Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part III - GAGWTA!

[smiley_face2]

GAGWTA, Ladies!

Maryann, our sirens went off a few times but we mostly just had wind and rain. The weather has been nice this week.

Smiley, I misread your post about the order of your chemo drugs. I hope the Taxol is not too bad! My mom had 4 A/C followed by what was supposed to be 12 Taxol. I think they stopped after 8 or so. She then had 6 weeks of rads. The good news is that she is fine now, and I know you will be fine, too! Hang in there, and plan something FABULOUS for November!!

Yes sounds like we were on the same protocol. What symptoms caused her to have to stop hers early? I had a very bad day today, I have a previous condition with my esophagus that is reacting very badly to the chemo. lot's and lot's of pain. feeling better now thank goodness. I always think the only way this could be worse is if it was happening to someone I love and not myself.... my daughters are so very worried for me but are very supportive as you obviously are. I'm so glad your mom is doing well now!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Smiley, have you ever done any meditation work? Now would be a good time. It will help your body relax as much as possible. Find a quiet time and area and light a candle, incense (or other pleasant smell) if you have it, put some soft instrumental music on, and get in a comfortable position. Put a sign on the door or let people know not to disturb you. Begin by breathing deeply in and out, from the diaphragm (belly), not the chest. In and out. Go down your whole body starting from the top of your head and relax each muscle group. Don't rush. Remember to put every other thought out of your mind other than what you are doing - if they creep back in, push them out and focus on your breathing and your muscle relaxation. Keep it going.

When you're in a complete relaxed state, begin to think about whatever it is you'd like to think about that's pleasant and relaxful for you. Allow yourself to go and stay there. Plan this out ahead of time so you can fully focus on it during your meditation session. It could be a previous vacation, a place you'd like to go in the future, your grandchildren or when your own children were small, a place you imagine in your mind, a healthful state of your body and mind, etc. It's up to you. But once you decide what it is, focus completely on it and don't let your mind stray. If it's your body's health, for instance, picture how strong your body is. Imagine the sun shining on you (which you gather great strenght from) and your power walking somewhere pleasant. Picture all the sounds, smells, sights you'll see as well as your own strong body. Your beautiful (new) hair is shining in the sun and blowing in the breeze. Smell the springtime flowers. Hear the children playing and puppies barking, etc. Be creative. Stay there as long as you can - and you can go back there any time throughout the day for a "mini" session as well!

The benefits of relaxation are that your body releases endorphins which are its natural relaxers and analgesics. Endorphins work for hours, naturally. I think this will be one thing you can do that will help you get through the taxol period. It won't be perfect, but it will help. The beauty of learning to do this is that if you do it regularly, it's really helpful to keep your mind focused. Don't be surprised, though, if your emotions come out during these sessions. But that's ok. Let it go where it goes. If you wanted to afterward, you could journal your thoughts, which will also be helpful. Hope this helps a little bit. I learned to do it during my treatment and it helped me.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Yes sounds like we were on the same protocol. What symptoms caused her to have to stop hers early? I had a very bad day today, I have a previous condition with my esophagus that is reacting very badly to the chemo. lot's and lot's of pain. feeling better now thank goodness. I always think the only way this could be worse is if it was happening to someone I love and not myself.... my daughters are so very worried for me but are very supportive as you obviously are. I'm so glad your mom is doing well now!

She had a LOT of problems with neuropathy and numbness in her hands. She was losing a lot of her fine motor dexterity. She had stage III ILC, a fair amount of positive nodes, and nodal extension on some of them. I think her oncologist had to kind of weigh out being aggressive vs. the side effects. She had the test to forecast her chances of recurrence but it was inconclusive - her results were essentially "maybe, maybe not".

Now she struggles with lymphedema in her arm, but she doesn't follow the instructions to minimize it. She is still on daily Arimidex. She has been good about going to all of her follow up appointments, which surprises me. She never went to the Dr. before, but apparently she has decided that was not a good plan.

I'm sorry the chemo side effects have been so nasty for you. Definitely try the meditation like Linda suggested.

GAGWTA, Ladies! Hope everyone has a nice Mother's Day weekend!

 

[OceanAnnie]

I just wanted to pop in and say hello.

