2012 sisters

allurbaddayswillend

jp, I too get very nervous before a new stage of this treatment and I get emotional. I think it makes perfect sense - we're going through a lot. I take clonazepam as my knock-out drops the night before. I also wish for superpowers from radiation. it's just not effing fair if we don't get some. My eyesight got better when I was pregnant soooo.... why not some payoff here? Good job on getting one down!

scorchy, I really appreciate your rants too, fyi. I sent a text message at the start of this to an old g-friend. The message had an F-bomb every other word. She was kind of taken aback and I just, thought, "whatever..." and I said, "a diagnosis like this? you get tourette's" and I left it at that (no offense to anyone with tourette's either, I know not all tourette's sufferers curse uncontrollably) I have continued to express myself as needed. Your issues at Drs more than qualify and I don't perceive you as an "angry person" in particular.

I had the mouthwash BRCA test...

liefie - don't spend too much stress-time on dietary detail. (oh, later posts show that you probably aren't. yay! The more and greater variety of research I read (I spend a lot of time on PubMed) I keep coming back to "moderation in all things" myself - that seems to be something fairly well agreed upon. Good enough. Also, hummus once in a while is DELICIOUS!

Nkb - That's interesting stuff. If I take in much flax, I get my period. or I used to anyway before chemopause.

I made it through #2 of Taxol today, 10 to go before rads. wooo.

Cheers everyone!

marianelizabeth

Cottontail thanks for the other ideas for hummus and chickpeas in general and will be trying them. Also glad to hear you are finally being treated for the infection. liefie, I agree more garlic and lemon and whatever works! Ellen, glad to hear about where you are staying for the rads. Being with BC women is good, just like being here with Bc women is so much better! Ann, welcome for sure. jpmomof3, thanks for the info on your ROM etc. and I did talk to the nurse navigator just now and can do whatever feels OK. I have gone for 2 km walks the last two days and loved them both. I am now way tired though and am back in bed. 2fried eggs, now I am  back in bed I plan to look at those sites you highlghted so thanks for that too. All the rest of you, thanks!

Marian 

Tazzy

Well I am just having one of those days.   However hard I have tried I cannot get myself motivated to do anything and feel 'blerh'.   I took myself off for a walk earlier in the hope of lifting my spirits and then I thought I'd come home and clean the inside of our windows.   Not even a walk worked.  And the windows certainly didn't get done.  I am just in a cranky mood.  So I thought sod it I am entitled to one of those days and will let it take its course.   Anyway enough whining... maybe a 'wine-in' may boost me more than whining

Allurbaddays... what a great way to put our diagnosis... love that and it did make me smile.

Hope everyone is managing stress free, minimal SE days.

marianelizabeth

Tazzy, I think maybe whine/wine would help.

liefie

Tazzy, a 'wine-in' sounds just perfect. I felt like that on Sunday. Had some leftover mojito mix that I had made for a party. Poured myself and DH one of those with lots of club soda and extra mint, and voila! Felt better immediately sipping on that drink. Those windows can wait, I say!

Scorchy

Allur...

""a diagnosis like this? you get tourette's"   BWAH!  Funny.  It's true!  Eff it, man. 
When I started blogging my best bud wrote to me and said, "Stop cursing, it's taking away from your essays.  But you can tits."  HA!  We're both academics and we don't normally place f-bombs in our writing, but I said essentially the same thing you did.  "Honey, this is cancer.  The rules don't apply."

And this has given me an idea for a blog post.  Thanks, baby! 

_Ann_

I'm not caught up on all the diet-related posts, but I agree the information is so sketchy it's hard to draw any firm conclusions about what's best for health in general and BC in particular.  I was actually eating the healthiest of my life (so I thought) in the two years prior to diagnosis.  First I did 80/10/10, which is a whole foods, low fat vegan thing where you try to get most of your calories from fruit.  That was pretty hard to maintain, so I switched to McDougall, another whole food, lowfat vegan approach where you emphasise starches instead of fruit.  Both those diets make anti-cancer claims though the evidence is pretty slim.  There's better evidence for preventing/reversing heart disease, but that wasn't an issue for me.  

