Analemma

Here's a link explaining COBRA : http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/cobraemployee.pdf

But, basically, if you cut back hours or quit your job so you are no longer entitled to participate in your employer's health plan, you would have to pay for COBRA.  If you either quit work or earn less than $900 or so per month in wages, you will be ruled eligible for SSDI benefits, but will not begin to receive anything until five months later.  You are eligible for Medicare 24 months after that, so 29 months from when you were deemed eligible for SSDI.

So, while related, COBRA and SSDI rules and eligibility are separate issues.

You need to jump over to the metastatic/recurrence board.  Something's not right here.  She only has mets to her bones and they are giving up on treatment?  There are lots of treatments, and cancer patients don't die from bone mets.  What causes cancer death is organ failure or brain problems, in most cases.  There's part of this puzzle missing.

Kelly, wow!  And my kids always called me the grammar Nazi!  I'm the same way about errors and typos jumping off the page at a glance; it's like having to metaphorically bite my tongue to avoid correcting them.

Susan, what a great idea.  I'm in the process of retiring as a potter.  I don't know if the chemo has anything to do with it, or just age, but I've developed chronic tendonitis in my hand.  And with the economy, sales are really down, anyway.

I'm a sustainability nut.  I'm obsessive about minimizing our carbon footprint, and leaving the earth at least as good as I found it.  I love compost!  I planted a backyard orchard in 2007 (six trees) and hope I live to see it really produce fruit.  This summer I bought a little red tractor with a backhoe and front end loader and dug a pond.  Next summer, if luck holds out, we plan to build a waterfall/ stream down the "mountain" that is the dirt from the pond.  Recently I've been reading Michael Pollan and Robert Jensen.  I used to read incessantly, but recently I find that I want to put my hands to more tangible work.

I used to paint some, and I hope to do more of that now that I can't throw clay anymore.  I bought some canvas and oils just last week.

I'm a darn good cook.  I used to be really into gourmet style cuisine, but now I'm more in tune with Alice Waters, using what's fresh and local.  We still have mesclun greens from the garden, and swiss chard, and just built a cloche over the newly sprouted salad greens (an experiment) that I'm hoping will make it through the Cleveland winter and start growing in February.  I've got this brainstorm of getting a few laying hens next spring, with a moveable coop so we can have pasture raised eggs without having chickens destroying the gardens (and the neighbors' yards).  In April the asparagus will begin in earnest and then we're off again.  I measure my life by the gardens.

I agree with Annie to get it checked to ease your mind....  but, I can feel a pinching sort of pain and a bump where the surgical clips were put in after my lumpectomey.  So, it could also be that.

Here's what my DIL has done:

http://www.tnbcfoundation.org/peoplemaking.htm

Scroll down, look at "Lemonade Stand" ; "Terri and Larisa"  (Larisa is the DIL) and "Children's Cards". 

She's a doer, and can't stand it that I probably won't live to see the cure she's working so hard to raise funds for.

BF

I had posted on the new Xeloda thread a couple of days ago after having a new CT that showed some lymph node activity (again).  I was about to post there, but decided to start a new thread. 

So - I saw the oncologist today  and she suggested - and I agreed - to hold off on beginning treatment until after the holidays.  The recurrence noted on the CT report is "Interval development of right hilar lymphadenopathy - reactive lymphadenopathy versus versus evolving metastatic disease must be considered."  So, she's certain it's a recurrence because of my history, but given that it is very limited and I've been NED for 9 months after chemo, she's comfortable to wait until January and scan again for progression, as long as I'm asymptomatic.  This is almost exactly what happened last year - in terms of timing - I had a chest xray on November 10 that was abnormal, spent the rest of the year going through more tests (CT, PET, bronchoscopy) to get a conclusive diagnosis, and started chemo in January.  Only last year I was frantic about the delay.  The oncologist I had then (I've since switched) told me that I had some time to plan what I wanted to do, but I was so concerned about starting treatment that I rushed to start ASAP and scheduled chemo the first appointment I could get, which was mid-January.  This year, I have a different outlook about quality of life issues, and realize that this is my road until I die.  So, I'm comfortable with postponing treatment, since I'm feeling pretty darn good - finally!

Last year we were so down with the stress of not knowing, then the conclusive dx coming just a few days before Christmas, that we did almost nothing for the holidays.  This year, I plan to enjoy my family.

I have been on a chemo holiday and staying away from the boards.  Yesterday's CT scan showed an enlarged hilar lymph node, and the dr. called yesterday to tell me the bad news and talk about what's next.  Her choice is to try Xeloda single agent, so I too have been looking for information on the boards.  I'm triple negative, and it seems like there hasn't been a lot of success.  But, I'm willing to try to avoid the hair loss and IV chemo through the holiday season.  I had halfway thought (before I got results) that if it came back positive I might wait until the new year to start treatment, anyway.  I figure even if Xeloda fails, I'm no worse off than waiting until Jan 1.

I go in to see her on Friday morning, all the discussion so far has been the brief phone call to go over CT results.

In reading back over old threads, it seems that more and more are using one week on / one off scheduling to avoid hand-foot syndrome.  I didn't talk about that with the onc, so I don't know what she is planning. 

I heard this morning that if Ted Stevens resigns or is removed from his post, the governor of Alaska will appoint a new US senator.  So, Sarah Palin can't appoint herself......but, she could resign as governor first, making the current Lieutenant Governor the governor, who COULD appoint SP to the US Senate!

Ace, thanks for the image.  I'd seen that long ago.  It really does point out our hubris in thinking that anything we do matters much in the big picture, doesn't it?  I mean, I feel a big responsibility to be a good person, and to take care of the earth and my family and other people.  But even if we humans destroy our planet like it seems we are determined to, it still seems like it's insignificant to the Universe when you try to comprehend the sheer vastness of it all.

Link's still not working.  where is the post?