My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
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Well Mel, the lightheaded feeling is gone thankfully. The feeling of having eaten too much is still there but slowly going away. I am going to maintain what I eat in much smaller portions so I do not have to walk all day long. I am going to hold myself accountable for the amount I am eating and correct it. Not going to stop beans, spinach and cheese since I don't often get lightheaded. Just going to exericise 20 mins at a time every day. I hope your appetite picks up enough to help with fatigue. It is no better to swing the other way either. Good luck and again, great job on all the stuff you did yesterday without a nap.
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Hi all. Been away for a bit which means I am behind in my reading, as always. Mel, hope the cleaned up son keeps it that way. Perehaps a gentle reminder that if it becomes a mess again, relocation will be your only tolerable option. His relocation, along with his junk! It's a big job and I always feel tired yet invigorated after something like that.
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Hello all.
Cross posting with liver mets.
Had my new biopsy this morning plus a microwave ablation of new lesion found in early September MRI. Lesion was only 1.2 cm, so they were worried they wouldn't be able to see it under microwave guidance. Took a bit to find it, and involved a fellow at my institutionalization plus the actual interventional radiologist. Went very smoothly, and I'm now home resting.
Fingers crossed that this tamps down any further liver stuff for a while. Napping on and off today -- gotta love those sedation drugs!
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BevJen- I posted to you on the Liver Met Thread. I posted a question for you on the Liver Thread, but then I read your above post and it answered my question!!! Take care.
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BevJen I’m glad it was easy for you. Sounds like you had a great team. Rest up with the good anesthesia.
Waving hello to all
Tanya
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BevJen, glad to hear that the ablation was easy for you. Rest up and am also hoping it reduces activity in your liver.
Waving right back at you Tanya.
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BevJen,
So glad you are through with biopsy and ablation. Rest, my friend, and don’t feel one bit guilty about it. I’m praying for no more liver mets!
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Bev Jen~I am glad it's all over and I hope you're resting comfortably. Take your time and rest I'm sure they said that about bleeding. I've had a full liver resection. They wanted to check the entire liver while they were in there. I had a tumor that was the size of a pencil head. They were like out right now. Been gone ever since. Thank goodness.
I am having a mystery shoulder pain all of a sudden. Who knows. It's always something. Does anyone ever just get a pain in your muscle for a week and then it goes away? I swear its side effects of the anti hormonals, my bones feel 90 sometimes. It's even difficult for me to Get down on the floor, it take time to get back up. Four years ago I was running 6 miles in an hr. I was in tip top shape. Now I cant even hop. I can fall down though. The chemo kicks your ass. Neuropathy is a bitch.
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Mel- Yep. Mystery pains all the time. Comes and goes. And getting down on floor, haha. Have to get on all 4's and struggle to get up. My cat thinks I am crazy. I have aged 30 years the past 3 years. Gotta love it.
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BevJen, so glad everything went well. I hope you are all rested. I agree, the anesthesia drugs are awesome.
I get down on the floor all the time with my grandson. Every time I go to get back up, I too have to get on all fours and grunt and groan as I’m trying to stand back up. My knees don’t hurt just normally, but if I bend them for any length of time, it’s game on.
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Mel, me too on the mystery pains! I find myself trying to guess what’s going on but I have no ideas other than Letrozole and possibly arthritis. Not exactly fun.
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I have to use my yoga mat to put my knees on. Sometimes that means scooching over on my butt to get the yoga mat. I can get up eventually but it is a real struggle. If I fall outdoors, I require help up from others. Last time was in February though I no longer drag my right foot which caused the trip. I should probably force myself to learn to get up as a practical thing.
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Did have a nice evening out with DB and SIL. Just went for a drive after picking up some drinks at a restaurant drivethrough. Went to the northernmost part of the city and then came back to my end of town for some extra groceries. Nice to have had the help, picked up a few extra beans and lots of vinegar. Never would have been able to haul that amount home.
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Morning all.
Well my region of my State has further Covid restrictions starting Thursday. We are at over 9% positivity. So bars closing early (doesn't matter to me, I don't drink). Restaurants cannot do indoor dining. Limit gatherings to 25 people. We will be in this mitigation until numbers go down. If we get worse, we will have other restrictions. I still have my appointment for the mastectomy fitter this week. But I hope we can distance some--- hand me the items and let me try on by myself. I am going to ask to do it that way. Haven't made hair cut appointment yet. Shall see.
Not much going on today--- at home.
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Cloudy and 10C here - my kind of weather
I might do a bit of gardening. We have a huge perennial front garden that needs to be cut down and put to bed for the winter. I figure if I tackle bits at a time, it would be a good functional exercises type of thing. My fitbit confimed that last week I was a couch slug..the fatigue by 3rd week of chemo really kicks in. I'm really hoping for more get up and go this week. Still finishing up Christmas shopping. Yikes. I keep thinking I don't have enough presents, then probably getting too much (we really scaled it down several years ago so it shouldn't be a lot but still. A book, something to wear, a splurge item, a funny thing...) and over it all is this weary thought bubble 'is this the last? Will this be what they remember me by?'. I sent my parents the photos from our lakeside camping (where we've been going in Aug or Sep for over a decade) and he replied for sure you'll be same place next year. And I wish I had his eternal optimism/denial. Oh ooops now I've made myself cry.
