Breast lumps

Checking in on Dianne... how's it going? Hope the treatment is bearable. Is your daughter joining you for Christmas? How is hubby? Take care and keep positive.

Healing thoughts. x

Hi Izzie,

What a sweetie you are to check in! Thank you. The treatments are just bearable. I had a reaction from the first infusion so the second one took place at the BIG hospital in Vancouver where things went ok. Took over 6 hours for 3 drugs to infuse but going slowly seems to be the ticket. I don't have to have a metaport anyway, so that's good.

They give me so much Benadryl that it makes it difficult to do much of anything but snooze. I have 5 more treatments then I'm done.

Not sure about daughter joining me for Christmas because we may be back in the big city while I get another treatment. Might have to time it for when I'm feeling better. Hubby is holding up fine and being a great nurse/driver/support. We actually went out with some friends last night and had a great time at dinner. Trying hard to stay positive - you bet!

What are your plans for the holidays?
Bathy

Hi Bathy

Thank you for the up date. Admire your positive outlook, looks like you and hubby are a great pair, together you will get there. Best wishes from down under. (((Dianne)))

Only 5 to go, yay!

Sounds like you're approaching it all very well Dianne.

Thinking of you in Boston.

Hey ((( Dianne )))

Thanks for checking in. Sitting here to hold your hand and give you moral support as needed.

Good to see you checking in, Bathy. I'm always happy to see that vivid life vest of yours.

Dinner out with your grand hubby and friends. Sounds like you know who, how and what to appreciate.

Will you be done the treatments before the end of 2008, or do they spill over?

Hi all,

I mucho appreciate your kind words - all of you. I won't be done with treatments until next year (blah) sometime around April since they are 3 wks apart. Am drinking wine because I hear it helps keep the blood strong so I won't miss any treatments. Then I have the Herceptin that I will get for another several months just by itself. Interesting drug, Herceptin. It's a monoclonal targeted antibody and doesn't cause nausea or hair loss. Can you believe that this drug costs over $48,000 per patient? I think I know where I'd invest on the stock market.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day, BTW!

Bathy
Dianne

Hi Dianne, no Thanksgiving down under nevertheless I wish you a great day. I also drink a glass of wine a day, Doctor tells me it is good for the heart. Wished he told me 30 years ago, and not after my quadruple by-pass operation.
Hospital treatment and drugs are very expensive here too, $100.000 for my open heart surgery! Glad my health insurance covered it all.
Keep smiling Bathe. Hugs from downunder.

Checking in on Dianne..... do you think Bethie has knitted 4 scarves, a hat and 2 blankets by now Hope you are doing well and staying strong and focused. Hugs gal x

there has been a fair bit of knitting - and a little thought of Dianne in each evening of knitting

I've been encouraged to continue as the hamburgers have dug into their cedar chest and pulled out sweaters I knit for them years ago, and are wearing them (with the thermostat turned down) again.

I've worn a sweater my mother knit for me -- Dianne -- it's a Norwegian fisherman's sweater, mainly light blue with cream and teal accents.

How you doin', gal?

Hi to you too!

Is it just any wine, or is red wine better for the heart?

Yeah, glad our socialized (that scary word for some folks ) medicine paid for every cent of what I'm going through or we'd be wiped out. I don't even want to guess what this would cost in the US.

Trying to keep smiling......I would like to download another avatar but not sure how. Do we still have to use gravatar, I think it was?

Hugs from the far north
Bathy

Hello Izzie,

Thanks for checking up, Izzie! I had my 2nd treatment or 3rd depending upon which way you look at it on Wednes. The docs are playing with the pre-meds so that I don't get such a nasty reaction several days later. Hopefully I will not be a shaky, heart pounding mess again this Sat/Sun! Steroids suck. They are worse than the actual chemo meds if you can believe that.

Yes, I think Bethie has probably knitted enough for the whole neighborhood by now! You go, girl! I learned how to crochet, well, kind of. I haven't learned how to get the tail joined to another loop yet but I've got a long string of nicely crocheted loops from sitting in that chemo chair for over 6 hours. Knitting is much harder.....what do you do, Bethie, when the phone rings, or something? How do you not drop a stitch? I really admire your talent and wish I could learn!
Bathy

Thank you, Beth! What a sweetie.

