Support for LateToSchool

Parent Cafe
1601

<p>Epistrophy, thank you so much, may I ask you to please not leave. I so look forward to the material you bring here. It makes me feel better and means a lot to me…it’s perhaps a selfish thing to say but it is very hard to imagine coming here and not seeing a post from you.</p>

<p>I am not feeling myself lately, don’t know why. I do not know if it is the new chemo, or, cancer. I have about enough energy to do my work, and to sleep, and that’s it. I am hoping that some of it is the colder weather, than I am not accustomed to.</p>

1602

<p>Aw, latetoschool, do you have a nice throw blanket? Something cashmere? In a nice cheering or soothing color? I have always been a big fan of the sofa nap. My dad, the college professor, would nap almost every day. And at going on 78, he has in many ways aged less than I have - memory, eyesight, etc.</p>

<p>Naps. And BTW, kudos for you for requesting that Epistrophy stay. I don’t imagine you’ve ever been much of an asker. Kudos to you. And to Epistrophy of course.</p>

1603

<p>I didn’t read the message to say that Epistrophy is leaving, just posting with less frequency for the duration of the trial.</p>

<p>Epistrophy, you have provided so much interesting and thought-provoking information here. As LTS has said, she very much values your contributions. As a frequent reader, I have larned much, as well. Thank you.</p>

1604

<p>LTS, How is your appetite? If your chemo is affecting it, your nurse may have suggestions. Having the needs to rest and keep warm are pretty natural bodily responses to your chemo. </p>

<p>Keep well and my thoughts are with you.</p>

1605

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1606

<p>Padad, my appetite is simply gone, which is very, very unusual for me. I don’t know what to think. I am eating though - making myself eat, though, I am not able to eat as much as before. I haven’t lost any weight yet. I am very hopeful this is simply a matter of side effects, and, right now, I would be at the “nadir” point of the new chemotherapy’s first cycle. So I am hoping that’s it…</p>

<p>I just do not feel well and I am not accustomed to not feeling well - so - it’s scary.</p>

1607

<p>The not feeling well is scary, and I’d venture to guess that being scared is scary for you, as well. LTS, so many of us are holding you in our hearts.</p>

1608

<p>As any who have continued to read Emily Dickinson beyond their childhood know, she’s a much stranger, more challenging, at times much scarier, and altogether much more powerful poet than one might think from the way she’s usually portrayed when first introduced to young people in school. That said, here’s a poem of hers that, if I were in your position, LTS (which I hasten to add I realize I’m not [and I hope it doesn’t seem presumptuous putting it that way]), I think I would commit to memory (along with a few other things), so that I’d have it readily available whenever (like now, perhaps?) the skies seemed to be darkening. </p>

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1609

<p>Thinking of you tonight lts. The effects from the flu can last for a long time. I can’t say what’s going on with you but it could be lingering symptoms.</p>

1610

<p>LTS, sorry you aren’t feeling well. Have you talked to your oncologist about this?</p>

1611

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1612

<p>I’m sorry that you don’t feel well. </p>

<p>Still keeping you and your D in thoughts and prayers.</p>

1613

<p>lts…
While I know my chemo is different from yours, the no appettite thing is VERY common with chemo. I eat very often in very small amounts and this seems to help. If you’ve seen the commercials where the young couple go to the fancy resturant, the meal comes, the portions are tiny, the guy says it is like elf food…that is how I eat. The thought of a “meal” is just too much.
Not having energy, no appettite, all very common with chemo.
Listen to your body and help it fight.
Prayers as always</p>

1614

<p>Keymom, what scares me is that I didn’t have any loss of appetite with the first line. In fact, I ate a lot more, very likely because of the steroid injection that happened with each infusion. I am getting the steriod injection this time too, but, there is no corresponding increased appetite. </p>

<p>I am hoping this thing is just a matter of blood counts, flu, etc. I will see my oncologist today at 3, and see what he thinks. One thing is certain: “listen to your body” really works. </p>

<p>In any case, I feel slightly better this morning, but only slightly…</p>

1615

<p>Latetoschool, sorry you are feeling not so hot right now.</p>

<p>When my dad had small cell and had lost his appetite at one point, my cousin (who was then at the Mayo) recommended he go on Megestrol. Interestingly, it was/is a drug for breast cancer but they discovered it did a great job on the appetite issue. Maybe your doctor can see if you could benefit from it too? </p>

