contacts you. I know she was going to be having more surgery too.

Elizabeth - hope your dh feels better soon and more importantly that your ds play goes well and he will not get sick.

O.K. Sistas, someone is doing the happy dance around here and why you may ask??

Yes yest. was the surgeon visit and dh went with me. He is most concerned that I still cant use my L arm well, so its back to physical therapy. They have given me the name of a place and I will seee if its in my ins. plan. He said the nerve needs to come back etc. He also asked about ds, hmm. Sore subject right now. Then I asked - What is my prognosis etc. And drumroll..he says 90% for 10 years. Praise God!! Well then we talked and I told him endo says its coming back in 3, rad onc. says nothing and he thinks its not, but he discussed the plan that he will try to cut out as much as he can, They all think it will come back in the lymph nodes again, so probably the r side, He said if its too close to the nerve he will do what he can and then they will just bomb me again with the ingestable radiation. He did say some things against me with this cancer are my age when it was dxed,the agressive variant of course, the size of the tumor (huge) and it already spread to the lymph nodes. So I go see him again in 6 months but basically that is only for the arm, he said the endo can just keep following me. My voice was bad as usual and He was looking in my chart and I turned to dh and said, God is Good, he said what did you say? I said God is Good!! Amen sistas. I am being showered with blessings.

Oh and on another note, dh had the day off yest. and ds20 slept through his class. That led to a big blow up. Ds didnt come home last night, wouldnt come out to eat with us for dh birthday etc. It was very sad. All I can do right now is pray for ds. He, unfortunately, I feel is going to be hitting rock bottom sometime soon.

GTAGWTA. Thinking of you all.

 

[snappy]

Yay, good news from the surgeon, MaryAnn. Those are very good 10 year odds. Good for you for pursuing that line of questions.

So does this mean you are or are not having more surgery in the near term?

I am sorry your son (this is the middle one, right?) is still acting out. Maybe he does have to hit bottom, it is hard as a parent to not try and make things right but at this point he needs to take some responsibility.

What I dislike is the additional stress on you. The blowout could not have been pleasant, and I am sure the dinner was strained.

I am glad your DH was ble to bring you to the doctor.

I did receive a brief note back from Laura today. She has been making trip plans as well as plans to do things around the hosue to get her mind off health things. Her surgery will be in the next few weeks. She does need our continued prayers. She is not up to posting on the thread at the moment. I imagine she needs all her energy for her family. I was glad she responded.

Mardi Gras was lovely. We were fortunate to be on the ferry while the fireworks were lit right on the river. They were beautiful, as was the sunset that preceded the fireworks. We headed down to meet some friends who had a suite at the embassy suites close to the river. It was great as we had a place to use the potty and get warm ( I sat on the sofa for awhile and watched the parade through the big windows in comfort. We also had a good vantage point outside but I was sitting on a granite ledge for a long time and it did a number on my legs. We saw two parades pass Monday night. The highlight was seeing the New Orleans Saints coach SEan Payton who was king of Orpheus, the second parade. He was waving around what looked liked the Lombardi trophy (or a replica thereof) to beat the band. He also was throwing out footballs that he had signed, one of which was caught by a 17 year old boy in our party. The little guy was totally over the moon after he caught it.

It was cold and my feet hurt immensely by the time we returned to my friend's house from all the walking and standing for the parades, not to mention my lovely granite ledge. I was not recovered the next morning so we skipped the parades yesterday (it was still mighty cold) and just had a ball visiting. We had a nice place in the sun on her back porch. We were happy with a big pot of jambalaya and a few cold beers.

Driving home last night was a bit of a nightmare, way too much traffic. It took 3 full hours rather than the usual hour and a half. Way too much stop and go for me and I was worried about drivers who ight have been drinking all day.

I was never so glad to get in my warm bed last night.

Back to the real world.

Elizabeth, I sure hope your son does not get sick. What a disappointment that would be to miss even one performance.

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

Laurie - Glad to hear you had a nice trip during Mardi Gras even though it was tiring.

