Good morning! Dull here and smells like rain. Boy is it needed!

So strange to wake and not have Hershey here. She left last night to go to Philly to meet the boyfriend. I already miss her
furry presence.

Gail The Great comes to clean today. I think I will take off as soon as she arrives and go to the Fair Office. I have to give my post-Fair financial report at a meeting this week and have not started pulling it together. Harry and I may also go to Ottawa for an overnight - maybe a visit to the Casino, a nice restaurant and a night at the Westin? Romance is in the air - NOT!

Had a great roast of beef for dinner last night and there's lots left for tonight. You chickies want to come for roast beef and salad?

Hey - Giggles sighting during the night!

Have a good OP day.

Good morning Ruth! And all you chickies out there - have a great day.

And let's keep Jiff in our prayers and in our hearts. Jiff! We are thinking about you and hoping you are feeling better.

You never know when I might pop up and give a finger-wagging or a lecture!

Wanna borrow my chicken purse? It works. Peachey has been threatened with it if she does not keep us up-to-date on Jiff. She is vewy afwaid of the chicken purse.

That chicken purse happens to have a sharp beak!

Giggles, Great to see you!!

I need more coffee....got to build of my seratonin levels and all that good stuff this early morning!

On Jiff....she will be moved to a nursing home either today or tomorrow until she is in good enough shape for surgery. Please put your orders in for christmas crafts cause she is gonna have a bit of time on her hands!!!! (hey...what are sisters for )

peach

Hi Giggles, it's been a while!

peachie hope Jiff is doing well today!

Ruth how did Hershey get to PA, did you fly her or drive her?

Well, keep your fingers crossed that my hubby can get home from Japan tomorrow as scheduled. A typhoon that was going to miss Tokyo has now changed course and is heading for Tokyo. My hubby's plane leaves at 3 tomorrow afternoon, the typhoon is going to hit tomorrow night or Wednesday morning. This world traveler stuff is for the birds

I had a rough day yesterday, but have made a choice to be OP today.

have a great day
Debbie

okay, it just let me edit

Why can't I edit my post??? This has happened to me before, is it just me?

That should be "is" for the birds, not "if" for the birds.

...or is it Does Philly?

Debbie, she is flying out of Ottawa this a.m. at 8. I took her to the guy who is going to take her there last night. (He is her former dog daddy and she loves him.) Looks like Hallowe'en puppies if all goes as planned.

And I can edit. Are you clicking edit, making changes and remembering to do "save changes", not "reset message"?
let me know if it still does not work.

Hi, everyone

Thanks for asking after my health and yard sale – now let me tell you what happened.

Aside from feeling queasy and having general flu symptoms on Friday, I also had one very tender breast. I ignored it, thinking it was unrelated, and that I must have food poisoning.

But as the day and night went on, the collection of symptoms was unmistakable – The fluish feeling, the achy joints, lethargy, and the tender, warm and now-very-red breast: I appeared to have mastitis! (A breast infection known mostly to new/nursing moms.) I’d had it years ago myself when my daughter was an infant.

Well, I hadn’t nursed in 5 years, so I jumped on the internet and found out that a.) yes, it’s rare, but a non-nursing woman can get mastitis, and b.) what sometimes looks like mastitis, is actually Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) – a particularly swift form of breast cancer where no lump is discernable, and which is often misdiagnosed.

By the time I read this reference it was 1 a.m. I had stayed up late trying (in vain, due to lack of energy) to get ready for the Saturday yard sale, and now that I was convinced I had breast cancer, I couldn’t call anyone!

On Saturday, I somehow managed to get though the yard sale with help from my Mom and my Sweetie. (don’t think I’ve yet mentioned the wonderful guy ...) Later that afternoon he took me to the ER at our state-of-the-art women’s hospital to be seen.

The doc did what I figured she would (I was an expert after a night on the ‘net!) and gave me antibiotics and instructions to call the Breast Health Center if I didn’t respond to the drugs in 24 hours.

Thankfully, I did respond. If I finish the whole course without repeat breast symptoms, then I’m OK.

