Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part III - GAGWTA!

[snappy]

Smilie, your grandaughters are beautiful, just like you.

What a lovely picture, thanks so much for sharing. Your family sounds like such a wonderful tribe. I am glad to know you have such wonderful people and memories to rely on.

I am glad you are a little better. I hope you don't have a relapse.

What a crazy medical visit, Maryann.

What was the song that reminded you of us? Love to know. I am listening to a lot of Beatles these days. Just helps me make it through the day, or is that the night? I also like Michael W. Smith (Christian music), and my long time standby for getting through the bad times, Springsteen.

Cheryl, glad that so far so good this time around with your chemo. You amaze with with your attitude and your fortitude. I cannot wait to hear which granite you pick. Sounds like a picture moment to me!

Y'all are not gonna believe it but this time Monday I will be hanging at the Beach Club! I decided last night that without some sort of break, something was going to give in me. Lots of major drama with my brother in Costa Rica this week, that has now settled down after causing much turmoil. I mentioned Harry Potter and that was all it took for DD15. Somehow we also got her everloving Harry Potter friend Molly who joined us in WDW in May 2007 to come along, although she is not really even off all week from school ( DD15 is out all week for Mardi Gras). She went in and spoke to her teachers, and because she is such a serious and committed student, they did not have a problem with her missing a few classes. I have not landed a Universal resort yet (wanted to for at least one night), just to get in early to Harry Potter land. But I think they will like the Beach Club pool just fine (we never stayed there before). I know I will miss my boardwalk, but I will certainly visit it.

I am driving, am I crazy or what?

Off to check to see if we are going to be able to eat anywheres.

I am going to bring beads and hopefully bribe my way into a good view. We will see. No AP discounts for moderates or values or my Wyndham Bonnet Creek at this late hour, so Beach Club will just have to do!

I need to get DH to give me refresher course on his new Rebel T2 camera (DD15 is a whiz with it) so I can maybe get some pictures. I need to chill some this coming week. I really need to get away and I am about to do it. Leaving sometime Sunday (I actually just got home from work-the payroll must go out!), I am thinking of staying on the gulf coast halfway to break up the trip, and once again chill. Sorry I will miss you Cheryl!

 

[wdw4us2]

Just a quick note to let you know that my chemo was uneventful today, but rather long. I was there from 10:45 until 5:10. I'm just happy that I tolerated the drugs with no reactions. Still feeling pretty good and I go for my Neulasta shot tomorrow at noon. I'll keep you updated when I feel well enough to do so.

Cheryl - You should email or PM me about your anti-nausea meds. DH is a pharmacist and might have some suggestions for you to ask your oncologist about.

Hoping everyone has a great weekend!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Have you considered staying at the Dolphin, Laurie, or are they booked solid? Good for you. (Speaking of the Dolphin and cameras, I have a Trip Report going on the photography board if anyone wants to follow along.) I am a big Beatles/Paul McCartney fan as well. The best thing I did for myself in a very long time was to get an iPhone - if not for the other aspects, just for the iPod, which I never had before. I love listening to all my favorite music so simply. I was really nervous on the plane and I just put my headphones in and enjoyed some 60s/70s soft rock and I was all set.

Thinking of all of you and following your posts. I am amazed by your strength and fortitude daily.

Lisa, glad you had an uneventful, albeit loooong chemo session today.

smiley, I'm so glad your DIL and DGDs were well provided for! That was a loving gift your son gave to them. Impressive to have taken care of all that at such a relatively young age, with all they had going on! I was showing my family your family pictures tonight. My DH could not believe all your family has on its plate right now. I don't recall if I mentioned it before, but he lost his youngest brother a few years ago and it's been really hard on his family.

lmp, were you inspired by Billy Joel?

Cheryl, to kitchen remodels! I still remember my oncologist saying when I asked her about our planned renovations, "If it's ok with your banker, it's ok with me". I would love to hear more about it! What are you planning to do and what are your inspirations?

DH seems to be getting what I have, now, too. Did I mention DS also had a GI bug this week (and probably dropped 5 lbs in a couple of days!). DD, believe it or not, was also showing some symptoms as well. Probably in for another long weekend.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Linda - so sorry that now your ds and dh are sick. I hope they recover quickly. I will get to your trip report.

smiley - your gdg are beautiful. I so admire your strength with all you are going through. I just cant imagine. I know my sister died when my youngest ds was 3 days old and then my mom died right after I almost died the week before. I had another massive staph infection post op from other stomach surgery. My prayers are with you. I know my faith got me through those rough rough times.

