November 2009-Starting Chemo

JustmeAlicia

Hi girls ~ I am back from Miami and preparing for our cruise on Friday.  Came home to some very sad news.  My dear hairdresser of 15 years was riding her bike (an avid cyclist) and was killed by a woman driving high on drugs.  I am so sad... she was 45 years old and the kindest most beautiful girl.  Say a prayer for her husband for me. 

Grandmamickey ~ awesome on the cancer free nodes and NO more chemo for you !!

Sounds like we are getting to the end of chemo here girls.  I so hope you all start feeling better. 

Melinda ~ hope your flooding is getting better.  That is surely too much RAIN! 

Hugs !

Alicia

Melinda41

Alicia; So sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. I will say a prayer for her family. Enjoy your cruise!

BrendaSharon

Yep Melinda,

The "Monkey Train" they are all almost over the wall.

This is my 3rd attempt to post I keep losing them due to acceleration errors on my system.

Anyhow,

BY MAY 18th, 2010 every "Warrior" will be officially over the wall.

Mousse

She will have her final (H) on May 18th. I have considered Herceptin one of the chemo meds and give Smileys for those as well. She will be done soon~~~

Cat,

Yippie, She is done final this Friday with her ~~~~ final (Tx) 2nd round of chemo DONE!!!~~~~

Mabelle,

Yippie, She will be done on Wednesday!!  

GrandmaMickey,

Last 4 cancelled YA_WHOOOOOOOOO!!!! DONE-

NOW MAYBE we can get back to normal (whatever that is)

When everyone is over the wall I do have some news to share,

((((((((((Warrior Hugs))))))))))

cat60

Good Morning,

 You are right Melinda,  I will be finishing this Friday my last Taxol/Herceptin TX !!  Then I will do the H for the rest of year (Once every 3 weeks)....My Onco will discuss the next step which will be radiation...I have mixed feelings about it of course but I know it does help with local recurrance and We dont want that .When I look back hard to believe this all happened to us women in Oct/Nov ...it all seems like a blur since then...

I love the pics you all have posted of your hair growth..Mine is just like it, and silvery gray. My husband told me to ditch the wig , so Friday to my TX, I decided not to wear it out...the nurses and Onco made me feel real good . The hardest part I have with it is seeing people that do not know about my BC like at work or around town/school events , and wonder "Hey where did your long hair go and you let it go gray?"  so then I either say "Yeah, you like it ?" or I tell them why ...

 I had a guy in the office today, he lost his job 6 months ago and said "Yeah, no employer likes to hire people like us when they see the GRAY hair "....He is 10 yrs older than me, so now I must look like Im 60?   haha...

back in Oct I also had my annual OB GYN Appt...dr wanted me to have internal ultrasound for fibroids...but I cancelled it as I was headed to Chemo and that was the last thing on my mind SO I rescheduled and went yesterday...I was so nervous that they were going to find something Suspicous...and additonal testing would need to be done...well , all was good !! Thank God...I should have taken an ativan before ....

Thinking of everyone and hope we can keep this thread going while we continue our journey..

Hugs,

Cathy

BrendaSharon

Alicia,

I didn't see your post as I was posting at the same time.

I am too also sooooooo sorry for your loss. I'm sure you where quite close. I will also, say a prayer for her family and her friends. Time is so precious and short. We just never know when the Good Lord will call on us. I think of all we have been through and we made it, then turn around and something like this happens, unnecessarily because of of a drunk driver, but it also shows you really just don't know what will happen in life and we must treat every second as our last.

I hope you have one awesome vaca, you surely deserve it. ((hugs))

Melinda, How is the flooding doing today? Is it getting any better? I will pray for you too and for everyone in your area to be safe. I'll pray that your friends and neighbors don't have devastation. I had my home in Tallahassee flood twice within one year, Aug. 2008-April 2009, and it was very depressing, then I got this -C- Crap diagnosis August 2009. I have truly begun to appreciate all that life has to offer while I still can. Because you really don't know.

