Calling all TNs
Comments
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Can't help with the migraine question. I have had only 2 migraines in my life so there is no pattern for me. I did have many, many dull headaches during chemo, tho. Advil seemed to take care of them.
I do have a few experiences that I am wondering if anyone else can relate to. The first is vsion changes. I have been struggling with my vision ever since I started chemo. I saw my opthomologist before I started tx(everything was fine with barely a change in my glasses) and again last month. I now have Cataracts in both eyes. Nothing that needs surgery at this time, but I was shocked and a bit pissed. You know the feeling of WTF? what next???
Next thing is on a mental note. I am finding that the further out from my last chemo I am, the more nervous I am feeling. I am having difficulty with that impending doom feeling. I just don't know what is going on. I feel out of balance, out of whack. My weight is also continuing to climb even though I am back to a regular vigorous exercise routine,
I made an appt to see my onc in a few weeks.....
Thanks all for being here. Quite a journey we are on.
Navy
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Navy, the weight gain may be from menopause/chemopause - causing extra weight gain in the stomach. I can't say for sure and your dr or onc could probably confirm. Good luck. I have had vision issues as well, my eyes just don't focus the same since chemo. I am told my prescription really hasn't changed, but I could get bifocals -Ugh!
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Navy~ Those feelings are normal. I'm having a TERRIBLE time with them as I approach the 2 yr mark from my dx.
regarding vision changes- add me to the group. I finally went yesterday to my eye dr and I need bifocals + a stronger perscription. ick.
xxoo
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Jenn- yes, I have experienced similar migraine pattern. I've had them for *years* and they were always worst around my period (hormone-based). However, I also have some issues from a neck injury that can bring one on. I found after I was "neutered" that the migraines were not a predictable, and possibly even less intense, on average. I also found that if I were in a room that had some airflow the hot flashes were lessened, so I always try to crack a window or use a fan, etc.
vision- yep, chemo can cause cataracts and this really concerned me so I hot-footed it to the ophthalmologist soon thereafter. No significant changes for me, though I *am* finding my contacts don't last as long. I think this is due to the brand (haven't used them before) and nothing else. In fact, they are replacing some of them as I might have gotten a defective batch.
Navy Mom- I think you will find that feeling dissipates after awhile. I know it did with me. It just takes time to regain some confidence in our health after BC takes it away.
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vision: my eyes are so bad since chemo! Reading glasses or bifocals for me, too. I have been part of a Latisse study 4 weeks out of chemo which it's original use was for cataracts, so maybe I won't have as many problems, but I am starting to think laser correction to my eyes! I hate wearing glasses and you end up with compromised vision with contact lenses that haave bifocals. I feel like an 80 year old woman sometimes!
Navymom: I think our bodies are going to feel "off" for awhile and the only thing we can do is take supplements and try to eat organic and avoid all processed foods. I know that this has helped with everything but I still struggle with the "chemo brain pause".
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hhfheidi: I struggled with horrible periods/hemorraging for years prior to my diagnosis and I have heard this from many other women, too. Just a complete imbalance in our bodies. You wouldthink after all of these years the Medical Field would start noticing all of these "coincidences" and start learning how to remedy these problems so we don't end up with cancer, like low vit D levels, menstruation problems, fatigue, not sleeping--the list just goes on and on and I was going from dr to dr and no one could tell me what was wrong with me! Very frustrating. I feel like modern medicine is failing and that's why I ended up with an integrative dr. I just got tired of feeling like crap.
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Did anyone notice armpit pain during taxol. I'm so scared the BC is spreading further into my lymphs. I have noticed my tumor in my breast seems to be shrinking at least I hope.
I've never had problems with my vision but also recently had to buy reading glasses. I thought it was my age but now I realize it's probably the chemo. It's really difficult for my eyes to focus in the mornings but seems to get better as the day progresses. I guess I should see an eye doc. maybe I need real glasses now.
I'm having a rough day today. I've got to try and shake the depressed state I'm in. It's absolutely gorgeous out today it makes no sense. I'm hoping it's just from the steroids and I get over it quick.
HHFHeidi- Could you help me out today? I really need something to laugh at! Thanks.
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Laurajane: I seem to recal having the armpit pain--probably just means the Taxol is doing it's job! sorry you are feeling down today. It's really gorgeous out here, too, and I still have a stupid flu virus. I hope you get out and do some gardening or maybe just turn on some really great music and dance around the house would get you in a better mood. I fluctuate from being just fine to being OMG I just had cancer! Just breathe and hopefully hhfheidi will give us all a much needed giggle today!!!
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Heidi..YOU ARE DONE!