Laurie - you are so spontaneous! I hope you have a wonderful time. Guess what they have BINGO at the pool at the BC. Its like $1 a card and you can win Disney prizes. Ds picked out an expensive game once. You must go! Have a wonderful time!

O.K. The song was in my head. I looked it up on you tube. It was not beautiful but amazing. Its You are Amazing by Bruno Mars. I dont know what music I like. Christian music I love Chris Tomlin, he is going to be at the WDW Night of Joy in Sept. How I would love to see him and I like Hillsong. I grew up on Carol King.

Also that song reminded me of how this guy at church always says that "I look marvelous" when I probably looked like the truck ran over me post op.

GTAGWTA

 

[MerryPoppins]

Lost my sexy post.

No trip to disney in our near future. We are renting out this years points and giving the $ to our son for their honeymoon. Not sure what our vacation will be

Sorry smilie was so sick. And ick to the flu. Scary reaction to the med.

I'm glad to have dh home. So nice to not be alone.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Melissa - sorry you lost your sexy post. I actually know a secret about Pop Daddy aka Jason, but wont type it here in public, not even a pm.

I am glad your dh is home Melissa and that is so sweet that you are giving your ds and future dil such a nice gift! I am sure it will be much appreciated.

 

[wdw4us2]

MaryAnn - I'm sorry that you have so many problems with the personnel at your doctor's office. I especially liked the Nurse Ratchett reference. Other than my doctor in Miami, I have been very fortunate to have caring doctors along with their staffs. It really makes a difference.

Laurie - I am very jealous of your spontaneous trip! I am definitely needing a WDW fix, but I know it's still months away. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Sometimes the unplanned trips are the most fun. I am sending DH and DS for a weekend trip March 18th. Hope the weather stays as nice as it has been lately.

smiley - Thanks for the picture of your granddaughters. I'm so sorry that you're dealing with so much right now. It's tough enough dealing with chemo, but you have so much other stuff going on, too. My only advice would be to concentrate on what's happening right now, and only on the things you have some control over. You can worry about the future when you're feeling stronger physically.

Feeling okay today. Not great, but not bad either. I have my shot at noon and DD should be back from UCF when I get home. I'm definitely looking forward to some normal conversations for an entire week!

I like reading about what people listen to that helps them through things. I can't narrow it down to only one artist as I have music from the 50's through today's music. I try to listen to upbeat songs on my iPod during my infusions - the slow stuff tends to get me down. I'm just afraid that I'm going to start singing along at some point and that would be scary for the other patients!

 

[MinnieTink]

Hi all, just checking in. I still pray for all of you! For those of you going thru your treatments, I will say extra prayers for you and your families during this tough time. My mom had her chemo towards the end of last summer. It was tough but now she is doing great and her hair is growing in so cute! She has her first post-diagnosis mammo in a few weeks. She is nervous about it...but that seems natural. I will continue to think about you and pray for you.

PS I'm wondering about the song too.. Maybe Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel... Or maybe Amazing by Bruno Mars?

Peace to all

 

[snappy]

Good to see you, Minnie Tink. Thanks for posting. Glad your mother is doing well.

It is very natural what your mom is feeling before her first after cancer mammogram. It gets a little easier each time, but in the back of your mind forever is what came before.

I like to hear what others listen to as well. I was stuck on the Blues Travelers for years back in the mid nineties. Gotta love Roy Orbison's voice, and George Harrison's wasn't half bad either. Bob Dylan, well he is just
Bob Dylan. I went to the dentist Thursday which for some odd reason is becoming more edgy for me, and I went with just Orbison.

In my car it is usually this one particular Springsteen CD that is really a collection of Pete Seeger folk songs that Springsteen recorded in say 2005/2006.

We heard that band, with Springsteen of course, play live a lot of those songs at the Jazz Fest in 2006, the first fest after Katrina. I will never forget it, it was just my friend Cindy from New Orleans, DH and I but I in particular was over the moon that day. It was a little strange as Springsteen's regular band was not there, so he did not do hardly any of the songs he is famous for.

I am madly getting ready for this trip. I still have some work to do and my mom wants me to look over the papers her estate lawyer drew up. I wish could clone myself. No wonder I need a vacation. I find my self becoming way too shrill.

I wish I could meet you, Lisa, maybe in May. Sha what are you doing next week? Need any Mardi Gras beads, girlfriend?

Glad you DH is home, Melissa. What a wonderful gift for your son and his wife. Is the wedding in 2011?

MaryAnn you have me curious about Popdaddy. Can you divulge it in person in May? I am still going you know. This trip is just a place holder, and anyway more about Harry Potter.