Anyhoo, it obviously didn't protect me from cancer :-/   Since dx, I got cravings for meat and dairy and decided to eat those again.  And during chemo, there were periods where junk was the only food with appeal, so cheetos and pop tarts made their way into regular rotation.   My personal conclusions are:

• fruits and veggies are good.  All the dietary camps seem to agree on this one.
• highly processed food is not so good.  Ditto.
• I personally don't feel well with too much fat, so I'm sticking with fairly low fat, although not to the same degree.  A little butter (like half a pat or less) really aids in pan-frying food and making potatoes and veggies palatable.
• I'm too afraid to drink alcohol due to the association with BC.  I went from low to zero.  Can't erase the history of heavy drinking I was doing over ten years ago though.
• I'm afraid of processed meat due to the colon cancer risk, and seriously tried to get the DH to eliminate his habit of eating it dailiy.
• I still eat grilled meat occasionally, despite the concerns about the charred bits being carcinogenic.
• No matter how much I hear about how good Omega 3 is, I can't bring myself to eat much fish except for canned tuna and occasional grilled salmon.  I just hate cooking fish!
• I was doing well with avoiding all sugary beverages until chemo.  I just can't get down plain water or herb tea.  So I'm drinking loads of diluted ginger ale and diluted cranberry cocktail.  Hoping to cut that back after chemo.
• I'm afraid to eat soy due to the estrogen question.  Ditto for flax seed, although I wasn't eating that previously anyway.

As far as lifestyle changes for BC, I'm banking on exercise more than diet.  The evidence there seems more convicing.

Anonymous

Thanks all for the support! Buzzing went off without a hitch. Hubby let both boys take a guided turn with buzzer. They watched the whole thing and seem to have taken it in stride. Phew! So far feeling like I might have succeded in staying ahead of the worst. Fingers crossed. Kix cereal is my new best friend. Kid tested and mother approved - and apparently chemo friendly. Hugs to all.

jpmomof3

Ramols, kids are amazing aren't they? They probably thought it was cool. They don't stress about the same things we do.

teeballmom

Ramols: Our 2 little ones had a blast buzzing my hair, too.



I love the diet talk.



Take care everyone. Tomorrow is Taxol #2 for me. Have to tell my onc about the benadryl giving me restless les syndrome in my left leg while it was going in. After the benadryl infusion it went away but it was horrible getting those 50 mg.

Soyaandpepper

Welcome Ann, I acutally agree with most of what you saying about your diet. Just be careful about canned foods since there's BPA in the cans and thus leak to the food.

I acutally use Extra virgin coconut oil for all my cooking and the soy and flaxseed I do not eat either since I'm triple positive. I try to go vegan about 90% of the way but I'm a meat mouth before cancer and its harder than I thought to cut the meat for now, so I'm eating organic chicken. I also weight train 5-6 times a week and I believe that the combination of both exercise and diet helps a great deal. I mean all these greens, fruit and grains cannot hurt and they sure contain more vitamins and minerals than junk food. I'm no angel when it comes to eating clean but I try since its better for me and also since my body get use to the healthy food, when ever I eat junk food, my body actually react to it. I get sick to my stomach, your body actually tells you it doesn't want junk. 

_Ann_

Soyaandpepper, I hear you on the cans with BPA, it's a concern for me too.   I checked all my plastic leftover containers to make sure they were BPA-free, and I'm trying to use glass more.   I guess my beloved cans of tuna and tomatoes are suspect though.  I think my store has those envelope packs of tuna, but I'd need to switch stores to find tomatoes in the aseptic pack cartons.   My body has no problem accepting junk food, which is both a blessing and a curse :-)

jpmomof3

Good morning ladies. I love the wine in idea. Cure for the whines?



My RO talked to me about the phytoestrogens yesterday. She said that the studies are showing that dietary amounts of soy and flaxseed are fine. You just can't get that much estrogen in the amounts that are in soy food or flaxseed. It is the supplements that are really the problem. All said moderation as usual is the key...



Well my skin didn't fall off yet from my first rads treatment. Just counting the days down. Will get my second of 33 today.



I have a PT appointment tomorrow at the lymphedema clinic. I haven't had any yet but considering the cording trouble I am having and now rads I am very very worried about it. I only had five nodes out of my axilla but it ws obviously enough to cause me significant arm problems.



Off for a run. I got a couple miles in after work yesterday, gonna do three divided miles today. Then rads, then shopping, then I am going to try to tackle the mega mess in my daughters room. I am gonna flush it while they are at school... The giant black garbage bags are going in and a lot of crap is going out.

Cottontail

Canned tomatoes are another thing I can't get away from.  I use them in so many things.  I also use a lot of canned beans and canned pumpkin, not sure if those cans use the liners with BPA or not.

I've never been able to function well when eating a lot of junk food.  Even when I was young and healthy in college, a couple days of nothing but junk and/or fast food just made me sick, literally.  Run down, super tired, light headed, and if I kept it up, nauseous.  As soon as I'd go back to eating somewhat nutritious meals I'd start feeling better.  I know some people now who eat nothing but fast food and I don't know how they do it.  I'd feel *so bad* if I did that, I wouldn't be able to function.  I don't always eat the healthiest things now, but I can definitely tell when I've been eating too much crap.

Anonymous

Jpmom~you amaze me. I can barely walk (cane ) and you're out running 3 miles. Pat yourself on the back for me.



