Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part IV - GAGWTA

[Sha]

Somehow I missed this post from Melanie... here is the link

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk...565.What_a_difference_a_year_makes/?ref=fbrec

 

[snappy]

i love the way Melanie expresses herself.

What a great role model she is for others! I think becoming a nutritional healer is the perfect place for her to be.

Thanks for link and thanks for sharing such upbeat words on this Friday.

 

[snappy]

I forgot to post that I finished adding captions and music to my graduation slide show last night. It still needs a bit of tweaking so we saved it to a jump drive. I need the creative geniuses at the Apple store to help me finish this off so I have a one to one scheduled at 10 am.

I finished I think around midnight, then watched it all the way through-it is about an hour long. I am a little groggy this morning.

It starts with Thank heaven for little girls by Maurice Chevalier.

It sets the tone.

I need to focus on the food for the grad party and our upcoming WDW trip. It is a relief to have basically finished the slideshow. Would have been more enjoyable to have had a longer time period to work on it so I would have not felt time pressure. I guess we complete some projects more effectively with a time table but I am not sure if that applies to creative projects.

Diana, I hear you about keeping those DVC points. We bought a small BWV contract in 2007. I was 3 years from diagnosis and about 9 months post-reconstruction. I did not really feel like I was out of the woods yet but in my mind buying something that had a shelf life all the way to 2042 sounded life affirming. I was very intrigued with that resort, but had not stayed there or an any of the EPCOT resorts for that matter. So we bought sight unseen. Got the call that our resale offer had been accepted at the softball field one night, but did not stay there until 2008, the year DD21 graduated from college.

It was a wonderful trip, and although we have stayed at OKW several times, I really like that Epcot resort area best.

In a way I wish we had more points but I also like the Bonnet Creek area so it works for us to split time between DVC and either the Wyndham time share or the Waldorf or the HIlton there.

Do you stay mostly at one resort or do you try different ones?

 

[Dancind]

Snappy, our home resorts are OKW and BCV. We have stayed at all of them, but I like BCV the best. For the location, like you. And BC was where we stayed on our first trip to WDW.

My Dr mentioned Tamoxifen,even though I am almost 60 (59 today) and well past menopause. I don't think I will be able to take it from what I hear about women who had fibroids. Would also like to avoid any more surgeries, so no reconstruction.

The hormone meds are all forms of chemo and pretty nasty. I'm one of those people that gets the side effects that are "rarely seen". I will give it a good try though.

 

[snappy]

Sorry I let your birthday today slip my mind, Diana. Happy birthday, dear. We are the same age. My 59th is later this year.

I was not sure about reconstruction. I saw a tv show about it and did some reading as well. It is not a thing to undertake unless you are really all in. I found the prothesis very difficult to live with. It is hot and humid here half the year. Also I needed a very large prothesis that was, in addition to my good side, hard on my neck and shoulders. With reconstruction you can opt for reducing the good side. It was the right choice for me, more than 2 years post mastectomy.

Not for everyone though.

I like beach club, stayed on the hotel side last year during our trip at Mardi gras. Best stroll to Epcot that could be imagined.

 

[Sha]

i love the way Melanie expresses herself.

What a great role model she is for others! I think becoming a nutritional healer is the perfect place for her to be.

Thanks for link and thanks for sharing such upbeat words on this Friday.

I have all her posts in a note on the FB Team page... can add to the bottom. It appears that each link will have to copied and pasted. Oh well.

 

[snappy]

You are awesome Sha.

You have motivated me to get on face book again. You and Melanie.

 

[Sha]

Morning ya'll.... have to go see a couple clients I couldnt see yesterday (on my day off) plus paperwork. yay me LOL

Laurie... not awesome but thank you. Its not hard to help others right? its just those that take advantage of that generosity that make it harder to be that way. The takers.

Speaking of takers... I am going to be inviting my other sister, K, the one I was hauling around last year..... yeah... no one pushed that on me. I just feel that its mom's 80th and I hope that we do pictures... so I am going to probably take my sloven sister to the dentist before we go to get her teeth cleaned AND take her shopping so I can pick her clothes and she looks somewhat decent for pictures. Definitely NOT a saint... just want it to be good for mom... and less for me to stress about.

I have tried the reset of settings... lets see if it works when I come back! Thanks Smiley

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good morning ladies

Diana - Happy Birthday. I love the Beach Club too. We used to love the Poly, but with the pool isssues we like the Beach Club better with the bracelets and location too.

