Dis Breast Cancer Survivors Part IV - GAGWTA

[CherylDan]

Keetmommy, welcome to the thread. It's a great place to ask questions or just vent. Sorry that you are facing more than what you originally thought - sounds like things are moving along fairly quickly. I hope chemo goes as smoothly as it can on Monday.

Hi Barbara, nice to see you

Linda, I hope you can still manage to get some family time on Thanksgiving. Sorry to hear about Remy.

LMP, sure seems like you have the worst luck with your appointments! But good news that you got those results straightened out. Did you ever get the Reclast? New furniture is always nice, sounds comfy! Have a great time on your trip, hope the weather is nice for you.

Smiley, how are you doing? And all the home improvement projects?

Is everybody cooking for Thanksgiving? We are just having a small group this year, DD and DSIL are flying in tomorrow night. Making all the usual stuff. My favorite thing is the leftovers the next day......almost makes all the cooking worth it!

Went for another CT scan today, will see my oncologist next week for results and to almost certainly get my chemo schedule for the third trip on this roller coaster. DH and I made reservations to go to Las Vegas on Jan 1 for a few days, as our Christmas gifts to each other. I figured it would work out ok, and will probably be the last chance for travel for awhile.

Wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!
GAGWTA!!

 

[smiley_face2]

An early Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!! I know I will be super busy on thursday.
LMP.... Lazy boy is awesome!! I am biased though, we have 2 beautiful leather lazy boy sofa's and though they are I think 4 years old, they look like brand new. They are a quality furniture and I am sure you will be happy.
I've had a wicked sinus and chest infection, things sure hit me hard now. My kitchen is slooooooowly getting done! waiting on the cabinet maker for a wooden shelf, the doors to my lower cabinets, and new wood counters, and for the fan for over the stove to arrive. I will give you a little idea of what it's starting to look like...

 

[keetmommy]

Well port went in today....it hurts..hope it isn't this uncomfortable forever...

they also had to drain fluid off me...drained a pop canish full off one side and half off the other...much more comfortable now though

 

[CherylDan]

Smiley, that wood countertop is really pretty! I bet you are thrilled with the results so far....I remember you saying that you wanted a seaside feel - looks like you nailed it!

Keetmommy, the port will get better. I'm on my second one, and both of them were very uncomfortable at first but after it heals it's not as bad. Mine does still bother me from time to time, like if I move a certain way it feels a bit "pinchy", and sometimes the bumps under my skin seem to get irratated if they rub against certain fabrics. Glad you are more comfortable after getting all that fluid drained!

 

[smiley_face2]

Smiley, that wood countertop is really pretty! I bet you are thrilled with the results so far....I remember you saying that you wanted a seaside feel - looks like you nailed it!

Keetmommy, the port will get better. I'm on my second one, and both of them were very uncomfortable at first but after it heals it's not as bad. Mine does still bother me from time to time, like if I move a certain way it feels a bit "pinchy", and sometimes the bumps under my skin seem to get irratated if they rub against certain fabrics. Glad you are more comfortable after getting all that fluid drained!

Thanks! I can not wait to get the wooden counters on the rest! It is soooooooo hard for me to make decisions and choices now, but it is getting there, slowest reno in history I think.....well actually maybe the Winchester house in San Francisco took a bit longer....

Keetmommy, like CherylDan said, it will get better, but also like she said it will pinch here and there once in a while, nothing serious, just keeps reminding you it is there. I found putting a pillow under that side of my body to prop up my shoulder and arm kept it from pulling on it until it was well healed.
Just try to keep in mind the ultimate goal. It has been just over 2 years since my diagnosis, and with the aggresive type of cancer I have (had) I know I would be long gone by now if it were not for all these uncomfortable and sometimes painful procedures. I also had problems with fluid build up, had to be drained a few times, and even now over a year after my last surgery there is still a little pocket there. take care.

 

[snappy]

I also love the countertops, Smilie. Just beautiful.

Also love the encouragement and advice given above to keetmommy. It's what this thread is all about.

