Starting Chemo February 2009?

webwriter

Gram, your gkids just made my day! LOVELY!

Suz, no worries. It's not chemo. It's the rads. I'll live, but I'm hopping mad! LOL!

Gramof3

" mce_src="" alt="" border="" hspace="" vspace="" width="" height="" align="" />

Gramof3

Artists resting:

Gramof3

And finally, the reasons I'm fighting this fight!

Gramof3

Thanks, Webbie!  You were my inspiration!!  Been in a funk for a few days, but climbing out, will catch up later.  Hope you're pushing on.  Helen

MicheleS

Helen~ Love the pics!!

Suzanne~ I need a mirror to put on my wig.  I could never do it in a parking lot! LOL! It would be all wonky looking!  You are talented!!!

KerryMac

Gram - Ohh, what lovely photos, lovely grandkids. Looks like you had a blast. I wouldn't let my kids do that to me!!

 Wenbbie - soooo sorry you are sick. Hope you feel better soon. 

Suzanne - you had me laughing with your wig antics! i am sick of mine too, and I think it is getting tatty. 

Am just rushing out the door to my 8:00am rads. Big hugs to everyone.

apple

i really enjoy pics the most in this thread... specially of all the kids.  (also liking the pink and green plaid chair.. (nice material).

it is so cool, to let one's head be decorated..

i'll be off soon to have more of my mouth cells killed.  ouchy once again.  the weather in KS is absolutely glorious.. day after day.. what a wonderful late spring we are having.

xpectmiracles

Gram, I love the pictures!

Terri42

Hey Furies!  Just had my pre-op appt with my PS - I am now ready for my perky boobs (June 19th)- just in time for Summer!  I can't wait - no more expanders - yeah!  Funny thought - my PS hired a tatto artist for the areola tattooing and I thought hmmmmm maybe I'll get something else tattooed - mind you I am very conservative but this whole journey has me thinking what the heck!

Helen - love the pics - thanks - always in need of a laugh!

living4today - Congrats!  Wow a new baby - how great is that!  Just like Helen the baby will inspire you!

Suzanne - you had me laughing too at the wig story - that is definitely something I would do too - I hate my wig - I waltzed out today without anything on just to drop my son off at the bus stop and it just feels so good to go "topless"!

Webbie - Hang in there!

Terri42

Judy - I think I'm the Queen of neuropathy - luckily I didn't get the Queen of barfing title - but after three Taxols I had to quit - and yes it got worse after chemo.  It started in my feet and got to the point my whole leg especially my hips hurt like heck - now my hands hurt too and I'm one month out of chemo.  I am now taking Nuerontin 3X's day and it does help and I don't feel any weird SE's from it - my onc says this will go away but I pretty much look like a 90 year old whenever I get up from a chair...oh the joy...my next goal after new boobies is to get off of the Neurontin!  It's gotta get better sometime!

susan13

Hey ladies!

Web-I had the *&^%$ nausea with rads too!  I took a Zofran just before getting my zapping, and it worked.  Don't know why it happens to some, but it does. Hang in there!

I am finally starting to feel like my old self again.  Even got on my mountain bike yesterday, it felt sooo good!   Hang in there ladies, there's a definitely light at the end of all this chaos!

Gram-beautiful grandkids!

Sue

Jaimieh

I love the picture and you are absolutely right they are the reason we fight.  Now I have to reteach myself how to take a picture.  I can work a camera/backwards and forwards but not a PC. 

Terri~ Whooo for pre-op appt.  I am still working on my PS list of 10 things to do.  I wish I was brave enough to go topless.  Soon I keep telling myself, soon

Webbie~ That's really not fair. 

Another crazy day at my house I had to get up at 6:30 to get to my pre-op on time then from there I had to rush to my daughter's school and to the dentist office.  Finally 2 hours later and me and my babies have clean teeth and an appt. in 6 months (which is thrilling for me).  I also got the clearance from the dentist for the bisosulfate (sp) trail.  Now I just need to have the blood work drawn and take a pregnancy test and I am good to go .  This trial has a ton of things to do but if it helps I am all for it.  Tomorrow I have to spend the day getting 2 units of blood and home during rush hour.  I am just looking forward to not feeling like I have the flu (this started this weekend). 

