CRAZY TOWN WAITING ROOM - TESTS coming up? All Stages Welcome.
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I am done with the house chores for the most part. Resting in between completing each one. Just have to wait for the laundry to finish drying on the line and to remake the bed and I am done totally
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well i listened to my neighbor. She said i should go to gym,we belong to the same gym, even if all i did was talk and socialize. Good advise, discovered a couple pals were afraid to call as they really did not know how bad i was!
Well it sure did make me feel better and not gonna stay out of gym for so long
Hair or no hair!
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That's wonderful!
Best thing my MO told me yesterday was to keep doing what I have been. She even gave me orders to go see friends and socialize.
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A friend of mine who was undergoing chemo told me once that she had walked three miles that day. “I may not be healthy,” she said, “but damn, I’m fit!” Good for going to the gym, Iris!
Went to the gym last night for the first time in a week—doctors’ appts. and my trainer’s jury duty got in the way. OW OW OW! The hardest exercises for me are the ones to try to reduce my kyphosis (to keep me from becoming a humpback whale) and improve my balance. Sitting & standing with head up and shoulders back is torture for me. The strength stuff is working well, though the one I detest the most is having to flap those weighted ropes for 60 seconds at a time. Tough to get my heartbeat up to 120 without feeling faint—my resting rate is in the high 50s-low 60s, so for cardio I shoot for 110-115 before I start to ratchet down the speed & incline.
Talked to the nutritionist at my cancer center this morning. She said that phytoestrogens are different from true estrogens and might even be beneficial—so I can have my occasional O’Doul’s or Clausthaler N.A. (although they are carbier than alcoholic light beer) despite the hops. And I can have tofu, edamame, soymilk (which I don’t like) and a little low-sodium soy sauce—just no fake meats like tofu dogs or Boca Burgers.
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interesting on your nuitritionist comments, when i saw the one at my cancer center, she is still against soy milk. We talked about a number of things but i brought up soy milk and she agreed, if not drinking it now, do not start. I do drink lactaid milk but stay away from soy milk
Back to gym this morn but dang tired. Tough part is explaining to folks where i have been of late
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Side effects have gotten worse. Still have the leg pain and somewhat blurred vision, but now on top of it I am nauseated. Was supposed to to go a neighborhood cookout and I decided to not go as I can't even function right now. Drinking plenty of fluids and eating very lightly, but these side effects are for the birds. Wasn't like this the last time I went through this.
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M0mmy - sorry to hear the SEs are worse. I had that leg pain with Abraxane (I was allergic to Taxol.) I found that epsom salt baths really helped with the pain, as well as rest and a warm blanket. It would dissipate as the week went on, and by the next treatment I felt better. I had the nausea as well.
Thinking of you.
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Good thing I don’t like soymilk, Iris—can’t get over the chalky-grassy taste, and it doesn’t froth worth a darn for cappuccino (either via the steamwand of an espresso machine or a mechanical frother). When I want a capp. but not dairy, I go for unsweetened vanilla almond or almond-coconut milk blend. Both froth higher and hold up longer than soy. My trainer still thinks that hops bind to breast tissue in growth-promoting way, but the nutritionist disagrees. My trainer is an extreme vegan, though—doesn’t even eat fats other than nuts or flax oil (blecch), not even coconut or olive. My PCP says that organic sat-fats (from organically-raised grass-fed mammals) are fine, as are those with Omega-3s rather than 6s.
M0mmy, the only “birds” I’d wish those side effects on are disease-carrying pigeons or starlings & geese that make planes crash.
Shortly after waking up yesterday my rt. lower back locked up briefly. (I was sitting on the john leaning over to nuzzle my cat, who was sitting on the hamper—TMI, I know). This time, I immediately kneaded it and slapped on some Voltaren gel; then I took a baclofen and a couple of Aleve (since it’s official that I no longer have any esophagitis or gastric inflammation, just a hiatal hernia, I decided it was fine), and used a heating pad on & off. By the time I hit the gym at 3, I was in decent enough shape to do some work on mobilizing the surrounding & supporting structures. Did the treadmill as my cardio (the rowing-machine is off-limits for now, still can’t hop up on to the bikes and the ellipticals make my quads & knees scream right from the start).
