thread for middle age to older Christian women.
Comments
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Your body will tell you if you are ready and able to go. I had complete exhaustion 4 days after every chemo so had no desire to leave my home. I was paranoid about crowds but used common sense. No close contact including handshakes or hugs. For those who were not in the "need to know" crowd I simply said I was in the early and contagious stage of a cold thus didn't want to share my germs! It worked every time . I found myself needing church but refused the communal wine chalis, for obvious reasons. And I carried hand sanitizer with me and used it often. I also refused to open doors or hold handrails, just in case.
Lastly I recommend short walks. Some activity is better than no activity. In fact if you are usually an active person, keep doing what you normally do. You will feel better.
I wanted to a add that I am a wedding planner and was in the thick of wedding season while going through chemo. On a weekly basis for those 4 months I was exposed to probably over a thousand people, and never got sick from them. I was pretty exhausted after each wedding and rather than putting in a 12 to 14 hour day on wedding days, I only managed 8 to 9 hours but had a very capable team so I left the rest of the night to them.
Good luck
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Dear Ladies,
It seems there are a variety of side effects even when women are on the same chemo drugs. I never felt tired yet many women say they do, some say the SE's are hard while others say they are not. For me it was the worst thing I ever went through but I know it's not the worst experience one can have - it's doable. As I get further away from the chemo experience, my memories of the bad side effects seem to be fading. I'm so glad I was able to go through this at the same time with others through these forums for it helped me greatly to talk with others going through the same thing. For those of you going through chemo now, it can be hard and it can get harder with each treatment. But it does get better when the hard chemo is over. Trust the LORD and seek comfort and encouragement through reading the Bible, especially reading through the Psalms where you can relate to the struggles that David and others had as you see how they worked through these difficulties.
You'll be reminded of God's promises and strengthened as God speaks to you through His Word.God is most good, merciful, and gracious to us!Prayers and blessings to you all! Love in Christ, Deborah
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1b
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:2
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:8-110 -
Some more thoughts...I'm praising the Lord that I haven't been sick with any infections since last winter. My husband and I have been very careful since I was diagnosed to prevent infection. He's a biologist and my background is in Nursing so we are perhaps even more aware of how easily germs can spread. I rarely ate out when I was on chemo and I worked at my job very few hours each week and avoided being around people. I even took time away from church as an extra precaution. It paid off since I never got sick with an infection. I did get fever and achyness with each chemo treatment but that was due to the low white blood cell count and not due to infection.
I'm also praising the Lord that I've lost 10lbs of "chemo weight". I've been exercising daily, while avoiding "empty calories". I'm also very thankful that I'm doing well on Arimidex. Today is the 31st day I've been on it.
I'm now anxiously waiting for my hair to grow back!!! God is teaching me to be patient!
It’s only been two weeks since Christmas and
I’ve lost most of my bangs and half of my eyebrows (they are now mostly
drawn on). Turns out I have to lose my old hair as my new hair comes in,
which reminds me of the Christian walk, putting away
the old while gaining the new which is, to the Glory of God, much
better! “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of
life… be renewed in the spirit of your minds, put on the new self,
created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
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What a nice photo Deborah - you look very calm and at peace. Blue is definitely your color. Thanks for your words of wisdom and photo.
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LB, welcome! I have had 2 Tx's of TC so far. I have been fortunate that my SE's have been pretty minimal. I think once you have your first one down, you will know a little more of what to expect and may be able to minimize or eliminate the SE's the next round. As far as isolating yourself, stay away from anyone that could be sick, wash and sanitize your hands often. I avoid crowds during my nadir period. I would avoid any buffets or cafeteria type restaurants. You can always wear a mask if you need to! Good luck. I'm sure you will do fine! Ditto on the short walks. It seems when you feel your worst, they help the most!
Great photo Deborahanne!
MHG, I was told to take the 24 hr Claritin the day of the N shot and a few days after. I had some minor pain both times, but the 2nd time, it didn't seem to last as long. I hope it helps you!
I bought some material and a pattern to make a couple of hats, today. Hats seem so much easier than the wig and tying the scarves! Looking forward to going to the LGFB class on Monday.
I hope you all enjoy your week-end!
Blessings,
Terri
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Deborah, that is such a cute picture! Thanks for the info Terri. I actually took a Claritin last night. I couldn't believe when I woke up this morning and it was already 5:45! That means I had 3.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep! It doesn't mean I wasn't sore since I'd not moved at all during that time. But it does mean that something actually worked.
