[madubois63]

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a very long time. It's been a really rough winter for me, and I'm very glad that spring is here. You all are always in my prayers and thoughts even when I don't post or read the boards.

In the past, I've been able to warn people of side effects that might happen because they always seem to happen to me. You know, things like not all bc's can be found on a mammo, or not all bc's come with a lump and the ever popular sometimes too much chemo (or the wrong chemo) can induce leukemia. Well, here's a new one...steroids can cause AVN (Avascular Necrosis). What does this mean?? Basically it mean pain - agonizing pain. The blood flow gets cut off to the knee or hip. When the blood flow is reduced or stops, the bone basically dies.

You may remember that since my bone marrow transplant 2 and 1/2 years ago (sweet), I've been off and on heavy steroids for one reason or another. You might also remember that last summer I took a nasty fall doing a full straddle split. The split caused damage but I didn't feel anything until 2 months ago. I thought I was experiencing the usual arthritic pain in my hip, but within a few hours I was screaming and crying in horrific pain. No amount of pain meds helped, and the pain was constant. An MRI showed a muscle in the groin area was torn and that the femoral head (or the "ball" that fits into the hip’s socket) is fractured in several places. The only way to fix this is with a hip replacement. This would have happened just from the steroids, but the trauma from the fall hastened things up a bit.

They've had me on anti-inflammatory meds and more and more pain meds. The only relief I've truly gotten is from acupuncture and massage therapy. I am hanging in there mentally (barely) and physically, but this is not fun. I have not been able to do anything. I can't think. I hope to get the surgery done sooner than later.

Besides that, my blood counts are really good. They still take blood from me every other week because I still have an iron overload in my liver. It is way better than when first discovered, but I am still 4,000 times higher than I should be. I had stopped getting Herceptin for a few months (various reasons), and the 2 spots of bc on my lung started to grow just a tiny bit, so I'm happy to be back on Herceptin. That should take care of the problem. If not, then chemo again; but I think vitamin H should be enough.

Time for me to try and get some sleep. Sleep is really hard to come by. One wrong move and forget about it...

Love to you all...