Wednesday, February 18, 2009

My back hurts

In case I have failed to mention this recently, I would like to state that my back hurts. I took a pain pill last night but it still hurt in the middle of the night and this morning. I can't take another pain pill because I can't drive while taking them, and I might be too impaired to do other things, like think, walk and chew gum at the same time, bring both sneakers to the gym, etc. Instead I will just be whiney. My husband just went to work, so I will be whiney to the cat about it. That's okay, because he's begging for kitty treats (and he's pouting because we locked him out of the bedroom last night so we could get a good night's sleep as the night before he managed to keep us both up by climbing all over us, snoring and generally being a pain the neck).

Two more days until PT starts. I had hoped to get an earlier appointment but evidently they didn't have any cancellations. I called and asked and was told that often people just don't show up - which I find to be very rude. If you can't make it, call and tell them (even if you have a really lame reason - like your dog ate your homework). Just not showing up in life, is about as lame as you can be. Most of life is about just showing up when and where you are supposed to. In the meantime, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

Today, is, could it be, yes it is, another over scheduled day in my life. I need to work from home, go to the gym, go to the farm stand (because we are out of vegetables and that just can't happen in my life), go to work, go to Boston for a meeting, and make meat loaf. (Actually the meat loaf is mostly made. I need to put it in the baking pan and put it back in the refrigerator with a detailed note for my husband - somewhere between 6 and 615 pm, turn on the oven to 375 degrees, put meat loaf in pan in oven, covered in foil, no need to preheat oven. I hope this isn't too complicated but I am pretty sure he can handle it. If I don't write it down, he will forget.) Otherwise, I don't have a lot to do. I could consider vacuuming the living room but I am pretty sure the dust bunnies can co-exist with us these days.

Actually my next project is I forced both a hyacinth and an amaryllis this winter and they bloomed nicely. Now what do I do with them so we can repeat the process next year? I probably should go read the boxes they came in to figure this one out. Or I could look in a gardening book or on line. A little research might be the answer here.

In the meantime, there was an article on the news this morning about how all cell phone companies (except Apple because of course they NEED to be different) have agreed to develop a universal cell phone charger so that we can all have one and not three and throw them away with each new cell phone. Doesn't that sound like an awesome idea? They will also use less power than current ones. But, we get to wait until 2012 for them to be available... This is sort of like waiting for the cancer cures you hear about on the news to get through three more years of clinical trials before being available. (Yes, sometimes I think my entire life is about waiting for new remedies...)

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, off to my busy day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

HI there,

I found your blog while looking on the internet to find others that had these horrible side effects to your fingernails and toenails from chemo. I need a manicure/pedicure in the worst way and know it wont happen for a long while.

My background.... I am 37 years old and live in Houston, Tx. My mom died at 38 from breast cancer so I had been going for annual mammograms since 23 and was very good about it. In May 08 I went for my annual mammogram and with that this journey began. In April 08 my Dad was dx with Stage IV Kidney Cancer so I was reeling from that as well. So it began and they said I had DCIS (stage 0) in my left breast and wasn't a candidate for a lumpectomy. So I made the difficult decision to do both. So in 9/08 I had a bilateral mastectomy. My pathology came back and I had NO NODES involved....... I thought I had really dodged a bullet.... the bad news however was that there was a very small tumor not picked up in any of the tests that was invasive.... .4cm IDC next to the DCIS in my left breast. Also, ER+, PR+ and HER2+++. So then came the dreaded CHEMO plan. I had 12 weeks of weekly Taxol and Herceptin. Now I am four weeks out from my last Taxol and have begun the every 3 week herceptin.

My primary reason for contacting you is this nail issue. I can't believe the pain it is causing and it is so ugly and uncomfortable. I was wondering if your issues are/were like mine and how you handled it. I have lost both big toenails which are both open sores and about 4 other of the small nails. Four of my fingernails are separateed from my nail beds but hanging on at the bottom where I think is new growth. Anyway, any suggestions on how you managed this would be wonderful. No hair, no boobs, weight gain, fingernails, toenails.... it is alot! I am having my exchange surgery April 23rd to replace these miserable expanders with implants.

I hope you are doing well and thanks for listening to me!Take care, Cristl

I Started a New Blog

I started this blog when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Blogging really helped me cope with my cancer and its treatment. Howe...