Chillow

I have discovered the most wonderful thing called a Chillow. It's a cooling pad that can be put inside a pillow case. It's one of those "as seen on TV" items so I doubted it would actually work but it's awesome! I keep it by me at night and use it whenever I enter hot flash hell. I put it on my head or sometimes just my legs and it helps.

It stays cool all the time. I had to add water to it and roll it up to get the air out to "activate" it. I guess I just add a cup of water to it every month and its good to go.

PET/CT results from Sept. 23

Good results from the scan! No evidence of active cancer. I haven't talked to the doctor yet but I assume that that means I still have the residual cancer in my armpit/chest wall but no spread. I'm happy!

Fatigue

I'm trying to figure out what is causing this extreme fatigue. I feel completely wiped out even when I get out of bed in the morning. No energy. No desire to do anything that involves leaving the house. The thought of driving anywhere makes me exhausted.

I think it may be caused by:
--the Tamoxifen
--the Effexor X
--the Tamoxifen AND Effexor together
--my lack of estrogen from the ovary removal
--residual fatigue from chemo/radiation
--not being able to sleep at night due to hot flashes

I may need to schedule an appointment with the oncologist to find out what's up. I don't even have the energy for that right now. Ugh! Time for a nap...

Hot flash blog

http://community.breastcancer.org/blog/hot-topic-chilling-the-hot-flashes/

What's your level of pain: 1 to 10?

I think it's kind of funny when the nurses ask me that. I never know what to say but I've learned that if I say "5" they'll give more pain meds.

To me a 10 on the pain scale was when I ripped part of my big toenail off after hitting it with a door. Or when the patient care assistant pulled on my drain tube after my mastectomy.

The radiated/burned armpit ranked about an 8. So with this most recent surgery the pain has been almost as bad as the armpit but not even close to the toenail. So I guess I'd give it a 6 or 7...;-)

Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy

Had surgery yesterday (8/5) to have ovaries and Fallopian tubes removed. I couldn't have anything but clear liquids all day on Sun (8/4). I had to be at the hospital at 8:10am and I was back into recovery around 10:30am. I asked for extra anti nausea meds before and during surgery. It helped a lot! I felt pretty good with no vomiting. I still had to stay at the hospital until around 5pm. I had to be able to tolerate the pain, eat (crackers), drink, and urinate. I have issues when I have to pee under pressure like that especially if I know a nurse is lurking outside the bathroom. Finally as I was distracted by blood dripping from my hand where my IV had been I was able to go. Whew! Then I got to be discharged.

Up now at 12:17am with slight pain and slight nausea. Took another Norco pain pill (Tylenol and hydrocodone).

I have 3 incision sites: one is vertical about 1 inch long just below my belly button, and the other 2 are horizontal and about 1/2 inch long lower on my abdomen, right and left of navel.

The right side is painful.

Good articles:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/life-after-treatment/page7#f2

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/life-after-treatment/page7#f3

http://minnetonkatwin.hubpages.com/hub/Cancer-Diagnosis-Leads-to-Loss-of-Friends