Time to go back to watching distracting stuff and planning the Hallmark extravaganza. I watched one of the fall Hallmarks on the weekend but didn't love it.. I'm also watching The Blacklist. I just started a few weeks ago and am on Season 3. I watch on my laptop so I can go to another tab when it gets gross because every so often it is really gross. But I'm loving the mysteries and the over arching mystery of the characters.
hugs everyone
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Little cloudy here. Not sure if I am going out. Just trying new smaller portions and walking for 15 mins after to rev up the metabolism. I can't have to walk 3 hours a day to maintain my weight or lose some. I have also had a profitable survey day having made 25 USD. Goes a long way to my grocery bill so I am grateful. Love being able to save some money since working is out of the question for me. Done some laundry and later may walk outside later. We will see.
Candy, I am sorry for the restrictions, not just for you but all the people working and trying to make a living. It is up and down. I do know the lockdowns to tend to flatten the curve. We have found that here in my city which is not as bad as other areas of my province. Our numbers have also not been as high as some US states have been either. I just wonder how long it will take my provincial and federal governments to get back to balanced budgets after all is said and done with all the business and employee payouts they needed to make to sustain the country.
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Read on Social Media today that some restaurants in my area are not going to abide by the restrictions. Says they will continue to serve the public and do indoor dining, etc until they see a court order. I know this is hard on businesses, but we need to think about the "why" of the restrictions. The High Risk people, like me, and others that could get deathly ill. This is crazy.
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So sorry you’re going back to more lockdowns, Candy. I really hope it starts to get better where you are. This thing is so hard to deal with on top of everything else.
I have a quick question. I posted a thread but didn’t get any responses, so I deleted it and will ask here. For the first time since starting treatment, my CO2 level is low. Has any else had that and been told it’s nothing to worry about? Who knows what that is now. Normal is 22 and mine is 19.0 -
It is crazy, Candy. Your area's infection rate is concerning at 9%. Rates are rising in my state, but last reported I think was 5.4%. It drives me crazy when I hear people like this Dr. Atlas say older people and people at risk should just stay home while younger people run around and spread the virus! So then he's also saying WE should never be allowed out; that's crazy! We need to live at some point, too. I think with precautions, you'd be ok with just a fitter and alone with your hairdresser. I think getting your hair done will help make you feel better; it did me! My hair cutter works alone in a small salon. She checks temp and asks the usual questions to record for county. It felt so good for her to wash my hair and cut it off. Having said that, my husband was sent home from work today due to a co-worker's wife testing positive. Not sure yet how long this will last. Only you really know what you'll be comfortable doing. Best wishes. Hello to all. Been away and so much to catch up on here!
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KBL- Google "CO2 blood test" and read up on it, but you should ask your doc. They know all your medical history, your other meds, etc and can tell you if it is something that needs to be addressed. I looked and mine is normal.
Bliss- I too have heard people say that if someone is scared of the virus, they should just stay inside and let others keep doing things. But, how would they feel about having to stay inside. Like we are being punished for having something out of our control.
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KBL,
Your CO2 level in the blood is a peek at a moment in time. It fluctuates with how you are breathing and what your kidneys are doing. Hypocapnia (low blood CO2) can occur with something as simple as hyperventilating a bit when you went from your car to the lab. Fortunately, your body adjusts fast by changing how the lung functions and the kidneys react. We don't worry until several other things change with your lab work.
Jane
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Its the same arguments this side of the ocean too - to the word. They just tightened restrictions on Manchester tonight after the mayor took a stand to ask for more money from central government to support the bars and restaurants that have to close. Some people thought he was an ass for doing that, some applauded him. Be interesting to see what happens, if people openly flaunt restrictions or other civil unrest. Lot of particular underlying issues wrapped up in that decision.
More sorting and storing and tossing today but the weather was really nice so it was hard to focus. Its supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I will be getting out the winter clothes boxes and winter coats now that some space has been made from moving summer stuff into storage. Its still warm tonight so about to take a walk - the cats have been in and out all day enjoying the weather too. Made pizza for dinner as a treat as it had been close to a month since we last had it.
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Good afternoon ladies,
Raining today. I wanted to share this covid info, from my friend and bc survivor Jill.
Jilliana Waugaman Mraidi
OStcodtogcSphbers 17o dsonata s1ha1a:mr5gois4uc rPedMec ·
Since COVID19 cases are on the rise once again, I figured I would share my COVID19 experience:
1. First symptoms were: pressure in head, like a sinus infection. Persistent headache. Nighttime coughing fits, which required oxygen most nights. Cold sweats (on and off throughout the days and nights and still occur)
2. A few days in, I developed severe intestinal issues. This went on for about 10 days, which caused difficulty staying hydrated.
