Starting Chemo in June 2005

rmmom

Scout I love your flowers-especially the jungle-I have too but mine are all just weeds. I was looking at my yard I didn't realize how much of the work I did. I don't even care what the neighbors think of it.
I had treatment #4. The bendryl asn't as bad although the HS football player has to get a ride from practice I don't trust myself on the highway today.
Has anyone heard from Dana? I am still a little out of it so she could have posted and I missed it.
Scout I am praying so hard for you. This waiting is hard. You will be in my thoughts and prayers tonight.
Hugs and prayers
Bev

lkr

Hi,

I am also doing TAC--I started June 8th and have had my ups and downs. I believe the Taxotere is responsbile for most of my symptoms. Last month I did really well...YEAH! It was the month I helped move my kids back to college and I enjoyed feeling good. This month I am having fevers w/out infection. I have already had my taxotere dose lowered once and it will be lowered again. How are you handling your treatments? I discovered the ICE during treatments the third go-round, and it was AMAZING!!! I also read somewhere you could sip a milkshake and get the same results, which I think I will try next time! One more treatment to go for me, then RADS. I agree, I would like to hear from more TAC ladies!!! Have a good rest of your week.

LizFL

Scout..hope you got some sleep last night. Praying that surgery goes well with good results!

Liz

Pepe1

Ikr...Hi, from a fellow TAC'er ..it does seem like we're in the minority on this post. I have one more treatment to go next Tuesday. I will be so glad to be finished with this part. I started June 1.

Scout...my prayers are with you, too. We're all here for you and know exactly how it feels to be scared. Just know you're in a lot of hearts so you'll be fine.

Jenster

Good luck, Scout. I've been thinking of you this morning.

So are you disappointed about the new stadium? I surprised my husband a few years ago and took him to a Cardinals game for his birthday. Probably one of the best "adult" trips we've ever taken. I was totally enamoured with Busch Stadium. I'm a little saddened that they're replacing it.

Jen

Jenster

Good morning, ladies. I hope you all are having a good day. I've been having lots of good days since my white count came up. I've got #2 taxotere on Thursday. Then I'll just have six more weeks of treatment. YEA!!

I grew up in the South Bay of Los Angeles until I got married at the age of 22 and moved to Arkansas. I received an invitation to a surprise birthday party in Las Vegas for my partner in crime (almost literally, but not quite - lol). We'll both be turning 40 this year. I'm so sad because I know it's going to be so much fun. Probably more fun than what any of us should actually have. lol. But I won't be making it. Oh well...

Other than that, though, things are going very well. My husband comes home early on Thursday so he can go watch our son play in the band at the football game. I'm hoping to go this week, also!

Dana - I see you have your last Taxol tomorrow. HAPPY DANCE!!

Liz and Kim - I'll be doing my treatment along side you Thursday.

Mindy - good luck with your Taxol on Friday.

Jen

LizFL

Jen..I've been doing the same countdown..only 6 weeks after Thursday.

Sad that you can't make your friend's birthday party...but you will be there in spirit.

My eyebrows and lashes are almost non-existant now...thinner every day. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to grow back after chemo? I was hoping to have them for my cruise in November, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen!

I hope Scout's husband posts so we know how she is.

Liz

2frogs1princess

Liz- Did your eyelashes fall out first, then your eyebrows? I lost my lashes 2 wks after my first Taxol but still have brows. Just wondering if I will lose them too.

Dana hasn't posted in awhile, hope she's OK.

Jen- When's the big birthday? I've been to Vegas once for a friend's bachelorette party. We had a really good time. I'm not much of a gambler, though. My husband really wants to go there sometime.

Hope everyone is having a good, uneventful week. Good luck to all receiving treatment this week. The end is getting closer....

