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

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  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,546
    edited August 18

    Had a fairly light sleep, unsure why but had to get some sleep while vids played on my phone in background. I watch the facebook reels or just doom scroll posts. I make a point to tell facebook I am not interested in the political posts as they are draining. If something happens, I will find out myself.

    I am doing laundry, wow what a shocker! Floors need doing and that is about it, need to take my blower, blow out some of fur that gathers in the radiator.

    I will be putting stuff in the rice cooker I got yesterday, does not hold much, just a tiny guy but that is good. Will try out and post meals if they are significantly good.

    Meal 1 is including rice and lentils in 2 cups of water. I put a bunch of the cheese seasoning, taco seasoning and sour cream and onion, plan is to cook and stir up to combine every few minutes, not sure how long I set to cook it but I will be keeping an eye on it as I am not too sure on settings to use. Fluffy stuff would good to come out of it. My plan is to put the excess in fridge because no way I can eat all that but can use for future meals.

    PROS of the rice cooker, definitely makes rice fluffier, I only use white rice in there. Allowed for a filling meal and rest is in fridge for later. Fluffy rice is great. Easy to clean inner basket. It definitely works as it should. Might be good to use cooker to do just a cup of rice, keep the containers in the fridge for a day or two.

    CON Main con for me is the length of time it takes to get fluffy rice. If I needed stuff quickly, would need to make ahead of a meal. Easy enough to do and need to make less of the rice. I am sticking with the water needed and less rice. Setting the cooker time etc is not easy to figure out but I will use enough to become accustomed to it. Planning to use for rice only for now, perhaps use it to make larger amounts of rice, save lentils and that for other meals and use rice as the side dish.

    I hope everyone has a good day, in pockets for appointments, illness, pain or anything else for everyone.

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,755

    @shanagirl - So good to hear that you are feeling ok with the Verzenio back in your system. You sound so much better and more hopeful today! I'm really happy for you.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,546

    @shanagirl I hope you enjoyed your eggs with mayo on top, yes mayo really does fill out an egg. I suck at frying eggs myself so putting the mayo and egg in a bowl and add cheese seasoning, either popcorn or Kraft Dinner seasoning makes the egg come out of mini griddle delicious.

    Today will be eating up the rest of the rice and lentils made yesterday in the rice cooker. Apparently there are other things I can make up as well by putting stuff on top of rice like I used to when microwaving frozen pasta meals and doing up in microwave. Many possibilities I can do. With the Elpaso mexican rice, probably stick with the quick rice setting. If have more stuff in there, have it run longer. Post later on meals.

    MEAL 1 Took a Great Value frozen lasagna, enough for one person, added bunch of lentils right on top, heated in microwave for 5 minutes. Once done scooped onto plate, took some cheese popcorn seasoning, little dash of salt and mayo, not too much. It was pleasant.

    Laundry and floors to be done, may do blankets, at least the throw size ones and may wash my sock mops that I have attached to swiffer dusters, I use an elastic to fashion a better duster, they do a good job and I can toss in washer and spinner to clean them out. I will see. Using excess microfiber cloths as well as dish cloths when wiping down dishes. I do wish I had a dish washer but too expensive and definitely no room and no desire to spend the cost of a countertop model. Soaking for a big in hot water works well.

    Not too much else to say, do have a phone appointment with MO instead of going to the cancer centre, I don't mind either one, nice I do not have to worry about Paratransit, waits or getting snacks together. Phone appointments mean jammies and other stuff.

  • shanagirl
    shanagirl Posts: 685

    @mara51506 I love how toy move thru your day getting things done😊💕

    @threetree yes I do feel better that I’m back on my Verzenio, so far I’ve been fine on it. I’m still a little nervous it will trigger more coughing, so I’ll just wait and see. Have. A nice day everyone🌷🩵

  • norah2024
    norah2024 Posts: 161

    @shanagirl

    I’m so happy that you’ve gone back to treatment again. The periods when we have to stop treatment because of side effects or infections feel like a nightmare—we just keep waiting for them to be over.

    I hope you enjoy your breakfast, which looks delicious. And I can assure you that taking care of animals brings us so much peace and comfort. 🧡🧡

  • norah2024
    norah2024 Posts: 161

    @shanagirl

    By the way, your detailed account of your experience with the virus and your hospitalization was very helpful to me. It contained a lot of useful information.Thank God you have recovered know.

