November 2009-Starting Chemo

JustmeAlicia

Loving the chemo chic scarf Melinda ~ LOL  hey it passes the time right ?! 

Pube check, I am thankful I have barely any.  I have lost 12 lbs and can SEE down there ~

Have a good weekend everyone !

micheleboots

Melinda is that a map of the state of Tennassee(  sorry for my crappy spelling of T)

micheleboots

Happy Friday.

Melinda41

Michele: great idea, so I can say that happened on purpose??

Alica: Congrats on losing 12 pounds! Did you work hard at it or did it fall off? Please, please tell me it just vanished after the steroids stopped...please.

JustmeAlicia

Michele ~ funny... map of Tennesee... LOL

Melinda ~ A combination of watching what I eat, losing my appetite a bit on Tamoxifen and some fell off too.  The steroid bloat takes a few weeks and then that sort of motivated me.  It feels so much better to fit in my skin again. 

Melinda41

I forgot that I wanted to ask:

What is the status of your periods? I haven't had one since January, I am 41, wondering if they are going to come back.

For you ladies that have finished chemo, may I ask what your status is?

JustmeAlicia

Last chemo 2/8 ~ no period !

mommy2two

Last chemo on New Year's Eve and still no period!!

Cafelovr

OK, my chemo brain is pissing me off! Or is it that I should re read my emails . I start RADS soon. I meet the rad onc on 5-5. I am done with chemo. Cancer is gone from the breast and lymph nodes. I have an MRI on 5-10 to check the status of the liver. If it is shrinking from the Herceptin, they'll leave it alone and let the meds do its job. If it hasn't changed or is bigger, they'll do ablation. So that's where I stand.

My last Taxol was 3-24 and my last period was 12-5. That's one thing I don't miss!

doronet

My last period was Dec. 2003...no relation to chemo. (I just had to add that since everyone was talking periods and was feeling left out.  I'm post menopausal.)

Pubes are straight, there's a lot of them, and they are mostly brown.  And I don't check them in public.  Wonder if that means the head hair will change to mostly brown instead of lots of "white."  

Alicia:  I WANT TO GO WITH YOU !!!!  Have an awesome weekend!

Today is the first day my nip hasn't leaked and the boost area hasn't hurt.  Woo Hoo for progress!!

Yeah, Cafelvr, I read you posting saying you were having chemo and I thought, "huh?!"  I sometimes have trouble keeping up, but I was pretty sure that wasn't what you meant.

Hey, Mommy2two!  Good to hear from you!  Hope all's well.

Sorry to hear they moved the bus stop on you, Suepen.  The nerve of some people.  :P

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Nette

micheleboots

No Mother nature visits for me...yippy skippy....I think my last was in Jan?

suzieq60

I've ended up with a net weight loss of 13lbs. I had actually lost more near the end of chemo as I wasn't eating much but have put back on a bit and seem to have stabilised even though I've been eating yummy cookies.

Like Nette, I haven't had a period for 5 years but didn't want to be left out either.

Melinda41

Is this normal?? It finally dawned on me, I am about to finish 6 months of chemo. It actually is going to end. It makes me weepy, I guess glad weepy. I guess I just thought this was my new normal.

To think I may start feeling better. Wow. This is actually going to happen.

GrandmaMickey

Great news guys - tumor is gone and all 6 nodes were negative!  No more cancer - the TE is uncomfortable and the drain is too - didn't take it out last week - my numb feet give me trouble and I fell - didn't really get hurt that bad, but my fluid increased drastically - oh well - next Friday hopefully -

YOU ARE ALL TOO FUNNY!  I have fairy fuzz - last Taxol was 3-16 - I don't think they are going to reschedule my last 4 taxols - YIPPEE -  I can't remember who had the numb legs but tell your doc - that's why they stopped mine - it may become permanent - and now it's just my feet and fingers - they don't know when that will go away -

Wish I had something funny to say - as for periods, it's been years, no new pubes yet, but got the beginnings of eyebrows and eyelashes and my hair is dark on top and light on the sides and in the back - I look like one of those monks -

HUGS to all

suzieq60

Grandma Mickey: Great News on the clear nodes!!!

Sue

Melinda41

Grandma Mickey: Yeah for clean nodes and here's hoping your fingers and toes stop tingling.

Cafelovr

Yeah Mickey!! No more cancer! YIPPEE. Good luck on the neuropathy!

micheleboots

I love clear nodes...yahoo. 

I got myself all waxed, shaved and feeling ready to swimsuit shop today...only to get to the shop just as they were closing...grrrrr.  Now I have to take a time off from work to shop...but the good news is that the shop has about 10, 000 to choose from...now I have to shave again this week..

Melinda41

I am in middle Tennessee where we are having an unbelievable flooding problem. I have never seen anything like this and I have lived here all my life. The interstate that I need to take to work is under water.

http://www.wsmv.com/video/23380386/index.html

This is a video of a mobile home floating down the interstate and crumbling.

