Emotional Stress
About a year ago, I met a young woman who had had cancer since age 18 when she was diagnosed with an inherited pancreatic cancer. She had never thought she would make it to 40. But last year she did make it to 39 so she had lots of hope. Until last fall when everything changed.In the fall, she found out nothing more could be done and she would be on hospice until the end. She got hospice at home and slowly began to decline. All of us who knew her were on pins and needles waiting and hoping. We got periodic updates on how she was doing. She was losing weight, she was not eating much, she wasn ' t getting out of bed much.The...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - April 2, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer bonds death fridns hospice Source Type: blogs
What A Beautiful Day!
After I stretch, I ' m going out for my last long run before the Boston MArathon. I ' ll stick to a few shorter runs between now and then. I did well enough int he New York Marathon two years ago to qualify for Boston. Next year, I might run London again or maybe switch to tris...I mean why not, I ' m doing pretty well these days.Tomorrow my husband and I are going to clean out the garage and power wash the floor. We have a lot of heavy stuff to move out but I think I can do it. I ' ll probably paint the dining room later.Next week, I ' m going to focus on weight training and do the spring yard clean up. Its full of debris...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - April 1, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient having fun Source Type: blogs
My Health Is Trying My Patience
What if I could be normal and when I tried to be a healthy person I could actually do it without having to spend time recovering?Yesterday by the time I got home I was exhausted. I had had a very long day. What did I do? Got my hair cut, went to the gym and a doctor appointment. I had to lie down for a while. I left my house at 1030am and got home at 430pm. Six hours?My original schedule for yesterday included a 930 appointment at the gym. I decided that would probably be too much for me and rescheduled. I knew I had down time during the day and was going to go visit my parents for a bit. But then I got the brain storm to ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 30, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient doing too much frustration Source Type: blogs
A Useless Appointment With My CPAP
I go to a very good hospital for all my treatments. I usually have good productive appointments and don ' t feel I wasted my time. Yesterday was completely different.Last week I blogged aboutRebelling because I hate my CPAP machine so much. I was waiting to find out about my oh-so-important desensitizing process to be able to use the damn thing. Yesterday was my big appointment where I was to be educated. This is what I learned:In order to get more comfortable with my damn mask, I should wear it around the house so I can get used to wearing it and then I should be able to start using the damn thing. That was not very enlig...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 28, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: appointments CPAP dreams lack of sleep Source Type: blogs
Managing Weird Symptoms
So we all get these weird feelings sometimes. Something starts aching, or tingling, or twitching, or pinching, or just not feeling right. We start having little debates with ourselves (where it is perfectly acceptable to talk to yourself, ask yourself questions, and answer yourself back) how long has it been going on, is it that big a deal, do we want to go to the doctor, do we need to get some medical care (if dripping blood, the answer always apply pressure and get to the ER stat). Then we try to make decisions on what to do and when to call the doctor, or not.Eventually, it goes away or gets better (with or without medi...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 27, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: ailments being a patient being healthy symptoms Source Type: blogs
Making Breast Cancer Friends
You have breast cancer, I have breast cancer, we are now friends.... For life. That ' s just the way it works.It also works with people with other types of cancer or other chronic ailments. There is a bond.Stop by the chemo waiting room and you will find it full of people who become friends because they share a common bond - cancer.Before breast cancer, I wasn ' t as open about my health (and I was a lot healthier) and I wasn ' t as quick to jump on the cancer bandwagon and make new friends. But now, its different. If you are open about your medical crap with me and we have similar diagnoses, we will be instant BFFs.Many o...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 26, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer bonds friends Source Type: blogs
Damn The Mutations, Full Speed Ahead
So now they want to tell us thatcancer is mostly the result of genetic mutations, as opposed to other factors. I ' m not sure how much of this I want to believe but I ' ll just say ' damn the mutations, full speed ahead ' .Cancer causes are supposedly:66% - mutations when cells replace themselves29% - environmental factors5% - hereditary factorsSo can we stop blaming our parents and our bad diets, and just assume none of it is our fault? Probably not.As a normal part of life, cells divide and multiply and little mistakes happen all the time. Its just that sometimes they turn into cancer...." Lifestyle factors still ma...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 24, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer cause genetics Source Type: blogs
I Am Rebelling
Sometimes I need to let my inner rebel out and stop being such a good patient. I usually try to be a good patient (and go to my appointments, take my meds as prescribed, talk to my doctors honestly and generally do what they want me to). But not right now.Last fall I was told I have sleep apnea and my doctors want me to have a CPAP machine for sleeping. I got my CPAP machine and hate it. I can ' t stand having anything on my face while I sleep. I am on my second mask and still cannot deal with it. I wake up and want to rip it off my face. If I sleep with the mask on, I don ' t ever feel rested and have the weirdest dreams....
