Calling all TNs
Comments
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I love your cat...My cat Eddie looks alot like him..seriously..they could be brothers...maybe I will try to get him to sit still long enough to take his pictures..I just love "Butt"..what a cutie! Is he seriously sitting on the toilet? My Eddie sleeps on the toilet at night..when he is not taking up my leg room.
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I danced my petunias off, so much fun. I got to hear so much fabulous music from Brazil, Africa, Columbia, India and beyond.Just lovin' all of you guys and "Butt" too! ! Great to go to sleep tonight with a smile on my face. Sweet dreams to all. Thank-you.
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mittymuffin: legcramps are usually a magnesium defieciency-my dr has me take 1000 mg 2 x day. hope this helps!
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So much happened this week and I think I am starting to feel overwhelmed by all of it. My last post I went to my granddaughters grandparent day brunch at school. That was a wonderful time.
Later that day I went to the "Wig Barn" . Now that was a totally traumatic excursion. It is s et up at a Hair Salon in a like closet room. You bring someone with you and they let you in there. There are shelves and shelves of wigs and hats and scarfs etc. However noone to help you. You bring your own "helper". You can choose whatever you want and its all free.While my daughter and granddaughter tried to make it a good fun thing all I wanted to do was cry.I finally picked out 2 wigs- a longer one sorta wavey and a shorter one more like I usually wear my hair. Then Jen found a box with ?Hairpieces. Like Hair on a band that you put a hat over. She took a couple of those and a couple chemo hats. She also got both wig stands and shampoo. Of course its all free but I think this whole process finally hit.
Then 3 days later ( Monday) I went and got my drains out. Oh was that a wonderful feeling having them out but we noticed one place that looked funny on the right side incision ( my non-malignant side) . BUt since I still had my staples it was okay.
Then 3 days later(Thursday) I went back to the Dr and got my staples removed at 0930am. That really felt great but my daughter pointed out to the surgeon that area?? that looked funny. He wasnt too concerned becasue he had sutured to the skin level and the staples were actually just holding the skin edge closed. Said just to watch it.
3 hours later I am sitting in the Breast Cancer Coordinators office ( she is an RN) at the Cancer Care Center and guess what happened? Yep -- felt a wetness and looked down on my right chest wall and my shirt was rapidly turning red. I grabbed a handfull of kleenex and told the RN in there you better go get a towel. When I lifted my arm the dam burst and suddenly I had serous stuff rapidly turning to a lava flow of dark red -old blood running all over the place. The incision dehised about an 1 1/2 inches and must have had a pretty good sized hematoma holding out under neath. My daughter wigged out and thought I was bleeding to death and went screaming out of the office for someone to get help I was bleeding all over. In the meantime back came the RN Coordinator loaded with dressing supplies and a clean pt gown. Before we were done I had saturated 2 5 packs of fluffs 2 abd's and a handful of kleenexs not counting what was all over my shirt and shorts. She put on a pressure dressing as I called my Dr's office. He had just went into surgery but sent me back to the office and his nurse steri-stripped it. With orders to call him if I noticed any s/s infection.
The next day I saw my oncologist ( Friday )-- and he wasnt happy about the dehise but had faith I would stay on top it and do everything I could to get it healed. Plan is to start Chemo in 3 weeks. Cytoxan and Taxotere with steroids. Also my primary care Doc called me at home to check on how I was doing and ordered more pain meds. Along with the Fentanyl patch she ordered more Loratabs for breakthrough pain. God love her.
Okay 2 days later ( Saturday) pulled off dressing to get in shower and noticed purelent drainage. Yes it was an Oh *hit moment. So a call to the doc. Since I was suppose to see him monday I asked about getting it cultured so we at least had an idea what was growing by monday. He agreed. Told me what he wanted me to do. (Note-to walk into ER with my insurance its a $125 co-pay up front for my insurance) I told him the girls at work would do the c/s and we could then just turn it in. He said good plan. I ended up going into work ( ICU) and the girls at work did anerobic and aeroboic would c/s on it. The charge nurse wrote the order. They also loaded me up with dressing supplies/gloves to take home with me.
Now if I can get this healing ( diabetic so its gonna be tough) I will start my Chemo Oct 7.
I am trying to keep a very positive focus but this is beginning to really set in. But everything has moved so fast I think thats why its starting to overwhelm me. Mammogram to surgery to now-- not quite 4 weeks I think.
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hhfheidi: I thought my cat Ashes was the only one who sits in this position LOL! Sometimes I have to take 6 or 7 of the 5mg of Melatonin to help me sleep. I hear smoked salmon, halibut, herring, cod, sardines, all things high in omega 3's are good for meno/chemopause and there was a small study done in Canada on this. It sounds like you already get alot of excercise. Magnesium at night before bed also is good and so is a 1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt in a glass of warm water. I had to completely get rid of coffee though
laurajane: I am so happy that you had such a great time. sounds like a blast!
Sugar: Your hair is sooooo long! I just died mine brown black and it actually looks like a style ala Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday!