Today I made it through my first very long day on the trial. The infusion with this drug is only 1/2 hour. But I had to have 8 blood draws along with everything else during the day to get me to the other side. What's interesting is that they were delayed a full hour in the infusion clinic and I was late taking my am pain meds as a result. I did my mega-dose for the day an hour late and right after I had the infusion along with a couple of blood draws. I didn't realize it until late afternoon that I hadn't taken my 4-hour dose when I should have.....primarily because I didn't have any pain! I don't know if it was the chemo kicking in right away or if it was the rest of the Claritin kicking in. I decided when I got home to wait the last 2.5 hours on what should have been my second 4-hour dose for the day. That will put me up to the second 12-hour mega dose at 9:00 pm for the day. I know this sounds a little confusing but it means that I was able to eliminate two full pain doses because the pain had reduced considerably. I will also take another Claritin tonight so we'll see how I'm feeling in the morning.
SE's so far have been minimal. I do know I am pooped! Thank you all for your prayers and wonderful words of encouragement. You are all terrific! Blessings, Sue
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Phyllis - nice to hear from you. I am so glad I am on this board.
Joanna - praying things go well with surgery site.
Bev - yes my onc said to take the glut amine. I am also taking the vitamin B6.
Barb - Welcome!
Well Ladies my nurse called me this afternoon to give me the results of my CT scan. She said that it shows significant shrinkage of the tumors on the lung. The largest tumor has gone down significant and the others are pretty much gone and one looks translucent. So PRAISE OUR LORD as He gets all the glory. DH and I were crazy excited and we hugged and cried and then got down on our knees. I felt like I was kissed by God today for sure. We'll I am getting ready for bed to get some sleep and I think I will be sleeping with a smile on my face.
Remember God is in this and He has a plan. We don't always know that plan but He does and we need to trust Him completely with all that we are.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support...love and blessings, good night...Lucy.
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Lucy that is terrific news! Great answered prayer!!
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Lucy, wonderful news! So happy for you.
MHG, I hope your SE's continue to be minimal! So glad you are able to skip some pain meds.
God is GOOD!
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LB - Welcome! To add with what I wrote yesterday about being on chemo, I do suggest you go for short walks and drink plenty of water while on chemo even if you don't feel like it. When you leave to house and go where people are do take precautions and be aware that you could get sick simply by touching a door knob. So be careful and use hand sanitizer and wash your hands often.
Lucy - I'm so excited and thankful to God about your good news!!! I was looking at your diagnosis and treatment and was wondering about the lymph node status. You have mets but no nodes affected from the breast cancer? You will continue to be in my prayers as you go through your treatment. Seems you are at an excellent facility with the latest treatments.
Amy, Terri, and Sue - thank you for your encouraging comments!
Sue - I'm so thankful to the Lord that you had those "pain free" times and uninterrupted sleep! Could it be the claritin? It's ultimately God providing help. I remember with my first round of chemo I wasn't able to sleep well because of heart burn and gnawing discomfort. I had never had those symptoms before and then I tried Zantac and it was amazing because those symptoms went away and I was able to sleep so much better. It's so wonderful when there is a drug that works. I never could have gotten through all those weeks of chemo without the Zantac. I'm praying you'll continue to have no or minimal pain, more sleep, and effective treatment.
Terri - I hope you enjoy the hats you plan to make. If you get around to it and can post a picture, I'd love to see how they turn out. I think I'll need to continue wearing a headcovering of some sort for at less a couple more months. I see you are having Chemo next week, I'm praying you'll continue to do well with few side effects. I think your course is going better than mine did.
Barb and others - glad to see you all here. Sometimes I have trouble replying to everyone but I read all the posts daily and pray for everyone.
Char - Thank you for all your encouragement! You are a blessing to us.
Bev - I'm glad you're doing well with your chemo. Even though it seems more difficult than what you had last Fall, you seem to be managing well. I have a question for you, that may help a friend of mine who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Tell me why your doctor wanted to do chemo before surgery. Thanks in advance.
Continued prayers and blessings for you all, Deborah
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I had great news this week as well...tumor markers normal and PET/CT show healing bones and no new progression. God is so good to me, I start to feel a little selfish when I am so blessed.
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Yeah, Amy!!! I am so happy for you. God is good!