<p>Anyway it worked like a charm for my dad! And he felt great, emotionally and physically, once his appetite was back.</p>

1616

<p>And, LTS, there is that offer of a certain, er, controlled substance from your upstanding legal friends. That is something that may help if you are comfortable with the option.</p>

1617

<p>Sorry to hear how you are feeling lately, LTS, as well that it scares you. As keymom wrote, however, fatigue and loss of appetite are common side effects of chemo and I think you were fortunate in your first round to not have this happen. I hope that the fact that this is a normal reaction to chemo lessens your anxiety. I also hope that your oncologist can advise you today about these symptoms. Meanwhile, I hope you allow yourself to take it easy or take a nap each day to get through this round. Thinking of you…</p>

1618

<p>LTS, sorry to hear of a scary period. You’ve had an amazing time with very high energy dealing with this illness, a move, more recently the flu and chemo at a time of year when even the healthy tend to flag. Glad you’re listening to your body during this phase. A resting phase in preparation for more energetic times to come might be one interpretation. </p>

<p>Holding in the light a vision of a strong and energetic LTS in the near future.</p>

1619

<p>Does anyone else here believe in signals, messages and signs from higher powers? </p>

<p>My friend and I had what was to us an unusual experience Sunday. Perhaps it’s normal though and we’re reading too much into it. </p>

<p>First, on top of everything else, I had a bit if a faith crisis shortly after diagnosis. Bottom line, my paster told me I hadn’t really been to church enough “lately” but he would pray for me any way. He’d been asking, he said, but, bottom line, I just hadn’t been attending church very much lately. This, after putting my child through catholic school for 12 years, after donating a LOT of money and time, after teaching RCIA and CCD, after serving on I don’t even know how many committees, etc. </p>

<p>So I have been hunting around for a new church, or at least a new avenue of communications with God, and, this Sunday, a friend and I decided to try an Episcopal church in the area. </p>

<p>In the first place, we were both seriously sick. I was having my problems, and, even getting ready to go to church required taking a shower, then resting, then putting on a few clothes, then resting again, then putting on shoes, then laying down to rest yet again, then putting on my suit, and then - got ready to go, but got horribly sick, and had to lay down for five more minutes. Then brush teeth again, then finally stuggling to the car. My friend had a similar start to his morning, but, his issues were due to surgery (Friday) to remove three bone impacted wisdom teeth, and he is allergic to his pain medication. </p>

<p>So he drove, and we both get to the church in seriously ill condition. We selected seats in the very back of the church because we both wanted to be able to be as close as possible to the exit, should illness overwhelm us. </p>

<p>(No necessarily central to the discussion, but curious just the same, we’re sitting there waiting for service to begin, and my friend is a counterterrorism expert and a lawyer, but spent some time in the secret service. So he’s killing time observing what people are doing while they wait, and relaying this information back to me. If even half of what he said was true, you wouldn’t believe what people actually do while they’re sitting and waiting for church services to start.) </p>

<p>But this is interrupted by an usher, who approaches us and asks us to take up the offeratory. I agreed immediately; my friend was shocked, “deer in headlights” response. Our number one priority had been to attend the service and hopefully even participate without throwing up on anything, or fainting, etc. </p>

<p>Bottom line, we took up the offeratory. Somehow we both made it up to the altar and got through it all without collapsing or becoming very ill. The reading was Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. The congregation would have been shocked, if they could have peaked at us via google. Imagine us, carrying up the gifts, given the reading, our professional lives, and the fact that we had never set foot inside this church before. We were thanked profusely, and invited back to share in worship many, many times by more people than we could count. This is a 200 year old church with a very august congregation and no shortage of funds and no shortage of people more than happy to take up offeratories…</p>

1620

<p>nope, not surprised at all. God sends us messages, signs, etc., all the time. We just have to be willing to listen.</p>

<p>I’ve been told by a very wise spiritual advisor that sometimes when we’re sick, and not up to ‘doing’ all the ‘things’ on our agenda, that that’s when we’re most able to listen(what else are we going to do?). Which is sad. I’m not perfect at it, but it’s hard to listen to God when we fill our lives with worry, pretense, anger, busyness, excuses, etc. The key is to fill your life with down time, so we can hear what She’s saying.</p>