Starting Radiation October 2019
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I got caught in a really bad downpour this morning as I was trying to navigate to the city. Luckily, it lightened up after 15-20 minutes. The roads were flooding--as they usually do in FL. I see one more new house and two that will be second looks tomorrow, then head back home. Even though it was raining most of this weekend, it was nice to get out of DC.
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Kamboka - That leg cramp sounds terrible! I know it can be a SE of the AI's but hopefully it was just because you were dehydrated. No more of those! I read on these boards somewhere that some women put a bar of soap under the sheet and that helps with leg cramps. Not sure why. I'm glad you are enjoying your time in FL. I hope you can find a home today. Have a safe trip back to DC!
Petite! - I'm glad you got your dentist appointment in. My dentist appointment was just pushed off until October but I need to start taking Prolia shots in September (for osteopenia) and because of the SEs, I want to have my dentist go over my teeth carefully to make sure everything is okay. I can't have any major dental work while on it. No extractions or anything more invasive. Do either of you have to be on those type of bone building medications?
I hope you all have a great week! It's going to be a beautiful day here!
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Kamboka, I saw the guy from The Weather channel standing in a flooded street in Jax and hoped you were OK. Are the leg cramps better.
mocame, I just had a cleaning and xrays. Everything was good. Yay. Derm appointment Weds.
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Sunday was the worst of the rainy days but as it's typical for FL, it would downpour and a few minutes later, no rain. It was cloudy most of the time d/t the storm in the Gulf.
I think the cramps were dehydration and overuse of muscles. I loaded up with water in the afternoons and didn't have another attack. About five years ago, I had an epidural that aggravated my nerves which were sensitive d/t having tick disease. I cramped like that for weeks. I was in South Africa and quinine was allowed. It helped. I tried the soap under the bed and I even rubbed my muscles with the soap but it didn't help. I tried mustard, pickle juice, everything I could think of since the pain was horrific. At times, my legs, arms, fingers were all cramping at the same time.
I don't have another bone scan until next year so not sure if I will need the bone building drugs. I'm hoping not. The fewer drugs I have to take the better.
I might be close to getting a house. I decided on Jax since it's closer to the airport and the hospitals. I'm near Mayo and I noted that there is an MD Anderson branch as well. Hope I don't have to use them but they are there.
Glad you got your dental work done petite1. I was supposed to have a crown done in March but will wait till I get to Jax.
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Kamboka - Ugh! That cramping sounds horrible but it sounds like you now have it under control. I'm so glad you think you have found a house and place to live that will work well for you. That's exciting! When would you be making your move south?
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Hi, ladies. I went to the Dermatologist she did a biopsy on a spot left over from radiation that never went away. In fact it is bigger. She said results could take as long as 2 weeks.
I can't wait to hear about the house.
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petite1: I hope the spot is benign. It seems that after my rads, I had more spots everywhere. I went to the dermatologist and he said they were simple moles that look worse than they are. I'll keep my fingers crossed that yours are the same.
If all goes well, I should be able to go down to FL in early August. I have the inspection next week. Now I'm bored since I don't need to house hunt every afternoon. I don't want to see a house that I like better and regret what I've done.
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Petite1 - I hope it comes back benign. I don't have any spots except I have those cherry angiomas all over and I got more of them in the breast area after radiation. Keep us informed!
Kamboka - I hope the inspection goes smoothly and the time between now and your move in goes quickly! How far away will you and Petite1 be?
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mocame, about 3 - 4 hrs. I am in Virginia. The mountains are beautiful and it is cool. I was a nice day. The service is tomorrow.
Kamboks, I drove through Jax (or over it) coming up here, What type of house did you choose? 2 or 3 beds, single family, town house, etc?
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It's hilarious as I am getting a 4 bedroom, 3 bath. Why you may ask? I was looking at other factors like price, location, features and this one had most of what I wanted. I love stucco but this one is brick. If the deal goes through, I'll send a picture of the house. I'm trying to convince my mom to come and live with me. She would have her own side of the house. The owner is leaving the hot tub and my mom loves hot tubs. When I go on vacation in August, I plan to get my mom and we drive down there to get the house set up. I'm hoping she falls in love with it and will come back to stay.
My MO appointment is next Wednesday. They haven't called me to set up a video call so it might be in person. I'll have to call next week to find out. My upper GI procedure has been rescheduled to 6/19. One of my male colleagues at work will pick me up from the hospital. They require a COVID test before so I assume I have to go in Thursday to do the test.
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Kamboka - I hope everything goes smoothly and your mom will love the house! I hope your appointment with your MO goes well and so will your upper GI procedure. Let us know how it goes.
I finally had to call my MO nurse after waiting for over a week for a call back from my MO about how she wants to change my medication. I was supposed to only be on my currently doubled medication for 2 weeks but now it was 4 weeks. My MO nurse called my back and said how they will be weaning me off my current medication for the next 2 weeks and then start the Effexor.
