March 2011 chemo-lounge
Comments
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I asked my dr if I could take the flu shot and was told yes, so I assume that is a good thing.
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My onc recommended a flu shot and I had it yesterday at the same time as my Herceptin infusion.
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I had my rads sim yesterday and will have my first Tx on 10/26. I think lilylady and I will be the "pulling up the rear" with rads! Feels great to have it on the calendar. Should be done before my bday on Dec 10 so that's exciting for me.
I'm not planning to get a flu shot...
Hair slowly coming in. Eyebrows too. In a few weeks, I hope I'll be able to use mascara!!
Starting up Pilates again this Sunday - psyched about that.
Enough of my stream-of-consciousness update. Wishing everyone well.0 -
Hi everyone! I want to get a flu shot. Am doing rads now and was told by doc it is okay. Need to figure out where to get it. I don't think I can get it from the onc. Was there yesterday and she didn't message it. Guess I have to make an appt. with PCP. sigh, another doctor, still seeing onc, RO and PS
Silia, glad you are getting started, I am getting lucky #13 of 28 today. And that is great that you are getting back to Pilates. I am only up to walking. I think the Herceptin is kicking my butt. Don't know why, it's not supposed to., Come join us on the Oct 2011 rads thread.
Wishing the best for everyone. BikeNYC, you are looking great!
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Hi all. I specifically asked my onc about the flu shot and he said to get one. You can get them at local grocery, drug stores, many office buildings, etc. If going through chemo or rads you probably want to have your doc do it, but as I'm done with chemo 5 months now I'll get it someplace convenient. That is what I do every year anyway.
Hope everyone is feeling well and have a great weekend!
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I got flu shot, pneumonia and shingles shots-not all at the same time though. Got 1 per week. Got mine at the Walgreens Take Care Clinic. Insurance paid for flu and pnemonia but I had to pay $219 for the shingles Vac. I have been around so many people lately who got shingles and decided if i could avoid it I would.
BikeNYC- I saw you over on the hair thread and you look fabulous with your short hair. It was a very dramatic look. Loved the color too.
Silia-I am still weeks away from starting-unless the onc tells me I can ignore the BS. I see him Tuesday for herceptin.
SuperSally-did you see my post where I served my Canasta group your Kale chips? they went over big. I used different seasonings on several batches. Rachael Ray did a big article on them also.
Hope everybody enjoys the weekend. It has gotten cold here-hate the thought of winter coming.
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Rads ladies...hang in there...it will be over soon.
...feeling like I have so much more time on my hands not going to my rad appt every am. !!! Excited to see I actually have eyebrows and eyelashes again....hair is getting thicker but UGGGLLLLYYY !!! 
Leaving for San Diego tomorrow for sun, relaxation and to celebrate my DD 25th birthday !!I WILL SURVIVE THIS
Hoping you are all doing well....
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Am I the only one that doesn't get a flu shot? I have never gotten one. I may get one to two cold like things a year but that's about it. Ironically I was DX with BC in Dec of last year and have not had one cold or illness (other than BC!!) since then. It is the healthiest year I have had from that perspective. I have never had a flu shot....don't know that I want one either. I am sick of putting crap in my body. Anyone else not get a flu shot too?
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At the insistence of my nurse practitioner best friend, i got pneumonia and shingles vaccine before I started chemo...and promptly got a spot of shingles.LOL. They treated it quickly and it was gone in three days. I think it was just areaction.
I have had a flu shot for the past few years. The bff wants me to get one now, however, I am due for exchange on november 4th and given that this is my second set of expanders and I had a rash after these were placed, I am not taking any chances until the new foobs are in.0 -
I have never gotten a flu shot. Before BC, I hadn't been to the doctor for anything other than a checkup or to have a baby up for at least 5 years. I haven't gotten a cold or anything since getting BC either. Weird.
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surpise...Hi girls sorry I have been away for so long its been over a month since I checked in with all of you. Life has been rough the X has been very ignorant and cruel I just dont know why I didnt anything he is the one who left with his lame ass excuse. Its at the lawyer stage so just waiting to see where the ball drops and if the kids and I get to stay in the house or not. I sure hope so as they have had to endure enough with mom having cancer and then their step dad leaving I would hate to have to uproot them from their home too.
On the hair front I have a blond pixie thought I would post a pic so you could all see cant wait till I have more to work with
Other than that just trying to stay as calm as possible but its pretty hard, kind of scares me that all this stress might bring that fn cancer back I sure am praying not. I cant wait for 2011 to be over.
