Radiation recovery
Comments
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April - I was blessed with my RADS treatments. Zero problems - k for now. I know issues can develop years later but for now.
August 5? Yikes more waiting. Really is a test of our patience. My DH's dr is having him monitor his BP at home for a week. It's high- no surprise because lots of pressure@work along with long hours and no end in sight. Good thing they are really busy/ bad thing they have so much work with short deadlines. He wouldn't tell me if he was worried either so I worry for both of us. His blood work isn't back yet. Has to have more basil cell places removed but good news is heart is fine. He just has to relax more and cut back a bit at work. He won't but he needs to. Doesn't like hearing it but I remind him he isn't 30 years old anymore- neither am I! Haha.
Hope all our guys have good results.
Diane
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Wee setback--yes that's a pun--my husband has reduced flow today so finally called the nurse, who said to come in and get a catheter again. Apparently even if things are flowing, if he's not fully voiding he could damage his kidneys. We are a bit discouraged.
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I'm homeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I got home about an hour ago. I am so tired. The pain meds I am on make me very loopy, dizzy, and tired, so I cannot write much right now. Let me get some rest tonight and I will post tomorrow. Here are some important points, though.
The tumor that was removed is not metastatic breast cancer. Huge relief there! It is, however, a plasmacytoma. As soon as we got the path report, I was scheduled immediately for a bone marrow biopsy which I had yesterday. My MO also scheduled me for several x-rays of the large bones in my legs and arms. He wants to be 100 percent sure there is no progression of MM in those bones. I do not have those results back yet. I am sure he will call me as soon as results are in from those tests.
I have so much I need to tell you guys, so much, just so very worn out, but I was well taken care of and cannot speak more highly about my surgeon, MO, and even my attending. They were amazing. I promise to fill you all in tomorrow. A friend is staying with me tonight and we are going to order in a special dinner and just relax. Thank you Janis for getting word out to everyone when I was in the hospital. You were all in my pockets, I could feel each one of you. Skull base surgery is not as difficult as brain surgery, but still was a big one.
Thank you everyone for thinking of me and praying for me. I know it helped, there is no doubt.
Full report tomorrow, so get ready to read a book haha.
Love you all so very much.
BigD/Joan
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How frustrating, RunFree! Did they indicate what's happening? Normal swelling? A clot? Not enough fluids? I'm hoping he had a chance to have a nice, long, chat with the doctor. Also hoping this it the end of these stupid problems.
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Great news, BigD! So happy you're home and so very, very much looking forward to reading the "book." Meanwhile, rest, recuperate, relax. Nighty-night!
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Big D, great to hear from you. I'm getting my comfy clothes ready so I can read the long story tomorrow. Glad you've done so well...whoppie! Ok, so not metastatic, that's wonderful! Oh, and for the bone xray's, did we tell you we've fixed those too while we were with you just to make certain that the disease hasn't traversed to those bones too. So, other than your poor forehead, and this blasted disease, we're all making sure you just don't have anything else happening. Enjoy your evening, along with your "loopy" pills.......
Run, wow, the poor guy. If I were he I'd leave that damned cath in for the next several days.....but that's just me, I guess. Hope he taking this well and not being, well, typically male who, in my experience, make absolutely terrible patients.
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PARTY TIME!! BIG D IS HOME! Some many big hugs coming your way. Any you thought that soreness was from surgery. Nope we were squeezing you to tight!
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Run free, so sorry to hear about your DH setback.Here's hoping no kidney damage,
April, thanks, hope everything goes well with the oncologist.
Big D, so glad you are home safe and sound.Rest,rest,rest...enjoy your friend.
Brookside, have you heard of Lake Champlain? My sister and her family just got back from there .They stay in a cabin and fish,fish,fish.She said its in Vermont.
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I saw my oncologist today.She spent a lot of time with me and answered all my questions.I also informed her of my concussion.She agreed it probably was a concussion.She was very happy to hear I was back on my Tamoxofin.We talked a little about my job and how they were being towards me.She was surprised how they were being.
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BIG D, so glad your HOME!! Get some rest, I look forward to reading the book. So happy your safely home healing with a friend.
Run, sorry your DH is having problems. I am sure the back and forth is getting frustrating for you both. Hope he gets some relief tonight.
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BigD, so glad to hear you're home, no metastatic BC, plan going forward and in really good hands! I'll hope for good news from the bone biopsies. Meanwhile I picture you having a really nice dinner with your friend and then getting lots of beautiful restorative sleeeeeeep. I'll be happy to read the book version too. SO glad you're home and comfortable!