~Mindy~

LizFL

Mindy...I still have some lashes...but they are getting sparser every day..makes mascara clumpy. My brows have suddenly gotten very thin over the past few days. I have always had very heavy brows (and wished for thinner ones...but not this thin!). I had them waxed before first AC chemo and they have stayed the same way since. Had 1st Taxotere almost 3 weeks a go and noticed a super thinning the past few days. I could probably count the brow hairs left if I really wanted to spend the time doing that! Don't think they will last much longer. For some reason, this is upsetting me almost as much as losing my hair. Another chore each day now to try to pencil in brows. I bought ones that are like those fake tattoos...you put them on and they are supposed to last several days. Haven't tried them yet. I think I will be able to supplement them with eyebrow pencil for a little while longer. I guess I don't like the idea of looking like a chemo patient, even though I am one! Sometimes I feel maybe I should go to work with a hat instead of a wig and not bother with makeup! You would think that with all we have to go through, the hair loss would be the least upsetting...but I guess because it's so visual it makes me feel yucky!

Liz

JoMac

I've given up. I look like Uncle Fester. Eyebrows and eyelashes gone.
Oh well.......I too am thinking about Scout tonight. I so want her to be O.K.
I am finally done with steroids.
Now a confession......
I have been taking more and more ativan at night so I can sleep. I hope I haven't gotten dependent on it during this time.
No Surrender....I do buy bulbs every year both for outdoor and indoors.
I just haven't felt the urge to do it yet but I will ....I will.....
each day I hope my eyes will clear up and I can try to paint something.
They are still pretty goopy so I listen to the old Taxi television program on DVD.
Season number three is coming out this week.

RebeccaH

Jo--

Quote:

---

I've given up. I look like Uncle Fester.

---

This really made me laugh as I looked at your picture and could picture you bald. I could see how you could see the resemblance. Hope this makes you laugh!

I am starting to feel the anxiety of being done with chemo. I have taxol #3 on Tuesday. There IS light at the end of the tunnel.

I love having a port, but I'm curious....when are you going to have yours removed? I don't want to have to go in to have the thing flushed....can't stand the aftertaste of whatever it is they flush it with. Plus, I don't want to have any delays starting or completing radiation. The doc recommends a month off between chemo and radiation. If I start rads a month later, then I should be finished with rads in mid-Dec. Any thoughts?

My hot flashes are really starting to bother my sleeping. It's getting really old, really fast. I'm not taking anything to help me sleep, beause like Jo, I am worried about becoming dependent on them. Has anyone taken tylenol PM while on chemo? My husbands claims he's going to check my life insurance policy to make sure they cover spontaneous combustion. I keep telling him that I'm sure that this only temporary, and I'll get to go through it all over again when I reach menopause (based on family history and my own cycle...I'm no where close to being in menopause). It just sucks...

Watson

Oh, those dang hot flahses!

For sleep, I will pop a Tylenol PM every now and then. But my friend the pharmacist and my oncologist have both said to take Benadryl for sleep. It has the same ingredient that Tylenol PM has, just not the pain reliever part.
With anything, I would be careful not to take too much of anything or too often.
Jo, would taking increasing amounts of Ativan contribute to your depression you seem to keep having? Just a thought.

Hope all is well with you guys! I start taxotere next week so I"ll need to scroll back and see how the rest of you ladies did with it.

Scout, I've been thinking of you!

Pam, hope you've recovered from your 1st FAC chemo.

2frogs1princess

Rebecca-
Put a strong mint (like LifeSavers Peppermint) in your mouth before they flush your port, it covers up the horrible taste of the flush.
I get to keep my port for a year because I take Herceptin.
I do take Tylenol PM to help me sleep especially on my week after chemo. I try not to take it every night because I don't want to get addicted. I don't like to take anything if I don't have to but lying awake at 2am is no fun.

Wasn't this week Dana's last Taxol? Wonder where she is....

Liz- I just saw a picture of myself pre-chemo and realized that my brows are really thinning too! I guess since I'm only losing a little at a time I haven't noticed. So, Jo, I guess maybe soon I'll be Uncle Fester's long lost twin! lol

Good day to you all!

Mindy

Scout

I'm here.....the surgery is over....and I don't have ovarian cancer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how happy I am right now!! The doctor told me, before the surgery, that I was going to spend the night in the hospital...I was home by 4pm (same day!) and the surgery was at 10:30am!!
I'm going to go back to bed...but wanted to let all my friends know that I am ok and thank you, thank you for all the well wishes and prayers!

