Starting Chemo July 2012

_Ann_

Life, thanks for the info re glutamine.  Sorry you're deprived of your DBF this week.  Hope things go well tomorrow.

Melrosemelrose

Itsalltemporary- After my 4th round of chemo, I started getting a little peach fuzz on my head in spots.  I know some of it fell out but immediately after the 5th and 6th rounds, the fuzz tried again to but within 2 weeks after those chemo rounds, it would thin out again.  About the 4th week after my final 6th round of chemo, the fuzz really started to blossom.  The fuzz isn't very long-- maybe 1/4 inch.  I'm now 6 weeks PFC and the fuzz has filled in and I see real hair coming in.  The hair is in varying lengths right now ---some super short (stubs) and some are 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch long.  I still have a few strands of pre-chemo hair.  I never shaved/buzzed my head but had a super super boy hair cut ( long on the top front and 1 inch everywhere else).  I was able to wear bandanas, caps and hats with a little bang hair and neck nape hair showing.  I'm not taking any Biotene supplements to promote hair and nail growth as some do; however, I do make an effort to continue to eat healthy.   I do use Biotene shampoo that has been recommended by others on the Hair, Hair, Hair thread.   I don't know if that shampoo really works; but it smells great!!!  I am really surprised that my head hair has come back so quickly.   It has not grown enough to be considered a pixie by any means and not quite filled in enough. I had black hair before with some grey; now it is coming in black with a lot more grey/white.   I probably could go without a head coverings but I don't feel like it is quite long enough yet.  I love the shortness of my hair.  I had waist length hair in February 2012 when my journey began. My eyebrows and lower eyelashes started to thin after the 5th chemo round.  I lost most of eyebrows on both sides right after the 6th round.  The timing of loss of the eyebrows and eyelashes is pretty normal.  The good thing is that the eyebrows and lower eyelashes are coming back.  The top eyelashes are starting to go but it's okay.  Hopefully they will come back soon.  FYI: The growth cycle for eyebrows and eyelashes is different and slower than your head hair.  I'll keep my fingers cross for you that your hair will make a comeback quickly and you can ditch that wig soon!!!!

stride

Boobzilla, it sounds like your cancer diagnosis, Texas-sized tumor, and treatment plan are very similar to mine, except your tumor is ER+. I'll be watching your posts to see how things go for you. You and I are taking the same types of chemo, and as much as I hate the side effects, it has been very successful. My tumor shrank by more than half just in the first two rounds. Since then the shrinking has slowed or stopped. At times I have thought it was growing again, and then I realized it wasn't. 

Ann, regarding that insurance company hold message, word. 

natL12

Virginiab = Yes, to being tired.  What I can't figure out is...so tired, yet I wake up at 2 am and can't get back to sleep until about 4 am.  Sometimes I then go back to sleeep until 6 am, but often I just give up...get up at 5, and start knitting on whatever project I'm doing for a local chaildren's charity.   At least i have someting to keep me occupied and feeling useful instead of feeling that I'm just taking up space on the planet.

 Oh, what a whiner I am!  But I refuse to whine anywhere else, especially to my DH, so you all get to see it.  And I don't mind if you ignore it, because my complaints are pretty trivial compared to what some of you are going through!  Nat

natL12

Virginiab = Yes, to being tired.  What I can't figure out is...so tired, yet I wake up at 2 am and can't get back to sleep until about 4 am.  Sometimes I then go back to sleep until 6 am, but often I just give up...get up at 5, and start knitting on whatever project I'm doing for a local children's charity.   At least i have someting to keep me occupied and feeling useful instead of feeling that I'm just taking up space on the planet.

 Oh, what a whiner I am!  But I refuse to whine anywhere else, especially to my DH, so you all get to see it.  And I don't mind if you ignore it, because my complaints are pretty trivial compared to what some of you are going through!  Nat

natL12

Virginiab = Yes, to being tired.  What I can't figure out is...so tired, yet I wake up at 2 am and can't get back to sleep until about 4 am.  Sometimes I then go back to sleep until 6 am, but often I just give up...get up at 5, and start knitting on whatever project I'm doing for a local children's charity.   At least i have someting to keep me occupied and feeling useful instead of feeling that I'm just taking up space on the planet.

