Calling all TNs
Comments
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I know, I know.... I talk *way* too much about frogs, right?
But this little guy showed up in our pool skimmer this morning and I just had to share. I'm going to take him to the nature center where I work. Do you think if I kissed him he'd turn into a *little* Prince?
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hahaha Heidi you are funny!
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HeidiToo - we get those little guys all over our back patio, I feel so bad once they get in they either drown in the pool or dry up in the sun. We have a little net we use the catch them and put them back outside when we see them.
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mccrimmon324- This is not a Peeper... it is an immature bullfrog. Are yours bullfrogs also? A Spring Peeper has a distinctive "x" on their backs... and suction cup feet, of course.
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HeidiToo, I have no idea, they're just cute litte frogs that I feel bad for when I find them all dried up. I'll have to start paying more attention to the ones we catch. We gets tons of frogs, lizards & snakes. I can handle the first 2 but not the snakes.
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I am so excited tomorrow is my last day of chemo!!!
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For all of you that did neoadjuvant chemo--how long did you have to wait before surgery? I've heard that there is usually some wait for the body to recover from the chemo, I'm just wondering how long and forgot to ask the oncologist.
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Luah - I shall be praying that it is nothing, you have helped me a lot in the past with your wisdom, so thanks. Boy, we sure do get our high's and low's. The tests, the scares, the complications, I am just so sick of them all. I am waiting to get a petscan authorized by Blue Shield right now. I have very mild, weird, scary symptoms going on these days. My one year anniversary since diagnosis is coming up on July 20. Since March I was taking aridimex (for the little 5% positivity I had, and doc wanted to give me the anti-hormone for extra extra insurance), which I had to stop since May 25. Have been having severe, horrible, unbelievably painful neuropathy in right hand and pain all over body. I wake up from some mild pain at night, I think it is in my bones or something. Doc says since I stopped aridimex such a long time ago, that he thinks my neuropathy is not caused by aridimex or 5 month post chemo. He very cautiously mentioned, that women who get pain, doctors think it is bone mets. Since he said this, I am in a deep depression and feel no happiness, just am a total mess. I think I am imagining myself now to be having bone mets, when maybe there is nothing there. It seems like Blueshiled is going to deny my petscan, since my provider already sort of denied, saying the petscan is "investigational". Can you believe - someone with almost TN is being denied a petscan. I feel like a piece of shit right now. Lonely, worried, feeling like shit and just basically cannot believe what the heck causes breast cancer. I feel like shaking the doctors and asking them, what the heck causes this nightmare called BC? What? What? Anyway, sorry ladies, I am having a pretty nasty day. Hope you all are doing better than me.
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blondelawyer- I have waited exactly 1 month for my surgery after chemo.
ksmatthews- Yeah!!! You did it!!!
luah-
So sorry you have to go through this. It sucks big time..... Keep us posted will you. ((hugs))Suze- Happy you had a good time in NY. Saturday, we're leaving for Florida. Can't wait!!!
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Lovelyface keep complainting until you get your issue resolved. I am so sorry you have to go through this.
Heidi: you and your pets. Love it!! I don't have the nerves to pick up a frog.
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Lovelyface- Aren't all scans 'investigational"? That's why we have a petscan, to investigate if there is something there! I can't believe insurance companies...... It' s so wrong to refuse a scan to someone who has/had cancer. I hope and pray you will get your scan and get a little peace of mind. Big hugs.0
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LOVELYFACE: I am so sorry to hear your worries. One thing I have found is that if you ask for a casemanager at BC and deal directly with one person they often develop a relationship with you and have a harder time saying no. It seems as though if the doctor even suggested the possibility that it could be in the bone than it is worth going all out and demanding to get the PET scan. Yes BS denies but you can appeal...but evenmore so, it seems that getting casemanagement throguh them will give you access to someone who you can really work with if you get a good person. I know htis might not really be the answer to gtting it approved but we are behind you and if you beleive you need it, it is time to write your oncologist an email, your PCP and anyoen else you can get on your side to get what you need to have peace of mind.
Support and wisdom to you.
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Well I am 11 days out from my last chemo yeah, unfortunetly still feeling soooo very tired and my taste buds are still MIA. I am back at work today sure wish I was just relaxing and camping somehwere sigh. I meet my oncologist for radiation on thursday to find out my next course of treatment I can hardly believe that I am done chemo I really never thought it would end. When you ladies are talking about rads what exactly is a boost???
stupid boob....my DH was a boob for the first 4 treatments I told him to get out and I could do this by myself he quickly turned his attitude around and was much more supportive for the last two. I really dont know what goes through their heads arrrgg. PM me if you need to vent about it I get it.Also I was a crying mess sometimes just curled up in the fetal position for hours and cried, really a very dark time but getting stronger every day.
hugs to all you ladies, way toooo much to catch up on lol
Kymn
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Fighter- aw, come on... it's easy...
