My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
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Welcome to the thread Kitty Kat and for the helpful information you gave. Hope you visit often.
Good afternoon to everyone here. Just got back from a grocery shop with heavier items than I intended. Not too far a walk but certainly was slower walking home as I felt like I was pulled backwards with. It was comical. On the good side, I picked up visa gift cards for everyone. I did not know what to get people, especially since stores are possibly closing down. I did not want them strapped to Amazon or anything, they can all choose what they want. Just have to stop at Dollarama to get cards and put the stuff in the gift box I already have. Even though malls are open, I have no desire to stand in line to enter and no idea what I would get people anyway.
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Mara, I think gift cards are a smart gift. Maybe not as personal as something you picked out, but it’s very hard to know if what you choose is really going to be enjoyed. When I was teaching I loved getting gift cards from families as Christmas gifts. The most common ones were Starbucks and Panera.
DH and I wrote checks for our adult kids and followed parents’ suggestions for the grandkids. The two youngest grandkids are getting Target gift cards because their mom couldn’t think of anything and figured they’d have some fun shopping for themselves. I had very little shopping to do, which is fine with me. DH gave me a few ideas that were available online, and I did the same for him. (We passed by our nearest mall last week and there were tons of cars there, so I guess some still want to shop in person.)Kittykat, Welcome, and glad your ONJ is improving. It sounds painful
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Kittykat,
Thank you for responding. There are so many issues shared on this thread, and it’s so helpful to understand what others have been through (or are going through) so we can learn from and support each other. ONJ sounds just awful, and I’m glad you have recovered. Like others have said, welcome. Glad to have you join us.
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Good morning, well it is here in sunny Perth, heading for 90 today, thanks everyone for your lovely welcome. I've been on this roller-coaster ride of much for a bit over 3yrs now and I've just started my 3rd line of treatment, I started on Ribociclib and letrozole, then on to xeloda and now I'm on affinitor and exemestane which seems to be doing its thing as my tumor markers continue to drop every 2 weeks and we are going to do a petscan again at the end of Feb to see if those pesky lesions on my lung are shrinking. I feel pretty good overall thank goodness, I feel for all of you who aren't doing so well, hopefully your teams can find a middle ground for you all.Like Candy and Mara I live alone but we are so lucky here as we haven't had any community spread for around 8 months so apart from hand washing and keeping 3ft apart life has pretty much gone back to normal. I feel so bad for you all not being able to see your friends and family for Xmas. Well enough about me, this is my darling grandson Finn playing on the beach which is literally just out my back gate. And these guys are Savannah, Jacob and Anthony, my daughter's kids. Last one, I promise, these are my son's 3, James, Claire and Amy. Have as peaceful a weekend as you all can, love from Kat.xxx
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Hi, Kat. What a beautiful family you have. I’m so glad things are good where you are. It’s always nice to hear things are pretty normal. It gives hope that we’ll get there.
That’s wonderful news about your tumor markers. I hope they keep going down for you
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Good the hear something like normal Kat!
Not a great day here in the UK.. Christmas has effectively been cancelled. The devolved governments have tightened restrictions to the point that for the next several weeks we are pretty much in lockdown. Not an issue for me personally, as always thought we should be tighter with this thing, although we should always be able to get outside.
What pisses me off is that those of us with limited time life wise can't do the things which make us happy and I do have issues with those who think they can do what they like despite the rules and so put the rest of us at risk 😡.0 -
I'm really glad to be living down here, we really are quite fortunate. I hope things start to improve for all of you, I get what you mean about wasting what time we have left, I was 2days away from booking my dream holiday to Europe when covidhit, I'm just glad I ddnt lose any money like so many others did.
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I have a question, and I’m not sure where to put it. My other brother got his biopsy results. He has renal cell carcinoma. So we have two of us siblings with breast cancer (one female, one male), and one with renal cell carcinoma. Anybody else have this combo in their family tree?
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Beautiful family photos.
Karen, I understand the frustration with people not gathering. This pandemic will never end if people won't follow rules
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Kittykat, Hi and thank you for relating your experience with ONJ. My oral surgeon ground my bone down and then cut tissue to pull over it. I had a few stitches that dissolved on their own but the tissue didn't heal so now I have "dents" in my gum with bone under them so I can't feel the bone to wiggle it. On the bottom the bone was also ground down. I wonder if it would have been better to just leave it alone. This started in Oct. so it has been 2 mos. with no improvement. I do use the mouth wash. Thank you again for your input. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone! You have a lovely family!
