Best Of
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
I do have a water flosser and some regular floss, electric toothbrush as well. Tea stain is right into the enamel, bought some white strips which are not to set off sensitivity, I could almost see teeth are brighter. But doing it for myself, same with the cleaning, grateful for the start by SIL, not overwhelming to look at and I can get it done.
Anyway, enough complaining, MO app't was good other than she is seeing something in my lung, she is going to CT scan every 3 months and says if it turned out be actual mets she would radiate it. She told me it could also be an artifact from my bad cold with chest congestion and coughing. Not going to focus on that now, get through the brain stuff. She says I am her miracle patient due to the lack of mets below the head and general good health all things considered. I will take that. I like to hear that and need to stop obsessing on stuff said and just keep up with stuff I want to, they asked about technology disposal but I said I will keep it, like to do different things on computers like try to put different operating systems on, they don't take up floor space so the can stay
Craving some mcdonalds so getting a junior chicken and mcdouble and possible fruitopia, allowing this because I am hungry and it would taste good and will not be grocery shopping for a little while anyway.
Re: Anyone starting brand drug, Enhertu?
I just read through this entire thread and noted all the HER-2 low/negative posters (the vast majority were low), and how long they were on Enhertu before stopping because of adverse effects such as pneumonitis or progression of their cancer. I counted about 30 women. I didn't count HER2+, only negative or low who were offered this medication.
The average length of time on the drug before stopping was 5 months. Small sample size, and maybe there's something different about the women who post here, but that's a lot less than was advertised in the Destiny-04 trial, which was funded by the makers of the drug.
I don't mean to be a downer but it makes me wonder —
fox3
Re: Poll: What's the one piece of advice you'd give to someone newly diagnosed with breast cancer?
You can’t know what’s coming around the bend! Stay in the present moment and focus on what you can control - good nutrition, quality sleep, exercise (even when you’re tired), lower stress levels with breath work and meditation, and get your support network engaged. Know that you will be stronger, braver and wiser than you’ve ever been. Treat yourself like a queen and don’t be the hero. Take good care of yourself.
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Taco, New Year's Day fare in this area features cabbage and black-eyed peas. All the supermarkets will have big bins of cabbage and displays of Camellia brand dry black-eyed peas. Also canned black-eyed peas. This meal is for health and prosperity. My father made his own interpretation. Cabbage was for paper money and black-eyed peas for coins. He wasn't a fan of black-eyed peas so my mother usually cooked cabbage. All vegetables my mother cooked included a seasoning meat, like bacon, ham, sausage, smoked ham hocks. She kept bacon fat for seasoning. My father had heart disease but she had low cholesterol and triglycerides. Genes.
I know that some southern states have greens, like collard greens, at New Year's. One popular black-eyed peas dish is Hoppin' John. The peas and rice and a seasoning meat are cooked together. I think this dish is popular in the Carolinas. One of our cooks on the What's For Dinner? thread makes Hoppin' John.
Your winter temperatures sound ideal for golf.
Betrayal, dh and I sometimes watch the PBS show where celebrities learn about their ancestors. DH had a relative who did ancestor research and sent everyone in the family information and copies of photos. I have all that in a file.
It's in the 50's outside. I just heard a meteorologist on tv say the rest of our week will be warm and humid. This weekend there will be a threat of storms. This time of year we have a lot of fog.
Happy Monday.
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
A belated Happy New Year.
Betrayal, loved the info about the mummers. A fun tradition here at the Fiesta Bowl Parade is the participation of the "play it again, band." People from all over the state sign up and the music is sent ahead. After one afternoon of practice, they go and play the whole route. DH learned to play the trumpet after he retired and participated for several years. It got to be too hard. After all the marching, he had to get back to his car. But the crowds always gave them great support even though they weren't nearly as good as the college bands. There is probably a tee shirt or two sitting somewhere.
We've had both the old and the new shingles shots. I remember how miserable my mother was when she got them.
Carole, can you share more about the "black eyed peas" tradition. We were talking about it just the other day but we are definitely northerners. I know I can look it up on Wikipedia but would appreciate your interpretation.
