NOLA in September?
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Thanks Minn. Apparently, there is some very good information that the police have to go on, so we are hopeful that the creep(s) will be caught soon. Someone from one of the clubs did the neatest photoshopping with a ghost image of a guy in a Mustang driving in the clouds up to heaven, giving a thumbs up. We know that God wouldn't drive anything but a Shelby, and obviously needed the very best mechanic, which is Joe. My kids and I have taken extra time this past few days for hugs, for checking in with each other, and for saying "I love you". Life changes from moment to moment and we just don't know what is around the corner or what will happen tomorrow. I am hoping to be able to take time away from work this coming year and visit relatives in other states whom I haven't seen lately. You are correct about the incredible support we have in each other--it's really a beautiful thing.
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Sandy - God driving a Shelby - well who knew! Nice your kids are reacting with more love towards each other.
Ann, I added your surgery (2B) above right after Susie's! It is very nice you can be there for her. She is so lucky to be doing a PBM! The P!!! Nobody else could relate more than you to her recovery! She is one lucky lady to have you there...
I tried on new jeans today, many types, but was not happy with any of them. I think I am still just sore with ultra sensitive skin from the 2B at the end of October. I typically wear bikini underwear, so instead of jeans, I got some Jockey "Naturals" "hipsters" that come up higher to protect the skin from pants!
My Tattoos are good. The rads side totally peeled and out popped the most lovely skin and nipple! The other side never peeled. (Rads must really compromise the skin!) Donn highly recommended Cocoa Butter for healing tattoos and scars (after the healing period, which looks like a month), so I have Palmers Cocoa butter and even the Shea butter one. Donn said he thought if I used cocoa butter for 1 year that my scars would all but disappear! Has anybody else heard things like this? Has anybody else been using cocoa or shea butter? I've read great things about cocoa and shea, especially cocoa butter evening out skin tone! (I wonder how this happens? evening skin pigment?)
Minn, good point! Nordy, have your heart's desire! A baby and a puppy!!!
Love to all!!!
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Hi all
Today I'm one week post stage 2. We left NOLA last Friday (Christmas eve), rented a car and drove to Dauphin Island AL. We stopped in Gulfport at the superwalmart to get groceries, and I felt very brave shopping in a Walmart on the afternoon of Dec 24! I was so tired when we arrived, plus realized I was beginning to get the same intensely itchy rash I got 2 weeks post stage 1. Everyone seems to think this is a reaction to the suture, and this time I got right on steroids.
This is a favorite vacation spot of ours but man has it been COLD! Still it is so nice being on the beach. We have seen many, many dolphins today frolicking right in front of our house. I have been taking the advice I've read on this thread so often to WALK and DRINK after lipo. Seems like it is helping because I am definitely starting to see the swelling go down. I was SO swollen on my hips thighs and butt post op. And the bruising is just not to be believed. Everyone has mentioned this, but it's still pretty astounding to see it on yourself!
My breasts look so nice! I've joined the ranks of those who keeping peeking down their top to gaze at their breasts:) It's amazing what a difference nipples make. Sort of a surreal feeling because I just feel like I have breasts again.
OK, enough rambling. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.
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How much longer until I stop feeling bruised?? Please, someone offer me a ray of hope.I can't stand to wear any of my pants unless they have elastic in the waist (not a good look on me, I might add) I am so sore. It seems worse than it was last week! Is this normal? I am going in to see my PCP tomorrow. I have just been feeling progressively worse. I think part of the problem is that I have developed a nasty upper respiratory infection. It started about a week ago and is not getting any better. I pushed myself too much over the Christmas weekend I am just worn down. Today has been the worse. I have literally been in the bed all day long with the exception of possibly 2 hours total. I hope my doctor will give me some good antibiotics so I can be ready for my surgery next week -- plus I have to be able to take care of Susie. As it is, I won't be much good to anyone.
