Hello Ratina!
You are most welcome to join us. Free drinks tonight in th JM bar. Have a look round the empty tents to see if there is one you fancy. Sleep faries can be a bit hard to catch sometimes but if you need one just shout and someone will be along to keep you entertained during the long nights.
I fell down the DX cliff in May 2011, spending time now wandering between here and the seroma swamps whilst I wait for my name to be called for the Rads Rushes.
Deb
Evening Woodies.
All seems quiet around the lagoon and JM. I am using the ET glow to see the way to take another step out of the Rads Rushes. Tomorrow will be my Nineth glow in the dark session so over half way already…so far no problems. I need a sleep fairy tonight as the radiotherapy is keeping me awake not rocking me to sleep…something wrong there!!
We must stock the woods with Emus. Their oil does great thinks to hair. Supertrouper is trailing it.
So to sleep with a couple of pills and a funny taste in the mouth in the morning because of them.
Cackles
I am standing on the edge of the woods peering in as I enter tomorrow when I start my chemo. Looking for some fireflies to light my path, anyone brought a torch with them?
Shadders…The woods might seem dark and forbidding but if you look carefully you will see pinpricks of light ahead. So laugh in the face of the chemo and step in. Lots of us will be on our way to hold your hand and lead you on. Bringiton is on his way as is Positivethinking, so arm yourself with ice lollies to suck and a good book to read and join us by the lagoon for a quick breakfast …I will put the coffee on. Try not to be afraid we have all been on your journey and got throughn to the brighter lights very ne’er NED. I will recognise you by your hair…there are few of us with that. I am the frog shaped one with a chest glowing like ET. As for hair it is patchy owl fluff with Cruella Deville stripes.
So glad you have joined our madness, but experience will show through when you need it.
Big, big, Hug for today.
Cackles
Hello Shadders and Ratina, I’m an old lag who dwells in the Land of NED most of the time and an occasional vistor to the woods - a wonderful place of laughter and love as well as lots of good, practical advice. Here you will find calorie free cakes in the Patisserie Yurt, and alcohol free drinks and endless entertainment in the JM (Jingling Merkin) the wateringhole in the woods. If you want somewhere quiet, there’s always St Raphael’s Chapel over on gratefulness.org gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=ddw which was discovered by the amazing Sivam. If you long for a little Reiki we have out very own Supertrouper (who has hair growing so fast even I’m envious!) and of course the current resident sage, Cackles the Brave, Cackles the Stalwart, Cackles the Glo-in-the-Dark chest. There are a couple of crazy dogs too, if you need furry friend, not sure what breed Buggerit is, but Soddit is a ladradoodle.
If you need newts (neutrophils) you can fish for then over here …>
And as for sleep fairies… there, no there, no there, bother, gone again!
Feel free to discover new delights in the Woods, I’m sure we oldies didn’t find them all … and beware PB (Piers Brosnan) and NE (Noel Edmunds) who soemtimes sneak in to disturb our tranquility.
Let your (positive) imagination run wild and soon you too will be through the woods and into the pastures beyond where it is mostly sunny
Good morning, Woodies. I thought it might be time for a weather report from Arimidex Avenue and the land of NED.
Last week I passed the anniversary of my first FEC and had a check-up with one of the oncologists. (DX September 2010, WLE & SNB October, axillary clearance November, lots of seroma, chemo delayed until January 2011 because of weather and Christmas holidays. FEC x6, 17 rads delayed for a previously booked holiday, finishing in late June. I had had a DCIS with WLE and rads a few years ago.)
I am so much better than I was last Easter, when I reached the final FEC anaemic, with low blood pressure and having dizzy spells to the point that the Onc ordered an extra heart test to make sure I hadn’t developed an irregular heartbeat. (And lucky at that to have marched through all 6 without delays, hanging onto just enough newts and red blood cells, and without infections or other serious SEs.) Then I couldn’t drive or walk down the road alone for fear of fainting, now I can walk briskly for a mile or more and can climb the kind of hills I used to, just more slowly. I have to rest after a busy day, not just after half an hour of light activity.
But no, to be truthful, life has not entirely returned to what it was. The biggest change is that I decided I had to leave my job while I could get a small voluntary redundancy payment, and I haven’t yet found another job or regular voluntary work—I’ll start drawing my pension soon, at 64. And because I left at the end of sick leave, there wasn’t the same resolution you might want at retirement. (Of course that can happen to lots of people when there are redundancies or after illness.)
