Jewish Warrior Sisters
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Amen! I am following the action on The Muqata, in real time. Don't know how smart that is when recovering. Stay safe, stay strong, sisters,
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Dassi, Leah my prayers and good wishes are with you and with the people of Israel. You have my wholehearted support. I am obsessively watching the news and reading up on Internet the latest news. It can be a very frustrating experience, as we all know.
I am now back from China. Too early to say if treatments my husband received there did him any good. He had to have surgery immediately upon coming back, but despite very low white cell count is doing well, while I developed a nasty cold as soon as I stepped off the plane. So, maybe the Chinese traditional medicine did him some good.
While I am nursing my cold, I husband is in exile, at my son's in Connecticut, away from my germs.
I will be joining my family for the Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, even if it is not technically a Jewish holiday.
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A refuah sheleimah for both of you. Enjoy the turkey and cranberrries. There is a cease-fire, but I am cynical how long it'll last (from the Hamas side I mean). Based on previous times, chances aren't good...
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No, the chances for ceasefire are not good. Lets hope and pray for the best.
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Happy Hannukah , my sisters! Off to celebrate at my older dd's and enjoy my granddaughter's first Hannukah.
Caryn0 -
Happy 1st night of Chanukah!!! I hope everyone is doing well.....Chanukah is different now that the kids are older...my youngest is 14...I miss that days of little kids and the delight of something so special....now its pretty much all grown ups....but I'm not complaining!!!
My Dad came home on Thursday. Mom sounded good tonight so that was nice for me. I'll be back there on the 23rd.
Hugs and love. Karen
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Happy Chanukah to all!
Karen, I'm glad to hear your dad's doing better.
Leah
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Happy Chanukah!
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Happy Chanukah, all! Had a good dinner with my parents, sister, BIL and nephew. It's the first time we've been together for Chanukah in a long, long time (last year my sister hosted a party, but I had just started chemo and my nephew was sick, so I wasn't allowed to go).
Caryn - Nice to see a picture of you. I hope you're doing well.
I thought of everyone this morning - went to minyan, though I had forgotten that they'd be doing Hallel and Torah for Chanukah, but it gave me the chance to think of everyone during the prayer for the ill. As I've gone through this past year, I've used it as a chance just to think of everyone who has to go on this horrid journey, and all our doctors and nurses, and hope that someday we won't have to add more names to the list.
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Rachel,
Thank you. Look closely and you'll see I'm in a recliner in the infusion center (and smiling). After a long teaching day, it's nice to relax, even if it's for Aredia.
It is always wonderful to get together with family. We went to older dd's home and helped my granddaughter celebrate her first Hannukah. She was, of course, more interested in the wrapping paper than the gifts. No husbands or fiancés were there so it was just us girls, which was great fun. My dd's chose potential dresses for the bridesmaids for younger dd's wedding. Best of all, they gave me a gold locket with my granddaughter's photo in it. Don't think I will ever take it off but it did get tangled up with my hamsa necklace. Hope you all had fun.
Caryn0 -
Happy Chanukah everyone. I agree it is much different now that the kids are grown. Hope everyone is doing well.
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Just want to add my Chanuka wishes. As a teacher I have off from school the whole week, but my free time seems to fill up super fast. At least also some nice things s.a. preparing for DD's chassene in about 2 months, visiting the grandchildren and of course shopping
So happy Chanuka to all of you and just remember that this is a time for miracles! 0 -
I live in the right area!
I live on a Moshav Matityahu, and we are near Hashmonai'im (which includes the neighborhoods of B'nei Bina and Ganei Modi'in), Maccabbim, Lapid (means "torch") and Modi'in City. The Maccabean graves are also not far away. Yes, this is the area where it all started.....
Leah
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This is my first time on this thread. I wasn't sure what it would offer. Now I know.
I just finished an evening of arguing with my husband of 43 years. Such frustration!
So, I go on here and boy do I feel I belong! I never realized that any of this had to do with being Jewish, maybe it doesn't. Maybe Jewish women are more open and share their feelings more.
But I feel as though I've come home!
What a great group!
