CRAZY TOWN WAITING ROOM - TESTS coming up? All Stages Welcome.
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Pulling the tanks up over my feet and legs was easy from the first day. The hospital sent a PT around the morning after the surgery to teach me the basic ROM exercises, and they made a huge difference.
Reaching things down from high cabinets was harder; that's where having you or another friend around will come in handy for a few days. And I so appreciated the friends who brought in dinner for the first week or so--but then I have a teenaged male in the house who needed to be fed no matter what and had too much homework to be asked to cook supper.
Might be nice to pick up a scarf or two; I wore one out of the house until I could start wearing a pocketed bra and inserts.
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Slow, thinking of you and hope you are recovering.
Much love being sent your way.
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My friend says she hasn’t worn a bra in 30 years and isn’t about to start now (unless they send her home in a surgical one). I will tell her about stepping into tops (might be tougher because of her size). As to reaching, I advised her to get a reacher from the drugstore. She has already put the stuff she uses most often on her countertops and is cooking and freezing meals. Going back on Seattle Sutton might be a good option for her too--not sure if Meals on Wheels is available in her area, and she’s too proud to sign up for Take Them a Meal (a site where people can donate prepared meals to be delivered to families of cancer patients--I participated when an acquaintance was in his last weeks with a glioblastoma).
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Sandy, Pink Pockets are awesome. They attach to your clothing and stay there through washings. If she orders them today she should have them in time. http://www.pink-pockets.com/
Tell her to put whatever she needs daily down low to reach. Get quart size milk. Some really small pillows and large pillows. The small pillows under her arms while sitting or sleeping are really helpful. She might want to arrange for someone to wash her hair for her or take her to the hair dresser. You are a good friend!
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This thread is saving my life. Thanks so much. Will know my exact surgical date tuesday.
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Molly, those pink pockets are pretty cool! Thinking about getting some for my walks. I find some neat little things sometimes on my walks, for use in a sculpture maybe, like I wish I was Joseph Cornell.
It was so nice! I have been afraid of waking Slow up, so I just text her as little as possible, but I get worried... like really worried. I just really want her to be okay, and not be hurting, that's all. So I was very relieved and pleased to answer a call from her today. She of course thought about everybody here on C-town, and wanted to know how it was going here. I told her all the ladies here are doing fine, sharing their lives with each other, in this wonderful amazing home of the heart she started. She has been in significant pain, and that sucks! It is unfortunate that many of the effective pain meds cause constipation, so she really is wary of them because of her other medical issues. I don't know how she does it.... I really don't. I told her we all are thinking of her, I know I do, many many times a day... She DOES have great blood oxygen though! And that is a good thing! Just wanted to let you know.
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Thank you very much for the update Tomboy. She is on my mind constantly, but I don't want to be intrusive at all.
So I am just quietly sending her lots of love, and hoping you or Katy will keep us updated. She is a woman with the largest heart, it comes through in all her thoughtful postings, and if I could share her pain to help her get through recovery, I would
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Earlier, I had texted her a story that happened to me and my man yesterday. He is building this kind of hanging wall, for a friend of his that is a sound engineer. It will hang above the drummer in the studio, and will be adjusted up or down, to contain and control the traps sounds. It is using this special extremely stinky fiberglas panels, so stinky, that we thought we had a dead rat somewhere hidden in the shop. So we moved it to this outside area we call the pit, sort of under the stairs, and behind a tall retaining wall full of plants. The stairs go up to where our big room we live in, is. And you have to be part mountain goat, to swivel and climb those stairs, even if you are not carrying bags of groceries! (This story is going somewhere)
So, yesterday was a bad day around here. No one got hurt, altho there was a very close call, and a turkey sandwich I brought him from an insanely good deli, got decimated. I will explain: He had a thick heavy four foot long 1/4 inch thick steel piano hinge get torn from his grasp, and it hit his hand, scaring me AND him. Luckily, he had jerked his hand away quickly, but the hinge was not so lucky. I made him promise not to cut metal on the chop saw anymore, and he promised me that he would clamp it if he did. Ok. Because it was the second time in two months that that has happened to him.
