My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer

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Comments

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,408

    Tanya - So glad you had such a good family visit. Everyone looks so happy in the photo!

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Shana, I definitely understand the desire to skip appointments that I have and I have done so. The problem is being generic when the nurse is asking about symptoms. I usually stick to the big D in order to avoid them thinking I am having trouble. I am glad you are able to get out as well.

    Cookie, you are right, that vacuum sucks up more water than I can believe. I do have draino but since I can vacuum and put water elsewhere, I can put up with the slow drain, it always clears by morning. Can use it the hose to vacuum up the cat area as well. I am happy with the purchase, looking for space to keep it.

    Snow drop, I am so sorry that you are suffering abdoment pain, I am also glad you are seeing someone on Monday. In your pocket sending support. I also miss Sondra as well.

    Well, yesterday when trying for McDonalds, did accidentally order Burger King, cannot say it was the best, just kind of meh, planning to use up the burger in different ways, combine beef with beefless ground, scrape buns to use as garlic bread too. Mix beef and cheese with the chipotle beans. Need to open another can of something to eat as well to combine. Oh well, will work through it. Also work on eating up and not duplicating food purchases that are not necessary.

    First meal contained a bit of a Burger king cheese burger, beefless ground, green beans, cheese and the chipotle beans. I did heat up pan, sprayed with canola spray and melted some butter once heated. Dumped all ingredients, no need for chopping. Just stirred all ingrdients in and then turned off heat, covered with lid. Once cooled, put in a big bowl, add some queso, TB chipotle, steak seasoning, sour cream and onion powder, salt and lastly a good squeeze of the Great Value sour cream and lime creamy stuff. Stirred everything in. Cheese was great because it does not go down easy without being cheesy ha ha. It really was delicious and nice not to feel the need to chop.

    I have been sitting around some and that is fine, did realize that the water slowly drained out of the tub on its own. That is nice to see. Still debating where to keep the shop vac. My honest opinion is just to prop it between the washers and edge of tub. If there is no need to use it, make room on top shelf of my linen closet if it will fit. I will see no rush about that.

    I do hope all have a good day, in pockets for everyone who needs me.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Tanya, I love the family photo as well, that is great.

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,408

    Mara - Do your apartment managers have maintenance people that can work your drain problem? It doesn't seem like you should have to be doing all of that on your own.

  • shanagirl
    shanagirl Posts: 559

    @tanya_djamila Wow what a beautiful picture you shared with us. It looks like you all have been having a wonderful visit with each other. That’s what family is all about. Especially with lots of laughing.🥰

    @snow-drop I’m hoping your abdominal pain subsides and is nothing more than annoying side effects . Yes I do get how you are feeling with th loss of Sondra.I’ve been feeling so sad too. My condolences to Andrea and her family.🌹

    @mara51506 . I’ m thinking in the same thing that @threetree is. it seems you are faced with tackling a lot physically for something your apartment managers should be doing or you with their maintenance people. Just a thought. Today I am feeling so tired andI can’t imagine having to do that extra inconvenient work.🩵

  • cookie54
    cookie54 Posts: 1,220

    @snow-drop Sorry you're struggling with abd pain. I hope you get an answer tomorrow and relief soon. Thanks for taking the time to post, Happy Heavenly Birthday Alexa, fly high sweet gal💝

    @tanya_djamila What a beautiful family picture! Longwood Gardens is a beautiful place , I haven't been there in years. Glad you all got to enjoy it together.

    Well covid roaming around again, I know of several people who have it and now my son. Hoping DH and I can avoid it, fingers crossed. DH and I decided to opt out of my mil birthday brunch today. We didn't want to spread any potential virus to our family. Hope everyone had a good day today. Sending good vibes for all appointments this week.💕

  • intolight
    intolight Posts: 2,832

    Tanya, you have a lovely family. What an amazing gathering!

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    The drain is working sufficiently well, the vacuuming I have done has it draining much better so will not need to mention that again, I really appreciate the concern from people. The vacuum itself will be useful in more than just clearing a drain too and found a home for it and the parts not in use. Good powerful vacuum if there is a large mess or dirt to tackle, better suction than my old dyson used to have.

    Got three machines going, two in tub and a smaller washer going, did not get much laundry done so finishing this morning.

    Need to pick up a prescription, either taking the bus OR walking, be a good chance to utilize all the cooling gear, take small knapsack with the water. If not today, tomorrow then. Still want to break down boxes for the garbage and recycle this week. Most likely do the bus route since I do not actually get much walking time in. Difference is I get a transfer so will pay one ride for two trips.

