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Maryland Support Group

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greenpeace
greenpeace Member Posts: 6

I am for a support group in Maryland. I am in my 40s.

Thanks.

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Comments

  • Cindymb
    Cindymb Member Posts: 101
    edited July 2018
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    I know this was made a couple years ago but Maryland girl here! 😁

  • Jettie
    Jettie Member Posts: 63
    edited April 2020
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    same here brokenatmegene17 :) maybe we can liven up this thread a little :D

  • Firecracker73
    Firecracker73 Member Posts: 6
    edited April 2020
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    Another Maryland girl here! I am in the tiny town of Thurmont- in Frederick County. Originally diagnosed in 2017, had a recurrence to the lymph nodes in 2018. Hope we can get this thread up and running! Nice to meet everyone. What parts of Maryland are you from?

  • Jettie
    Jettie Member Posts: 63
    edited April 2020
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    Hiya Firecracker73,

    Nice to meet you, I'm in Silver Spring, MD. Currently listening to all the birds chirping as its so quiet outside with the current stay at home orders, now if only the wood pecker would stay at home and stop banging on my trees so early in the morning all would be good.

    Hug

  • KeepingCalm
    KeepingCalm Member Posts: 77
    edited April 2020
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    I’m also in Maryland and dealing with all of this during Covid. Starting chemo at the beginning of May. Can be lonely dealing with this during social distancing

  • Jettie
    Jettie Member Posts: 63
    edited April 2020
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    Hiya, keepingcalm,

    I know how you feel :( I am midway through my chemo at the moment and only go out to the MO office for my appointments and infusions. I got furloughed last week so don't have work to distract me now, and i really wish the weather would warm up a little, so i could spend more time outside.

    How's your recovery going?



  • KeepingCalm
    KeepingCalm Member Posts: 77
    edited April 2020
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    Hi Jettie,

    Great to hear from you! I'm sorry to hear about your furlough but as you said, perhaps it gives you a bit of space to just breathe amidst everything going on. Are you being treated at an area hospital?

    I have recovered very very well from my surgery and was so lucky to get it done when I did (end of March). My quick and dare I say easy surgical recovery definitely influenced my disappointment at chemo being recommended but I feel confident in my doctor's recommendation so that's what I'll be doing starting in May (They wanted to push it a bit to avoid having me in the hospital at peak Covid time but I'm not even really clear on whether or not peak Covid time has occurred here!).

    Hope you're weathering chemo okay. Are you anticipating having surgery?

  • Jettie
    Jettie Member Posts: 63
    edited April 2020
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    Hi KeepingCalm,

    I am having my chemo at my MO's office as they have an infusion area, not very impressed with it as its not set up for friends/family to attend with you, they do a lot of blood treatments there too (which take less than an hour) so there was high number of people coming and going when i went for my 1st infusion, but with covid, its calmed down a lot and a lot less people having treatment, which for me is a lot nicer, seeing I have 2 sessions every 3 weeks, 1 for about 5 hours, and again the following day for about an hour and half.

    With regards to surgery, yep am expecting that and radiation therapy, reconstruction etc etc so a longish road ahead.

    I am glad your recovering well from surgery, did they say what regime of chemo there planning?

    On a fun note, https://lookgoodfeelbetter.org/programs/program-fi... have some sessions in June (all being well) so signed up for the Holy Cross one as that's close to where I am

    Hug

  • lexica
    lexica Member Posts: 138
    edited April 2020
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    Hi, all - Jettie, I love your avatar :)

    I am in Western Howard County (Woodbine/Glenwood area). Nice to see a Maryland thread :) Firecracker - I have friends in Thurmont area - so nice up there!

  • HOPE012119
    HOPE012119 Member Posts: 19
    edited April 2020
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    Hi All!! This is so exciting to see some ladies from Maryland here!

    I'm in Silver Spring too, Jettie! And we lived in Hoco before moving to Moco, Lexica.

    I finished active treatment at the end of September. Currently doing OS + AI and targeted therapy.