Las Vegas sounds like a great place to start the new year, Cheryl!

Lazyboy rocks, LMP! It is very sturdy and holds up well. We still have my dad's chair and he passed away in 1998. So I have no idea how old it is but I would assume 25 years???

My mom has a lazy boy sofa and my sister has a matching sofa and love seat. I think you chose wisely.

I am having a new solid mango rectangular dining table for the breakfast/computer/aquarium (don't ask!!!) room delivered in a few minutes.
We went to a furniture store to search for a new computer desk (somehow the contemporary hatch teak monstrosity from the 1980's just ain't all that any more, lol) and managed to order a new dining table, the desk AND a bookcase AND a message center. The desk, bookcase and message center are custom orders with green accents made in Indonesia. They are going to do accent colors to match the green on our existing dining chairs to be used with the new dining table. It will take about 3 months before we get them, but it is nice to get just the right finish I want on the top (basically ultra natural, ultra distressed) and a nice stain to match our existing chairs).

I did not know this type of option was even available, but rather than just doing a driveby perusal of the showroom like we usually do, a sweet young recent interior design LSU graduate engaged DH and me when we went in. Once she got the full picture, she pulled out the books, and helped us drill down and figure it out.

There were so many shades of green to choose from, she encouraged us to bring in one of the chairs so we could see if it would go with the dining table and the green accents on the other items.

We did, and the winner was. . . pistachio. I will see if I can post a couple of pictures. I have one with DH displaying the winner color in a very endearing way.

DS24 is moving to his own studio apartment (no more rommates!) next week and needs furniture so he will inherit our old round reclaimed teakwood table.

I guess he is claiming the reclaimed table, lol.

My DH did a stupendous job cleaning our big aquarium last weekend. We lost 3 fish in the process, but I replaced one of my beloved clown loaches so the survivor would not pine away and in the shopping process discovered a whole new favorite-green tiger barbs.

So now I have a new shoal of 6 green tiger barbs. The 2 clown loaches love pretending they are related. I having a ball watching the fish cavorting around.

Another kind soul working in Petsmart clued me in to how they keep their tanks so pristine, they have an amazing filtration system of course but also use aquarium salt.

Maybe the salt is helping too but my tank is better than ever.

I have had several very successful shopping trips recently!!

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I practiced some for Christmas, the recipes DD22 will want to make when she gets in.

I think I am ready!
GAGWTA!!!

 

[snappy]

The dining table top

How the chair looked with the table in the store

The finish on the top of the desk and the outside of the book case will be the finish on this buffet

DH "modeling" the green stain we settled on for the accents (legs of the desk, interior of the bookcase and the message center (he has always been a fan of green, my goodness we even bought a green Oldsmobile Delta 88 in 1984)

The message board we will hang above the desk but in pistachio

 

[Dancind]

Very pretty, Snappy! Love the finish on the table. We are talking about remodeling the kitchen too.

Keetmommy, sorry you got your port just in time for the Holidays. Hope it goes well for you, and sorry you are here.

LMP, I stopped taking DH into doctor appointments with me too. He hasn't had a fit yet, though he is capable. It was more that he would hijack the conversation when I was trying to get my questions answered.

We had a shock this morning. Did anyone hear about the rogue wave that killed a diver on the Florida coast? The woman was from NM, and a Dive Con at the shop my husband teaches at. They were good friends, and worked together often. He was about to do a pretty big remodeling job for her. So sad.

 

[snappy]

Diana, that story about the diver who was killed was scary. I am sure you are in shock.

My table was delivered.

You can see my aquarium in the background

 

[PatsMom]

Hello everyone! I am back again.

Keetmommy - welcome to this group. They are a tremendous group of very supportive ladies. Sounds like you got hit with a lot, especially with the holdays happening too.