Denali

Gram: Love the photos!!

Well, I'd prepared myself to be denied my  LAST chemo scheduled for yesterday because of my low counts last week and then I caught the flu Sat morning.  sigh.  I just thought no way will chemo happen.  I made it to my friend's wedding and the Cancer walk on Sunday morning though with lots of Advil.

Then on Monday morning and discovered my blood counts were revived and my fever had broken so they gave me the go ahead.  I still can't belive it.  I'm DONE.  (well I still have chemo crash, but after that completely done!)  My daughter went out and got me flowers and cupcakes from a bakery to share with the staff and chemo patients.  My chemo buddy scheduled her dr appt that day and brought me presents!  Unfortunately, I wasn't wearing my feather boa or sequined jacket because I was sooooo sure it wasn't going to happen--Negative Ninny that I am.  But I was just trying to prepare myself so I wouldn't have a nasty meltdown.

Here's my daughter and I at my graduation:

KerryMac

Linda - well done!!!! WhooHoo!! If you can get through Chemo, you can get through anything! Big congrats! hope the crash is soft.....

living4today

Denali

Congrats!! What a great pic!!  What a milestone marker, you give us that are just a bit behind you such hope to keep going!  Hope the "crash" is just a minor one!

Terri42

Yeah Linda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so glad you were able to finish!

xpectmiracles

Congratulations, Linda! You are DONE, DONE, DONE!!!

MicheleS

Yippee!!! Linda is done!!!  Great job!

Bethie1

Suzmarks!!! Whereabouts in Albany do you live again!! We must just not have the time or just missing one another, but I would love to get together.  Where is convenient for you? I live near St. Peter's, but work behind Stuyvesant Plaza in DCJS-Criminal Justice. Let me know when is good, but I will be out of town this Thursday til Sunday.

Webbie--BIG HUGS! Yeah, what the ****, puking now after 8 weeks out! Is that what I have to look forward to or will my anti-nausea medicine help???

gcpommom-- Mouth sores, bummer!! what brought them on? how many more sessions of chemo left for you. Thanks on the kitty --her name is Elsie

suzmarks

Love the pictures, so nice to see the personal side of our lives. Bethie1, I PMed you. Can't believe it tomorrow would be my next TX if I had to have another one. It's weird how you live your life for 4 months on a 3 week schedule of putting yourself through an incredibly unpleasant experience with SEs and then one day it actually ends and then life goes on. Wow. I feel like I'm seeing a rainbow. NO MORE CHEMO!!! And congrats to the newest enders of chemo, it is liberating. I think I had the least SE with my 6th and last TX. Hope that's true for you Linda as well. Good luck with your surgery Terri.

gcpommom

Helen:  What great pics!!!  You are a very young-looking grandma, and very cool to let them draw on your head like that!!!  LOL

Linda:  Congratulations on finishing!!! That is a nice pic of you and your daughter.

Bethie:  who knows why we get the sores....I use the rinses, etc...

Sooooo.....didn't get my chemo yesterday.  SIGH.   Onc is concerned with the neuropathy and of course the stupid mouth sores.  So, if the numbness gets any better by next week, I get tx, if not, I may be done. 

Which of course makes me think "Of course the numbness won't be any better by next week, duh".  Why would it?  It can last months.  So how am I supposed to make a decision on tx???  How do you decide that you are willing to chance the neuropathy getting worse/becoming long term?  How the heck should I know???  This has been freakin me out since yesterday.  Ultimately, it is my call.  Part of me says keep going.  Part of me did not at all like being numb all over last week.  I mean, it spread into my legs and arms....it was scary....now it is just hands and feet, that's not quite as bad....

Sorry.  I have a lot of thinking to do by next Tuesday.  Apparently, this neuropathy thing is considered a serious reason to stop, and the docs don't know any more than we do about when to safely end tx once neuropathy begins.

