Illinois ladies facing bc
Comments
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Maria I have noticed my skin is more "saggy/more cellulite" since treatment. I think its a combo of ESD, chemopause and being 49+2. I'm really having a tough time losing that last 6lbs too.
On the lashes/eyebrows front I find mine are much thinner although my lashes seem to be longer. Hair is as thick as before and now that the weather is warm it's growing like weeds. I'm now seeing my hair dresser every 3 weeks but it starts to looks shabby at 2!
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Thich Nhat Hanh
Though we all have the fear and the seeds of anger within us, we must learn not to water those seeds and instead nourish our positive qualities - those of compassion, understanding, and loving kindness.0 -
I am so sad anytime someone has to face the BC demon again. How can this keep happening? Wendy I am praying for you and your family.
I am feeling very vulnerable as yet another personal friend in another state is facing a biopsy and knowing that radiologist said it is NOT a fluid filled cyst.
I know we get to acceptance and the rawness softens with time but does it ever fade away the fear and wondering if it will come back?
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I know I already put the quote in for today.....but I ran across this........and it seemed appreciate. It sure made me feel better:
Date: TODAY
From: THE BOSS
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFEI am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help.
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.
If you find yourself stuck in traffic; Don't despair. There are people in
this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for years.
Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.
Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.
Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.
Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.
Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.
Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness,
ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them.Should you decide to send this to a friend; Thank you, you may have touched their life in ways you will never know!
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Jackie that is awesome and also hard to do at times. Thanks for posting.
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Very nice Jackie! Your post makes me remember how very fortunate I am!
I tried to do some more intensive exercise today and whew have I lost a bit of strength and stamina. I know it will come back. I did one "circuit" which included push-ups (on the wall, lol), squats, planks, and then a minute of low step-ups and repeated it three times. That was all she wrote, lol. I wasn't feeling good at all. Oh well, baby steps.....I'm going to try again tonight.
Hope you all had a great time at lunch! My scheduled day off is Friday. Would love to meet some of my fellow illinoisians.
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Another fine lunch! Next time Valerie. (c:
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Thumbs up on that one (and all of them, actually), Jackie!
Valerie-way to go, just don't over do it or it'll be two steps back and no steps forward.
Glad lunch was fun, sure hope I can make the next one.
Really chilled down this afternoon. Looking forward to the return of those warm temps. Brrr.
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Tough day. Attended a funeral for a young 22 year old beautiful woman who decided that life was just too much to handle for her. No one in her wonderful family would have guessed that she was anything other than the happy smiling young lady she appeared to be. Overfull crowd at our church. I was on the funeral lunch crew and did find time to speak to each of the family members. So, so sad. Especially when we know how hard some people have to fight to save their lives. Having a real hard time getting back to work today.
Glad you ladies had a fun lunch. Pictures? I am headed over to NW tomorrow for follow up with my PS. My appt is not until 630pm. It was either that or 745am. PS seems to have an extremely busy schedule between the breast center surgeries and his office appointments. But he is good and worth the wait, so I won't complain.
I have another appointment at NW on June 21 to see my spine surgeon one more time before my surgery. If anybody else is interested in lunch then, let me know. I will be back in a couple more times before my spine surgery on July 13th. Starting to freak out a little bit about that surgery now that is is getting closer. Really dreding the surgery and recovery, but can't wait to get relief from the pain. Then I can start getting back into my old work out routine and get back in shape. I like that Jillian Michaels idea, Valerie0 -
MDG, Rene and Lago: Thanks for the eyelash info. Any suggestions for me on these darn hives? They are all over my body. I don't want to take a steriod as I will need them again next week for my treatment. Some go, and then some appear in a few minutes. I want to scratch and scratch. I can't stand it. I have been taking bendadryl at night and zyrtec during the day.
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Joan I know it's so hard to see a young women end her life when others are fighting so hard but depression is very painful and can be difficult to treat especially if no one can see the problem.
Lunch is always a possibility for me as long as I don't have a freelance gig. Oh yeah we forgot pictures again. We have such a good time we just forget.
kjiberty I know when I had the hives I wasn't sleeping much. Did you ask your onc if you could try Claritin instead of Zyrtec? That worked for me at the time. Steroids didn't.
Valerie With all the exercising I do, I don't do planks. You'll get there. I had to start very slowly too.
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Hi all! I can't comment on hives but have suffered from severe rashes caused by drugs. Allegra is what the derm suggested. I took the prescription strength and that seemed to help with the horrible itch.
I am having surgery again tomorrow for the skin necrosis that developed after my BMX. My guess is the left will be redone with a lat graft and the right will have debridement. They won't know for sure until they get a good look at the condition of the skin once the necrosis is removed. Needless to say I am not happy with this turn of events but accept it needs to be done.
I love the talk of exercise today. I really like to walk but am not fond of the gym environment. Why do men think that loud grunting allows them to lift heavier weights? Lago has the right idea. The medicine tastes terrible but the result always makes me feel better.
Wendy is still in my thoughts and prayers.0 -
Lunch was really nice today! I wish it was easier to get more of us together. It was nice to meet Doxie! Glad you joined us! Everyone looked so good. As I sat there and looked around the table I saw strong, funny, smart, beautiful women....not BC. It is hard for me to digest that we all had BC..... Then I headed to the bathroom with Robo and Lago so we could check out each other's foobs and nips. LOL! Just another normal "BC sister lunch".
