August 2010...anyone starting chemo besides me?!
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i figured i wouldnt have time unless i did it now LOL
not sure what order i am uploading them but there is an alien face, rocketship, rainbow panda and dragon- i am no artist LOL so dont judge hahaha fully edible panckae creations!
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You are making the most wonderful memories for those kids!!! That is adorable! Just adorable. Now these are the moments they will never, ever forget! Beautiful work...just beautiful!
Felis: I hope you are doing well today! Check in and let me know how you are doing. Also, last nigth when I was in the basement doing hurricane prep I came across my artifical tree (my father who scared us about fire also made us nervous about real trees so I go fake!) and thought of you. The first year when I was dxd and having lost my job, my breasts, going through chemo I was much better off than most people but I definitely need a pick-me-up. I put my Xmas tree up in MID-OCTOBER!!! Not joking! It cheered me up so if you like holidays decorations and you need a pick-me-up, perhaps you should do what I did! I don't even think I posted about that but how I love sitting at night with the lights off and enjoying the glow of those Xmas lights!
Oh, as for the ex's, 2 know about bc and 2 I never told. The 2 that know are probably checking to see if it killed me yet and the other 2 are probably calling to see if I am still alive in hopes the hurricane takes me!!!!! Speaking of men a guy I have not seen in a while and who does not know about bc saw me recently and asked if I got a BOOB JOB!!!!! So gross! I still did not tell him about the bc b/c I am kind of private about it now but funny how they think! Yeah, I guess you could call it a boob job! Well, the moral to this story is now if someone I see did not know I had bc, these new boobs are helping me sidestep even talking about it! They really feel just like the old ones!! I was going out with this guy when I was like 19 and he was only 21 but he asked me once "are these alive or dead??!!!" I explained dead and he quickly moved on! Mine never had much sensation at all so I am just fine with these! To be honest, I am so happy they can do this for us and it is just my own body fat, just like the old jokers!
OMG the wind just ramped up so much the windows made odd noises!!! Gadzooks!
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Texas: Those are adorable. I wouldn't want to be the women your sons marry and have to compete with so much loving care
Lizzy: During the April 27 tornadoes 2 years ago, we headed out of town and stayed with friends who had power. Do you have somewhere you can go? I worry about you up there!
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Lady: Yes, I will be fine! I love, love, love staying in my own home but if I have to, I have a few friends further inland. What is odd is I thought about family and friends and where they live over these past few days and I realized mostly everyone I know lives on the shore/in a shoreline town! I better make some more friends inland!
My neighbor said his heat works which mine will not without electricity and I am welcome to come over and play pool! He actually said he will help in any way he can which was very nice. Heat might get me over there, that is for sure!
Don't forget, Tex is delivering that man-in-need so I should be ok....!
I was just on Twitter and I got a tweet that a tree fell through someone's car on a main road in town while they were driving and it looks like my friends SUV but I can't reach her! The tweet says the people in the SUV are ok...geesh!
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Im trying its so hard, im cold all the time now. im trying to think positive two more to go and i dont think i can do it.
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felis - I started getting hot flashes after the second chemo. After the hot flash I would just shiver and shiver. I remember getting up to go to the bathroom at night and just shaking. that finally went away after a few months. I still get hot flashes but not the shaking. Do you get hot flashes?
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Hi Everyone!
Tex, I love them pancakes! I want the alien one! PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE!
Thanks Lizzy, holding strong here but it is getting VERY WINDY!
Felis, you hang in there. Failure is NOT an option. You have to finish, so you just concentrate on that. I know you can't see the end, but it is there so just keep going straight ahead!
Debbi
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Debbie - I am still just amazed that you lost 80 pounds!
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tex- love the pancakes! You are such a kid at heart : )
Please east coast BC cancer sistas keep us informed at least daily so we all know your ok !!! Hugs and prayers.
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yes i do like crazy. do your breast still hurts.
