Catholics
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Michelle, hope all is better and healing is at hand.
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Good morning, all. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been reading and praying with/for all of you in the past weeks. I'm getting scans this morning to check the effectiveness of the clinical trial I'm on for liver mets. Could you all please pray for me and my family? Thank you so much. I'm praying the Lord blesses today's scans and I get only good news this week!
Penny 0 -
thank you to all praying for Jackson! He is my beautiful 15 year old son who is just starting High School this year and got into a very wonderful Jesuit school with honors ..our family has been through such health crisis the last 4 years starting with me then our middle son dxed with Juvenile diabetes. It seemed like a fresh start this year and he was feeling so good about his new life. He has had some odd blood tests "elevated liver counts and high blood sugars" his blood sugars have returned to normal and we are hoping to rule out Diabetes but worried about liver counts. We are hoping it is his new intense footbal regimen with strength training and the AZ heat and maybe he was just getting dehydrated but we are very worried he has to have more tests this week and we are praying like crazy. I do a rosary every day and if you ever need the support of the rosary and you dont want to say it alone you can go online to
"come pray the rosary with me" and it is very interactive. Please keep Jackson in your prayers and REDWOLF I HAVE ADDED your name to day to my rosary intentions online so 80 people will be praying for you.
Blessings to all of you today!
Laura so GOOD to see you the other day, thanks so much for your prayers.
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Prayers for beautiful Jackson, and all my wonderful bc sisters and brother! xo
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Another 25% shrinkage in the liver met! Hallelujah! Thank you, God! Treatment postponed - white blood cell count is too low, so I get this week off. Thanks for the prayers - keep 'em comin'!
Penny 0 -
Yay Penny!!!! That is wonderful news, and I am so happy for you. Enjoy the week off!
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Penny, congratulations on the 25% decrease!!!!!!!!!!! Prayers will remain!
MMM5 - you're in AZ too? I'm in Fountain Hills/Scottsdale. And I also pray on that rosary website every night for 2 1/2 years now. I wrote about it I think on another thread back when I joined in Feb or March on here.
For those of you who haven't seen it, its:
www.comepraytherosary.org
You go there, and you are praying the rosary with people from all over the world. I have actually become pen pals with a lady in England whom I met on that site! There is a box you click "Intentions" and you can type in your intentions there, anonymously as "guest" or put your name or any name you want. I often list "women and men of the breastcancer.org forums" and I alawys list us there when we pray a Novena here. Anyways, this lady in England posted something about her daughter having cancer after her daughter had her 3rd child (very young, was barely 30), and I wrote on the intentions board that I would pray for her daughter as a fellow cancer survivor. She was so touched, and then she would start writing my name on the intentions box and pray for my intentions. She is 8 hours ahead of me, so she prays when she gets up and I pray when going to bed, and that's how we met. I posted my email address on the intentions site and said "email if you want" and she did - faboulous lady. We are even Facebook friends :-) The rosary site is also on Facebook so you can find it there.
But I echo MMM5, I highly recommend it. I have met some really nice people that you just get to know their intentions and their families and friends that they write about if you get on about the same time each day/night. People are from all over the world, Phillipines, Ireland, Canada, Africa - all over. There is power in praying together and knowing other people are there with you at the same time - like on here.
Cheri
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thank you for all of the prayers for Jackson, his tests came back today back to normal.They came at the exact time I was online praying the rosary.The rosary just brings so much peace if you need it.0
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mmm5, so good to hear about his test results!!!!!!
Cheri
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Hello Sisters
haven't been on for a while. First the bad news - wasn't too well last weekend which continued into Monday and Tuesday and didn't go into the office on those days. Can now understand why I was not too well then b/c when I went on Wednesday to give bloods and meet the Onc in preparation for treatment this afternoon, the tests showed that my white cell count is down so treatment off for a week.