Titan: I found an amazing product to help with the super frizzy curls. It's called Marc Anthony Straight cream. I put a glob of it on my wet hair and style it with my fingers and it dries however I style it. Love this stuff! And let me tell you mine is just curly, frizzy, thick fluff without it!
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Holy crap, Cathy! How scary. And of course it's the weekend. ((((hugs)))). I'll be thinking of you. Please check back in after you see your doc again Monday. Or if you just want to vent.
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Cathy - So sorry you are having such a tough time but thank God for your co-workers!
MBJ - this sleep thing is driving me nuts! I took up to 6mgs of melatonin and still not more than 4 hours sleep. I was afraid to take more so I stopped and seriously I didn't notice a change. So I figured maybe it's stress. I'm seeing a psychologist to try to find ways to deal with it. She suggested I have obsessive thinking (lol - who doesn't when they have a cancer diagnosis) and situational depression. She also said my biorhythms are way off due to the chemo. So anyway she suggested prozac which I haven't given in to yet. Last week I had a cold so I took nyquil and had 3 of the best nights of sleep I've had in a long time. Can I get a script for that? lol
I've looked on the net for other solutions and have read about light therapy and hypnotism - anyone use these?
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Another question:
Is anyone else losing time? Sometimes an hour goes by and it seems like a minute.
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hhfheide - The aliens are back.
Hey - does anyone have pain in the balls of their feet? I told the onc and he said it was from the neulasta shot. Maybe it is the same as neropahy and Glucosamine will help. Only thing the onc gave me was pain meds.
Anyone else have a hard time spelling all these big words (words I never wanted to know in the first place).
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Cathy: So sorry to hear about the problems you're having. My sister went through something similar, and it took awhile to heal, but eventually did, and she went on to chemo and did fine. If there's one thing I learned through my own journey, it's that something unexpected will come up and throw you for a loop. Hopefully you'll heal up fast and it will be smoother sailing from here on.
Sugar77: Love the new avatar photo! Your hair has filled in nicely. I just had my second round of colour, and I am so much happier with the results.
Titan: I'm liking the shorter look too. And it is way easier to manage. I have a pretty strong wave, but it's not long enough yet to be full-blown curls which I'm glad about.
Have a great day, ladies. The weather is spectacular here in Toronto.
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Cathy- what Riley said...times a gazzilion. You are having one H*ll of a ride. How terribly, terribly frightening, not to mention uncomfortable and upsetting. Here's hoping things get better soon. When I was a kid I had a friend that use to say:" Things are always darkest before they go pitch black." I always got a chuckle out of that and hope you do too. I think you've expereinced pitch black, so it's time to "lighten up"...lol. Take care.
Swanny-ARE YOU SAYING MY CAT IS AN ALIEN? Hrmph...she is actually a Manx (no tail).
Titan- yes, she is seriously sitting on the toilet. Don't all cats do this when they use the powder room? And, because I love you SO much, this is for you:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Tom-Brady-Now-his-family-s-primary-breadwinner?urn=nfl-270620(laughing) (stupid emoticons still don't work with Mozilla) Grrr...
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hhfheidi - sorry, was about a page behind (without knowing it) when I saw the link show back up. Your cat is great!
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Cathy: Just saw your post and my goodness, hang in there! Sending you many good thoughts that you can heal enough to do your chemo!
Swanny: spelling/???? ha! that went out the window first, I think!
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Claire & hhfheidi: I have done quite alot of research on Melatonin and it is safe to take up to 30 mg. You do have to work up to it and it isn't instantaneous. It can take some time but what you are trying to do is re-set your internal clock. I read most of this waiting in my Onc's office! It's very important for healing BC!
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claire: regarding time: I think I have always had this problem, but, yes, sometimes a week feels like a minute and I have no idea where it went or what I did! crazy time travel, huh?
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Cathy: My goodness , how scary! (((((( Many hugs)))))))
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Claire & MBJ- silly girls. The reason you lose track of time is because you are being abducted by aliens and they erase your memory before returning you. Isn't that obvious? lol
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Swanny:
It is an inflammation of the nerves (yes, from the chemo) and it's called Mortons Neuroma. Quite common and very painful. You can buy pads for your shoes for just that area. Didn't really help mine though. The pain would sometimes be bearable - other times not so much when walking, but it went away after my chemo ended (took about 6 wks.) and no problem since then.
Best to you,
Linda
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Oh cathy, so sorry about all you have been through. This disease just sometimes seems to take us by the throat! Hang in there - I am trying to take my onw advice here too !- It has to get better. I keep thinking about how next year this time I will be feeling so much better and you will too!
Right now I am 3 days away from my last date with the red devil, and of course I am feeling pretty good now. Just tired, but dealing with that. I hear from everyone Taxol is easier, and I'll be having that series next. I just try and look at every treatment, every test as another notch on the bed post of hell!
Hugs to everyone!
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hhfheidi: LOL! Of Course it's Alien Abduction!!! They must have given me something to make me forget....forget what????
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Cathy: I am sorry you had such a wild week. Hopefully the worst is behind you and hope next week goes much easier. Hugs to you.
MBJ: I love Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, I bet your hair looks really cute.