3. I never had a fever over 100. I could still smell (but lost taste). So don't assume you don't have it based on those two symptoms that were hyped at the beginning of the pandemic. There are so many mutated variants of Covid19 now, symptoms are a full spectrum of possibilities. It affected my sister much more neurologically.
4. Some days I was able to be more active, some days I could barely stay awake. Although movement is good, as it makes it more difficult for the virus to settle in the lungs, so I tried to not lay on my back for too long. Even if I could only turn from one side to the other, I did it.
5. It comes in waves. Many symptoms occurred primarily at night while others occurred whenever they felt like re-surfacing. There were times I felt well, then bam, it would hit like a brick wall. Then, just when I felt like I wasn't going to make it, it would subside. This cycle continued several times a day, day after day after day. Now, 3 weeks out from diagnosis, I still get headaches and cold sweats. However, it is much more manageable nowadays.
6. Just because 2 weeks have passed by or you get a negative test, doesn't mean the symptoms go away. The virus can terrorize your body for weeks and months after diagnosis. Nobody knows what the long term affects can or will be. I am thankful for having O+ blood type, as two different studies have shown it benefits the patient. Being high risk due to cancer and severe asthma, I thought Covid19 would be a death sentence for me. all praise to God, thankfully it wasn't. I was put on two simultaneous courses of treatment and received injections to open and strengthen my lungs.
I truly believe the treatment and all the prayers from my Muslim, Christian and Jewish friends and family brought me through another health related hardship. In turn, I will keep all of you in my duas/prayers that you may be kept safe and healthy through this next surge that's happening. Stay vigilant everyone!
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That’s some Scary shit. I don’t understand how this even happened. Unreal. Day after day. Now it’s growing again, spreading around all over. I don’t see where it’s going to go. Until everyone has had it But even then they are saying people can contract it twice. Un effing real...
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Tanya,
Thank you SO much for sharing your friend’s info. about the virus. I am so grateful to have real information from someone like us (cancer patient) who not only made it through, but also tells us what to specifically look for. I hope you are doing well. Hope your back pain isn’t too bad. Hugs to you.
Mel, also very sorry to hear about the mystery pain. I mostly have pain in the areas where I have cancer, so it’s maybe worth mentioning to your MO if it gets worse. Hugs to you too.
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Thank you, Candy and jhl. When I looked and the first thing it talks about is hyperventilating, I had to laugh. Nope, that’s not it. I figure I will ask the doc at my next appointment. I’m not concerned enough to call. I was just curious if anyone else has had that happen and what it was from. My lab work is a mishmash of high and low numbers with some normal numbers scattered throughout. Lol. I know medication is causing a lot of this, except my anemia. That’s been with me since way before I started any meds. I wish they could fix that. I’ve had it for two years. It’s not iron related.Thankfully, it’s never gone down to the point of needing a transfusion.
Tanya, I must have missed something. I didn’t know you had COVID. I hope you feel better every day. I am also O+ and have heard we can fare better, but who really knows?
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BevJen - thinking about you, hope you’re recovering well?
Sondra - SO tiring dealing where stuff should go on top of all of this. I suppose take your time and you’ll get there is best.
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Karen --
Thanks for asking. I posted on the liver mets thread (and maybe somewhere else -- don't remember!)
The procedure was yesterday -- actually, two procedures -- first another liver biopsy (last one was May 2019) and then the microwave ablation of the 1.2 cm lesion that showed up on my September MRI. My interventional radiologist had a plan A and a plan B, since they were using sono, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to spot the lesion. At first, they had some trouble, but then he and his fellow figured it out. Did both procedures. Was in and out of the hospital within about 4 1/2 hours, including recovery. Slept well last night, but today feeling a bit sore. Not crazy about oxy, which they gave me, so have been pacing the meds. Will take a full oxy tablet tonight, though, because it helped me to have pain free sleep last night.
So we'll see what they found out. My MO plans to send the biopsy sample to Tempus for another round of genomic testing to see if anything has changed. My IR has ordered a new MRI of my liver in a month to see how everything looks. Glad it's over, and think I made the right decision to move forward with it.
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BooBoo~It’s already gone! It’s so weird. They hop around on me. To different areas. I have four non measurable spots of cancer in my back and one in my sternum. Only one place gives me a constant reminder that it’s there and that is S3. Yikes. Bad placement for sure, so annoying. I start to enjoy something and it’s like the red bladder that followed that lady around in the bladder commercial. If I didn’t have that I’d be way better off with everything. Good with the bad I guess.
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BevJen~ I had some flank pain and some side pain with my biopsy and then my resection. I hope you’re not in too much discomfort. Rest is exactly what you need to heal. Sending gentle hugs.
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