Take our poll: How are you feeling as we near the New Year?
Illinois ladies facing bc
Comments
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Hey Kater....
I bet that was Shelley who doesn't hurt for port access! She is great at that. That's the trick with any injection tho...pull the skin taut, or pinch it a bit harder. You just don't feel the needle as much.
Rita....you are there, you lucky dog! This morning on the way to rads I ran over a squirrel and then a humungous bug flew up my nose in the parking lot at rads and I ended up standing there, trying to snort it out with all these people walking by and staring. Told the 2 techs about my trip to rads....I think they are STILL laughing!
Are we still on for 6/30? Haven't heard a firm yes...
Have a great day!0 -
Kater, was the little lump under the arm pit or over more toward the breast? I had a couple of small hard lumps under my arm pit and was told that it was normal and caused by the removal of the four lymph nodes. They have since disappeared.
Wendy......I'm still chuckling about that bug up your nose. Hey it should be interesting to see what the rest of the day brings!!!!!!
I'm off to the golf course and then to a cookout! Have a great weekend everyone!
Rita0 -
Wendy K, I keep forgetting you have nursing background! Yes, that must be what Shelley does...she is great. She needs to share this information, I hope she does!
Yes, where, what time, 6/30 or not..how to rsvp.0 -
the very very very small lump is four inches down from armpit, on top of arm, .....inside, when you circle around the whatever solid part it rolls around a little, hard to find just like my original pea sized breast lump.
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kater -
Hang in there...sorry that you have to deal with this. Hope it's nothing...let us know.
wendyk -
OMG - LOL how funny!
Rita -
Go, go, go! You're almost a RAD GRAD!
Nicki -
How's your cold, are you feeling any better? It's been hanging on for quite a while, do you think you should get an antibiotic? Say hi to dh and dsil.
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Girls -
It looks like our get together will be on the 30th at JanClare's house.
It's probably best to PM JanClare your rsvp.
JanClare -
You have to let us know what to bring - if you want help with it - call me - or we can talk next time we walk.
Have a great weekend, girls.
I haven't heard from Ann - I hope she's just on vacation...I sent her an e-mail days ago and no response...
Where's Pam been hiding? Probably tooling around Fox Lake!
kats -
...is hanging with the little one!0 -
Hi:
Just found this place and I wandered onto you memory of Evanston hospital and Gillson Park, I teach in Wilmette,Il Just finished treatments for Stage 2: chemo and rads. I am so afraid it could come back but I live one day at a time. I lived (a long time ago) in Elmhurst. I hope you are well.0 -
Good Morning Everyone: Its Saturday and we finially got some rain. Everything was so dry - so Im not gonna complain if it stays cloudy and rains all day.
Pat: I think making the decision on what kind of treatment is the hardest part. I think I was in bizarro world. All of my doctors, just told me what we were gonna do. So I got the port and went through the chemo. I must admit, that once I started my treatment plan, I was much less scared. I felt like we were finially doing something to treat this darn disease.
Wendy: I love the advice about taking Claritan the day of neulasta. Seems like such a simple solution. We all need to put a book together on how to prevent side effects to all the chemo and stuff that goes along with treatment.
Kater: Hope that lump you found is nothing to be concerned with. I know I freak out whenever I find something.
So June 30th it is. Sounds like fun. Guess I will have to get my husband to make something. He is the cook in this house. Believe me, you dont want me making anything!
Laura: This is 2 weeks now with the cold. I am better today, just sick of being sick. I have never had so many colds in my life. I had to go to Highland Park Hospital yesterday and evaluated this lovely lady who has Pneumonia and is coming to our sub acute for some rehab. She was hugging me and grabbing my hands. I thought to myself - geesh - this is why Im getting sick. So I looked around for a sink - ya know to wash my hands. Just one in the bathroom that didnt seem too inviting. They have these alcohol gel things hanging up on the walls to wash your hands with, but I like good old fashioned hot soapy water. I guess I need to stop being so touchy feely with my patients.
Zaps: So nice to meet you. I work at Whitehall of Deerfield and go to Evanston hospital all the time. I love driving on Sheridan road to get there. Between Gillison Park and the Bahai Temple - Im in heaven. Small world. I live in Glendale hts, which is very close to Elmhurst. The fear of bc returning always lingers in the back of my mind. It was 2 years ago today I had my bil. mast - so I am officially a 2 year survivor according to my onc.
Well - looks like the sun is trying to peak out. Think I will take my dog for a walk and try to get some exercise this morning.
Mary: Where are you and are you going to the White Sox Game?
Have a great day.