So, I had so many errands to do, when all I really wanted to do, is read and rest, and think about stuff. So, when I was out, I had the place build him that sandwich. As I was bringing it up the outside stairs along with the other stuff I had prized from the grocery shelves, the bag handle gave out, and everything in it, including my eye glasses, went down into the stinky rat dead fiber glass pit!
Turkey sandwich went EVERYWHERE! There was a LOT of turkey sandwich. And since I was also hungry, and had planned on eating a little corner of it this time (normally, I just get one for him), I was really really pissed. And hot. There was no saving that sandwich. So, I was fuming, and sitting down in the shop. He had seen it all happen, and he asked me, 'are you alright? And I guess I must have been a little on edge, cause I shouted " This is just very fucking not right!!". And he quietly gazed at me and said, 'Is that a thing people say?', and I go 'what?', not even knowing what I screamed. He told me, and yeah, I guess it is NOW.
So yeah, the conclusion to this story is, it has been a few bad days, for hands, for sandwiches, and for friend's named Beppy.
I am so sorry, dear.
Because: This happening to you is very fucking not right.
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Thanks, Tomboy! Appreciate the update. Very cool about the blood oxygen. Not so much about the pain.
I think we would all share some of her pain. Of any of ours--shared is lessened for anyone.
Valstim, glad it's saving your life. Let us know when you have a date.
Peace to all...
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Hi, all, I hope everyone is having a good evening, and where did the past five days go to? Project Runway is on, and tonight is the Avant Garde challenge. I can't wait to see what their hands have wrought. Boy George is a guest judge, and now the song Karma Chameleon is stuck in my head.
Poppy, I would have been crying for them to get away from the edge of the canyon. I am so terrified of heights, that when I was a kid (12), my parents were planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, and my grandmother cut half her foot off while cutting her grass, so, I got drafted to stay at her house for two weeks and be her errand boy. Never mind that I was not the oldest girl; three girls older and three girls younger. I have always suspected it was because of the terror I faced when we went to the Smoky Mountains and they didn't want to deal with my hysterics. Or the way I clung to the Oneida Tower wall, when we went to Niagara Falls. I love the mountains, just not the edge of them.
Katy, that beach is beautiful. I hope it is close to your house, so you can go often. And, hugs back at ya.
Sandy, what does gefilte fish taste like? Is it good? I see those jars of it in the store, and I like to try foods I have never tried before, like alligator and sushi, but haven't gotten the nerve to try that.
Ducky, that's a handsome, smart young man your grandson is. Bobby is so cute, and eating healthy snacks, too. I want that chair in big people size.
Rain, lovely family photo.
I am going to the hospital bright and early in the morning. Actually, before daylight (5 a.m.), to get this thing done. Right implant removed for one with more projection, left tram flapped breast will be lifted or something to make it more even with the one with the implant. Then, a tram flap revision to make that poochy package left by the tram flap smaller. Then, the chemo port will be removed. I have had it since May 2013, so I don't know how to act about that. I have my pillows piled up, I have a ton of stuff to drink, and I have a load of clothes about to go into the washer, and I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. I will soon shower with that stuff they told me to wash with, and hopefully get four hours of sleep. That isn't enough sleep, but guess what I will be doing while my husband and son sit in the waiting room trying to get comfy? I wonder how long the surgery will take.
I hope everyone has a lovely Friday, and I will pray everyone getting tests done and test results will have perfectly wonderful results.
God bless y'all, Lisa
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Lisa, gefilte fish can be delicious if it's made fresh (my grandmother used to buy the carp and let them swim in the bathtub until the big slaughter). It's fishy and peppery. I've never really liked the jarred stuff, too gelatinous.
Good luck with your surgery!
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Sort of tough to describe the taste of gefilte fish. It’s fairly mild-tasting fish (traditionally whitefish & yellow pike) ground together with onion and matzo meal, with just enough egg (usually egg white) to hold it together. It’s then shaped into logs or balls (sort of coarser-textured quenelles) and poached in fish stock (preferably made with the bones from the fish before it was ground) with carrots, celery & onions, and then chilled. The stock jellies somewhat. It tastes mostly like very mild fish cakes. Most people serve it with a dollop of grated horseradish (white or red--but I’ve sometimes used wasabi), the hotter the better.