My folks always made Cornish hens on New Year's Day and DS has continued the tradition but we haven't. We went to the party at our club but left early. The last time we made it to midnight was 2000. Do you remember we unplugged stuff, stored water, and got extra cash?
Rain over New Year's but lovely this weekend. Usually in the high 60's/low 70's when I golf. Now listening to the local newsperson saying more rain and cooler temps by mid-week.
I'm collecting pictures from family members for my Story project. My nephew sent me one of my parents at a beach in a very sexy pose. Loved it! I don't remember ever seeing it.
Have a good week, everyone. Extra hugs for those who are hurting.
1946taco
Re: Tamoxifen side effects
hi, have you considered/discussed with your doc, that you might still be having aftereffects from covid?> sorry you're going through this and hope it gets better soon!
Re: Anyone starting brand drug, Enhertu?
Hi @chocomousse ! Happy New Year! I just logged in for the first time in a while and just saw your post to me from several months ago.
Yes, everybody was super pleased at my response and I’m still steady as she goes after my most recent scan earlier this week.
To answer your question, I had a number (“innumerable”) lesions on my last vertebra an amd sacral area, and some here and there along my spine, plus a lesion on each hip. I had one very, very small lesion on my pleural lining, and that was the only soft tissue lesion I had at the beginning of my Stage IV journey in late 2021.
All of those lesions have been inactive and sclerotic since sometime in early 2022, when I was fortunate enough to wind up NEAD with the first-line therapy at the time of THP. None of those spots have changed a bit in the years since 2022….they just continue show up as scarring on the scans and my pleural lesion has been gone for some time.
BUT I did develop an enlarged tracheal lymph node this past summer that initiated the switch to Enhertu. That was the only active lesion I had at the time of the swap, so there was some debate as to whether or not I should even switch to the 2nd line (Enhertu), or carry on with maintenance Herceptin + Perjeta and just have that bugger of a lymph node simply radiated.
We ultimately decided to make the move to Enhertu. That lymph node cleared up faster, I think, than anyone thought….or at least it did faster than I thought it would. I rarely see my onc giddy, but he looked like a kid at Christmas when he came in to deliver my results from that first post-Enhertu scan in September when I first posted those results
That is a SUPER long story to say: I basically had one spot that was active at the time, and my first several rounds of Enhertu kicked it.
My hope is that I stay this way for a bit longer and that new drug developments continue to outpace my cancer….as is my hope for all of us who are in this boat.
I just wish I could shake the feeling of being on borrowed time at this point.
Re: 💗 January 2026 Surgery Crew—You’re Not Doing This Alone 💗
@salbertros,
I just wanted to stop in and say hi.
I had a left-side mastectomy + SNB in 2008 (plus chemo, plus AI); and in Nov. 2025 I was diagnosed with a new primary on the right side. I have a consult with a surgeon scheduled for Jan. 13th, so I might end up being official member of this January Surgery group. The preliminary diagnosis based on the biopsy last month was high-grade DCIS, but I was warned it might be up-staged after the results are back from surgery.
In my experience, it's okay for you to not feel anything at this point. In fact, I think there are advantages to being in denial during the days leading up to a major stressful event like cancer surgery. You're calm and distracted, which is far better than being super-anxious and unable to function. I don't especially like being characterized as "strong", as in, "Oh, you're so STRONG!!!". What choice do we have with this, other than to take one day at a time? I'd rather be called "resilient" than "strong". 😊
otter
Re: Zoom Meet-up for Those With MBC: Place to keep chatting
Hi everyone -
Happy New Year!
For those who have made multiple requests, I'm finally posting pictures of my Christmas tree (and the decorating journey). As I mentioned during our meeting, it's a little difficult to capture via photos, but you might be able to zoom in on the fully decorated tree photos to see the ornaments.
Here's a list of the photos:
- Tree w/lights only
- Decorating on the Little Giant Ladder
- Tree partially decorated
- Tree fully decorated - view #1
- Tree fully decorated - view #2
- Santa's little helper
See you tomorrow!
Cheryl
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
The tool used for smoothing plaster is great for getting every stuck litter off the bottom of the box. I used to use it before the sifter tool and it really prevented litter odor
wren44