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thank you so much, im really trying.
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lizzy that totally reminded me of a thing i read here which i would have LOVED to have made into a t-shirt "Yes these are fake, my real ones tried to kill me" too funny!!!!!
Lady LOL i never thought of that! But yeah one little girl is gonna HATE me when they get married! the one thing my MIL didnt do my husband any favors on is she would clean up after him even after he was GROWN! so of course i marry him and he couldnt find the laundry hamper with a map! but i love my mother in law anyways!
lizzy UPDATE woman! was it your friend or not!!!! the worse thing in the WORLD and i will never forget it finding out my brother in law was shot on the news he is also in law enforcement and he was shot luckily in his vest so he just was bruised, but the gut sinking feeling seeing him LIVE and the stupid news crew saying "his identity is being withheld until family could be notified" Hello like we wouldnt recognise him!
Felis get a pair of those thick fuzzy socks and a few throw blankets! Kept the chill out for the most part!
Debbi i think you only lost 40 pounds cuz i found the other 40 LOL. truly an amazing story, most of us GAIN like crazy!
thanks sue! and yes truly i am a kid at heart!
well i gotta wrangle my kids into doing their chores- they see i am online and the took the pillows off my bed for a pillow fight which is NOT gonna clean my house! LOL
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Felis: It will be better before long, hang in there. Talk to your doctor and see what he/she suggests to get through the last two treatments. Or talk to the chemo nurses. They usually know more than the oncologists!
Deb and Lizzy: Prayers going up for you and all the folks in the NE.
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felis - I am sorry that your breast is still hurting you. Did you finish the antibiotics already? I was hoping that would help. Maybe you have a 'seroma', a collection of fluid in there from the surgery. Sometimes the surgeon can take the fluid out. I had that where they did the sentinel node biopsy under the arm. It hurt and once he took off some of the fluid it felt a lot better.
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Good evening, warriors!
For once a friend from FL called to see how I was doing through the hurricane! Usually other way around! Still have lights, no downed trees so all is good! It is all but over now.
Felis: you have to fight through this. You can do it and like Deb said, failure is not an option. It will be ok, you are almost done. I know what you mean about being cold. I went through chemo during the coldest months and there were some nights I had 3 comforters on the bed and then the hot flashes and I was going outside for air! Because we go right from surgery into chemo, the breast can still hurt. That might go on for a while. Make sure you discuss this when you go for chemo. I am still having some pain from the August surgery and that was not much longer than was the bmx. The pain can linger but if it seems to you like it is odd or going on too long, say something. You have to be your own advocate. It is not like the drs will miss something but it is more like they are incapable of being in your body and knowing how you feel.
Iowa: thank you for your well-wishes to the E Coast chapter! All good here and so glad we dodged that bullet.
Tex: NO, it was not my friend! That is scary that you learned on the news your BIL was shot. I will never forget being 13 and watching the news in the AM before school. We learned “on the news” that our neighbor, who was 21 at the time, was killed by a drunk driver while he was out on his motorcycle early that morning. It was so sad, I still get chills. Finding out on the news something bad has happened to anyone we know is the worst possible way to learn of it. I can still remember looking at his motorcycle lying on its side in the middle of the road.
That pillow fight is all but guaranteed not to clean your house, girl! Make a bigger mess is always the kids plan, isn’t it?!
Sptmm: that is just amazing that you lost that much weight! That is a huge accomplishment and I wish I could say I was having such good success! I just want to feel good again, less achy and more energy but I guess that is the national anthem for everyone over 40!!
You know why you lost that weight? Because you worked very, very hard at it and I give you all the credit in the world. Between your job and family responsibilities, and going through this bc battle, it is just amazing you were able to both lose all that weight and get to the point where you are running as far as you are. It is such a personal statement, Deb. A good, healthy commitment to working out will never, ever, ever let anyone down.
Lady: thank you. It was scary because the shoreline got hammered but those of us north of the I95 corridor fared ok. Can’t complain and am happy for that!