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KBL...Both of my sisters had cancer, one breast and one thyroid. My father has had prostate and breast cancer. Then there is me. Genetic testing shows nothing.
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Thank you for responding, dutchiris. It’s just a mystery how there is no genetic link, I guess. I’m sorry you’ve dealt with this with your family as well.
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Mel ‐ thanks for the snow pics!
Mara - yay for NEAD
Mae - pocket duty for cardiologist on Monday. It's great they fit you in so fast.
Candy in your pocket for scans/MO appt on Monday. You are so organized with your cards for different scenarios.
And Moth! Decision chart?! You go, girl!! You and Candy are both so proactive - I never would have thought of that. The best I do is put notes/questions in a checklist on my tablet. I check each topic off as we cover it and and then try to add responses while I'm still in the office. (And I thought 'I' was organized, lol) you've given me food for thought.
Goldens yay for your dh's vaccine - I bet that makes you feel safer.
Welcome Kittykat - lovely pics of your family on the beach (nice to have that right out your back gate)
Karen - I'm so sorry about your Christmas lockdown. I also feel like I'd like to get to living, not just hanging around...waiting.
I have my MO appt on Monday. It should be routine bloodwork and a quick chat. I'm expecting scans shortly before my January appt, unless something is really wonky in my bloodwork this month.
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KittyKat -
Welcome to this wonderful group! What lovely grandkids - having them is the best thing in life! My almost 4 year old granddaughter asks me every time we FaceTime when I’m coming to her house. With any luck, we will go for New Years weekend. 9 yr old grandson tested positive for COVID (but asymptomatic) after he and his brother were exposed to the family behind them. So they are on quarantine until the 31st and assuming no one else tests positive, my MO says go. Fingers crossed.
Anyone want me to bring wine and cheese for pocket duty? Being in Wisconsin, we have the best 🧀
Wishing all a peaceful week.
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Hello all.
Reading along.
Welcome KittyKat. Great pictures.
Karen I heard on the news yesterday about the lockdown in the UK. Said a mutated strain of Covid is now going around. Wow. Will we ever get out from under Covid??!! I bet we get a vaccine and then it mutates to the point we need another vaccine. Seems this virus is hell bent on taking over the world.
Wow, KBL so sorry for your news. I was the first in my family with cancer. Our history is heart disease. After I was diagnosed, my younger sister was diagnosed with Breast cancer-- but thank goodness Stage 1. Lumpectomy and radiation and now on tamoxfen. She is totally fine now and living her life.
moth- Decision chart?? What does that look like?? I just jotted down questions on 3X5 cards labeled "No progression" and "Progression".
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Goldens,
Yes to the wine and cheese. I just ordered some Wisconsin cheese and sausage for my Mother’s best friend. We’ve known her all our lives (she’s in her late 80’s), and I wanted to remember her on Christmas. I think my Mother would be pleased that we are still in contact with her.
Kittykat,
How blessed to have such a wonderful family. I can see the love you have for your grandkids coming through in your pictures.
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KBL, My MIL was the oldest of 5 children. One of her sisters had breast cancer. Another sister had renal cell carcinoma. The sister with RCC had no children, so no one to inherit the “tendency”. The sister who had BC had a daughter who was diagnosed with RCC last year. My MIL will be 102 years old next month and has not had cancer, but her son, my DH, had RCC. Her other son, my BIL, died from pancreatic cancer last February. When my DH was diagnosed 5 years ago, he was told that there was no genetic link, but his sister is being monitored anyway.This is different from your history, of course, but I decided to post anyway. I am sorry you and your family are experiencing so much.
Hugs and prayers from, Lynne
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Thank you everyone, I'm so blessed to have them all. I'm the 3rd in my family to have cancer, my dad passed from lung cancer at age 59, I was only 22, then my sister had very aggressive lymphoma that took her from us 6 weeks after being diagnosed at age 66 and now me with mbc, the first with breastcancer, so I can totally relate to you KBL with so much cancer but no genetic link in common.
Lee, I'm sorry you're having a hard time with onj, I really hope it settles down for you sooner rather than later. I'm up for pocket duty , I made a huge batch of salted caramel fudge for all my bingo ladies so I'll bring along what's left.
Little Finn turns 6 on xmas eve so we are taking him to the zoo for his birthday, then home for cake and presents and I will stay over for Xmas the next morning. The rest are in another state so we will have a big facetime meeting with everyone on xmas day and I will try to get a flight back east for a visit in January.
