Ottawa ladies?
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I forgot to say the next daytime BCA support meeting is at Maplesoft Wed Oct 26 at 10 a.m. Good for those who can't make a Wed evening like me.
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Sorry to be late replying back in here..it's been a pre occupying week to say the least, however my brain and body are now joining the land of the living once more! Lol
For Monday's lunch how about the Lonestar @St. Laurent? 1 pm..so should be quiet. JoJo and Cristalle we can zip over after our class. We will be 5...it will be nice to catch up!! Chantal if it's easier to bus to the Maplesoft centre, we have an exercise class there until 12:30and could give you a lift over. I'm not sure with no Hurdman how that affects buses anymore.
Alanna, I hope chemo went as well as it can and wish you strength through the aftershocks. Chantal, hope the BT went okay and it'll give you an added boost for one more round.
Have a rainy weekend!
B
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Hi Beth,
I can meet you at Maplesoft around 12:30 pm. I'll take a bus to Hurdman and walk over from there.
The blood transfusion went well. I was at the hospital from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m and received 2 units of blood.
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I'm in for lunch after class tomorrow. I'd love to hear how the OICC programs are going for people. Maybe I will do the next round of classes.
Several buses still serve Hurdman, 8, 86, 87, 92, 96 and 104 among them. There's a bit of a detour to walk, over by the apartment buildings. The 8 Billings stops right on Alta Vista by Maplesoft.
See everyone tomorrow
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Hi there--
I will try to be there tomorrow, but no guarantees. Still feeling a bit woozy today. So don't wait for me!
Alana
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See you all today..Alana, I hope you can make it!
Attached is information on BRA day, Breast Reconstruction Awareness..it's an evening with plastic surgeons being held this Wednesday evening. Includes lumpectomy concerns.
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hi ladies,
Not going to make it today....just still feel really awful.
Next time!
Alana
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Alana, we missed you on Monday. I hope you are back in the land of the living by now.!
B
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I had my last chemo treatment yesterday. I rang the bell! The nurse removed the PICC (thank god it's out).
I have an appointment on Monday morning with the Radiation Oncologist. I'll find out when I start radiation.
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Congrats Chantal!!! So happy for you!
JoJo
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Awesome, Chantal! Well done!!!!
Best of luck with the next steps. Feels great to have the chemo in the past
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Congrats, Chantal! Bet you were glad to get the PICC out--I can't wait to get rid of mine.
I am, finally, back in the land of the living....eight solid days of side effects, just really feeling totally crappy and nauseous all the time (despite them giving me a stronger med). Just yesterday and today I have started to feel better (though still very tired), and am getting my sense of taste back sooner than last time which is good. I am wondering if I was sicker this time because they added the Herceptin and the first dose is stronger for some reason. I will ask at my next chemo. This makes sense to me, just hoping it's not quite so bad next time.
On top of that, my husband found out he didn't get the job he interviewed for, and our dog bit someone while he was tied up outside the hospital....a really crappy week all the way around. It can only get better from here!
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How about a lunch on Monday ladies? Location Tbd...please, suggest. JoJo, Cristalle and I have our exercise class at the Maplesoft centre so a 1 pm meetup would work.
B
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Lunch on Monday sounds good. I can meet you at Maplesoft after your exercise class around 12:30 p,m.
I can't suggest any new spots for lunch, but anywhere near transit would be OK with me.
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hi everyone, Well, I once again cannot come to lunch. I am in the hospital! Thursday evening I developed a fever and so they kept me over night. I had hugely high whiteblood cell count so they figured it was an infection and released me Friday morning with prescriptiion for antibiotics. I felt a little better Friday and yesterday but this morning developed extreme shortness of breath. They are about send me for a CAT scan could possibly be a blood clot on the lung.
Let me off this crazy roller coaster ride!
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Alana, what a terrible roller coaster ride you are having. I assume you are at the hospital now? which stinks but I trust that you where you need to be right now. I really hope this latest SE is resolved quickly.
I'm going to suggest cancelling lunch tomorrow anyway- weather looks awful, although I will get to exercise class and gotta do bloodwork anyway for the final round this week. I bet the hospital lab will be absolutely dead tomorrow!
B
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Yes, let's cancel lunch. Too much snow is coming!
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Alana, so sorry to hear your news. Hope you feel better soon. How many chemo sessions do you have left?
This snow is beautiful but it can stop anytime now.
JoJo
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Hi everyone,
Well a little update on me and my scary story. I turned out to have what is called "chemo-induced pneumonitis," a very serious inflammmation of the lungs due to the Taxotere. The good news is, I only had one chemo session left and it has been cancelled! I wil continue on with Herceptin.
By the time I arrived at the ER Sunday afternoon I almost fainted after just walking from the car drop-off to the front desk. My oncologist, Dr. Clemons, told me this morning that when they brought up the CT images, the entire room went silent. I could have died overnight if I had not come into the ER! So scary! Also, of course, this is a VERY rare reaction, he said they see it in less than 1% of chemo patients. So I guess I am now the hospital curiosity. The treatment is steroids and they have started me on massive doses of Prednisone. I feel much better but only when I am sitting and on oxygen. I can only go home when I can breathe on my own, probably Friday or Saturday. I am on the way to recovery and so glad the hospital was able to figure it out!