Melinda41

Cathy: You and I are on similar paths. I will also have 40 more weeks of H (every three weeks) and I am starting rads after chemo (no details on that yet).

BrendaSharon: River crested in Nashville yesterday. I am fine where I am and roads are clear.

Cafelovr

Alicia, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. My hairdresser is like my sister. They are the ties that bind. I do send prayers to her family.

I'm still doing my Herceptin & Zometa and start Rads this week. I have an appt tomorrow with the rads onc to see exactly what will be done. It's hard to believe it's almost over. It took so long from my dx to when I met my onc, and now to be almost over is unreal!

Speaking of being over, my cancer center has this class called "Finding Your New Normal" (FYNN). It's a class for those who are done or almost done with treatment. It's how to readapt to a post-cancer world and how to channel fear and anxiety of reoccurence into positive energy. I guess we'll never be the same, will we?

suzieq60

Alicia: I'm so sorry about your hairdresser. I hope they throw the book at the driver. I hope you can relax and enjoy your holiday.

I still have 11 Herceptin treatments to go too. I'm finding going for rads everyday is becoming quite boring but at least I get it out of the way early and have the rest of the day free. I can't wait to go back to work.

Good luck for the final treatments this week girls!!!

Sue

Melinda41

Mabelle:  Wishing you a side effect free final chemo session today!

Cafelovr

Thumbs up girls!

micheleboots

Good day my little monkey friends....my guess is that we also look a little like baby monkeys with our short crazy hair.  I am off today from work with a cold.  Hoping to feel better by the weekend.  We go to visit my grandmother at her nursing home.  I havn't seen her in a long time. 

Melinda, I keep thinking about you and your flooding.  glad to hear you are safe as well as your family.

Cathy, glad to hear all went well with your checkup...live free and go topless.

doronet

Melinda:  I have been following the flooding on the news.  Had seen the home floating down the "river" on Headline News.  I could only sit and watch with my mouth hanging open.  Unreal, but to be experiencing it first hand had to seem like a nightmare.  Glad your FIL is okay.

Alicia: prayers for your hairdresser's DH and family.  So sad.    I hope your trip to Miami was fun and that you have an awesome time on the cruise!

Re: Our "new" normal...I sent out an article to all my family members that speaks to that subject.  I'll try to copy and paste it here or at least find a link, if I can.  I thought it was very informative.  I would attend a class on that topic in a heartbeat.  Sounds good.

I still haven't braved the no-wig look, but mydaughter told me today that I should "work with" the gray for a while, before I color it, and see how it turns out.  The variations between dark and gray really do add "character" to my head. 

I was hoping someone would respond to Melinda's question re: is Herceptin TX's considered chemo.  I had been wondering the same thing. 

I met with my primary care dr. last Friday to discuss her to prescribing Ativan instead of my med. onc or the breast surgeon.  She brought up Prozac and Zoloft, but I said no.  That I don't take Ativan that often and I already take Lipitor, Fortical (Calcium supplement) and now Arimidex.  That's enough daily meds as it is, though I did consider it for the hot flash relief.  Read the possible side effects of both of them and confirmed my "no."  Am having no problems with the Arimidex so far...knock on wood.

I've subbed several times in the last week and am thrilled to be back in the classroom, though I would never go back to full time teaching.  Is too much work!

Cathy:  I don't ever go to a dr. appt without my trusty Ativan. 

Can't believe that by May 18th, everyone will be over the wall.  wow.  Has been a rough haul, but finally we'll all be over.  I know we all have said it at some time or other, but I thank God for this thread and all the Warriors on it.  Nette

doronet

Breast Cancer Survivors: Life After the Treatments End

The breast cancer treatments are over. Now what? Here's how to return to your "new normal."

By Gina Shaw
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Charlotte E. Grayson Mathis, MD

Life after breast cancer means returning to some familiar things and also making some new choices.

The song says "It ain't over 'til it's over," but when you've had breast cancer, you discover that it's not even over when it's over.

After a marathon of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment that may last six months to a year, you can hardly wait to get back to a normal life again. But the day of your last radiation treatment or chemotherapy infusion doesn't mark the end of your journey with breast cancer.

