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Illinois ladies facing bc
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Hi Girls....
Laura....I've never heard of Byron Il.
Funny thing happened at rads today that I thought you guys would get a kick out of. Remember me telling you about running over a squirrel and then getting a big bug up my nose in the parking lot at rads? Well today I come out after getting zapped....mind you, there is a beautiful pond on the hospital grounds with a swan family...walking toward my car and right behind it is Mama and Papa swan and 8 little swan babies, just sitting there. Well I do remember swans can be very nasty so I tried clapping my hands and yelling "shoo"...nothing. I walked closer to my car and the parents reared up and came towards me, flapping their wings. I backed up...we tried this for almost 10 minutes. I can't get to my car and even if I could I couldn't back up. So there I am, running around a cancer care parking lot, yelling "shoo" at a bunch of swans. Other people are pulling in, once again staring at the crazy cancer lady, screaming in the parking lot. It struck me as so hilarious I just sat down on the pavement and laughed and laughed! Finally I did get the idea to hit the panic button on my car alarm and that did startle them enough to move a bit and I just ran for the car and threw myself in on the passenger side and slammed the door.
How completely wierd...first the squirrel, then the bug now the killer swans. I don't think I even dare to go back to rads tomorrow!
Hope you all are doing well, and have no bats in your bellfry. Gosh...I hope I don't get those next!!!!0 -
Laura, Byron is about 3 hours northwest of me. Are you racing there this weekend?
Wendy....hilarious story! I have visions of you attempting to outsmart those swans!
Rita0 -
A fly by hello and hope everyone is doing well.
Nicki0 -
I had my surgery on Tuesday. All went well until I took off the bandage and it pulled off the steri strips and started bleeding. Went to ER and by then it stopped bleeding. The doc said it looked good. I woke up this morning and the guaze pad I had on was soaked along with my night gown. I have been changing my pad every coupla of hours. It's still bleeding. It's more of a liquid and blood mixture. I bought some steri strips from the store and will have my husband put them on. I hope that helps.
Tomorrow I am going to the Relay for Life in Mclean County which is in bloomington/normal. I am going to the dinner and do the survivor walk. I am excited as this is my first time. Rita are you going????
My vacation starts next week...I am looking forward to that.
Well that's it...Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.
ginny0 -
Ginny,
I am so "out of it." I have to start writing things down. I thought your surgery was Thursday (yesterday) and was going to call you last night and then decided that maybe I had better wait a day as you might be "out of it" too. I'm so sorry that I got things mixed up and didn't check on you sooner. At least it is done! I hope this oozing stops soon for you so that you can enjoy your vacation, which you really need.
No, I'm not going to the Relay for Life. I never got registered and have a golf match play that interferes. Since I'm such a good golfer (don't I wish
) I can't let anything interfere with a golf game!
I hope you continue to improve and I will be in touch before you leave on vacation.
Rita0 -
Hi Girls!
Ginny -
I hope you heal real soon! Hang in there.
Rita -
We were possibly going to go to Byron this Sunday, but I can't get out of a previous comittment...yes, there's a drag strip there - and we'll be going sometime soon, but that's a real haul for you! I'll post when we are going and anyone that wants to hang out is more than welcome. But, we will also be going to Joliet - route 66 sometime soon as well.
wendy -
You are TOO funny! OMG I would have given anything to see that one! LOL
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Hope you're all doing well and I hope you all have a great weekend. Only one week till we meet!0 -
One more thing...
Yesterday...
JANCLARE was officially a:
RAD GRAD!
Congrats JanClare!0 -
Hi All,
I just found this thread. I mostly hang out on the Moving Beyond Wagon Circle.
My name is Cherryl. I'm 57, was dx'ed in Aug 2000. Had AC and 35 rads. NED so far and happy. Had mast. but didn't do recon until 2004 (wanted to make sure I was going to live!!lol) Had LatFlap. Very happy.
I live in Oak Park and work in Chicago at Rush Univesity Med Center. I am a Hospital Chaplain. That's me!
love,
Cherryl0 -
Welcome Cheryl!