    Meals will be combining the rest of the Burger King purchase I accidentally got the other day, just make garlic bread out of the scraped buns. Add eggs and chipotle beans to the burger and beefless ground mix. I do have to say the chipotle beans were the best flavour for me to discover and there are other beans to have. I also may take a trip to the mall to go to Walmart and look into the gordita crunch wrap packages and some chicken hot dogs which are inexpensive and easy to prepare.

    First meal will include a burger and some chipotle beans. Garlic bread on one of the buns, probably add cheese which will be toasted in the breville, figure out seasonings for that one. Also look through pantry to throw together. I have a larger than usual grocery budget but do not need much stuff so will sit on it for now and avoid unnecessary duplicates. I will see later.

    I do hope everyone has a good day and in pockets for all. I have been enjoying the robot vac here in the living room, works pretty well, so in own pocket to keep up with the housework.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161
    edited June 3

    Edit about lunch, was starving, almost ordered fast food but cancelled the order. I was starving so just made some garlic buns and oh boy, those were delicious. I will have some real food tonight, I pulled out rest of the rotisserie chicken from Costco yesterday so will be generous with the chicken and beefless ground and of course chipotle beans. I just love them.

    Supper was not great, all the ingredients should have made for a good supper but was not in love with it. Thinking the problem was both the chicken and putting tortilla chips in the mix. The other seasoning, chipotle beans were fine but the chicken made it taste meh at best. Going to dispose of the rest of the chicken in the garbage, get rid of kale and spinach as well. Stick to the chipotle, rice, egg and cheese sort of stuff. Keep chips as a straight up snack, queso is fine, chipotle cream and sour cream and lime are yummy additions as well. Oh well, cannot win them all.

    My wet dry vac is assembled and is sitting beside my bed in the bedroom. I wanted my bathroom to resemble how it was before all the stuff in there. I really am happy with the wet dry vac but also glad that I found a home for the machine, just need to put other tools away as well.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Well, had a decent sleep last night and just getting a start to my day.

    Robot vac doing its thing in the living room, cats have gone AWOL. Got some boxes to break down as well, there is a lot to take out on Thursday since I skipped last week.

    Finishing up spinning laundry from yesterday, not too much today so if I wash, probably use a smaller one. I will see what I wish to do.

    I have come to a food crisis in that found some food I do not like to eat like the kale and not sure about the spinach, not a big salad person. Need to eat more beans and rice type stuff. Eggs can be done in conjunction with a meat pie. Also feeling like having a burger and bun are a bit overwhelming too. I am probably going to throw a sprayed bowl with two eggs, grind up left over burger patty from Burger king and throw that in and have the bun with garlic as that was quite good. I think I will use more lentil along with the chipotle beans, beef up the amount.

    Got a prescription delivery coming, just my tegretol. I am always amazed the pharmacy recognizes me and remembers the two prescriptions I get.

    Once the deliveries happen, will get dressed and put on the heating gear to take a walk around the block. Supposed to be fairly warm but will put the evaporative head band cooler under my wig, got the neck fan and another evaporative towel going around my wrist. Bring water of course and the wide brim hat but would like to build up some heat tolerance as some of our temps will feel into the mid 90s. Oh well, almost officially summer and we are humid.Better hot than snowy. When it comes to appointments at the hospital, Paratransit all the way.

    I do hope everyone has a good day, I am in pockets for all who need me. In my own pocket to actually do a walk around the block.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Edit to meal, I did have a good lunch, chopped up chicken that was in the fridge, 1/4 cup white rice and put both in a hot frypan, sprayed with cooking spray, no butter. Added queso for everything to heat up in. Let it go at Shigh temp, stirred around and shut off burner, put a lid on and let cool. Added some actual sour cream, sour cream and onion seasoning and some salt. Nothing to make it crispy, just the rice chicken and seasoning and to be honest, I enjoyed that meal a lot.

    Supper will be a couple of eggs with a meat pie and some more chopped chicken, microwave about 4 mins and have some caesar dressing, three cheese seasoning I have and another seasoning as well.

  • cookie54
    cookie54 Posts: 1,220

    @mara51506 Warming up down this way also, humidity is on the way. Agree I will take heat any day over snow and ice. Hope you got out for your walk, I went for an evening walk and the weather was perfect.Your meals sounded pretty easy and delicious. I don't mind cooking but it's deciding what to make. Picky eaters in my house plus the low salt diet for DH can be challenging.

    Hi to all here hope it was a good day and a restful night. .

