MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

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  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545

    Regina - Beautiful picture.

  • phew
    phew Member Posts: 143
    jo--it does sound like you have your dxercis covered!  especially at his time of year, huh?  kill 2 birds with one stone !!
  • raeinnz
    raeinnz Member Posts: 553

    Hello everyone! 

    (((PM))) - great to see your post.  You are in my thoughts.

    motherofthepatient - sorry to hear your DD has an infection. I agree with NM - I don't think the doctors will start chemo with an infection in her breast.  I had to sign a paper before bmx and recon surgery giving the surgeon permission to make the decision to remove an implant if an infection set in and I needed to have chemo.  He said an established infection is very hard to cure once chemo has damaged the immune system so the implant would need to be removed to cure the infection quickly so chemo could start as he didn't want that delayed.

    jo - I didn't have rads but I felt as you do after bmx with recon.  IMHO you are managing amazingly well keeping up with such a busy job at a busy time of year and you are only 4 months out from dx!  One day at a time. 

  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545

    raeinnz - Right now I am on break from any hormonal meds.  Struck out with Arimidex & Femara.  Have an appt with my onc on Jan 5th to get my RX.  Really enjoying the break.  I feel like my poor old body has had more recovery time.  Both the AI's made me so nauseous I hope Tamoxifen does well.

    Believe it or not, I was back at work one week after lump surgery.  The four walls at home were driving me crazy and I could spend the day doing paperwork and if I needed a nap, I could walk home and crawl into bed.  I was lucky there.  I have a great boss and he still can't understand how I did it.  Wanted to get back to some semblance of normal as quickly as I could. 

  • leisaparis
    leisaparis Member Posts: 326

    I enjoyed my time off. I started on Christmas presents....made quilts for family & friends. Wasn't ready to go back. I have to lift heavy windows for 10 hours a day. So was in no big hurry. Boss was very understanding as well. I think it's because they know the guy I work with does NOTHING unless he absolutuly has to. At least they know that.

  • raeinnz
    raeinnz Member Posts: 553

    jo - wow, I week! I had 8 weeks off before starting back at work - I am a school librarian and carrying heavy boxes of books up and down stairs lots during a working day.  Surgeon said I was to be 'well healed' before I went back to work (6 weeks at least). As it turned out I had surgery 6 weeks before the end of the school term and then I had an extra 2 weeks to enjoy a bit of a holiday before school started again.  The recon limited my movement for quite a while post surgery ie after a week I was just about able to wash my own hair by bending down with my head near my knees lol - so i wouldn't have been able to be back at work very quickly whatever my job. I also had a bad reaction to the GA and my mind was mush for about 3 weeks - couldn't concentrate to read and even watching tv was difficult.  Not a nice time to remember at all but we get through those times don't we? and gain from them I guess.

  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545
    raeinnz - Since I had a lumpectomy, recovery time was quick.  My discharge instructions from the hospital said I could "return to normal activities in 1 - 2 days" and the surgeon signed off on it.  It took all day to get me into surgery - was supposed to go at 11:30 and did not get in until 4:30.  The case the surgeon had before me developed complications in recovery and had to take that patient back to surgery.  Stuff happens.  I did not get home until 9:00 at night and laid around the next day.  The following day, I was ready to get out of the house but was a good girl until my one week follow up.  Even drove myself to that appt with no problems.
  • raeinnz
    raeinnz Member Posts: 553
    jo - you would have been very hungry by then!  Did they let you have a drink a least?  My surgery was scheduled for 1.30pm but I didn't go in until 3.30pm and I was starving by then - the nurse let me have the odd sip of water thank goodness.  Wasn't hungry when I woke up 6.5 hours later though and didn't eat for the next 4 days - didn't seem to lose any weight though apart from the 3lbs of breast tissue!
  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Same kind of surgery story here.  Scheduled for 11 a.m., but got bumped by an emergency surgery, sot it was more like 2-3 p.m.  Home around 7 p.m., and groggy w/ anesthesia hangover the next day. 

    Paula66, by now you are most likely home...let the healing begin!   Share your story when you are able.