MaryAnn - Great news for you. I do hope your son is able to sort out his life and relieve you of some stress in that area. Sometimes it takes the kids awhile to figure their life out and in the meantime they cause a lot of anxiety to the parents . to you.

I don't know who Laura is, being new here, but I will be thinking of her as it sounds like she needs all of us pulling for her at this time.

GAGWTA

 

[snappy]

Laurie - Glad to hear you had a nice trip during Mardi Gras even though it was tiring.

MaryAnn - Great news for you. I do hope your son is able to sort out his life and relieve you of some stress in that area. Sometimes it takes the kids awhile to figure their life out and in the meantime they cause a lot of anxiety to the parents . to you.

I don't know who Laura is, being new here, but I will be thinking of her as it sounds like she needs all of us pulling for her at this time.

GAGWTA

I am very sorry. I forgot we have some wonderful newer posters joing us lately. I don't think Laura has posted in a few months.

Laura and Linda created this thread back in May 2005. Laura is a long time survivor (10 years plus) and had major surgery last year that has slowed her down in the posting department. She is a treasured part of the GAGWTA group. I was fortunate to meet Laura and her older daughter at the race for the cure in Orlando in 2007.

She struck me in person as she did in her posts here as being truly beautiful in the inside as well as the outside.

I was thrilled she responded to my email, even though her reply was short and sweet. I know she is focused on healing and on her family.

Wonderful things to be thinking of, right? I also liked that she is planning household projects.

I like the looking forward idea. I remember when we bought our small Boardwalk villa contract in 2007 that I really got a kick out of buying something that last until 2042.

It was an affirmation and a kind of private joke for me, rolled up in one. As we are two CPA's married to each other we kind of doubted that the purchase was a wise financial decision.

I get such happiness from that boardwalk view when we stay there that it seems worth it when I pay the $800 plus dues every year.

Not sure I will buy more points though. I find the Wyndham bonnet creek and the Waldorf suit me just fine and dandy.

DH is pushing a beach trip this year too. We should get good participation from the college kids on that one too.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good morning sistas

With ds18 havng spring break this week I have to post when I can get on the computer. He is also in the middle of typing his rough draft thesis all week too, which is required for graduation. Its due Monday.

Laurie - Sounds like you had a great time at Mardi Gras!! I am glad Laura got in touch with you. She is so sweet and I will keep her in my prayers. I remember she sent me such a funny card. I was laughing, staples and all!!
No I am not having the surgery soon, its just his surgical plan which I wanted to know about. I always obsess about stuff, he knows that.

Oh and just when I thought it couldnt get any worse with ds20, he did actually come home very late mon. night, on tues. afternoon he tells me while he was out with our 2 neighbors then he or I should say a deer HIT his car. Yup, there is about probably $4k worth of damage he said!! OMG!! I am just about at my wits end with him. Luckily no one was hurt. He didnt call the police as it was in the middle of no where he said. He said there is fur sticking out of the car. I havent seen it yet. And yes, he is stressing me out because when they took my bp at the dr. it was up 20 points!! from the usual No news from the college for ds18, he said lots of his friends have not heard either. So in a few eeeks it will be a sono for me and blood tests to check on the cancer and then the endo visit, this will all happen before dh goes to england and denmark.

GTAGWTA. Thinking of you all.

 

[wdw4us2]

jacksgirl - I hope everything goes well for your DS at the play tomorrow.

LMP - Sounds like you are going through a lot with your middle DS. Maybe he's trying to see how much he can do before you snap. I wish he would stop stressing you so much.

Laurie - Glad you had a good time at Mardi Gras with your friends even though it was cold. I'm about tired of the cold, too. I loved your comments about DVC - we felt the same way when we bought back in '97. We won't be adding any more points on either - we have CM friends book us rooms when we're out of points.

I had my PETscan today. It went better than I had expected. I have labs tomorrow at the oncologist and then I can start packing for our WDW trip next week. I can't wait!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon ladies from really windy NY!!

Fl Lisa - I am sure you are getting excited about your upcomng trip

Laurie - are you and Fl Lisa gong to be there at the same time?