Now for the worse news. Next weekend would have been the "in between " weekend where treatments are concerned - treatmets every 2nd Friday afternoon. There is an away F/ball match next weekend - 1st round of the Championship qualifers - so was going to go to it but go away for the weekend. Was going to treat myself to an up market hotel for the weekend as a treat, and was about to book when I got the phone call saying white cells low. So now I can't get to the F/ball match. A bit of metastised cancer is one thing but not getting to the match, in the scale of things, is a disaster of epic proportions ! ! ! !
Other bad news is I had been suffering from mouth ulcers and nausea. At times it was an absolute ordeal to eat b/c of the mouth ulcers.
Good news is however, that anti nausea tabs seem to be working as it has either gone or been supressed and the mouth ulcers are nearly away. I will keep on with the meds for the nausea and ulcers so as not to give them a window of opportunity to return.
Better news is that I'm back into the office, as of Wednesday after the appointment with the Onc. Mentally and physically feel back on top of things and feel that the treatment is working.
mmm5 great news.
Redwolf that is great news as well. I hope you don't mind but I have sent you a PM.
I still pray for all my sisters on here.
take care allFrank
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Oh Frank. I AM sorry you will have to miss the football match. We deserve some fun time. I'm glad, though, that you are feeling better. Kudos to you for feeling better and going to the office. I can't seem to make both of those happen at the same time. LOL. I'm looking forward to retiring the end of this month. I have to work OT today and have to work next Saturday which will be more OT. The money will be useful so I shall plow on through.
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Hi All back on ,but have to leaen this new computer. so, will have a spotty record
Frank glad all is going well.
mmm5--glad tests back to normal for Jackson
Laura,
Dunes I already PM'd you
Cherilyn:)------Did uou get the scan results?
Had a Pm fromNancynow---her mom is on a regular nursing unit. Things seemed to be going in the right direction.For sure since she started out having to be resusitated>>then sx>>the ICU. So her recovery is extraordinary. Please add her to your rosary intentions. Also Please add Sue to your rosary intentions For recovery from liver difficulty.
My MO seems to have cut me loose b/c I have decided to stop the AI's. He said there was no use doing tests if I wasn't going to follow the treatment. Strange.
Praying for everyone Namaste sheila
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Frank, I'm so sorry about all your side effects, but I'm glad your anti nausea med is working, and I'm glad your treatment seems to be responding again!!
Has your doctor given you anything to try for the mouth ulcers? Like Mary's Magic mouthwash? When I worked in hospital, this was something we compounded a lot for folks to use to heal and prevent mouth sores. It was often used for cancer patients.
Cheri
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Sas, I think it is really lousy for your MO to cut you loose. I fully expect mine will do that after I see her next time. I'm hoping my PCP will work with me, though. I am working hard at my treatment, and there is plenty of evidence showing that nutrition can cure cancer, so it is my opinion that she should assist me in any way she can. And I am unanimous in that. LOL That's from an old Brit Com.
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Hello everyone ... so much going on here. I've been crazy busy with work and such. I have a new grandson! He was born on Wednesday!
I love to read when prayers are answered in the way we hope they would.
I took myself off tamoxifen and hoped the weight would drop but it hasn't. But that constant mental fog is gone. I will have blood work done in July to see if it is better and will see my onc in August. I have so many conflicting thoughts about being on tamoxifen or AIs.
I pray God continues to bless you all!0 -
Hello sisters
Feeling much better and thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers. Nausea is either gone or the tablets are on top of it, either way it does not feature now.
Told you about the mouth ulcers what I forgot to say was just as the mouth ulcers started I sheared off part of a back tooth. Got an appointment within a couple of days and dentist filled it. Ulcers were all healing except the one on the side of my tongue - right beside the tooth that had broken. It was my Onc who spotted it - dentist had left a pin head of filling slightly protruding from my tooth and that's what was causing the prob. Got an appointment next day, got the tooth polished and I noticed right away the ulcer starting to heal. It is nearly away now.
Cheri my Onc proscribed Bioténe mouthwash and Bioténe gel. Told me to keep on using both after ulcers clear so that we keep on top of them.
