Herceptin Number Eleven

Herceptin infusion number eleven was this past Friday and by Sunday I was having side effects. I started feeling a general weakness by Noon and a short time later I began to feel muscle weakness and pain in my right thigh. Within a couple of hours my left thigh felt the same and my arms felt heavy and weak so I took ibuprofen and spent the rest of the day in bed.

I experienced a little bit of a Déja Vu feeling; the all-over weakness reminded me of how I felt sometimes when I was on chemo. Fortunately by Monday I was only experiencing slight pain in the right thigh and knees.

I’ve read bulletin postings on www.breastcancer.org and www.her2support.org the side effects I experienced have also been experienced by others. There is comfort in knowing that I am not imagining these symptoms but even greater comfort on knowing how effective Herceptin has been for so many women. I love this part of the welcome message on the her2support.org site: When this website was launched on December 24 2001, the breast cancer patient who was HER2 positive was pitied and the only thing that their oncologist told them was “your cancer is aggressive and your prognosis is poor.” Recent advances in treatment has reversed this outlook and now we live longer and enjoy a much better quality of life than ever before.

I am grateful for the internet – I have been able to research everything related to breast cancer, my treatment, and nutrition. And of course, it is the internet that has provided me this opportunity to have a blog and email. I also use the internet frequently for a dose of inspiration and happy, positive thoughts. Here are some of the web sites that I frequent:

http://www.darynkagan.com
http://www.motivatingquotes.com
http://hubblesite.org
http://www.thehappyguy.com

Oh, how could I forget…the internet is a great way to find a recipe and menu ideas! My favorite website is http://www.foodnetwork.com.

Thank you for checking in on me, I hope that each of you are well and fully enjoying each day that you have. I will leave you tonight by sharing one more website with you, it is for kids but this big kid is a fan of Shel Silverstein and since laughing is healthy for us I recommend this site to you also: http://www.shelsilverstein.com

Happy Valentine's Day - Tomorrow

The word happy...well it got me to thinking about happiness. In a post I wrote several months ago I mentioned that I would write some thoughts about having a positive attitude. I have never written that post but here is a start on it.

Having a positive attitude consists of several things one of which is the state of being happy. Here is a question for you, does happiness result in being positive or does being positive result in happiness?

I think being positive is one essential ingredient of happiness. Perhaps for one to attain happiness it takes several ingredients - is there a recipe for happiness?

The listing for happiness in Wikipedia a free online encyclopedia is: Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and commented on extensively throughout world history. This reflects the universal importance that humans place on happiness. Well I guess that is why a Google search of the word happiness resulted in 67,300,000 hits.

Alternative words for happiness listed in a thesaurus include, contentment; pleasure; gladness; cheerfulness; joy; and delight. And, each of these alternative words has a list of their own alternative words. Among these words, contentment means something to me and one of its alternative words – satisfaction.

I find happiness in being with my family; and in activities like cooking, eating, and shopping; and it made me very happy to see a beautiful sky this past Sunday following Saturday evening’s rain. But tonight I am thinking of the deeper meaning of happiness not things or events that bring temporary happiness to us.

Can one achieve true happiness without also being positive, satisfied and content? How can people facing dire circumstances be happy?

In addition to these questions I have posed to you, I will leave you with some of my favorite quotes.

Proverbs 15:15b … the cheerful heart has a continual feast. And 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. Denis Waitley

Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. Anonymous

Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. Helen Keller

It is not the place, nor the condition, but the mind alone that can make anyone happy or miserable. Roger L'Estrange

Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off being happy until some future date.
Dale Carnegie

...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Paul, Philippians 4:11-13