Unreal...

mabelle

Life is so busy I can't seem to get on here more than once a week! Its great to hear about everyone's hair growing back in so well - it gives me hope. My "hair" is still totally sporadic. Just the peach fuzz stage still.

Mickey - yikes. I haven't talked to my onc yet about the numb legs. I'll call the office tomorrow for sure. Thanks for telling me about your experience.

Melinda - glad to hear that your heart is good! My echo isn't until may 6 - I was a week off. One more chemo to go for both of us now - is that right? I'm weirdly sad/glad about it too. Scared to face life without the "fight". But SO looking forward to feeling better.

No period for me since Christmas eve. Hot flashes seem to be taking over my life. I always thought I would rather have the hot flashes than a period... now I'm not so sure. I wonder if it will come back? If it doesn't, do they put you on something? I'm only 40. It seems to early for such a hormonal change!

Body hair is still nowhere to be seen. I had to shop for a bathing suit a couple of days ago - what a nightmare. Trying to pull a speedo over top of my hard as rock tissue expanders was quite an experience - almost as bad as pulling it up over my fat ass. Depressing!!! Why can't they put flattering light in swimsuit stores! I'm thinking of joining weight watchers. Anyone have any experience with WW? 

My left eye will not stop watering! So annoying! I have to carry a tissue everywhere. When I'm outside, it literally looks like I'm crying with tears streaming down my cheeks. Bald, no eyebrows or lashes, and crying. Nice look! I hope this stops soon.

Okay! enough complaining. One more to go!!!! Big hugs to everyone out there!!

mabelle

Melinda - Just watched the video of the flood - wow that is CRAZY!  I hope you are safe and dry!

Mabelle 

micheleboots

Mabell, If I was I guy I would be so into you....you sound so hot...just like me...hell what can we do..we do what we can with the bodies god has given us for the moment. 

Oh ya I did WW and lost 30 lbs the year I turned 40.  My goal was to shed the weight for my birthday in June and wear a bikini for the first time EVER...well I did it...and so I went to the pool in my sexy hot bikini...then when I bent over the top fell off..what a sight..

micheleboots

Mellinda, is that the road you take to work?   I guess tomorrow is a day off..stay safe.

Melinda41

That is the road I would have taken to work were it not underwater, so I got a day off today! It is crazy here, I have lived here all 41 years and have never seen anything like this.

I did WW and lost 35 pounds precancer. I have gained 20 back since chemo started, UGH.

suzieq60

Melinda: I told my DH that you lived in Murfeesboro TN and he said to tell you he knows all about the Battle of Murfeesboro and guessed that it is the Stones River that is in flood - correct him if he's wrong. He is a bit of an historian and has three prized books about the Civil war written by Shelbey Foote. He loves those books so much and had read and re-read them many times. Not bad for an Aussie eh?

Good luck to you and Mabelle for your last chemo this week!!!!

Hey, I noticed the hairs on my legs starting to grow. Still not sure about the lower down pubes though - I never lost all of the top part of them. The head hair is growing daily - lots of looking in the mirror still.

Well girls, the fact that I do not have steroids anymore has had no impact on my shopping habits. It was a public holiday here today and I ended up buying a digital TV!!! I've been looking at it for ages and was going to buy it online as the retailers wanted too much for it. Well today, the salesman came way down to the internet price!!! I was giggling to myself out loud all the way home. We have not switched over to digital here yet, we have 2 more years before the complete change over. DH said I am incorrigible and can't be let out alone. We had already decided to buy one but were not in a hurry.

Now I need a new washing machine....

Sue

Melinda41

Suepen: That is too cool about your aussie DH knowing about my neighborhood! I am about 3 miles from the Stones River Battlefield. But, I don't think Stones River is causing the problem. The Harpeth and the Cumberland in Nashville are the issue. My Mom is without power and we can't reach her by phone and her DH was unable to make it home due to the interstate being under water.

To funny with your steroid shopping. Maybe that explains why my credit card balance is creeping up instead of down. I'll blame it on the 'roids.

suzieq60

Melinda: Luckily, I'm not paying for the TV - Steve is. Now I just have to wait until they get it in, then I can pick it up. It's only a little one 26" as we can't fit anything bigger in our TV cabinet and I'm not buying a new one of those.

I'll tell him it's not the Stones River. Have you had lots of rain recently?

How's the fairy fuzz going?

Sue

Melinda41

Suepen: we had 25% of our yearly rain happen in two days, like 13 inches. My home and road are good but there has been massive flooding in the area and we have never seen anything like this. My stepdad was missing for over 24 hours with roads closed and phone lines down, but he finally made it home today. News conference talking about drinking water and possible shortages and contamination and tetanus shots. Unreal.

suzieq60

Melinda, Wow that's a lot of rain. I'm glad your family is safe.

Sue

Melinda41

Am I reading this right?

Mabelle finishes Wednesday.

I finish Thursday

Cat is done Friday?

GrandmaMickey is done (or are they going to do the last 4?)

I assume many of us will be doing the H only for a while, but that isn't chemo-y is it? Or is it? I haven't done H only, so I don't know.

Does this mean the monkey train is almost over the wall?