Sisters there is a monastry in Belfast belonging to the Redemtorist order of priests. Each year they run a Solemn Novena to OurLady. It has been running from last Wednesday till this Thursday. There are 10 sessions/day, each attended by over 1500 people so there are between 15 and 20,000 people attending each day. You need to be there at least 15 minutes before the start of a session to get a seat in the main body of the church. I'm attending it (as I have done for some years now) and it is so spiritually AND mentally uplifting.
The 10 sessions are 6 45am, 8 15am, 9 30am,11 00am, 2 00pm, 3 30pm, 6 15pm, 8 00pm, 9 30pm and 11 00pm. You can see the church in real time by logging onto www.clonard.com and going to live web cam. Those times are BST so to work out your time, we are 5 hours ahead on New York. Two of the sessions on Saturday were for the blessing of the sick. The tradition for some years now is that on the Tuesday non Catholics Ministers (M and F) are invited to take part and give the homily during the Mass. You can send in petitions on line and they will be prayed for at each session. Yesterday by sheer coincidence I ended up sitting beside a lady I had been to Uni with, and that wasn't last year or the year before LOL. We had a great catch-up afterwards.
take care sisters and keep the prayers going. I have been mentioning my sisters on the Catholic thread each day at the Novena.
Frank
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Dear Frank
Thanks so much for sharing today! I took the time to go to the website and actually attended the mass at 330 your time 7:30 my time via live webcam. What a wonderful mass and excellent homily on integrity and living our life with honesty, integrity, and loyalty. Basically stating that the "truth will always set us free"!
I placed intentions for you Frank, Penny and all of the ladies on this thread.
God bless all of you, and thanks again Frank I felt like I was attending the novena with you today!
Michelle
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Hello all...this is my first post on this thread. I have enjoyed reading it and think it is where I need to be right now because I am struggling. I am coming up on the one year anniversary of my diagnosis and am having a very difficult time dealing with things. Throughout my treatment, I had many signs from God and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit thoughout. It was a remarkable blessing to me that whenever I needed a message, I got it loud and clear. Since I finished my treatment in January, I feel like I either haven't had any more of those signs, or I have missed them. I wish I could get them back because I think they would help me right now. I know that I should be so thankful to God that I am alive, that my bc was caught relatively early, and that I managed surgery, chemo. and rads. pretty well, but I can't get past the fear that cancer is going to come back. I have 5 kids between the ages of 4 and 16 and I can't bear the thought of ever giving them bad news again. I am a good Catholic, but I don't think I am very good at praying. I am not sure exactly what I am looking for, but I would love some advice to get me through this rough time. Are there any books or talks that might help me? Any other suggestions? Many thanks!
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Rabbit-Welcome, as with all here BC zaps our spirits and beliefs so heavily. I had left the church for along time, but never stopped praying . Sometimes I didn't pray as I did before, but when I did it so helped. The Rosary was the biggest source of comfort. We have a companion thread where prayers are archived. It's not meant to be a discussion thread. It's aplace to find prayers and novenas, that you may want to include in your life
I suggest that you seek a Catholic mental Health counselor that is also familar with cancer. This sounds like it would be difficult to find , but start with your parish priest and work from there. Once you are able to work through some of your concerns , then you can begin to guide your family better. It would be helpful to do family counseling too. The kids are likely as scared as you. By getting the whole family involved , The kids can find the words to express their fears. At their ages, they fear, but haven't got the maturity or knowledge to figure things out.
I then suggest that you begin to pray as a family and attend church. The reason for this suggestion is that it will give you, DH, and the kids a central bond, that in good times and bad, you can hold on too. I'm not suggesting that this become extreme in your life, but that holding God at the center of your life will help you cope with all that comes. With the children it will help to calm their spirits as they watch your spirit being calmed and supported by your beliefs.
Their are those that would describe this as a "Coping Mechanism", well Whatever. The difference is when our beliefs become so imbedded in our being, nothing can truly hurt us b/c God, Jesus, Mary, and the Holy court of Heaven, will lift us up. Find and re-read "Footprints" The line in the prayer "That's when I carried you". So, shall it be. HE doesn't care what was before, seek HIM and your soul and spirit shall be strengthened.