Ok, where in the heck should we eat??? I am going with 2 vegetarian girls, one of who mostly likes pasta, and the other fruits and veggies. I may have to eat meat in the closet or something. Yikes!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Laurie, did you know there are lots of Disney Apps you can download onto your iPhone, such as Maps, Wait Times, Park Hours and even Restaurant Menus? We used these constantly on our trip, even from our room, lol. Very convenient, as far as restaurants go, to check meal times, menu items, prices, etc, and for information when in the parks that you don't have to go searching or running all over the place to find. Give them a peek if you don't already have them.

You'll probably want to avoid Shula's , but one restaurant I can think of that might suit the young ladies is Il Mulino (@ the Swan) for table service (sorry, I only resarched the ones at S/D this trip). We didn't eat there (probably should have, but we had a GC to another Italian restaurant already, however when we got there, it was closed, as in padlocked, lol ) but there are some nice vegetarian and pasta dishes, and, well, I'm partial to Italian. I know we've eaten at Cape May many times and always enjoyed the food there (not sure how they feel about seafood!). You are going to love Stormalong Bay!

 

[snappy]

Oh my, thanks, Linda. I knew about those aps but have not done that. My sister and her DH went to WDW in November and he is Mr. Apple, so I know he had all the aps. I will consult with him.

Thanks for the info about Il Mulino. I actually have a $25 Restaurant.com voucher from them.

I do think I will save my Shula's voucher for when I can talk DH into returning.

You must be feeling better to be talking about food and stuff.

Thanks, you were most helpful, as always, darlin'.

 

[annrae]

Hi Melissa: Are you able to receive pm's. How nice of you to give such a great gift to your son. I'd like to write to you about points if that is okay. Let me know if I can either e-mail or pm you. Thanks. Have a good week. Hugs, Barbara

 

[annrae]

Hi Cheryl: So glad you are doing better this time around. Please know that I think about you so often.

Take good care of yourself - Hugs, Barbara

 

[annrae]

Hi Maryann: I hope you had a good weekend - we are expecting more snow tonight - 8 to 12 inches - I just knew I put my winter boots away too early!

Take care and I'm sending lots of hugs your way. Hugs, Barbara

 

[CherylDan]

Wow! Has this thread been busy!!

Smiley, what a great picture! I sure hope that you continue to feel a bit better each day. I cna't even begin to imagine how hard it must be for you. How is your DIL doing?

Laurie, that is awesome that you are making the trip, and too bad that we will miss each other by only a day! Did you have any luck making dining reservations? I don't know what I'd recommend for vegetarians, I'd probably try to hit Boma for breakfast, nice variety there as far as vegetarian goes?

Linda, glad you are feeling better, hope it isn't too hard on the rest of your family. I love your oncologist's reply! Our original plan, and we had already started, was to re-do the kitchen slowly, in stages. New stove last year, new hardware & lights another year, etc, etc, and finally new countertops as a last step sometime down the road. But when I got diagnosed, that all changed. I don't know how long my road will be - but of course, neither does anyone for that matter. It's just something I wanted to hurry up and get it done. DH has been great about it, he is most certainly a keeper - but I've known that for 30 years now! Luckily, he is also very handy with tools, so he will be doing just about all of the work...saves a ton of money. And I'm fairly handy too, assuming I'm feeling up to doing stuff like tile backsplash when the time comes. It's been great for me, keeps me focused on something, and I'm always happy when I have a project to keep up with.

Lisa, I know you will enjoy the visit with your daughter, and all that multiple word conversation! Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Barbarba, nice to see you!

LMP, your doc sounds like a real pain....or at least the staff! I dunno, would it be too much trouble to change?


Anyway, I just wanted to stop in and say that I'm an idiot! Geesh, I finally got around to reading the discharge papers I got from the hospital after my compazine episode, and I now know that I was supposed to dissolve the zofran they substituted, not swallow it as a tablet. My new words to live by....."meds not working? maybe it's me!" I will say tho, that in my defense it would have been nice had they mentioned that, or at least put it on the bottle. Lisa, thanks so much for the offer, if it doesn't work when taken correctly, I'll take you up on that!

Granite shopping went well today, we picked out something called colonial cream, which is a creamy background with some black, gray, and golden steaks. Fairly light, should work well in our kitchen because our cabinets are a cherry color, the floor is too, and there is not much natural light, so a lighter granite should be good. The guy is coming Monday to measure and such. DH reconfigured our old sink base cabinet to accept the farmhouse style that is going in, worked out great.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekends! GAGWTA!!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

That granite sounds dreamy, Cheryl! A friend of mine just finished her kitchen and she used something like it, it sounds. Really, really nice. You were very patient to do a little at a time! I was patient in waiting 21 years but once we got started, I wanted it all done asap and all done at once!