There is nothing quite so warm and snuggly as a hand knitted sweater (or hat, etc) Have you heard about this wool called super wash wool? They make sweaters here from this stuff and it just goes into the washer/dryer, no hand washing. They fetch a good price for these sweaters, too. Like $250!

I guess you're up to your ears in snow now, eh?

Bathy

Lovely! Sounds so invitingly warm! I have a blue sweater knit here on the coast by a company called Pollen. It's not fancy but it sure is warm.

Doing pretty good, thanks for asking jespah. Trying to hold the dominion and myself together. Shaved my head Tues as a fair amount of strands were coming out. Am wearing a nice wig and wanted to post a pic of me but can't remember how to upload an avatar so that might have to wait. Just had another treatment Wednes. They are brutally long sessions.....over 6 hours because they have to infuse me with 3 drugs so slowly so I don't have a reaction, being Miss Sensitive. Wish I could just pop in & out like mostly everyone else does.

I bring books, CD's and now my crochet but it's still a long haul. Maybe I'll get a laptop for Christmas so I can communicate and surf the net while sitting there.

Hope all is well, jespah. Have you done your holiday shopping - or should I ask

Bathy

Hi Dianne, lovely to hear from you once again, and good to know your treatment is well on the way and you're taking it all in your stride. Brave lady.

Red wine is what my Doctor advised me to drink, but he didn't tell me not to drink White wine, so occasionally I have some of that too.

Regarding your Avatar, this is what is printed in the A2k blog and I assume it is still current.
Gravatars on able2know
August 15, 2008 | By Robert Gentel
Gravatars are “Globally Recognized Avatars” and were developed by the folks responsible for Word Press. It works as a third party provider of avatars that allows you to use the same avatar on multiple sites. Because the avatars are useful to help distinguish between members more easily a unique avatar is generated and displayed for users who don’t have a custom avatar with gravatar.com.

To begin using a custom avatar, just go to http://en.gravatar.com/ and upload an image for the email address you use on able2know and it will appear within a few hours.

Note: They cache their images and any changes may take between minutes or hours to show up on their end, but if you still don’t see an avatar change after a day then you may have the old avatar in your browser cache and clearing your browser cache should solve it.

In conclusion to you and your husband, Warm Wishes for happiness at Christmas and in the New Year.

Hugs from downunder.
Dutchy.

Most holiday shopping, thank God, is gift certificates we can buy online. Now what to get my folks .....?

So glad to hear things are proceeding apace. I think the head shaving is very practical (you're right, it can be a lot of little strands). Add a doo rag and perhaps you can start rapping.

The Chemo Rap
I got me a sistah
her name is Dianne
you know, man, she does whatever she can
she's getting her treatments
it's happenin' today
she's keepin' it real
with the folks on A2K

Thanks, Dutchy! I have been down sick with a little fever and am feeling really tired right now. The old white blood count is dropping fast, but the fever is a bit worrisome to the docs so we are watching it. Taking antibiotics & hope they work. All I want for Christmas is my health back. I am not brave, Danny, but thank you for thinking so.
Wine is always good, I had a little with dinner last night.
Good info on the avatars, and I thank you so much. My energy level is about zapped trying to figure out how to do this yet again. I'll give 'er a try, no guarantee what you'll see for an avatar!
Hope you are spending time with friends and family downunder?
We have to use 4 wheel drive to get out of our driveway and into town these days. The 'sunshine coast' as we are known here in BC got a dump of snow that is unusual. Having to drive to hospital the other night we felt lucky we at least have the right vehicle for the job. I've been driving jeeps since I was a little kid.
Take good care of you & stay out of that hot sun!
Bathy

Hi jespah,

I don't know how I missed this one (chemo brain?) but you're so clever to come up with the Chemo Rap! How funny! Thank you for thinking of me.

Bathy

Well, yahoo. I'll be having another treatment on New Year's Eve. What a way to begin the year. Must think of something positive about this...while everyone else is out toasting the New Year and having fun. Maybe they can put some rum in the infusion?

B