In the archives you will find instructions on how to say the Rosary. Cherilynn in a few posts back wrote a link to a site that says the rosary--efectively 24 hours a day b/c people are saying it around the world. Then think how you can bring your family together whether it's once a day , a couple of times a week.However you feel guided by God working through your spirit. Your spirit was guided to come here, seeking help. Others here will offer what they have learned. Gleen from everyone. Then take ACTION.
Come here when you can, but I know with five kids your time is limited. We here support each other, but don't expect you to always be here. You will be added to all our novenas and prayers, even if you don't post again.
LOVE and HUGS and PRAYERS>>(L&H&P's) Sheila
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Rabbit welcome and please stay. We have to seek out ways to stay closer to God, surround ourselves by those that believe what we believe and pray together and for each other. I was able to team on a retreat in April and I was just going through the materials we had and one brochure was "How to pray as a Catholic". What we learned on retreat is that sometimes you have to find quiet and listen for God. My personal experience through treatment was that I felt so connected, so spiritual, and I've realized that I was allowing myself a little bit more quiet time. Perhaps start with a journal and jot down a prayer every night? Or flip the Bible open and see what message jumps off the page.
Take a few minutes of quiet for yourself tonight, pray to God and then just listen.
SAS~ I can't believe a doctor told you that....don't they take oaths or something? Are you staying dry by the way?
Frank~in my prayers as always.
Teresa~yeah on the new baby!
To all my friends on this thread may the Lord keep you safe and let you slip into a deep and healing sleep tonight.
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Sas and Sagina...thank you so very much. Reading your posts with your kind words and helpful suggestions has made me feel better already. Today was a VERY rough day for me, but you have been most helpful. I am very grateful.
Sagina...you made such a good point about allowing yourself more quiet time while you were going through treatment. I think I did the same thing and now things are returning to how they were before I was sick and I am not giving myself that time to be with God.
Sas...you are right, BC zaps us. That's why I was moved to come to this discussion board today and I am ready to take action. This was the first step with many more to come.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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Sagina--don't know , still evaluating....but feel better since I went to PCP and said, I have pain--it's bone pain and drugs aren't making it feel better , I really believe it's the the "severe osteopenia " and that's not going to be much helped by pain meds----she really took a look at my numbers and agreed--she felt it was Osteoporosis versus osteopenia--now on Miacalcin--- I'm too afraid of biphosphanates--------Duh forgot to tell her about what the MO said. I have had too much damage done by the AI's. We all react differently to drugs. I may change my mind and go back on Aromasin. I told MO that of course I understood if I have a recurrence the words that will be used --Recurrence , non compliant with treatment. But in my case I'm 61, son is independent, It's a QOL issue. If I have a few years of high quality versus daily induced pain by my "life saving drugs" for which I would have to take highly addicting drugs to attempt pain control. I'm bending towards high quality and no addicting drugs. My situation totatally different than you youngers with kids.
Rabbit--- a beginning
Frank such a guy
New computer not adept with it yet, but sitting in electric bed with head and feet up with it vibrating, AHHHH so comfortable can't believe it's not always been this way.
To all DiamondGirl doesn't want anyone using her proper name. FYI
L&H&P's sheila
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Hello sisters
well some good news , even if it is only very minor. My white blood cell is back up so treatment resumes this Friday. It was interupted for a week as the cell count had gone down so I didn't have my treatment last Friday. As I said in a previous post, because the treatment is this Friday I'm having to miss an away F/ball match aaaawwwww - you have to get your priorities right LOL.