Navy Mom..I'm sorry you are in a funk right now....I hate it when that happens..I was 18 months out on Monday and I got that graph out and looked at it...still not where the er-pr positives are..oh well.....I know exactly what you are feeling...I was down for a couple of weeks..just blah, not talking much...now I'm feeling fine again..I mean really good...but when this depression comes on I just can't seem to do anything to get rid of it..it just goes away until the next time!
Oh..and I'm blind as a bat..before chemo, during chemo and now PFC...I waited until one year out b-4 I went to the eye doctor...My prescription changed a little but not much. and my eyes are healthy...I never worried about that before..hmm...
I agree with MJB Laura Jane..the taxol is doing its job..you are probably achy elsewhere too aren't you? Like your neck, legs, abdomen...heck..all over? I felt like my skin hurt if it was touched..I blamed it on the neulasta shot but it was probably a combination of both.
Ok..Heidi..where's the joke...another pic of Tom Brady might cheer us up too! Are you familar with the Foley Fish Company? They are out of New Bedford, Mass
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For laurajane
Hollywood Squares:
These great questions and
answers are from the days when the Hollywood Squares game show responses were
spontaneous, not scripted, as they are now.
Peter Marshall was the host asking the
questions, of course.
Q. Paul, what is a good reason
for pounding meat?
A. Paul Lynde:
Loneliness!
(The audience laughed so long and so
hard it took up almost 15 minutes of the show!)
Q. Do female frogs croak?
A. Paul Lynde: If you hold
their little heads under water
long enough.
Q. If you're going to make a parachute jump, at
least how high should
you be?
A. Charley Weaver: Three days of steady
drinking should do it.
Q. True or False, a pea can last as
long as 5,000 years.
A. George Gobel: Boy,
it sure seems that way sometimes.
Q. You've been having trouble going to
sleep. Are you probably a man or a woman?
A. Don Knotts: That's what's been
keeping me awake.
Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet
a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay
to come out and ask him if he's married?
A. Rose Marie: No wait
until morning.
Q. Which of your five senses tends
to diminish as you get older?
A. Charley Weaver: My sense
of decency.
Q. In Hawaiian, does it take more
than three words to say 'I Love You'?
A. Vincent Price: No, you
can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.
Q. What are 'Do It,' 'I Can Help,' and 'I
Can't Get Enough'?
A.
George Gobel: I don't know, but it's coming from the next
apartment.
Q. As you grow older, do you tend to
gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more
growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never
forget.
Q. Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear
leather?
A. Paul
Lynde: Because chiffon wrinkles
too easily.
Q. Charley, you've just decided to
grow strawberries. Are you going to get any during the first
year?
A... Charley
Weaver: Of course not, I'm too busy growing
strawberries.
Q. In bowling, what's a
perfect score?
A. Rose Marie: Ralph, the
pin boy.
Q. It is considered in bad taste
to discuss two subjects at nudist camps. One is politics, what is the
other?
A. Paul Lynde:
Tape measures.
Q. During a tornado, are you safer
in the bedroom or in the closet?
A. Rose Marie:
Unfortunately Peter, I'm always safe in
the bedroom.
Q. Can boys join
the Camp Fire Girls?
A. Marty Allen: Only after lights
out.
Q. When
you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail. What will a goose
do?
A. Paul
Lynde: Make him bark?
Q. If you were pregnant for
two years, what would you give birth to?
A. Paul Lynde: Whatever it is, it
would never be afraid of the dark.
Q. According to Ann Landers,
is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot
of people?
A. Charley Weaver: It got me out of
the army.
Q. It is the most abused
and neglected part of your body, what is it?
A. Paul Lynde: Mine may be abused,
but it certainly isn't neglected..
Q. Back in the old days, when Great
Grandpa put horseradish on his head, what was he trying to
do?
A. George Gobel:
Get it in his mouth.
Q. Who stays pregnant for a longer
period of time, your wife or your elephant?
A. Paul Lynde: Who told you
about my elephant?
Q. When a couple have a baby, who is
responsible for its sex?
A. Charley Weaver: I'll lend him the
car, the rest is up to him
Q. Jackie Gleason recently revealed
that he firmly believes in them and has actually seen them on at least two
occasions. What are they?
A. Charley Weaver: His
feet.
Q. According to Ann Landers, what
are two things you should never do in bed?
A. Paul Lynde: Point and
laugh
WE DON'T STOP LAUGHING BECAUSE WE
GROW OLD, WE GROW OLD BECAUSE WE STOP LAUGHING
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Titan Foley Fish Company in New Bedford--- I probably bought lobster from them on several occasions when I lived in Rhode Island (very near New Bedford). There was a great place in the NB area and that sounds familiar.