So ….. if you read nothing else of this way-too-long-message, please read the most important thing I learned from this experience: **You do not need to feel a lump in order to suspect breast cancer. Inflammatory Breast Cancer will not be caught by Mammograms or MRIs ** If one breast is enlarged, tender, hard, red and/or appears to be slightly bruised, and if the nipple appears to be flatter than usual, BE EXAMINED BY A DOCTOR ASAP. If you do not respond to antibiotics, demand and get a needle biopsy.

I don’t mean to scare anyone, but according to what I read, early detection is key, and a lot of doctors still don’t know what they’re looking at with IBC.

Sorry I can’t answer individually today – I gotta run, but I wanted you all to learn what I learned this weekend. Thanks again for all your well wishes

Best to all --
Barb

I have a very dear friend fighting IBC right now. She is giving it her all, but we just don't know.
As Barb said, IBC is a very vicious (sp) form of brest cancer. Survival is 40%. IBC is always stage 3 cancer, never any lower.

My friend had a mammo in the spring two years ago, by that fall she had IBC. Nothing showed up in the mammo. She is on round two of chemo. She has one round of chemo under her belt, radiation, and had a masactomy (sp). The cancer returned in her bones and has now shown up as spots on her liver.
My friend is a Mom of two and only 42 years old, breaks my heart when I think about it.

Debbie

Trying to run thru check different posts....doing some lurking and evading DH who is very frustrated and sitting in the office with me DRIVING ME NUTSO as he's had a rough day waiting for inspectors on jobs! Ugh! Fortunately the jobs all passed inspections, but he spent four hours waiting for them to show up!

Darn, now tow truck driver is here to tow other step DS (who only calls when he needs something)! Luv him anyway!

Gotta run....will try to check back in! Hope everyone has had a great day!

J

Barb! What a scary thing for you to go thru! I can not even begin to imagine the pain! Thanks for the information and I am glad you are on the mend!

Debbie, keeping my fingures crossed for dh!!!

Ruth...um, I think it was Mr Smith goes to Washington and Debbie does Dallas (not OUR Debbie!) I hope that Hershey has a nice time in Philly, gets to check out the liberty bell and all of the really great historical sites!

Hi Janice! Hi Giggles! Hey AdoAnnie...how did your party go? Pooky? you still painting? do you give lessons? Linda! way to go on the 13!!!!! yippee!
Hi all to come and those that lurk!

I spent most of the day in bed...and then went to the doctor. It appears that what I thought were allergies is another or the same sinus infection from 2 months ago...this I need? gotta run THEY are home!

peach

Barb wow what a close call. that was scarry. I am so glad that it is getting better

Giggles glad to see you here again do not stay so long away next time we all love the knowledgable imput that you give us. I really apreciate it. and the great sence of humor

Peach all that running has run you down, niow we did tell you to care for your self too did we not?????? well take your antibiotics, stay away from jiff till better and then give her a hug from us. OK? then lay down next to her and take a nap!!!

Deb my prayers to your friend.

Ruth do not miss hershey too much. that will be no early mornig walks in the dew. well you can do that but not have your furry pal there with you. she will be back soon. ans she will have had fun.

I'm probably the last to reply here today--oh well, I found out what the problem is with my server today. They are improving the fiber optics in this area and that means they have had a lot of down time so it's really hard for people to get online. They've been working with minimal speed so that means everyone has basically been using the same line! Grrrr.... you would think that they might have emailed us and told us about it first!


Ruth! You will survive! Just think--she'll be a momma when she comes back!

Giggles! Nice to see you around and about! You alwasy seem to arrive when you're needed the most

Peach, I'm praying long and hard for Jiff, thinking about her constantly and I hope that everything goes well!

Debbie, you know, Japan is actually a really neat place--had to go a couple of times to get my visa updated to stay in Korea. If your dh ever has to go again, go with him! It'll be worth it!

Barb! What an experience! I'm glad that you found out about this--I certainly believed that lumps had to be found for it to be cancer--had no idea there could be other types. Thanks for the information and I'm happy that the medication worked for you!

Nasus, hope you had a great OP day!

Yes, I am still painting, it's a slow, arduous process, but it is filled with love. this morning I put some glitter paint on the bubbles and they look so good! My little girl will remember this forever I think!