Even though I feel like crap, I am anxious to get nipples. I can't even imagine how they will look. Amy, I will probably become a "peeker" myself. It seems like it has been so long since I have been able to look at my breasts and not feel a pang of regret. I am excited at the prospect. I think they look great now. And now nipples to complete the package.
Liver biopsy results are tomorrow. I thought about waiting until I got back from NOLA to get the results but I am afraid I will obsess about it the whole time. If it is bad news then I will hate being away from home while I process everything. But at the same time I don't want to spend all week next week dreading something that may turn out to be nothing. Don't you hate it when there is no good answer! So I guess I will just suck it up and get the results tomorrow. Hey, maybe it will be great news and I can sit back and enjoy seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. (Please let it be so -- Please let it be so)
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Hugs and prayers for dealing with random acts of violence. A really good book I read is called "Forgive for Good" I needed that book to help me let go of (or better deal with) alot of anger that was controlling me. Between that book, yoga, exercise in general and alot of prayer I am much more at peace with myself than before the BC diagnosis. The beauty of that book is that it is not very long. I have the attention span of a tsi (sp?) fly.
Amy I agree with the surreal feeling of having breasts again.
And thank you to everyone who posts their healing process. It is so helpful.
So from what I've read here, and experienced myself, jeans fall down after stage 1. So I'm assuming after stage 2 swelling goes down (which will take 4 to 6 months and lots of compression garments) I will be able to wear jeans again without constantly having to hike them up. Right? I mean I may be shaped differently from before but I will be able to find jeans that don't fall down, won't I?
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Just4ann Prayers for good liver biopsy results and fast Upper respiratory tract infection healing. Has anyone found that a good massage is helpful with lippo achiness? I'd like to know what helps also.
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Amy, nice to hear from you! Enjoy! It sounds like a lovely spot! Do walk, and Do rest too! Sleep in late if you can. Let your body heal. Sorry about the intense itchy!!! I have a bad reaction to surgical tape, but others here have reported reactions to surgical glue too. This is the first I've heard of stitches! I am picturing you walking on the beach! I have been a "peeker" too now that both my areola's match! I can't believe how happy this makes me. To be complete, matching, even. My breasts just look beautiful to me. smile smile smile.
Ann, did you have plication? (where they stitch the ab muscles together)? in your stage 2? I still have some lipo soreness from 2 months ago, and I am still mostly wearing yoga pants. Jeans just annoy me. Hope this helps.
Jeans still don't sit on me the same - though I had athe 4 flaps, not just two. I am still trying to find a pair that stay up, have pockets on the back to enhance my butt, and don't look like granny pants. The search continues! I do have a pair from Banana Republic, with pockets, look great, and I just keep hiking them up. LOL!! Sort of a pain. I have found, though, that if I keep one hand in my pocket, I can keep them up while walking along. They don't fall if I stay still. LOL.
Ann, What FourBoyMom said, prayers for your biopsy results. Hang in there. We are all thinking of you...
Glad you are doing well FourBoy!
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Spring, I had to giggle at the very idea that you are creative and innovative enough to realize that if you keep just one hand in your pocket it will allow you to wear a pair of jeans that otherwise sound great. I actually giggled out loud -- and I am not a giggler! Too funny. I would have loved to have witnessed the process by which you made this discovery. I bet you were so tickled with yourself! I can't stand to wear jeans or anything that doesn't have elastic. I will be glad when I can, even if I have to keep my hand in my pocket to keep them up. :c)
I did have the plication. My soreness is in the upper abdomen for the most part. Very tender to the touch. And then getting up and down requires that I rise at a 90 degree angle and stand upright slowly. Is this part typical for the plication? And then sometimes when I try to stand upright I have terrible muscle spasms in my lower abdomen -- bad enough they force me to sit back down until they pass.
