Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Giraffe Encounter!
Saturday Brian, my mom and I went to the Detroit Zoo to feed the giraffes. Brian and I got there very early and lined up--we were worried when the large group of kids wearing matching shirts went in because there is a daily limit to the amount of tickets available for the Giraffe Encounter. Obviously, we were successful.It was a lot of walking even though we took the train to the back of the zoo. I was ok later, but Brian had very sore feet!
Detroit Zoo Photos
Labels: Brian, detroit, mom, zoo
Monday, September 29, 2008
Get Shirts for "Breast Cancer Awareness" Month
Janet's Blog store is open for business. I currently have shirts in honor of my favorite month of the year: October. I love October because it's my birthday month, and not because it's a pink-washed span of time for people to give lip service to the fight against breast cancer. I'm already quite "aware" and don't need pink ribbons to remind me how terrible this disease is. So I offer an alternative sentiment:
http://www.cafepress.com/jellykins
I personally think any of this stuff would make a delightful gift for loved ones, although perhaps it's not entirely child-friendly. Your teen would think you're a total bad-ass if you got him or her something with the F-word on it.
I'd like to add that whereas the prices seem high, I do not plan on making vast sums of money on the items for sale. Cafepress is kinda pricey and there is very little markup on my merchandise. I'll earn a penny if you buy a "Boobeyes Clock."
http://www.cafepress.com/jellykins
I personally think any of this stuff would make a delightful gift for loved ones, although perhaps it's not entirely child-friendly. Your teen would think you're a total bad-ass if you got him or her something with the F-word on it.
Addendum
I'd like to add that whereas the prices seem high, I do not plan on making vast sums of money on the items for sale. Cafepress is kinda pricey and there is very little markup on my merchandise. I'll earn a penny if you buy a "Boobeyes Clock."
Labels: awareness, cafepress, f-ck awareness, pink ribbon
Thursday, September 25, 2008
If It's Tuesday, I Must Be Bulgin'
I put off having a paracentesis until this week because it didn't seem so bad last week. By last Thursday I was feeling pretty uncomfortable. So I arranged it for Tuesday, which at least had me on the same day as infusion (only one day at the hospital) but I wish I had goon sooner!
Man, do I feel better.
At my regular appointment, I found out that my tumor markers are nearly half what they were (Yay, Gemzar). No word yet on the ctc test, which has to be sent out for analysis. The last number I saw (in August) was alarming in light of the "key" below on the sheet, which indicated when ctc is used for prognostic purposes, any number higher than 5 indicates overall survival of 4.1 months. My number was 19. I have exceeded the "prognosis" by three years, so I'm not sure I can treat that number as anything more than a snapshot from a trend like the other numbers.
Months. Bah.
It wasn't enough to dampen my thrill at the other markers AND my liver counts, which are approaching normal. Maybe soon the ascites build up will slow down and I won't have to be poked and drained anymore--or at least not as frequently.
w00t!
Man, do I feel better.
At my regular appointment, I found out that my tumor markers are nearly half what they were (Yay, Gemzar). No word yet on the ctc test, which has to be sent out for analysis. The last number I saw (in August) was alarming in light of the "key" below on the sheet, which indicated when ctc is used for prognostic purposes, any number higher than 5 indicates overall survival of 4.1 months. My number was 19. I have exceeded the "prognosis" by three years, so I'm not sure I can treat that number as anything more than a snapshot from a trend like the other numbers.
Months. Bah.
It wasn't enough to dampen my thrill at the other markers AND my liver counts, which are approaching normal. Maybe soon the ascites build up will slow down and I won't have to be poked and drained anymore--or at least not as frequently.
w00t!
Labels: ascites, Gemzar, liver, paracentesis, tumor marker
Monday, September 15, 2008
"2 young"
Those of you who use RSS feeds to follow my blog, please click out to the actual blog.
First, you will see happy new Fall graphics.
Next, I'd like to ask you to scroll down a bit and peruse the "2 young" menu on the right side of the page. These are some of the women I've encountered on the Young Survival Coalition bulletin boards. It is by no means a comprehensive list of all the women there who have their own blogs, web pages, MySpace pages, Caring Bridge pages, Facebook pages, etc. But I quail at adding more names because it's a pretty long list, even here.