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Found out today they do not believe I have the genetic gene, since it was my aunt that had the cancer and not my mom. That is good news. I a to ice the site of surgery to help the swelling to come down if not better in two weeks to see the surgeon. My ride to the hospital which normally takes an hour took 2 1/2 hours because of snow and traffic tie ups. Was late for apt but they saw me anyway which I so appreciated. Sounds like everyone is on a up swing which is good. God bless you all.
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joanna - I am happy your doc was able to get you in even with your lateness. Also great news about the genetic gene. Every little bit helps!
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Deborah, great info on the Zantac. I had the bad heartburn the first time I had chemo 5-years ago and no one thought to suggest this to me. I'm guessing I'm going to have to deal with it again. Ditto for the Claritin. I woke up pretty stiff this morning but not in debilitating pain as it's been the last week. I believe I was stiff and achy because I hadn't moved in a few hours because I actually fell asleep. Yeah! Thank you!
Amy, way to go on the test results. We love hearing answered prayer. Being blessed by God is never selfish. It serves as an encouragement to all of us and gives us hope. Keep sharing that good news!
Joanna, I wish I could send you some of our 58* weather. So glad you made it safely (add the stress of bad weather and being late to an already stressful apointment
). We are delighted to hear your good news. We'll pray for Divine healing and that it comes faster than expected.Have a great weekend all!
Sue
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I cannot state this enough, thank you all for your prayers. I believe in the power of prayer.
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amy, so happy to hear your good news!!! Every victory in this battle counts and you deserve it!
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Welcome To the thread Sue.
Sounds like lots of wonderful blessings this week. God is so good.
Lucy: I would be shouting in the streets with such good news.
Amy: so good to hear about your markers being normal.
Joanna: a kiss from good about your cancer not being genetic. So now we pray for your financing,
MHG: Praise God for your pain relief and the ability to skip some meds for pain.
To my sisters who are not experiencing joyous moments, remember that God has not forgotten about you. He is always with you and will bring you through the other side. Remember that it is in His time and not ours even though we would like results sooner.
Char
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I want to share this because I love it, "If God brought you to it, He will bring you THROUGH it".
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Amen to that Joanna! How often we forget.
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Deborah....I too, like Bev, had chemo before surgery. The reason was my mass was very large. It had to be smaller before they would do surgery. It was 5 cm. The chemo did shrink the mass so much that I could not feel it. I had a nipple and skin sparing double masectomy. Whenthe pathology report came back it showed that my nipple on the cancer side has live cancer cells. I go back for surgery tomorrow to have the nipple removed and tissue expanders out and permenant implants in. I will srart 6 weeks of radiation in about 4 weeks. I pray that the radiation does not damage the implants. I was to start radiation 4 weeks after surgery but radialogist said the cancer cells had to come out first.
I pray all of you have a good week.
The Lord said he would not put more on us than we can bear.
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Algranna - thank you for sharing your information about having chemo first. My friend's tumor appears to be 5cm and she also had a lymph node biopsied that was positive for cancer. Was your cancer ductal or lobular? I hate that your nipple showed cancer!! I'll be praying for you as you go through another surgery and radiation.
Our Lord definitely gives us strength just when we need it. Thankfully, no matter how hard things get we can rest in the promises of God.
"And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is
perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast
about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore
I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with
persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak,
then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-100 -
Wonderful words Deborah!
Algranna: m
my prayers will be with you tomorrow and the days ahead. B
Think positively. Despite the fact that you have more cancer cells, at least they found it and will address it right away. Trust God. He will take care of it.
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Algranna - ugh! I'll sure be praying for you over the next weeks - you have lots ahead of you. I'll be a couple of months (at least) behind you - probably mastectomy at the end of February then (depending on whether or not I need rads), reconstruction. I'm going to go with a DEIP (or DIEP - whatever it is - the "tummy tuck" one) because I figure it will be less complicated in the long run (mostly since I won't know about rads till after the path report comes back after surgery). My MO/BS won't even consider implants if I have rads....but you're having rads with implants in already?
Joanna - some good friends at church gave me a pink BC t-shirt with that saying on it - love it! God is going right beside/before/behind/with us the whole way. Still praying about your next steps....
Deborah, great verse - thanks for reminding us of it.
Char, you're right - lots of blessings and good news this week. God is good....all the time!