Watson

Hallelujah!

I think that sums it up! Rest well Scout!

LizFL

Scout..you just made my day! So good to hear the great news! Rest up and post when you can.

I pencilled in my eyebrows today...very short strokes and then smudged it a bit with a QTip and they looked fine. I followed the line of what's left there...will see what I will have to do when they are completely gone.

I was taking the Tylenol PM, then the Excedrin PM and then tried Benadryl at the suggestion of the chemo nurse. I would have no problem going to sleep...but would wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to get back to sleep. I swear I was becoming psychotic from lack of sleep. I work full time...would fall asleep on the couch at night for 10 minutes here and there and would wake up with a start. The Onc gave me a prescription for Lunesta...that has helped quite a bit. If I wake up during the night, I don't always go immediately back to sleep, but I get there! Sleeping a bit more normally has helped me a lot. I am less mean...that's for sure!

Liz

nosurrender

Thank God! THAT IS THE BESTEST NEWS EVER!!!!!
Oh you made my day!
You rest up and take it easy... if you had a laproscopy and you feel some pains later it is just the trapped gas they put in your abdominal cavity. Move around, swing your arms like a windmill and that actually gets rid of it!

YAY YAY YAY for Scout!

Analemma

Awesome news, Scout!!!!! I know what it is to worry about more cancer, after my lymph node scare that wasn't!! What a relief!!!

LizFL

Anyone else having skin problems. I am breaking out with whiteheads fairly frequently. I use a cleanser and a toner. Having been through my teenage years and through menopause...getting skin problems and hot flashes at the same time is weird! Thought I was finally done with hot flashes and night sweats. I wear a gel comfy band under my wig and sometimes when I take it off it is soaking wet! At least it keeps it from dripping down my face and through my new drawn on eyebrows!

Having dry skin and whiteheads at the same time is strange too. At the suggestion of NS, I am using Nivea lotion for the dry skin and it is really helping a lot!

It's an adventure each day to see what new side effects are coming! After tomorrow, only two more treatments to go!

Liz

Watson

Liz,
I don't have your skin problem, but I have issues of my own! During a recent hot flash, I put Clinique toner on my head to 'cool' it down.

It was too much for my head, I guess because my hair is sprouting? And then my hats and wigs irritated it even more. So I now have a pimply looking diaper rash in a mohawk pattern down the center of my scalp!

I referred to it as a diaper rash and my husband told me it was because I had $hit for brains. nice, huh? lol

I lined my wig with a strip of gauze and it seems to be better. Maybe I'll try Desitin or Butt Paste!

RebeccaH

Scout....YIPPEE!!!
What a great sign of hope for all of us!

LizFL

Watson...what an interesting fashion statement should you decide to go out au naturale! I have used Sea Breeze as suggested by NS (what would we do without her) and it cools without irritating. I only have a bit of peach fuzz or stubble on my head. After my shower, I moisturize my head too..not sure why! Guess I feel it needs some attention. The gel band seems to keep any scratchy parts of the wig off my head..so it only gets irritated once in a while. I switch off wigs too...so the pressure is on different parts of my head. I went a bit overboard buying wigs (on sale!) so have quite a collection, but find I have my favorites and wear them most of the time. I rationalized spending the money since I will be saving on haircuts, highlighting and hair supplies! I'm thinking of buying a dulplicate of my favorite so that when I go on my cruise, I will just wear the one and have a spare. Plan on buying one of those sun hats with the chin straps so I don't "lose my head" out on a windy deck. I don't think they would stop the ship to go pick up my hair!

Liz

JoMac

Great great news Scout.
Rest up today.

Fi_in_oz

Remember me anyone? its been a while since I've had anything to say, but I have been reading your posts.

Just thought I'd let you all know I'm now 4 weeks post a/c and my eyebrows and eyelashes have disappeared in the last week, I don't start Taxol until december, so I can't blame that now can I. Darn it.