-- Ann
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Ann Thank you for your description of ab plication pain. Now I know that I am normal. Upper ab pain and alot of difficulty going from sit to stand. I find myself pressing with my hand into my lower abs. The added pressure of holding myself together seems to help as i get up out of a chair. I am off to the store to buy more compression garments as this seems to help so much.
Thank you AGAIN ladies. I feel like I know so much and then I log on here again and learn something new. Prayers for continued healing and healthy livers!
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Bev, it's taken me over a year to see my shape settle down enough to find the right jeans. I need limited stretch, cuz the fall off this flat a$$ of mine pretty quick. And I need a higher rise than I used to wear, just up over my hip bones. My favorite brand for my shape right now is plain old Levi's 515s! Good thing, cuz they're cheaper than 7s or Joe's!!
Happy shopping,
Anne
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Hi AnneW, 515's are making my butt look too flat at the moment! But you may be onto something. I think I need a higher rise to keep them up! Thanks for the hint. Maybe if I can get them up on my hips I can take my hand out of my pocket! LOL.
Ann and FourBoy, I also had the Ab plication but just from the navel down - Dr. D. said I didn't need it above the navel. It took a long 5 months for my ab to get anywhere near "normal". Doc D did say it would take 12-18 months for it to be fully recovered. It is a long healing process, my best advice is BE PATIENT. (I was not! It drove me crazy being "compromised" again! I so wanted to just get back to normal!) I am 12 months out now. I can do about anything I want, but I do feel very "tight" at times and am always trying to stretch out my ab muscles. I am hoping that in another 6 months it may feel more normal. Though, i have heard for some the tightness doesn't totally go away ever.
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Couldn't wait to get home and to the computer so I could share the news...the liver is fine. No autoimmune hepatitis, no cancer, no cirrhosis, no scaring. Nothing of major concern. Just a good old fashion case of fatty liver which affects 20 percent of the population. The treatment -- healthy diet, and exercise. I feel like I have just been given a clean bill of health. I was sooooo afraid to not be afraid. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the prayers and positive thoughts!!
Now I can finally relax and look forward to NOLA with my sister. We fly out at 7:30 Sunday morning. Bless her heart, I feel sorry for her. She truly has no idea what she is in for. She keeps telling me she will be back at work within the week once she gets home. She just can't imagine how sore she is going to be no matter how much I try to convince her. She thinks she is a superhero or something I guess! But I will bring her back and drag her home with me and she will be fine. She thinks she is going home to take care of herself but I feel pretty confident she will be happy to come home with me and let me continue to care for her for a while once she finds out first hand that this is not going to be a walk in the park -- Dare I be the typical big sis and go the "I told you so" route. Haven't decided yet. :c)
Oh, and best of all, I come home with two band new perky nipples. I bet they will be absolutely fabulous! Can't wait!!!
-- Ann
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YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Doing the Snoopy Happy Dance! How awesome Ann. Now you can concentrate on just healing and your little sister and your soon to be new nipples! So happy for you. Thank God! That is great news.
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WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Congratulations!! Shaking my booty over here too!!
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Ann, that is wonderful news!!!!!!!!
Beverly - You crack me up about your hand in your pocket! I haven't had any worse problems with pants falling down than I ever did (and I don't mean when my pants actually did fall down...). I guess it's because my derriere has always been petite (I am not going to say my butt is flat), and so nothing has changed for me. I still fit in the jeans I did before the SGAP. BTW, with the jeans all having stretchy material in them now, I heard that you have to get them really tight because they all loosen up over the course of the day and fall down. You could get a belt, if it's really bad, you know. Just sayin' (I learned that from you - the saying, not about the belt). Re: Palmer's Cocoa Butter, Dr. D suggested it to me waaaay back when I was concerned about stretch marks after DIEP. Found it at Walgreens - Massage Cream for Stretch Marks. I think it works really well for scars, too. Has vitamin E, collagen, and elastin.
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It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of CarynRose..she fought for 7 years and waged a war against BC that was truly amazing,I had the priviledge of knowing Caryn for many years through FORCE and witnessed her to plea to NIH and the CDC members at the FORCE conference right after her recurrence and Stage IV diagnosis.