Have a good week! Bev
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Sallyjack, awesome about the t-shirt. Still waiting on the finances so I am going to go on my florida trip and doing radiation when I get back. Can't see waiting around in this cold for an answer. My tickets were a Christmas gift and bought before I knew I had cancer. I was going to try and change them, but not knowing when the radiation is, I am going to go. My surgical site is still swollen and the dr said the other day that because my cancer was so deep it might take a little longer for the swelling to go down but keep an eye on it. So I am using ice packs and trying not to do too much. I live alone so that is hard. I am looking forward to florida, going to take in Disney world and the Holy Land experience and the beach. One question is it okay for the sun before radiation, its just after that we are not to expose are self to the sun? Praying that everyone gets good news today, that everyone remains strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
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Joanna- Enjoy your trip! I hope you get warmer weather than I had when I was down there for Christmas! I would be careful of sun. For sure you would need to watch after but I would think you would need to before too. My rads doc told me no swimming before so not to dry skin with chemicals from pool. I think if you can start rads with as much healthy skin before you will be happy. I started moisturizing about a week before starting rads and it wasn't until the end that I started to burn. Really the worse spot for me was towards my back under the arm. I didn't realize until well into rads that that area was also being radiated so I hadn't moisturized that area. I am about 3 weeks out (my last one was Christmas eve)and still peeling a little but really had no issues as I globed on the moisturizer and protected my skin from anything I thought might do it damage. I have been swimming about 4 times now and all seems well.
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Joanna: A breast cancer survivor friend told the same info. Start moisturizing now. Get some pantiliner or thin pads and saturate it and place it on the area to be radiated between your bra and skin so it is soaking in now.
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Joanna - I'm so glad you are taking your trip. I hope you have a wonderful blessed time!
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Deborah - To answer your question on no lymph nodes yet Mets to lung. Well it is a mystery or just how cancer works. When I was first dx in late August with TNBC they did surgery to remove the tumor in my left breast and we were very happy that we got it fairly early as I was a IIa and I had a plan for treatment. I wasn't happy with my MO and so I went for a second opinion in Seattle at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. When I met with them they asked what the results were of the CT scan I had and what was the finding on the 5 nodules on the lung. Well my onc and the surgeon both said they was nothing to be concerned about that the concern was removing the tumor and we had surgery and that they would check the lungs down the road. That many people have nodules for years in their lungs and not to worry about it. So the team in Seattle said...ahhh no you need to have a PET scan ASAP! So I did and they found the nodules were also TNBC and so that took it to stage IV mets lung. So I stayed with my team in Seattle and have been with them all along.
Love that Scripture, one of my favs...thanks for sharing.
Char/Gardengal - I literally wanted to climb on my roof and shout it from my roof top.
Bev - DEIP is mastectomy and tummy tuck...seriously? That would be so awesome. I have been wondering if I could have surgery on my other breast to make it smaller to match the one I had the tumor removed from. My tumor was 3.7 cm and so there is at least a size smaller. I was never told that I could have a breast reduction as I only always hear of implants so not sure if they do that. A tummy tuck would be awesome...lol.
Well I went to see my MO yesterday for my monthly and to review the results of the CT scan...YIPPEE!!! Everyone was pretty happy and came in to share in the great news. Since last Monday's treatment I have experienced very sore fingertips and last Sunday I came home from church and laid on the couch and didn't move all day until bed time...hence fatigue. So MO said take a week off...YEA!!! As excited as I was to have the news it was great to know I was having a break this week. My counts were great and so no treatment and no shots so it has been a good free week. I have been on this for 7 weeks but all of this for so much longer and this week is so needed. She also advised me that there is a change in the study and they will be doing 3 weeks on and 4th week off so I will be having a break once a month and I am happy about that. I have been working pretty steady at home and managing well. I slept for 8 1/2 hours last night and it was great. DH and I went to a friends home for the start of our home group night and it was good to get out and feel normal. I even ate some pretzels and a little dip which if you knew my diet regime you would know this is a huge stretch. The study was on "How to Hear God's Voice", I thought it was pretty good and I know I have heard Him many times since this journey started so how appropriate...I welcome it.
Well hope all is well with everyone and God has been answering your prayers. Do listen as He is speaking to you...we just have to listen. Praying for minimum se for all and restful night sleep...xo...Lucy
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Well I thought I would share where my hair is at after 5 weeks of it starting to fall out. I am losing a little more each day so it will be soon I'm sure.
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