LMP - I have found that it is better not to have my DH with me. He worries so much that it gets me all wound up. And he is very much "the boss" - goes back to his time as operations supervisor at a nuclear power plant! So I fill him in on what he needs to know. For those appointments when I want a second set of ears listening I take my best friend. She is a breast cancer survivor who has learned alot about bladder cancer going through my journey with me.

I did have some potential bad news recently. Last week I had some really bad abdominal pain. I gave in and went to my primary care. She felt around my belly, thought it could be gall bladder and sent me right over to the hospital for a CT and also a blood test to check for pancreatitis since the diabetes medication has a risk of that disease. I was to wait at the hospital until the CT was read. After the radiologist spoke to my doctor, the technician transferred the call to me. Turns out I have a huge number of enlarged lymph nodes, including what the radiologist referred to as a "massive cluster" near my aorta. The enlarged nodes are the cause of the pain.

So I have been to the surgeon to schedule an open biopsy. He did act like I was lucky that one of the enlarged nodes was in the groin. Turns out it is much easier to remove a node there than from the belly. And the nodes in my arms and neck are not enlarged as far as he can tell from a physical exam. So Thursday I go for the surgery. Its another adventure I will take with my best friend. My husband offered to drive me but then he makes me twitchy because he is that way!

The odds are that I have either lymphoma or some odd form of tuberculosis. The TB would be a result of the immunotherapy for the bladder cancer. I am supposed to talk to my urologist in January about doing more therapy since I had the recurrence in October but this could put an end to that decision!

So if any of you have space on your prayer list, I could use a few!

Hope everyone had agreat Thanksgiving and ate way too much!

 

[snappy]

I am saying a prayer for you, Patsmom.

Hoping for the best.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

PatsMom - Lots of prayers for you sista. I m so very sorry you are going through this. You have such a wonderful friend who will be there with you!

Cheryl - Your Vegas trip sounds great. I think its exactly what you need! Will they have christmas decorations up then. I think my dh said when he went there once around that time the one place had a nutcracker theme etc.

Diana - sorry about the loss of that woman. I did not hear the story before.

keetmommy - sorry you are feeling so much discomfort. The ladies here have great advice. Glad you got the lfuid drained. I know I had issues with it in my stomach and once it exploded as the surgeon said I felt much better too. Wishing you all the best with the upcoming chemo.

Laurie - your furniture looks really nice and I love your aquarium. I think my ds would go nuts over that.

Well the furniture is here. Ds1 said it feels hard as a rock. Ds3 is at work and hasnt seen it and ds2 says it should be darker. I dont know how to post pictures but its the Clark design in the murphy fabric.

We are not doing black friday stuff. I am just giving the ds money and gift cards. They always comalain about everything I get them. Maybe a few odds and ends but that is it. 2 of them are on line anyway. They arent asking for anything either.

Does anyone experience tylenol shortages? Trying to get some for the trip. I have some but am leaving some for the ds too. I dont get the store brand. The pharmacist told dh that it flies off the shelf as soon as they get it. Wow! And they said with the hurricane shipments are slower etc.

We will probably bring the laptop so I can do some live updates. Maybe someone can say how to post a picture etc. later on. I dont know since its actually on one of dh work laptops and that might be pushing it etc. I try to keep my stuff to a minimum since they monitor his stuff when they get the hardrive or he logs onto the work website etc.

GAGWTA

 

[snappy]

Thanks LMP.

I opened an account at photo bucket.com to use to post pictures to the internet a few years ago, based on a suggestion from another poster here, I think it might actually have been Laurabelle.

Once the pictures are on my computer, I prefer to save them to my desktop so I can find them easier. I am using a mac so my pictures are in iPhoto. I export them from iphoto onto my desktop. Then I go to my account on photo bucket, once you set up an account you have a login and password. You sign on to your account. There is an upload button to upload picture files. You can now drag a picture into a large blank upload box and then select the upload button right below the box. Once a picture is uploaded, you click on it and there is a box that opens over the right. There are four different functions you can do in that little box but the one I use is the bottom one called IMG. You just click in that box and the IMG link is automatically copied. I then go to our thread here and start a post on the disboards. All you have to do at that point is paste the IMG link, add a description in the disboards post and post it!