Sorry I wasnt able to catch up with all that is going on with you ladies but I have thought of you all often and hope you are all doing well whatever stage of this journey you are at.
Hugs Kymn
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Kymn - so great to hear from you! Your hair is adorable! Your ex doesn't deserve you, you need to focus on yourself, your own health, and your kids at this point. I'm sorry your ex is being a jerk and hope that your lawyer is able to negotiate a favorable settlement for you. I hope you have good support from family, friends, and a counselor on call if you need one or if the kids need to talk to someone. You have been through so much. Please know your BC sisters are all here for you. I think of you often!
Lily - no, I didn't see that you served the kale chips. I'm so happy you and your card group enjoyed them! They are kind of addictive, I think. My DH doesn't like them, but that leaves more for DD and I, so I'm fine with that. Think I'm gonna go for the shingles shot, too. Even though I might get a mild case after, they can treat it and I'd prefer to have some immunity.
MDG - plenty of people don't get flu shots and don't get the flu. I think that is just like so many other choices we have to make - personal. It's really not a big deal to get it, if you decide to.
I got my hair - ready for this - trimmed last week!!! She took off just a wee bit on the tips, but still. It was exciting. And re-colored a bit darker red. My hair dresser did depress me a little, I like my hair now at it's current length but said it was getting a little unruly in the back. She said "you will have phases you don't like during grow out". I wanted to hear "hey, it's gonna be nirvana", but nothing ever is, right? Oh well, just gellin' like crazy at this point.
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never had a flu shot, never had the flu either. also have been completely healthy since bc except for se's brought on by bc.
Kymn, great to see you, You look marvelous! I hope things will be feeling better to you soon.
Supersally, great that you got your hair trimmed! I am going to try making those kale chips too!
Stilts, enjoy your vacay!
Everyone else, I also am always thinking of everyone. Keep on keeping on!
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Kymn, love the hair-hate the ex! I hope you and your kids can stay in your house. I think of you so often.
Hair trimming??? I live for the day!! I am surprised at how many compliments I have had on my 1/4 long hair. Women keep telling me they wished they had the nerve to go so short! The white/gray look Ok and i will keep it til i get more hair. if it starts to make me look old then I will go back to coloring it. I actually kind of like it. I have started taking a picture of myself once a week to keep track because I swear it hasn;t grown in weeks.
Herceptin and breast draining for me tomorrow-OH YAY!!-on the only day this week it isn;t going to rain. trying to put the yard and gardens to bed. Spent a big part of the weekend going thru all my medical/insurancel papers. I put them in order, punched holes and filed them all away in their proper binders. I did really good at first with that but kind of just opened the cabinet door and flung them in there after a while. At some point I am going to add up all the money the insurance co has paid out. 25 years with the same company and prior to this they had paid for 9 dr visits in 25 years-5 of them were for poison ivy.
Lilylady
Diagnosis: 2/18/2011, IDC, 6cm+, Stage IV, Grade 2, mets, ER-/PR-, HER2+0 -
I made the kale chips tonight -- we've always enjoyed them!
Kymn - SO GREAT to hear from you. You and your kids will put this behind you even though it's awfully hard right now... Love the 'do!
lilylady - love the idea of a weekly photo because I'm also frustrated with my slow-growing hair (esp. the top which is quite thin...)
Kay- so sorry that Herceptin is kicking your butt. That stinks. I won't start Tamoxifen til I'm done with rads and am happy to have a reprieve on that piece for now. VERY IMPRESSED that you've never had the flu! Went to dentist for teethcleaning today and he was asking how I was and I said "except for this pesky cancer issue, I'm great!" BTW, thanks for suggesting I check out Oct rads thread. Have started reading and will chime in soon.
Hi to everyone I haven't mentioned. So glad we're all staying connected despite moving on to other threads in some cases.
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Kymm-Love the haircut. It is adorable. Ex is an idiot.I told my husband your story and he was appalled.
I get my 1 inch hair colored on Wednesday for the first time! I don't care what color it is as long as it isn't dark gray, light gray and white. I still wear the wig though and will continue to until I can at least Rock Kymm's cute pixie. Right now, it's all over the place.
Meeting with PS tomorrow to confirm exchange for November 4th. Hope all is well. Big wedding this weekend and we are staying in the Conrad in Indianapolis, near the wedding. I am looking forward to relaxing, having fun and hoping the time flies by to next friday.