    As for me and my health situation, I had my CA 15-3 test, and it was higher than the previous month. To be honest, I was very optimistic a few months ago after seeing such a significant drop in this marker over several months. It had fallen from 300 to 68 over seven months.

    However, two months ago it started rising again, which has left me confused and worried that my current treatment may have stopped working.

    I’ll be seeing my oncologist within the next couple of days to see what they decide.

  • norah2024
    norah2024 Posts: 161

    @intolight

    Thank you for this valuable information. I may have had this as well in October 2025. It was the first pneumonia I had ever had, it was so severe that I was hospitalized for five days and then continued the treatment at home for another five days.

    I noticed from your signature that you were on this treatment:

    6/20/2016–9/2020: Ibrance (palbociclib) + hormonal therapy — Femara (letrozole)

    And then this one as well:

    4/2022–3/2025: Verzenio (abemaciclib) + hormonal therapy — Faslodex (fulvestrant)

    As far as I know, both drugs are CDK4/6 inhibitors. Is it possible for a doctor to use two drugs from the same class sequentially?

    When I asked my doctor, after Kisqali stopped working, whether I could try Ibrance or Verzenio, he said that this wasn’t possible. According to him, the only situation in which a drug from the same class could be used again would be as part of a clinical trial.

    Were you on a clinical trial?

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,546
    edited August 21

    I slept decently enough, cannot complain about that, dreams came and went just the way I like them.

    Will be doing laundry as usual, floors too. My method of keeping my cat's stomach feeling good has been working, meaning an hour between water and food. Tigger eats up his food then overfills with water leading to you know what so this method of time between water and food has so far eliminated all that and I am glad. Set timers so I do not forget.

    As far as food, got a ridiculous amount of my favourite foods. I did get 14 burritos, only about 1.60 on average each. I am still using the rice cooker but it does take a LONG time. It does make for fluffy rice, I never minded rice from the pot but it was not quite so fluffy. So if need it quickly, will use the regular pot. I figure I can treat the rice cooker as a mini crock pot, put food in there to heat up gradually and no real danger of burning stuff. This morning, looking at leftovers from one of the boxes of mexican rice, perhaps add few more lentils to it with cheese, not sure yet. Later meals will be variants of the rice meal but include eggs, meat pies etc. If they are good will post later. Could also make up some quinoa and presoaked chia seeds cause they would not burn in rice cooker. Will suss it out.

    MEAL 1 Got an egg mcmuffin meal, med tea and 2 hashbrowns. Should be good. Then I will look at other meals and chores. Quinoa is still sticking out in my mind to make in the rice cooker since nothing sticks in it.

    EDIT 2 Decided to go through instacart walmart, minimum to shop with 0 dollar delivery is 10.00 so can get bits and bobs that way from many stores. I did do Walmart in the instacart, got more containers with lids, more frozen pasta, this time chicken penne with alfredo, 3 of those, got one frozen pasta beef and macaroni and finally cheezits cheddar and sourcream and onionflavour. I am still going to keep walmart + because a 50 dollar order can be paid by Klarna, 4 payments 1 for every 2 weeks and no interest. It will be a long time before I need a large order like that so might as well get the minimum needed.

    MEAL 2 I had leftovers from mexican rice meal from yesterday so reheated it. It is still delicious.

    I do hope all have a really good day, in pockets for important appointments in my own pocket to get chores done that I want to do.

  • norah2024
    norah2024 Posts: 161

    @intolight

    I really appreciate your thoughtful response to my question, and I’m also saddened to hear that you’re feeling tired of this journey. I agree with you that it is a very difficult journey and requires a great deal of patience, but at some point in our lives, we can even become tired of being patient.

    I am 65 years old, and I have been living with this disease for six years. I have spent the last two years in Stage IV, and I also feel that I have caused a lot of pain, sadness, and worry to the people closest to me.I can say that my greatest pain comes from knowing that I have caused pain to others, more than from the pain of the disease itself.

    Please forgive me for asking about using a CDK4/6 inhibitor twice during your treatment. The reason I asked is that I’m afraid of having to move to IV chemotherapy again, because I suffered a lot with it during my initial treatment when the disease first appeared.

    That’s why I’m looking for any evidence that going back to another CDK4/6 inhibitor might be possible, so that I can discuss it with my oncologist.

    I’m sorry again, and I truly hope your treatment remains effective for many years to come.🧡🧡

  • candy-678
    candy-678 Posts: 4,329

    Norah- I am on my 2nd CDK 4/6 drug. I started on Ibrance. Was on it for 4 years before progression. Then, I went to a PARP, then IV chemo, and now back to another CDK 46 drug Verzenio. I will get my next PET on Sept 4 to see if the Verzenio is working. So, yes, you can use other CDK 4/6 drugs after using one of them.

