Best Of
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@mara51506 make your own dressing. Mayo, a tbsp of red wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. It's called depression dressing. My family puts it on everything.
Re: Abemaciclib Verzenio for Stage IV
Hello again - to update my Jan. 28-29 posts above: I was instructed to hydrate 60 oz fluids daily for a week and retest blood. It was very hard to even get in 50 oz but I could do 40 oz. and even then my stomach was cramping terribly from the water guzzling ("Oh no, not THIS again!") So that was an indication that maybe I was dehydrated. Sure enough, a week later my creatinine and eGFR levels were back to normal. I have tried to keep it up and really hydrating hard right now for today's monthly blood draw before injections. Thanks for all the responses! Terry B.
tbos805
Re: Calling all TNs
I've not been here in so long that my "bio" page and everything disappeared. Just checking in… I'm going on 16 years NED.
DX September, 2010. BRCA2+. Triple Negative. Stage 1
Bilat MX Oct. 2010. 0/3 nodes. No lympho/vascular invasion noted, and the only thing left in the left breast was .9 x .8 cm DCIS.. no residual invasive cancer found.
4 rounds Taxotere/Cytoxin beginning the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2010. I lost all my hair. Immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders. Exchange surgery 2/28/2011. I also had bilat ooph due to increased risks being BRCA2+.
I have the same implants as 2011, so far, so good. No pain or issues so why go back under the knife? My hair did grow back.
I have been battling osteoporosis, haven't elected to start meds. I'm going to be adding Strontium I think, after a great deal of research. I'm considered severe, FRAX 10 yr probability 21.3%… hip 4.1%. I think I'm going to go another year or so before making a decision on major meds.
Either way, just checking in because I haven't in a while and y'all need to hear from survivors!
cc4npg
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@mara51506 Thank you for your sweet suggestion, but my DD and DGD actually live with me and my DH, so we get to go out often. It is just something we girls like to do—a girl's day out. sometimes it is good to get out of the house and do something other than daily chores. My DS lives in upstate NY and has 20+ inches. His three large dogs are not happy because he doesn't want to reclean the floors everytime they come back in so he doesn't let them play in the snow for long.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@intolight I am sorry you cannot have the pedicure together, can you get together for something else with them like lunch, dinner or coffee?
@eleanora 1.5 inch would not keep kids or workplaces at home here but it would keep me at home. I find people judgemental toward places that are not generally covered in snow very much and saying well we still go out. Canada is used to snow and are amongst those who say hold my coffee. We probably have more snow removal go on too.. I hope it is cleared quickly and the snow will hangout in the trees and look pretty.
It is garbage day here, must take out a bunch both from smaller garbages inside and my bigger bins outside. My SIL took a blue bin out from in house and dumped outside. I went out yesterday to see what was in there, absolutely nothing. Grabbed it to pull over to my bin, I will keep stuff out in that corner, it has a lid as well so will not be sloppy or smelly at all. It actually looks very tidy.
Planning on laundry, thinking I want to clean up some of my blankets through the day. The big ones would be a good idea, could bring my Panda spinner which is bigger. Use a larger container to catch the water, I will see about that later, do my normal stuff first.
Food will be interesting, I might do up a frozen hamburger, put into the pan and let cool a bit, chop up and add to a couple of meals. Might do up beef in a veggie stirfry frozen thing or add to crispy lentils and beans with proper rice. It could work. Aiming to wait til next week for a shop and eat through my supplies. I still have quite a few burritos to go through, bean and beef. I put one with the veggie stir fry thing and was yummy. I will post anything good I make.
I hope all have a good day. in pockets for all and my own pocket not to stay on the couch all day as was done yesterday.
Re: Abemaciclib Verzenio for Stage IV
birdsndognow,
I had significant creatine increases on Verzenio, which were reversible like the neutrophils, but there are different options you can choose from, like I don't remember getting that problem with Ibrance.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
Morning ladies, thanks for all the thoughts withe the NE blizzard. We lost power overnight on Sunday and thankfully was restored last night! We do have a portable generator to keep the fridge running and small appliances but doesn't help with the heater. Anyhow yesterday looked like a beautiful winter wonderland with all the trees trimmed and needless to say Buster had a blast! Hoping for a quicker melt this time a temps are rising this week.Hope everyone in the path is safe and sound.
@irishlove Sorry you were were deprived of some mental relief earlier but cheers to NED!
@shanagirl Hope you were able to get another appt this week. The roads were much easier to clear this time without all the ice, fingers crossed.