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Tomboy.. I can't agree with more.. This happening to Beppy is Very Fucking not right 😞 !!.. Not right at all...! Thank you for updating us.
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Lisa, in your pocket for tomorrow. Beppy, I pray for you every night and I agree with Tomboy that's it's just not right. Tomboy, sorry about your bad day. Your guy sounds very creative and handy.
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I can't say anything about Beppy that would help........just that life is not fair....and why it picks on some more then others I can't explain.....Beppy and I have shared things and for me to say this has not upset me is beyond words.....
I spoke with her before she had surgery....wished her all kinds of good luck, along with love and hugs.......I told her I would wait for her to contact me......I wwas sure this was not going to be a walk in the park, and I am very fearful of contacting her at the wrong time........for you who live in Ca. it is different.......I am in Pa, and the time zone makes it difficult....I am afraid of waking her, calling at the wrong time, etc.........so I just wait, hope and pray that my "Girlie" will be ok...........she is one in a million...and I just wish I could be by her side to take care of her.......it's very difficult to be so close to someone from so far away.....I just pray.............hugs Girlie if your lurking.............love you
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Here is my rant for the day...a friend of mine has always insinuated that being not obese and eating a healthy diet, along with herbs will prevent breast cancer. Yes, I am on the fluffy side, BUT I am so sick and tired of people thinking that I caused this to happen. When I see other women, who eat clean, exercise religiously, do not smoke or drink...they can still with diagnosed with BC. I have a friend right now who is dying from BC...you know why?...she didn't want to lose her beautiful hair...and yes, she does have beautiful hair. When she was initially diagnosed about 2 years ago she refused all treatment...now she is dying. Another friend of mine...an older woman...didn't want to lose her hair and now she is gone with her beautiful hair...such vanity...I'm sorry I digress....
I just wish folks would keep their thoughts to themselves and stop looking at me as if I could had prevented this from happening because of my diet and fluff....
My BS said any woman can get BC...just from the fact that we are women...............
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Thinking of Beppy today also. Hope she can get outside a bit this weekend just to sit and enjoy the garden, and that her pain is going away. It isn't fair, as several of you have said
yes, shorfi, it sucks. It all sucks.
I am so sorry about the turkey sandwich Tomboy! That isn't right either!
Picking up my old friend tonight who is coming to town to sing with the symphony. This will be the biggest show our small town symphony has put on in years, maybe ever. We will be at the concert tomorrow night. Just realized she doesn't know about the bc. I mean, I told almost no one, and I haven't seen this friend in over a year. She will know, she will look at my hair and know I would never voluntarily cut it that short. But I just don't want to write her to tell her. Don't want to put it in writing. Weird, isn't it? I can write about it to all of you, but you all get it. I wonder if I am being selfish keeping the bc so private? Nah, as another friend who did know said, 'it is your news to tell. or not.' I hope all of you know that no matter what I share or don't, you mean the world to me. Thank you.
So, I happen to love jarred gefilte fish, with lots of horseradish. A few years ago I had a big Sedar and invited a bunch of friends. This was back when I was still living in San Francisco and had access to great seafood. So I went to a high end seafood market and bought $70 worth of very fresh gefilte fish, and served it along with the jarred, but cut into small pieces for a blind taste test. You guessed it: those who grew up with the jarred preferred it, (and knew right away that it was jarred!) because it tasted of their childhood. Those who didn't grow up with it (who were mostly my non-Jewish guests, but one or two like Rain had a Grandma who made it) vastly preferred the fresh. So, if I were to describe the taste, I'd have to say, 'it tastes like the same stuff my Mom took out of the jar.'
Passover and Thanksgiving are my two favorite holidays. Because of the food and family around the table, of course. I am not observant but am still very sad that I am not hosting a Sedar tonight. Just too much going on, between the bc, my friend in town to sing, leaving on vacation Sunday. But, since my friend is coming, the matzoh ball soup is on the stove as I write. I do make that from scratch, starting with organic chicken and my own stock. Can you all smell it? Sending it to all the crazies through the tubes and thinking of you all with love....
Octogirl
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Thinking of Beppy and Lisa...sending {{{{{HUGS}}}}}
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hoping all feel better soon, specially bebby and Lisa, had lovely swii, this morn and now dang tired so nap ti,e
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Sandy, the best advice I have for your friend having a BMX is to have a recliner with a push button on the arm that makes it recline. I rented one from our local Rent-A-Center for a month and slept in it.
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Wow, Esmerelda! You found BCO in January 2005, only have 16 posts, and you found us?!?! Wow, I feel privileged to make your aqquaintance, kind of honored you have been around that long, and found OUR town to do one of your very rare posts! A hug and a welcome to you.
Octo! You cracked me up! "Tastes like the same stuff my mom used to pull out of the jar",!!!! I have never tried Gefilte fish, I have always looked at it, and meant to try it, but I can't eat anything I don't know how to pronounce!!! Nor Matzo, I would be more inclined to try that, as it seems like dumplings. I am not afraid of it or anything, I ate sashimi and sushi the first time I got a chance! And Cuban food! But I always wanted to have matzoh and gefilte in a woman kitchen first, so that I would know what it was SUPPOSED to taste like. If that makes any sense. And there are three women living less than twenty yards away, who qualify for that. One, Judy, has a family, and is at least as much of a hermit as me! Very charming sparkly eyed woman! Karen, who has the energy of and trembles just like her very small dog, Ive been to restaurants with her but her kitchen is extremely rarely used, so she doesn't make any. And Carolyn, who makes the best Santa Fe plum Jam, ever. Ever. And she does make those things, so maybe I could ask for a taste...
I only had a pretty big lumpy, and removal of nodes, and what i found helpful, is old soft button up shirts, very loose ones, and lots of pillows. We don't have a recliner, but, if i ever find myself needing BMX, I for sure am buying a state of the art massaging recliner!
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I grew up on the jarred gefilte fish never knowing what it actually was. I just knew that's what grandma ate and so I ate it too. I'd love to try fresh sometime though. I've been craving Matzo Balls like crazy! Must just be the proximity to Passover?
It's good to hear that my girls might still 'fluff' a little. They just seem so flat and mis-shapen right now. I'll try to be patient and see how they finally settle. Monday will only be 4 weeks post-op so I know I really can't judge them yet.
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Tomboy, I am one of those lurkers! Try to keep up with everyone, and Crazytown is my favorite place to lurk. Lol. You all don't know how much it's meant to me! The memory problems make it hard to keep track, but I am getting better with that. Next time all the SoCal people meet up, I want to come! Love and hugs to all you crazies, especially our mayor!
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Esmeralda.. Welcome !! I can never keep up, and have given up trying 😱.. but I love Crazy Town too.. So stay and join in when you feel like it..
(( Twinnie and Lisa )) Thinking of you
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Esmerelda, welcome and glad to meet you.
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Hoping that Beppy’s pain lessens soon, and that her treatment going forward will be as bearable as possible. No, the hand she’s been dealt is NOT fair, especially what she’s already had to endure and the work and love she puts in here for all of us.
Nobody I know personally has the temerity to say that I brought bc on myself by being moderately obese and having an average of one glass of wine a day. I wish I had known before surgery how hard avoiding weight gain--or doing enough exercise for that--would be on letrozole; had I known, I probably would have gone back on Atkins “induction” ASAP after my diagnosis and tried to stay low-carb on that cruise and in Europe last month (I was lower-carb in Paris two years ago). But since so much of the pleasure I find in life is in enjoying good food, wine and travel I question how pleasant or even tolerable my “extra days” might be if I had to be a teetotaling low-carb vegan trying to exercise my way through joint pain. I am retired from law and cut way back on performing---not just because of my and my family’s health considerations but because of the ever-dwindling market for senior-citizen folksingers. So there’s less music in my life than before, too. Bob works long hours, Gordy keeps night-owl musician hours (and is a grown man with his own life and interests). I don’t really have any hobbies (nor am I interested in developing one) that don’t negatively impact my physique or bank account (I used to collect fountain pens, but they’re frightfully expensive and take up too much room of late; same thing with stringed instruments and travel expenses). I am not athletic, and not particularly religious--so participatory sports or getting more involved in temple don’t appeal to me. And I long ago gave up the hassle, stress, and embarrassment (constantly begging for money for my chosen candidate) of participatory politics--I’m content to watch, comment and vote. So I like the life I have as it currently is, and am not sure whether I’d enjoy a lengthier but emptier existence.