I got a little mental set-back. As is usual I was at the clinic on Wednesday morning to give bloods and see Onc prior to treatment on Friday. My previous treatments were in the wards - even though you are not staying overnight there are some proceedures that are carried out on the wards. Treatment there is slightly more "intimate" so the staff including reception would get to know you by your first name. I'm now going to the day clinic and it is bursting at the seams. However on Wednesday morning one of the reception staff said good morning and called me by my first name. I know she was only being friendly but it depessed me a bit because I thought "when the reception staff in the day clinic know you by first name you have been coming here too long." I couldn't help but think "is this never going to end?" However after a while I mentally picked myself up, dusted my self down and got back into the fight with even more vigour.
Still going to the novena I told you about. It ends tonight. It is really uplifting. Had a very great sacrament of reconciliation so it meant that I was receiving communion each day. I also remembered my sisters on this thread at the novena each day.
take care all and keeep the prayers going.
Frank
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It's interesting, Frank, the different things that can get us down. I can relate to your feeling of wondering if it will ever end. We have to think positive. It seems like we have to do an awful lot to take care of this problem we have, and of course, that can keep us stuck in identifying with the disease. I'm glad you got yourself feeling better. It is my hope that I will do the same. I admite to only having about half an idea of how to do it, but after I retire in a couple of days I am going to take really good care of myself; and I hope to grow into a better person in the process.
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Frank, I completely understand. For me, it's just the fact that I have to go and get my blood drawn or something. I am 48 now and never been sick, ever (except for a cold or flu), never on any meds, I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, all the docs that see me are astounded at my physical age, so I went from going 25 years exactly to never seeing a doctor to having surgery, radiation, get this scanned, we need more blood, ok this came back we need to discuss this, you should probably start on this.....that all freaks me out! Being sick IS FOR OTHER PEOPLE NOT ME. OK, now I'm one of "those people" like all of us on here. I don't want to be one of "those people." I want my pre cancer life, for the most part, back.
When I worked in a hospital or long term care, I often got to know the long term patients or their families. I always said hello and engaged in converstaion. I never thought about how that would then be from the other side....from the side of "Why am I still sick, why am I here every day, when will these tests and treatments be done....." and seeing the same healthcare workers and them knowing who I am. I get it now. And I get what you are going through. To a point - I get where you are coming from mentally/emotionally, but I have not had to go through the rigors that you are. I am sorry you have had to go through all this.
And thank you for praying for all of us in the Novena. Know you are prayed for, too.
Cheri
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To all that are here. Please, let my words be guided. We love. We have know idea why this trial has been sent to us. We fight it as best we can. We share words to support each other as best we can. We hope for each other as best we can. We prayer for each other as best as we can. We listen to changes about each other. So, if the above is true , let our beliefs be true. We seek a way out of this awfulness, b/c we know it, we experience it every day.
If we believe in HIM, there is a plan. We may not agree with the plan, whats interesting about the plan, is that we are all doing something different. I have never before done a novena in my life till I came here. Theresa made a quip about it one time,for those that are new---it was I was suggesting novenas frequently. BC caused a change. being here caused a change. Dunes suggested another novena right after the St.Francis novena. That was me once upon a time. Then I realized the intensity that we put into a novena , we need a mental break.------ST. Faustina didn't, but she was in a cloister. Our lives are different. 3-5 weeks between novenas is good. A novena calls for intensity. Ourdaily lives are so intense, calling us to be to intense, on to many things can be be hurtfull.
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I am in a state of letting go. I am no longer flailing at empty space in my freefall. I have put my trust in God. God must have ahold of me because I'm no longer spinning out of control. I have no idea what these next few months will bring. Well, I have very little idea anyway. And I am OK with that. Yay!
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Dune.....I'm halfway there, but not as letting go yet as you are. Doesn't help that I'm a control freak. I'm trying to do the "let go let God" but I admit, it's hard. I am happy you have reached the state you are in, and I admire that and will try to get there with you
Cheri
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Cheri, best of luck. It is a good place to reach, but I still have moments where I try to take back control. Fortunately they are brief and infrequent. I look forward to seeing what shows up when I am not trying to force things.
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Thank you Dune......will keep trying and praying. All I can do some days really anyways. Worrying about stuff doesn't seem to change anything that's for sure!
Cheri
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www.comepraytherosary.org