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,408

    Still dealing with this shingles business. It's a mixed bag. I can have good days, think it's all behind me and go for a nice long walk, and then I wind up wiped out and feeling like I have the flu again. I'm learning that what we generally hear about shingles (the rash, blisters, pain, etc.) is only part of the picture. On top of that you can get general flu like symptoms and a whole lot of fatigue. Body aches, nausea, other digestive problems, and crazy fatigue. It comes and goes, but doesn't seem to want to permanently leave yet.

    I'm going in to get my Faslodex shots tomorrow and am not looking forward to it. I asked them if they really wanted me there, due to the shingles, but they say I'm not contagious anymore, since the rash is fading. They don't seem to care about anything else, e.g. fatigue and aches, etc., so I guess I'm going. I'm afraid the shots will just wipe me out "extra" since I'm still dealing with some shingles symptoms too. Oh well.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161
    edited June 4

    Cookie, debating a ride to Walmart after 6 for the free bus ride, stay out of the heat of the day. Even with cooling items, that could be hard on me, I will see. If out in the afternoon, need to do short walks, no real reason need to do long ones.

    Woke up late, very warm, not too humid. Lots of fans in the house which is nice.

    Bought myself a box of 36 hershey chocolate almond bars which is fine by me. Planning to eat one bar a day, take a bite and save it for later in the day. Was going to put together a shop from Walmart, will eat first and do an inventory of what I would like to have. I will see about it later as the fridge is full of kale, spinach and meat pies with a garlic pizza and I tend to overdo frozen stuff.

    Laundry under way, over estimated size and the big machine was struggling, took the towel out and will complete first load and then the towel. Give a few hours in between. Use the repaired washer for other stuff if need be.

    Today is super duper warm, almost hot, bout 90 right now but that is OK. House not feeling too hot currently since I have fans in the living room and air conditioned air blowing out with fans toward the living room. The split AC generally gives pretty decent ventilation too but my own window AC in bedroom is the best.

    Not sure what to have, got some spicy rigatoni frozen noodles to have , was thinking to add some chopped chicken and cale, bit of cheese and possibly an egg, heat for 5 or 6 mins on high in the microwave, put together in bowl with sour cream, cheese packet or taco seasoning with chipotle. I will see. Post later what I decide on. Option two still features the frozen noodles but add a mini pot pie, egg and kale mix. Add chicken to either option. It would create two meals at least.

    My lunch turned into chicken, mini pot pie on top of the spicy rigatoni stuff. Added sour cream, little caesar dressing, little mayo and dry seasonings of italian, salt and sour cream and onion seasoning. Also added 3 cheese seasoning two. It was very good and ate all of it.Not sure what tonight is going to bring.

    I hope everyone has a good day and I am in pockets for everyone who needs me.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Threetree, I am going to say this once, if you feel your treatment will wipe you out further, cancel the appointment. You may not feel you can do that but if you think a reschedule of the Faslodex in the future will assist you, cancel and reschedule. Those doctors do not know how we are feeling at any given time. If you do take it, go to bed after. I prioritize how I am feeling if I feel the need to cancel an appointment. The triage nurse asks a bunch of questions and I make sure I relate it to my BM so they do not panic about my brain. I do not do it often though.

  • intolight
    intolight Posts: 2,832

    Mara, we are still in the mixed Spring/monsoon season here in the Rockies. It is only 46° right now. Woke to heavy fog, but it is lifting finally and will storm this afternoon. It is slowly warming though and will be in the 80s when my son's family get here in two weeks—yay! I would love to get out but will settle for going to PT tomorrow. Therapy does help me although I don't know how much longer I can get it fully paid through Medicare. I need to do more at home to prepare. My last appointment is in July. My progress is based on stamina and balance. I do find I can do a little more around the house now for longer periods of time.

    I am thinking of everyone as you post, especially Threetree as you navigate through your shingles. I still haven't gone for my vaccine yet, but I finally see my new PCP next week and I am hoping to get it then. I could go to the pharmacy for it anytime, but I am procrastinating a bit… I don't want side effects before my son gets here.

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,408

    Mara - I appreciate your comment and am of a similar mindset, actually. They were the ones who originally talked about maybe having to postpone this appointment, but it was because it was possible that I'd be contagious. I'm not feeling so great today at all. Just made a quick drive to nearby store and afterward am feeling kind of lightheaded and worse than I was. Unless I feel even worse tomorrow, I will go ahead and go though, because I kind of want to tell them in person just how bad I feel, and maybe they will get it then and at least not do the shot. I felt similar to this on Monday too, but then felt a lot better yesterday. Woke up this morning a mess again. From what I read about shingles this could all go on for another week, but we shall see.