Laurie - your video tribute to your dd sounds wonderful. I love that song!! Too bad I have all boys

Sha - sorry you have to work today. Loved reading Melanies blog. Like to read different perspectives on this. Sounds like your mom is going to have a wonderful birthday with all the plans you are making. I know she will definetely appreciate all you are doing for her special day

PatsMom - how are you feeling?

Lisa - How are you feeling? Thinking of you.

Linda - There go my Yankees again. Goodbye Mariano. I think your Sox are going to do well this season.

Well I have a headache from ds2. He has his opinions about things and of course they are the total opposite of mine. My dh has his own parenting style. I wish I didnt have to parent a 22yo. But the things that need to be accomplished are slowly getting done with everyones help.

I am on vacation countdown because I so need this for sure. 12 days

GAGWTA

 

[smiley_face2]

Morning ya'll.... have to go see a couple clients I couldnt see yesterday (on my day off) plus paperwork. yay me LOL

Laurie... not awesome but thank you. Its not hard to help others right? its just those that take advantage of that generosity that make it harder to be that way. The takers.

Speaking of takers... I am going to be inviting my other sister, K, the one I was hauling around last year..... yeah... no one pushed that on me. I just feel that its mom's 80th and I hope that we do pictures... so I am going to probably take my sloven sister to the dentist before we go to get her teeth cleaned AND take her shopping so I can pick her clothes and she looks somewhat decent for pictures. Definitely NOT a saint... just want it to be good for mom... and less for me to stress about.

I have tried the reset of settings... lets see if it works when I come back! Thanks Smiley

Can't find a smiley with his fingers crossed for you but I found this one.. this is plan b if the other does not work.... you are an I wonder if your mom knows just how much you love her? She is lucky to have such a caring daughter!

 

[Sha]

it worked!! Thank you

I do love her a lot... and I think she knows. But if not there are the things that I have for her that will tell her.

 

[snappy]

I would say your mom absolutely knows how much you love her. I have spent time with these two wonderful ladies when they were together on at least three occasions since 2008 (additional occasions when Sha was solo).

Sha is so attentive to her mom. I only hope my own offspring treat me as well when I need their assistance.

I think it is so generous to include your sister with the issues. Such a gift for Mom.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

In between games, lol. Two states away yest, home today (thankfully).

GAGWTA

 

[snappy]

Oh my, starting early, Linda. Hope it is not 90 degrees like it is here. Have a good safe day. No injuries, no ER fest!

 

[snappy]

Hang in there, MaryAnn, you are on the home stretch to the trip. I am glad you did not cancel this trip. I hope it does it wonders for your frame of mind.

Yesterday I finished adjusting the fade in and outs to the music and adjusting volume to be consistent for the slideshow and some other tweaking with titles. I encountered major issues trying to export the file to a .mov file that would play the finished project outside of my computer where it was created. I googled the error message that I received, and it appears to be a common issue.

I spent most of the day watching it try to export, then having the process fail after about an hour and half. The good news was that since I was effectively tethered to my computer watching it run (very slowly), I got most of the house very clean and organized (at least for me). After the 4th failure, I resorted to calling Apple Care. Two calls to Apple support later and bing bing bing we have a winner. The file was too large with all the music added.

One kind soul at Apple support late on a Saturday night helped me separate it into two separate slideshows, and each one exported in about 30 minutes without failing. It plays just fine on DH's Sony large screen laptop, but in two parts.

Anyone buying a computer these days-buy as much RAM memory as you can. We have plenty of storage space but big projects like this required a lot of RAM. I am going to upgrade mine after this experience. We just got the off the shelf version in the store of the big iMac that has 4 gig of Ram. However, my big slide show at the highest resolution it would allow to be created (which of course is the one I went for :roll eyes was like 10 gig or something. I don't even need that level so I think we are good.

I continue to learn new stuff every single day of my life. Keeps us humble, right?

GAGWTA!

I still don't know if we will be able to play it on my friend's projection screen.

But I think it is a good first effort.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Good evening ladies

Barbara - giving you a shout out. Nice to "see" you. Hope all is well.

Anne - if you are reading. How was your trip? Continued prayers for Avery

Linda you are one busy traveling lady! Hope your ds won!


Sha - you have a heart of gold. I know how much you love your mom.