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Me too. Nausea has abated and vision seems to be a bit better. Leg pain is still there but managable thanks to Tylenol, going to ask hubby to put Icy Hot on my legs before bed. Now the scalp has decided to join the party and be a pain, worried that this means bye-bye hair again
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Mommy, so sorry about the SEs. Have you tried Claritin (regular, not Claritin D)?...it did wonders for me during chemo for joint and leg pain: I took it the day before, day of, and day after each injection. For nausea, I have to admit that nothing worked better than marijuana, which may be easier to obtain here in California (now that it is legal here), but which was basically very easy to obtain (in CA) even before legal. Mind you, I didn't take enough to get high: I literally just sucked on a tiny bit of a bud about the size of a quarter of my pinkie nail, and that did the trick...helped with sleep also.
So, I listened to the advice from Hubby, Sandy, Iris and others, and broke down and got a cane. I just wasn't sure I could make it through all of my upcoming travel without it. Even stepping off of a curb is hard! I do have hiking sticks, but they weren't really working: the tips are small enough that they get stuck in sidewalk cracks and the like. So for now, a cane it is. I intentionally got the ugliest, cheapest one I could find that is still functional...and I intend to ditch it as soon as I can (post surgery). I did check to verify that it isn't a problem with TSA to carry it on for my trip to Boston Thursday....
Molly, how is Wyatt? Thinking of you! Thinking of DGS also Lucy!
Hugs to all
Octogirl
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Tonight I start my prep for my colonoscopy on Wednesday at 2pm. I will eat until midnight (probably will fall asleep by 10:30) and then take milk of magnesia....tomorrow clear diet of broth, coffee, tea, pop, juice, popsicles,....nothing to CHEW 😢......5PM.have to drink 1/2 gallon horrible stuff (Trilyte)
(5 pages of instruction from the gastro doctor's office)
Wednesday at 6AM have to drink the remaining Trilyte.......then NOTHING until after 4:30 when I should be done with the colonoscopy 😷.....and won't feel like eating😥
Hope she finds out what is causing my pain (probably my diverticulosis,) and what is up with my thicken Cecum which is thicken down into the end of my appendix.....found on a cat scan
hugs to all.....
Di
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Octo, not only isn’t a cane a problem with TSA, it gets you the offer of a wheelchair at check-in (even curbside). And except at Midway, the chair gets you through security even faster than TSA Pre. The last time I flew with a cane I spurned a wheelchair at O’Hare and on arrival at Heathrow, since my rolling suitcase helped me get through the relatively short corridors. But at Heathrow, I then had to stand in an endless line at passport control because I’d flown Premium Economy (not Business Class) and wasn’t in a wheelchair. On the return trip, I asked the check-in clerk if I’d need a wheelchair, and she said no, my gate was close-in.
So everything was fine—shopped, enjoyed a lovely lunch with champagne--till I got to the gate, and found it was an auxiliary gate from which passengers board a bus to the 757, out in the middle of the tarmac, with a steep rickety staircase. (First time we’d flown Premium Economy on BA, in 2012, I was in a wheelchair because I was only 6 weeks out from knee replacement, and after we got our gate number for the connecting flight, we were shuttled to the plane in a special hydraulic lift truck that deposited me at the plane door). So this time I asked if I could get a lift truck to the plane, and the ground crewman said no, wheelchairs only and I should have asked for one at check-in. I had a cane in one hand and a rollaboard in the other, so I couldn’t use the handrail. One passenger took pity on me and carried the rollaboard so I could use the rail. You can bet that as soon as the flight attendant offered me my drink I asked for a wheelchair at O’Hare.
Whenever flying into O’Hare from abroad I always get a wheelchair. Why? Because there’s a long windowless cattle-chute (over 1/4 mi) passageway just to get to the usually long passport control line, scanner machine notwithstanding. (Same thing at Detroit, BTW, and I suspect at any U.S. port of entry terminal). But in a wheelchair you get a special short line at passport control, and your attendant gets and hauls your bags through Customs and waits with you in the taxi line or for your ride.
Yeah, I do feel a twinge of guilt, but then I recall how my legs had turned to lead, my knees to swollen jelly, and my back screaming as I stood for an hour in line at Non-UK/Non-EU Passport Control behind almost the entire planeload of passengers on a flight from Beijing, most of whom were either standing still texting or Tweeting or taking selfies while huge gaps in the line opened up ahead of them. Not to mention how awful it was going through the whole shebang on foot in Detroit after flying in from Amsterdam and then going through security again for our flight home to Chicago. Never again. I’ll take the chair when it’s offered.