  • norah2024
    norah2024 Posts: 161

    @candy-678

    Thank you so much for this valuable information. You can’t imagine how much I needed to hear this, because I really don’t want my next line of treatment to be intravenous chemotherapy.

    I’ve been searching everywhere for information showing that this might be possible. At least now I have some hope that chemotherapy isn’t the only path forward.

    And I sincerely hope, from the bottom of my heart, that Verzenio works wonderfully for you, with zero side effects, for many years to come.🧡🧡

  • threetree
    threetree Posts: 2,755

    Re using a CDK a second time around, I had read a year or two ago about someone on here who was doing that, but sadly, can't remember who. They had had a good run on a CDK and then went to something else for a while, and then went back on a CDK and at the time of their post had been fine for a few months when they posted. (I wish I could remember more of the details from that post, e.g. what other drug they had, time frames, etc.)

    I mentioned this to my onc and asked him if it was possible to circle back to the CDK's when other things ran out and he said no. Then I told him aboout the person I read about here and he said that he thought that if it did happen, it would be a "fleeting" sort of thing and probably not work very well for very long. I think that @intolight 's experience here defies that notion, and I for one, am becoming more interested in that possibility.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,546
    edited August 22

    @intolight I can empathize with needing QOL for sure. I will be 55 this year and things really have changed in my day to day life. Since I am 90 percent on my own, my choice, I decide what I see for myself, if I did have to change treatment, I probably would not take it as nobody is helping or able to help, long story and not mine to tell.

    As usual, not much on agenda, washing throw blankets I think, other washer can take care of the regular cloths, I did find couple of delicates so used the small salad spinner to wash those up, dry mostly in spin dryer and hung over the shower rod. I have to use a step to reach up there since my toilet leak required layers of floor to be removed as part of the fix.

    Laundry, floors and deciding what I want to eat. I have thoroughly filled up my fridge

    MEAL 1 Decided to go all out and use rice cooker as a crockpot, just smaller. I put in 1/3 cup quinoa, added 2/3 cup water since instruction say 2 to 1 ratio of water to quinoa and 2 tbsp of chia seeds pre soaked, no water for them and finally 1/3 cup rice and another 1/3 of water. Added some queso crema, has bit of jalepeno and some sour cream and lime crema, just squirted them in. Will post if good. It will take long time but I don't really care.

    RE MEAL 1 Learned that it is not great to add so much stuff to a dish. Not only does it take too long to heat up and that is not the fault of the device, it is working as it should but I found just too much food. It did taste alright but just too much to eat, chia seeds could have been the issue. Disposed of the rest after the first meal. In future, stick to 1/4 cup or less of just white rice and just put on the quick rice setting. I must also unplug it when need it powered down. I will use it, still non stick which is good. Could probably treat the mexican rice the same way, I will see.

    I hope all have a good day and in pockets for all.

  • mara51506
    mara51506 Posts: 7,546
    edited 3:17PM

    Slept pretty good between restroom trips, it was an eventful evening for sure. Nearby my house, lightning struck one of the hydro poles knocking out power for quite a few people, not me fortunately but some of the videos of the flaming pole were quite a site to see.

    Laundry, cat area, floors are among those things needing a good clean, all will be done. I happily report that Tigger is doing well with the sensitive stomach cat food and my giving water about an hour or 45 minutes after eating to avoid over filling. Ava is getting the kitten food now, she has no problem with that, when finished, will just buy the same food for her.

    When it comes to the rice cooker, decided to add less ingredients at once, been adding ingredients and extra water for each which was unnecessary. Thinking it would be better to do a third of a cup of rice or other stuff and one third water, that is how I prepared in the pot. Today, I am eating some fettucine alfredo, 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup of the pasta, set it on the half hour quick cook. Should be a good setting for that, get around 1/3 cup lentils and a mini pot pie separately, put in microwave maybe 3 min and add garlic to the microwave portion. I will see what I want to eat. Posting later. I will say that when I do like a meal, have thought of leftovers being put in the rice cooker for 30 mins or defrosting something from freezer.

    I do hope all have a good day, I did the necessary booking of Paratransit for Herceptin Wednesday will be doing another booking on Tuesday, got usual CT scan for neck down on Friday. I am in pockets for all.

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