Why? Inquiring minds want to know...
I am taking a Naturalist Course at the Nature Center I teach at. I've been out looking at (and photographing) bugs all day. One of the requirements is a completed Journal at the end of the course, so I am combining my love of nature with my love of photography.
Tomorrow I am taking my equines out for a carriage drive, as next week we will be carriage driving through Gettysburg Battlefield again. It required I get a Special Permit, so I'm hoping the weather is good next weekend. We are also spending a night at the historic Gettysburg Hotel while we are there. Keeping the horses at Artillary Ridge, right near the battlefield.
Life is Good!
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hhfheidi: Thank you for the great, long laugh!!!
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Heidi..the company I work for buys all our fresh seafood from them...we are the only store in Ohio that carries Foley Fish..it is absolutely wonderful..plus one of the owners is a great sports fan! She loves the Patriots and the Sox and the Celtics and Michigan Wolverines (probably because of Tom Brady)..we have some good natured ribbing of each other because I'm a OSU fan, Indians, Browns and Cavalier fan...though we Ohio fans haven't had much to crow about lately...We both dislike the Yankees though so we do have some common ground!
I loved your jokes..I remember watching that show growing up...
Ok...hope everyone is having a great weekend..it is beautiful here today! Sometimes, and it is getting better but cancer is getting further and further from my mind....Like Navy Mom says..if you can't remember it..it didn't happen...and so it goes.
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Thanks for all your kind words of encouragement. Can't say I feel better but at least I know that I am not alone.
Good chuckles from your post, Heidi. Thanks
Gonna try to get a good sleep tonight. Maybe that will help my attitude!
Navy
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I have not read in a few days you girls have been busy busy!!!
MBJ : Thank you for the info lovin all the knowledge you ladies have!!!!
I went back and read over the posts it must be a TN pre requisite to be hilarious!
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Hey Tiffany..I did a mapquest to Ashland, Kentucky..we are 4 hours apart!
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Jenn3 - I had migrains for about 15 years and theyn they stopped for the past few years. I have had Ac and 7 rounds of Taxol, chemopause and started back up with migrainse a week and a half ago. There has to be some link to either the chemo, chemopause or something. I have had cluster migrains (one migraine every 2-3 days for 3-4 weeks) once a year then nothing, now I have had 12 migrains in the last 10 days. My legs look like pin cushions from the Imitrex injections I give myself. I feel your pain, migrains suck, just one more thing to add to everything else. Hope yours go away soon and you feel better.
Jen
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jenC: I am so sorry to hear about your migraines. I do think chemo causes headaches, because every chemo I had one at some point or another, but I have maybe had one or migraines in my life and I am lucky that has been it. My mother suffered from them all of her life and I remember them being just awful, so I hope it is a temporary thing and that they will go away permanently at some point!
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Sorry to hear about the migraines. I've never had them before but I have had a lot of tension headaches in my life, particularly when I'm tense or my neck is out of whack.
I've been playing The Price is Right on Facebook too much tonight and I'm getting a bad headache. Now if I could just win a showcase showdown....I could call it a night! Today is the one year anniversary of my surgery.
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NavyMom: I had that feeling of doom whie I was driving, but it has gone away. I was sure another car was going to hit me. I think it was part of the chemo fog I was in, and I wasn't as confident driving as usual. Funny thing was, I was rear-ended (guy hit the hitch on my 350 truck), and now I'm better! Actually, I think I'm better because I'm much more clear-headed now.
Thanks for the Squares laughs. My mom would watch that show while doing housework, and we kids loved to watch, too. I'm sure we missed half the laughs.
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Heidi - thanks for the laughs and the trip down memory lane! I loved that show when I was growing up. I remember watching Hollywood Squares and Jeopardy at lunch-time with my mom. I'll admit I sometimes didn't get the double-entendres... but I sure laugh now!
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MBJ- Thanks for the pep talk. I just got through yesterday and I am determined to make today a great day. I think I am developing a pattern of one weekly down day. Ugh! So unlike me. I hope you are finally kicking that flu. It seems like you have had it for a long time now.
HHFHeidi- Thank-you, Thank-you thank-you. Hilarious! You not only had me smiling but cracking up laughing too! It's a miracle! Laughter is truly the best medicine. Your naturalist course sounds like so much fun. I find bugs fascinating. Obviously, I prefer the beneficial ones. What do you teach there?
navymom- I hope you are feeling better today and got some good sleep.
For the migraine sufferers I am sorry you all have to go through that on top of everything else. I wonder if acupuncture could help?