I had so long to plan it I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted - but the one thing I was stumped about was the countertops. I really didn't want granite; I wanted to be a little different, and I was worried about cost (we are pretty much renovating the whole house, slowly). I bought a whole bunch of slate tiles (on clearance) one day spur of the moment thinking those would work. We loved the color and look. But once we researched it, we realized they wouldn't, as countertops anyway (we'll use them on the downstairs bathroom floor when we get to it, lol). We considered wood, glass, cement, tile, quartz, corian, formica, you name it. Once we priced everything out we realized that granite was actually a pretty good value, all things considered, and I was fortunate to find someone right near home who price matched, so we wound up with granite and it is one of the things I love most about my new kitchen, to my surprise! We still have a lot to do, but the kitchen renovation and new sunroom have really improved our inside space a lot from what it was.

Do you watch all the HGTV and DIY network shows, too? So many ideas there!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend. To think just a few days ago I could barely even type a response. What a nasty bug! Last night I still couldn't swallow, throat still feels like there's crushed glass in it. DH doesn't seem to have it as bad, but he is being treated for flu now, also. Gotta love this time of year.

 

[CherylDan]

Do you mean there are other channels besides HGTV and such???? I think I'm addicted to it!

I can identify with your plan of redoing the whole house, over time. Seems like we have had a project going on of some sort ever since we bought our first house. Second house we built ourselves, with DH & I doing almost everything, with lots of help from family....took over a year, but we were able to get a much nicer house than what we could have afforded if we just bought one outright. We built this house we are in now 11 years ago, and have been, over the years, upgrading it. We used pretty basic stuff when building. So it's been our full time hobby....and something we get to do together.

Laurie, how's the trip going? I need to get packed today, we are leaving Thursday and I have chemo on Tues....figure I'll get done what I can before hand.

Have a great day everybody! GAGWTA!!!

 

[marcij]

Hey guys! All of you have been in my thoughts and prayers. I've been trying to continue working full time (though some from home) so it's keeping me more busy than I'd like. Made myself go in to work last Friday after chemo on Thursday and that didn't go over too well.

I have some questions for those of you who have had Taxol. My port and area surrounding it seemed to be more sore after chemo last week. It's not red or anything. Did any of you experience this?

I've had more sleepless nights because of the increase in steroids. After staying asleep even after ambien the first night, the nurse told me what to take with it and that helped, but I'm curious as to how long this lasts for most people. I didn't take anything Saturday night and was up most of the night again. Since I'm not having to take as much nausea medicine I guess that is another reason I'm having problems.

My arthritis did flare for a couple of days and seems better now, except for my lower back, left side. Has anyone developed back pain on this?

Thanks for the info and advice.

 

[snappy]

Arrived at beach club yesterday. Mixup with rooom...gave me a room being rehabbed. After we shuffled back to the lobby. I asked for a manager in my very best under control southern belle drawl, and got a$100 credit but we had to wait another hour for room number 2. Dd15 and her friend have been troupers, so very appreciative and cooperative. Not an iota of demanding things from. Sounds weird but I did mind the drive. My DH stops every hour when he drives- I mostly stopped to get gas. It helped staying over night past the midway point. Gosh I love being able to walk yo rocky. I went to rocky by myself because stormalong bay beckoned dd15 and her friend. We are at universal today and hit harry potter world. Pretty wild.

My poor mom is getting the desperate emails from my gambling addict brother. We will be having fun next week especially if he comes back to the states for residential treatment. Gosh, I despise gambling. Sorry to miss you Cheryl. These weather is some of the best I have seen, no humidity, love breezes. So many nice topiaries in epcot. I'm in heaven.


GAGWTA!!!!!!!!!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon ladies

Barbara - sorry you are dealing with the never ending snow. Spring cant come soon enough I am sure.

Smiley and Lisa - how are you both?

Marci - sorry you are having to deal with all these side effects

Linda - enjoyed your report so far. Love the picture of you dd. Too funny. Hope everyone is recovered at your house.

Cheryl - hope your chemo goes well today and have a great trip. Enjoy the great weather.

Laurie - so glad you made it safely and are having a good time. Sorry about your BC room. Now I am worried and I hope we dont get one of those rooms in May. What was wrong with it? (The original room). Was this the Beach Club or Beach Club Villas? I hope things work out for your brother and that he gets the help he needs. Its good that you all care about him so much.

Well the dr. sent me the script for the blood work so that is something positive. I just got back from my school meeting. It is just a miracle ofGod that we are still open. A friend just told me she has uterine cancer and will have surgery in the next few weeks. I saw the tears in her eyes and felt so bad for her as she has lots of family problems on her plate too.

GTAGWTA