My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer

Candy. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. The cancer exploding like that is something I don't understand. Years ago didn't we hear about that due to surgery?? And recently I've heard it can happen when you take a "drug holiday" for too long. Maybe the mutual friend will understand it better now.

@candy-678 - I have heard about cancer "exploding", but I thought it was generally when people weren't taking meds or were only doing alternative things, or had let it go too far before getting diagnosed, etc. I have also heard of it exploding when all treatment options have been gone through and there's nothing else anyone can do. Another possibility might be that she was worse than she said? Maybe wasn't able to take it in and accept it? I bring this up because a friend of a friend of mine is going through a medical crisis (not cancer) and her friends apparently can't make sense out of her situation and they are wondering if there are things she is either unaware of herself, or hasn't told anyone about. They are wondering if she's been told things too, that maybe she hasn't been able to accept. I'm just so very sorry that you have to see your friend in this situation - it is so very hard! Sending a hug, Candy.

@shanagirl I can understand the fear of being off treatment for a long time, I was off Herceptin what felt like months while my brain was being addressed the first time. Had the surgery first and then had radiation after so no Herceptin at that time while brain was addressed. I was not worried about not being on Herceptin because I figured I would be dead anytime with brain mets. I can understand the worry, please know we are supporting you everyday. I am not a likely person to give this advice but whenever it feels overwhelming remember the 4 7 8 breathing to relax your body. 4 seconds inhale, 7 seconds holding breath and 8 seconds out through your mouth. The worry may still be there but should help keep your body relaxed and this can be done multiple times a day. Shorter cycles of the breathing can be done as well like 4 4 4, all have the same result.

Bellows breath which is breathing rapidly through the nose to bring in oxygen can also be helpful on a day of exhaustion to keep functioning with more energy.

Candy, This is really sad, I'm so sorry to hear this. Agree it is very scary if it was relayed to your correctly.Hugs.

Irish Sorry you're dealing with diverticulitis yet again. You always deal with your MS and cancer so graciously. I also pray that God gives you all the strength you need to keep pushing through.

So spent 7 hours in the ER yesterday, ugh. I had a 2 hour episode of a total haze over my right eye.which resolved on it's own.I was weeding a when I stood up it appeared. CT was negative, going to MO on Thursday and Ophthalmologist Friday. No other symptoms at the time who knows maybe a cataract or something. Never had any vision issue before, hopefully nothing.

Mel thinking of you and Gabby. Hugs

In all pockets for strength and hope. hugs to all

@shanagirl I join with the others—rant away. We all feel your fear and know how all these different decisions and options drive us crazy. I have been off treatments a couple of times for different reasons and did okay, but you know your body and that everyone is different. We are all pulling for you and sending mega-hugs that everything behaves as it should.

@shanagirl

Please vent, rant and whatever else helps you through this. You are handling multiple difficult issues simultaneously and we're here for all the support you need.

I was recently on a break from Kisqali for 4 weeks while I took augmentin for a miserable bout of diverticulitis. Hope everything is okay but won't know until my next blood work and scans. As three tree said, Faslodex provides a great deal of protection and I'm relying on that as well.

Hang in there sweetie.

Irish I am really sorry to hear you are dealing with diverticulitis again. In your pocket for some quick relief of this bout.

Cookie, that sounds scary, glad it resolved on its own but yeah seeing opthalmologist will help. Hope everything is fine and that it was a one off, in you pocket anyway. Glad CT was negative.

Shanagirl, have a good appointment in PT.

Slept pretty well overnight which I know is nothing new but there it is.

Unsure what I want to do yet today if anything. Got a mobile game that is pretty easy and quick to earn a few bucks that I can put into my rent and bills budget. I also take interest now and set that aside for budgeting.

As far as food, think I need to include a couple of eggs, got canned vienna sausage, and any beans leftover, microwave first, once cooled, chop in the chopper and add to a frypan on high heat with garlic and canola on the bottom, stir couple of times. Turn off the burner and cover with a lid. Optional ingredients can include queso and other stuff I choose, should taste good. Option 2 may use up meatballs and be made the same way with eggs and beans. I will see. I am also thinking of frying up some frozen veggies like the neverending peppers. I will post after deciding what to have.