Hi to all here, in your pockets for all appt and struggles this week, hugs❣️
cookie54
Re: TNBC MBC Stage 4
Rhonda sooo cool you live in Hoboken. I love it there! So many nice memories of going to restaurants there. It’s a lovely historical City. We are on the Barnegat Bay across the bridge from Seaside Heights Park & Island Beach. The Bay Hts been a sheet of ice, since th last snowstorm and freezing temperatures.
@cookie54 I’m so excited to have another Jersey girl to share with on these threads!. @rlschaller, Hoboken is going to get slammed by this Blizzard also. I will be thinking of you.
Re: Preparing for a DIEP Flap Reconstruction
@viehmannkl Sorry for the late reply - I'm not this site as frequently these days. I had a BMX with immediate DIEP flap recon 5 1/2 years ago - I was 62, in good health other than the BC, but not very fit and had only quit smoking less than 6 months before the surgery. I did have some wound healing issues and a lot of post-operative sensitivity and nerve pain for several months but all cleared up in less than a year. Because of my issues I took off from work for 2 full months, then worked part time for a few weeks before going back full-time (desk job and work was 100% remote at that time during pandemic). Had fat grafting twice - note that you will not be able to assess the results and determine if fat grafting is needed for around 5 to 6 months - my PS wouldn't talk about revision, fat grafts until that point in time. Minimal discomfort, a little bruising from the 2 fat grafts which were done 1 year and around 18 months after initial surgery. Despite everything I am so glad I opted for DIEP, recon breasts look and feel natural to the touch (no real breast sensation to me of course, just skin sensation). A few recommendations - you won't be able to lift anything more than 5 pounds or raise up arms above shoulder for like 2 week - put whatever you need at counter height - I totally cluttered my dining room table and kitchen counters and very glad I did so. Accept all the help your family and friends offer - don't be 'strong' or 'brave' - you need to heal, then you can reciprocate when you are well again. If you don't have a power recliner chair consider renting one - I slept in mine for 6 weeks at least. Your insurance should pay for a walker - you'll need one for a few weeks, a raised toilet seat frame - you'll need that too, and hopefully visiting nurse and in-home physical therapy as mine did for a few weeks - the social worker at your hospital will be able to help, contact the social worker beforehand if you can to get things rolling. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days - that is the standard of care in UK and Canada and I pushed my insurance company to cover it and they did. I really think that helped a lot with the initial healing. If you don't already have a 'breast/chest buddy' type cushion and travel by car consider getting one - I didn't see that brand on Amazon anymore but saw this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDJ4TRR7/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B0DDJ4TRR7&pd_rd_w=WqBzJ&content-id=amzn1.sym.bbb3fb5e-28ad-4062-a3ba-1f7b9f2e4371&pf_rd_p=bbb3fb5e-28ad-4062-a3ba-1f7b9f2e4371&pf_rd_r=5EDK51H5C1HYEKJ7NSTS&pd_rd_wg=6zmgR&pd_rd_r=d4f6871e-9dab-457f-beff-66e599ff1d67&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1 For showering you'll want a drain holder - I had so many drains...waterproof fabric is best for when you shower, hopefully you have this from the first surgery or are handy and can make one or find one online. I mostly lived in loose, flowing housedresses for the first 6 weeks, wore loose wide band yoga pants and loose button-down shirts when I needed to go out. Boy-cut leg, high-cut waist cotton underpants worked best, at least a size larger than usual. You'll be quite swollen in the belly as well as the recon breasts. This front-close bra worked best for me after I ditched the post-surgical bra: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H9MWZ6E?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1&psc=1 I had to wear a terribly uncomfortable binder for many weeks post-surgery - I wore a men's large cotton T short under it because my skin and nerves belly area became very sensitive as I mentioned. I was allowed to switch to a spanx-like garment, high waist, for the compression - this one worked well for although I see current reviews aren't very good, again, get something like this assuming your PS wants compression, Order a really large size. My usual size in clothes is medium, at time of surgery I was 5'2 and close to 160 lbs to maximize available fat. I've heard there are some PS that don't require compression think that is rare, anyway here's the garment and I ordered size "X-Large to XX-Large" for reference - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V535SSC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1&psc=1
Hope everything goes well for you and please don't be put off by what I had in terms of healing - you are far younger, hopefully never smoked and with 2 young children very likely more fit than me, and I have even read about some women around my age who were back to close to normal activity within a month. Best wishes for a quick recovery and good outcome! Any question feel free to message me.
abigailj
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@tbos805 -I go to Fred Hutch in North Seattle, and it is definitely less stressful than having to go deeper into the city (South Lake Union). I would also say that Swedish is excellent. I've also heard from people who are real happy with Virginia Mason.
Oops! This was meant for the bone mets thread. I don't know how to copy and paste on my phone, so will try to repost something similar on the appropriate thread. Computer's not working, so only have phone that I am not good with.