MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
Comments
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Meece, Those are lovely! Choices, choices. Although I do love the bold statement made by bag #2, I have always had the feeling that if I was going to sport someone's logo, tthat hey should pay me to do their advertising, so...I will go with bag #3. So chic, so utilitarian. Look at the little compartment to keep my replacement 9v battery, and of course I love how it is already "distressed" to look like it has Cheetos dust all over it. Who would know if I dusted my own mitts off on there occcasionally? Perfect!
Today's rads went fine, but I got a surprise when they told me I had some leftover barium in there from Monday. WTH?
After rads, I took a little ride on my bike with (you already know!) that frightful little freeloader hanging 'round my neck. It did not want to stay put, annoyance that it is, but I am trying to make an effort to stay active like everyone tells you to do during treatment. I was not able to be active during B/C treatment because 1) I had the surgery to recover from; 2) I was sleep deprived going into it; and 3) I had just enough energy to be a caregiver for my mom, but not much left over. Well, I have none of those variables now and for three years I have been reading how various women on these threads have run marathons, gone to their Zumba classes, hiked the Appalacian trail and taken Olympic gold for whatever that dancing with scarf things is, so the least I can do is try to maintain some biking or walking every now and then.
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All: Good work on the pocket party! I got a mammogram and ultrasound and both looked good. I'm breaking out the champagne and it's mimosas for everyone! My BS gave me the OK for laser hair removal too. Might be a gift I give myself next year...
Meece: Love those bags! Any pocket dictator would be lucky to hang out in them.
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Woot, woot! Good job getting an "A" on your exams, TAB!
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Omg you girls crack me up. Loving the Cheetos bag to carry the dictator in!!
I have been out of town. Went to Portland. It is beautiful there. I created this perfect mechanism for my dogs while I was gone with one of those octagon play pens and bungee cords all centered around the doggie door. Perfect. Well, my niece was here "house sitting" for the weekend and my hypercritical brother was coming Mon-Wed to put fresh food and water down. Well.. Neice left too much slack in the bungee cords AND the kitchen trash tied up but sitting on the floor. Apparently my dogs had all of their friends over for a house party Sunday night and there was trash, poop, pee....everywhere Monday when he came to feed/water them. I have had enough coffee I think. I may need the Ritalin too. Time to get the floors and rugs done!!!
Thinking of you Eli. Portland thinks they are one of the pot head states I think, but I was close to Washington state. Could have picked you up some. If I had a receipt from Washington, would I get jailed for possession? We could do time. The orange jump suits match the Cheetos hand bag for the dictator.0 -
Thanks, NativeMainer! I still think it odd that with those last two scraped out of my post-mx side, there were four "floaters " aside from the sentinel nodes....and none from my prophylactic side!
Meece: love the bags!!! Lol!
Beckers: ewwwwww! So sorry!
Eli: I want a photo of you sporting the Olympian medal as you bike with your evil papoose tucked in the chic Cheetos bag!0 -
Nipple tattoo today! Yeah! I've been nippled.
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Congratulations, Dechi! Do you love them???
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Yes indeedy!!
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dechi, is your nipple your avatar????
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Ha!!!!!
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Elimar- I hope your rads go quickly. I have 3 down and 25 to go. How many do you have to have? I am just really tired. I don't think I had enough time to recoupe from chemo, but I guess they don't want the cancer to recoupe either.
Eph- I had major lung issues about 5 months after I finished rads the 1st round. They got my lung and fluid built up between my lung and the scar tissue. It took about 3 months to get better. I sure hope that it doesn't happen this time. I go at 7:15 each morning so I can go straight to work afterwards.
Hope everyone has a great night.
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Cindy - I was really glad that I had the stents put in my tear ducts - I couldn't see to drive, watch TV, look at the computer, read..... My vision was constantly blurred and distorted, and my eyes really burned and I ended up with a headache if I over did. When they took the stents out 5 months Post Final Chemo, my tear ducts had healed and everything was fine. One quick warning, you are pretty uncomfortable for about a day after they put them in, and not make up for a couple of weeks. You're the only person I've heard of, other than me, to have this procedure done.
Beckers - I was in Portland last week too - there is a great Mastectomy/Compression garment store there - Just Like A Woman. Also, I live in Oregon, the state of the medical marijuana card!!!