Herceptin is tomorrow also. Since I started getting it every three weeks, I had many more side effects. On the triple positive site, it was suggested to have them slow it from 30 minute infusion to 90 minutes. That helped a lot. Onc also said that I could go back to every week if I want to but so far, I don't. Kay, you might talk to your oncologist about options to ease the side effects.
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Kymn: I am so happy you posted! I check regularly hoping we would hear from you. You look stunning! The short hair looks really good on you! I can only imagine how hard things have been....we are all pulling for you. The ex is an A$$! You deserve better. I am saying extra prayers for you and your kids that things fall in your favor. Hugs!
I scheduled my nipple surgery and fat grafting for December 9th. That is exactly 1 day after my one year cancerversary. I told myself this would take 1 year of my life....I am almost right on my target with that. I can't believe it will be a year in less than 2 months. Nuts! So much has happened in that time.
On a bright note...we are closing on our new house Friday and moving in the next two weeks! We have friends visiting from MI this coming weekend (yea!) and I was able to meet two of my dear friends I met on BC.org this past weekend. It was amazing. I wish I could meet all of you too! I can't tell you how much all of you have helped me and what a gift it has been being on here with you. I just want to send hugs and say thanks!
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Hi Ladies,
Wow, so much to catch up on! I'm glad to read that we are all done that horrible chemo. Sheesh, looking back at it all I shudder, "doable" my ass! LOL.
Kymn, so sorry to hear you are going through such a hard time. My ex walked out on me and our then 3 year old for a 19 year old ( he was 42 ) belly dancer ( did that make you laugh?? ). Broke my heart at the time, but now I know that it was for the best. It took me about 3 year to move on, but only 3 months to move 2000 miles away. Gotta love the vastness of Canada.
Ok, I am now in the TE phase of reconstruction. I LOVE my PE, Dr. Sarah Wong and I have my exchange surgery on Dec 22, just past one year since my MX which was Dec 17 2010. Pretty excited about getting this one behind me. The TE is not so bad at all, but I still want it gone :-)
Other then that life is good. I get really achy from the Tamox though. I also had to put down my 14 year old dog. We do have anew puppy that has mange. Curable but very expensive.
Now I have to wake my grumpy 7 year old. Never a pleasant experience.
XOXO
Trish
Oh, people LOVE my short hair. I will try and post a pic later.
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Morning ladies, thank you all for your support and compliments, am trying to keep holding my head high and waiting for my heart to catch up with my head. I am trying to decide if I want to go through breast surgery to have the non cancerous boobie made smaller to match the one I had two lumpectomies on, could also get them lifted at the same time hmmmmmm. not sure I really want to spend any more time in the hospital though. Well am just at work but want to make sure I keep checking in and not letting myself drown in depression. Hugs to you all
Kymn
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Hi Ladies,
I've never had a flu shot either. I've always been afraid if get the flu shot I will get the flu...dah!!
Hi Kymn - Love your hair...So sorry your gd "ex" is stressing you out. Better days are ahead for you and the kids.
Kay - Sorry to hear the Herceptin is hard on you. I take Herceptin every three weeks for 90 minutes, so far I've been lucky, no SE other than achy joints and fatigue the day of the infusion.
Lilylady - Going through my medical bills and ins. papers is something I really need to do too, but I haven't found the energy to do that. I hope you get a chance to work in your yard soon. It's around 85 degrees here in Dallas..I will be so glad when we get real fall weather.
MDG - Wow one year cancerversary....you and I were DX around the same time. I was DX on December 10th. In one way it doesn't seem that long ago since the DX and in another way it seems so long ago since my first visits to the BS, RO, MO and PS. No you are not the only one who has never had a flu shot, I can't remember the last time I had the flu, but if my MO recommends that I get the shot then I probably will because the chemo may have weakened my immune system. Congratulations on clising on the house.
Timerdog - Good to hear from you. Sorry about your dog. Even tho the TE isn't that bad you will be so glad to have them out and the implants in...they are much more comfortable.
Supersally - I'll bet your hair is really cute. I like my short hair. I've always had shoulder length hair and I never would have cut it, but now that it is short I really like it and get lots of compliments on it now if I could find a color I like... Oh yeah... How bout the Rangers !!!!
Hello to all of you ladies and Have a good night.