We drove nearly an hour to the urology office and it turned out to be a false alarm. His stream is sluggish, but he isn't really retaining so there's no danger of reflux that can cause kidney damage, and they sent him home without a catheter after all. He was very relieved. Nurse, not doctor. He's still having some urgency and some burning, but basically he's doing OK. Thanks for all the kind words.
Josie, glad you got to see your onc and had a good talk. Your question about Lake Champlain made me chuckle. I lived in Vermont too from age 10-18 and 30-40, and my family's still there. Lake Champlain forms most of the border between VT and NY and it's pretty big and quite lovely. Maybe 15 years ago, the long-serving US Senator from VT, Patrick Leahy, sponsored a bill to declare Lake Champlain the 6th Great Lake. Much excitement in Vermont. The bill failed, but then he made a cute commercial with him in a rowboat on the lake, saying, "It really is a GREAT lake!"
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Wonderful to hear that you are at home, BigD. Get lots of rest and know you are in our prayers.Run, hope your DH gets well soon.
Take care ,
Ohio
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BigD glad you are home and enjoying the relief of being there. I am looking forward to hearing all of the details. Big hugs to you. Rest easy.
Run, glad your DH is doing okay after all.
April that is such a long wait!
Bedtime for now. I have been wading through medical insurance EOB's. Can they ever handle a claim properly? I have my doubts.
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YAY BigD! Hoping you are still asleep and healing before writing all about your experience! Glad it is not MBC!! Hope your scans are clear.
Run, glad your hubby is doing ok...scary!
Gigil, the wait is waaaaaaaay too long. He did tell the nurse that if they had a cancellation to call, but he doubts it case she said she was putting him in a slot where she had a cancellation to begin with! Apparently they are booked until end of Sept!
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Sorry RunFree. Maybe just a minor setback hopefully.
Yea Joan - so glad you are home! Looking forward to the details. Take it easy.
Josie -youngest son just got a job a few days ago. Prayers answered. He's been working as a server - helped pay his way through college - but he's burned out from that. Job starts at 42k with full benefits and a month's vacation. Starts August 4. Close to home and day job for a change. He is so stoked and his dad and I are too. So see there is reason to keep applying. He didn't get the job the first time around but did this time. Persistence paid off. His plan is to pay his car off first.
Nephew who is 25 has diverticulosis and has to have surgery. Really inflamed. Hard to believe at that age. Drs told him better make some lifestyle changes. Scary. Husband has it but didn't have to have surgery thankfully. Pretty painful symptoms. He will b in hospital 4 days.
Getting rather toasty here. A/C units are doing their stuff thankfully.
Big birthday gala tomorrow night for friend's husband. She is a great cook - everything homemade.
Planning on trip to Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. Sister and BIL live in Kennesaw about an hour outside Atlanta.
Have a good weekend everyone!
Diane
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Big D---so great to see you are home already and posted. Glad you have a friend with you, great team, etc. I may have to open a bottle of wine in your honor!
Run---sending prayers up for your DH---urology stuff is a pain in the you know what.....My dad and I have to deal with some of those issues when he had prostrate cancer and believe me that is not something a dad wants a daughter's advise on, or help with. but I was what he had, so heh???? We had a lot of fun in hotel room in Rochester MN fussing over how to hook up the smaller catheter bag so he could go to dinner.....
He thinks nothng about weighing in on my B.C.......go figure.
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Joan- as is everyone else, I am so glad you are home safely. Rest as much as you can and we will wait patiently for all the details.
Run- hope your husband has a quiet uneventful weekend
Diane- congrats to your son on his new job.
Hope everyone has a great weekend
Anne
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Thank you Anne. You have a nice weekend too!
Diane
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Hi Y'all!
Whew! Went kayaking early this morning...a 3 hour paddle...no shade...than drove 90 mins back home...I miss living just around the corner form the lake...6 awesome ladies out for fun and splash! Got home hydrated and then crashed...just woke up I smell like the lake...yes I went in for a dip...overslept so no neighborhood happy hour for us tonight... was gong fly fishing at Lady Bird Lake at 6:30 am Sat, but it's so not going to happen...bunko with MOPs in evening I can do...yes, Josie get your running shoes on...I'm a to 5-6 miles a day stepping out girl this week:) love my FitBit
BigD - Ooo who Happy Dance! Ready for the hardcover version of your book:) praying for you
Sew - all the cakeballs...really...I'm in need here...oh Janis!
RunFree - hope DH is doing better and receives good news...gosh our bodies are amazing and what they go through...dd college selection? Drum roll...
April - counting down until DH gets in to see the specialist...ugh waiting:(
Lemon - pockets were playful at your PS appointment today...hope swelling is getting better...we will be there on 8/18 too! So much so brave so determine...go girl
Diane - keeping cool with those AC units...how is the vegetable garden!