I hope the NJ folks are ok. NJ really got hit pretty hard so to Cal and Ckptry, we are thinking of you and hope you guys are ok.
I am so glad tomorrow is less about cleaning up from the hurricane and more about getting other stuff done. So glad the forecasters were not quite right this time.
Sweet dreams to all and to all a good night! (can you tell I am getting in the Xmas spirit?!)
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Hi all,
Hope each of you are safe as this storm hits!
Tex- AWESOME pancakes...:)
Deb- really glad to hear you're on the mend.
FELIS- if you're feeling cold at night sleep with a hot water bottle. That helped me.
I leave for Ecuador on THursday, but I'm thinking that might flight will be bumped. The kids will be thrilled;).
Stay safe tonight my Americano friends...0 -
Thanks everyone for your positive thoughts. The worse is over here now. Still very windy out, but nothing like it was around 6 to 9 last night. We finally lost power, phone, and cable around 8:30 but when I woke up around 3 it was back on. Haven't really seen outside yet because it is still dark, but it looks okay. Just a lot of branches and leaves down.
Right now I feel very stiff, but the constipation is horrible. I have started having bowel movements, very small, and very painful but at least it is moving. Hopefully my mom will feel comfortable driving to CVS this morning to get some Tylenol for the pain, because I just can't take that Percocet knowing it is causing the constipation.
Going to go lay down some more. Have a great day everyone.
Debbi
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Debbi - I got backup with surgery/chemo too. If the colace didn't work I took out the big gun - ExLax. That works for me. Good luck!
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Thanks Omaz, if the Colace doesn't work I will give that a try.
Debbi
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Debbi- sorry to hear that! One of the pain killers my dr gave me he told me "take stool softners before you even get consitpated, that will prevent that" So of course i havent taken that one! Its like we are trading one malady for another!
Mineral oil works for my kids. 1 tbs and within a few hrs they have cleared up their constipation. Like an internal lubercant. Although the side effect is that they usually have really runny poos for the whole day. Beats the pain of constipation though.
Good luck- maybe your dr can percribe you tylenol 3s glad to hear the worse is over for you.
lizzy thinking of you today!!!
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Thanks for all the advice and comfort you are showing me..
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Felisa we have all been in your shoes at one point! No worries we are more than happy to be here for you!
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Good day, warriors-
I am not even lying when I tell you I spent the day staring, in total and utter disbelief, at the television and at Twitter pics of all the NYC boroughs, Jersey and Connecticut. I still can’t reach 3 friends of mine that live on the shore. One is a woman that always struck me of being a lot like I knew Katherine Hepburn to be. She, I am sure, stayed in her home instead of evacuating. My friend in Staten Island lost everything, friend in the E Village who never thought he would have to evacuate did last night and a number of people I knew from spending time trading on the floor of the NYSE came from a part of Queens called Breezy Point. I went to many parties and all kinds of stuff there and cannot even believe my eyes as I see huge portions burned last night and how a firefighter likened what he sees to something from WWII Germany. I cannot even express how absolutely stunned I am. I am so completely lucky that the one thing I experienced here was a small tree branch coming down.
This entire turn of events causes me chills as we are in a dramatically different era. Be it all the global warming they are talking about on the news today or just El Nina/Nino and the wildly changing jet stream, the East Coast is in for a totally different weather pattern. I cannot even believe what I am seeing in lower Manhattan and the Path Stations and the water flowing into WTC footprints…It is nothing short of flabbergasting. I am shaken to the core by all of this. My friend in Brooklyn lost power and the looting started almost immediately. This is insane. Bloomberg announced the NYC Marathon will still go on as planned which is probably good but it is all just so overwhelming.
The silver lining: there has been much talk about a new WPA to rebuild the infrastructure which is desperately needed. This, of course, would mean lots and lots of jobs. We have to look at the power infrastructure and the entire infrastructure. For any who have been to Newport, that grand seawall was built compliments of the WPA. We need it again.