We are having an Illinois Get-Together on June 30th. in Lake Zurich. Do you want to join us? We would love to meet you. You are...inmy opinion...a long term survivor...and WHO DOESN'T LOVE THOSE! lol0 -
Laura,
Hey thanks. Where exactly and what time? I'm moving on the 28th, but should be ready (and need) to get out of the new place for a while by the 30th. Please pm me with the particulars!!
Thanks for the invite!!
love,
Cherryl0 -
Morning Ladies.....rainy but then I don't need to drag the hose out OR cut the grass so rainy is good!
Cherryl....welcome!
Well...seems I won't be able to come next Saturday after all. DH is having his little surgery on Friday and due to his a fib he will stay overnight and go home Saturday around 11. I don't want him to be all alone that afternoon even tho he said to go join you. You guys TAKE PICTURES!!!!
Ginny...hope you are healing better this time!
Jan...CONGRATS! You are done! Yay!!!!
Laura....glad you thought my swan encounter was so funny. I now park on the other side of the building, away from the pond...not taking any more chances!
Rita....do you have to do 2 more rounds? I sure hope you are done.
Well....off to do something constructive.0 -
Hello everyone!
Cherryl-Welcome and hope you can make the get together Saturday.
WendyK-Funny story about the swans. I wonder what will happen next? As long as you're getting a good laugh! Sorry we won't get to meet you on Saturday. Hope all goes well for your DH.
JanClare- Congrats on finishing your rads. So far so good with the Taxol-just slight numbing on the fingertips and muscle aches (could be the low RBC).
Rita- I know what you mean about being 'out of it'. I've been a mess lately. Can't remember things. Hard to have a meaningful conversation because my brain drifts off. Oh well, this foggy chemo brain will clear too.
I will have 7 of 12 Taxol/Herc on Tues. My hair is continuing to come in(slowly). I am hoping that since it has not fallen out w/ the taxol, that it will continue growing!!
Looking forward to meeting everyone on Saturday.
Have a good day-
Michele0 -
Hi all! Cheryl, welcome- I just sent you a PM with the details of our get-together next Saturday.
Yep, I'm all done with breast cancer treatments! WahHoo! Have to admit that I kind of just crashed after Thursday- taking it easy, ya know? I still consider myself a patient, not yet a survivor. As I get farther and farther away from the last 9 months, I'm sure my attitude will change. Besides, my skin is still becoming more and more crispy looking even though the rads are over. When they say that it works itself from the inside out, they are not kidding!
Wendy, I'm so bummed that you can't come! But I hope your hubby does well. Plus, I loved the story of the swans! made me laugh! I've been stuck in traffic jams before because of geese and their babies that just won't move!
Ginny, I hope you are still doing okay after surgery.
Michelle, I still feel out of it and it's been 5 months since chemo. Keeping my fingers crossed that your side effects continue to be minimal.
Laura and I are going walking again tomorrow! I love getting back to moving again on a regular basis. I've just about made up my mind to do the 2 day Avon walk in Charlotte NC next October. That will be one year since my diagnosis. My neighbor says that she will do it with me, so we may take our hubbies and have a mini vacation out of it. Anybody know anything about the Charlotte area?0 -
Hi gals! I hope that everybody had a good weekend.
Wendy, I am so disappointed that you won't be able to join us on Saturday. I was really looking forward to meeting you!
Welcome Cherryl! I'm glad that you found us and hope that you can join us on Saturday. We need you long time survivors to keep reminding us that we can beat this disease.
JanClare..congratulations on being done!!! YEAH!!!! Didn't it feel funny when you didn't have to show up the next day for rads?
As for me, I went to see the oncologist about the last two chemos on Friday and didn't really hear what I wanted to hear. He thinks that I really should do the last two as a "clean-up" measure. He says that they clean up any cancer cells that might be still milling around the body. Of course he left it up to me. He said that he would reduce the dosaage by 10% to make them easier for me and that the reduction in dosage won't hurt the effectiveness of the treatment any. I won't have the first one until July 12th so that I'm pretty much back to normal and then the second one will be August 2nd. I really don't want to do this so I've got some thinking to do. He said if I decided not to do it, just call and cancel and we'd go with the Arimidex. I sure hate making these decisions.