I hope everyone has a good day today. Thanks for being here.
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LauraJane: I always had one or two really bad days during chemo--I think that's pretty standard. I agree with you abut the laughing--I just couldn't stop!--it really can change your point of view. Thank you Heidi!!!
Retrievermom: I've never heard of anyone getting their chemo head cleared by a fender bender but I will try NOT to try that one LOL!!
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hope everyone is having a great day!
xxoo
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Laurajane - I always had a really down day 3-4 days after chemo. It was a pattern and seemed to flow with the steroids leaving my system and the pain setting in. I called it my self pity day. Once I realized the pattern I didn't worry about it as much, still had the self pity day, but knew the next day I'd feel better (emotionally).
Thanks for the well wishes. I just find it weird that after having had them for years, then going away and now coming back. At least I know how to handle them. Another gift from BC and the treatments.
JennC - thank you - it feels good to know I'm not the only one. It's so weird...... I'm guessing chemopause.
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I had a carriage wreck today. Hubby and I are fine and so are the horses but driving is inherently dangerous; much more so than riding. The senior horse in the pair (father to the other one--his son) just was being naughty, bobbing his head and refusing to do a flat-footed walk. The former is potentially dangerous due to the possibility of rubbing the bridle off while hitched and the latter is just d*mn annoying when you are trying to rate the pace and cadence of two different animals (think jogging compared to running in place).
Finally, after multiple corrections on my part Studly (the dad) attempted to bolt. I did not have a clear path ahead of me (more carriages) so had no choice but to "off-road" it into an adjacent clearing. Three strides into the disobedience I knew I had a potentialy serious runaway on my hands, with nothing but thick woods a short distance away. Decision time.
I ran them into a tree before they could get a full head of steam on, effectively putting each horse on the opposite side of a small diameter tree in the clearing. The impact knocked Studly off his feet and under the pole (the part of the carriage where the two horses are attached). Oh sh*t time.
Calmly told husband to sit on Studly's head to prevent him from struggling to get up and exacerbating an already bad situation. His hind legs were tangled up in the the tree trunk and one hoof was perilously close to slipping between the spokes of the wheel. Action time.
I quickly hopped down from the carriage, reins in hand, and begin the tricky process of unhooking two animals from the carriage without causing panic. (At this point Petey--Studly's son--is standing quietly and Studly looks like I had told him to Sit/Stay). Thank God for well-bred horses!
Miraculously, I was able to disconnect all harness thanks, in part, to the fact that I am a firm believer in quick-release snaps. Next I moved the carriage away from the horses. Finally, with the coast relatively clear, hubby gets off Studly's head/neck and attempts to pull him up. Nothing. Worry time.
Is Studly hurt? Has he broken something? Is this the end of my pair driving?
No, after more encouragement he gets up and, with nerves of steel we re-hook them and head (somewhat) safely back to the trailer. Crikey, were we lucky. This could have had a very bad ending. (HEADLINE: woman survives cancer, killed by own horses).
I now have my work cut out for me to figure out what is going on with Studly, as we are scheduled to drive Gettysburg Battlefield next weekend. (Picture horses in Disneyland, as it can be that busy there). I am going to start with getting his teeth floated (this is a process where a specially trained equine dentist files down any sharp edges on the teeth which can cause sores in the mouth).
Sure hope that fixes the problem...
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studly lol love it
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Jenn3 and Laurajane - oh can I relate. I have been reading the posts, but not posted anything myself for a while because I have been feeling so horrible I didn't feel like I had anything to contribute but pain, and all you gals have enough of that. My third AC has about done me in. Today I am day 4 after and I feel worse than I have ever felt. Bone pain, incapaciating heartburn and terrible queasy feeling that won't let up. I feel it in my ears! I am so hoping that tomorrow will be better. Sorry this is nothing but a self-pity post. I am so depressed.I havent slept in 2 days. cannot lie flat from the pain.
Michele - Despite, this your gift helped me tremendously. Many thanks.
Tomorrow where are you???
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hhfhiedi well wild women haha!!! I am glad you are ok! I have never owned a horse but was raised around them and love them but as we know they are an animal and you just never know what might happen. I hope you and Studly get it all worked out
my ex-boyfriend is a equine dentist, suppose to be the best in our area. titan I thought you were pretty close to my town! That cool!
laurajane I remember feeling like what you explained, just keep reminding yourself that another one down and closer to the end of treatment! Hope today was a good one!
sugar77 why can't I find The Price Is Right on FB I play family fued.
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Maybe he doesn't like his name?
But glad you and your husband and horses are OK...never a dull moment is there?
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