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Thanks paintingmywaythru, I might try to get my own casemanager. Actually, they had called me and even sent me mail asking if I wanted to get my own casemanager, I am so scared of insurance companies, I had denied. I just want to keep them at arms length, in case the case manager gets to know too much about me. I have reacted strongly already and had my Onc. call me back. He told me that he does not get involved with insurance companies, he doesn't have time for it. But I think I am going to ask the Onc. office and my Onc. to resubmit the claim with another doctor note, saying it is compulsory due to symptoms. BS had also denied my genetic testing, but when the genetic counselor had resubmitted, it got approved. I will get a 100% answer on whether they have approved or not by the end of this week, right now it has been denied by the first party, and is being looked at by the second group.
Maybe I am crazy, but I feel that I am just fine and don't really need a petscan. This is a scary way to feel as I am not sure how I feel these days, I am almost not wanting to fight for my life anymore. I guess I have so given up........I mean there is nothing really wrong with me, except for the neuropathy and the weakness in my body. If only the doctor would not have said what he said, I would never have even wanted a petscan. Going through waiting for results of a petscan, that is enough to give anyone a heart attack. I understand from BS that doctor notes or doctor calls, don't make them change their authorization approval. Yes, I agree that all scans are "investigational", otherwise, why scan? I feel like telling the insurance company that I will take my denial to channel 7 news and tell them how you are denying a woman with BC her scan. Didn't a whole bunch of women just walk for BC cure and treatment. Where is all this money going to? We need it for treatment, to pay for petscans. I can make this issue a big one, but ladies, how can we, when we are in depression and feeling sick. I don't normally feel sick, but post chemo, yes, I think I can now feel what chemo has done to my beautiful body. And yes, I am depressed due to the mess they have made by giving me anti-hormone therapy. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever feel normal again.
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Blonde Lawyer - I am having my surgery this coming Thursday - last chemo was June 13. Four weeks, three days.
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Thinking of you Luah...not going to tell you to not freak out..but I will freak out with you...
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Lovelyface - tell your doctor you want a "Restaging" PET scan. That is how it should be presented to the insurance company. Doesn't mean you WILL be restaged, but it is the verbiage that counts. I've had 3 now, never been denied by BCBS with that terminology. Hang in there...I can understand the feeling of "giving up," it is an exhausting battle. And boo on your doctor for dismissing chemo effects 5 months out!! I ache, groan, get dizzy spells, have chemo brain - and I am just 5 months out.
blondlawyer - I had my surgery 3 weeks to the day I ended chemo.
Heidi - LOVE the frog
. We get lots of peepers, but also plenty of bullfrogs. My oldest loves catching them.ksmatthews - yay!!! What a great feeling, isn't it?
Kymn - hang in there - it took me a month to really start feeling better, I would get exhausted just walking around the house sometimes!
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I think I may be getting sick, ugh. I had a scratchy throat this AM, didn't think much about it. Got my Avastin, have taken my Xeloda. The throat is getting worse. No fever, but feeling blah, can't really chalk it up to the drugs just yet... I hope I can get through this before my WBCs take a hit from the Xeloda!
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Hi everyone!
Heidi-I love the frog picture!
Suze35-Hope your side effects are minimal with your new treatment. Sorry you are feeling a sick, maybe it is allergies and not a cold/flu thing! I forget, are you the one that told me that surgery can't be done for 6-8 weeks after avastin? That worries me as my next chemo after ac is going to be abraxane/carbo/avastin. I don't know why I am so worried about the avastin! I probably should be more worried about the abraxane/carbo, as 8 years ago I had an allergic reaction to taxol. I read somewhere that you can also have an allergic reation to carbo. I had a rough time with taxol, I hope abraxane done weekly is not as harsh for me.
Blondelawyer-did you have your 3rd ac today? It was really weird, but my 5th ac was the easiest so far. Still got very fatigued, but my finger/hand pain wasn't there. They gave me 3 times the fluids they normally do and gave me fluids the next day when I went for my neulasta shot. My counts didn't even tank as much. The doc did have me start taking l-carnitine also, so maybe that contributed also.
I have one more ac, so one more overnight stay at the hospital for chemo on friday. Then I move on to the weekly chemo-no more chemo in the hospital!