Sptmm: I hope you are feeling ok. I know what you mean about not wanting to take the pain pills knowing they are exacerbating the constipation. Try pear juice also. The stuff in the cans. That is good to get you going also. Also a nurse I met at CVS right after surgery turned me onto these cracker cookies called “Belvita” which are chock full of fiber. I hope you have had some success by now. I am sure what you saw on the news today might have scared it out of you! I am stunned. In any case, hope you are better.
Felis: we are here for you now and right through this entire event. Just stick with us and remember this is going to get you to the next chapter in your life so you must embrace it for the life-saving and life-altering properties it has. Remember that every time you don’t feel so well and keep coming back here and let us know how you are. Just hang in there; we have all been there and look at us all now!!!
Tex: what is Tylenol 3? How are you feeling today? Has that cough slowed at all? Also, did you get your dr appt changed to the same time you get your biopsy results? Finally is the hole where the tube was healing ok? Sorry to ask so many questions!! I am just worried about everything with you and I am concerned about your results this week and regardless of what is going on, we know something is going on and I am concerned as to what you will have to go through to deal with this. I am just looking forward to you not having to cough all the time anymore. It does seriously hurt ab muscles after a while. I hope you are doing better today and that you have everything squared away on one the same day this week. Please keep me posted. Let me know how you are.
Sweeney: have a good trip! Speaking of “tripping,” the news people reported this evening that 25% of the air traffic in this country is in the Northeast exclusively-NJ, CT and NYC. 25% is a huge amount given the size of the country.
Well I am glad the NYSE is opening again tomorrow. I cannot believe after years and years of never being closed in this past decade it has been closed for weather or terrorism more than in the previous 50 years combined. Strange things are going on.
NJ—parts of that coast were just decimated. I can’t believe the carnage in Atlantic City and in Seaside Heights. So sad but like Gov Christie said today mother nature fired a warning shot and we have to rebuild for today's climate and therefore rebuild smart. Many of those homes were erected in the 50s and were very much in need of an overhaul. Looking at Seaside rollercoaster in the ocean was just heartbreaking. I know it is going to take years but I so look forward to seeing what the new Seaside will look like. It is all so sad. I have my memories of guido/gorilla juice head hunting in Seaside!
Well, time for me to do the crossword and go to bed!!!
Night all-
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Lizzy- i was looking at the devastaded areas and also was in utter disbelief! I saw one where the whole section of prob 2 bolocks by 4 blocks was wiped out, i mean clear to the basements! But all the houses surounding that area were fine. NYC seems so untouchable, this great, powerfuly city. Yet nature has no way of descriminating. I have prayed a lot for the people effected by Sandy.
Oh and the flooding!
TBH i came on here to see if you were okay. CT wasnt hit nearly as bad as NY but i still was concerned!
tylenol 3s are i do believe tylenol with codine. you can only get them with a perscription. Yes my dr called yesterday- pathology should be in today- although my niece has an orthodotic appointment which cant be moved so i am gonna try to go up thur or friday. Hole is healing fine. Its itchy though. Feels just like when my drain tube holes were healing. No worries about so many questions. i often forget to update. Oh and no the cough isnt better. seems worse actually. the pain meds they perscribe i cant function on- totally knocks me out so i have to take just reg IB profin today which i hope at least takes the edge off.
THE STRANGEST THING- i came home from the hospital with some sort of rash on my nose which yesterday spread to my chin.... very itchy and red. gonna mention it to my dr when i see him
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Hi Everyone.
Thanks for the tip Tex. The Percocet I have is Oxycodone and Tylenol I think. But I have been doing okay the past two days with just Extra Strength Tylenol. Honestly the only real pain I have is coming from the drain under my right arm. It limits my use of the arm too. Good luck with the pathology, and be careful with that wound. The last thing you need is another infection. I would definitely call the doctor about that rash, you never know what you might have picked up in the hospital.