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Hi, ladies. I am home. It was a good trip, but so nice to be home. The weather was good. The nights in the 50's and warming to 80. Mom's service was generic, but now she is next to Dad. I enjoyed seeing the mountains again. We saw deer, a ground hog (I think that was what it was), bunnies, and birds. We stopped at a nature trail, but it was closed. The entrance has beautiful flowers.
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petite1: I'm so glad you have had your memorial service and it seemed like great weather. Where is this flower? In FL or your mom's State?
mocame: What drug are you being weaned off? I hope the Effexor helps with the hot flashes. I hear other people have good luck with it.
I see my MO in the office Wednesday. I have a list of about eitght things I want to talk to her about. I also have to get my blood work that I've put off for three weeks. I got a call today from the other hospital I go to saying I need a COVID test before the procedure on Friday. It's a drive through test place. Funny thing, I don't have a car so I'll look a little silly walking between the cars.
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The Flower was in South Carolina. Any idea what it is? It is fairly large, maybe 5"-6".
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Not sure what that flower is. It reminds me of flowers in hot tropical places that seem to be 10x larger than flowers in most of the USA.
Tomorrow will be rainy and I have to go out to the MO, get labwork and then go to another hospital across town to stand in the car line for my COVID test. Not looking forward to that. I don't think this test can tell you if you ever had COVID, just if you have it now. I know that is negative but curious about if I've ever had it
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petite1: you should post your photo on this thread:
Topic: Share a photo to create a bright moment in someone's day!
(I wasn't sure about doing a link so just pasted the title.) I have done a few but it always makes me feel good to see the lovely photos posted.
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Petite1 - That flower is beautiful and big! I haven't seen anything like that around where I live. I'm glad you trip went well. It sounds like it was very peaceful. Those temperatures sound perfect!
Kamboka - I hope your testing and MO appointment go well and your get all the answers that you need. My husband drives a big box truck for his work and with COVID-19, he can only use the drive-through at the bank and fast food restaurants. He has to park his truck nearby and walk through to get food or do banking. He says he gets quite the looks when he does that. LOL!
My migraine medicine, Amitriptylin, was also being used for the aches and hot flashes. My MO just doubled it. It helped with my aches but not my hot flashes so she wanted to try Effexor. I'm concerned about some of the side effects, though, because it says to not take it if you have high blood pressure. Mine isn't high all the time (I'm on a water pill for it) but it can spike a lot and when I get it checked at dr offices, a lot of times it will run 130s to 140s.
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Hi, Ladies. I have decided it is time to start back to the gym. Not only am I back to pre-cancer weight, I am 2 pounds over it. I will try to post the flower. Thanks
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mocame: I understand how your husband feels. I started out standing behind a car but decided to peek inside the tent to ask about what I needed to do. The health worker was like "don't come inside". I said I had no intentions but just wanted to ask a question. When I said I didn't have a car, he looked at me incredulously and said "you don't have a car?". He asked me to sit outside and they took me to the drive though lane quickly. I must admit that the swab through the nose was horrific. I felt like she was going to the back of my brain. I hope I don't have to do that again.
When I took Amitrypiline on two different occasion, I had bad dreams and stopped. I hope the Effexor will work for you without the BP going up. I guess every drug has some kind of side effects, It's just a matter of what we want to put up with more.
petite1: Our gym is still closed. This would have been a great time to get in shape but no such luck. Now, I'm hearing them say that we don't get COVID from touching things. The story keeps changing.
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Petite1 - We started to have some gyms start to open but not a lot.
Kamboka - The test sounds horrible. Because I work at a retirement community, I will probably have to get tested at some point too. All of our personal and skilled care residents and employees just got tested because our governor made it mandatory. They are expecting it to become mandatory that ALL residents and employees gets tested. Unfortunately, the governor doesn't give you any money to help pay for these tests and because everyone getting tested have no symptoms, Medicare and insurance won't pay for it. It will cost our facility almost $100,000 to test every resident and employee ONE time! Craziness. I hope it comes back negative. How did your MO visit go?
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Good morning, Ladies. The test sounds terrible. One of my friends had to get it pre-op and she said the same thing. I did go to the gym. The staff had on masks. I started with my mask on, after 10 minutes I was out of breath and heart rate up. I took the mask off and was able to continue. They had moved equipment around and people could stay at least 6 feet away from each other. It created a much more open feel. All equipment is wiped down before and after use. I felt safe.
mocame, I think the governor had all residents and staff in nursing home and assisted living facilities tested. I did not contact any of my peers to confirm it. In Florida, the facilities seemed to be the hot spot with except of the southeast. They had all the cruise ship cases.
Kamboka, I could not find the link to post the flower picture.
Eye doctor appointment Friday morning.
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petite1: Try this link: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/164/topics/876195?page=7#idx_198
Those masks get mighty hot. I had to wear it on the plane for two hours and had to have the air vent on high the entire time to try to cool me off.
