MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish
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nice to see some action here.
hns, what a great trip! Wonderful memories. I've always wanted to do that cross country trip in an RV, too. You are an inspiration.
ndgrrl, it is good to "hear" from you. I hate how this can be a family disease. Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to get out of our own heads by helping someone else.
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heartnsoul - that sounds like a very fun trip! Bummer the Grand Canyon was difficult to see, but at least you have an excuse to go back!
amy - glad you are feeling better post chemo. Sending good and healing thoughts your way for surgery!
ndgrrl - yes, it can take a long time to catch up on posts! I try to check in every day or two, but even with that some threads take a while
Hi, mac and glennie!
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ndgrrl, you go!!
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Hi Ladies. I am new to this group. I am a 44 year old married mother of 3 boys ranging in ages from 11-17. I was diagnosed when I was 43 after many months of uncertainty as my tumor, although quite large, was not obvious on mammogram or US due in part to my dense breasts. Before my diagnosis, I was so focused on caring for others in my job and at home that this diagnosis has made me realize that I need to do focus on myself as well. I am still in the midst of treatment, getting ready to start radiation, continuing with Herceptin every 3 weeks, and then anti-estrogen medication after that. I am happy there is this group to help me along as I go, and hopefully, me being able to help someone in the future.0 -
welcome chrissie29, sorry you have to join us, but glad you found us. Don't be shy, let us get to know you.
hey, back at cha mel!
This forum could keep me occupied all day and night, sometimes I need to restrain myself but other times it feels like a life saver. And who knew we could laugh so hard and so long when the sh*t is hitting the fan.
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HNS - sounds like a great adventure. Wonderful quality time with DS for sure. Glad that you made it through all of the challenges safely.
Welcome chrissie29 - glad you found the middies to help you through the tough times and celebrate the good! Lots of support, encouragement, wisdom and fun to be found here.
Just sitting here looking through my first "poop test" instructions and can't help but thinking "Really? Three samples?" I know that it is one of those things that many of us middies do do (pun intended) in order to ensure that there is no other cancer issues to be dealt with. Just having trouble convincing myself that it needs to be done. I might be having more trouble thinking about my poop being sent through the postal system. Wonder if the drug sniffing dogs will have issue with it?
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Welcome Chrissie29. Sorry that you are part of the BC "club" but you'll have much company. The disease sucks. The women rock! The ladies here crack me up (Elimar et al) and they are knowledgeable. As aside, my second opinion when I was DX was by a doc at UCSF who was published in Nature on Her2+ BC (there's apparently a helper gene- Her3? that he discovered that effects Her2). I don't have Her2+. I told him I felt guilty getting any of his time- I thought he would deal solely with Her2+ patients. He said it doesn't work like that. They see all types of BC patients even though his research is focused on Her2 BC.
Heartnsoul what a terrific adventure! Sounds like a Seinfleld episode.
For the Football ladies: Yesterday, I'm watching Tom Brady respond to "Deflate-gate" and <12.5 psi footballs/cheating etc. Naturally, with my bizarre sense of humor (and applying it to my invention) I wrote a ribbon message for my foob for the occasion. It reads: "Ready for league play-no deflation here". I'll wear it on Superbowl Sunday and flash my DH. My poor DH is out of town dealing with a very ill father. He adores our foob banter. Hopefully it'll crack him up and bring him some cheer. Yes. I'm rooting for Patriots because I'm a Niners fan and we naturally don't like Seahawks as they humble us regularly and there's a big rivalry there.
My mammo came back all clear. That's good. Just about 3 years out now from my MX.
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Barsco, just saw your post. I had to do do one a couple of weeks ago. It was a disaster. The instructions say to lift the lid, then sling across the bowl a big piece of paper with adhesive tabs that adhere to outside of the bowl (comes with the kit). Lower the seat, produce the sample that is to be suspended above the water and here's the disaster. DO NOT URINATE ONTHE SAMPLE. Are you kidding me? A 58 year old woman? We dribble-a lot! This had to have been invented by a man. Needless to say that sample wasn't submitted. I kid you not, I had to wait a few days and create a DIY with parchment paper replacement sling. They better perfect the sample kit before my next one is due!
