Illinois ladies facing bc
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C-Sqaured--I am so excited for you. Hopefully, I will be there by mid-September! Just counting each day!
Adey: I hear ya. I have a lint brush that does the trick!
Invisible: Glad to hear you are doing well.
Karen
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Hi Illinois ladies,
I live in Frankfort, a southwest suburb of Chicago.
I found a lump on March 20,2012 which was removed on May 4th with a left breast mastectomy at the University of Chicago Hospital.
It was 7.2 cm in size, they also did a sentinel node biopsy, which turned into removal of 33 nodes, 18 tumors. I am ER-/PR-, HER2+, I had clear margins and BRCA1&2-.
I am scheduled to begin chemo this Thursday and am very worried about keeping healthy and working, since I need the income and insurance.
I will have 4 rounds of Adriamycin, Cytoxan, Taxol.
Followed by Taxol-Herceptin for 12 rounds
Then 33 Radiation treatments
And then a year of Herceptin every three weeks
As I read through some of these postings I am overwhelmed by what is ahead of me. I'm not eating well because I am so nervous. I am a positive person, but the unknown is working on my fear.
I'm glad a found this board, all my support group has not experienced cancer and so it is hard for me to relate to their positive words.
Bogie, I know several women were I work that sang high praises of Dr Song and that is who I will use when I'm at that point.
Blessings to all0 -
Welcome Graceembrased, I too am er/pr- and her2+. You have come to the right place for support. The women on these threads are a wealth of knowledge, love and support!
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Spunky and Adey thank you for the private message on referrals! Great suggestions
Graceembrac - you are stronger than you think, take one day at a time and don't overload mentally or physically. Deep breath take it slow, breaaath....
I felt the same and it's now 6 months later and I'm not only holding down my demanding job but it keeps me strong mentally and not in dwell mode. I have no time but few times a month to even keep up here these days but got thru it with my sisters. I love this board!!!
love and hugs to everyone . You are women hear us roar!! Live, laugh, Love life!!!0 -
I have a friend who has been very happy with the augmentation she had done by Dr. Geldner.
I would recommend my PS @NW if want his name,no problems so far!0 -
Graceembraced.... welcome, welcome, welcome. So glad that you found this thread of very supportive ladies who have been there, done that, and can really help you get through it all, no matter where you are in this journey. I went through chemo (6 rounds of ACT) during summer of 2010. That first chemo treatment is pretty daunting. I used a guided imagery CD that helped me picture those armies of chemo drugs circulating in my veins and going out to destroy those bad cells that were intruding in my body. Die, die, die you darn BC cells! The early part of this journey keeps you busy, busy, busy, but you will gain your stride and just keep plugging along. Keep us posted.
C-Squared.... I hope you are doing the happy dance. You will probably be running to the mirror looking for hair sprouts several times a day. Don't despair... it takes a while to get things going. I am almost two years PFC and still cannot decide what to do with my hair which came back just as it was prior to chemo... thin, fine, stick straight. The bright spot... underarm hair has never come back
As for me, I made another trip into my PS last Thursday. He drained another 25cc's from my back that had accumulated over a week's time after removing that last drain. I will be going back to see him again this coming Thursday, but hopefully, that will be the last visit with him for awhile. I am putting off any nipple considerations until this Fall when I am should be fully recovered from my upcoming back surgery next month.
MDG... you are generous to offer to host us at your home this summer. Sounds like a fun day. God willing... I will be there. My spine surgeon says no travel for 4 weeks after my sugery on July 13th. He is ordering no prolonged sitting, just laying down and lots and lots of walking. Which is where I am headed out for right now.... a big long walk around the lake. We are thinking of going to a movie tonight depending on how my back is doing. I want to see Marigold Hotel or Dark Shadows. Anyone seen those yet?
PS... I will be at NW on June 7th and 21st if anyone wants to meet me for lunch. Thinking of all you ladies going through treatments and surgeries. It is truly quite a process and yes, we celebrate every little step along the way.
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Graceembraced-I'm sorry you have to go through this, but this is a wonderful place to get questions answered, share a laugh (or a cry), and just not feel alone.
Roula-I was at a Greek Orthodox funeral today and was following a car with "Roula" on the license plate.
Joan-I'll check my calendar at work Monday-would be great to make a lunch date.
Have a great evening all. My DH and I are going out to celebrate 22 years of wedded bliss
. Going to the Publican-never been, hope it's as good as I've heard.0 -
Spunky - that wasn't me! Although I have learned to live with my name (which really is Zaferoula - ancient greek for Sapphire, yep that's right a stripper name :-)), I do not like it enough to display it. Although, I did at one time have "Greek 90" as a plate. What can I say we are a strange culture!