Two of the pages in the list now belong to women who have died from their breast cancer. "Jayme" would have been 36 at the end of this past July, but she didn't make it to her birthday. "Courtney - bccourtney" died last night at the age of 23. She was a dancer; she was diagnosed three years ago and the disease ate her body away.
I don't really know what to do with the links, because they won't be updated. Do I just whittle the list down, or do I leave the names, knowing that nothing new will be posted; no answers will be listed on their personal pages about where they are and what they are doing?
Sorry for the downer. It's just vitally important for people to know that young women do get breast cancer, and that young women also die from it. "Early detection" and "prevention" are worthy concepts, but insufficient. Is "Cure" too much to hope for? I hope for myself and for the women listed in the right margin--and for all women dealing with breast cancer who aren't in my feeble list--that it isn't.
I guess if you are bummed now, try looking at the happy Fall graphics again.
Love,
Janet
First, you will see happy new Fall graphics.
Next, I'd like to ask you to scroll down a bit and peruse the "2 young" menu on the right side of the page. These are some of the women I've encountered on the Young Survival Coalition bulletin boards. It is by no means a comprehensive list of all the women there who have their own blogs, web pages, MySpace pages, Caring Bridge pages, Facebook pages, etc. But I quail at adding more names because it's a pretty long list, even here.
Two of the pages in the list now belong to women who have died from their breast cancer. "Jayme" would have been 36 at the end of this past July, but she didn't make it to her birthday. "Courtney - bccourtney" died last night at the age of 23. She was a dancer; she was diagnosed three years ago and the disease ate her body away.
I don't really know what to do with the links, because they won't be updated. Do I just whittle the list down, or do I leave the names, knowing that nothing new will be posted; no answers will be listed on their personal pages about where they are and what they are doing?
Sorry for the downer. It's just vitally important for people to know that young women do get breast cancer, and that young women also die from it. "Early detection" and "prevention" are worthy concepts, but insufficient. Is "Cure" too much to hope for? I hope for myself and for the women listed in the right margin--and for all women dealing with breast cancer who aren't in my feeble list--that it isn't.
I guess if you are bummed now, try looking at the happy Fall graphics again.
Love,
Janet
Labels: awareness, cure, metastasis, prevention, YSC
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The News--It is Good!
So I went to see Dr. Bierman the orthopedic specialist (she's the who saw me three years ago when I had broken the right side of my pelvis) about the pain in my left hip and femur.
She has looked at the ex-rays. Her assistant came in and prodded me to determine where the areas of pain are, wiggled my leg around, and then went to get her. She came in and poked where the assistant said I was having my pain, and based on what they found, they both agreed my horrible affliction was probably.........
....bursitis!
There appeared to be no structural reason why I can't put full weight on my hip and I was able to jettison the cane for now. I'm very excited about this.
Granted, I've had false diagnoses before, but this time it's a specialist in the cancer center assessing my hip. They were able to do a procedure in the office where first they numbed my hip with lidocaine and something else (which was actually the worst part) and then they injected a bunch of fluid that included a corticosteroid to help reduce inflammation. They rubbed the hip to spread the fluid around, and had me walk for about ten minutes. I also got a prescription to visit a physical therapist to get information on exercises I can do to make the bursitis go away so I hopefully won't need more shots.
I feel so much better. Granted, if the pain returns they can still do scans, but I'm happy with having the orthopedic person tell me I'm not in danger of breaking my femur or hip. Woohoo!
She has looked at the ex-rays. Her assistant came in and prodded me to determine where the areas of pain are, wiggled my leg around, and then went to get her. She came in and poked where the assistant said I was having my pain, and based on what they found, they both agreed my horrible affliction was probably.........
....bursitis!
There appeared to be no structural reason why I can't put full weight on my hip and I was able to jettison the cane for now. I'm very excited about this.
Granted, I've had false diagnoses before, but this time it's a specialist in the cancer center assessing my hip. They were able to do a procedure in the office where first they numbed my hip with lidocaine and something else (which was actually the worst part) and then they injected a bunch of fluid that included a corticosteroid to help reduce inflammation. They rubbed the hip to spread the fluid around, and had me walk for about ten minutes. I also got a prescription to visit a physical therapist to get information on exercises I can do to make the bursitis go away so I hopefully won't need more shots.
I feel so much better. Granted, if the pain returns they can still do scans, but I'm happy with having the orthopedic person tell me I'm not in danger of breaking my femur or hip. Woohoo!
Labels: bursitis, Dr. Bierman, hip