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Welcome, Timbuktu! This is a wonderful thread. What I like is that we are so diverse in our practice of Judaism but have this strong thread that unites us because of common heritage. I'm pretty lapsed in religious terms but have a strong Jewish cultural identity. I grew up in NYC in a Yiddish speaking home. Hope you'll drop in often.
Caryn0 -
Chag sameach to all my Jewish sisters. Recovering from extensive neck surgery (4 level laminaplasty) and still in a "cage" till Friday.
Leah, I have a friend who lives there! Know anyone from Rochester, NY w two young boys?0 -
Welcome, Timbuktu. Sorry you had to find us, if you know what I mean, but glad you are here.
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Eema,
You have been through so much. I hope your recovery goes well and you get a medical break after this. Relax and eat some Hanukkah gelt.
Caryn0 -
Hi, I just discovered this thread. I just had bmx (with reconstruction) three weeks ago, and am supposed to begin chemo (TC-H) soon. I am also marrying off my daughter in two weeks, so the doctor said I could wait until after the chassuna to begin chemo. B"H! I'm so grateful to have disconvered this group. Shoshana
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I grew up in Brooklyn. I lived for a time with my grandmother as well as my parents and I honestly don't know if she was speaking English or Yiddish, it was such a mix! My guess though, is that it was largely yiddish as when my husband came over for the first time he spoke yiddish to her and understood every word she said. He came to america at 12 and his family spoke yiddish to each other. It does make me sad that that language is around much anymore. The Hasids do keep it alive. Anyway, thanks for the welcome!
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Shoshana...welcome.....glad that you found us...but sorry that you are having to go down this journey....MAZEL TOV on your DD's chassuna.....have a wonderful time dancing at the wedding.....
Please visit often and let us know what we can do to help. Karen
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Shoshana,
Welcome and mazel tov on the wedding!
Timbuktu,
Yes, I regret the quiet passing of Yiddish too. When my younger dd was small, I taught her a song in English that was sprinkled with Yiddish. She sang it for my parents and cracked them up (my mothers parents were the Yiddish speakers, my father is known to butcher other languages). Here it is:
Moishe had a candy store
Business was so bad
He asked his wife what to do
And this is what she said
Nem a bisel kerosene
Lagen offen floor
Nem a match
Give a scratch
No more candy store!
Caryn0 -
That was great! Coincidentally, I just got back from the deli/bagel store that burned to the ground a few months ago. They re-did it and it's so much better that I did have to wonder....
I never spoke a word of yiddish myself but when my eldest was born and I rocked her to sleep, I suddenly heard yiddish words coming out of my mouth! I had to look around "who said that?" lol
Language is a funny thing...
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Happy Last day of Chanukah.
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Hi Everyone!
I've been a member of this website since September 2008 when I was diagnosed with DCIS. Since my mother died from breast mets and her mom (and her sisters) all had female hormone cancers, it was recommended that I have a lumpectomy, radiation, and Tamoxifen even though the BRCA1 & 2 were negative.
Since then, I have had a nipple excision on the cancer breast for bleeding. Luckily, it was only a small wart within the nipple causing the bleeding. At this point, I have 1 year and less than a month of Tamoxifen treatment left. So I would say I am near the end of active preventive treatment through chemicals.
I am a spiritual person. I am very active in my temple (a board member), and believe in the power of prayer. Nice to meet everyone!
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Welcome on board, Jo Ann. You will find a good sounding board and source of information and support on this forum. I saw that you had negative BRCA 1 and 2 tests. Did they also check for mutations? I had the same as you, but knew it was genetic way before there was any BRCA testing. There were just way too many people with BC in the family! We discovered that even though the results showed up negative on the standard tests, there was a mutation running in the family genes. The mutation was found when there was more extensive testing done, and once it was discovered, other people could directly have themselves tested for the mutation. It really makes a difference how Mds do follow-ups etc. if there is a mutation(Don't want to scare you, but your story sounded so similar to our family's.) Example, deciding if you should do a hysterectomy. I truly believe it is something you should explore.
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My winter break has officially started!!!! yeah!!! I have tomorrow and Friday to get everything I need to get done before the end of 2012....any bills, donations etc.....Sunday morning, I leave bright and early on a 7:00 am flight to my folks in S. Florida for 5 days....then on the 27th in the evening I head to Toronto to see my kids till the 1st. Won't packing be fun!!! Will wait to talk to my DD motzei Shabbat to see if I need boots or not...