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oh my,, those poop tests sound almost as bad as prepping for a colonoscopy,, which I have scheduled for March. Don't pee on it?? Yeah, right!!YAY for clean Mammo, Deborah!
Welcome Chrissie!!
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OK, I am totally busting up!!!! Barsco, girl, you know why you need to do the do do but heavens, that was funny! And Deborah2012-your contribution was also thigh slapping! Thanks girls.
HnS, I sure wish you'd had time to stop & call. Next time you are out this way, let me know ahead of time. I'll PM you my phone # and we can run up the I together to Eugene or something & then I can catch a ride with my sister or a bus back home! I mean it!!! The trip sounds like great fun and I'm sure that there is no greater motivator than hearing a bear roar close by!!!
Chrissie29. Our middie thread has been a little slow lately. If you have time you should go back a few hundred pages and read what you can. This group is FABULOUS! Sorry you have to join the club, but if you have to, this is the place to be (and it's not Green Acres).
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Chrissie, Welcome to the group. I'm married and have 3 boys, 12-17yrs. I'm in the middle of rads.
Deborah, Clean mammo is great news. Your foob ribbon for Super Bowl is hilarious.
Years ago, I worked in a medical lab. I HATED dealing with the poop samples. Opening the ones that came through the mail was the absolute worst. At risk of TMI, I have a recommendation for catching the sample. The paper is hard to use. Use a disposable cup to catch your poo sample. Lean slightly forward so pee doesn't end up in the cup.
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Excellent suggestion, Poppy!!0 -
Thanks for all the comments on my wild trip across the country! As soon as I get some pictures from my son I will post a few.
Poppy - I imagine the family stories from this trip will long outlive me! All the beauty and fun definitely outweighed the trauma. Just kidding, no trauma... but close. I read that particular part of Oklahoma was having a problem with an overpopulation of bears. I don't know if we were supposed to be his dinner or he thought we wanted his dinner but now I'm wondering why I thought it was such a good idea to leave our cozy little home on wheels and listen to the river at 3:00 am in the first place! I just wanted to absorb the peace and quiet for a moment before we left the next morning but we got a little closer to nature than I intended. And it was most definitely not peaceful, haha!
Glennie & Mel - someone else said going to see the Grand Canyon was obviously not meant to be so I'd have to make another trip. So yes, I'm already thinking about flying into Phoenix, renting another RV and seeing a little more of Arizona this time. I also really wanted to go to Sedona. I did stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona - haha!
Mac - I knew there had to be another woman on here that wanted to make this crazy trip! Funny, it seems like women want to try an RV trip more than men. My father had a free one at his beck and call and just would not do it! It was so great, you should definitely do it. PM me if you'd like to know the details about the rental, etc.
Barsco - I had to laugh about the "sample" you have to give. My brother was sent out by his wife to mail her poopie sample and he was told that it was considered "Hazardous Materials", hahaha, and he had to drive far away to find the post office to handle that. I think that person was misinformed but I love that my brother had to go to so much trouble for his wife's poop!
Deborah - many times I feel like Elaine in Seinfeld. I feel like I'm firmly grounded on Terra firma but craziness is spinning all around me. I possibly contribute somewhat...
I love the foob games with your hubby! Hope his father feels better soon.Eph - It would have been great to meet you! As I was racing to Seattle I thought, "what a beautiful state". I wanted to go to the Oregon coast, too. Well, next time will be more leisurely and I will let you know when that is.
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Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona!! HA!! Love that!! You will definitely have to go back.