I also have some stale english muffins, been debating a heat up in the breville oven to make up some crunchy stuff ala croutons. They just do not hold together properly so I may put some spray, butter and garlic and just break them up and bake at 375.

Laundry under way, got big washer and repaired washer on the go, have some clothes to wash so they will go in the smallest ones, easier on the clothes. The 20 dollar ones are still going strong and do work to act as an extra sink if sinks are full for soaking small stuff, no agitation. I still want a dishwasher BUT cannot justify it in any way shape or form and would probably be another thing I waste money on and not use it. Need to do less of that.

Enough of me, I hope all have a good rest of the day and in pockets for all who need me.

Well, no cooking today. Had a delicious harveys jr burger, two patties, cheese bacon and tomato with olives and extra onion and garlic mayo and chipotle. 4 mini cinnamon buns. Yum. Tonight, no desire to cook, allowing a Happy meal with cheeseburger, fries and apple juice. Hope it comes with the yogurt.

@intolight - Yes, I think I'm at about the same level as you are when it comes to doing this sort of stuff. It can really help you feel good, if you can just do it. Sounds like you hold pretty steady with what you are able to do though - me, not so much. I recently read a blurb about a professional organizer who suggests that you do 30 minute cleaning/organizing sessions 3 times a day, and that you can actually get a whole lot done that way. She suggested focusing on one room/project at a time and just spending a good 30 minutes with it. The article also contained some comments from people who tried it and thought they got some very good results; that the focusing on just one area for that 30 minutes really did the trick. I keep mulling that over in my head as something to try - maybe even only 15 minutes at a time, due to my fatigue, but I just can't get started. And hey - that barbecue sounds like a real nice time. Enjoy it!😊

@chicagoan - I so hear you about the do a little, rest a little routine. That's pretty much how I do everything these days. I'll do kitchen clean-up for about 15 minutes, then go sit up and scroll on my phone awhile, then get back up and start to make a meal or something, then rinse and repeat. I have to do that for showers too. I rest before the shower, rest afterward, then dry my hair, then rest some more, etc. So different from the old healthy days!

@cookie54 - Wonderful news re the MRI and opthamologist visits! So glad to hear the positives. I get some funny eye things like haze, flashing lights, blind spots, etc., but have so far not bothered to go get them checked out, because I think the drugs I take (Faslodex and Verzenio) are the likely cause with possibly both direct and indirect effects. I get real dry eyes, and then they can get sore real easily just from computer use, scrolling on my phone, etc. When I walk outside I can get varying degrees of photophobia (super glare), and it comes and goes and shows up sometimes and not others. I think in my case low estrogen has a lot do with it (Faslodex) and I can get migraine type sore eyes with a headache, light flashes, and blind spots. Nothing stays permanent however, so I just figure it's coming with the territory. I'm saying all this because I'm wondering if you think that any of the drugs you take might be having any kind of effect on your eyes. It's something we don't think about as often as like all the body aches and pains, but eyes too can be affected by all this, from what I can tell. I'll bet that mental relief is so, so nice! Here's hoping that it lasts and your end of August appointment is just as "nothing" as these last ones were.

Well, super muggy and hot here. I sometimes wish I lived somewhere it was not so humid. Comfortable in the house but the humidex putting the feels like temp into the 100s is a bit much for me. Looks stormy anyway.

I did have a nice sleep, weird dream just before waking. This time I was trying to avoid being caught by someone so I hid in bushes etc. Was not scary but definitely different.