What a huge loss to the BC community..RIP,Caryn,
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/762661?page=2#idx_33
Marcia
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/762661?page=2#idx_33
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Oh my, lots of news here...
Ann, what can I say, we are all THRILLED about your liver results! You know, the diet and exercise you need for your liver are also good things to help prevent a recurrence of BC!! I bet you feel like you dodged a bullet. That's how I felt after I found that lump in my recon breast that turned out only to be fat necrosis, and lots of other times. It's like every thing now, we will worry. But for today, we CELEBRATE WITH YOU!!
re your sister. I dont' think she'll be back at work in a week! Well, if she is, you let us know as she will officially be super woman, for sure! I guess it is just hard to comprehend for someone who has not been through it. When I heard you were in the hospital for 3-4 nights, I knew this was something major. No insurance companies let you stay in the hospital!! I've heard of woman getting mastectomy and going home same day! That seems a bit extreme to me, but anyway!
Minn, I like the "petite derriere" better too, but I will have trouble with that spelling, so maybe "petite bottom!! (Hard to imagine anything petite on me at 5'8"!), but I guess it is all in relation to everything else! I can't wear a belt yet, my skin in that area is just too sensitive, but it is a good point for later. For now I am sticking with the jeans I have and keeping my hand in my pocket! (OH LORD, isn't there some song about that? "I have one hand in my pocket, and the other one givin' a high five" or something? (LOL on the "just sayin' ")
Minn!! I saw that Palmers for Stretch Marks too! I actually handled it and put it back. I got the "regular" one this time, (they have every single type that Palmers makes at the Super Wal-Mart by us - olive oil formula, shea butter formula, etc) - So once my regular cocoa butter one is gone, I'll get the stretch mark cocoa butter one). I really like the Shea Butter one - it has a lighter fragrance. Thanks for the info!
Marcia, CarynRose is a beautiful name. I am so sorry for your loss, or all of our loss. It sounds like she was an amazing woman. RIP.
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Marcia, I read about CarynRose on the StageIV thread. How sad. Another wonderful woman lost to this disease. My NY resolution is to send NBCC a donation for every bco member who dies from this disease in 2011. NBCC at least has a plan and a goal to figure this disease out by 2020.
Minn & Bev, I've never been a "petite" gal. Maybe skinny at different times of my life, but never petite. Then a few months ago Marga said, "You're so tiny!" That's an incongruous word for a girl who was always the tallest in her class and got teaases mercilessly about that and her big feet! I can laugh now, but hearing "tiny" just makes me shake my head in wonder...Bev, my Eddie Bauer regular fit boot cut jeans have little stretch and fit well. Cut's a little diferent from the Levi's. Maybe your butt won't look flat...However, I've read that pockets on the back DO help make you look like you have a butt if you don't. Esp those pockets with a flap.
Ann, let's hear it for good lod fatty liver!!!! Once we've had cancer, everything that happens is cancer till proven otherwise. I know you've been so stressed about this. Now you can breathe and go have fun in NOLA and bring home some perky nips!!
Time to make a grocery list and head down the hill before the snow gets too bad. Got PT and exercise and errands. Gonna be 12 inches and -5 tonight. Winter has finally made it to the Front Range. Watch me bitch about it as much as I whined about NOT having snow! LOL! At least I can do Pilates at home now--got my own reformer!
Anne
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So sorry for your loss Marcia. It sounds like another powerful woman has lost her life to this disease. My thoughts and prayers are with you. xox.
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Marcia - I followed CarynRose's story on the FORCE website for a long time and checked back every so often to see how she was doing. I'm so sad to hear this news. But like a friend of mine who passed away recently from this horrible disease, CarynRose fought long and hard and I'm glad she can finally rest. She surely was a great inspiration for everyone. Such a loss to our sisterhood and to you, Marcia. So sorry.