Joan - enjoy the weekend...don't know if you have returned form Cape Cod...or relaxing with your hubby...we will be in your pocket Monday for the mammo!
Charger, Redheaded, Brookside, GiGil, Ohiofan, Anne, et al...keep the cheers up! TGIF !
(((Hugs)))
Cindy
Shower Time!
I miss our Kate...we need to keep her princess warrior coat in rotation...BigD sending it to you!
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Cindy, yes you make me tired just reading about your adventures.I thought I heard somewhere you should rest every other day.Gives your muscles a rest.Maybe that just sounded good to me.More power to you .But I would have trouble keeping up with you if we lived closer.I almost said if we were friends but you are my friend even if I never met you in person.I dont exercise enough.sometimes it seems I dont have the energy to walk the dog around the block and then sometimes I go 2 blocks(not miles just blocks Cindy
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Babysitting my mentally handicapped brother in law for the weekend.
Tiring but very rewarding.He is a good guy.Hopefully he will let us sleep in tommorow.
Have a nice weekend everyone.I will check in from time to time.
Josie
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yes, but you see Cindy, cake balls are so little! And it seems like you're hardly eating anything...especially if you don't count....lol and anyway, who can resist Janis's cake balls.
Speaking of which, Janis, where are you sweetie?
Big D, sending hugs. And lemon, hope the appt went splendidly today. I couldn't hear as several were cheering you on.....
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Josie - ha ha...friends
)) I do know how to be still! My BFF is so cool we can just go to the beach and spend the day and not say a word just veg together...very special. Wishing you a good weekend with your bil! So awesome that you make a special weekend caring for him...hope you got to sleep on...but it's time for blue berry pancakes and fresh squeezed juice. I know he is so happy to have you guys there with him ))Sew - cakeballs are magical they have absolutely no calories...just melt away!
BigD - sending gentle (((hugs)))
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GM Ladies, so so sorry. Been taking Hydrocodone and it just knocks me out. I have been coming in here to read, but too out of it yet to write my novel. Promise it is coming. Just give me a bit more time to sleep. I was trying to come off of the meds, but my head just hurts too much, wonder why?? Love you all, back to sleep nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww......
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Cindy, glad to hear you have such a good friendship.I guess I have drifted away from my best friend.She lives in town but has her own kids(raising them by herself since her former husband moved to CA without them...long story
) So I guess my online friends and my friends at work are what I have.I thank God for that.But wish I had closer friends to do stuff with.Yes my dear bil is sure sweet.He enjoys us coming over.My inlaws are having a great time fishing in Branson.They come home Sunday night.Its their last trip before my father in law starts his Stem Cell Transplant.Hopefully my father in law feels well enough to enjoy the trip.Hes still getting his chemo and hasnt felt good this week.
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Wow Josie, good luck to your FIL during his stem cell transplant. That sounds like such a scary thing to face, but it's an amazing procedure and I hope it buys him good quality time. It's so special that you can have fun with your BIL and give your in-laws a good trip. Sorry about your BFF. I don't quite have the friends around here that I wish I did either, partly because I'm a bit shy. Makes me sad a lot but I don't know how to fix it.
BigD, you take that hydrocodone and sleep and don't apologize for a thing! We will all eagerly read your chronicle when you're good and ready to write it.
My husband had to go back to the ER last night. He woke me up to tell me but let me stay in bed, sweet fella. He assumed he'd come home with a catheter, but they just put in a quick-cath to drain and then sent him home without. He'd taken ibuprofen just before he set out. So either the quick-cath or the ibu settled down his bladder, and today he's peeing like a champ. What might have caused the swelling (or whatever it was) is that when we went to the airport yesterday to pick up our daughter, we got stuck in hideous traffic, the worst I've seen in many years. At one point it took 30 minutes to go .2 mile, and all told it was 2 hours to go 100+ miles at a regular speed and then 90 minutes to go the last couple of miles. SO FRUSTRATING!!! By the time we actually got to the terminal, she had landed and was waiting for her suitcase and my husband was in real distress. Then he had another fairly long interval on the way home when he couldn't go. He thinks the two long stretches, with major build-up on the way down, set something off. Today we told our daughter about his diagnosis and what's been going on. She's irked that we didn't tell her while she was at camp, because she thinks it means we're treating her like a kid or someone super fragile. But we told her our reasons and said it was a tough decision but made in an attempt to figure out what would be best for her, and she eventually moved on. Interestingly, she said the diagnosis itself didn't freak her out that much. She said cancer doesn't hold any automatic terror for her, depends instead on how serious the particular case is, and we agreed that's generational. So many more early cancers are now caught, and so many cancers can be cured, that kids today may be growing up without that assumption that any cancer is the worst kind of thing. I hope her children will grow up with even less fear of cancer than that, and less reason for fear.