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Hi everyone,
Long day.....drove thru terrible weather this morning just to get to the Cancer Center to find out they had the same weather this morning and there is NO POWER for a 30 mi radius, including the hospital! Six semi sized generators are now parked around the hospital and they started the days scans about 5 this evening....so I am sitting in the imaging waiting room, I have had the CT but another hour before the MRI. Then, because all the hotels are out of power also, we are now booked at one 30 mi from the hospital. We are going to have a short night. Hopefully, though, I will be so tired I sleep, then back to hospital at 8 am.
Luah, so sorry to hear about your lumps, I think about it all the time, too, since my nodes are in my neck now. Sometimes I think it's my imagination, but I can't fully convince myself of it. (((hugs))) to you.
Kimn, so nice to hear you are done. Take your time in getting into the swing of things, if you are tired, take a nap. Slowly, you will get your groove back.
To all having a rough time, my prayers are with you.
Well, hopefully my turn will be soon, so have a good night, all
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Hi just received this in my mailbox. For your reading pleasure.
--- Fresh Lemon Grass Drink Causes Apoptosis to Cancer Cells
(apoptosis) noun: a type of cell death in which the cell uses specialized cellular machinery to kill itself; a cell suicide mechanism that enables metazoans to control cell number and eliminate cells that threaten the animal's survival. In other words, cell commits suicide.
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Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become Mecca for cancer patients By Allison Kaplan Sommer April 02, 2006
A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.
Israeli researchers find way to make cancer cells self-destruct - Ben Gurion University
At first, Benny Zabidov, an Israeli agriculturalist who grows greenhouses full of lush spices on a pastoral farm in Kfar Yedidya in the Sharon region, couldn't understand why so many cancer patients from around the country were showing up on his doorstep asking for fresh lemon grass. It turned out that their doctors had sent them. 'They had been told to drink eight glasses of hot water with fresh lemon grass steeped in it on the days that they went for their radiation and chemotherapy treatments,' Zabidov told ISRAEL21c. 'And this is the place you go to in Israel for fresh lemon grass.'
It all began when researchers at Ben Gurion University of the Negev discovered last year that the lemon aroma in herbs like lemon grass kills cancer cells in vitro, while leaving healthy cells unharmed. The research team was led by Dr. Rivka Ofir and Prof. Yakov Weinstein, incumbent of the Albert Katz Chair in Cell-Differentiatio n and Malignant Diseases, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at BGU.
Citral is the key component that gives the lemony aroma and taste in several herbal plants such as lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), melissa (Melissa officinalis) and verbena (Verbena officinalis. )
According to Ofir, the study found that citral causes cancer cells to 'commit suicide: using apoptosis, a mechanism called programmed cell death.' A drink with as little as one gram of lemon grass contains enough citral to prompt the cancer cells to commit suicide in the test tube.
The BGU investigators checked the influence of the citral on cancerous cells by adding them to both cancerous cells and normal cells that were grown in a petri dish. The quantity added in the concentrate was equivalent to the amount contained in a cup of regular tea using one gram of lemon herbs in hot water. While the citral killed the cancerous cells, the normal cells remained unharmed.
The findings were published in the scientific journal Planta Medica, which highlights research on alternative and herbal remedies. Shortly afterwards, the discovery was featured in the popular Israeli press.Why does it work? Nobody knows for certain, but the BGU scientists have a theory. 'In each cell in our body, there is a genetic program which causes programmed cell death. When something goes wrong, the cells divide with no control and become cancer cells.. In normal cells, when the cell discovers that the control system is not operating correctly - for example, when it recognizes that a cell contains faulty genetic material following cell division - it triggers cell death,' explains Weinstein. 'This research may explain the medical benefit of these herbs.'
The success of their research led them to the conclusion that herbs containing citral may be consumed as a preventative measure against certain cancerous cells. As they learned of the BGU findings in the press, many physicians in Israel began to believe that while the research certainly needed to be explored further, in the = meantime it would be advisable for their patients, who were looking for any possible tool to fight their condition, to try to harness the cancer-destroying properties of citral.
That's why Zabidov's farm - the only major grower of fresh lemon grass in Israel - has become a pilgrimage destination for these patients. Luckily, they found themselves in sympathetic hands. Zabidov greets visitors with a large kettle of aromatic lemon grass tea, a plate of cookies, and a supportive attitude. 'My father died of cancer, and my wife's sister died young because of cancer,' said Zabidov.. 'So I understand what they are dealing with. And I may not know anything about medicine, but I'm a good listener. And so they tell me about their expensive painful treatments and what they've been through. I would never tell them to stop being treated, but it's great that they are exploring alternatives and drinking the lemon grass tea as well.'