I started the dreaded arimidex yesterday, but so far, so good. I slept well, and no hot flashes or bone pain yet. I pray that continues.



I keep reading about cording. What is it? I'm so in limbo here, still have til october22, to wait for surgery.



Have a blessed day

Paula

jpmomof3

soteria, I am very happy to be running again!  It makes me feel like my life is starting to return to a more normal state.

 I am calling it cording, not sure if there is a technical name for it but there is a visible cord popping out from my axilla and running down my upper arm.  I can feel it almost to the elbow where it fans out a bit.  It anchors my AND scar and even my lumpectomy scar to my elbow.  It sticks out so much that it is hard to even think of shaving my armpit.  Luckily my hair there has been sparse since chemo... luckily it only hurts if I reach.  They think it is lymph vessels that are scarred and tethered to the dissection areas.  It looks like it comes uup a few week after surgery and last a few months for most and generally gets better with time and stretching and sometimes physical therapy.  There was an article about it that someone linked to way back on either this thread or the July surgery thread.  I stretched right from the first week after surgery and still got it but it would lilely have been worse if i didnt.

Getting ready to go off to my 2/33 rads...i havent turned muscular or green yet dammit. 

MrsCich

All, here's a question from someone who hasn't started chemo but told by my BS that my Onc (part of his team) will highly recommend it.



When you lose your hair, do you lose it everywhere? Arms, legs, nether region? When does your hair start coming back? When chemo is done?

websister

Good morning everyone



Ramols - glad the buzzing went well with your boys. Not sure that 'Kix is for Chemo' will take off as well as the 'Kix is for Kids' slogan . Glad you found something that works.



Ann - enjoyed your diet post. I am continuing to eat well and I am also banking on the exercise to ward off recurrence



Jpmomof3 - you inspire me! Wow, I'm afraid to go into my 17 year old's room but maybe I'll give him a 2 day weekend warning to do it himself and then if it is still in the same state I'll grab a couple of black garbage bags and go in. I'm thinking that if you don't hear from me next week I may nt have made it out



Tazzy - glad you had a 'mental health' day, windows can wait and if the weather there is anything like here, today and the rest of the week will be much nicer to do windows anyway



2fried - glad I could help re: lemons



MrsCich - hair loss varies according to chemo regimen, some regimens only cause hair thinning. I am getting the hair loss kind and it started about 14 days out, I still have eyebrows and eyelashes, a little underarm and leg hair still, pubic hair almost departed



There was a lot of activity yesterday and I know I'm missing some. Everyday is getting a little better for me post last weeks chemo, still having low grade nausea at times day and night but tolerable, I guess what they say about cumulative effects of chemo is true. I did get caught up on the stuff I was procrastinating on so that is feeling good.



Take care everyone

Tazzy

Morning ladies.   Feeling better today....thank goodness.  I really dont do well when I am feeling down.   Still pretty tender underarm, but am going to the BRAG workshop again today and will speak to the PT there about it.  

Ramols... happy to hear your buzz party went so well. Yeah kids are amazing eh? (not that I have any) but their resilience amazes me... they fall down, and bounce back up. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all have those minds back where nothing really mattered that much at age 5 compared to adult ages.

Cottontail... that's exactly how I am on junk food. Especially Rotten Ronnies - makes me feel physically sick. Never been a junk food eater.

Teeball... good luck tomorrow in the BGC

Jpmom... all the best for today at rads again.... Clearing out your daughters room...yikes. I remember what a mess mine used to be - oh dear...poor Mothers.

MrsCich... you lose your hair EVERYWHERE ! And you would be amazed that when you lose your ‘lady fur' (down below) careful when you pee as you have no control over direction... seriously. So many times I would be at the cancer centre using their loo, doing the hovering trick us ladies do and come out with splashes down my jeans. Used to piss me off...now I can just laugh about it. My hair is coming back now... although jealous of jpmom's as hers is coming back looking lovely... mine is black/grey and not very thick on top yet. Those darn Brunette Gods haven't listened to my request yet. Brows/lashes are coming back now. Hairs on legs were first to return... grrr! Everywhere else is returning too.

Hope all you lovely ladies are having a good day and managing to find a little piece of sunshine.

I am off to the BRAG workshop again today.

Oh! and the wine-in worked   had a really good nights sleep.

Moonflwr912

On one of the boards, a lovely lady told us when her nether hairs jumped ship by telling us that one day she looked down and it looked like a bunny had exploded! So since then, losing it down there, is the exploding bunny syndrome! Mine came back sparse, my underarm came back even sparser, ie, two lonely little hairs I will pluck when I can raise my left ARM up high again! LOL. On the other hand, my head hair is filling in......ALL OVER MY HEAD, including my cheeks, chin, below my nose.....LOL

allurbaddayswillend

MrsC, I get the idea that hair loss isn't the same for everyone. I lost almost all of my head hair (I'd say, like, 8% survived), almost all of my pubic hair except a thin line at the top, my eyebrows and eyelashes have thinned about 50%, I think my arms and legs have thinned about 50% also but it's a bit hard to tell on me since I have blond arm&leg hair, I think my pits have thinned the least and of course they're darker. :::eyeroll::: Also, my scalp really tingled and itched two weeks after my first AC chemo and I wanted to buzz it. It was like clockwork. Some people don't notice any sensation.