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M0mmy, I second the Claritin (actually, get the cheapest generic store brand loratidine—exactly the same thing). I didn't have chemo, but I took it for 4 days before and 2 days after my Prolia shot and didn't get the deep bone pain I had with Zometa (Claritin helped with that too, but I didn't know to start it beforehand).
Di, good luck on the prep, and my deepest sympathies over the Tri-Lyte. When I was told after my EGD that I would need a colonoscopy (4 yrs ahead of schedule), the GI doc told me he uses Suprep. I mentioned that for my first "intimate extreme closeup" I prepped with magnesium citrate and he said that was okay too (3 bottles the night before and 1 the morning of—10 oz. each, intense sweet/sour/salty cherry or lemon-lime taste—with an equal amt. of water as chaser). But when I got the instruction sheet in the mail it said Dulcolax + Tri-Lyte, so I messaged him and asked what happened to the Suprep. My shrink told me he just did his with Suprep (6 oz. mixed with 10 oz. of water followed by 2 16-oz. glasses of water w/in the space of an hour the night before (after a day of clear liquid diet); and then repeat the next morning.
Here's a tip for tomorrow: before you take the Tri-Lyte, apply Desitin or White's A&D ointment to your perianal area. (Some say cornstarch baby powder, but that could wash away). Otherwise you will quickly feel like you're pooping razor blades.
Meanwhile, I have been having bloating and heartburn—not the awful battery-acid-squirted-up-the-throat variety that sometimes wakes me up if I eat too close to bedtime, but the slow-about-to-burn-at-the-base-of-the-throat kind. Belching like a volcano too. Tums helps but only temporarily. Shrink told me to drink kefir (sort of counterintuitive because it's sour, but seems to work). I increased my biotin to 10,000 mcg./day and switched brands of GTF chromium, but neither list heartburn or GI distress as side effects. I have it narrowed down to the combo of iron & 1000 mg. of chewable C I have to take. Trouble is, I need the C to absorb the iron (my MO said the chewables work better than the pills), and anything I like for breakfast (eggs, cheese, yogurt) is verboten with C because it inhibits absorption. Tea as well. Supposedly steak works—but who can afford 3 oz. of steak every morning? (And who should eat that much red meat)? But the kicker is the foods I'm supposed to avoid with acid reflux: dairy, fried food, gluten, alcohol (and imitation beer & wine), coffee (regular & decaf), seltzer, citrus, berries, tomatoes (and I have a bumper crop!), chocolate, anything processed. Nothing left but bananas (ugh), rice, plain potatoes, "dead animals & leaves." Just shoot me. I think I will have my breakfast, wait at least 2 hrs, take the iron & C, and then fast for another 2-3 hrs.
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Will keep that in mind. I usually take Alavert for my allergies
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i have to say that the idea of flying is not fun to me. I can see myself trying to get myself through an airport. But do confess to using wheelchair when offered. When i go to cancercenter, i drive myself but then take the offer of wheelchair to get me back to chemo area. It is the dif between needing someone to take me for chemo or being able to take myself
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yes, I may take them up on the offer of a wheelchair during my travels this week...Sandy, your story reminds me of my untold crazy adventure from my trip to Papua New Guinea: when we landed in Port Moresby from Australia it turns out that the only way to get into the building for immigration and customs was up two flights of stairs and then down two! There were an escalator and elevator, but (of course) both were broken...the good news was that an employee took pity on me and told me he'd take me another accessible way with no stairs...well, he did, but in the process, while I went through customs, which just waived me through with barely a glance at my luggage or passport, I unknowingly missed immigration control! (basically, he took me through a crew entrance directly to baggage claim.)