    Intolight - We still have nights here that can get down to 46, but nothing like that during the day anymore. I totally understand you not wanting to get side effects before your son comes. I too think about getting the vaccine after all this clears up, but I've read that the shot can wipe you out for a good couple of days and that makes me think twice too. I also understand it's good for about 5 years, but not longer. I hope you can continue the PT. I was wondering how that was going, because you are the first and only person I've heard of who was doing cancer specific PT, and that was something new. Well I hope things go well with your new PCP, and that you have a wonderful visit with your son and family!

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161
    edited June 5

    Well, last night was a good sleep even through a good thunderstorm, today is cloudy with possible rain, that is fine.

    Two washers set up with laundry one shirt and another with cloths which both are fine. Short cycles as a still have a spun dry towel to do. Will be breaking down multiple boxes to take out so there is that, the pile of boxes near the closet is ridiculous. Couple bags of garbage to do as well but less of that vs the boxes. I wimped out last week so not allowing another wimp out, just take out the back door. I will also use my smaller garbage with the new lid and lable clearly who it belongs to.

    I did have a weird meal yesterday. Was wanting to finish up a burger I still had and found a mini pizza in the freezer so put the burger on top of the pizza, ate with knife and fork, it was not bad even though it was weird. I am going to toss my kale and spinach, far too big and so rarely use, stick to peppers. Also clearing the freezer of unused stuff including frozen ham slices. Clearing fridge as well to get rid of stuff I do not eat as well. I will stop buying salad stuff because I just plain do not use them and it is a waste of money. Will stick with stuff I like. I do like the taco stuff as well though. Will try the hard shells though more likely use those as a crunch in other meals. Canned stuff works better than frozen for me and stick with beans as the veggie of choice, green beans have turned out to be good even without chopping in a chipotle sort of dish.

    Planning to have beans, lentils and a good amount of rice. I put a lot of garlic salt in the rice and dumped a little cumin. Realized I do not like the cumin, I will cover up with other flavours. Tasted like dirt, should have done some research, still going to throw in eggs, beefless ground and cheese whipped up in the magic bullet, melt butter in the pan and add the rice and egg mixture. Add more seasoning to the meal to drown out any cumin taste or

    I am going to be busy the next couple of weeks, next Monday is an MRI and next Thursday will be the results. Those two appointments are in the afternoon. I am not anxious about either appointment, will be curious to see if the blood pool changes at all. Week after next have a regular MO appointment Monday and Herceptin on Wednesday. Both are at almost noon so will need to scale back bed time a bit and do not want to cancel them.

    I hope everyone has a good day, I am in pockets for all who need me and myself to get all the boxes out, starting to break them down, leave largest box to hold future recycling. Since I am not using the folding buckets, will keep those to act as a sorting station from within the box. Make it look more tidy for me, also am needing to take some of the stuff off the hanger hooks on the closet that I am not using and give it away and finally give.

    My DB has some sort of infection in his eye so no going out tonight. He would probably come to take me out but I do not want him going out AND SIL will keep him from coming as the meds are making him super tired. Poor guy, will text tonight instead.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Edit from previous post, decided to mix a can of lentils, drained the juice and put in a container, mixed in a can of the chipotle beans as well, gives me a lot of choice of stuff to use. No eggs this meal, no cheese either, put the rice and 1/2 cup of the beans and lentil mix, dumped in the pan with the sour cream and lime, and queso as well, stirred and turned off the heat. Waiting for a cool down. Forgot the beefess ground and cheese but that is fine. Not sure about dry seasonings yet.

  • cookie54
    cookie54 Posts: 1,220

    @mara51506 Sounds like you kept yourself pretty busy today. Bummer your DB has an eye infection better not to catch if conjunctivitis. Glad you feel pretty relaxed about next weeks appointments. Sometimes I'm a little anxious and others times I know it's out of my control anyway. Was pretty hot and humid today think we're getting a bit of rain by the weekend. Have a restful night.

  • irishlove
    irishlove Posts: 697

    Hi all. Been a bit busy some days and paying the price other days. Sorry I missed you all and the happenings.

    It will be 3 months to get our windows, even though we paid for them upfront. booooo. Hurricane seasons is upon us and now we have to worry about at least two bad windows. We did go with Andersen, as Consumer Reports rated them the highest. Not that we will be around in 30 years, but nice to pass on to next homeowner and peace of mind in the meantime.

    Planning on Son in law to paint and pressure treat the house this summer. He's had a virus for 4 days. My money is on something he picked up at Disney. DD and DGD staying here while he isolates. We sent soup and salmon and chicken to him.