As far as get togethers....I was wondering if anyone would like to get together for a lunch out my way at my house sometime? I would be willing to host it here. I am in Geneva though and I know we are all from different parts of town. Just an idea.....I picture a brunch or lunch complete with mimosas or something special like that. I am Italian...and always looking for a reason to prepare food for a group too
I just thought it may be something fun for a summer get together. Let me know your thoughts.0 -
kjiberty - I did get some relief with Sarna lotion. It did not make the hives go away but it would sooth things for a while. I walked around with a big bottle of it in my purse for a long time........I itched so bad I had bruises everywhere. One thigh had over 20 bruises from itching....nice. I was looking good....hives, rash, bruises, chemo port and TE's. Can you all picture that? LOL!
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kjiberty- I had an appointment with my onc today to discuss many things, one of which is the rash/hives. He basically told me to try and be patient. He said it may take up to a month before it is gone and that's partially because my last AC is tomorrow (if I had more AC coming it would probably last longer). Since it is a drug reaction we can really only treat it palliatively (lotions, allergy meds). One specific recommendation he made was Caladryl because it contains both Benadryl and calamine. He also suggested Vit. E oil. Keep in mind that I take allergy meds on a daily basis (Zyrtec, Singulair) anyway so I'm not really sure if he would've suggested an allergy med. and if so, which one. Good Luck!
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kjiberty- Please consult your MO and/or a pharmacy oncologist on the hives. Since you still have more treatments, they could get worse and/or you can have a severe reaction that sends you to the ER. I should have gone to the ER with mine, after the third shot of Neulasta. They eventually went into my lungs. I had conjestion as long as the hives.
Everyone here is making good suggestions and C-squared is right, you're going to have to live with them for a long time. But you do want to avoid a worse reaction if possible. The steroids I took were different than those given at chemo. I only took two packs during the worst of the reaction. Steroids made me manic, but the benedryl leveled out my mood. I got off them as soon as possible.
Thanks all for lunch. It was great to meet everyone in person. mgd is right. You would never know we all had bc, unless you listen in to the conversation.
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The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
~Joseph Campbell0 -
Good morning ladies - some day soon I would like to make one of the lunches and meet each and everyone of you. They sound like fun, my only problem is I do not have new foobs to show, I am still considering the new foob club, I have some time before I start rads to decide.
Invisible - I will pray and hope your surgery goes very well and that you get the perfect outcome you want! Fighting bc is hard enough without obstacles.
Today is my 3rd TCH, I hope I do not have an allergic reaction again to the taxotere. After today, I am half way done with chemo, Yay!
Have a wonderful day ladies. Much love to all my sisters!0 -
Maria-I'm in!
Hope all who are experiencing hives/allergies get relief.
Good luck Invisible.
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((((((((Invisible))))))))))))
Jackie
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LOL invisible, I just put in my ipod and listen to music while at the gym. They aren't grunting to impress me anyways! I haven't made it to the gym since the operations. I'm waiting until my reconstruct is a bit more even. I don't want to wear the polyfill boob while sweating! Right now while the fills are occurring and I'm changing size every two weeks, it didn't make sense for me to get something more permanent. I actually have a bit of cleavage right now but I'm a bit lopsided. Funny having the biggest portion near my armpit!
Well best laid plans went awry last night. By the time I ate dinner, I just wasn't motivated to do any further exercise. I put on my jammies and fell asleep on the couch. Hubby woke me up to go to bed around 11pm. Oh well....another day! I did get in a 5 mile walk at lunch.
Mimosas sound great MDG! I'm ready. Name the time and hopefully I will be able to make it depending on my work schedule and Dr appointments.
Gotta call the Med Onc to see when he wants me to start tamoxifen. He kind of left it open. I would like to start while I'm still on part-time disability so if I have side effects I can stay on 30 hour work weeks.
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Valerie....mother nature takes care of us sometimes and is probably a little smarter about it.....I am glad you got that extra rest. There are times to push yourself....this just wasn't one of them. Hope you have a fantastic day.
Hugs, Jackie
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Quick update on Invisible. She didn't need lat flap after all. Last time her DH PMed me she was almost done so she is probably in recovery now. All those prayers must have helped!
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Woot!
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Great news about not needing the flap!
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Yay Invisible!!!
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OK who lives in Melrose Park? I finally made an appointment with the super special dermatologist my onc recommended for my nail issues. Her office is out there. Called today and they had an opening at 9am tomorrow! Funny, remember last summer when they told me I had to wait 3 months to be seen and I had a rash! Of course it went away before I got in (actually they did fit me in 6 weeks later but too late). This time no rush. I have a feeling she's just going to tell me there is nothing I can do. So not excited to see yet another MD but I need to get this over with. At least I will be an established patient so next time there is an issue I can get in.
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Thanks, Ladies, for all the tips on the hives. I have called my MO two days in a row, and they have said if they get worse to call and they will order a steriod. I don't want to go on steriods, as I will be on them beginning next Wednesday before my next T/C treatment. Where do you get Sarna lotion? Is that OTC? I may try Caladryl. I have been using Clariton, but the pharmacist recommended Allegra during the day and benadryl at night. I feel doped up and drugged when I take benadryl.
Great news on Invisibile!
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I got Sarna at CVS...look near the first aid section. It is OTC. Ask the pharmacist if you can't find it. If your skin feels burning like mine did it at least provided a little relief. As far as the steroids - they put me on the prednisone 3x for my rash during the time I had it. It definately helped.......I was so miserable I didn't care if I was on steroids. I hope things clear up for you!!! SOON!!!!
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Thanks, MDG. I will go out tomorrow and get some. Anything is worth a try.
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