I haven’t had too much trouble with Arimidex—I’d say that some of the post-menopausal issues I had anyhow are a bit worse, but it’s tolerable. I still have some seroma at the side of my breast and under my arm on either side of the scar, and I’m still taking regular ibuprofen and paracetamol for the swelling and what ranges between pain and discomfort, with nerves still healing. Both arms seem a bit weak, as I had a PICC in the other one, so I’m still doing exercises and got a set of weights to try to build up strength again. I’m just not very good at doing it regularly. I was worried about an odd inversion that developed near the previous DCIS, but apparently this is something called duct ectasia and is just down to aging.
So I’m not as ‘better’ as I would like to be at this stage, but other forumites, the oncologist and a friend who is NED after adult leukaemia and a recurrence all assure me that this is to be expected. Our bodies take huge blows from the treatment and once the healing and repair process starts, this tends to take up all available mental and physical strength. Wobblies are normal, however unpleasant, especially around significant dates. If I think that I have spent nearly half the past 3 and a bit years having treatment of one kind or another, tiredness, pain, occasional forgetfulness and wobblies are scarcely surprising. But I count my blessings, because it could be a hell (speaking theologically, not swearing!) of a lot worse, and for some it is.
So there is a light and a good path on the far side of the woods, just be prepared for an uphill walk in the land of NED.
Love, prayers and good wishes to you all,
Cheryl
Thank you to Cackles and Revcat for sending Bringiton and Positivethinking they definately helped me today as the good vein fairy forgot to turn up! Never mind I got through it and now only 5 to go. Any room round the campfire tonight or are you all in the JM.
Jacqui
Thank you to Cackles and Revcat for sending Bringiton and Positivethinking they definately helped me today as the good vein fairy forgot to turn up! Never mind I got through it and now only 5 to go. Any room round the campfire tonight or are you all in the JM.
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui
Watch out for positivethinking - she is a bit of a wimp and tends to run off at the first sign of trouble - Bringiton and Icandoit are more likely to stay with you for the full journey.
Buggerit is my dog - a large black dog of mixed origin - named after Winston Churchills references to his “black dog” which is what he called his depression. Buggerit is the complete opposite - he is fantastic and finding neuts although he does slobber over them and just about every thing else in sight.
I am by the lagoon tonight admiring the beautiful full moon. Candles lit and wishes wished! PB on hand to fetch drinks from the JM bar if you fancy joining me.
Evening Woodies old and new.
Poor you Jacqui if the veins spasm at the sight of a needle …I don’t blame them. How about a Pic or Hickman— have they been suggested? If you are having FEC-D you might find my old nest in the Yew tree comforting. If you are not having Taxanes the tents are all well furnished. Are you on steroids and what are they poisoning you with?
The other dog you will see wandering in and out of NED . He is Soddit and is good at fishing for great crested newts in my well. Supertrooper keeps the fishing jam jars by her tent which will be either in the seroma swamp area or on the way to Rads rushes. Soddit entered the Woods with our Leaders , Sages and Oracles many months ago. He visits them regularly but will always come back here if you want a cuddle or something soft to rest on.
You might be awake a lot on steroids and don’t be surprised at the longings for Lemon Drizzel cake, cheese, chocolate etc this is par for the course. The scales here weight backwards so all is well.
Come and have a drink and meet people. Ratina is new too so you might want to swap notes
Mine is a GT
Cackles
Hi all, mind if I build a small cheese mountain for those late night cravings , I thought it was just me but I,m happy to share. Might need some newts for Friday as have bloods ahead of second TAC the following week. Actually might build a small bread oven next to cheese mountain for lovely fresh but bland bread to eat it with.
herbi x
Hi Woodies, I managed to grab a sleep fairy last night (first one since before Christmas) but a 3amGoblin snuck into my tent and let her out. BringItOn is still keeping me company, I hope she doesn’t desert me when TheGoingGetsTough arrives.