Sooo....it turned out that I was then in the country illegally, because I didn't receive the visa one gets upon entry and wasn't in their computer system. I took three domestic flights within PNG but those were no problem. I didn't find out my illegal status until I tried to check in for my return flight to Australia almost three weeks later, when they checked realized I had no PNG visa! I was taken to a small room and (nicely) questioned by immigration officials, but they realized after questioning me for less than 15 minutes that it wasn't intentional on my part, and wrote up the incident, gave me the visa, and personally escorted me through passport control to be sure I'd make my flight (I was the last one to board, thankfully my luggage made it too)....They did question me about the person who escorted me in the hopes that they could identify whoever it was who apparently broke the rules (he should have taken me back through to immigration, rather than leaving me at baggage claim), but of course I never knew his name and couldn't remember what he looked like ('well, he was Papuan...") or details of what he was wearing (Immigration official? Airline employee? Who knows...). In retrospect it was sort of funny, but at the time, when the immigration officer told me that ordinarily a court hearing and order would be required under such circumstances, and it was a Sunday when obviously courts would be closed, I didn't think it was funny at all! Port Moresby, PNG is NOT a place where one wants to spend any more time than absolutely necessary!
Lesson learned: going to the head of the line to avoid stairs and walking is great! Skipping the line, not so much!
Octogirl
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Side effects greatly diminished due to Alavert. Feels good to be almost human again
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Yup, Alavert is a competing brand of loratidine—It was on the market before the patent on Claritin expired because it was a special dissolve-on-the-tongue formulation. I normally take cetirizine (generic Zyrtec) for allergies, but switch to loratidine a few days before a Prolia shot and stay on it a few days longer. Cetirizine works better for my allergies (protects against a wider array of allergens).
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Di, in your pocket for your colonoscopy! I did one last November, it was not much fun, but wasn't too awful, I guess. The worse part was drinking that much liquid. I felt like I was sloshing.
I made it through the treadmill portion of the stress test yesterday. The hard part was that the treadmill had these wood handrails that had a shiny finish on them, like a polyurethane. So they've got me walking really fast way up hill, and I feel like my sweaty hands are going to slip off these handrails and I'm going to fall off the mountain! They finally got me a terry cloth handtowel to wrap around it after I complained that I wasn't going to be able to hang on for another minute. You'd think they could put some bike handlebar tape on that thing or something. I'm still waiting for the results. I saw my doctor in the afternoon, and he only had the perfusion portion of the test, which was normal. I'm still waiting to hear about the EKG part.
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best part of the stress test is when they say you passed and are good for 5 or 10 years
Been pouring rain all day and i can still feel the effects of all the novacaine from yesterdays trip to dentist. Feeling sleepy but maybe it is rainny day
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Oh, and just as there is no “right” to operate a motor vehicle, there is no “right” to be exempt from income taxation. Rights are conferred by constitutions—and these things are not. They are privileges, created by statutes and regulations and conferred only by strict compliance with and adherence to these statutes and regs.
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M0mmy, praying your SEs calm down and start to behave themselves. Are you on the same chemo drugs that you had the first time? Many prayers and well wishes coming your way.
Octo, what a way to see the back end of an airport. I can't help but wonder what the helpful fella was thinking? Or maybe not thinking?
Di, in your pocket tomorrow for your colonoscopy... maybe you can put me in your gown pocket?
Sandy, didn't you have the Nissen Fundoplication? I had mine done 7 years ago and pray that it doesn't slip. You are in my thoughts as you continue to go through all of this merry-go-round you seem to be on
Lucy, any word on your dear GS? I'm behind a few pages and I hope to catch up with everyone soon.
Iris, thinking of you as you go throught your treatments for the blasted recurrance you are going thru.
Speaking of airports, I leave on 9/6 for Austin TX and I return on 11/20. I added the extra cost for the helping hand if needed at the airports. I'm flying into Houston and I haven't been through there in many years. I ordered my new running shoes for the flight already as I'll be flying between getting off the plane in Houston then running to get on my flight to Austin. When my DD calls me my DGS (4) asks if I'm still coming? Then I hear him whoop-whooping loudly around the house. I think he's excited just a bit.
I had a ton of blood work done yesterday and I'm just waiting for the results. The tech that drew my blood said my MO was checking everything under the sun and I was very happy to hear that. I'm back to walking/working out again been doing a lot of laps running around in our pool. I'm feeling stronger everyday! I feel better about being on my way to my "new normal".
BBL
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I haven’t had the Nissen fundoplication surgery—in fact, surgery was never mentioned to me, just meds & lifestyle changes.