My test came back negative--which I knew. I am more anxious to get the antibody test to see if I've ever had it.
mocame: you would think the State would pay for all those tests in assisted living and nursing homes since those are the most vulnerable and hot spots. Sometimes, I think we don't value our elderly. Some places the people have to test regularly. I'm not sure how many times I would want to have this test done.
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Good morning, Ladies. I am heading to the eye doctor. My skin biopsy was benign. Yay.
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Congrats on a negative biopsy. Every little bit of good news is great! Since working at home for four months with this little laptop screen, my eye sight has deteriorated. They keep saying it's just a need for reading glasses.
I had my upper GI scope today at a differnt hospital than where I had been going. It was like night and day. They were so professional and nice. it was a good expereince. Everything was negative.
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I see a lot of negative results from you ladies! Yipee! Always great to hear!
Petite1 - It is probably a good thing that you took the mask off when you were exercising because I don't think anyone is supposed to exercise with a mask on? I thought I had heard some kids (in another country) died after running with a mask on. I'm glad your workout went well, though. I HATE to exercise but I feel better when I do it consistently.
Kamboka - I'm glad your covid test came back negative. Is the antibody test just a blood test?
I'm weaning off of my migraine medication before they put me on Effexor. It's been a tough week and that has not helped and maybe contributed to some of it. I'm not sleeping well lately and I'm more emotional and depressed right now and I don't know why even though the world is going crazy. I wasn't like this just a couple weeks ago. Also my cat is very sick and we had to find a vet that would see him today. He won't eat and will only drink a little bit. He has lost almost half his body weight. They did bloodwork and hopefully we will find out next week what is wrong. We now have to force feed him, although he finally ate a small bit of food on his own tonight. It's been a stressful week.
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mocame: Let me first acknowledge what you have shared. What you are describing is very difficult. You are trying to transition off a medication that has some side effects from withdrawal and this "weird" place that this country is in now is causing stress. It is down right depressing. I was discussing this with a colleague and told them that I was more depressed in the last month than I was with my nine months of cancer treatment last year. And you are dealing with your cat's illness. Animals are like family. These are some major stressors. I know that the medication issue will be solved soon, it's just a matter of time. The feelings about what's happening in the world is a bit tougher. I'm trying to have hope that we all can just get along and manage to have talk therapy instead of 'destruction' and 'cancellation' therapy. That might seem to be a short term fix but it will not solve anything. I don't want my country destroyed!
Try to do something fun or something that you like to do to relax. The only thing that is keeping me sane now is the process of buying this house--hopefully--and decorating it. I have one more hurdle before it's a done deal. The appraisal happens on Monday. The seller is not inclined to negotiate so i need the price to come in at or above our price. I think I'll get the report on Thursday so it will seem like a very long week.
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mocame, It sounds like a bad place you are in. They are not changing my meds like you are going through, but I understand the bad place with all that is going crazy in the country, the world and your life. My cats are my children. One did not eat the entire time I was in Virginia. So, I am posting a funny picture of my new mask. Maybe it will brighten your day.
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Like the mask! Here is my main one with my initials.
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Oh my word! How do you guys have such great masks?! I love those! I have homemade masks except that today I should be getting an order of Star Wars masks that I ordered for our trip to California that I rescheduled for August and is now canceled too. Throughout radiation, meds, and surgery, my focus was on being able to go on the once-in-a-lifetime trip to California in May. That was canceled. My Washington DC trip for this past Saturday was canceled. Then my rescheduled Cali trip was canceled and now I realized we rescheduled my Washington DC trip for November...just days after the election...depending on what happens I heard that may be canceled too. My husband and I want to take a week off this fall and travel around parts of the country because it's our 25th wedding anniversary. Depending on what is happening in this country and where, will determine where and if we actually go. So far our July trip to the beach with my husband's family is still on but we are supposed to wear a mask on the boardwalk and in public so our time outside may be limited to the actual beach because it is too hot to be walking around with masks on for a long period of time. Since October, I haven't had a day off for any reason besides an actual holiday day, my surgery, and one day during radiation because I had vertigo. This weekend started out with me getting a bad migraine (probably due to not being on my migraine meds) and not being able to get much done. I really need a break. Then yesterday, despite a lingering headache, we had a nice time with some family, I got to listen to my church online, we got to celebrate Father's Day, and I was sitting outside on our back porch enjoying the quiet, peaceful, and beautiful evening. It was very calming. My faith is what pulls me out of those dark times. Looking out at the beauty of nature, enjoying the people that have been placed in my life, including YOU, and remembering where I put my hope in life, helped me become more focused and calm. I am also very thankful for YOU and I consider each of you in this thread, my friends. Thank you for being there and offering advice during radiation, medications, doctor appointments, tests, surgery, etc.! Life is good. Now...if only our restaurants were allowed to open for inside dining, life would be even better! LOL!
Have a great day!
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Good morning, mocame and Kamboka. I am thankful for both of you and consider you friends. We have been through alot. My bc 1yr is coming up August 19. Husband calls it my "Oh S**t moment". Surgery was 8/23/19. I survived. We survived.
Today I have follow up with the Derm and PCP for labs.
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