It's been a pretty wet weekend here. We did get 18 holes of golf in this morning but it's misting again right now.
That was the sum excitement for the weekend! :-)
Where's Cathy??????? Anybody heard anything from her this week?
Lookng forward to meeting you gals on Saturday!
Rita0 -
Hi and nice to meet you Cherryl. I just cannot imagine being years away from all this, as you are I cannot wait. I have pain in my legs and it is probably the arimidex, but I worry it is the cancer moving into my bones. I have become such a hypochondriac. In fact, I walked the pain off which I do not think you can do when it is BC spreading to the bones
!!!
Rita: it is so up to you, yet I am inclined to do the extra chemo just so you can say that you did whatever was available to fight this lousy disease.
JanClaire: I am so happy your rads are over. That alone is a gift. You may be a bit tired, yet it gets better. I am a teacher and off for summer, and I find that I am catching up on sleep. The radiation takes it out of you.
I would like to keep tabs on ladies taking arimidex. My onc, says that it IS THE BEST BET when it comes to fighting cancer recurrence (estrogen receptive). As mentioned, I am in pain and I hear so many complaints about this med. I SO BELIEVE it will work for me,however, that I am so willing to put up with the bad stuff. I have been on it since January. I am 59, post menopausal, active, stage 2, lump, chemo and rads.
Have a wonderful time at your gathering. Unfortunately, I have theater tickets and cannot come. Thank you for inviting me.
Susan/Northbrook0 -
Susan (zaps)
While talking with my onc about chemo on Friday, we also talked about Arimidex, which will be my next step, too. I was especially concerned about the joint pain since I have quite a bit of that without any outside help. He said that Arimidex is much better than Tamoxifan for our age group (I am turning 60 late summer) but that Femora (I think that's how you spell it) is a new version of Arimidex. He called it a cousin to it and he has been putting his Arimidex patients on it who are having joint problems with good results. It seems to be "kinder" to those that suffer that effect. They hesitate to use it at first because it is newer to the market and hasn't been studied as heavily...sorta like they held off on Arimidex at first in favor of Tamoxifan. You might ask about it or check it out.
Good morning to everybody else. I have lots to accomplish today so I'm off and running. I'll try to get back on later. Now I know how Nicki feels....being so busy with such little time to check in!!!
Rita0 -
Hi girls....
just a quickie for Rita (where does all our computer time go in the summer???)....
Well....having to 2 more chemos when you thought you were done? Crap. But.....please think seriously about it Ok? It's only (ONLY???) 2 and 2 is such a small number. And then you know you did everything possible. I would be horrified if I was told to do 2 more and had to watch my hair fall out again but I really think I would do it again...I would hate it but I would do it. Whatever you decide I will hold best thoughts and wishes for you...so hard to make these decisions. It's our lives but the drs and us too seem to just be guessing a lot of the time. Know that we all support you!
Hugs, Rita....and everybody else too!0 -
Hi Ladies -
Just checking in from my return from vacation. We had an AWESOME time! The kids had the time of their lives and I was able to relax a lot. Seriously, most of the time I wasn't even thinking about bc. Didn't know that was possible, but it was.
Had to go back to treatment today. Had #10 of weekly AC. 5 more to go! I can do it!!!
Rita - I too would be inclined to do the extra chemo. That is why I decided to go on this clinical trial that I am on - because it was more aggressive and longer and then I could say that I did everything possible. Good luck with your decision.
Congrats JanClare on finishing rads!! Great news!
Welcome, Cheryl!
Sorry - I can't make the get together on Saturday. We already had picnic plans with another group. Have a great time and post pictures!0 -
Hi Girls -
Rita -
Sorry you have to do more...but you are getting very aggressive treatment and that's a good thing.