Instead, you're about to embark on another leg of the trip. This one is all about adjusting to life as a breast cancer survivor. In many ways, it will be a lot like the life you had before, but in other ways, it will be very different. Call it your "new normal."

From your relationships with your family and your spouse to eating habits and exercise, breast cancer will change your life in ways that last well after treatment ends. How do you fight lingering fatigue? What should you eat to help prevent a breast cancer recurrence? Will you ever have a regular sex life again? These are just a few of the questions that may nag at you as you make the transition from breast cancer treatment to breast cancer survival.

"Chemobrain" and Other After-Effects

You watched the last dose of chemotherapy drip from the IV into your veins six months ago. Your hair has really started to grow back. Maybe it's curly where it once was straight, or a lot grayer than before, but it's hair. You have eyebrows again. So why are you still so tired? When are you going to feel like you again?

"Your body has just been through an enormous assault, and recovery is a huge thing. You're not going to just bounce back right away," says oncologist Marisa Weiss, MD, founder of Breastcancer.org and the author of Living Beyond Breast Cancer. "You've been hit while you're down so many times: with surgery and anesthesia, perhaps with multiple cycles of chemotherapy, perhaps with radiation."

Two of the biggest hurdles women with breast cancer face post-treatment are fatigue resulting from chemotherapy and/or the accumulated effects of other treatments, and a phenomenon some women have dubbed "chemobrain" -- mental changes such as memory deficits and the inability to focus. If you tried, you probably couldn't pick two more frustrating and troubling side effects for women handling busy lives, managing careers, and caring for families.

"You expect them to go away as soon as treatment ends, and they don't," says Mary McCabe, RN, director of the Cancer Survivorship program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

That such a program as McCabe's exists is a testament to the changing nature of what it means to have cancer. Women with breast cancer, like other people with a cancer diagnosis, are now surviving for so much longer, and in such large numbers, that some hospitals are opening entire departments devoted to survivorship The National Cancer Institute has also launched a special research area dedicated to studying what it means to survive cancer.

 How long after breast cancer treatment ends can you expect fatigue, "chemobrain," and other post-treatment side effects to persist? Everyone's different, of course, but as a general rule of thumb, Weiss tells her patients to expect a recovery period about the same time from your first "cancer scare" moment to the date of your last treatment. So if you found a lump or had a suspicious mammogram in April, and had your last radiation treatment in December, it may be August or September of the following year before you reach your "new normal."

"Even then, that doesn't mean that you're fully back to yourself again, but by then you should have a sense of where you're going to be, what your energy level will be, and so on," says Weiss. Ongoing treatments, like tamoxifen or other hormonal therapies such as arimidex, aromasin or femara, or reconstructive surgery, can affect the process.

"I have a lot of patients who are in their second year of dealing with this. Yes, their main anti-cancer treatment may be over, but they're still figuring out how to manage the side effects of hormonal therapies and so on. It can feel like an endless process."

Breast cancer survivorship, Weiss observes, is a marathon, not a sprint. That means learning to handle the symptoms that stick around after treatment ends, says Sloan-Kettering's McCabe, by using those adaptive strategies you learned while on chemotherapy or recovering from surgery.

"You need to continue to have planned periods of rest, and think about what times in the day and after what activities you tend to find yourself most tired," she says. "If chemobrain is still bothering you, continue using tricks like writing things down, posting reminders to yourself, and asking people to repeat information." Some women find it helps to keep a daily diary, noting down the times when fatigue or mental fogginess hit hardest, to help them plan around it.

A Chance to Make Some Life Choices

Make sure your family and your officemates understand that just because treatment is over, that doesn't mean that you're going to be able to jump right back into running the carpool, coaching soccer, and traveling to conferences a week out of every month.

"Everyone's ready for treatment to be over, not just you, and although they've been supportive, your friends and family may be expecting you to spring back right away," says McCabe. "It's an education process. They need to understand that when the therapy stops, that doesn't mean that the effects of the therapy stop immediately."