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Interesting. I hadn't heard about those tear duct stents before, but I have heard plenty of women complain about their eyes tearing up. I wonder if that procedure is commonly done, because more could probably benefit from it.
Dianarose, I am one ahead of you with 4 down, 24 to go. I had heard I was getting 25x, but yesterday saw my chart with 3 boosts added on. I believe I am getting the daily dose the same as I got for my breast, but since I did 33x on my breast I will end up having a slighly lower total radiation done on my pelvis. (Someone send a memo to all my other organs in there, that they don't need to mutate any cells over this.)
Dechi, Congrats! Happy to hear they turned out well. Do they give them a 3D effect? I never inquired on that before. It's a real question.
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Linda, glad to know it helped.
I'm hoping to get some relief. The drops Doc gave me help some, but not as much as I'd like. Optomologist claims he has 3 or 4 patients right now that have tear duct problems that he believes are related to cancer treatments. My Oncologists is all nah... can't be. 
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Cindy - funny my MO is the one that got me into an opthamologist right away when my eyes kept getting worse, it was the first opthamologist I saw that said nah...but I showed up prepared, with lots of official internet information, she must have looked at it after I left because she called me before I left town to head home and asked if I could come back later in the day, she had called around and had a list of things to try before the stents, none worked, the drops did nothing but burn, so she sent me to a different specialist that puts stents in, farther away of course - by the time I got in with him my tear ducts were starting to grow closed and he wasn't sure that he would be able to put in the temorary plastic stents, if not he was going to put in on of the glass ones (YUK), any way he did, left them in until my tear ducts healed and then pulled them out. I only wish that I had done it sooner, but it was hard to get an appointment scheduled at the right time of the chemo cycle so there would be less chance of infection, as it was I topical and oral antibiotics, but no problems. I could tell a big difference within about 4 -5 days. When are you having it done?
Elimar - it's pretty uncommon, I do live in a relatively rural area, and had to go to a larger city to have this done, and they only see 1-2 a year from the cancer treatments. They try steroid drops first to see if that will get the swelling down enough to keep them open, in my case it didn't - I was told by the doc that put in the stents that only 1-5% of people getting Taxotere need to see an eye doctor about it, and out of those only 1% or less need the stents. It had to be me (and Cindy1)
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And mine isn't even from taxoteir, but rather from tamoxifien. My appointment is in January. There is an out of state specialist who comes to town once a month.
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Cindy - that's kind of cool that they come to your town. I live in Oregon and there are only a couple in the state, luckily one was in the town where I was staying for my rads. I guess that that makes sense about the tamoxifen since that and taxotere and taxol are kind of related. I bet it's even more rare to get this issue from tamoxifen.
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LindaKR, Related? How so?
Question for chemo gals: If any of you got a sore mouth (with or without actual mouth sores) did they persist the entire time you underwent chemo? I just keep worsening, but I don't know if I can get better since my chemo is continuous. They gave me oral lidocaine (helps a little before eating) and Aquaphor (which we all know from rads) to use on my lips. My lips and mouth are splitting to the point of bleeding. Everything in front of my throat feels braised, but amazingly my throat has not swollen yet.
I might get some more help from MO today, since I have to go in there anyway. I think my port line has leaked a little and they told me to get in there is that happens. I don't feel too bad, except for my mouth, but it has made me lose a couple pounds already and I don't carry any extra to spare. (And, as the universe conspires against me, my cancer center just lost the underwriting for giving out that free Ensure.) I ask myself how on Earth am I going to do this for 6 weeks?
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Eli, what helped me during chemo (and after) was pro-biotics. I got a bit of fuzzy mouth, but no sores or great evils. I took 3 acidophilus capsules daily, one with each meal. The other thing that helped was rinsing my mouth with a bit of baking soda in a glass of water.
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Eli- I used Biotene oral mouth rinse for dry mouth every day and rinsed with warm salt water each night. My last little sore went away about 2 weeks after chemo. The salt water seemed to work the best and they weren't bad. I hope you find something that helps.
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elimar, you are going to do this with the same grace and wild humour that you have faced breast cancer with! We are survivors, an example to others of how beaten down someone can get and still keep on truckin`. Sometimes it`s exhausting being a survivor!!!! Hugs to you, sweetie!