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 23, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: apnea CPAP lack of sleep rebelling Source Type: blogs
What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
I always hated that question: what do you want to be when you grow up? Or, the job interview variation, where do you see yourself in five years?I admit to asking it of potential candidates when interviewing them to find a new employee. I did ask it, not because I cared what they wanted to be or where they saw themselves, because I wanted to see how they responded when put on the spot.I digress. I finally have an answer to what I want to be when I grow up. I admit it may have taken me a bit. But now I know.I want to be healthy.That ' s it. Is that too much to ask? I don ' t see it as being unreasonable. I think its a great ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 20, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being healthy Source Type: blogs
The Really Bad Reason For Decline in Cancer Rates
There is a really bad reason fordeclining cancer rates. That is when people lose their health insurance and stop going to the doctor. New research has recently found that as people lose their jobs, they lose their health insurance and stop going to the doctor so fewer cancer cases are diagnosed." As the country plunged into recession between 2008 and 2012, something unexpected happened: An earlier small decline in the number of new cancer cases became a much bigger one. "And..." A2015 analysis in the Journal of Cancer covering the years from 1973 to 2008 found that the incidence and treatment of cancer in the United States...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 19, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer diagnosis cancer rates politics Source Type: blogs
Back to Breast Cancer Stuff
(So my plan is coming together and my life goes back to reflecting on breast cancer crap.)Earlier this week, the FDA approved a new medication to be used with Letrozole (Femara) or other aromatase inhibitors for hormone positive metastatic breast cancer patients. This medication (which I can ' t pronounce and just think of it as the ' kis... ' ) is calledKisqali (chemical name: ribociclib). It works similar to Ibrance... Not that that means much to me but as a reference.My real concern is the cost. Ibrance costs $9850/month for treatment. Not cheap. All new cancer treatments seem to cost so much. But I am pleased to l...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment cancer costs medication costs medications Source Type: blogs
Forming the New Plan (Part 3)
So, my new plan is forming. I done some thinking and some research. I also talked to my therapist and she gave me a few ideas. My biggest weakness is that I cannot over-schedule, over-commit, or over-stress myself. I need to pace myself.I have found some events to attend - a gardening as therapy event at the library and the next monthly Garden Club meeting. Of course they are only two days apart. I hope to get my husband to go to the first one with me as it is on a Sunday. He might.Going forward I hope to join the garden club, but their year runs September - June. They only have two more meetings this spring. I am also goi...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 17, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: emotions gardening planning recovery Source Type: blogs
The Bad Plan (Part 2)
After moving and I came up with my ' plan ' on how I would adapt to moving to a new community and stop working at the same time. But it doesn ' t seem to work as well now.For the first months after we moved, I was really busy. I worked on our new house. I painted rooms, I started gardening, I got us settled in. Once you unpack you still have a lot more settling to do.My house painting skills have improved but I go very slowly. It took me two weeks to paint one hallway. I did one side one week, and the second side the next. I spackle one day, sand the next, wash the walls, tape, and then paint - primer and two coats.... I h...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 15, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being healthy emotional toll lack of sleep new house plan Source Type: blogs
Things Are Not Working As Planned
Sometimes, things just don ' t go as you wanted or expected. Its a fact of life and we need to learn to cope, change directions, and move on.In the grand scheme of things, my original plans were that would I grow up, go to college, get a job, a career, married, kids, retire to a life of happiness and world travel. Well, we know what happened to that. I got as far as ' go to college ' when my health started taking over my life. One little cancer diagnosis has a big emotional impact and it took time to get my life back together.So I regrouped and started over at college, etc. The job and career went okay. I did eventually go...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being healthy housebound life new house Source Type: blogs
Okay, I Haven't Been Blogging About Breast Cancer
I just don ' t blog about breast cancer as much as I used to these days. Why? Because I like to pretend it will never come back and bother me again. That is the honest answer.When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I lived the all breast cancer all the time channel. Slowly over time, I managed to tune out for bits and pieces. Now I am trying to pretend cancer will never come back andbug me bite me in the ass again. I am pretending because I can tell you that with cancer twice in my life there are not many chances it won ' t come back again. The odds are not with me.Since breast cancer, or the mid 2000s, when my body start...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - March 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cynicism whininess Source Type: blogs