I've made two cross country drives when I was in my 20's. Ah,, wild youth! Each trip was with my boyfriend of the time! One drive was from Florida all the way to Alaska! It was awesome. I have so many break down stories! But we made it. That trip we lived in a camper that fit on the back of a Toyota pick up truck. Can you say small space? Alaska is beautiful. Go in August. Salmon fishing season and the horrible bugs of June are gone.
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Ah, sweet wild youth! I miss that! Someone on here said they wish they had run around naked, gone topless and had more crazy sex when they were young. I agree, and I wish I had taken cross-country trips with the boyfriend at the time, too! I had a couple of opportunities and didn't do it, aargh!
You've given me an excellent idea about Alaska - my son lives in Seattle, so we'll rent an RV there and drive up through Canada to Alaska, yeah! He might whine about it though. When we picked up the SUV in Los Angeles and he followed me back to the RV park he got into the RV and said, "Hey Mom? There's something I have to tell you. They've got these things called airplanes and rental cars... you really should look into those sometime." Haha! He said he didn't realize how tense he was while he was driving the RV until he got behind the wheel of a real car again. Kids! Youth is wasted on them! (see: my missed opportunities above).
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My hubby and I are thinking about a "special" vacation this year, you know, those you usually get to take only a handful of times in your life- if you're lucky. Thinking about overseas destinations. But then I think about all of the beautiful spots in the US, including national parks that I have never seen, and the idea of renting an RV is appealing. Especially since we could possibly take our two 12-year-old dogs with us. It would crush them if we disappeared without them for a couple of weeks. They get visibly depressed when I go to the grocery store, let alone when I roll out my suitcase... Our "unsigned contract" with our dogs is that we will love and take care of them until the end, just like we would family members.
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heartnsoul: excellent idea!!!staynsane: Yes,,, take the doggies with you! An awesome thing about RV'ing.
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justamy, Hope birthday is a joyful celebration this year and good luck with the upcoming surgery shortly thereafter.
ndgrrl, Good to hear from you. Yes, I have heard that reconstruction surgery, grueling as it may be, produces a lot less anxiety. Probably because we can elect it. Some don't get recon, and that's fine; but if recon gives a woman a better feeling about body image then she should go for it. I think we should try to reclaim everything that BC tries to take from us! It is possible to acknowledge BC, yet still try to negate as much of the changes it puts you through...and I don't see a contradiction in that either.
Deborah 2012, Your foob is so mischevious!
HnS, That was a wonderful trip for you and your son to take. Never did RVing myself, but the idea of traveling with my own bathroom on wheels has a whole new appeal after my CRC, ya know? Barring any earthquakes, the Grand Canyon should still be there when you return.
All you ladies pursuing fecal endeavors: Just be aware that the smear cards by no means replace getting a good, ol' nasty colonoscopy at recommended intervals. Why? Because the cards are made to detect blood, which could mean cancer is already there! The colonoscopy, however, looks around for delinquent cells (non-bloody polyps,) and they can be removed them before they can join a cancer-gang and start committing any bloody colonic mayhem. I know whereof I speak!!!!!!
Yeah, that paper collection method is so tricky, and who really practices for that skill set? (I don't know quite when, but somewhere along in my CRC saga, I acquired a plastic collection pot thingy, so I'm past the paper---but I don't think it ruins anything if a molecule of pee gets smeared onto the card, so don't worry too much about that.
And speaking of bowls... When it comes to Super Bowl, I never have a horse in the race. Lived in Seattle once, and they are the underdogs, so I might root for them. My husband probably won't since they tromped his Packers in the last seconds to get to the Bowl. Which means it is even more likely that I will root for them, just to irk him. Hahaha!
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Is an ice 'statue' or a ghost?
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Deborah - I don't remember reading about "no peeing on the poo" and my kit is nothing but an envelope with some wooden stir sticks in it. I will have to take Poppy's suggestion about the cup. Oh the things we do. Eli - have done the colonoscopy. Is the poop test really necessary if the colonoscopy is clean?