I start my 7 weeks of rads on monday, 7 weeks of long car trips and being away from home, my son, my dog, monday through to friday every week, I'm beginning to think of all the things I was going to have done by now and haven't started. Oh well, they can wait.

The best thing is I've been able to do some liver cleansing the past few weeks, and ohhh, the neigbourhood barking dogs shall live afterall, I'm no longer annoyed by them bark bark barking, tis amazing what "sh*ite" on the liver can do to my mood.

I'm looking forward to getting some hair on this bald head, even if it will only be for a few weeks until Taxol weaves its wicked ways and it all falls out again.

Best wishes to you all,

Fi

Analemma

Fi -
"liver cleansing"?????? what the heck is that?

2frogs1princess

Scout- Yeah! Oh, I'm so happy for you! It's always good to have some answered prayers!

Fi- My brother does the liver and colon cleansing. He wants me to do it also. What does yours entail?

Well, I had a major memory lapse this morning when I left for work without anything on my head. I don't wear a wig, but I do wear bandanas. Didn't realize it until half way to work, I drive half an hour to get there. I pulled over to the side of the road and worked up some courage and then said "Screw it!" So, I am now at work, and I am "naked"! I rip the bandanas off my head several times a day due to hot flashes anyway so it's not like they never seen me like this.

Anybody else excited but nervous about being done with chemo? I feel like it's my safety net and I'll soon be walking the tight rope without it.

Still wondering about Dana. I checked her posts and she hasn't posted since the 6th. Anybody heard from her? She was to start rads yesterday after her last Taxol accord. to her last post here.

I get Taxol #3 tomorrow. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

~Mindy~

Jenster

Yea, Scout!! I'm so happy for you. As relieved as I feel, I can only imagine how YOU feel!!

Quote:

---

I referred to it as a diaper rash and my husband told me it was because I had $hit for brains. nice, huh? lol

---

OMG!! I LMAO at this, Watson. And boy, did I need a good laugh!

I went in for taxotere #2 today. No such luck. My white cells were too low. I'm so bummed because I've been counting down the days until my last treatment. Six weeks from today, October 27th! Not anymore. I just really hope that the rest of the treatments stay on schedule. Otherwise I'll have my last treatment the day before hubby takes me away for my birthday.

My son will be out on the field tonight during half-time and I'M NOT MISSING IT THIS TIME!!! I've had several friends call me, some of them even crying (LOL), to tell me that they'll be his surrogate mom with the video camera the next time I can't go. Gotta love friends like that.

I stopped on my way to chemo this morning and bought a mocha glacier frappacino. Sort of my little reward for #6. But since I'm not getting #6 today I've decided that it can double as a consolation for my mini-pity party.

Aw! I just realized I've totally messed up our calendar, haven't I? Sorry!!

Jen

Scout

Jen, I'm sorry that you can't have your treatment today....but at least you get to see your son play!
I have my second Taxotere this coming Monday, and I also meet with the surgeon. The Onc. doesn't think the tumor has shrunk enough and that I might have too much scar tissue to do a lumpectomy....I hope they are wrong! The Onc. said that she wanted to wait until I was done with all my treatments before testing to see if the tumor shrunk.....I have no idea why they are deciding now...except that it's not good news....I'll know more on Monday. I have two more Taxotere treatments left and then I'm done with chemo too..yea!!!!!
I'm feeling much better after the surgery and I'm even going to take some items over to my SIL's house for her garage sale on Saturday.....it feels so good to "feel normal" every once in awhile!

Watson

Wow Scout!
You really came out of the gate swinging! Good news is good fuel, huh?
Scout, there is a group of about 15 women from the live chats that are meeting in St. Louis this weekend. They're coming from all over the country. I can't make it. If you're interested, I think they have a post on the boards under get togethers or something like that.

Jenster,
Glad I could make you laugh and so happy you'll get to go to the game.

Later ladies!

Fi_in_oz

Brenda,

Its a term for getting all the accumulated toxic residue out of your liver.

Mindy,

I'm taking a Natural Chlorophyll Concentrate that I got from my naturopath. I just mix it with fruit juice to disguise the taste, its as simple as that, but remember check with your health professionals first.

Fi