Beth, when is your chemo? I hope this last one will be the smoothest yet for you. I was really dreading that last chemo and am so glad it's off the table now.
Alana
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Dear Alana, you are in my thoughts and I hope to meet you really soon. Sosorry to hear of your adverse reaction to Taxotere. I'm sure I speak for all when I hope you get home really soon. My side effects seem so slight in comparison.
Are you able to have visitors? Beth looked really good on Monday and says the second and third day after chemo are the roughest. We hope to reschedule lunch soon, especially when you can join us.
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Holy crap, Alana! That is horrifying. So glad you did the right thing and went to ER. I read on the Cancer Care Ontario site that 1% of patients die on Taxotere. I'd imagined it was by picking up infections, but sounds like you found one of the other ways. So glad they discovered it in time and took good care of you.
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Alana, your message blew me away and I'm so relieved that you are going to be okay. How frightening this must have been/is for you.! I am glad to hear that the drugs are working for you and you are improving. You'll know you are starting to feel better when you hate the hospital food!!!! No more chemo for you will help you heal back to yourself and put this behind you.
I had chemo this morning..rang the bell and all.! It was a good feeling
I wondered later when I saw this message whether you were at the General or elsewhere? Beth
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Alana, I hope you are feeling better and can go home soon. I'm glad you trusted your instincts and went to the ER.
Beth, yay! You rang the bell. Do you know when you are starting radiation?
I'm starting radiation on Monday morning. I've got my tattoos and I'm ready to get this finished.
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I was at the General. I was discharged Wed afternoon. I think the doctors were surprised at how fast I bounced back. However yesterday I went back to the ER because my legs/ankles got very swollen and we were worried about a blood clot. Turns out it's just from the steroids (really on a massive dose--the doctor said I'm going to feel like a balloon. So much for my 10-lb weight loss).
Today I have been completely exhausted all day--I guess this has taken a lot of out of me. On a positive note, I got my genetic test results today and tested negative for both BRCA genes--yay! She is going to test me for the PALB2 gene but she thinks I only have a 1-2% chance of having that, so I'm not going to worry about it.
I'm going to try to take it easy this weekend and recuperate.
Congrats Beth on finishing chemo and good luck Chantal with the radiation.
Have a great weekend
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Congrats Beth!!! On to radiation and it will be over! Hope you are surviving this last round.
Chantal, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. That's how many times a day I put on Glaxol cream over entire breast area during radiation. How many sessions do you need to do?
Alana, are you officially done chemo now? Happy to hear your genetic testing came back with good news.
Triple Fit girls, I won't make it to class today.
Nerve block day and good thing as I've had mini migraine last 4 days. Received in mail my 6-month post-radiation mammo appt for January 2017. Wondering why we don't get ultrasound or MRI of breasts instead at this point? Why put us through another dose of radiation (xray) and pain (squish squish)??? Is it just a cost thing? I still can't even wear a bra - how is my breast going to handle a mammo! JoJo
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Hi JoJo,
1 of 16 radiation sessions done. Thanks for the advice about the cream - they told me to apply it twice daily.
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hey guys I am new to Ottawa and really need some support , I would love to make friends and exercise together . I live in Westbor
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Hi Anita-
We just wanted to welcome you to our community here at BCO. We hope you find these boards to be a place of support and encouragement!
The Mods
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hello lovely ladies,
Welcome Anita to our online chat here..although we aren't chatting too much these days. I'll let Cristalle say when the BCA support group meets as I'm not up on that. Some of us do meet for an exercise class on Mondays at the Maplesoft centre which is run by Breast Cancer Action. The post Xmas classes should be coming up online again soon to sign up.
Since we've had trouble getting a lunch date nailed down, how about we do Art-is-in again on Monday December 12 @ 1:00pm? I'm hoping that it is possible for us all to meet then.
Alana, I hope you continue to rest and recover to gain your strength back, so you can put this chemo bad ride behind you. You'll be in my thoughts and if you feel up for a visitor let me know. Keep us posted on how you are doing
Chantal, you are now 3 down...does this mean you'll be done by Christmas?
JoJo, I thought we would do mammo and US automatically at follow up, but that mammo will hurt on the scar issue. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. I'm trying to do some self massage to work mine out although psychologically I'm worried that I may move around any rogue cells that are remaining.
As for me, really tired after my last round of chemo and still got the usual SEs but I am just so happy to be done. It was a tough ride. I meet radiation today to discuss when that will start. Christmas will foible it up. Part of me just wants a longbeach holiday!
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Beth, So glad you are done! Sorry you still had side effects. You must be so relieved you are finished.
I saw the oncologist yesterday and my lungs and oxygen are all good. Very low blood pressure, I get dizzy a lot when I stand up or climb a flight of stairs. Anyway I am extremely tired and the doc said that's not surprising what I've been through.....I guess it will take a while to get my strength back. I'm trying to take it easy but now thinking about all that needs to be done before Christmas!
I will start in again with Herceptin, it is supposed to be this Monday but they haven't called me yet. Had to argue a bit with the doctor (it wasn't my regular guy) about taking the PICC line out! She wanted me to keep it in for a year! Are you kidding me??! She agreed to put in a port and then later that day my nurse called and said they will just take out the PICC and let me get an IV for each infusion. Whew!
Dec. 12 at Art-is-in would work for me.....hopefully I will be feeling much better and will be there!
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