The Fanny Pack

Do you remember the hip belts that were popular in the 80’s?  Also known as waist wallets, belly bags and, my favourite, the fanny pack. They made a comeback in the 90’s and again in the last decade.  I can admit that I briefly owned one… My fashion sense has never been what one would call trendsetting but in my defense I must say that those “oh-so-stylish” fanny packs were great for holding stuff while rollerblading.
Why am I reminiscing about a fashion trend that probably should have been forgotten?
Well, I’m a new member to “The Fanny Pack”.  It really is a group. Honest! However, I hope none of you have to join and I mean that with best intentions, not selfishness. The “Fanny Pack” I’m referring to is for people who take the breast cancer treatment called Faslodex. There is an online forum for the The Fanny Pack here.

Here’s the lead up to me joining this group (although I’m not actually registered in the forum).

On September 10th I had my CIS-Gem chemo treatment; day 1 of cycle 11.  Surprise, surprise, my neutrophils were at 0.8.  Dr.Dent wanted to cancel but I told the nurse to remind my doctor that we had gone ahead at 0.8 before as long as I took my Neupogen… So Dr.Dent agreed (This is why it is important to know the what/when/why of your treatment).  I was scheduled for the Day 8 chemo on September 17th and was scheduled to meet with my oncologist on the 15th.   All my neutrophil troubles, the ups and downs and unpredictability, led Dr.Dent to suggest that it was finally time to take a break from the hard-core chemo.  Treatment was cancelled for the 17th.  J and I had done our research regarding my options so when Dr.Dent suggested Faslodex I was able to agree on the spot that I would switch. That’s not to say Faslodex is risk free nor a piece of cake (I wish!).  It is considered effective though for women who are post-menopausal and who have tried other hormone therapies.  Dr.Dent scheduled my first Faslodex for Sept.23.  I mentioned that I had done research…well, that sometimes leads to knowing more than is helpful. In the case of the Fanny Pack, they quite often mention the pain of receiving injections, how they deal with side effects (mainly pain) and wishing each other luck.  So of course as the 23rd approached I was quite anxious.
In the end (pun intended), it wasn’t bad at all!  I mean, it’s not something I want to do everyday but honestly, it was bearable.  First of all, I didn’t have to bare my butt.  Although Faslodex info sheets and the forums both talk about receiving the injections to your butt muscle, it is more the back of the hip (the gluteus medius muscle) so you just have to lower your pants a little.  Nothing like your worst-case plumber butt.  My jeans could still be held up by loosening off my belt a couple notches.  For anyone reading this who is going for the injections, I recommend not looking at the needles.  They do look big, and thus painful. For me, it felt about the same as the poke for having blood taken.  I had two nurses administer the injections.  Because Faslodex is given in two shots, one to each side, the nurses at my hospital have taken to giving the shots at the same time.  This minimizes the dreaded second needle.  I leaned against a table to relax my muscles as much as possible; the nurses count to 3, poke the needle in, then check with me that I’m ok.  Then they start depressing the syringe over 30 to 40 seconds.  That is a difficult sensation to describe.  Not painful, exactly; Press your fingertip into the big muscle on your leg with decent pressure…  Then imagine not feeling your skin, only the pressure within.  And on the back of your hip instead of your leg.  It’s odd.  Uncomfortable but not enough to say it hurt.
I am still on blood thinners so the nurses were told to apply pressure afterwards.  Well, I’m not going to have them stand there holding ice packs to my butt for 20minutes so we enlisted the help of the invisible man instead:

An innovative approach to ice packs

Apparently there weren’t any regular ice packs so my nurse improvised with some gloves.  It really brought some levity to the otherwise worrisome experience.  I highly recommend this approach.  First of all, I think I brought some humour to the clinic as I was walking around.  I’m sure the other patients at clinic were wondering just what on earth those gloves were for; secondly, I had zero swelling or bruising; and third, maybe best of all, almost zero pain.  Mostly my hip/butt muscles felt as though I had gone for a good long rollerblade.
There, now you’re all caught up on my previous few weeks, medically.

Around home, I’m still chugging away at the back yard.  It’s hard work but I enjoy playing in the dirt.  I always have, so it’s an enjoyable kind of work.

More garden digging to install edging and pavers.

My paintings of Algonquin are nearly done.  When I began I had hoped to finish by September 24th, J’s birthday; but I didn’t purposely make that a goal. There is a good chance I will be finished all three canvases by the end of the day tomorrow.  The fact that I have progressed this far in a month is thanks to 3 people. First, J, for reading and then recomending a book. Second, the author of the book for writing it, and third, me, for actually painting.  The author suggests following a system rather than setting a goal.  If I set the goal of finishing by a certain date, and then am unable to meet that goal, I have failed and will feel bad about it.  Alternatively, I can use the system of painting everyday, even for 5 minutes, and will make steady progress. Over the course of the month I have painted nearly everyday.  I think I missed 3 or 4.  Although I might finish by the end of the month,mainly I feel good because I have made a habit of painting; a sure-fire way to succeed.  This approach can be applied to all sorts of things: losing weight, writing a book, gardening.  For example, don’t make losing 10 lbs a goal.  Make a system, or habit, of exercising and eating well and the weight will take care of itself. If nothing else youll feel better.  For my gardening, I don’t actually know what my goal is… I just go out on a regular basis to dig, move plants, pull weeds, etc.  Somewhere along the way the yard turns in to something decent to look at.

J and I are off to his family’s cottage this weekend for a couple weeks.  We’ll need to do a bit of cleaning while we’re there but it’s worth the time to make the place comfortable because it has a great view over the lake.  Now that I’m out of chemo, for now, and not feeling so drained we can easily enjoy some vacation.  I will have to come back to town for another Faslodex clinic (October 7th) and a meeting with Dr.Dent (October 13th) though.  Even with those appointments and some cottage TLC, our vacation promises to be an exciting time.  I’ve been practically bursting to share some news but was waiting for confirmation before doing so…

I’m pleased to introduce our new pack member, “Daphne”, a golden retriever puppy!  We pick her up this weekend!!

The photo from the breeder, confirming that we have a puppy!

Once we decided what kind of dog we wanted, J found a breeder in Rimouski, Quebec, who focuses on the character of the breed rather than creating the perfect show dog.  Not to say his dogs don’t look good … Daphne is incredibly cute. This breeder’s dogs have less heavy “feathering” than some goldens and he has bred them to be more reddish than the more common gold to white.  The breeder also focuses on creating a working dog, one who excels at retrieving and cooperating with their owner.  He is registered with the CKC so the dogs meet the breed standards but they look more natural to me.  Anyway, our girl Daphne was born on July 27th and will be 10weeks when we pick her up.  Fortunately we only have to drive to Cornwall rather than Rimouski. The breeder has some dogs flying from Toronto to their new homes so as he travels from Rimouski to Toronto, he will pass through Cornwall.  That is about 6 hours closer than Rimouski and saves us driving so far.  J and I have been discussing names for weeks.  I stumbled across the name Daphne on a baby-name website and suggested it to J.  Soon after, J found out that “Daphne” is a character from Greek mythology, namely a nymph who loves water; appropriate for a retriever. Daphne is also the character from Scooby-doo who has red hair.  Both of these are coincidences but makes the name fit our new family member.
I had planned on waiting a few more days to tell you about Daphne, when we bring her home… But it’s so exciting that I couldn’t wait.  I hope you want to see more photos because I’m sure I will be posting them regularly with all her puppy cuteness!

As we add a new member to our family “pack”, remember to appreciate the people and pets in your own pack. I’ll leave whether you pat their fanny up to you 🙂