Most of the posts are making me laugh today. Especially that cat. I have not seen a cat sit that way.
About spelling. I am having the neo-adj chemo and I can't spell neo-adj whatever. I guess I should figure that out.
Alien abduction? I think that I might prefer that over going through all this chemo and stuff . . .
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Cathy- How scary. I'm so sorry you have to go through all of this on top of everything else. Wishing you fast healthy healing.
MBJ- Maybe I wasn't taking enough Melatonin. The most I took was 5mg and I also only had about 4-5 hours of angry interrupted sleep . The last time I took it my teeth hurt from all of the grinding. I guess I need to start again and try and stick with it. I slept great last night almost 10 hours.
barbbasile- Congrats on your upcoming final dose of the red devil, I hope your Taxol experience is as smooth as mine has been so far.
hhfheidi- how do I post photos? I just love the 'Alien Abduction' still laughing at "Butts", thank-you.
Wow! I just realized it's September! What happened to June, July and August? Ha! Ha!
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OK, it's official. I am appointing myself Humor Coordinator on this thread. Whenever I find something that I think will give us all a little chuckle I will post it here. I've always believed that laughter is the best medicine anyway. So, why not.
Posting Photos (laurajane)-
-first, you have to have an on-line photo album site (Snapfish, Shutterfly, Phanfare, Photobucket, etc.)
-second, you have to locate the "external" link feature on your photo site (If you can't find it let me know and I'll visit the site-I already have accounts with most of the above anyway- and I'll try and walk you through it).
-third, you have to Copy that link (copy to clipboard feature or just copy/paste) and put/paste it into BC.org using the icon (looks like a tree) shown to the left of the smiley face in our "Post a Reply" window. To recap: go to your online photo site & copy/paste the external link to your photo, come back and click the tree icon here in BC.org, paste the link into the URL box and hit the "Insert" button. Your picture should then show up in your post (Preview it first, just to be sure)
If it doesn't work, it may be a browser problem. As some of you may have read, I have lost the ability to use emoticons and post pictures in BC.org using Mozilla Firefox. I have to switch to Safari. Most of you are probably Windows PC users (I use a Mac) and are using Internet Explorer, as it's probably the most common browsing tool thanks to Bill Gates (or not if, like me, you prefer Apple).
Anyhow, hope that gets you all merrily on your way to sharing your pictures in here. I'm an amateur photographer (jack of all trades, master of none) and really get a kick out of seeing people's funny pictures---or serious. Whatever floats your boat...
If you are totally lost after reading this you will proably need to confer with an alien. Don't worry, I've got that covered also... lol.
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{{{{Cathy}}}}
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Cathy: OMG. What a series of unfortunate events. Hope you are doing much better now.
Melatonin/sleep: I doubled up and ended up having weird dreams. Seriously--serial murder dreams. I told my DH about one dream that included Clint Eastwood & Kevin Bacon. DH said I should use melatonin every night, to which I replied, "but it was the old Clint Eastwood!" I'm finding that sleeping with the puppy, who is very still, is helping more than any supplement. She's calming.
MBJ: tell me more. I hate my curls and want to color. Did you do all-over color? Is your hair growing so fast that you have to touch up frequently?
Love the cat pic. That's one bodacious cat.
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Cathy - so sorry you are going through so much. I hope things get better for you.
Linda - thank you so much for the information on my feet. I am very glad to hear it will go away and I will be sure to look it up.
I am pretty good today besides my feet hurting and I get tired very easy these days. I went to a bar to watch the Bears play today. They won - yeah! I am not a huge football fan (or sports fan in general), but getting together with friends to talk and watch a game once a week in fall/winter is fun.
Since my mother passed away I am trying to reunite with old friends or friends that I was not able to see very much while I was taking care of her. Before I took care of my mother I lived on my own and was very satisfied with my life. Now that she is gone (after 10 years), I find my single life pretty lonely and boring. Today I signed up on a singles on-line website. Not sure if anyone would want to meet someone going thru cancer but if they do, I think they might be a great guy. What do you think? I made sure I mentioned the cancer so they know before they contact me.
Have a good day all.
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Hey Titan! I bet we live kinda close. I live in Ashland KY saw all the Tornado damage on the news. It is really a miracle that more people didn't get killed.
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Swanny - So sorry to hear about your mom - I can only imagine how lonely it leaves you - especially after stepping out of your own life to be there for her. You are a wonderful daughter and I hope you meet someone worthy of you. Good luck, hon.
Linda
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Lynne: I should clarify: Roman Holiday with a punk twist, since I kind of spike it out everywhere! My husband loves it and I am getting used to it being super short.
Laurajane & retrievermom: Excercise aned physical excertion is the best thing for sleep, and melatonin will give you the weird dreams until your body adjusts 2-4 weeks. The beauty of it is now, if I do wake up, I can eventually get back to sleep!
Retrievermom: I bought hair dye at Whole Foods 100% Natural and went Brown/Black. Makes my skin look milky white and vampirish LOL. It's growing about 1/2" a month so I do have to do frequent touch ups now that I have all of this grey hair! I used to wait 6 weeks now you can see it in just 2!
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