KJ - Hope your arm is healing

Elizabeth - Can I say to your ds - go break a leg?? Is that the right term. I will have to ask ds20 who was in theater. Actually one of the other ds classmates is actually a performer on the disney cruise line. He was always the talented one in the plays etc. Great at improv.Wishing him all the best.

Well dh just found out he has to share the office at his new job in the new building too. Not happy for sure. Also he finds out his boss who is the pain right now tells dh in 4 years or less he is moving back to chicago. Oh, isint that just great, But its better for dh to go now because he heard they will now do a lottery for any new jobs after the project is over for the old dept. so its not on talent or experience, bizzare for sure. Ds20 is going to the auto shop now and we told him if he gets out of line good bye cell phone. Oh the joys of boys!!

GTAGWTA. Have a great week end everyone.

 

[snappy]

I am not arriving until the 3rd, what are your dates, Lisa?

Lisa, glad the petscan went well. How were your labs? Are you cleared for your trip?

Sha, how are you? Are you recovered yet from your accident?

Sorry about the accident, LMP. I am so glad no one was injured (except the deer). What is up with your son? I will tell you DS21 did not really settle down until this past year, just around when he turned 21.
He even skipped Mardi Gras to work on the some articles for the school paper.
In some ways he seems like a different person. Somehow, someway, a lightbulb went on. It was like an awakening.

Will wonders ever cease?

I think there is light at the end of the tunnel for your son too.

I sure got a lot done workwise this week, despite taking a Mardi Gras interlude. I feel like I am on a roll. Now I wish the WD trip was next week, not the following. Mom and I are both well right now, it needs to stay that way.

DH is still working himself silly. I really don't know how he does it at his ripe old age. I used to work like this, but I cannot do the long hours any longer. No stamina and too much to do to keep up with the house stuff since he can't do much.

 

[wdw4us2]

LMP - Hopefully your problems with your DS20 will go away next year when he turns 21 like Laurie said. It would certainly ease the stress for you!

Laurie - My labs were so-so. My platelets are low again, but I think it has something to do with the injections I had for the two scans I had this week. I'm hoping I have more energy before we leave for WDW on Monday. I sooo need this trip away from here and I'm not going to let anything stop it. Mind over matter. . .

Yesterday was a tough day. Earlier this week a longtime friend of ours passed away from inoperable lung cancer. He had been fighting for the past 3+ years and really fought hard. I had seen him quite a bit recently as he was going to the same oncologist group as I am. I went to the viewing yesterday afternoon. It was even more difficult than these things usually are because of what I've been going through the past eight months.

 

[snappy]

LMP - Hopefully your problems with your DS20 will go away next year when he turns 21 like Laurie said. It would certainly ease the stress for you!

Laurie - My labs were so-so. My platelets are low again, but I think it has something to do with the injections I had for the two scans I had this week. I'm hoping I have more energy before we leave for WDW on Monday. I sooo need this trip away from here and I'm not going to let anything stop it. Mind over matter. . .

Yesterday was a tough day. Earlier this week a longtime friend of ours passed away from inoperable lung cancer. He had been fighting for the past 3+ years and really fought hard. I had seen him quite a bit recently as he was going to the same oncologist group as I am. I went to the viewing yesterday afternoon. It was even more difficult than these things usually are because of what I've been going through the past eight months.

Ah Lisa,

I can certainly appreciate how you are feeling. You are a tough cookie though, to hang in there and attend the viewing. I am sure his family appreciated you being there more than they could possibly express.

I gotta say, we have a lot of strong women here. It is very inspiring. This thread remains a gift.

Thank you Laura and Linda. The thread is more of a lifeline than anything.

Anne, I hope you are having a wonderful trip and that your Dad's recovery from his arm injury speeds up.

GAGWTA!

 

[NHAnn]

Popping in for a quick hello from the Dolphin!!

Laurie- I thought of you last night. DH and I were in ESPN Club for a bite before walking over to Illuminations. DH ordered a beer and I thought that sounded good though I am usually a glass of white wine girl. Beer seemed more fitting in the ESPN CLub. Blue Moon was on menu....in the moment I could not think of where I'd heard about it. I asked the waiter what kind of beer it was, he said kind of citrus-y and quite good. I said I'd try it. I loved it, he served it with an orange slice in it! Then I remembered I had read on here that you liked it! So.........I had a second one for you

Lisa, I am so sorry about your friend And glad you are cleared for your trip. Where are you staying?