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Elimar - all three drugs are derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew - Taxol is made from the yew and the other two are synthesized, somehow - at least that's how I understand it.
I did have mouth sores, they weren't all the time, only after 1 treatment - my MO had me rinse my mouth several times a day (morning and before bed, as well as after meals) with a salt, soda water mixture, then I read somewhere on a Natural site to add a little Xylitol, as it changed the acidity of your mouth and helped keep bacteria from growing, it seemed to work really well for me. But they were never anything like you describe. I also ate a lot of plain, organic yogurt and my chemo nurse felt that was probably one of the main reasons that I had little trouble with mouth sores, and interestingly, the month I did get the sores, I thought yogurt tasted disgusting, so hardly ate any.
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LindaKR, I did know that the taxane chemos came from the yew. Did not know it was the original source of Tamoxifen. Ya learn something new everyday.
Thanks all for responses on "chemo mouth." I have the salt/soda rinse going, also have the Biotene. These help a little, not a lot. I can easily try the probiotic/yogurt remedies over the weekend and see if that brings relief. I kind of hoped that the CT reaction would just run it's course after the first peel, but now I think the chemo is just not letting me make any new mouth cells. Even tho' I am getting a slow drip, it must be pretty effective because I am noticing a change in my bowel habits for the better. The C/C was giving me IBS but now, in a few short days, it has settled down, so that's some progress. I think it is a good sign that it is in there WORKING!
I need a focus group. All who wish me well, who send a positive vibration my way or send up a prayer in my behalf, I can tell you all what I am striving for: Roughly 20% of people on this drug have a clinical Complete Response, (no cancer on exam or scan) and a slightly lower percentage actually have pathological Complete Response,(that is no cancer found when they do the surgical pathology.) I WANT TO BE IN THAT 20%, at least. It does not get you off the hook for having the surgery BUT if I have a complete response, I will have greater odds for a good outcome, lower chance to recur, and a better prognosis of a lengthier life. I MAY AS WELL AIM HIGH.
p.s. FYI, Even tho' I am Stage III now, it will be my Staging after the surgical pathology that will influence my prognosis. How's THAT for suspense?
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Eli: my prayers for you are focused on that 20% clinical complete response! Love you!
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Complete response is a good thing. Will light a candle at the church of holy strength (that is really the name, used to be a temple to Heracles).
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Elimar - This may be more info than you need. Embryologically the cells of the rectum and the mouth are very similar so I would suspect the same of mouth cells/colon cells. I would try a dilute Maalox type rinse as well. There is a concoction called "magic mouthwash" prescription that is Maalox, lidocaine and I forget what else. Wikipedia says liquid Benadryl also for inflammation is in it. Hope this helps some. I would think the yogurt could help also. Couldn't hurt the process, but might make mouth oweeis worse. I would try the Maalox, maybe rinse with it/spit it out. Don't want to interfere with your treatment regimen or the response your getting to the chemo.
Aiming high with you!
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E ~~~ You know that I did not have chemo, therefore, I don't have any suggestions to help you with your SE's, but I do have this to offer. You are always in my prayers & I am sending out into the universe ALL the POSITIVE VIBES that I can.
And this Wolverine is fierce. So, beware, ALL negative thoughts out there.
Heed this warning:
Stay the hell away from E !!
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You guys know your stuff! After rads, I stopped back in to my MO's "chemo parlor" and they had a Magic Mouthwash Rx waiting for me, plus Nystatin rinse (I'm on the verge of going fungal, nurse said) and a 5-day oral anti-fungal. My kitchen counter now has what looks like a pharmacy alcove in one corner. The nurse said I should be able to clear up this mouth problem. Other than that, this first week is o.k. so far. Other than being a chemo novice and having a lot to learn, I can hancle it.
Unlike the breast, it's a bit more difficult to view your own butt, so I queried my rads tech whether my butt was showing any preliminary "rads tan?" I know it's like asking him to stare at my butt, but since the answer came back negative I feel it was well worth it to ask. My lotion of choice? The WalMart 100% Aloe Gel that got me through B/C rads, of course.
This is Day 5 of my campaign to KILL CANCER and I think I can KILL IT REAL GOOD. DIE, CANCER CELLS, DIE!!!
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Awesome!
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