MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
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Good for you, carolinachick! Kick up your heels and celebrate!
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NM, don't assume you're never going to have a mammogram again! My doc wanted me to have an ultrasound due to two masses I had found (he felt too). The department said THEY would decide if I get an ultrasound but would start with a mammo. I was stunned and opened my gown to reveal my flat chest! I refused to let them do my SNB side (truncal lymphadema) even though they assured me they did it "all the time". So there is a 1/2" of my skin on the right side smooshed into that friggin' machine and they had to do the ultrasound anyway!
The worst is that I got a letter a month later saying my mammogram was clear and to see them in TWO years! Doi!
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Ouch, that sounds uh, er...uncomfortable. Sometimes I wonder if the radiologist in the back room of the mammo center even reads our histories.
Do you ever feel like they give you the long questionaire to fill out, only to keep you busy while you wait for yuor turn? I have been asked some stupid questions, that could have been avoided by reading my paperwork!
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Carolinachick - we'll save you a couple of seats on Montel. I agree with your "Circle of Life" theory - it's totally our turn to be the embarrassing moms...
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Since my scar revision I am totally flat. No extra skin and no fat. I can feel all the way down to my ribs, but if I found a lump I'd have to get an ultra sound. I'm determined NOT to have to do down that road...again!
As for the drama-thon....my youngest daughter was in her junior and senior years of high school during my cancer-go-rounds. I know it was rough on her, too, but...I told her she needs to get good insurance because she's going to need it for all the therapy she'll need!
carolinachick, WOO HOO on the clear mammo! Enjoy your celebration this weekend...
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Kleenex: Can my 15 year old step son hang out with your daughters on the Springer set?!!? I am heading in for my final round of chemo and he actually asked me what the big deal was about getting a "shot" once a month. Teenagers insensitivity to what we are going through is very difficult to deal with, but it helps me to remember that his hormones are raging at about the same rate as mine due to the chemo-induced menopause...oh...and...I felt much better after I threw his XBox 360 into the pool. Someday we will laugh about it!
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Thanks for the congrats, my bc sisters. I'm definitely going to enjoy this weekend and have a big margarita to celebrate. And chips and salsa, too. Diet be damned - Monday will be here soon enough!
Kleenex - Can I wear my new red cowboy boots on Montel? I think DD's a little embarrassed about those as well.
Huntz - I LOL when I read about the xbox. Some days I'd like to throw DD's cell phone in there! She actually was pretty good during treatment, but now that I'm done she's totally "over" the whole cancer thing. I wish I could be over it!
Meece - I've been meaning to tell you that I like your new photo.
TGIF!!!
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What my teens call "embarassing," I call having a personality, and heaven forbid if I don't throw it under a tarp when their friends come over. I don't know much to speak of, I wear weird stuff, I like 80's music, etc. It's all horrifying to them. Legend has it that they can "grow out of it."
I like the spin that Mark Twain (attributed, anyway) put on the teenage years:
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
My mind makes the substitutions of "mother" and "woman" in this automatically.
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carolinachick, Congrats on the one year & getting the "all clear." We had our mammos on the same day! I don't see the BS til next week, but not worried about that. It's more a formality now, after having the mammo.0
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Happy Friday all! I am soooo excited. On Monday the hubby and I are flying down to Oceanside to visit my son, daughter-in-law and 3 year old grand-daughter. I get 5 days of Grandma Bliss!!! I haven't seen them in months and have had to watch her growing up on her parents' Facebook. Now I get to hug her and squeeze her and kiss her all over!!!
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Carolinachick, thank you very much.
I guess I was blessed by having two of my three children with me during my treatment era. They were so understanding. Even when I couldn't get up to cook dinner, and they had to have scrambled eggs and such. And to top it off I had to keep my bedroom door shut for fear of smelling anything cooking. They were troopers. Even as teens, they'd come lay on my bed with me and we'd watch tv and I would sleep!
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Elimar, thanks! that photo was taken on vacation last year. that is a gazebo with a seat. i was playing with our 5 year old son. he took the picture. I was using his plastic sword to entertain him.
Native Mainer, I had the nipple sparing skin sparing reconstruction. I am so happy with it! My nipples made it look more like me. I will post my pics in the next few weeks, as soon as I figure out how to do it. My sister has no nips. and implants, she was happy with it but after seeing mine she wants to have hers done in NO with the GAP proceedure. good luck!! Prayers are with you!
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You ladies with teenagers are making me laugh because if my DD and I were in public and she got an attitude I would say "behave or I will dance right now" she is now 33 and when I was home we were in the mall and she was kinda bitchy so I just started dancing only now she laughed and danced with me, all will be well again!
I was at Sloan all day yesterday for a MRI and a Dr's visit. I haven't heard anything back and of course now its the weekend(sigh)... but Native I would have freaked out too, a lady in the waiting room asked me "what kind of cancer do you have?" and I began to cry, god I hate it when I do that but it is so emotional to go in for testing. When are you having surgery?
Sleep well ladies.
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NativeMainer, I missed seeing the info. about your mammo that you added later in your post. In a perfect world, all of our B/C care providers would have wisdom, compassion, and superb people skills. Reality is a little bit different. Can't believe your "great and powerful wizard" of a radiologist would not come out to talk. Unbelievable. Mine sat with me in a little consult room for 10 minutes talking about the current results and futuring monitoring. She was nice as pie, but the whole time I was there I had that feeling like if anyone looked at me sideways I could just lose it.