 There's a hair thread here if you want to poke through and see the variation: http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topic/707348?page=569

p.s. I have been lightly drawing in my eyebrows with a taupe pencil lately. It's not something I've ever done before but it really makes a difference on me. In fact, going from not much of a makeup wearer to someone who uses eyeliner, brow pencil, blush, and lip color iskind of a big deal for me. But it makes a difference when I see my reflection and I don't look so "chemo'ed"

_Ann_

Well today is my pre-infusion checkup with my MO.  I need to pin her down and get a long list of questions answered.  I went in there one time with over 20 questions, then last checkup I got another doctor who reviewed my chemo symptoms, and only got a few minutes with her.   I wondered if she's trying to avoid spending time with me and my mega-question lists!

I'm glad to learn what cording means.  I thought it was a vein thing.  I already have a vein that's raised and tight from the chemo.  I found a reference on cording in this site's articles here http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/side_effects/aws.jsp

MrsCich, the hair loss does vary depending on the individual and the chemo drugs.  I lost most of my body and head hair pretty quickly.  There's still some stubble hanging on but it doesn't grow.

Cottontail

I lost most of my "lady fur" (lol) except for a bit right at the top, about 95% of the hair on my head, my leg and armpit hair. My leg hair didn't fall out like my head hair - well after my other hair had come out I used my epilator to remove it. It yanked the hairs out but I didnt feel a thing.

I shaved my 'pits the day most of my head hair came out, and it didn't grow back.



My eyebrows and lashes just thinned. Same with my arm hair. I wonder if it would have been painless of I'd yanked it out, like my leg hair? Idk.



I'm almost five weeks past chemo, and the sparse hairs on my head that never fell out are growing, but I don't have any fill yet. I've been able to feel but not see leg stubble for two weeks now. Nothing new on the lady bits, either. I want my hair to grow, damnit!

websister

Tazzy - laughed out loud at how appropriate your wording was for the subject - 'pissed me off' when referring to peeing



I should also add that I am seeing a physiotherapist for cording also, mine often pulls right down to my wrist.



Off to get on with the day now

bevg49

I just want to send out healing vibes to Kathy Bates. She just came forward to say she recently had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. She is a ovarian cancer surviver and she said she would not need radiation or chemo so I guess they caught this early enough too... Best wishes to a good actress.

Tazzy

That is so sad about Kathy Bates... positive healing vibes and hugs to her.

liefie

MrsCich, the hairloss depends on the chemo drugs. I had Cytoxan and Taxotere X 4, and lost every hair everywhere. It came back, but 17 weeks PFC I still have no underarm hair, the hair on my legs are considerably sparser than before - yay!!! - and my eyebrows and lashes are still making up their mind. At the moment I have some, but it comes and goes. 

Cottontail, if the hairloss on the lady bits bothers you, get a 'merkin'. They come in neon colors too . . . LOL!

Tazzy, glad to hear you feel better today. Now you can go for those windows.

Moonflower, I also have the cheek hair, and mine is dark too. Ughh! Will have to get it waxed asap.

Jpmomof3, good for you on the running, and cleaning out your daughter's room. Hope she appreciates it! 

Everybody else, have a great day! I'm off to the ob/gyn for a check-up. He's the one that found the lump in my breast, as well as the endometrial cancer back in December last year. I hope he finds nothing today - wish me luck!

Tazzy

Good luck liefie... we're in your pockets with you ((hugs)))

MrsCich

So.....I get my first TE fill tomorrow afternoon and I got my phone call from the Oncologist. First appt is next Thursday.

jpmomof3

Good luck Liefie, endometrial ca too? You've had enough now I think...



I lost 95 percent of my hair on AC. I buzzed it to 1/8 inch when it first started falling out at day 20 from the first dose. It snowed stubble for a week or so and then stabilized. after that The stubs would come out a little at a time when I put packing tape on my head... It went completely from my armpits and nether regions (yay). My damn leg hair kept growing the whole time. My head hair started growing back halfway through my taxol treatments. My eyelashes and eyebrows hung on at about 50 percent until a week after my lt taxol treatment and then they all fell out in a matter of minutes. The eyelashes and brows are basically back though I think the brows are thinner.



Never got to the girls' room. At the park with the kids though. Just too pretty. The second rads treatment went fine. 2/33 down.