The Hermit Club
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Lovinggrouches (love your name by the way), definitely interested in supporting each other. Visiting two medical oncologists this week and hopefully they will be in agreement so I don't have to get a third opinion! I find that walking has been helpful and definitely recommend it although I still find myself crying. Mornings are worse for me. I will be praying for you as well. Thank you for the support.
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Tomatoes and bell peppers? (sighs wistfully) I've just reached the transition from crocuses to daffodils/Dutch iris.
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Hi Everyone! !
I feel more of a hermit type today. Feeling a little frightened of the next tough decisions I need to make.
So just popped my head in for a bit. 2009 trying to survive or should I say Fight!
Losing Moxie!
Love the pics. Hi Jazzy. My son is into Jazz me not really but I like all music. He is such a cool young man. So I went to the record store to buy records for him vintage ones. Oh boy what a challenge to figure out what to select.
What are some of the great jazz artist ?I have no idea .
He is also new to collecting.
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HI Queenmomcat and Teka the only thing coming up in my garden is crabgrass. It is warming up a little this week , once the soil dries I will be out in the garden.
Funthing good luck with your decisions, it can be very overwhelming. I am going for breast reconstruction this year and I am very unsure of what type to have
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we will pray for good results and to FINALLY know what's going to happen in terms of our treatment! I will be saying lots of prayers. My 2 oncologists meet in tumor board every week and should both be in agreement, hopefully. Keep me posted on how things go, I will be checking posts every day in pm. I'm afraid because I've missed so much work from the flooding and the surgeries, I will be working LOTS of hours to catch up at work, but I will DEFINITELY check for your posts daily!!!
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queenmomcat, we definitely have a shorter winter, but then the heat kicks in and ours will Peter out while yal will still be enjoying fresh tomatoes lol!! I love to garden and also grow my own horseradish, peppers, onions, garlic, potatoes and such along with Jerusalem artichokes, swastikas, kumquat, tangles, oranges of different kinds, blueberries- more things than I can type and I grow them all organically. You would think I wouldn't have cancer after eating a mostly organic diet for so many years. Goes to show you that genetics can be a witch! Lol!
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Hi thanks!
Yes the decision on which breast reconstruction is as daunting as the cancer itself .
I had not to many options. I had rads 4 years before my b/l mx.
I Was offered latisimus procedure and would have done this one but recovery time was long. Workaholic plus who needs more back pain lol.
But I was told recovery is better than tram flap.
Anyways , now I only have the option of one breast reconstruction. Due secondary reccurrence and more Rads after b/l mx.
I think of the breasts and how you can miss them especially when victory secret commercials come on.
I wish they made prosthetics and bras.
I think any decision is hard.
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Funthing I am surprised that the large lingerie companies don't sell prosthetics bras, we'll Wal-mart does , but not too sexy
. I did find a small shop that sells decent bras, without underwire , my prosthetics is heavy and weighs me down.0 -
Here at the hot springs, there seem to be lots of bikinis this week. I SO fit in! Ha ha, well, I had a double lumpectomy so not in the MX or BMX world, but am very self conscious of my chest area due to double scars where the sentinel node biopsies were done. I also have internal rads scars. Fortunately, I am too old for anybody to be staring at me anymore.
Most everyone who has the foobs says the are uncomfortable. With all the attention they make around women's breasts in the American culture, you would think they would do more to help women feel okay about their bodies after going through this? That is certainly a business opportunity for someone.
For those making the decisions around surgery and recon, get all the pros and cons for each open, and write them down. You are sometimes surprised which list shows up the longer one, and it can help you to see things more clearly than just having it swirling in your head. I did this when I was deciding between external and internal rads. I really thought external was what I should be doing, but internal for my case was by far the better choice. Once I did that, the decision became a bit clearer to me. These decisions are overwhelming and we are expected to make them quickly, which makes it super hard on us.
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Teka- hot springs did me good. Back to work today, but feeling better
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some afternoon humor
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Hi must comment on the funny. Thong should have been used. Lol. Definitely a 25th anniversary moment.
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great news!!! No cancer in margins with second surgery!!!!! I can breathe!!!! Now only have to wait for oncotype results but oncologist said no chemo unless the number is high! I can breathe!!! Thanks to You all and thank God!!!!
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Loving- that is excellent news. My oncotype indicated I did not need chemo and hope the same for you.
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Teka- that photo warms my heart, how sweet is that?
My cold is working it's way out. I was feeling much better on Wed and Thurs, but yesterday, the cold seem to take over again. I had the cleaning company here and perhaps that stirred up some dust, etc, so I just took it easy last night.
Today I was out for breakfast with a friend and to do errands. Even got my license renewed! Now I am home relaxing for awhile. I am getting better, but oiy what a cold this has been!