Manage your expectations, urges Weiss. "Decrease the stress and the pressure on you in whatever ways you can. There are a lot of decisions you can make to take charge of how your life goes while you're in this recovery process."

For example, you may have certain ideas about how your house should look, how much income you're going to have, and what your commitments to your community need to be. Decide which of those things are really important to you and which ones don't matter quite as much. Let the less-important ones slide or find someone else to do them.

(Gina Shaw is a medical writer who was treated for breast cancer in 2004, and now calls herself a "joyful breast cancer survivor.")

Mouse6694

Melinda& Doronet The herceptin isnt chemo just a follow up drug. It is given through your port but no side effects like chemo just a little fatigued and hot flashes for a day or so. Its a drug that blocks the her+ genes from forming more cancer.

suzieq60

Herceptin is a monoclonal antibody not chemo, Mouse is correct.

Well girls, I think I overdid it yesterday. Cleaning, shopping, pool maintenance and gardening all in one day. Now I'm pooped.

I'm now 8 weeks PFC!!! and I'm actually feeling happy about it. The leg pains/aches are still there though. I've started taking glucosamine and fish oil at the recommendation of the onc.

I'm now 2/3 of the way through rads and my skin is still looking really good. Only 10 to go!!!!

Sue

micheleboots

Sue, keep up the good work.

mabelle

Hi gals! Chemo is OVER!!!! Yippeeee! Everything went really well today with no unexpected SEs. Went home and slept for 4 hours, had a celebratory dinner, and just finished a fantastic book! All in all, not a bad day.

Thanks Nette for posting the "back to normal" article. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I will for sure. I think I'll ask my husband to read it too as I think he has unrealistic expectations of how things will be now that i"m done the chemo.

I too have will have herceptin infusions every 3 weeks until Jan. 2011, as well as 5.5 weeks of radiation starting sometime at the end of May. Also, at some point I'll have to have more reconstruction surgery, though I'm not sure about the timeline. I go for my Muga scan (heart scan) tomorrow morning at 8am. Hopefully everything is perfect with the ticker.

Melinda- happy last chemo tomorrow!!!!! Will you be able to get to your treatment with the roads the way they are? or have things improved? I'm afraid I haven't been keeping up with the story on the news.

Alicia- I'm so sorry about your friend. Its not fair. I hope the driver gets what she deserves.

Everyone else, good luck with your radiation treatments or just "getting back to normal".

Take care ladies! 

suzieq60

Mabelle: Hurray - you're done!!!!! I must say I didn't get too happy on the day of my last chemo as I knew what SE's were coming. Hope this last one doesn't stuff you around too much.

Sue

Melinda41

Mabelle: Congrats on your graduation!!

I will have chemo today, roads are clear. My Mom still doesn't have phone service but she sent message via carrier pigeon (my brother) that she would be able to drive me. They say phone service in her area may be out for weeks. But, she has electricity now.

JustmeAlicia

Mabelle ~ Congrats on your last chemo being done !  woo HOO You did IT.  I hope your SE's stay to a minimum.

Melinda ~ Thinking of you today !  Hoping all goes smoothly. 

Nettie ~ thanks for that article.  It was interesting ~

HUGS !

BrendaSharon

Alicia,

Love your new Avatar!!!~~~

You look just beautiful~~~

To"Warriors" over the wall Hip-Hip-Hurray~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Yeah

doronet

So, I don't always sign in to read the postings, but when BrendaShar said she loved Alicia's new avatar, I just HAD to check it out.      Awesome pic, Alicia!!!  And  Bon Voyage!!!

CONGRATS!!! mabelle!!!  What a grand day it was!!!!

Sue:  sounds like the rad is treating you well.  Here's to continuing with good results!!!   My area is all healed now.  Took 1 1/2 weeks to get comfortable wearing a real bra and now, at 3 weeks post-rad, even the "tan" is fading, the boost is no longer bright red, and the entire area has peeled and has healthy "new" skin.     Life is good.   Nette 

suzieq60

Brenda: You said you were going to share some news with us when everyone was finished chemo - what is it?