    My heart goes out to all of you in the thick of treatment 💕

  • KeepingCalm
    KeepingCalm Member Posts: 77
    edited May 2020
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    How’s everyone doing? I just started chemo on May 7th (1st of 4 cycles). I am definitely dragging today - think that’s probably the result of the Neulasta. Curious to see how I’ll do over the next few days.

  • Jettie
    Jettie Member Posts: 63
    edited May 2020
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    hiya keepingcalm.

    Am not too bad today, although my sleep schedule is shot to hell. I have my 4th of 6 infusion on Monday. The Neulesta, I had the other version udencya which gave me really bad bone ache the 1st time and seemed to get somewhat better after that, my MO said the side effects last 72 hours but was more like 96, but it did pass :D

    Wishing we will have some nice weather after this cold spell passes so i can sit in the shade in the garden :) cause i am sick of rain, rain and more rain, but its good for the garden so there is that!

    Take care of yourself, take it easy and listen to your body and i hope the side effects don't last too long and are minimal

  • KeepingCalm
    KeepingCalm Member Posts: 77
    edited May 2020
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    Hi everyone,

    How is everyone doing? Figured I'd post a brief update. Felt well going into my 2nd of 4 chemos and perhaps as a result of the pre med steroid didn't sleep much so actually rallied to do a little hike on our treadmill this morning before the appointment. I feel fortunate to be able to be halfway and realize that others have a longer course. All went smoothly and I managed to ice my hands and feet successfully.

    The doctor decided from my bloodwork that we could try this cycle without Neulasta. I'll be very interested to see how that affects how I feel over the next several days. Of course, it does make me a little nervous about being potentially immunocompromised be we continue to pretty much stay home and certainly our kids aren't going anywhere so I think my exposure is far less than if they were in school. Fingers crossed!

    I hope everyone is doing well.

  • Jettie
    Jettie Member Posts: 63
    edited May 2020
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    hiya keeping calm,

    Am glad your 2nd infusion went well, dont forget the dark nail polish as well as the icing, that seems to have kept my nails in check and only my cuticles grumbling with a little redness :) I am off for my 5th on Monday.

    Hopefully it goes well without the Neulasta, I am having a bio similar udenyca and whist it makes me ache, it has been keeping my wbc count nice and high :D

    My daughter started back at work this week so hopefully everyone is being safe there, i know she is, but wonder about everyone else o.0, I am still on furlough so thats kinda worked out for the best

    I am glad the weather has picked up, we had a nice bbq on memorial day and it was awesome to eat outside.

    Big hugs and stay safe :D

    Hug

  • KeepingCalm
    KeepingCalm Member Posts: 77
    edited June 2020
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    Hi,

    How’s everyone doing? I’m on day 5 of 2nd TC infusion and doing pretty well. I’m definitely noticing more fatigue this time though. There is little room for fatigue here with my 3 kids but we are making the best of it.

    Hope everyone is doing okay

  • HOPE012119
    HOPE012119 Member Posts: 19
    edited January 2021
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    Hi, I'm a Moco resident. I think I'm in the 1C, tier 2 group for the vaccine distribution: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/priority.html

    How's everyone doing? Anyone else *think* they're 1C too?

    How did it go with your infusions, Keepingcalm? Hope you’re doing well

  • BevJen
    BevJen Member Posts: 2,341
    edited January 2021
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    Hope,

    This thread has been inactive for many months. I just saw it because I am also a Maryland/MoCo resident. Perhaps some folks will chime in -- but there hasn't been much going on.

    As for the vaccine, I was lucky enough to get my first shot last Friday night through one of the Adventist clinics. You should look at all of the hospitals and Giant Foods -- they have separate registrations and it would give you more options. From what I've read (and experienced) the private clinics (as opposed to the county clinics) can go with the broader outlines of vaccine administration -- meaning, MoCo is only on 1B now, but some of the clinics are moving to 1C. You just have to jump on the notifications when they say they are opening up for appointments. Another interesting thing: when we went for our shots, there was a "standby" line near the end of the day of people hoping they could maybe get vaccinated with any extra dosages. We know that at least some of them did, because we saw them waiting and then saw them after they got their shots. Risky, but perhaps worth it?