LMP...kids can be such a challenge. I was in a dream world when I thought that once DD was 20ish that the challenges would ease. They just changed.


GAGWTA!!

 

[wdw4us2]

Thanks for your thoughts Laurie and Ann.

We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge from Tuesday to Thursday. Monday we will be at the Hampton Inn near Hotel Plaza Blvd.

 

[snappy]

Ah, Blue moon, I had one on tap with my wonderful fish dish with mushrooms and crawfish at Parains, a local seafood place Friday night. It was good, with a slice of orange slipped on the side of the glass, although I think I like it out of the bottle better.

Gotta love Lent!

Fridays in lent are completely crazy here traffic wise. Everyone is converging on their favorite seafood dispensary as if it was their last meal. We do not have enough places to pick up on this side of town so you take your life into your hands venturing out.

Hope your trip is relaxing, Ann, and the weather warm.

Lisa, so you are on the lodge side? That lobby area is wonderful. I liked the breakfast we had at Boma very much. It was a paticularly good choice on our first morning as we were still famished from getting there and settling in with groceries, etc.

I also liked Sanaa, especially since we went for a late lunch, way past 2 pm. We could sit at a window table and really took our time as watching the animals was so fun (man were they close), and we were not rushed. Loved the bread you order separately at Sanaa, the type they make in house was particularly good (I would order 3 of those next time).

I am trying to get my ducks in a row to file the paperwork for scholarships again this year with FASFA and CS profile. We finished our taxes this week a la Tubotax , but a new form (8815) that we used for the first time this year that gives up to a $2500 tax credit for tuition and books not covered by scholarships is giving an error that the IRS is supposed to be fixing. These are very nice credits, $2500 per student ceiling, so if your have these expenses, check it out. I think it might be new this year.There are restrictions on income.

If I can get DD19's W-2 info I think I can at least finish the paperwork for the scholarships. I am determined to finish the paperwork for the scholarships before my March trip.

I hope you have a lovely trip, Lisa. Sorry we are not coordinating our trips better. I would love to meet you live and in person. Someday. . .

LMP, do you have more info about the damage $$ on your DS's car?

You must be like us, paying big $$ on auto liability insurance each year.
Although it did go down for DS21 when he turned 21. He only has had 1 accident, although a number of tickets, none recently. Somehow the tickets don't seem to be affecting us so far.

Ann is right, though, the issues with older kids are just different. Being a parent, while rewarding, is also a daily challenge. I can tell you that even long distance, you are never really free of the worries. I seem to worry more than DH, he is jus more circumspect about it.

The mom of one of DD14's friends was just diagnosed with breast cancer. I finally talked to her yesterday, her tumor was only 5 mm. Yay! She had a petscan this week and all was clear. I am not sure if she had an invasive component or not, we had a rushed conversation as the girls were headed to the mall.

However, she is doing a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. She will have the implant exchange in about 6 months.

She is tall and thin, no doubt a lumpectomy would leave little breast left, and since this runs in her family she wants both off.

I am always amazed how every case is different. It seems most of the moms here that have gone through this have opted for the lumpectomy.

I just pray they don't find any invasion in her lymph nodes. I am not sure how much she really understands as she glibly said, it was not in the lymph nodes since the petscan was clear.

I really think that the only way to make sure that there is no node involvement is to have the sentinel node surgery. Maybe I am already out of the loop?

Now I am wondering if they will even test her nodes. Is node removal surgery changing? Anyone know? If you can avoid that part of the surgery, it would be so much better.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think they will probably test a node or two when she has her surgery. They probably just didn't see any "hot spots" on the PET scan.

I enjoy your musings about the places you visit, Laurie. It's like we have our own little Samantha Brown here with us. BTW, did anyone catch her 10 year anniversary special? She cracks me up!

GAGWTA