Hugs

Judy

MicheleS

Judy~ My oncologist and I have talked a lot about the neuropathy too...  I'm hellbent to continue regardless of SE and he is worried that I'm not being upfront about SE.  He says that if the neuropathy is bad enough that you can't put in your earrings, then you should stop.  He gets me to demonstrate my earring abilities each visit. LOL!  I'm still good.  So, can you still do that?  If you can't then (my onc says) that the neuropathy might be bad enough to be permenant (sp??).  {{hugs}}

Web~ Stop puking right now!!  Do you have any Zofran?  If so, I'm with Sue, take one BEFORE you get zapped.

gcpommom

Michele:  My onc said something similar (I don't have pierced ears anymore, lol), but I have to wonder....if we wait until we CAN'T do a certain task, is that already too late???

Plus I've read women who didn't even have any neuropathic symptoms until after tx ended....so even if the NP is  not bad and I keep going, how much worse can it get even after I finish all tx, and should I have stopped sooner if it was going to keep getting worse?

I know, this is confusing.....I will probably do at least one more tx, and see what happens, that would make 10, that was my goal if I couldn't make all 12 tx's.

In all honesty, I can handle the numbness I'm having right now...it was the all-over the body numbness a few days ago that scared me.

Judy

apple

about neuropathy.. i can recognize it now... the fingers swell and feel hot, the nerves stab (thruout the body) the mouth is aflame tho it looks normal.  it pretty much goes away near the end of the treatment week.

i was taking glutamine and B6 for a while.. i quit the glutamine for a whole month as a test and the neuropathy was awful.. i started taking it again the 5th cycly and notice a greater functionality,.. plus it makes me feel vital and strong..

the worst part of the nueropathy last 4 days or so... - i use and move my hands constantly, and tho i am a bit fiddly with buttons, ....it sure does not seem permanent.  the glutamine makes me feel vital and strong as well.. like wanting to do jumping exercises.

boy am i busy these days 

KerryMac

Judy - just sending you big hugs today. I can't offer much advice - I would be scared both ways - of not completing Tx or of being left with a permanent problem. At least you have made it to 10 tx though, that is the lions share of them. My husnand did read somewhere that the first Tx's were the most effective anyhow. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you.

Denali

Judy, I just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you during your agonizing delemma.  That's good news that Kerry shared about the first Tx being the most effective. 

Sending you huge hugs and I'll do a wonky Happy Decicion dance for ya!  (No cameras, plz)

MicheleS

Judy~  I just don't know what the correct answer is... I wish I did.  I do agree with Kerry that it is likely that you've killed the stray cells that needed offing long ago.  The endpoints (4 DD or 12 weeks) are arbitrary.  No one really knows how long is long enough so oncologists (and drug companies) err on the long side.  Drug companies also err on the long side to sell more product. In fact, there's a controversy out there right now regarding prolonged Avastin and if there's any benefit to going longer than 6 mos on it...  Genetech is fighting the clinical trials looking at the effectiveness of 6 mos vs 12.  This, even though 6 mos would save hundreds of thousands of dollars PER PATIENT in drug charges.  So, my gut feeling is that you've done enough.  However, I personally plan to do 12 regardless of neuropathy.  It is a personal decision.

Apple~ I'm glad you posted about your mouth pain with it looking normal.  I thought I was a freak or something.  The sides of my tongue literally feel like they are on fire.  But, no sores there... Very strange.  I do have several sores in the back of my mouth... I won't be showing them to my oncologist tomorrow...

I ordered a bunch of choc cupcakes for next thurs (not tomorrow)!  I got white icing with the dreaded pink ribbon piped on top!

{{hugs}} to everyone.

Michele

Terri42

I personally wouldn't do the last tx - my onc said the same thing about how there are no studies supporting the number of tx's.  I did not get my last one and I am sooooooo glad I didn't - I did feel guilty like maybe my pain wasn't that bad - maybe I should just get the last one but my neuropathy got worse after chemo ended - I'm 6 weeks out and still in alot of pain...

Apple - I'm going to try the glutamine and B6 - how much do you take?  I'll have to check with my onc since I'm also taking Neurontin but I would MUCH rather take the supplements or both at this point.

gcpommom

Just back from my son's 6th Grade Graduation.  It's going to be weird not going to that school anymore after 18 years of having a child there, in a row, no breaks!  Here are a couple of pics: