CRAZY TOWN WAITING ROOM - TESTS coming up? All Stages Welcome.
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Sorry sandy, mani pedi and such are part of my go to to handle stress
Recently have added chiro,.......and my guy there is cute as a pie
Course then there is today's thingie.....Drive to the coast and get raw oysters and a lobster roll while breathing salt air
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Yikes! I hadn't thought about massages, LE and so on! I'm supposed to spend Wednesday with a couple of friends at a day spa. It will be my first regular massage since treatment. I only had 1 lymph node removed. Should I be concerned about the massage? Aside from the fact that I have gained at least 25 pounds since treatment started.
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I just found this topic so decided to check it out! The chocolate bar incident had me laughing
This made my DH and I laugh last night in the midst of pain, so thought I'd share. I still had my drains in last night, so I decided to take a shower. I got all my pads and bra off, trying to pin up my drains out of the way when a horrible sharp burning pain started. My husband comes in to help, as I'm crying and pissed off at the same time. So at one point he says " Here, hold your jugs(drains) while I go get some clean pads", I couldn't help it, I started laughing while crying, and then he starts giggling with me
Good end to the story, I had my drains taken out early, today!!0 -
rvgirl- welcome to Crazytown!!!
Your story made me tear up and chuckle at the same time. I don't think any story represents Crazytown any better. We all try to find the funny in the pain. Good on you and your DH.
Wishing you speedy healing and a return to the closest you can find to normal. Our mayor and/or vice mayor will be along to welcome you properly.
Looking forward to getting to know you.
Katy
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Thanks for the welcome Jackbirdie! I thought someone else might get a laugh out of it
Thanks for the good wishes too!! Right back at you!0 -
Well, it’s getting crazy again. Whenever my husband Bob or housekeeper can’t change the biopsy-suture bandage on my back (which not only can’t I reach, but am not supposed to even try), I go to the Immediate Care center around the block, and as long as I bring my own Tegaderm, the nurse there changes it for me for free. Once or twice, I had to go 36 hrs. between changes, seemingly w/o incident. Bob changed it Sat. night before my shower and last night after--but this time he couldn’t quite get the Tegaderm to fully cover it (he taped band-aids around it but some of the pad was still exposed. Since it didn’t look or feel right, and my housekeeper is off till tomorrow, I went to the care center to get the bandage and Tegaderm changed before showering. The nurse said she saw pus oozing from the top one of the 3 non-dissolving sutures (by now, the dissolving ones beneath have likely dissolved & resorbed) and the area around it looked reddened, and that I ought to call the derm rather than wait for my suture-removal appt. on Thurs. The nurse used antibiotic ointment this time rather than the vaseline I’d been instructed to use. I have a dental appt. tomorrow (before which I must premedicate with clindamycin). I called, and of course I got the NorthShore answering service. I’m waiting to hear what I should do in the meantime and where I should go when tomorrow. (And I still haven’t been able to take care of that stupid trigger thumb--no way I can do the suture removal in Skokie and the cortisone shot in Oak Lawn the same day, without having to juggle other appointments, lessons, errands, etc.).
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Welcome, rvgirl! (vice mayor here, the actual mayor's off gallivanting about offline enjoying herself) we're glad you found us....and yes, the laughing while weeping (or perhaps weeping while laughing) is a hallmark of CT. "Here, hold your jugs while I get some pads."? Yeah.
I apologize--I'm behind on welcome baskets, but hopefully watching the oncologists recede in my rearview mirror will leave me more time to socialize.....the MO's allowing as how he only needs to see me every six months since I'm not taking tamoxifen any more (and he doesn't feel the need to throw me into artificial menopause in order to put me on an AI, as I don't have invasive cancer.)
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LOL, thanks for the welcome queenmomcat! Love the name, I have two cats at the moment, a dog, pet zebra finches, an outside feral cat we feed, plus just about any type of wild bird feeder you could think of. Pretty sure we spend more money on critters than ourselves
That's great you only have to see the MO every 6 months! I still haven't seen one yet, but at my next surgery follow up appointment next week, I'm sure I'll be referred to someone. 0 -
WenchLori, ChiSandy and others, thanks for the good advice. Yes, those are our trees. Keeping the illegal clam selling in my back pocket in case she makes anymore threats... For 11 years I've been bending over backwards trying to keep her at bay and now I am a different person having survived cancer... not all the concerned about pleasing people so much... she's lost her control of me. Honestly, I've been locking my door at night, she actually scares me. Kind of humorous, she paid a young man to move a huge pile of bricks 75 feet, from one side of her house to another. The pile has been there for 10 years and I bet it will sit for another 10 years in its new location... haha...years ago we took her to a really nice restaurant for dinner, the chef was a "Saucier" -- that means specializes in sauces. She ordered the steak and insisted on A1 sauce instead of the chef's sauce. She would not even try his sauce. Naturally, they didn't have A-1. Oh my, did she make a stink... to this day she will probably tell you what a terrible restaurant that was because they didn't carry her precious A-1 sauce. Needless to say, we never invited them to dinner again! Ah good times . . .I do prefer this Crazytown much better!
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Remember the episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” in which Raymond’s wealthy WASP in-laws take the elder Romanos to dinner at an elegant Manhattan restaurant. The waiter comes by with the artisanal bread tray, and Ray’s dad asks for rye bread. When told they don’t have rye bread because the kitchen doesn’t bake it, he exclaims, “No rye bread? What do you serve when Jewish people eat here?"
Before my late Mom’s tastes got more sophisticated, we took her to a Benihana. First, she was aghast that she couldn’t just have a well-done filet mignon--and had to be seated at a table with people not in our party. Then when the salad came (with the usual miso dressing) she exclaimed “Where’s the Roquefort? What kind of restaurant doesn’t have Roquefort dressing? Who eats this???” So she got a naked salad and groused about how bland it was. Finally, there was a choice of the included dessert (Strawberry-yogurt flavor ice cream) or an upcharge (I think for mochi, or sweet potstickers). Of course, she asked for vanilla. When told that the only ice cream flavor they had was strawberry-yogurt, she claimed it was a way to force you to pay extra for dessert, because “who eats this??” (The subject of “who eats” mochi or sweet potstickers never came up, because we took her to Farrell’s afterward).
She’s been gone ten years now and I miss her terribly. But when my sister and I get together and we go out for tapas, Vietnamese, Mexican, Korean BBQ or Indian, we look at the menu, then at each other, and in unison say “who eats this???” Then we collapse laughing--perplexing the hell out of the staff.
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rvgirl, WELCOME to CT! Great story! I was waiting for your hubby to say that they pain was from you poking yourself with the safety pin which is something I would do.
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"who eats this" GREAT LINE, Sandy!!!
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So....not so crazy but a little crazy.
I went in to MO's yesterday and he felt the lump in my underarm. I was nice enough to put a dot with a black marker to make it easier to find LOL. Anyway, he is going to send me for an U/S....says we need to take a look at it. Also wants to take a look at my hip because of on going pain there. Oddly I'm not worried about the hip thing, it's been hurting for a long time, but it hasn't gotten much worse so this leads me to think it isn't cancer related. I'm thinking bursitis.....uggg just hate that being that I'm 42 and have the body of a 90 year old.
So, the U/S will be nerve wracking but I'll be damned if I'm going to worry and worry about it. I'm attaching a picture of my 6 year old's Daisy Scout troop...they are at twilight camp this week and she is my reason for life
Isabella...3rd one on the left with pink shorts. My heart! 
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oh goodness, I regret to say that I have no crazy stories but sure do love reading others
Did serious gym thing this morning including a huge 10 minutes on treadmill, first time since all the nasty back junk so glad on my improvement,
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Tanga, your Daisy is adorable. I will be in your pocket for your US. Iris, great job on the treadmill!
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thanks molly, course I did have a pal on the next machine and we exercised our jaws........it helps to pass the time and also helps prevent wrinkles..........
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This is really interesting even for the non breast cancers Ten Practice Changes I Will Make After Attending ASCO 2016
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Soooooooooo excited...I am going to meet Beppy and Ducky for lunch today..I cannot wait
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Molly, I can’t access the link--says I have to be a member. Also, though I have a GenomeWeb free membership, only paying ($95/yr) Plus members can access the article, which link GW sent me via e-mail saying intermediate OncoDX score patients can benefit from MammaPrint. Paging Barred Owl......
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oh shorfi, do enjoy your lunch
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- I will try to avoid neurotoxic chemotherapy in diabetic and older patients, when other options exist. Dr. Hershman et al examined the SWOG database linked to Medicare claims and determined that age and diabetes were predictors of the development of neuropathy (Abstract 10001).
- I will be recommending an exercise program for my patients who will be starting treatment with potentially neurotoxic chemotherapy such as taxanes and platinum drugs. Greenlee et al presented data from the Pathways Study (Abstract 10002) demonstrating a higher incidence of taxane-induced neuropathy in breast cancer patients who were obese and had a low level of physical activity. At the same session, Dr. Kleckner presented an analysis of a subset of 314 patients in the URCC CCOP/NCORP EXCAP study (Abstract 10000). Those randomized to the exercise program had a lower incidence of early neuropathy, highly significant in older patients. Although the majority of patients were women with breast cancer, there were also men, and drugs included vinca alkaloids in addition to taxanes and platinum.
- I will consider the combination of daratumumab (D), bortezomib (V), and dexamethasone (d) [DVd] as a treatment for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Dr. Palumbo presented the results of the European CASTOR study at the Plenary Session, which demonstrated superiority of DVd over Vd even in patients previously treaded with V (Abstract LBA4). There was a significant improvement in response rate, progression-free survival, and time to progression, and responses were brisk, which is important in these patients, many of whom are quite symptomatic. Progression-free survival and time to progression were approximately 7 to 8 months in the Vd group but have not been reached in those who were treated with D as well.
- I will offer short-course radiotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ) in selected glioblastoma multiforme patients over the age of 65. Dr. Perry presented the results of a joint EORTC/NCIC study at the Plenary Session (Abstract LBA2). The addition of TMZ to radiation therapy resulted in an improvement in overall and progression-free survival, most dramatic in patients with MGMT methylated tumors. The regimen was well-tolerated, and there was an impressive improvement in 2-year survival rates. Median survival was increased from 3.9 to 5.3 months and in MGMT methylated patients from 7.7 to 13.5 months.
- I will use intermittent rather than continuous docetaxel in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer (Abstract 5005). Although this German study, presented by Dr. Cash did not complete accrual, the intermittent regimen of docetaxel (12 weeks of the drug either weekly or every 3 weeks, followed by a drug holiday until progression) appears to be noninferior to the continuous regimen. Another approach to decrease toxicity in chemotherapy-treated patients in this population is to lower the dose of cabazitaxel in the second line setting. DeBono et al presented the results of their PROSELICA study (Abstract 5008), which demonstrated that the lower dose of 20 mg/m2 was noninferior to the standard dose of 25 mg/m2, and there was an improved overall safety profile!
- I will add capecitabine (CAP) to gemcitabine for the adjuvant treatment of resected pancreatic cancer while we await the results from ongoing studies of even more aggressive combinations. The ESPAC-4 trial results were reported by Neoptolemos et al (Abstract LBA4006), which demonstrated an improvement in median survival from 25.5 to 28 months when CAP was added to gemcitabine, with added but manageable toxicity. These were very high–risk patients. Most impressively the 5-year survival rates were increased by the addition of CAP from 16% to 29%!
- I will not use exemestane as adjuvant treatment for invasive lobular breast cancer in favor of one of the two nonsteroidal AIs, anastrozole or letrozole (Abstract 521). There are increasing data that exemestane is less effective in patients with this histology, which was confirmed by this review of the MA.27 study by Strasser-Weippl et al. Patients with invasive lobular carcinoma had improved overall survival when treated with anastrozole as opposed to exemestane (HR, 1.8; P = .55), consistent with the findings in the BIG 1-98 trial.
- I will be using more AC/T and less TC in patients with high-risk early breast cancer, based on the ABC analysis of three randomized trials presented by Blum et al (Abstract 1000). In this initial report, the non-anthracycline regimen did NOT demonstrate noninferiority to the anthracycline regimens. TC may be noninferior for ER-positive patients, however, but for receptor-negative patients, I will use anthracyclines in most cases.
- I will recommend the continuation of aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy for at least an additional 5 years in high-risk postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer. Many of these women have been reluctant to stop their AI at 5 years; I have generally made recommendations case by case, but mentioned that we will have data to help guide our decisions, once we had the results from the MA.17R and B42 studies. The initial results from MA17.R were presented at the Plenary Session (Abstract LBA1) by Dr. Goss. In patients treated with 5 years of AI, as initial therapy or preceded by up to 5 years of tamoxifen, extended AI treatment to 10 years (as opposed to placebo) significantly improved disease-free survival. The gains were modest, and there was an increased risk of osteoporosis; so, I don't plan on this approach in all of these women, but I will have the discussion, considering the risks and benefits, and probably recommend continuation in women at high risk of late recurrence. Data presented in Abstract 505 by Pan et al was an analysis of predictive factors for late recurrences in ER-positive patients (over 46,000 British women followed for up to 14 years), and its findings will help in advising our patients.
- Consider the use of checkpoint inhibitors for patients with refractory cancers as there is increasing evidence of efficacy in a number of diseases, including metastatic colorectal, with high microsatellite instability (Abstract 3501; Overman et al), squamous cell anal (Abstract 3503; Morris et al), and even metastatic bladder as first-line in cisplatin-ineligible patients (Abstract LBA4500; Balar et al). I predict that these treatments will become approved in the near future and may even be available in some circumstances under compassionate use programs.
0 - I will try to avoid neurotoxic chemotherapy in diabetic and older patients, when other options exist. Dr. Hershman et al examined the SWOG database linked to Medicare claims and determined that age and diabetes were predictors of the development of neuropathy (Abstract 10001).
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Shorfi..........loved our visit even though I did talk your heads off.............it was so much fun.......so happy to meet you, and Our Mayor.......she is a sweetheart........love her..........so happy I adopted her when I did.............
You and I have to get together again since we are so close together..........old Philly gals......well at least this one is old.....LOL.......
Hope your husband enjoyed his dinner...........hugs to you............0 -
I tried really hard to do lymphedema exercises, and stretches and everything, walking, cleaning my house during chemo, and I was in very strong shape when breast cancer found me out. And chemo kicked my ass so bad, I could barely walk, and my house has still not recovered! So let that doctor prescribe all he wants, I don't think that will help, and that was WITH ICING my feet, and also raising them up as high as I could, (I was trying to keep as much of the chemo out of them as I could.) at least for the first two infusions. after that, I kinda gave up. I marveled at how women with young kids could do this. Of course, in my chemo notes, from them, I can't tell exactly, but I was given either way too much chemo, or not enough. It is hard to decipher the handwriting! And why are they using handwriting for such a critical part?!?!
I think oncologists should have to do a couple of light rounds, just so they might understand more , what we mean.
I am sorry I haven't posted in so long, but I have some serious crazy family issues happening right now, oh, and I lost my phone on tuesday. I DO have the 'find my phone app, but. You need to have it online to find it, and for some reason, I didn't know that, or I didn't do it because of the commercials I would get on wifi.... well fuckitty on me.
Katy, my deepest apologies
Shorfi, lucky lady!
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Ducky! I am sure she was so happy to finally meet you! I am soooo ssoooooo!!!! so happy you met Bep!
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Kathy....I was so glad to meet her too......what a special lady.........I so wish we could get to meet also.....there are some ladies on here who are so special to me, and you are one of them.......Shorfi is such a sweet lady........she has the most beautiful complexion I have ever seen....something I lack, especially now after years of "baking in the sun with my baby oil and iodine"......LOL..............maybe one day before I leave this earth I will make my way out to Ca.............chances are "not", but I can put that on my bucket list........hug
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Duckyb and shorfi, what a blessing to meet Beppy and color me jealous that Beppy got to meet you!!
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Tomboy, sorry about the family trouble and your phone .
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ducky: is jealous. Is very jealous.
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Our Mayor is such a beautiful woman...inside and out. Her quiet demeanor is what struck me the most...yet she is always finding the time to encourage everyone here in CT. I just felt so honored to have met Ducky...I adore her and she is funny too. She made us laugh the whole time!!!
Ducky...not only did my husband enjoy his dinner, but he has taken over my leftovers for his noon meal today when he gets in from work (that man)
Tomboy...we had a beautiful time and it was such a pleasure meeting both women. Oh, and sorry about your phone. I can only imagine how you must be feeling.
Proud and Molly...We had such a great time together...it was so sad that we had to leave.
Katy...A good time was had by all...wish you were there...
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Thank you for the update, shorfi! (no, that's not a hint to the other participants)
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