Tuesday's Air

[jaminkw]

Morning All! Good to see so many coming into JFF yesterday. I read this morning. Yesterday was a tough one.

I went and saw that d@m# KW onc and he is so arrogant. I told him I'd tossed and turned a number of nights trying to figure out how to tell him Dr T at MDA has to be my primary. I kept pouring my guts out and he just sat there making direct contact with that blank face. No reassurance, just "well sometimes at these big centers people are just told what to do and they do it." Then instructions to make an appointment the first week of January after my next scan and then "we'll see what she says," meaning Dr T. I really dislike him.

My cold was full blown yesterday and night. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, sore throat. I was up at two, couldn't get back to sleep by three so got up. I watched TV and drank herb tea til after 4 am. Thank goodness when I went back to bed, I slept til almost 8.

I am really miserable with this cold. Can't remember having one like it in ages. I'm not running a fever and when I blow my nose the mucus runs clear so I'm not taking an antibiotic. Have plans for doing quiet mostly sitting work today.

I want to respond to everyone but just can't so--Judy hope your scan results comes thru soon. Eric good luck on Sunday. We know you'll be great on stage. Is everyone ready for Christmas lol. I'm on the GMA Made in America for Christmas bandwagon. I've already ordered a knife Stan wanted made in MA, an assortment of honey for him made in NJ and a homemade Strawberrry Rubarb Jam (mine from Kutztown is gone and I ordered the last jar on this site!) for me.

Have a great day everyone.

Judy in KW

[ts]

Morning Judy,

Still off schedule - stayed up to 10 last night, but still awake by 6. Earlier but I pretended.

I didn't get the Made in America message - well, I don't really shop for the holiday. We did get some family gifts for M from Sicily. Funny thing - 2 things we bought were Made in America! Oops - read before you buy. I broke into the Sicilian Torrone last night. Oh yum. Before we left the island, I realized that there was no way we could ever carry enough food stuffs home to be happy, so we pretty much stopped when the bags were full. I guess we could have taken an empty bag to check - we only had one and could have had one each. But even if that was full, we wouldn't have had enough! Did I tell you we brought back a bottle and a can of olive oil? Or a bottle of wine? Beans, pasta, pistachios, pine nuts, bay leaves, pesto in jars, sun-dried tomatoes, chocolate and more chocolate, and these crispy pistachio toffee squares (oh buttery sugar goodness!)

Sorry about the doc issue too. I'll be meeting a new onc on Friday. My friend says she is okay - we shared the onc that retired...sorry to hear about the cold too.

[Joppette]

Good morning!

Judy, hearing about your KW Onc. just ticks me off. May I gently offer you this, we are consumers. We are not patients. We can decide who our primary doctors are and tell that to the other doctors once the primary has taken over our care. When I was dx with LC, I fired my primary care doctor. She handled the LC news horribly, and ran out of the room when I told her the it. She never read my chart! She was fired on the spot. Your Onc on KW will be forced to take orders from your Dr. T. Now he/she may refuse and that is their right, and then you'll have to make decisions about how far you want to drive for the care you expect.

Sadly some doctors egos get in the way of good care for people.

Well, I got a call from one of my brothers today. I have hosted Christmas ever since my Mom died in 1996. With the possibility of surgery in the near future, I asked my older brother if he would host Christmas. He called my younger brother to tell him that he does not want to host Christmas because he has another Grandchild due, most likely this week. He suggested that we put the party off until after the New Year. (Is it dangerous for New borns to be around a lot of people? I'm asking because I don't know.)

Makes sense. It bothers me that my older brother wouldn't just discuss that with me. Whatever. I've been through too much to let this bother me much. I told my younger brother that this was a fine idea, but could we wait until I get the results from the PET scan, and have a treatment plan in place. Who knows? Maybe they won't do anything until the New Year anyway.

So we'll see. I'm okay no matter what.

Upset tummy is gone! I was a good girl and drank a TON of water yesterday. That is the best way to get that gunk out of there. I feel fine today.

So I'm off to meet with our techie church guy. He makes CDs and DVDs of the church services, and the demand is high. He wondered if I could pop in and do this for him. He said it is easy, and only takes about a half an hour or so, so I'm going to go learn how to do this!

See ya! Have a good day.

Judy in MI

[Joppette]

Oops, Judy, just wanted to commiserate on the cold. I just got over mine, and there were a couple of days when I wondered how it was possible to feel that bad and still be alive! Hope it goes away soon.

Steph, we posted at the same time. You crack me up with all the food you brought home! Enjoy! I wish I knew how to say that in Italian. Wait! Google!

divertiti!

Judy

[dianew]

JudyKW - am so sorry you are suffering with this cold. I know how miserable they can be, and it seems like for me they take longer to get over every year. I hope you are feeling better really soon.

Stephanie - Wow - food sounds wonderful! I would have gone with the second suitcase - which is why I'm still trying to lose the 15 lbs I gained during chemo:)

I read occasionally posts from people who say how happy they are with this great team of doctors they have . . . I have to admit I envy them. I really liked my oncologist in Seattle, but of course that was temporary and now that I'm no longer going to Seattle I'm back with my local doctors. I have completely given up finding a primary care doctor. I've tried a half dozen - but they all just tell me not to bother with a mammogram, a colonoscopy, cholesterol medication or anything else. Guess they figure I won't be around long enough to worry about it. There is only one oncology group and one pulmonary group between Redding, CA and Eugene, OR. Each group only has a handful of docs - so not much choice there. Unlike Judy's doctor, the one thing I can say for all of them here is they are just the nicest people you'd want to meet -- but sadly that's about all I can say. I do not get the feeling any of them are up to date on the newest treatments, screening tests, etc. I don't have a lot of confidence in them -- but I do like them! Can't have everything I guess.

JudyMI - according to my youngest son and his wife (who have had newborns the last two years) - you are not supposed to have newborns out around people. Can't remember how old they said they had to be first - probably after they've had enough vaccinations. I'm still trying to figure out how my kids managed to survive!!