Best Of
Re: Any stage IV surviving 5+ years ?
Stage IV since 2015. Just stopping by to add myself, still, as one of those who is 5+.
Done many treatments, but just started Enhertu this week. At 47, I am still working and doing my best to walk 4 miles a day.
Hugs!
mikainsb
Re: Middle Aged Memories
My favourite car was an 1981 Honda Civic station wagon (Hondamatic?) It had no clutch but you changed gears and it had a choke. It went everywhere, was a sure footed as a mountain goat and carried everything, including a full sized clothes washing machine in its box!! I got it second hand in the late 1990's. Mechanics loved it. You didn't need a computer to fix anything. When it was on its last legs my mechanic tried EVERY place he could think of to get a replacement part. He was sad. I was sad. Now I have a 2006 Nissan Sentra - and it seems to be working just fine. But I don't love it like I loved my Honda.
Sometimes getting lost can be a blessing. I have discovered places and things I never would have had I had a GPS.
I tried straightening my bangs with Dippity-Doo and tape. It didn't work. I have a cowlick that cannot be controlled. In the mid-60's I wanted that "flip" with just the ends turned up and a small teased crown. My hair just won't be teased. It knotted and lay down like a cringing cur.
Even before my hair got even thinner (thank cancer drugs) , even when it as long - it was pretty much wash and go. By the time I got dressed it was mostly dry. I was happy with its parted in the middle,just to the shoulders, still looking like a flower child hairdo even when I was 50. When I see photos of friends and relatives with their frizzy bangs, poofy dos; huge padded shoulders sitting with me I am the only person NOT embarrassed by my hair looking at the photos now.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
Mara, glad your MRI appt went well, and no problems with transport.
Cookie, I'm imagining the smell of wet dog in the summer, which is a smell I love. (Wet dog in the winter, not so much, lol)
Irish, oh my goodness, I'm so hoping you are feeling better. And Booty, please come home!
Sunshine, I hear you about feeling tired of this. It's exhausting. Really hoping your MO appt gives you good options.
I've gone ahead and arranged to have the upstairs of my house, where I do most of my living, repainted. It will require packing up all my books and taking all my artwork off the walls, but I will have help moving/lifting! I'll actually just be directing the helpers, so I can stand around giving instructions and sipping tea like a rich lady, lolol. I'm looking forward to fresh clean blank slate walls that I can start over with.
sf-cakes
Re: Starting Chemo May and June 2024 Support Thread
This is my little fella Tiernan who keeps me active.
Thanks all for the therapy advice. I know that I would like to see someone but I'm pretty sure this isn't the right fit at the moment. I do keep a journal which I think helps a lot.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
Irish - Just so, so sorry to read about what you endured and want to send some good vibes and thoughts your way. So glad the problem at least resolved and that you can feel better now. I can't imagine dealing with anything like that. I've read about blockages and vaguely heard about a couple, and it has always sounded like a terrible ordeal to me - looks like it is!
Also want to add my continuing sympathies re Booty. I sure hope you get some answers. Sending a hug too.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
Mae, I am curious as well. Not fearful of death itself, just how it may happen. Ideally, I would like my mind to be intact enough for me to send thoughts of family, friends and pets I missed and imagining seeing them again. I don't rule out anyone's belief about what happens after, faith is strong for a lot of people. I like the idea of retaining a ghost form after, like a force ghost from Star Wars and have fun with people in the family or visit and chat with friends or to torture criminals as well until they confessed.
Re: IDC and Mental Health
Sounds like you’re on top of it and doing all the right things! Just keep moving forward with the information you have and keep listening to your doctors (as well as your own intuition!).
Love4All
Re: PET scan shows lit up chest lymph nodes after 4 years NED
Barb, I didn't have a 'recurrence' of medastinal nodes; I had them from my first diagnosis in Oct, '12. Lit up like a Christmas tree on my PET scan back then. But I was starting chemo within a week or two anyhow, so my MO let it go with just that for the time being. Following a lumpectomy in April, I went on for rads in June. Both my RO and my Internist (his wife is a BC survivor of many years) were quite worried about those nodes, so my RO put together a different type of rads for the sternum area concurrent with my regular whole-breast rads; just one extra zap per day for the 28 rads. They made a lead alloy plate with a cut-out to match the pattern the nodes were in. The rads had something to do with shallow beam electrons which could be calibrated to travel just a fraction of an inch below the sternum and not reach my heart, esophagus or lungs.
With that done, I waited almost three months and was sent in for a new PET scan last Oct -- which was now clear!
In doing some research on these nodes, I read Many times that with a certain number of positive axillary nodes (can't remember the number), one very often has mediastinal nodes involved as well. I hope everyone's doctors are checking for this.
Barb, sending hopes and warm wishes that your test will prove negative, and if not, that they will get on it quickly and kick these nodes to the curb.
Carol
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@gailmary I’m curious about death too. I’m not at all religious and I think our brain shows us what we want or need to ease the transition, which, if true, is very cool. I hope it’s a reunion with all my beloved dogs, then lights out. The ability to hang around a bit or haunt people would be a bonus but I’m not expecting that.
illimae