  • HOPE012119
    HOPE012119 Member Posts: 19
    edited January 2021
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    Hi Bevjen! This is such helpful information, thanks! I will take a look at those websites. I have been in touch with Sibley (DC) and Mercy (Baltimore) where I get treatments. It’s all so confusing to me. I’m under 65 but I’m on targeted cancer therapy and immune-suppressed. I’m willing to let the distroprocess work but I’m not sure where I fall in the system, if that makes sense. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

  • GalleySlave
    GalleySlave Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2022
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    One more late coming Marylander here. I live in MoCo but am using Frederick Health for my MX next week. I can't believe the surgery date has come so quickly. They say “the minutes drag along but the years fly by." Substitute “weeks" for “years" for this topic. Best wishes for all (and me!😀 too

  • reader425
    reader425 Member Posts: 845
    edited November 2021
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    Also a Marylander here, treated at Sibley. Have been happy with that but recently have had trouble with callbacks, referrals and the like. Hope it's pandemic related/staffing and improves soon.


  • parakeetsrule
    parakeetsrule Member Posts: 605
    edited January 2022
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    Marylanders!! Is anybody still around?

    (I am not actually in Baltimore, FYI. I couldn't figure out how to only display the state name and I didn't want to use my actual town)

  • star2017
    star2017 Member Posts: 370
    edited January 2022
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    I'm around. Looks like we've had very similar experiences. 😔

  • mocogram
    mocogram Member Posts: 94
    edited January 2022
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    I'm here, in upper MoCo. Sorry you're all here, but nice to meet fellow Marylanders. Galley Slave, I love your profile photo.

  • parakeetsrule
    parakeetsrule Member Posts: 605
    edited January 2022
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    It looks like several of you are near me! I don't plan to emerge from my hermit cave until this omicron wave is over, but after that it would be fun to have a local group of people to do things with, especially the other Stage IV folks. I follow a British lady on Instagram who was Stage IV de novo and she has a crew of cancer friends who do silly things like dress up as Disney princesses while they're doing infusions, fly to Lapland to visit Santa Claus and meet reindeer, plus stuff like tasting caviar, petting a llama, and other things they've always wanted to do but never got around to before cancer. She calls it her "living list". And basically...I want to do that too!

  • reader425
    reader425 Member Posts: 845
    edited January 2022
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    I'm here in Maryland also. Nice to virtually meet you, sorry we're all here blah blah 😉 Encouraging to see on the profiles the names of meds that didn't exist a few years ago.

  • GalleySlave
    GalleySlave Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2022
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    MoCoGram- that’s our sailboat that we keep on the Chesapeake in Dealer. Maybe one warm summer day DH and I can take all you BC sisters out on a sail. In the meantime, we just have to stay warm and stay health.


  • jfloyd3619
    jfloyd3619 Member Posts: 5
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    I am here in Annapolis

    Would loveto talk with someone locally ...I am going for surgery on Monday, May 8...triple positive which is very scary. Being treated at university of Maryland

  • melbo
    melbo Member Posts: 266
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    this thread has never been particularly active, so you might try jumping into (or starting) a triple positive thread. I was treated at the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis in the summer of 2020, and I never saw this thread at that point. Other threads in this forum were a lifeline to me though — particularly the chemo thread from July 2020 — since I knew I could come here and find input or advice whenever I needed.

    Feel free to PM me if you like though.


    - Melissa

  • casey714
    casey714 Member Posts: 10
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    Hi! I am new to this site and although I saw that the Maryland thread is older, I am very interested in connecting with my local community. I was diagnosed with MBC in April. I am in North Potomac and very interested in walking, talking, coffee???

  • moderators
    moderators Posts: 7,918
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    @casey714 - Welcome to the community! We're so glad you found us and this particular thread! While the Maryland thread may be a bit old, we hope bumping it leads to great connections with others in your local area. In the meantime, feel free to explore other categories and discussions, ask questions, and share more about you and your diagnosis/treatment. Many here have walked similar paths and are ready to offer support and understanding.

    Thank you for posting, and we look forward to getting to know you better!

    The Mods