I haven't been able to get through to either my surgeon or plastic surgeon which is a pain. I REALLLY want to get these drains out on schedule, but the news says that 90% of the people here on Long Island don't have electric, and for most of them hence don't have phones. I guess I will just keep trying and not panic until tomorrow afternoon. I know I am acting like a baby, but I really will cry if I have to keep all these drains in over the weekend. I will feel soooo much better when they are gone!
The devastation here is incredible Lizzy. I haven't really been able to leave my house to see a lot of the damage, but my son has three co-workers from Long Beach who have lost their houses, and I personally have two friends who own homes in Ocean Beach on Fire Island. I don't know about the Long Beach people, but you can't get flood insurance on Fire Island, so those homes are a total loss. I have seen pictures of the places we go in the summer on the news and it is just incredible to see. In many places the Ocean goes straight over to meet the bay! They just cancelled school for the kids in my district until at least Monday. I am so thankful that we have all our power as I cannot imagine the misery I would be in without the distraction of the internet or TV! And the pictures of the subway stations completely under water in Manhattan, I never thought I would see that! My daugther ran into an older man in the deli this morning who was staying with his daughter. He evacuated his house in Breezy Point Queens on Monday and when his son-in-law went back to check yesterday, the entire block had burned down, except his little brick house. The oldest house on the block, no updates, no nothing...and the only house still standing. They couldn't get inside to see what damage was done but he was very grateful that it was still standing.
Hope everyone has a great day! And thanks for listening to me whine!
Debbi
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thats what im on it helps a lot with the pain. im on it for my back i had back surgery six years ago also for my sj joint and hip.
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My prayers goes out to those who did get affected by the storm.
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Good day, warriors!
I remain in awe of this storm. What is more surprising is Bloomberg announced the subways will reopen on Thursday. I cannot even imagine how they are pulling that rabbit out of a hat. I am nervous just thinking about riding a subway filled with electricity on a very recently submerged track. The whole thing is mind-blowing.
Tex: be careful with that rash. I am concerned b/c it is spreading. Take a pic of it and email to the docs office. I just want someone to put your mind at ease. Please keep us posted on how everything goes this week.
Felis: How are you feeling today? Back problems are horrifying. I have sciatica but I did not realize that to have sciatica automatically means you also have a disc problem. I don’t take anything for it but it has definitely been activated since the surgery. Alas we live to fight another day
Sptmm: you are totally NOT whining. One of my boob drains, the left, was so sore and wicked uncomfortable that the VNA kept calling to see if I could get in to have it removed early. Finally when they were able to reach someone they were told my appt that was 10 days from discharge, stands. Geesh…it was so red and it burned and it hurt. That might have been the worst pain of all. It hurt like crazy.
I worked with a guy in NYC who was uber wealthy and had probably one of the top 20 coolest houses in Manhattan. He also had a place on Fire Island. For the most part the Fire Island folks can handle a rebuild! It is just such a travesty, money aside, that all the memories and these beautiful homes gone. In one of the shorefront communities in CT a homeowner, who lost her house last year and was just rebuilding, was interviewed upon her return to the home this time. She did the right thing this time which is build it on 10’ high concrete pillars and that is the correct way. Our weather pattern has changed now and the shorefronts are going to look different. Gone are the days of walking out your front door onto the sand. It is just so sad b/c we could not have been less prepared in the Northeast for such loss. Like Christie said, Mother Nature fired a warning shot. Time for us to get smart about how we build shorefront homes.
As for Queens, I considered, albeit briefly (I don’t like living on top of others!!!), moving to the area. That was a tight-knit, very close community and at the time I knew a number of people that lived there and it was just a fun place to be. The parties were great and it was a fun place to visit. It was the fires that leveled that area. Same thing here in CT: in Old Greenwich, Old Saybrook and I think Westbrook houses burned. It is all so heartbreaking.I hope you are having some “relief” on the other issue!!! Glad you are feeling so well. I would say for the first month, I was in no position to say I was feeling ok. Then again, I was rehospitalized with the belly drain and blah blah..! Mine was a saga, as per usual!