I have been putting this all out of my mind as best as possible. Not very good at it. I left the groceries in the vehicle for 2 hours after shopping. Just started doing other errands. All the cold stuff waiting. Luckily, I had them in a cold bag and they made it. Completely forgot. Dropped the ball on some school stuff. My mind just wasn't there. I had been kidding myself all along that I wasn't thinking about what was ahead.

I had the surgery yesterday. The doctor removed the ducts from one breast. Cried a lot of tears. I was an emotional mess. Fortunately, I have very little pain. A 500 mg Tylenol does the trick. The surgery wiped me out. Slept all day. I'm not myself today, but it's just from going under.

The doctor will get the lab results on Tues.. He did say it looked 98% good. So I have 2% of worry, multiplied by my imagination. I'm glad to have the surgery behind me. I met the anesthesiologist before the surgery and I told him, it's nice to meet you and I hope you'll never see me again. He laughed and told me he understood.

So, I'll be waiting and telling myself I'm not thinking about it. Like Scarlet O'Hara, I'll tell myself I'll think about it tomorrow. But I'm sure those thoughts will creep in just the same.

I have been reading about what everyone else is going through and I am keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers.

Smiley, I hope you are feeling better. I read about what you guys are going through and I feel like a big baby. You guys are tough warriors!

God speed on your battles.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good afternoon ladies

Annie - Glad you made it through the surgery.I hope you heal quickly. Hang in there. I know the waiting is tough! Blessings to you. Sounds like the dr. is very positive for a good outcome

Laurie - I sent you a pm, and then tried to do a part 2 of it, but they say you need to clean out your pm box as it is full, Maybe I should try an e mail?

Lisa - how can we see Meg without going on the ride??

Linda - they had a big thing on our tv about touch therapy (reiki) and I was thinking of you

Hope everyone enjoys their mothers day. After church I am thinking that the ds and I might go to the movies and see Soul Surfer. I really wanted to see this.

GTAGWTA, Have a wonderful mothers day. Blessings to you all.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Laurie - I sent you an e mail, so I guess check for that and maybe it might go to your e mail spam box, so see.

 

[wdw4us2]

MaryAnn - Not quite sure how you can see Meg without going on the ride. She has her last day of training tomorrow, so perhaps she will know something after that. She and a friend are just starting the Expedition Everest 5K run right now. I'll let you know what I find out, or you can PM her here. Her DIS name is meg1mmfan.

 

[CherylDan]

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy mother's day!
Thinking of you all.....GAGWTA!!!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day!

 

[Sha]

Happy Mother's Day

 

[snappy]

Happy mother's day y'all!!!

Hope you each have a special day.

Say hi to your moms, Sha and Elizabeth!. Thanks for joining us on this thread in support of your moms!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Happy Mother's Day to my GAGWTA pals!

Annie, crossing my fingers for good results!

 

[wdw4us2]

Happy Mother's Day to all the great Mom's on this thread!

Enjoy your day!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good morning ladies

Hope you all enjoyed your Mothers day.

Sha - tell us when your plans are finalized

Marci - how are you

Linda - Guess the pool will be calling your names soon.

Anyone get anything nice for Mothers Day? My thoughtful ds19 gave me..ready for this...a 7 day pill box. Guess he heard me say I got mixed up sometimes if I took stuff. Nothing says love like a pill box. He did make me the banana pudding.

We went to church. Then we went to see Soul Surfer. Great movie! and then we went out to eat linner. Of course ds23 sees an old grade school friend, then he sees a basketball family from his team and then ds2 and 3 see a friend. Talked to dh. Told him what is going on.

And in the if another thing goes wrong dept., yesterday we figured out the refrigerator is not working. Ds21 tried to fix it. Now I am wondering if we should eat the food etc. So I have been looking on line at Lowes.

I am thinking of getting the french door stainless steel one. This one we have is over 20 years old. All I can say is wowsa$$.

So if anyone wants to give me an appliance opinion I am listening.

Then ds21 says as we are pulling into the drveway., oh look at the tree, its dying, yup the tree I think a pear tree is half dead., what next?(sorry for whining and it isnt even medical stuff this time)

GTAGWTA.