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RoulaG I'm a brunette and 1/2 Ruskie. I removed my stashe too.
Bogie I too have heard amazing things about Dr. Song. I was considering getting an opinion from him if the 2nd PS I saw at Rush didn't click for me. (He did so no visit to Dr. Song).
Graceebraced don't let these boards drive you nuts. Remember that people tend to post their problems. I have yet to see a thread entitled "Chemo was a breeze for me was it for you too?" I mean that would be rather crass considering there are women here that are having issues… but many of us did just fine. Yeah I had nail issues but if you saw them now with nail polish on you'd wonder what I was complaining about. You will not get every SE.
Joan I have a lunch date already for Thursday but if there's a cancellation I'll join you. So far I don't think that's going to happen though.
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Welcome Graceembraced! This is a great forum as well as others. Check to see if there's a June Chemo starters one. If not, I belong to the April/May ones. These forums are a great way to learn about S/E's, that you are NOT alone in your journey. We are here for you. I am pretty new to this board, but everyone is so nice and helpful. It's nice to have ladies who have gone through the same stuff you will be be going through to offer you support. I wish I lived a little closer to the Chicago area so I could meet everyone, but I am giving you a virtual ((hug))! I will be on my third treatment on Thursday as you start your first one and will keepyou in my prayers!
PS--I am continuing to work through this. I work a lot from home, but go into the office. Usually I am not up to it until at least the Tuesday after my treatments, but can even work from home the day of and the day after the treatments (thanks to the steriods they give us). I crash on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Again, we are all different with the treatments we get and the S/E's. Wishing you the best!
Karen
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To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.
~Bernard Edmonds0 -
Welcome graceembrace -- this is a great place with a lot of caring women. I hope you will come back often.
I am here really late. Had to work again this morning and did not know it until late, late yesterday afternoon. It's official and so hard for me to give up....but I'm really not well suited for early morning work anymore. Had to go out and get lunch after work....and then come home and nap. I almost never nap, but I feel so out of it when I don't have my "regular morning" routine. It's not a great routine, mind you, but guess I need it anyway. That doesn't mean that I won't still take the 'early' shift, but just time to face up to the fact that it is no longer easy to feel comfortable in the circumstance.
You ladies -- Karen, Robo, Lago answered things so well for grace and were right on.
Hope you are all going to have a great Sat. night. See you in the morning.
Hugs, Jackie
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Jackie: I know what you mean about naps. I am not a napper, but all of the sudden, with chemo another story. I will have an 8:00 a.m. meeting, come home and take a nap at 9:30.
Grace: The moral of my story is to rest when your body tells you to.
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lago- is the peach fuzz from hormones or just a post-chemo effect? Thanks for the warning!
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From post chemo. Granted you can get some from chemo-pause too but that's naturally occurring. You'd get that once you went into menopause… if you get it. I have some of that but not like after chemo. It was so long that if the sun was behind me I had this "glow/halo" of hair you could see. The chemo stuff gets really long and sticks out.
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Oh how fun!
I think I am in chemo-pause, haven't had a period since Janueary. They will be removing my ovaries when I have my BMX so I'm guessing I will go into full-blown menopause. Ahhhh.., the next phase! More fun! CC0 -
"To be grateful for all life's blessings. . . is the best condition for
a happy life. A joke, a good meal, a fine spring day, a work of art,
a human personality, a voice, a glance--but this is not all.
For there is another kind of gratitude. . .the feeling that makes us
thankful for suffering, for the hard and heavy things of life, for
the deepening of our natures which perhaps only suffering can bring."0 -
C-squared not every one gets it. I mean what I have isn't noticeable at all. We are mammals. We do have hair.
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C-squared.....thank you for the pm. It is appreciated. We are warming up today and I am glad. It has just been cooler here than I like ( having to wear light jackets any time outside ) or what feels right this time of yr.
I put in this quote because it said a little more than the many I have put in which did not carry such a full explanation about being grateful for ALL of your life. I had to think about it a bit though --- it did take a while to "count" my blessings after this disease. Sometimes it is still a little hard to hand over the credit.....but I did grow and change and in some ways it is on-going. I realize in that way that when I think about life altering change, it really is that. I do feel I have perceptions and meaning in my life that probably would not have made it had I just continued on with 'the status quo' that pretty much made up my existence at diagnosis time. I am deeper now and richer by far, certainly have a wonderful group of women friends that I never knew existed and I really have a far stronger certainty that if you want to enjoy so many of the wonderful glories in life, you will have to face the rocks and boulders of gloom and the weakness that rough waters bring. Sometimes the best progression will come of a regression. The downturns give us the reason and ability to make an upswing.