Photobucket has made the upload process easier in my opinion with the ability to drag the picture into the upload box.

Let me know if this is still confusing.

There may be other, better ways to upload files, but it worked for me back when I had a pc, and it works on my iMac too.

Would love to know if anyone has a preferred way to upload pictures?

I especially find it easy with pictures taken from my iphone as I have my iphone and imac set up so that those pictures automatically show up in the photo stream section of the photo library. The pictures are not as good as from DSLR but you don't have to upload from the camera.

Easy is good!

 

[snappy]

LMP I looked at the Lazy boy website and I think I saw what you ordered. Nice!

What color did you go with?

I just use Sam's club generic for Tylenol, so I never have any trouble finding it.

I did order some stuff online today through Amazon and Kohls, several books and 2 cashmere sweaters for DD22, and a new iphone case for me. Gosh online is easy. Gave me time to sort out stuff on my counters and get a little organized. Also watering the grass and plants. It has been getting into the upper 70's here with no rain in several weeks. Everything is parched. But I am not complaining. Let's just say we don't need any sweaters or jackets except may a light one at night.

DD17 went to the Black Friday sale that started at midnight at our local Urban Outfitters store with one of her friends. She said she was totally overwhelmed with the number of shoppers and ended up only buying a hat. Wasted trip and i don't think it was particularly fun.

DH is working on a car and is on his third trip to Autozone. Not sure if this is going to be a successful project.

Are you packed for Disney yet, LMP?

 

[ols386]

Smiley and Snappy......very nice!

 

[smiley_face2]

OOOOOOH Laurie!! LOve your choices!! that's the type of finish I love too, but I lean more toward a greenish blue, and blue We have a pretty fancy sort of dining room set, it's a big pedastel mahogony table with windsor back chairs in a dark wood, I have been looking at it lately thinking how good it would look with the pedastel and chairs were painted in the same distressed style of harbor fog as my island/cabinets. It would tie the 2 areas together even better then too. First I need to finish the kitchen though!! I use photobucket too!
We have the majority of the work on our teeth done now, still about $1500 more to go on that front. The new tires are on the car and the repair that needed to be done is done. If you can believe it we are still waiting on the roof. The money is sitting there, but it gets harder every dark rainy day to not say just throw a tarp on the roof and lets go to Disneyland!!! lol.... One hopeful thing is that our dentist took pictures and wrote a letter explaining how all the broken teeth repairs and the night gaurd are all due to hubby's ptsd, and stress so there is a good chance according to his case manager that we might get the few thousand we have spent back! If we do get it we are using it for an escape to California in January!!
Patsmom, I am sorry you are going through this. I will for sure be saying extra prayers for you!
CherylDan have a great Vegas trip, we will make it there one of these days!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Sending prayers for PatsMom.

Lovely furniture, Laurie.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well I am almost packed. Leaving the medications and toiletries to the morning.

My knee is really bothering me. I am taking the brace and the painkillers.

Talked dh into going to MVMCP, so we will be there on the 29th with a nice AP discount so that will help.

One day looks warm enough to swim (tues) if we are brave.

Ds3 is dropping us off at the airport before class so we will be there early. Our flight is completely sold out, oh joy! Can you say southwest cattle car!

Thinking of you all. Prayers for Pats Mom and everyone else.

Sha - sent your mom the b day card.

GAGWTA

 

[snappy]

Have a great trip, LMP.

I hope your knee does not bother you too much! Check in if you can.

 

[annrae]

Hi Everyone - I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving - personally, I hope I don't see another turkey for some time.

Your furniture is lovely Laurie - I love the distressed look - I would like to paint our oak cabinets in our kitchen with a distressed Wedgewood blue look but my DH questions the "paint chipping factor."

Maryann - Enjoy your magical trip!

Your kitchen looks great, Smiley - so refreshing.

Take care everyone and please know I think of all of you each day.

Barbara