Melinda: Happy last chemo today!!!

Sue

Melinda41

It is done, chemo is over! When the IV machine beeped, I think confetti should have come flying out.

Does anyone else have to get flipped onto their head to get the port to work, or is it just me??

doronet

Twice, they had trouble getting my port to work.  They had to tilt me backwards to get blood.  One other time, it took an extra minute, but it started drawing blood without "standing on my head."  Sorry you had trouble, too, Melinda.  But just think...

IT'S DONE!!!!  WOO HOO!!!   I agree, I think confetti should come flying out, a marching band should start playing and cheers from everyone in the building!    Congrats.

micheleboots

Melinda, so so so glad you are done...I got to ring a bell when I finished...it felt amazing.  Just pretend we all got together and threw tons and tons of confetti on you...we did it in our hearts.  We do it each time someone finishes...

Mabelle, Ma Bell ami...another one who I am so so so happy for...did you feel the confetti on your face? 

So is that it for us chemo gals...I am loosing track...I think all us monkeys are over the fence.

mabelle

Nette - I did the same, had to sign in to check out Alicia's new photo.

Alicia - you do look wonderful!!!

Melinda - Yippeee!!! Chemo is done! My port has given me problems quite a few times. I have to look way up and to the left, or way down and to the right. All the nurses say the "new" power port gives them a lot more trouble than the old style. Which do you have? Only 9 months more of herceptin infusions to go!

Take care everyone. 

Melinda41

Cathy: bring that final relay torch in, confetti flying and scantily clad men feeding you grapes and fanning you (or my personal favorite fantasy, scantily clad men with tool belts, mopping my floors and cleaning my gutters!)

Mabelle: I do have a power port. When they tell me to raise my arm, turn my head and cough, I always check behind me thinking someone wants to give me a prostate exam! If my port clogs with weekly infusions, I shudder to think what we will do with the tri-weekly infusions. Maybe I should do a few cartwheels before the H, shake the clog loose.

The last chemo was a little anti-climatic, no whistles or bells, just see you next week for another port poke. My 12yo DD had a fever with a cold, so we didn't go out to celebrate. We did order pizza and I splurged for Lava Cake dessert.

I am going to check out Gilda's club today, cancer support organization. I went to the YMCA breast cancer meeting, but it was a little too "pink" for me. I am having trouble embracing the pink.

doronet

Melinda:  I was over the pink a few months ago, but was hesitant to admit it to anyone.  Felt guilty, but was so tired of the reminders everywhere of what I was already facing on a daily basis.  I know it is all for a good cause, who knows it better than we do, but enough.  (In March, my son saw a pink snuggie in a store and asked if I wanted it for my birthday the next month, and I did admit to him then that if I ever saw something pink again, it would be too soon.  A little exaggeration maybe, but with some truth. 

I loooooove the image of the scantily clad men feeding grapes, though with my decreased libido, an image of any man cooking for me is more appealing.

 I've no idea what a "power port" is.  Souped-up port, but how?

Happy Friday.   Nette

Melinda41

Nette: a power port doubles as a garage door opener and it vibrates when you get a phone call! I told my surgeon that it should at least do something practical. Honestly, I don't know what makes it a power port. I know you are supposed to be able to use it for scans, but the place I get mine won't do it. My onc office also won't use it for blood draws, so I have no idea what is so powerful about it.

I feel guilty for not embracing the pink, too. I feel I am rejecting the "sisterhood" or some such crap. Luckily, I have not been given much pink stuff and I have actually given some pink stuff that I had from before, to the thrift store.

At the recent BC support meeting, they were talking about a pampered chef party where we could all wear pink and buy pink paring knives and eat pink cupcakes. Eh...I'll pass. Maybe I am just tired of people staring at my boobs trying to tell which one is rubber. (I wear a prosthesis since I have not had any recon yet).

I find it ironic that "to pink" something means to cut it in a jagged line, line pinking shears used to cut fabric edges so they don't fray. I feel plenty "pinked".