Nicki0 -
Oh, thanks for responding. It is so cool to read about and from ladies in my own state who struggle with breast cancer. I too never made any decsions about chemo. The Dr. advised and I did it. Being on an HMO I could not get unliimited second opinions. I was so freaked out that I just wanted to get on it. I was a regular trooper during rads and chemo and surgury. Recently I started to fall apart, although never missed a day of work and remained very professional. I have become aware of every little pain, sensation. I have had a scan already because I was sure it had spread to my abdomen. I am now trying the fourteen-day rule which means I have to the pain or sensation for 14 days before I go to the doctor. I think part of my problem is that mamorgams were always fine even when I actually had the cancer. Sonograms were fine and even a first biopsy was negative. I had a silly rash (Paget's). The rash got worse and a dermatologist did another biopsy and it showed. Still another mammogram was fine! An mri finally showed the 4.5 cm bad guy. I trust my doctors completely, yet one can see why I feel procedures can fail to locate these things. To make a long story short, I WILL be one year free this next August. I just need to get some confidence going..
Nicki: My mother was in the Whithall. It is such a great place. Have a wonderful day
Susan (Zap)
The chemo brain was getting the better of me and I needed the simplest name. The cicadas are driving me nuts and for some reason ZAP came into my mind.0 -
Zap: Wow - scary experience. So is Pagets the same as Inflammatory Breast cancer? Im 2 years post surgery today, and I still feel this bc breathing down my neck. This past week I had a cold and I was sure I had lung and brain mets.
June 30th sounds like fun. My husband will be playing at the Grand Hotel in Wauconda that day - so it looks like I will be partying all day and all night.
See ya all later. I have some more weeds to pull
Nicki0 -
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I will find out the results next Friday and let you know.
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Welcome Zaps! Come back often.
I think we all relate to "the fear of a return," but each day is hopefully moving us closer to a cure for the bc beast.
Four more days, ladies. I only have four more days of rads! I can do this!!!!
June 30th sounds great. JanClare....let us know what we need to bring.
Rita0 -
Wow...I can't wait to be so far along with tx......I am happy for you! It's on to Taxol for me Monday.....Pat
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I took my first Chemo on Tuesday. I'm taking Epirubicin with Decadron and an anit-nausea. I also took Emend. Of course I did really well the first 2 days and then got the "steroid" crash and was exhausted for 2 days. I have been going in every day for a Neupogin shot. Today, I had a horrible day. Vomitting and Diarrhea and in general couldn't get comfortable. I took some Anzamet for nausea and it didn't work. I then took compazine and I sleep it off. I'm not sure why I had a reaction today.
I have 3 more cycles of epirubicin before I start the Cytoxin and Herceptin. My heart scans were at 51%. My oncologist is out of town so I have a substitue and he said my scans were just barely good. That wasn't very encouraging since Herceptin is supposed to be my "miracle" drug. I called a friend who is a nuclear med tech and she said it's not uncommon to have a heart scan at 51% and she thinks it will be fine. I can't wait until my onocolgist comes back on the 11th.
Any hints on getting this awful taste out of my mouth? Sorry for the rant but you girls are always so full of info.0 -
Oh My....
Thank you for encouraging me to stay with this communication. I am sorry to say that I do not totally understand how to move about this place. I should get the hang of it soon. Your words are so good to me ears!
Niki: No, pagets is not IBS. Thank goodness for that as the latter is a greater challenge. In fact, Paget's may have been a life safer for me in that the rash indicates something is wrong (cancer) and so it gives us a heads up that something is wrong even when technology (mammograms and songrams) indicate all is well. I have very dense breasts and so the mri only can show the bad guy. I now know what IBS. It is a rare cancer, like Paget's, and yet appears to be far less rare than previously thought, based on posts here.
LADIES IN ILLINOIS: I do want to share an experience I had tonight you will appreciate. My husband I were heading downtown for dinner and a film. The Edens was crammed! We got off and took side streets. They too were crammed with the Avon Breast Cancer walkers! I got so excited and we "beeped" them along. I started to cry (silently) and I just know we are making progress here. Have a wonderful Sunday!
Susan (Zap)0 -
Laura-I've only been to Dockers once for Dinner. My DH has been to Famous Freddies but I have not. It's more of a bar (drink purchase required) with really cheap food (i.e.shrimp .25,Hot dog .69,1/2 lb burger .99-I just happened to have an old menu-why I don't know!!)
Nicki-hope you are feeling better soon
Cheryl-Thinking of you-
Rita-You are always so uplifting. I do really enjoy my flower garden. Four more rads for you - yeah!!!
Laura and JanClare-I'd love to walk with you but I don't think I could handle 3 miles (yet!). How far is the walk in Sept. Laura?