I’m not going to gorge myself on stuff I shouldn’t eat, and I have no desire to drink anything (other than water) that doesn’t taste absolutely wonderful to me--I don’t like a buzz, and wish non-alcoholic wine tasted anywhere nearly as good as nonalcoholic beer or decaffeinated coffee. But I see no point in a longer life if it’s devoid of pleasure. I once was in Boston on Patriot’s Day and saw the start and finish of the Boston Marathon. In between, my tour group went to “Heartbreak Hill” to watch the runners. I was struck by how little they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Over the crest came renowned running guru, cardiologist Dr. George Sheehan. At the time he was 72--but as he plodded past, he seemed to be 92, and in agony. Do I want an extra couple of years if they feel like a couple of decades? (Knock wood, of course).
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Hi
Everyone. Big hugs to all. Im in the beating myself up stage. Im sitting here I gave up wine. But not whine yet.
I agree, I keep telling myself I should give up all sugar goodys etc. Because cancer loves sugar. Then I tell myself, my brain needs sugar. Then crap. Then cancer will attack my brain to get the sugar. Ok so Im not good company. Lol.
What ifs, I would have done this and not that are hitting me hard.
Loved the story about the Turkey. Big hugs Beppy And all others battleling treatmeats. Peace and big hugs. Stay away from the memory foam unless you have someone to help you out of it.
I think we need more emojis this one looks way to happy.0 -
A friend of mine up in WI is married to a teetotaling, slender, vegan triathlete. She still got DCIS throughout both breasts. My friend whom I'm taking to the hospital next week for her BMX has never touched a drop of alcohol. I've known many morbidly obese women who drink like fish and never got breast cancer (cirrhosis, heart disease maybe but not breast cancer). I think right now that as to prevention, they can only play with epidemiological data and theoretical biochemistry about how fat cells make estrogen, dietary fat fuels TN tumor cells; and since alcohol in greater than moderate amounts affects the liver, and the liver processes toxins, it makes it harder to clear estrogen from the bloodstream. But that (especially the latter theory) is speculation and extrapolation. Other than fat cells making estrogen BEFORE a bc diagnosis (as well as decades of circulating estrogen made by the ovaries) and thus being a possible contributing factor in developing ER+ bc, I think it is sloppy science to extrapolate that to say it causes recurrences in postmenopausal overweight women already on AIs (with almost NO circulating estrogens). And I also question how much even a very slight (and theoretical, absent liver function tests) reduction in the liver's hypothetical clearance of what little estrogen (if any) remains in an AI-treated woman causes recurrence. If all that were true, women who have a glass of wine a day and are overweight wouldn't get AI side effects--which side effects are the result of estrogen deprivation. If that were true, I wouldn't have any joint pain, night sweats, or slowed metabolism (and I wouldn't need to pharmaceutically protect my bones). And as to the fat hypothesis, we'd all be urged to submit to liposuction too.
I am not going to eat so unwisely that I'd let myself balloon up past mildly obese, nor am I going to drink enough alcohol to impair liver function (and certainly not enough to feel a buzz). Neither am I going to put myself through liposuction or bariatric surgery. But neither am I going to beat myself up for not going on a very low-calorie diet, not exercising past the point of pain and exhaustion, and not giving up the occasional glass (or fraction of a glass) of very good wine when the situation warrants.
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Sandy thank you!!!!
You definetly put my paranoia at ease. A toast to you.
Believe it or not , I was blaming myself for going on vacation a month after I finished Chemo. I was so happy to be finished. Went to South Carolina Hilton Head.
I was attacked by jelly fish arm and legs. And of course celabrated by drinking sangria. Oh what a blast.
A toast to all. I definetly will go wine shopping this weekend
But not food shopping on strike lol.Ive been reading about faslodex weight gain ugh . I already put on 30lbs on since dx 2009. Back to the gym I go .
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Funthing- pick up some whine for me when you go shopping.
I thing sangria toast a most appropriate response to a jelly fish attack, haha.
🍾🍾🍾
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