Zabidov knew from a young age that agriculture was his calling. At age 14, he enrolled in the Kfar Hayarok Agricultural high school. After his army service, he joined an idealistic group which headed south, in the Arava desert region, to found a new moshav (agricultural settlement) called Tsofar. 'We were very successful; we raised fruits and vegetables, and,' he notes with a smile, 'We raised some very nice children.'On a trip to Europe in the mid-80s, he began to become interested in herbs. Israel , at the time, was nothing like the trend-conscious cuisine-oriented country it is today, and the only spices being grown commercially were basics like parsley, dill, and coriander. Wandering in the Paris market, looking at the variety of herbs and spices, Zabidov realized that there was a great export potential in this niche. He brought samples back home with him, 'which was technically illegal,' he says with a guilty smile, to see how they would grow in his desert greenhouses. Soon, he was growing basil, oregano, tarragon, chives, sage, marjoram and melissa, and mint just to name a few.
His business began to outgrow his desert facilities, and so he decided to move north, settling in the moshav of Kfar Yedidya, an hour and a half north of Tel Aviv. He is now selling 'several hundred kilos' of lemon grass per week, and has signed with a distributor to package and put it in health food stores. Zabidov has taken it upon himself to learn more about the properties of citral, and help his customers learn more, and has invited medical experts to his farm to give lectures about how the citral works and why.He also felt a responsibility to know what to tell his customers about its use. 'When I realized what was happening, I picked up the phone and called Dr. Weinstein at Ben-Gurion University , because these people were asking me exactly the best way to consume the citral. He said to put the loose grass in hot water, and drink about eight glasses each day.'
Zabidov is pleased by the findings, not simply because it means business for his farm, but because it might influence his own health. Even before the news of its benefits were demonstrated, he and his family had been drinking lemon grass in hot water for years, 'just because it tastes good.'
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I did have my third AC today--thankfully with no allergic reaction. My onco is ordering another breast MRI to make sure there is shrinkage (but it definitely feels like it) and also because I have quite a bit of pain in my tumor site. I know that he felt for my lymph nodes under my arm too so I suspect he would like to see that on MRI as well. Additionally he ordered an MRI of my brain because I have been having near daily headaches. I'm not thrilled with 2 more MRIs (and they can't do them at the same time because they use different constrast dyes), but I would rather be thorough.
The onco said total of 4 AC, so only one left! I'll start talking to surgeons after the MRI this week.
What to you guys think about traveling between chemo and surgery? My friend is a wedding photographer and is shooting a wedding in Hawaii 2 weeks after my last AC dose and asked me to come with him. Obviously I'd check with my oncologist, but just wanted to know what others thought
. I've never been to Hawaii. My friend doesn't understand why im even hesitating.0 -
Thanks for all your kind thoughts, ladies. I'm meeting with my onc tomorrow at 1:00 -- they have a head and neck guy (at least that's how he was described!) onsite, so hopefully will get some answers, and dare I hope, good news.
Lovelyface: Hope you get that PET if only to satisfy yourself that everythig is okay. I'm happy to not have to deal with insurance companies here - just an aggravation none of us needs.
To all you ladies undergoing chemo: wishing you manageable SEs, you will prevail!
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Hi blondelawyer - if between chemos, I would rather not. I did that 5 years ago after my 4th round and went to Japan. Caught a bad infection and died. Was in hospital for 10 days and doc discharged me without any improvement. My entire mouth down to throat were covered with lesions. It was through sheer will and determination and God's grace that I pulled through. I dont want to scare you but we are at our weakest during chemo. This time round, I am going to be a good girl. Other than going for treatments and walks in the park, I will stay in to rest.
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FrancesC: Thanks for the input. This would be 2 weeks after my last dose of chemo, not between cycles. I will see what my oncologist thinks too. Hawaii just sounds tempting
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Blondelawyer - great then, just ensure all your counts are up. Hawaii sounds really tempting! Go and enjoy yourself.
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Luah, good luck on your scans.
Blondelawyer, I had surgery prior to chemo, just wondering if its normal to have pain at your tumor site during treatment? Definitely go to Hawaii!!!
Have a good day everyone.
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Luah good luck, fingers crossed very hard for you
blondelawyer, check with your onc but if your bloods are up GO GO GO to Hawaii and have a great time.. I went away for a few days between chemos 5 & 6 and it was a great way to relax and recharge my batteries before the next assault!
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Blondelawyer...I think that a trip to Hawaii is probably just what you need!
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Sitting in doc office waiting for scan results.
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