How is everyone else's weekend going?
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Teka love the picture. It is very heart warming
Jazzy hope you get some relief from that cold soon
It is a beautiful day and I plan on doing some gardening.
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Lookingforward- the cold is better today.Just a bit of lingering fatigue from the whole ride.
That cartoon is hilarious!
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Lots of new hermits here.....sorry you having hard time Mags but at least your husband is hanging in I still struggle with how the so called love of my life (or at least that is what he always said we were to each other) totally bailed out on my emotionally, resulting in me leaving him...............now I see him being considérate to another woman when he wasnt to me..................
I feel totally alone, even though I have Friends, my life is on the cáncer side of the line and its not the same as those on the other side................4 years tomorrow, Sunday, that I was told I had definitely crossed that line...............the only slight psitive is Iam trying some new natural pain relieving medication that I am taking all the time and it is beginning to help a bit, pain still there but definitely less nagging.............
Sorry not a good hermit, am just climbing out of a huge low..........it sounds pathetic but my life feels like a waking nightmare.................
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Lilly55, I feel very similiar. It's like I look at them, they have hair and eyebrows They don't dread the Dr. You described it right, there is the cancer side of the line of life. That's how I feel a lot of the time.
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Teka- sweet crocuses. Crocusi?
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how beautiful! I love spring! Been planting more tomatoes and did some potatoes yesterday. HUGS to you all!! I read everyone's posts everyday and even though I haven't been on here long, I feel as though I'm getting to know yal and I will keep yal in my prayers. My stress has been better since clear margins last week, but I know I have radiation and hopefully no t chemo coming up, still waiting on oncotype. I keep reminding myself that I am blessed and they found it early, but I have the constant anxiety in back of my mind, that I have seen LOTS of people on these discussion boards that they caught early like mine, and then they came back and had stage 3 or 4 later on. Will I always have this worry for the rest of my life? I'm trying to stay busy and do normal things, but I'm not the same anymore and don't know if I ever will be and don't think any of my friends could ever understand. I now think that their petty gripes are stupid and don't say much in conversations anymore. Maybe I'm more depressed than I thought. Maybe I need to get oncologist to put me on something. I've never taken antidepressants in my life, but I will try if it helps. Have a blessed Sunday everyone!!! My husband tells me I don't have enough faith, I have all the faith in the world r 's, but I also know that plenty of people with faith ALSO get terminal cancer. I tell him I'm only human!!
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Lovinggrouches unfortunately anxiety comes with a cancer Dx, it does lessen
after awhile. Since we don't know why we got it in the first place, we are always worried it will come back. Unless you have experienced a life threatening illness yourself , most people do not understand. Go see your oncologist and ask about antidepressants. Hope you have a peaceful stress free Sunday.`
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Loving- getting your head around a cancer diagnosis is pretty hard in and of itself, but having to think that it could come back (even if you do all the treatment recommended) can feel overwhelming. I can remember very well being in the throes of rads treatments and people telling me "well you will be done with all this very soon and not have to think about it again." We know that is not true, unfortunately, most people don't understand there is always the possibility of it coming back. We are never really done with cancer, but the further out you go from initial dx, it is far less daunting. You learn to live with the possibility, in the same way we live with the possibility of being in an auto accident every time you get behind the wheel of a car. It takes a bit of time to just get used to the new paradigm we find ourselves in after cancer.
The oncotype test will give you some good info on re-occurrence stats, that is one of the real pluses of doing this test. It will calculate your risk based the results. One of the important things to note is that there is a range where there is no chemo recommended, above a certain amount it is, and then there is an intermediate range where there was no good data to suggest either way based on clinical trials. There was a trial going on at the time I was in treatment (2012-2013) called the TailorX trial, and think there may be results available for that now to help you know what to do if you fall in that middle zone. My docs felt with my pathology and onco results, chemo would be over treating my case. Your MO will help you to know what to do, and do get a second opinion if you are on the fence about anything (I talked to two MO's and they were both in agreement no chemo for me).
Some women do have long term stress from the anxiety of re-occurrence though, so definitely pay attention to the emotions as you go forward.
Keeping good thoughts for good outcomes on the oncotype and chemo decisions.
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Teka- some lung congestion today but overall, I am getting stronger. Just taking time!
Saw this tonight on FB and liked it. Thanks for being along for the ride.
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got my oncotype score in today, 14, no chemo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hi Tek, dropping by to say hello.................
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Loving- oh that is such good news. Congrats on no chemo. Onward and upward to the rest and getting on the other side of this. Life is awaiting you in all it's splendor!
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Loving great news.
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I had to be at my client site super early this morning. This sunrise was my gift for being over there at the crack of dawn.
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thanks jazzy and look forward!! Beautiful picture!!
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