Laurie - I know your dd is just going to love your slide show and will realize how much love time and effort you put into it. How is dd 2 feeling. Any pain? Does she have a drs. visit soon?

smiley,Lisa,Linda, Diana and everyone else..Blessings to you.

I am joining Sha in the paperwork tomm. I forgot that I have like 17 pages of stuff to review, comment on etc. before my school meeting on Tues.

Got some sunscreen for the trip. Well its a start. Oh and 1 shirt.

Thurs. is my oncologist appt.

GAGWTA.

 

[slg]

Hello ladies:

I am a previvor recently told I have the BRCA1 mutation. I am 48 years old. I haven't had a mammo in almost 2 years, so now I'm worried I already have cancer

I go to the high risk centre for a mammo and screening on Thursday and I have an MRI scheduled for Sept. if all goes well with this first test. I am also seeing a gyn/onco on Jun 5.

Since I found out 2.5 weeks ago, I am finding it hard to feel joy in the future. I have 3 disney cruises in the works, my next one July 20 in NY, but I can't even talk about it or do any planning on it because I'm so afraid I won't be able to go. I don't want to think about it until after my gyn/onc visit June 5.

Travelling and disney are two of my passions. When I think about my trips, I start crying and planning seems impossible.

Anyone here who is BRCA1 who is willing to send some support and help on how to deal with this uncertainty. I know that life in itself is uncertain, but I'm just floored that I have this. The doctors kept telling me that my mother's breast and ovarian cancers weren't going to be hereditary as she was in her 70's when diagnosed and there isn't anyone else in the family who has them.

Sigh. Finding it hard to cope and feeling guilty as I don't even have a diagnosis of cancer yet. But with the risk so high, I feel doomed.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Welcome, slg. We understand how you feel.

I was curious what led up to your testing?

 

[slg]

My mother had breast cancer at age 73 in 2007, then ovarian cancer last June at age 77.

January 2011 I started having a pain on my right ovary. I was worried that it might be something awful as I have been so paranoid about ovarian cancer since Gilda Radner died of it...years and years! But my dr. wasn't worried at all so she didn't send me for any tests for 5 months, and then only a pelvic ultrasound, not trans******l as I requested.

When my mom was diagnosed, I got even more scared, but everyone assured me that there was no correlation and that my mother's chance of it being hereditary cancer was 5%. However, since I was so scared, her oncologist sent her for genetic testing.

She had the test in October and found out the results on Feb. 29...positive. I had the test the next day and found out the results on April 19. Then they sent me for a trans******l ultrasound which revealed a 3.5 cm cyst on my right ovary which couldn't be seen with an abdominal ultrasound, only trans******l.

I have been reading and researching like crazy and I'm just so paralyzed. The waiting and waiting is so difficult. I think about it all the time, but I can't plan very far ahead because I don't have any answers.

Its hard. It seems a lifetime of waiting to get cancer and that there's so little hope of being healthy. I had always viewed my body as healthy and now it seems like it will betray me at any moment.

Wow...I went on. That's sort of my story in a nutshell.

Thanks for the hugs.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

So I think you're saying your fear is twofold: 1) that you're worried about having breast and ovarian cancer now and 2) you don't know how to proceed given that you've tested positive? Understandable that it's shocking and saddening as it forces you to face it and sort of make a decision. Give yourself some time to absorb and accept the information. I'd make an appointment with an oncologist to help guide you in this. Reading is great but it's pretty scary. An oncologist can make it seem simpler and more positive.

I'm not sure how your health system works in Canada but you can have preventative bilateral mastectomies and oopherectomy here in the U.S. if you test positive if you want to, that's what some people do. I had BC but tested negative and I was told I could still have my ovaries out if I wanted to. Once you get some reassurance from your testing that could be something you want to consider. Find a good oncologist then take it one step at a time.

Remember that even for people who are diagnosed with cancers today there are a lot more options than there used to be and more people are living with cancer than dying from it. Getting it does take you through a grieving process, though, as a lot of emotions are wrapped up in health and anticipation of the future. When you're hit with cancer that can come to a screeching halt. Even though you don't have it, it would make sense that you could be experiencing some of the same feelings that people actually diagnosed with cancer feel since the gene kind of puts you in that high risk group and seeing what your mother went through put it so close to home.

Glad you joined us so we can help you through the testing and decision making if you so wish.