 

[PatsMom]

Hello everyone! Happy mother's day a day late to all the mother's. I had a great day. We went to Boston for the weekend. Sunday we were driving home, stopped to visit with my mother for a little while, then went out to eat. Didn't get a chance to see my daughter which was kind of sad but she sent me a note saying happy mother's day to the best mother ever!

Now I only have less than two weeks until my vacation to Disney! And then it will be time to start the process of dreading my three month cystoscopy in June and then three more treatments.

Hope everyone's treatments are going well. Saturday was National Cancer Awareness Day. It would be nice if everyone could understand how this disease takes its mental and physical toll!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Linda - Guess the pool will be calling your names soon.

I wish. We had it installed well over a week ago but the brand new liner had a leak in it and there were two minor problems with the deck as well. The guys just left after disassembling the pool ledge and replacing the new liner with another new liner. (My mother and I made them lunch for coming back!) I was hoping it would have been ready for Mother's Day as we had people over and it was fairly nice in the afternoon - kids have been DYING to go in!! We still have to wait another 24 hrs for the liner to settle before anyone can go in. What a pain! Then we still have the deck people to deal with. Kind of funny, I've heard from a lot of people that pools often have a lot of problems at the outset, but once they're up and running they're great. I sure hope so!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Ocean Annie, how are you doing?

Smiley?

Everyone else?

 

[OceanAnnie]

Ocean Annie, how are you doing?

Smiley?

Everyone else?

Thanks for asking, Pea-n-me.

I'm waiting to hear. I'm trying to keep busy. I called once. So I'm going to try not to call them again. They said it was a little early and would check to see if the results have come in and if so they would call back. I guess it hasn't. If I haven't heard anything by later this afternoon, they did say to call back.

I'll let you know once I talk to them. I already had retail therapy. I do need to pick up the kids early today, so that will keep me busy.

-----------------------------------------

Smiley, I hope you are doing better.

I hope everyone is having a good day!

 

[Candy30]

Hi Everyone!

Ocean Annie- Waiting is a terrible side effect of having cancer. Sometimes I think it is the worse! Let us know what you find out. It sounds like it is a postive outcome. Hang in there!

Lisa- I am sorry you had problems this time with treatment. I hope you are feeling better.

LMP- Oh my you are right! When it rains it pours! Refrigerators....we bought ours from a scratch and dent and it was about $200-400 less on every appliance we looked at. The dent was in the back and you wouldn't see it anyway. We got a stainless steel side by side. I don't think I would get another side by side. Not enough room. We have a Sears scratch and dent and another local one. I wanted to see that movie too! I am glad you enjoyed your day. I am praying things get better for you.

PNM-I know you can't wait to get that pool up! I want to come over and swim. I am not going to swim like Lisa but if they had a aqua Lazy Boy.....that would be me!

Patsmom- I am so glad you have Disney to look forward to. You have been through a lot lately and deserve it!

Smiley- Glad you are feeling better.

So son went out to take the test and failed the eye exam. So he couldn't take the test. I feel bad for him because he studied like crazy. I had my endocrinologist appt today and vitamin D is low so uped that dose. My thyroid or should I say half thyroid is not working well enought so she put me on Synthroid. Anyone have experience with that drug? I saw the hematologist and good news: I am still in remission after a year and half w/o chemo. Working toward that 2 year mark!!!! So there is no vacation for us this year because we are going to a place called BRACES! My daughter got them on today. She was so excited but now.....not so much!
She asked about Disney and I told her unfortunately our vacation is your braces. So enjoy them! We may go to the beach but have to wait and see. Weather is better finally but now we are plagued by stink bugs!!!!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Just wanted to tell you guys I had good and a little not so good news. It was a polyp kind of thing. I go in to see the surgeon at the end of the month. He mentioned seeing hyperplasia and highly recommends that I go on tomaxifin. I have a lot of research to do on both. I'm not ready to do it. I don't want to do it. But I do need to be informed. Is it something you are ever ready for? I have been reluctant in the past but I haven't been told anything like hyperplasia before either.

Has anyone had hyperplasia and if so, what did you do? Did you go on tomoxafin for hyperplasia? If so, what has been your experience?

Thank you all for the well wishes and concern.