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I have to do the colonoscopy every 5 years,,, I'm due again this March. I haven't had to do the poop samples,,,would think if you do the colonoscopy, you wouldn't have to. Thoughts??0 -
That would be my thinking glennie. I see my primary dr in March - maybe will discuss with her at that time. She tends to go overboard with tests sometimes.
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glennie19, I think I hold the answer to that question. Although the colonoscopy is the gold standard, it has a ~5% miss rate (of which I became well aware!!!) so, if you do the relatively cheap "smear on a card" (FOBT or FIT) during the interim years, you may catch something that has been missed, while only micro/occult blood is present and that will tip you off to go in for colonoscopy whether it is "time" to or not, just to rule out something very bad happening in there. If you don't catch the blood in the occult stage, and you start seeing actual red blood, there is a terrible chance that it could be an advanced tumor.
Cancer takes 8-10 years to go from abnormal polyp growth to full grown cancer. Picture this scenario: Year 1, you get colonoscopy, all clear. Get nothing til a year 5 interval colonoscopy, also clear (but wait, it missed something that maybe had been developing since year 2 or 3.) No visible symptoms for a few years, or even until you go back at 10 years, and (holy cow!) there is a full grown cancer in there now. However, if you had been doing the smear all along, some occult blood could have alerted you to the presence of an invasive cancer. The early detection being the difference between possibly just getting a cancer-y polyp removed, or having a tumor that has grown thru your bowel wall and has spread to nodes already. Like BC, early detection usually does lead to less surgery needed and a better outcome.
And, yes, it was the good old 3-sample smear card that gave me the first clue that I had a problem. In my case, that led to my first colonoscopy, which then missed my CRC anyway. Geez! So, I kind of missed out on the early detection. And if that isn't just the most appropriate example of the saying "sh*t happens," then I don't know what is!
Hehehe!
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Elimar, you have the answer! Now we know why to do this,,, which makes me wonder why I wasn't told to do that during the preceeding 5 years. (Father had rectal cancer) so now I'll know to question this. Thank you for this,, but sorry you had to find out the hard way. (((Elimar)))0 -
Also, there are a few, rarer cancers that grow quicker than the average polyp, so it could spot one of the rare ones if it chose to begin it's quicker growth during the interval years. I had the garden variety adenocarcinoma (slow grower,) so, they missed it---not that anybody stepped up to admit it.
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Thank you Eli - your explanation makes total sense. I knew that your CRC had been missed on the colonoscopy, but didn't realize it was the sample that sounded the alarm. So I guess I am back to looking for a pot to poop in.
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Oh, Barsco, metaphorically so are we all!
p.s. Hey, did you you know that my caption in the high school yearbook said, "Most likely to de-mystify the annual collection of fecal matter." Ha!
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Haven't posted on here in a while but have to chime in. I found the paper supplied with the poop tests miserable. I could never "float" poop on that raft. Found TP works better and float plenty of it. I've collected plenty of poop specimens as a nurse and never worried about pee in it. My only caveat was if a woman was on her period that is a whole other matter.
I also did not realize the sequence of events for you Eli. I think that was about the time I joined this thread.
http://www.fritolay.com/company/media/media-articl...
Just for you Eli, the newest Cheetos snack, Sweetos. Sorry all the other links I found were TV or had disturbing other news on them.
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luv, It has been a while since I felt like Cheetos binging. Sweetos do sound intriguing. Can I only dream that if I do like them, the nutrition label won't be too appalling.
Much as I tout the deliciously cheesy snack, my new favorite is any crisp made out of chick pea flour. I get them at the "health food" store. They must be one nano-squizzillion percent better for me, coming from a health food store, and all.
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I get my "healthy" chips at Fresh Market. It's called The Better Chip,, spinach & kale corn chips. It has KALE!! It must be good for me,, right???0