I am glad we are living in a time when there are nearly new positive developments on bc almost every week. Thankfully it is becoming less and less perplexing to those in the medical field with each development.
What I am not so happy about is something I was alerted to on Twitter last night. There was a USA Today article on the “sexualization” of bc: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/30/patients-decry-sexualization-of-breast-cancer/1630911/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co
This is just beyond understanding. I can’t figure this out at all. I don’t even have the mental capacity to imagine what kind of filth could do such a thing. I know it takes all kinds and we need the lowlifes so we can recognize the *non* lowlifes but boy, this I found startling. Who messes with people with cancer? I guess those that want cancer. The "Bank of Karma" is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and people that like to "eff" with people who have cancer are on a direct path to find out just how awful it is. Let's see how smart they are or how entertained they are by their terrible behavior when they have no hair and are puking their brains out, wondering what disease will do next. Good luck to those that spit in the wind.
As for us, like I said to Felis, we live to fight another day so always take the high road and never get mired in negativity and may the road rise to meet you and the wind be at your back....NO, I am not going to go into the whole poem!!!
Good day, chickies!
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I was watching CNN last night and couldn't believe what I did see. It is amazing to me that more people did not get injured or lose their lives--thank God. We had a couple of power outages here but nothing major. Lots of wind and rain. I thought for sure that Halloween would be a bust this year but my kids headed out and we have had quite a few kids around this evening.
I had to cancel my Doc appt on Monday due to the rain and commute was horrible. I was supposed to get my blood test results to see how my thyroid medication is working. Unfortunately now--no appointments until next Friday as I head to Minneapolis on Monday night. I get back my Minneapolis on Thursday and then may be heading to Denmark on the Sunday--kind of sucks all at once but supposedly it is just so "terribly" important that I go.
The last few days I have been feeling kind of rotten -- stomach problems. Hopefully it resolves itself over the next few days or it will feel like a long flight
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Felisa how you feeling today?
Debbi- Whine away girl! i hated the drains too. I also saw the images and video of the subways flooding and Lizzy, wonder the same thing- how will they pull off opening it withing DAYS? Where do they think the water is going to go?
I have an appointment on friday to see the dr and get biopsy results and also see my rash. i am trying super hard not to scratch it LOL i know its easier said than done! i have put hydercortizon cream tominimize the itchy feeling but instead it burns like the dickens! i'll update friday! Oh and of course my worse tohught is maybe its MRSA cuz you hear of people getting those infections A- DO NOT GOOGLE THOSE IMAGES UNLESS YOU WANT TO TOSS YOUR COOKIES AND B- i dont think its that anymore cuz i dont have an blisters.
Those homes on stilts are what we have here in my area
Re the USA article- honestly i think there are people out there that will use anything to their gain. Porn makers want to sell more porn- throw a "we donate to breast cancer research/awareness etc..." somewhere on your site or product and there you go, people will feel better about the purchase they are making weather it be a bit of ass or a new blender. Seriously i dont take any of these companies to heart because they are just using our sistuation for THEIR gain. ANd i found it humerous that they will donate 1 cent after 30 views. So 30 people have to purchase the right to watch your filth (whivh i assume isnt cheap- maybe ten bucks or so) and ALL MY AWFUL DISEASE WARRENTS IS A LOUSEY 1 FREAKIN CENT! I'll tell you where you can put Abe!
And on another note- the whole "i heart boobies" craze is just a bunch teens and young adults that want to use the word boobies. Seriously they dont really care about breast cancer. Puhleez i dont buy it for a moment! They are products of the ME generation.
Whew i didnt mean to go off like that LOL just a low i hadnt expected!
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