Deepening nature can be a gift..........one I hope and pray we all find in our own way and time.
Happy Sunday to everyone.
Hugs, Jackie
p.s. my spell checker chose to not go on just now..........so hope I didn't get too awful.
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C- I work right off of Waukegan road and northpoint ...we are across from fountain square
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Good morning ladies. Happy Sunday.
Heads up! Some out of town BCO girls are descending upon Chicago and are hoping to meet with some of us on Saturday night, July 21st. No concrete plans yet. Check your calendars. (c:
I think Corrine is the cruise director but not sure.
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Looks like an incredible day-
I'll be returning from summer vacation in Ireland on/or about 7/21. If I'm home I'd love to join the BCO outing.
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Darn....I won't be in C-town until 7/6. Staying DT for my future daughter-in-law's wedding shower.
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Ireland! I love Ireland, drinks all around!
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Slante!
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Welcome Grace, I live in Homewood....just a little east of you. This is a great group with a lot of knowledge about what you will be going through. Take care of yourself! One day at a time and some deep breaths and you will make it through. As several have said, you are stronger than you know you are. I just cleared my mind and went to the treatments....at times I have to admit I seriously thought about just driving down I80 towards Seattle.....but I made the right turns and got to the appointments. It isn't easy but you will get through this and a year from now will be breathing easier. Every phase will have it's little celebration.
C-squared, Congrats on your last chemo treatment! Sorry if you felt overlooked.....I myself wasn't paying as much attention to the boards because of rad treatment fatigue. Hopefully that is over now.
Invisible, Glad you came through surgery OK and without the back flap and one drain down! Now is time to relax and heal.
Lago, Hope you find out what is going on with your nails. Has to be frustrating.
Today we are going to the Cancer Survivor Fair at Morten Arboretum. Beautiful day to walk around. They had the fliers at the Cancer Center and I thought it would be nice to take Mom somewhere other than at my house. She has been working tirelessly to straighten things up at my house and take care of me. She deserves a break.
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Good morning gals! I think I've finally recovered from my Orlando/ Disney World trip with the grandkids. It's been a hectic week and next week starts the tests and onc visit again. How I wish I could get rid of this anxiety that I always feel before these procedures!
Jackie...I owe you an email and will try to get back to you tomorrow.
C-Squared, so sorry that you felt slighted. It is indeed good news when one of us finishes a treatment session! You did it! YEA! I think many of us get even busier during the summer months and sometimes neglect to take the time to respond to a comment. We'll try to do better.
I need to put some brats on the grill quickly so we can have a bit of lunch before we head out to a Sunday afternoon mixed golf scramble, but I wanted to check in since it's been so long since I've appeared here.
Hugs to all of you in treatment and hugs to all of you supporting those in treatment.
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C-squared -Congrats on getting the AC behind you. It's a huge hurdle gladly left behind!
Invisible - Hope you're healing well.
Spunky - Happy Anniversary! Hope the dinner was amazing. Regarding bras, I never liked them to begin with. Now that I'm "done" with all my recons I either go with a loose cami, or a barely-there bra like this, or nothing at all. Not sure if there's an actual recommendation as to what type of bra to wear, but I can't stand wearing much of anything. The one silver-lining to all my fake boobage is how they defy gravity and no longer require assistance.
Grace - Welcome! We all know what a daunting journey this is. There are a lot of wonderful ladies here to offer you all the support and most of the answers that you need.
Joan - I still say we need to organize an Official Nip-Trip to New Orleans for the fall or early next year. We could get t-shirts made... then again, that's maybe not a good idea, especially for me. LOL!
Robo - I LOVE the saying you posted about not having to be brave, just having to show up. How incredibly truthful that is.
Jackie - As always, your words are an inspiration to us all.
I had planned on spending this beautiful day in the city helping to find an apartment for my DD and her roomies, but it is SLIM pickings out there. And dealing with leasing agents and craigslist ads is a nightmare. I've been banging my head against a wall for a while now trying to set things up. A big zero accomplished on that front. I'm going to go watch my DH and DS play softball now and not even think about apartments anymore!
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Hello Ladies,
I have not posted for quite a while. Changed jobs two months ago and still going through a steep learning curve. Welcome to all the new IL girls. May for me has been a months of follow-up tests - mammogram, MRI, CT - so much anxiety. Maybe I can join the girls meeting downtown in July.0 -
Rene have you checked the Reader or the apartment people?
Char I've been thing of you. Let me know if you have time. Thought I'd leave you alone till you get comfortable with the new gig.
Yesterday I was at the 57th fair with doxie and DH. We both bought really awesome bling! (Not my DH).
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