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Everyone -
I am really busy, but wanted to pop in and say hi - hope as many as possible can join us on Saturday!0 -
Hi gals!
Thanks for all your input about the extra chemos and your concern. I know you are all right....it's better to take them and be aggressive than to wonder "what if" later. It's just hard to go back to the "icky feelings" again after beginning to feel so good for a change.
I'm going to Macomb for a golf stag this afternoon. They are always fun and the food is super! (just what I need to think about....food) It should be a good day!
I'm really looking forward to the outing on Saturday. How many are going to be able to make it? If you're one who is wavering about it, just take the plunge and join us!
Connie, I'm glad to hear that it's possible to forget about bc for at least a short time period. I can hardly wait for that day to arrive! I'm glad you enjoyed your "get away." You're on the downward slide now.....YEAH!!!!
Well, I need to iron some clothes to wear. Catch you all later. Have a good day!
Rita0 -
Hi everyone
JanClare Woohoo Big Congrats on being done with treatment
Rita take the additional 2 chemos....better then questioning yourself later with the 'what if's' and the 'should haves'.
I hope those of you who are still going through treatment are doing okay.
Here's a picture of my 2 granddaughter's taken at the Race For The Cure (they're dressed as butterflies it was our Teams theme). A professional photographer asked if she could take a couple of picture of the girls and she just e-mailed them to me.
Mary0 -
Mary...so glad you had time to pop in! I've missed you! Your little gals look adorable in their butterfly costumes. Did you design the costumes? How unique!!!
Come back as often as you can!
Rita0 -
Hi gals, just popping in to say today is my 1 year anniversary of the mammogram that detected my BC. Still celebrating small wins.
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Pam! Congratulations! That has to feel wonderful!!!!!
And we will continue to celebrate each and every milestone (and in my opinion, it's not a small win but a great one!)!!! Thanks for letting us share in your accomplishment!
S U P E R!!!
Rita0 -
JanClare...what's the numbers look like for Saturday? I'm bringing a couple appetizers. Is there anything else I can bring or do to help you out? Just say the word.....
Rita0 -
Rita -
Was your journey to Macomb good? You really get around. I can't wait to meet you.
PAM -
I have been wondering about you! The last time we "talked" we had a blizzard and damaged mail boxes. Good to "hear" from you! Will you be able to join us on Saturday?
kats -
Adorable photo!
JanClare -
It was great walking with you. Small world...my friend/distant relative knows you! I will PM you with the info.
GIRLS -
I am making a peach and raspberry trifle. I hope this okay? Please let me know if their are any dietry/alllergy problems with this.0 -
Peach and raspberry trifle sounds delicious! I'll be there Saturday and will be bringing a fresh fruit bowl/plate. Can't wait to meet everyone!
Michele0 -
Whew, just got off work- sorry to be away the last couple of days.
I'm trying to remember our numbers- I think it's 7, if Kate comes. Kate is still going through chemo, was not sure if she could drive or not- was going to catch a ride with Wendy, but Wendy is not coming.
Ooops- back later- need to finish some work.0 -
Hello to all. Sorry I have not posted, taxol got the best of me for a week. Playing golf tomorrow not sure how many holes I will play.
Rita, go for the full treatment. This will be the best for you.
JanClare, glad to hear you have completed your treatment. Outstanding!
Not sure I want to drive that far but I may stop in with dh.
Hugs to all,
Kathy0 -
Finished #8 of 33 rads today. My breast is getting red...dr gave me aquaphor to use and I use cornstarch. I am trying a tank tee under my bra to see if that will help. It does not hurt...just feels real warm. Can anybody else who got rads answer a silly question for me. They took x-rays this week as they said will happen every week. Then they took pictures with a regular camera...close up. That was weird. The strangest questions go through my head. I asked where they get the film developed. They laughed. No one has ever mentioned to me the picture taking part. Don't you also just wonder about all the x-rays involved. I get rads every day and x-rays every week. Plus the x-rays, CT's, etc involved before the surgery. Chemo and rads....this cancer is some kind of monster.....
Best wishes....Pat0
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