(((HUGS)))
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DeeDee - tomorrow we are supposed to get our cool off, weather wise. Go Rangers - yes indeed!
Kymn - glad to hear from you. You might feel better if you go ahead and do reconstruct. You can always do it later, but you may feel less like dealing with it then even than now.
Timer - so sorry to hear about your dog. It never gets any easier to lose a member of your family. I'm sure the new puppy is keeping you quite busy, mange sounds like not much fun. Crazy story about your ex, I re-read it like 3 times - wait, 19 and he was 42? A BELLY dancer? Glad to hear you are doing better now. I, too, love my short hair. I'm gonna have a hard time convincing myself I need long hair again -- ever.
All's good here. Cheer for the Rangers tonight, unless you are a Cardinals fan, and then watch out!
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What day do you consider the cancerversary?
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I got my herceptin yesterday and had an Onc visit. They have scheduled me for a PET, bone scan, and Echo. I also have FINALLY got an appt for my radiation sim. I told the BS I will come and get drained 1 more time then I am done with her. I am starting Rads-if my skin falls off it falls off!! Not really but they shoould be able to tell if a problem develops. Needless to say I am slightly nervous about the scans-hoping for NED but will be happy with stable.
My onc opened a new office Monday-very nice but they furnished it with all the stuff from an older office they closed somewhere else. The only new and exciting thing was all the magazines were new!! The lastest People, Glamour, Good Housekeeping-WOOHOO. Same tired old snacks though! Since he is the only onc working at the new place just now the chemo room was empty except for me and a guy getting his first chemo for liver cancer.
Just came over from the hair thread-seems like EVERYBODY is ahead of me!! I so appreciate the pictures they post but I am so jealous-especially of Kymn and her pixie. She is only 3 weeks ahead of me but has enough hair to have style!! I also loved BikeNYCs hair. Very dramatic. I do think mine might be getting thicker but not longer. I am ready to shell out the cash for the Nioxin I guess
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Ksmatthews - I consider my cancerversary December 10th the day I got that infamous "you have bc" call.
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Timerdog - I hope your new puppy helps ease the pain of losing Timer... Hope the mange is resolved soon. Is the new dog a shepherd (I think you'd mentioned before that you might go that route). BEST WISHES for many, many years together!
Lilylady - I just had my second rads Tx today so you truly are just behind me. I'm SO GLAD for you. Hope all the scans look great with NED as you said. I am also in awe of everyone's fab short hairdos. I have hair envy and have it bad! Just attempted to apply mascara for the first time. Don't really have enough lashes to have it "work"... Ah well. Good things come to those who wait.
I'm so happy for everyone who has a date scheduled for exchange! I may try to hold out till a year after rads if I can. Both the ps and onc told me that might be best in light of getting my rads now. I'm not even filling my TEs til done with radiation in Dec. I do feel good however that 2011 takes care of all the bc treatments (except for Tamox. pills) and then 2012 will be the year of boobie recon. (I keep thinking of the Bionic Woman opening -- "we can rebuild, we have the technology...").
Shout out to everyone reading this! Not sure why but feel like putting Sly & the Famly Stone's "Everyday People" on the jukebox...
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Re: cancerversary, I think of Jan 13 (when I felt the lump) and Feb 22 when I officially heard the Dx. DeeDee, I'm really sorry that your date is the same as my birthday.
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Silia,
Something good
and something not so good
on December 10th...I'm thankful that you will be celebrating another birthday soon. I didn't have a lump my DX came from my annual mammogram. My breast had microcalcifications scattered all over it that turned out to be cancer.0 -
thanks Deedee that is what I was gonna start the count on...mine will be March 15th
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KSMatthews-My oncologist is having me count my cancerversary as the day I started Tamoxifen, which is 9 months after I was diagnosed.
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Back from holiday - good to read all your posts. Kymn you look great, hang in there, if you can cope with chemo you can cope with your idiot ex.
LilyLady - fingers crossed for the scans
Timerdog - sorry about your dog - give the puppy lots of cuddles.
My hair is still only 1/2 inch but you are right Supersally - probably never have it long again. It was perfect for going bush (not much in the way of water for showers)
Well I climbed Mt Augustus 12Km walk and 640 mtrs up, it was 102 deg that day with blazing sun, - took 8 hours up and down as I got heat stroke and had to lie in a cave to cool down for a couple of hours on the way down. But I made it to the top- wrote an entry for all the March 2011 chemo ladies in the book at the top. Will post pictures later.
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