I have a pair of pants that was neglected in the smaller washer, washed once already but they smell mildewy so am going to a couple of soaks. A baking soda wash and soak first, drain then follow up with vinegar. If those do not work, got an oxiclean odour blaster coming tonight, would not hurt to add a bit to laundry stuff to help remove stains or brighten colours. Also adding some toilet cleaner tabs and gel to make it easier on me to not have to do a complete scrub for a cleaner toilet bowl, anything to make my life easier. an

I am still a bit stuck on food. Will probably do rice and beans, probably open up the chipotle beans and add lentils or black beans to the mix. I still have chipotle in a bottle too, that would be good if I did not feel like chopping beans all the time. I am possibly going to do an egg in the microwave, chop the egg itself up and put on tortillas, add queso and beans and make a quesadilla. Pieces could be dipped in sour cream blends or a mix of the smokey bacon mayo and sour cream mix or something else. Another thought would be to take a mini pot pie, heat it up and break up and add to the quesadilla as well. If I did this, will need two tortillas instead of just using one folded tortilla. I will see, not hungry yet but getting there. I also might cook up a frozen burger in the fry pan and collect the fat to store to add flavour to stuff made in the frypan. Have to see what is on hand, energy level and nutritional. Would be just as easy to do the egg and beans in the microwave, chop up and add to the sprayed pan and cover in cheese and bake in the oven too. I will post regardless.

Not much else to say except hoping everyone has a great day and in pockets for those who need it and my own pocket to actually make the more creative meals I post on here.

Good morning to all, I did sleep pretty well. Sending myself off with dream ideas is pretty awesome along with the rain noise I listen to.

Had a bit of a frustrating morning booking Paratransit as my computer did not hold on to the link for booking trips online. I called and booked, when I asked the person on the phone what the site was, she got huffy and said it was too many letters. I eventually found it buried in both browser history and my aol account. Not many letters after all but when I found it, added it to my sticky notes app and a bookmark in the browser.

Got two washers washing at the same time with a lot of cloths to clean, heavy cleaning going on. Using larger one and the repaired one that is just a bit smaller. I want to use some oxyclean odourbuster to scrub my toilet as the plumbing left a stain that no amount of scrubbing has taken care of. Once all that is better, drop a tablet into the toilet tank and maybe use one of the gel things to put inside the bowl as maintenance.

Food will likely be eggs with lentils put in microwave first, chop it all up and put in a sprayed pan with garlic and butter and put cheese on top, bake at 375 for 10 to 15 mins, sounds good to me. The veggies and beef soup was good, boiled off a lot of the liquid then sent into a frypan with garlic, added some queso and sour cream and added some croutons and leftover corn twists and it made it taste better. Got to check the fridge in case there are leftovers which there may be and combine that other ingredients.

EDIT 1 Found the leftover diced tomato which is quite saucy, drained some of it off and added a bunch to the rice I am making, added a bit of garlic salt as well. Once it is done and cooled, will spray the pan and add some queso to the rice first, stir it in and then add to the bottom of the pan, put a bunch of cheese on top and do the baking at 375 and add milder garlic. The cheese should be quite crispy on top with a bit of canola spray on top, I will see.

Edit 2 Took the rice and tomato mix, spread at bottom of pan, put some queso, shredded cheese and some zesty tortilla chips I found, not thinking put those in as well and baked all at 375 for 10 mins. I added sour cream when it was cool. It was delicious, absolutely delicious. I did have some crispy cheese but mostly just melted. Next time will add the chips after as they did get a bit brown though still really good. Dishes soaking in sink now.

Garbage day so part of the day will be spent getting stuff ready, got to remember I have that large box out back I have used since no one uses it, right outside my door. I am hoping to get even more stuff out. No luck on the missing pants yet, but the box I keep recycling and sometimes new stuff is pretty full so there is that. Also debating using my wee garbage can just for the ability to roll it down the stairs and put stuff in. Second option for the wee garbage can is to store extra stuff in itOnly reason I prefer bags is because I do not have to bring them back in.

In between things, want to do some budget boosting with a couple of different mobile games, tried for surveys but always get disqualified so usually do not bother with them. I don't make millions but I see every extra dollar coming in as a win. Like if I want to buy stuff and not pay for it, use the bit of budget boosted stuff for gift cards or whatever.

I hope that everyone has a really good day and in pockets for everyone, needed or not.