  • cookiegal
    cookiegal Member Posts: 527

    Jo...I got hit HARD by fatigue. Everyone is different. I was just fine the first three weeks and then boom...I was like a Stepford Wife who's batteries ran out. I would be fine and then crash, things would get woozy and I would have trouble thinking. It was different everyday. We just sat down to Valentines dinner and crash...I was out.

    It gets better slowly and in stages. At 4 weeks I was about 60 percent. It took 6-8 untill I was 100 percent. Don't worry, my onc says things like hormone levels determine how well we tolerate rads. Also of course how big the dose was.

    CELLULITIS? It's a big old pain. My first month on awful antibiotics did nothing. I had to see an infection specialist, who put me on the big guns for months. I should be done in about a week. There seems to be a lot of trouble diagnosing this....it's just hard to read. My ID doc says the drip doesn't even work that well....it's strong pills over time.

    On these happy notes....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  • phew
    phew Member Posts: 143

    Surprisedcoockie  *giggle you justt reminded me    i thought all was sell, i was healthy   AND THEN  i went to the movies with a friend.  i had to run to our parking meter before it ran out of time.  she doubled over with laughter and said what was THAT    i told her i was running over to the meter    she oh!  not from this side.  YOU WERE STANDING STILL!!!  guess this was that fatique they warned me of?

    ~~~nc 

  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545

    raeinnz - By the time the surgery was all said and done, I had been 24 hours without food or water.  When I woke up in recovery, water was the first thing I asked for.  The room was freezing and the nurse asked me if I wanted ice water.  I said I did not care - just wanted something to drink.  Believe it or not, I was not hungry at all.  At that point,  just wanted the catheter and IV out, get my clothes on and go home to my own bed.  It had been an extremely long day.  Got the hosp at 6:30 that morning.  Besides the long waits, had to 2 hours in radiology doing the dye and 3 series of pictures to mark the area for the sentinel nodes.  Surgeon did those first in surgery.  

    cookiegal - The fatigue sounds just like what I experienced.  I am at the point now I can pretty much make it through the day - don't really need the nap - some days just want one.  I can stay up to my usual bed time and then crash. 

  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545
  • Meece
    Meece Member Posts: 10,618
  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Oh, look here...there has been an invasion of "cuteness."  O.K. then, BRB.

    I had to go looking for a message for P-Mom, getting a spinal tap and fluid off her lung today.  Well, I went and got the cutest one I could find (in under 60 seconds.)

                                           Best Of Luck

    Hope all is underway and going well for you today P-Mom.  Holding your hand from afar, sister.

  • Meece
    Meece Member Posts: 10,618

    Invasion?  We are always cute here in the middle, don't cha think?

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Yes, when we are not being diabolical!

  • Meece
    Meece Member Posts: 10,618
    Innocent Who? Us?
  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545
  • Meece
    Meece Member Posts: 10,618

    Elimar, you are cute  in just going and finding a cutie!  It's contagious!!!

  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545
    Meece - Too cute!
  • leisaparis
    leisaparis Member Posts: 326

    HAVE A HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE..........

  • Maureen813
    Maureen813 Member Posts: 1,826
    happy new year
  • marlegal
    marlegal Member Posts: 1,482

    Wow, I can just imagine the pics tomorrow night!  I'm still relishing my week off - not wanting it to fly by just yet :)

  • Meece
    Meece Member Posts: 10,618

    Just in case we can't post tomorrow night, we had to start early.

  • phew
    phew Member Posts: 143

    huh?   &   huh?

  • jo1955
    jo1955 Member Posts: 7,545

    I won't be able to post tomorrow night - I did mine earlier.

  • phew
    phew Member Posts: 143

    got a non holiday question     if recently address i plain ol dont remember ---  i cannot find anything that is apealing to eat.  things that had been  yummy  are now crummy    i try everything and anything and every thing is blech!  even chocolate and cherry garcia ice cream!   anybody? anybody? 

  • raeinnz
    raeinnz Member Posts: 553

    I wish you all a new year filled with love, laughter and good things.

  • Meece
    Meece Member Posts: 10,618

    Phew, I forgot if you are currently doing chemo.  But when I was going through chemo I treid to stay away from things I really liked because i didn't want to associate them with feeling yucky.  Pretty much I ate basics, and "grazed" a lot.  You know, a nibble of this, a bite of that.