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Thanks to all of those in support of my fatty liver. I don't think I have ever been so thrilled. It is like I can exhale for the first time since my diagnosis, August '09. Yeah rah for me!!
I have been on the phone with the girls in NOLA this morning. They have reworked all of the appointments so that Susie and I go to see Dr. S together, meet with Stacy together, everything. We will have adjacent rooms so we can visit back and forth. Everything is all set. Susie is out shopping today for clothes. I finally convinced her she will not be wearing jeans anytime soon. At least that is progress. I am really excited.
The last time we took a trip together (about 5 years ago) we decided spur of the moment to take a two week long vacation with no plans or reservations at all. We called it a road trip but what it was is just plain fun. We ended up heading east until we hit the beach. Worked on our tans for a few days then decided we should go to Panama City just for fun. Stayed there a few days, then head home, stopping in Tunica on the way. We stopped at tons of places along the way, not that I can remember the names of them now, but if it looked the least bit interesting we were there. Fun times.
This trip we will get in NOLA at 10:00 Sunday morning and our first appointment is 3:00 Monday afternoon. Surely we can find something to get into! I'm a little concerned that we don't have transportation. I guess we will have to take a taxi. We will work it all out. I'll keep you posted.
Oh, last time I went to NOLA I came back with 43 viruses on my computer. Has anyone else had that problem?? It wasn't difficult to get rid of them but I was really surprised.
-- Ann
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AnneW, I looked up NBCC - National Breast Cancer Coalition. What do you know about it?
Other Ann, sounds very exciting! Your trip is coming up fast!!!
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Bev, I support NBCC for their lobbying and putting money towrd solid research. They are a fabulous advocacy group. I have always wanted to go to one of their training seminars, or Project LEAD. They teach you how to think more critically about the "research" being presented. Each May they have a meeting in DC, where you can learn about current studies and meet your elected officials to discuss issues regarding funding for truly finding the cause which will lead toward finding the cure.
They are, to me, the best advocacy group out there, and worthy of my dollars. Some people prefer Komen for the name and sentiment, but NBCC does different stuff.
Anne
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Hope Everyone has a Happy Healthy New year!
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AnneW- I can't believe that after all my research, I have not come across NBCC. Wow, I feel like I really missed the boat on that one. Thanks for the info.
Laurie
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Oh, one other thing-
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Today I am celebrating all of you out there. All you wonderful women who are so caring and helpful.
Laurie
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Got all the laundry done, clothes ready to pack, still pulling everything together before actually putting it in the suitcase. Have a big night planned with Susie.
She is babysitting her grandson. I my granddaughter so we are planning accordingly. We each have picked out movies, got the pop corn on standby. Lucas, Susie's grandson is three and is taking us on a "date night" which is Cracker Barrel pancakes and root beer. UGH. I don't know if I can watch that. But who can resist a blond haired, blue eyed dreamboat that invites you out on a date! He and my granddaughter, Katelin, who is 4, call each other the baby cousins. So they have been planning all day for date night with their "baby cousin" and the sleep over that follows. Katelin has a new baby doll she just bought today with her Christmas money that she says needs help potty training -- it comes with its own potty. That should be fun. Susie's grandson has collected different colors of nail polish so he can paint our nails while we watch our movie. Already practicing winning the hearts of the women!!
Hope everyone has a wonderful, safe farewell to a year that I, for one, am happy to see go. Next year is looking good! And perky! And bouncy! Happy New Year one and all!!
-- Ann
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Hi Ladies-
Wishing you all a very healthy and happy 2011! Thank you for being there for me!
Sandy- so sorry to hear about your devastating experience.
Ann- glad to hear no worries on liver. Good luck to you and your sister on upcoming surgeries. Glad you can be there for each other
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OMG- this is the second time in a week that i wrote much then hit submit and lost my connection and poof-everything I wrote from my heart. will try again
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