Evening Woodies,
Ratina NEVER trust a sleep fairy. They need to stop hob nobbling with St Eroid, he is a bad influence on their tiny minds. As for those Goblins Supertrouper can set Buggerit on them. They don’t like slobber and will disappear quite quickly. A nice lammumba might help you sleep. It is an old favourite of many. Hot chocolate and medicinal brandy…yum yum…Hic! For some reason the f…ec…and Taxing Tax seam to favour chocolate, strong spirits and cheese. Thus my toad shape and red face which neary outshines the ET glow.Herbidaciouxs has a cheese mountain if you feel hungry. You might even find her there, or swimming with Supertrouper in the lagoon. Pop in and see how Shadders is after her dabble in the mire, hopefully she is able to join you for a midnight feast because St Eroid is with her.
I came to a tangle in the Rads Rushes today and broke one. Two machines were needed to polish my glow and my arms are sore from hanging. A small woeisme visited but I threw her off tonight.
Where has that wretched sleep fairy hidden herself?
Cheryl I am so glad NED is beginning to prove herself to you. The route has lots of stumbling blocks before we get used to the reality of our physical and mental state. The change in life is so hard to take sometimes. Blast woeisme has knocked at my door.
Safe sleep
Cackles
Evening All,
I’m being whisked off from the lagoon tomorrow to be a Life Model in Rads Rushes! I really think its a little previous with my newt catching skills being poor and all that!
Can I put a request in for an NVQ100 fairy tonight and Bringiton tomorrow? Or am I being greedy?
Off down the JM for a Guiness - who’s coming?
Axx
Good evening woodie,
Sitting nibbling at my cheese mountain, already have whiskers but these will be disappearing along with all my other body fluff shortly. Have been joined by Dill tonight, he is feeling a bit sad as his playmate ( my son) has gone out for the night. He,s not very good at catching newts or chasing gremlins cos he,s always getting lost but if someone wants the comfort of a wet nose laid on there knee, he,s your man ( Dill ,that is, not my son!) . Anyone want an oatcake?
Herbi x
Hey lovely ladies, hope you maaged to trap a few sleep fairies… they certianly abandoned me last night as the leprechaun Tam O’Xifen was up to mischief.
Anyways, for one day only a piccy of my chemo curls (one year’s growth!) which will be cropped in about two hours… gibber, gibber… then I’ll have a ‘style’ whatever one of those is. I will leave the clippings and a tube of superglue in the JM so hopefully anyone who needs them can find them… might keep a few to glue where my eyebrows have returned so very sparsely… used to have ‘Healey Brows’ (for those of sufficent age to recall the former chancellor)now just a few wispy bits. How vain am I!
And cheese eating… envy! All through chemo cheese was one thing guaranteed to upset my guts… still have to be careful with it.
Herby hope Dill enjoys frolicking in the woods… and trying to catch his tail!
Morning Annie et al,
The rads Rushes Dwellers don’t breath fire over you to kill off your neuts…they are too busy with their abacus. Shove some bactiguard up your nose a scarf around your head, cloak to hide your body and ring a bell as you walk I found a sign saying leper helped a bit. The things to watch for are some gremlins in hospital waiting rooms they have big leaps!!!
If I knew everybody was partying last night so late I would not have popped a pill…D…now you will all have started to put those pictures for dart practie up in the JM…REV CAT how can you cut that? It is superb… I don’t mean to be selfish girls but my need for the clippings are greater than yours. The shade and length matches with my chin and legs beautifully.
Herbi how lovely,another wet nosed special in the woods to p,ay with Buggrit and Soddit…has he got any preferences for chasing or collecting?
Off for a roast and then Windsor with mother. At least the queen will see me glowing woth pride if she pops into her Farm Shop with Philip for a coffee!!
Cackles
Morning Woodies
Off to visit Rad Rushes … Cackles I have my outfit on - OH has a placcard at the ready!!
RevCat - love the hair … That’s a lot of hair for me even per-BC!!
Have a good one everyone!
Axx
here we are… clippings!
‘,’,‘<!—_,’;-^.–>*.,
The glue is here —>
Alas you’ll have to wait for the new dart practice photo… will upload when I’m home… for some reason my work computer won’t read the card from my camera :-S
Have to confess I’m pleased with the result! (and grabbed one cropped curl to keep as a token reminder!)
Ohhhhhhh hair clippings!!!
I am going to pinch just a little to do my eyebrows and eyelashes which ran off ages ago and show no sign of returning. I will leave the rest for the others to share out nicely.
Congratulations on the new hair do RevCat - I look forward to seeing the result (already sharpening darts)