Nicki- my husband is the cook in the house also
Zaps-welcome. I have not seen any cicadas where I live yet (Northern Il)
Lisa- My mouth/taste is weird from the taxol/herc. I can't seem to drink plain water, so I add some lemonade powder and that does the trick for me. Also lemon drops. (Somehow through this whole thing my morning coffee still tastes good thankfully!)
Have a great Sunday -
Michele0 -
Hi,
My name is Tamara, also in Illinois; Village of Worth. I was diagnosed 10/06 with Infiltrating BC, Stage 2, HER2 +. I had a lumpectomy 11/06, just finished 3 cycles of A/C. Will be starting Herceptin and Taxol soon. I had a Port inserted and am glad I did, as I hate needles. So far OK. The Chemo treatments have been rough going. I would like to talk with others who have experienced Herceptin for HER2+; the side effects concern me.0 -
Hi everyone!
Lisa...Michele's lemon drop idea worked great for me to help with the horrible tastes. I also found that hot peppermint tea did the trick,too. As for the nausea, I began taking the compazine a few hours after my chemo treatment and took it for about 5 days, whether I needed it or not. It helped me get through with very little side affects. Of all the days, day 3 was always my worst. I don't know why that is but I've heard others say the same thing. However, with the regular usage of the compazine I got through pretty well.
Susan...what a neat story about the Avon bc walkers. I always get choked up at these walks and always did, even before bc entered my immediate world. There's just something about seeing so many people dedicated affected or dedicated to finding a cure.
Well ladies, it's another nice day here so I'm going out and enjoy it.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Rita0 -
Hi all, hope everyone is having a good weekend. For some reason, I'm incredibly tired. I've only finished 3 weeks of rads- surely it's too soon for that to kick in? I pushed myself to work out for 30 minutes this morning, and now all I want to do is nap! Have to go to work in a few hours, so I have a lot I should be doing, but the nap may be number one.
Okay, so we've decided on June 30th right? Looks like there will be 7 of us- but all are welcome! Any of our new members who would like to come?
What: Illinois BC Gals Get-together
When: Saturday, June 30th, 2007, 1 pm until you want to leave.
Where: Jan Clare's home, Lake Zurich, IL
PM Or Email Jan Clare for directions and phone number. lzclare@gmail.com0 -
Hi Everyone, we just returned from camping at Silaom Springs and had a great weekend.
Zaps, welcome. It's normal to fear recurrances. Be aware of changes to your body but don't let the fear rule your life. I have had a recurr and although I have my days, I don't let it rule my life, thus ruining it. This may sound strange but I've had so many wonderful things come from this and I'm grateful for still being alive and living.
I hope you all had a great weekend and will check in soon.
Take care, Mazy0 -
HI Everyone....I have been feeling pretty good. Glad to be done with chemo. Now on to rads...I have an appt with my radiologist on Tuesday and will know when I will start. Then we can plan our vacation. We are planning on going to
Panama City to see our son who is in the Air Force there. Then to South Carolina to see my brother-in-law and his wife. We are planning on taking two weeks. We havn't had a nice long vacation like that in a long time.
I am looking forward to the June 30th get together. I will be riding up with Rita.
My co-workers threw me a done with chemo food day party. They had pink jello, pink cake, pink dressing and cookies with frosting and a pink ribbon on top. That was so nice of them.
Well, that's about it for now. Hope you all had a great weekend...
Ginny0 -
Dear Anna:
Your response touched me. I know only one thing about this cancer, and that it has changed me. I do not wish it on anyone and I would like to have it gone from me forever and yet I know It has given me some thing. I so fear it will come back as then I think it runs my life. You have a different take on this and that helps me move on without the cancer running my life. Thanks for sharing.
I hope, Anna, you have a delightful tomorrow.
Susan
Susan/Zsps0 -
Ginny...so glad that you've finished the chemo and are heading for the rads. Will you have Dr. Stacey for the rads? He's pretty nice and his crew is wonderful. I'm also glad that you'll be heading up north with me on the 30th for the get-together. We'll have a lot of fun.
JanClare...I will email you when it gets closer for directions, etc. If I do it now, I will lose it for sure.
Welcome Tamara. Hey, you're almost done with those horrid AC treatments. Good going!!! Please come back and post often. I'm so glad that you joined us.
Pat...good luck with the taxol. You'll do just fine, I'm sure.
Hi Michele and Connie.
Nicki........great graphics as usual. You're all alone now in the graphic department until kats gets through spoiling her granddaughter! I'm envious!!!!
Hi Laura...everything going O.K. for you?
Do you still have those terrible gnats, Mazy? Ours seem to have moved on and now we're beginning to get the arrival of the cicadas. A couple were hanging on my screens this afternoon. They sure are ugly critters. I can't see how some people can eat them...........YUCK!!! I don't even think compazine would handle that!
Well, hope all you Illinois ladies are doing well.