I'm rattling on, its so nice to finally have got the courage to say hello. Thanks Mel for making this a home away from home for so many of us who are in need of a safe place to chill with people who can understand exactly what we need. Well its pretty late here, I'm going to try and get some sleep, I'm babysitting Finn in the morning, have the best day you all can, love Kat.
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Welcome kittykat 😁
Goldens, my BFF lives in WI and I love curds and bread cheese. We went to the Dells last year, which was pretty fun.
I’ve been having abdominal pain for a couple days. It started after I cleaned the bathtub, lots of bending and reaching but the pain moved to my back ribs and kept me up and in a lot of pain last night. DH is taking me to the ER soon for an X-ray to check for a possible fracture and get pain meds. With good scans last Monday, I doubt it’s anything cancer related but I just can’t handle the pain and lack of sleep.
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KBL,
Re family tendencies towards cancer, yet no genetic link discovered yet, here's my family's story. On my mother's side, no cancer that I know. On my father's side, one Aunt with BC (in her early 70s); one aunt with lung cancer (she was a smoker); one aunt with brain cancer (relatively young); my father had prostate cancer (but died of Parkinson's complications); my brother died of liver cancer; my paternal grandmother, who died in 1922, had some sort of cancer that spread "they think" but of course, no one really knows. My daughter was diagnosed last year with melanoma (which I've also had, in addition to BC).
So I'm with you -- there's got to be a lot of stuff they don't understand here. We talk about the cancer risk on my father's side a lot, which, when I was first diagnosed in 2003, was completely discounted, because at that time the medical field felt that it was inherited from the mother's side. My mother's side was long lived and pretty healthy -- my mom passed at 92 when her body just gave out; her sister at 94 for the same reason. My maternal grandmother passed in her late 70s from complications of Alzheimers.
It's definitely an unsolved puzzle, that's for sure.
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Mae,
Thinking good thoughts. Hope you get the pain under control.
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Mae, oh that sounds horrible. Hope the ER docs get you fixed up quickly and you're home catching up on sleep asap
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Kittykat thanks for sharing the beautiful family pics.
Mae sorry about the back pain. I hope you’re comfortable with good meds now.
Went to a funeral for one of our MBC sisters. I didn’t know her well she reached out to me a few weeks ago through a mutual friend. Our funerals are outside so I drove and stayed a safe distance away. It was drizzling, Prayed for her and sat in my car and listened to the sounds of scraping shovels.
I’m in for pocket duty tomorrow candy.
Tanya
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Thank you all for your stories. I hate to say it, but it really is nice to know I'm not alone in this. I don't wish this on anyone. You have given me comfort.
Mae, I'm so sorry. I hope you feel better soon.
Candy, still in your pocket. I also have heart disease in the family in my mother's side. That's actually what I thought I would end up with. The one brother who doesn't have cancer got the heart disease. Go figure.
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Tanya,
Sorry about your friend who passed. Between cancer and COVID, it has been one ugly year. Bless you for sitting in your car and thinking of her.
Mae,
I hope you are ok. Please post when you have found the source of your pain. So sorry, girl. You don’t need anything new, especially if pain is involved.
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Back home with meds and ready for a nap. X-ray and bloodwork were both good, so the likely cause of my muscle pain was some overzealous bathtub cleaning using abdominal and back muscles that hadn’t been used all year since I spent so much time weak from surgery recovery and starvation.
Rest for the next few days and stretching before any future activity.
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Mae- Rest up my friend.
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Mae, I'm glad it's from being overzealous and nothing serious, rest and relax and enjoy that lovely view.
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European borders, ports, and trains shut tonight over here, for 48 hours while the EU figure out what is up with this "new strain" of Covid. Freight and food supply chains to be impacted as the trucks will not be allowed into France from the UK, so they aren't going to risk coming over in the first place to get stuck. I can't wait to see the pictures of the grocery stores tomorrow. The days before Christmas are crazy enough in normal times, people are going to go absolutely nuts with the panic buying.
Really glad I got the cat food/litter and a back up non-perishables delivery (toilet paper,canned tomatoes, etc) last week, and ordered meat for delivery, which appeared today. Still need to get fresh stuff and a few random things like a small roasting pan and parchment paper, so will try to do that really late (like, 11 pm) on Wednesday evening. An extra challenge! In the meantime I shall bake cookies and finish decorating the tree.
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Tanya, I’m sorry about your friend.
Sondra, so sorry for your situation. I hope it eases up soon.
Hi, Mel. Thinking of you today.
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