Feeling a bit better today, probably because I had breakfast and my other morning pills first and waited over 2 hrs before taking the iron, and only one chewable C tab (500 mg.—I figure that since they originally suggested “take with a glass of orange juice,” half a gram of C is plenty), plus avocado low-carb toast topped with half a tomato; and nothing but water for another couple of hours. Even managed an ounce of wine with my little steak tonight. Hoping to “get things moving,” though…dang iron...
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Lori, the side effects are almost gone, just in time for another round of chemo tomorrow, yuck! Different chemo this time too. I'm on 12 rounds of Taxol and every three weeks it gets paired with Herceptin and Perjeta.
Poor nose has been irritated like crazy since last week after chemo. I was at my wits end on dealing with it so I took a cotton swab and a little Vaseline and coated the inside. Feels vastly improved and my skin around my nose and mouth was so dry and irritated I smeared a little Vaseline on and I am doing fine now.
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Dropping in....
Sandy, hope your symptoms abate ASAP.
Octo, safe and enjoyable travels. A wedding to plan, hooray!
Di, good luck.
Mommyof2: I had exactly your cocktail of drugs. Will send you a PM with more detail than I need to post here. Symptoms are manageable, I promise.
Molly, thinking of Wyatt, always, and Lucy, of your grandson. Hope you're seeing improvement.
Waving at Cubbie, QMC, Duckie, Lori, Iris....
We leave next week for four days in Vermont. This feels so special: the first time in three years I'll be camping with my real hair, not a wig! Then we get back and take the boy to his college. Not sure how I'm feeling. It'll be different!
Love to all crazies....
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afternoon all, rainny good n life with no big guy in the house, but enjoy vermont
Gee, this is my chemo free week, feels good for the week. No much hair left to fall out but getting used to .the hat thing
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Hi everyone, quick drop in. Between work, Wyatt and the ants invading my home I've been busy. Lori, I had no idea you had a nissen. They thankfully never had to do one on Wyatt. He's doing pretty well except a pressure sore on his bottom which is really problematic because he needs to sit! Lucy, praying for DGS. My DGS started kindergarten today! Lori, enjoy your visit. Love you all.
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Cute kiddo, Molly! Hope Wyatt’s pressure sore heals soon. And hope you can evict those ants!
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Hi Ladies!
Thank for the good thought, & pocket pals for my colonoscopy today, I just returned home and had FOOD that hubby prepared, 2 poached eggs with parm. reggi., Bacon ,and home fried potatoes.....I was starving...I had no food since Monday....
"ENDED" up having FOUR polyps from 3mm to 10mm REMOVED from descending colon......two weeks for results of biopsies.....
nothing but thickening on cecum....She did not biopsy.
Diverticulitis in sigmoid colon........(nothing new)
This was a heck of day for hubby and my 49th wedding anniversary.....celebration postponed.....next week on Wednesday we will be beginning our Alaska cruise, after flying to Anchorage FREE....first class with our skymiles.,and then transferring by bus for 1 1/2hrs to the ship.
MOLLY I hope Wyatt's bottom heals soon, how are his seizures? You grandson is a darling.....
(.my one and only grandchild, grandson starts middle school in a couple weeks....time sure does fly by)
Lucy I hope your grandson is doing okay.
ChiSandy Château Ste Michelle is 50 years old...they were having celebrations....I know you would remember them since you lived in the area way back when.
I NOW NEED A NAP!
Hugs to all....(.especially you ladies, that are going through Chemo treatments)
Di....
Zzzzzzzzzzz
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Congrats for getting past the colonoscopy, Di—and having a hubby who cooks. After my 2011 colonoscopy (nothing but hemorrhoids), we made a beeline for Buffalo Wild Wings in the nearby mall where my husband bought me my prize for enduring the prep & procedure: a pair of diamond ear studs. I don’t expect to feel quite that chipper this time out—pretty sure there’ll be at least a polyp or two. If all they find are the ‘rhoids again, all my docs (PCP, GI, MO and my husband Bob, a cardiologist) say that the cause of my iron-deficiency anemia is probably an AVM in my small intestine—which doesn’t get treated, but instead I will probably keep on iron supplementation till my hemoglobin & ferritin levels normalize. My MO says that unless my RBC dips and my hemoglobin goes below 10, they generally don’t go digging around in the bone marrow.
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