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Runfree, thanks.BTW Im sorry DH had to go back to the ER last night.That was nice of him to not wake you.Your right the traffic jam probably didnt help matters.What a tough situation with your DD. Glad she took it ok though.I remember when I gott the news I had BC.The nurse from the Breast Center came up to my office to talk to me after breaking the news on the phone.I was in shock and not sure how I was going to break it to DH.Well when I got home the kids wouldnt give me 1 minute alone with my DH not 1 minute so I just blurted it out.It was not good.But they left me no choice.If I had it to do over I probably would have met him at work on my way home.But lets not re live that moment.0 -
Run I am sorry to hear that your hubby is still having problems. The traffic sounds horrible, I wouldn't be able to take it, beyond frustrating. I hope he is on the mend and feeling back to himself soon.
Josie and Run, I don't have girlfriends here either. My BF is 3 hours away and I don't see her often. I work at home so my friends at work are all over the country. I chat with neighbors but if I wanted to go to a girls lunch, I have no one. I spend a lot of time working and due to that I have isolated myself. I wish sometimes I had someone to walk with or go to lunch but overall I am happy with my work friends, they are the same as me we work a lot so they are in the same situation. I do feel some jealousy and sadness sometimes but I just don't make the time or didn't when I should have. I will be with one of my best work girls when I go to Chicago next month, I cannot wait to see her and the others. Our days are filled with meeting but our nights are filled with fun and even some PJ time just chatting.
I went to PS yesterday and I have to have another surgery to revise my left side due to the swelling and tethering that is going on, its just getting worse. he will also remove the seroma on my chest wall. He is also going to contour my tummy incision and get rid of my dog ears on my hips. I was disappointed as I wanted a full Stage 2 to pretty things up but my body is just not there yet. Diep is in 2-3 Stages, Stage 1 is the big surgery to get things formed and alive, Stage 2 is to pretty it all up and Stage 3 is usually nipples but I kept mine so no Stage 3 for me. So after this surgery I will have one more later. My right side due to radiation ( damn that radiation) has not softened up or let lose, its is still hard but healing fine. He cant do anything with it until it softens up. I am lopsided and he said due to rads that side will always be smaller and tighter. Lots of skin edema and induration. So, it continues... he wants to wait till I am back from Chicago so probably early Sept. unless things get worse. He gave me Percocet to take as needed and I am back to sleeping sitting up which I am used to doing. Please know I am not complaining, I have no regrets this surgery may have saved or prolonged my life and I feel so lucky. Just more bumps that I had thought. Thanks for being in my pockets, and Sew I did hear some cheering!
Big D- Rest up! Take those drugs and let her body heal.
Cindy, I wish you were my neighbor I think I would be in better shape. Although I might be eating the cake balls on our walks.
Red- cute story about your dad. My dad asks about my new boobs all the time.. its like they are objects and not really part of me... Your dad sounds like a sweetie.
Josie, I know you enjoy spending time with your brother in law, hope your in laws were able to enjoy the time away.
My DH took my to upstate NY yesterday when I got home from my appt. We like to go to a resort in the Allegheny mountains, so relaxing and beautiful. I stayed up and gambled half the night. Wonder room, dinner, wonderful DH. Felt good to get away from everything. We got back today around 4, its about 2.5 hours away. I know I will sleep good tonight.
Love to all.
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Lemon, sound like a great time.I hope all goes well with you.I know even after a lumpectomy I had pain sleeping on that one side for months after.I cant imagine 2 surgeries.I hope they can fix it soon for you.Seroma?Ouch!! is it painful?Im glad Im not the only one with few friends.I wish we all lived closer.Then we could have some good times.And yes my BIL is being good.They wont be home until tommorow evening.I went home today to check on the cats and get my hubbys forgotten tennis shoes ....oops!! It was hotter than Blazes today but we got to swim in their pool.Lots of fun just DD and I.DH wouldnt get in and we had to have someone to watch Matt.Big D, hoping your recovering well.Apparently our posts crossed each other.Rest up and dont feel guilty.We know you will post when you can
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I'm sorry too RunFree. Bad enough you had to go to the ER again and traffic issues too. I have zero patience so I would have been a raging fish wife.
Lemon - so sorry you are dealing with so much. I hope the surgery in September is the last one.
Josie - I didn't blurt out my DX but I could have done a better job prepping my DH and son for the news.
I wish we all lived closer together too. Maybe one of these days we can all meet at a neutral site. How cool would that be!
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