    Pet scan June 26th. I feel it's been too long. The referral to Gen Surgeon is still a cluster mess. One hand does not know what the other is doing. It's been months, so I started to advocate heavily for myself. Anyone else read or interested in the non-opioid pain med Jourvernex (sp?). New to market, not sure of insurance coverage and efficacy. But interested in the product so that I can return to low dose naltroxone. That was off label for MS and worked brilliantly but can not be used with opioids.

    Mara, I did a random dish of salmon and incorporated black beans, yams, pineapple chunks and wrapped the salmon in havareti cheese. Poured some yam juice and pineapple juice over the dish before baking it. It was so good and healthy and thought of you…

    I tried to duck out on faslodex shots, but the nurse reminded me they want it timed with the Ibrance, so I lost the argument. I can't wait for oral SERD to be approved by all insurances. The nurse did say there could be a drawback to the drug and that is side effects of GI issues.

    Very weary. The therapist picked my spirits up a bit but as you all know living with ongoing pain and the unknown is overwhelming. Think I'll try superglue into the fractured vertebra and see if that fixes what ailes me. lol

    I'm in pockets for all the sweet people here, my second family. If I didn't mention your name it was not based on anything other than "My brain, she are no good". Or as my 11 granddaughter said when I asked her Papa's age, "Too old to explain" should be written on a T-shirt for him (he'll be 79 soon). LOL

    Laurel

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,161

    Irish, I am sorry the windows are taking a long time but dinner sounds delicious. In pockets for pain and SE of the drugs. Superglue on the fractured vertebrae sounds like a decent option too. Please rest as well and in your pocket lending support and energy. I honestly forget to mention everyone too and I do not mean to do that. I am sure everyone knows we read and support others.

    I slept pretty well last night which is good. Got most boxes out and 3 bags of long awaited garbage too and did not wimp out which is good. I threw out the kale and spinach as they were taking up space and they were not being eaten. If I get greens again, will not be from Costco, Too much for me. I left the peppers and potatoes. Also disposed of the cumin, I was unable to disguise the taste of it. Other stuff I disposed of was just food that was out of date.

    I will be doing laundry today, not sure which washers I want to use, can use the larger or smaller ones, whatever I feel like. The smaller ones do a credible job and were 20 bucks. I also use them as extra sinks for soaking dishes too if the main kitchen sink is tied up. I will see about all that.

    Decided to have a messy first meal, took a lot of lentils and chipotle beans. Sprayed frypan, heated to high and added some canned chicken, dumped juice in the pan, dumped the lentils and chipotle and added sour cream and lime and chipotle. No cheese this time because I forgot. After putting into a bowl, added sour cream and onion chips and some tortilla chips, all crunched for some crun. Pretty decent if not spicy dish. I am full

    Other than that, got tv on to watch golden retriever videos and get paid for ads, playing mobile games to add money to get free beans or toward groceries.

    Hoping everyone has a good day, in pockets for all who need me as well.

  • cookie54
    cookie54 Posts: 1,220

    @irishlove Hi there, it's good to see ya. Bummer for sure about the delay on getting the windows in. Fingers crossed for a quiet hurricane season for you this year. Chronic pain can really wear you down and you have and had more than your share. I hope you get a fire under somebody's butt to get things rolling with surgeon and managing your pain better. Love your GD's comment, out of the mouth of babes. I'm sure you had a good chuckle with that comment, love it. I'm typing and watching our Phil's hope they get the win tonight!

  • chicagoan
    chicagoan Posts: 1,383

    @goldensrbest What a shock! Very glad that you have "helicopter" internist that got you in so quickly and had a great surgeon as well. Could have been a much different result if it was a doctor who pooh-poohed your concerns. Hope you won't have to be in the hospital for too long but I'm glad that you are getting the care you need. Wishing you a pleasant day of healing.

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,408

    Oh Goldens - What an ordeal and thank goodness for your surgeon! Sounds like things are well under control now and that you are on the mend. Wishing you all the best and a very speedy recovery.

  • intolight
    intolight Posts: 2,832

    Goldens, so sorry you are in the hospital but like the others I am thankful for your internist. Hopefully you will recover quickly.

  • eleanora
    eleanora Posts: 472

    @goldensrbest

    Yikes! and Ouch! Quite an ordeal you've had this week, but so glad for your helicopter doc and amazing surgeon. Hope you're able to go home soon, and that in the meantime someone brings you treats.

    Sending virtual cinnamon buns and foot rubs 😉

    Eleanora

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