LottaQuilts

During my chemo, I chose to not wear a wig, but to go with scarves and hats. 

Now that I'm all done and moving on with my new, post-BC life, I'd like to give these to another woman who might use them.

Any suggestions on where to donate?  There's an organization called Heavenly Hats, but they only want new stuff.

Abbi

Hi... I'm here.  Just been busy since coming back from vacation.

We had a great time.  It was so nice to see leaves and flowers and SUNSHINE. 

Well, I know the chemo didn't put me in menopause because I just had my first period since Aug.  Drat!  I was kinda hoping I was done with that.  Looking on the bright side, I'm taking it as a sign that my body is healing and that it's probably best for my bones and heart if I'm not in menopause at 45.....

Been looking for a job and I have my first interview set up for Friday afternoon.  The job sounds really great and is only like 10 minutes from my house.  Wish me luck!

I missed the hot-flash/Tamoxifin discussion.  I'm lucky in that I've been taking Tamox going on 3 months here and have yet to have any side effects.  I asked my onc. if that meant I wasn't metabolizing it.  She says no.... it just means I'm not getting any SEs.  So I consider myself lucky there.

So right now I have not too many lasting problems from my BC ordeal.  My scars are small, my hair is coming in nicely (I believe I look "normal" at this point)... I just have some tenderness still in my radiated breast which I assume is normal. 

Looks like I survived!

Abbi

OMG!!!

Between Barbie's shoes (I'm like a mini-Imelda Marcos.. I WANT THOSE SHOES), Paxton's 80's hair and Shrink's uneven boobies.... I'm just LMAO tonight.... you guys are the BEST!!!!

Abbi

Have we all made it to the finish line now?

I'm 13 days out and pretty healed.  I've been wearing real bras for about a week now.  The skin is just tan, but no peeling, itching, etc.  Wahoo!

Fatigue is still with me, though.  We're going to Florida on Friday for 10 days.  I'm hoping some rest, relaxation and SUNSHINE will give me some energy.  When we get back, I'm going to start job hunting... so I'll need some energy!

Abbi

(((Methusala))).  You sound miserable.  Only 2 more though, baby.... you can do it!!

Be generous with the cream.  I had Silvadine cream that wasn't doing too much for me until the nurse informed me that I needed to apply it like spackling... good and thick.

I never had blisters or anything though.  Hope the War Zone cream works for you.  You'll be surprised how fast you start to heal once your treatments are done.

Hang in there!

Anyone else from this group still in treatments?  I'm hanging out here at the finish line cheering you all on and I ain't leaving 'til we ALL cross the line!

Abbi

"Guarded Thankfulness" is a good term for the feeling, isn't it?  Now that all the treatment is over, you feel like you should get on with your life, but we're beat and battered and not really sure WHAT to do with the rest of it, right?

I feel almost like I've been given the gift of the rest of my life.  I survived and I now want to make every day count.  I feel like I should do something meaningful with my life, but what?  Right now, I'm just so darn TIRED!!  I'm battling bronchitis at the moment as well, so that doesn't help.

And no.... we're always going to be cancer patients.  My mom is 23 years out from her BC now.  She says cancer is not really something she's concerned about on a daily basis, but that every time she's got something wrong and they have to run a test she worries about it coming back as cancer.  And this year, for the first time in ages, she was nervous about a mammogram .... guess I brought that all up for her again.

I try to remind myself that I can't control the future.  Hopefully, I'll never have to deal with cancer again and, if I do, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. 

Wahoo, Marietta!  Feels great, doesn't it?

I'm not sure how much of my exhaustion is radiation fatigue and how much is "WOW, it's all over" kinda relief tiredness.

But I'm not working currently (going to start looking after we come back from Florida end March), so I can pace myself during the day.   And I sleep VERY well at night, which is a relief after the chemo insomnia problems I had last Fall.

My skin is really healing quickly.  The only red area is where my boost was, the rest is just kinda tan.  I also wore a real bra yesterday... it was actually no less comfortable than the sports bras.

Joni - consider yourself lucky.  I'm sure you got enough radiation... your body just took it well.  Isn't it amazing how we worry about SEs, but then if we don't have SEs we worry about THAT!!  Cancer sure messes with your mind.

Have a good day, everybody!

It's official!!  I'm freakin' done!!!

OMG.... this feels soooo good.

I managed to hold it together in the onc. office..... got in my car and sobbed!!!

Now I'm ready to get on with the rest of my life..... Wahoo!!

Abbi

One more to go!!!  Wahoo!!!

I was surprised to learn that I have to go back once a week for a couple months for a skin check.... hmmmm...  Oh well, beats the heck out of every day.

They even moved my appointment up a little for tomorrow.  Think of my at 11:30 EST!

Abbi

My kid story.  When I learned to write my name, I wrote it on  everything.  Carved it into my grandmother's cherry desk, the truck of my neighbor's car......  so maybe karma is coming back to get me, huh?

3 more boosts and I can join you at the finish line.  I'm surprised how fast I'm healing up already.  I only have one little sore spot - my SNB scar.  My nipple is really itchy, but my skin is starting to look less "lobster" and more "pink".... I think that's a good thing.

Tired..... tired....soooooo tired.  No one can quite understand the fatigue unless they've experienced it.  DH doesn't understand how I can wake up exhausted after a good 7-8 hours of sleep.  They just don't get it.

We had an exciting night last night.  DS (16) wakes me up at 11:30 pm to inform me that the kid's bathroom is flooded.  Sure enough, there's a couple inches of water on the floor, out into the hall carpet and it is "raining" through my kitchen ceiling below!

So we clean up, mop up, try to find the problem (no luck) so DH shuts off the water and decides we'll just call a plumber this morning....

So this morning as we're getting ready to call the plumber DD (13) confesses that she overflowed the bathroom sink last night but didn't want to tell anyone because she was afraid she'd get yelled at!!!

So today I'm calling around looking for someone who does drywall repair.  I'm probably going to have to replace a good portion of my kitchen ceiling.  Kids!!!!

Abbi