Medically Dad is doing better...he saw his pcp last week and pcp said he hasn't seen Dad look this good in a long time....BUT....dad is not motivated to do anything....he more often than not does not want to cooperate with the OT/PT when he/she comes to the house....he sleeps more than he is up...today Mom said that Dad got into bed at 4!!!! Mom has help 5 hours/day Monday-Friday. Granted, its only 2 weeks tomorrow since Dad got out of rehab after more than a month in the hospital and rehab. Mom is putting on a good "front"...but she is tired and really doesn't know what to do....Friends asked them to go out to dinner tomorrow evening (they asked a couple days ago) and Mom turned them down....Mom said its easier to stay home than get into the car, go to the restaurant and wait to be served!!!
I have information on 2 places here and will bring the paperwork with me to Florida for them to sign.....I will hopefully be able to see them tomorrow or Friday, but if not, I'll still fill out the paperwork....
DD is going to Columbus and NJ while I'm gone....she is going to see her cousin and other grandmother and then friends in NJ....DH will be holding down the fort with DS....
DS is still waiting for his dear friend to complete his letter of reference for him to finish the application process and phone interview for Kibbutz Ulpan....DS is frustrated that he hasn't gotten it yet!!! Was going to buy his plane ticket last night, but a part of me is nervous if its not a 100% deal.....right now the air fare for his travel dates are quite reasonable....he will be in Israel from January 31 to July 4th....His program is Feb 3rd to June 30th.....He will be near Cesaria (sp)....
I hope everyone is doing well. Welcome to the new girls...glad that you found us. Karen
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Thanks Dassi! When I went to the geneticist, she believed, based on family history, there was a mutation that had not been documented to date after the BRCA 1 & 2 were negative. We talked about doing the latest tests, but she felt it was not necessarily cost effective, since it was pretty clear that there was a direct lineage. Instead, I was advised to have my daughters start testing yearly at 30, which my oldest has done. Her primary doctor thinks it's overkill, but having started my testing at 35 and discovering the DCIS through that, I may have saved my life in regard to dying from breast cancer. Unfortunately, for my daughters, my mother in law had breast cancer as well. She, however, died at age 95, likely from colon cancer.
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Jo Ann, I understand your geneticist. The question is if your insurance will cover all kind of testing for your daughters if there's no "proof". Another point to take into consideration at some point is prophylactic surgery. That sounds kind of extreme, but isn't necessarily. So many issues and so many decisions to make. It can be really hard to cope with all that knowledge. Thank G-d we live at a time that BC is curable if caught on time, or that it can be maintained. When my paternal aunts were diagnosed, in their early thirties (we're talking about 1930s), BC was a death sentence, because there was nothing you could do about it. So we are definitely in a better position. By the way, I started, on the advice of my gynecologist at the time with a baseline mammogram at age 27, and thereafter once every two years. That saved my life, because my first time it was caught in the very early stages (although fast spreading). Fast forward 17 years, and the radiologist that did my yearly mammogram+US detected that the other side now had BC. (primary). So those genes were hard at work. Doing all your testing on time can make a huge difference. I am at this point more than 5 yrs after that, now on Arimidex after chemo and 5 yrs Tamoxifen and a year of Herceptin. Hopefully no more unpleasant surprises after this.
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Jo Ann - Welcome to this thread. It's good that your family can be proactive, even though they haven't yet found 'the' gene that's at play. There's so much we still don't know about BC, and I hope the research speeds up on that.
I'm hoping you ladies can send thoughts to a good friend of mine. She first had BC about 10 years ago, went through chemo and rads, and then about 6 years ago found it it had spread to her pelvis. They gave her 5 years, but she's been going strong, trying one drug or clinical trial after another to keep it at bay. Now her options seem to be falling away, as one treatment stopped working and a clinical trial didn't seem to help. It's now in her liver, and she'll find out later this week whether they want to start her on another traditional chemo round, or if she has any other options. She's been a wonderful friend and role model for me - one of the women I've leaned on to help get me through this. I'm adding her name to the Misheberach list as well. I'm praying that there's something they can find to pull the cancer back under control.
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