Rita0 -
Hi Ladies...
Just a quick hello before going off to exercise and nuking...
Tamara....I am Her2+ and was on weekly Herceptin during my chemo of Taxotere and Carboplatin, just switched to every 3 weeks...only side effect I have from Herceptin is a bit of a runny nose. They even stopped giving me the tylenol and benadryl weeks ago. I hear that it slows hair growth but I have lots of little hairs all over my head and my leg/armpit hair is growing again so I don't know about that one. Hope that helps a little.
Will write more later.....of course now that I am ready to leave the house, it starts pouring!0 -
Tamara, Susan, Lisa...
Well...you've joined the club that everyone loves but no one wants to join! Glad you found us! Welcome...
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I was crazy busy this weekend...little Shelby Laura and her best friend stayed with us...needless to say catering to TWO princesses was exhausting! Home-made waffles, camp fires with marshmallows, shopping at Target, ice cream at Oberweiss.... LOL I wish I had an auntie like me! LOL We had lots of fun.
I'm looking forward to our get-together this month.
JanClare -
Count me in of course! Do you want to walk on Wednesday - if you're too zapped...I totally understand. Hang in there with rads...you'll be a grad before you know it!
Ginny -
Congrats - NO MO CHEMO! You have earned your vacation like none before!
Rita -
It's countdown for you!
Michelle -
Thanks for the info...I definitely want to visit both places, as I take the Goat out almost every night now. The walk in September...it's great because you have a choice...you can walk 3 miles or 1 mile. We will all start at the same place, those walking one mile will simply head back to the original meeting place, and those walking the 3 miles will continue on and about 45 minutes later will head back to the original meeting place. Last year several on my team did the 1 mile...
Nicki -
Hope you're feeling better.0 -
Lisa:
I have finished my chemo. The worse day was the 3rd and fourth and I know what you mean about the dreadful taste. I sucked on Banana popsycles of all things. They were not regular popsycles (spelling looks odd). I got them in the expensive ice cream section and I could acyually taste them. I also had mouth sores and the cold helped with that. I wish I knew the brand, but I will go look for you. One day I got so fed up that I just filled the cart with anything that looked somewhat good. The only thing I oculd taste were the banana popsycles and ate about six a day!0 -
Susan -
Italian Ice might work...I hope you find a remedy. I likened the taste in my mouth to tasting like "pennies/copper". Ice box pudding helped me, but it's a very long drawn out recipe...0 -
Thanks for all of the advice on the bad taste and nausea. I will try all of it.
One thing I didn't think of was taking the compazine "just in case". Compazine has always been my drug from Migraines to the flu. It sure knocked out my problems last Saturday.
It all doesn't sound so scary when someone else has been through it.
Thanks again0 -
The best description/comparison I have heard about chemo is that it is like drinking a pint of shellac! It gets better though with just time. Just think, Lisa, tomorrow at this time you will feel a little better and one week from now you will be feeling so much better. I know it is hard to do this, but the best thing I could do was to take just a little walk outdoors. One day I was so sick. My daughter and husband forced me to walk in the woods with them. When I say "forced" I mean they were practically dragging me. For whatever reason, I felt so much better after that walk. I have this theory that movement gets the chemo out faster. I hope you are feeling better today.
Susan0 -
Hi everyone!
What a day! I started out with radiation first thing this morning and then drove to Peoria for a routine check-up with my surgeon, so I got a double dose of doctors today. Whew! I'm down to only two more rads...and I have indeed been counting for over a week. I guess when I walk out on Thursday I will be given the appointment date for the rads follow-up to check the skin condition and the appointment date to discuss the remaining chemo with the oncologist. Then I will know what else is really coming and if I am done or have two more chemos to complete.
Jan Clare, everyone is different but I didn't really feel much fatigue until the middle of the fifth week. This last week I have been extremely tired and have had to have some naps. It's really cutting into my socializing! The radiation oncologist told me today that the fatigue from radiation could last up to four weeks after the rads are finished. Now isn't that nice to look forward to. Maybe we will beat the odds on that issue.
Wendy...I'm assuming that your rads are going O.K. other than the normal male/female relationship during them. Believe me, the time really does go pretty fast.
Hope everyone is doing well. I'm really looking forward to the outing the end of the month. Why don't some of you new ladies join us? It would be a great way to get to know everyone on this thread.
I'm going outside and enjoying some of this sunshine!
Take care of yourselves, ladies!
Rita0 -
Hello to all, hope everyone is well.
Rita, came home from golf today and shot a 103. Oh well, maybe next time I will do better.
Is it better to do dd taxol? I have one more ac this thursday and sooo glad that will be over.
Hope to make the June 30 get together.
Have a wonderful week to all.
Hugs
Kathy0
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