I can understand those tears OmahaGirl. I didn't even talk to any of the other women in the waiting room, and that is NOT like me. Just did not want anything to set me off.
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You know we can not always be tough. We are all strong, but there are times, when we just have to break down and show some emotion. I cry sometimes just thinking about how different my life is now. I have concentrated on bc so much in the last 6 months, it has consumed me and most everyone around me. Every conversation always gets back to bc, treatments, side effects, etc.
Just because we cry or show some emotion doesn't mean we are weak, it just means we are human. This disease affects every aspect of our lives and we have the right to be emotional ever once in a while.
Keep strong and when the emotions hit, just let them fly.
Hugs,
Juannelle
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1-08-2010
Smithlme,Just read you're coming /or have come & gone to Oceanside.That's where i live!!! I don't get on here everyday so miss a lot of posts.This week has been busy for me,port flush,blood work,and then yesterday i had to have a CT scan of the chest with and without contrast.The hospital was running behind,(first time that's happened to me) so we were there all morning and into the early afternoon.Next week on Thursday i see the onco,but on monday i have to take DH to get those shots in his back.Always something,right.
How do they do a mammo when you no longer have boobs??? I had my 1 year cancerversary in Oct.
Kathi
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Actually, I was lucky this last time around with the mammogram--the radiologist was actually in the building. Usually I have to wait anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half for him to get there, then get the films to take to my BS. My BS schedules mammos and an appointment the same day. She reads the films and gives me the results the same day. The shadow the radiologist saw this time was the scar from a biopsy I had 2 years ago. Apparently he didn't see the notation on the record (or the scar on the last 2 year's mammograms?)
This is going to be my last mammogram ever. I cannot picture myself ever consenting to another one. They can do all the ultrasounds they want, as long as the DOCTOR does it--not a technician. No more being at the mercy of the 'little man behind the curtain' for this chicky.
At this point in my life I've cried at every doctor's appoinment and test for 3 years. I think I'm going to try to set a record of 5 years just so I have something to brag about. The only problem is that once the eyes start working the brain stops working, and I usually don't have anyone who an go with me to help me make sure I get everything I need addressed. I don't even remember the list of questions/concerns I always take with me. I guess that's why I'm on a first name basis with the receptionists at the BS and Med Onc's offices.
Anyway, I'm off for a day of pamperting and fun. I wish everyone a wonderful day of fun and happiness!
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I am six years out and still emotional at doctor's visits. Last year I was in the exam room talking with my onc and np and the onc asked some question andI broke into tears. The NP jokingly said to the onc that she had quite a way with words that day because she had made every one of their patients cry. So, crying for survivors must be a natural thing.
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Here's to all the crying anyone needs/wants or begins!!
I'm leading the crying committee currently.
Here's the shirt I will wear over to the hospital next week:
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Thanks to all for sharing their "crying" stories. I thought I was the only one bursting into tears all the time. I need to get over the idea that my "tough girl" persona is turning into a weakling. Crying is therapeutic and is an important part of healing for all of us.
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great shirt btw
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I do like to hibernate in the Winter, but I'm getting Cabin Fever now. Is Winter over yet? Thought I'd show up with an antidote to the usual pics I've been posting at the top...
[Edit: Sorry, had three different sunny beach pics on here, and they kept going "account inactive" after a few hours. So, we'll have to picture it in our mind, I guess.]
I know a couple of you are heading down to Florida, or to see kids living in locations that can support palm trees. Ooooh, I'm jealous!
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That reminds me...does this thread have any LOST fans? I've watched that show since the first season and am getting stoked for the Sixth and last season to begin next month. Anyone else out there anticipating like I am?
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Elimar...Lost was one of my favorite show until last year. I started getting so confused who was dead who was alive, what year it was that I stopped watching it. The new season starts soon right? I will try to understand it but if I cant whats the sense of watching it. Being such a beautiful place drew me to the show. Now that DD lives In Oahu and they always go to North shore maybe I would give another try.
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Kathi, We fly into San Diego on Monday, my son is stationed on Camp Pendleton. I am soooo excited to see my grand-daughter...
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Lucky you, smithlme. How old is she?
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She turned three on Christmas Eve. I was going to see if I could get together with whoever is in that area, but I've run out of time. We leave tomorrow afternoon to drive down to the Bay Area and fly out Monday morning. We're staying at my parents', who don't have a PC...
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OK....I know I'm not supposed to discuss fund raising, so this is NOT a fund raising post! This year will be my third 60 mile walk for Komen, the second since I was diagnosed. The name of the team we're forming? NorCal CAK Pack. What does CAK stand for? Cancer A$$ Kickers! I even gave a shout out to all you lovely ladies, and men, who share so much with me on BCO.
Faith...I love your shirt! Kick some cancer booty!
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Oh three is such a fun age. They can have somewhat of a conversation with you. Are you heading down the 5? That's quite a trip for you isn't it? Northern CA to Southern CA. Hope you have a nice trip.
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We're driving down to the Bay Area and flying out of Oakland.
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