 Oh, what a whiner I am!  But I refuse to whine anywhere else, especially to my DH, so you all get to see it.  And I don't mind if you ignore it, because my complaints are pretty trivial compared to what some of you are going through!  Nat

natL12

Virginiab = Yes, to being tired.  What I can't figure out is...so tired, yet I wake up at 2 am and can't get back to sleep until about 4 am.  Sometimes I then go back to sleep until 6 am, but often I just give up...get up at 5, and start knitting on whatever project I'm doing for a local children's charity.   At least i have someting to keep me occupied and feeling useful instead of feeling that I'm just taking up space on the planet.

 Oh, what a whiner I am!  But I refuse to whine anywhere else, especially to my DH, so you all get to see it.  And I don't mind if you ignore it, because my complaints are pretty trivial compared to what some of you are going through!  Nat

stride

natL12, a woman in the chemo chair yesterday was complaining to me about how the steroids make her wired. She doesn't take any anti-nausea drugs at all, which I find amazing. But that means she doesn't have the "downer" effect of the anti-nausea meds to couteract the "upper" effects she gets from the steroids. If you're on taxotere, you're probably getting steroids. How is your leg doing? Has the swelling gone down?

Melrosemelrose

natL12- Your fatigue maybe attributable to the chemo; it's another one of those wonderful side effects of our chemo regimen.  You may also want to check to see what your red blood count is.  You could be anemic which may explain the tiredness.

virginiab

FINISHED WITH CHEMO

Well, I'm finished with the actual chemo treatments; I still have to get through the last round of side effects.

I now have appointments for a 10-week follow-up with the MO, a first appointment with the RO, and an appointment for a needle biopsy of a growth on my thyroid that showed up on a breast MRI around the beginning of chemo. My MO didn't want someone doing a biopsy during chemo, so we have been putting this off. I'm not too freaked about it, but I'm not thrilled either!

I usually sleep pretty well in the days after chemo, except the first couple of nights when I'm on the steriods. But even on those nights, I just wake up more and get a poorer quality sleep but I still get plenty of sleep. If pesky scheduling doesn't get in my way, I'll generally sleep 10 to 12 hours a night for the first week and a half, and 8 to 10 for the next week. I know from many of you how lucky I am to be able to get that sleep. Oh, I wake up a couple of times a night and get up to pee, but then I easily fall back into sleep.

At the end of my chemo session today they gave me a nice printed summary of the drugs and dosages I had, plus a summary of the lab results. I had just been reading that we should get and keep that kind of information for future reference. They also had printed a certificate for finishing chemo and all the nurses there had written little notes on it. Very sweet.

I hope we all have easy treatments and minimal side effects in the next little chunk of time. Hugs to all.

Lifeonitsside

Virginiab - Yay! High fives all the way around!

Lifeonitsside

Virginiab - Yay! High fives all the way around!

SusanHG123

First day of taxol and herceptin. Was in the chair 5 hours, then became hypertensive from the herceptin and had to stay longer. 

Can't remember if I posted after my last MRI--but results not what surgeon expected or MO wanted so change in treatment plan. Instead of dose dense going to taxol weekly at somewhat lower dose with herceptin weekly. Will have another MRI in 6 weeks. At least next 11 weeks will finish in 3 hours instead of all day and i can try to work in the afternoon. I hope. If i go home will just have a  nice pity party. Steroids for another 11 weeks. Almost wanted to chew my arm off. Of course still might when the steroid burst really hits. 

Left port accessed for "just in case" since my nausea/vomiting has been out of control often.  

Discussed transfusion today but waiting to see what H&H is next week with changes in chemotherapy. Drops every week and really short of breath.  

For those who have already started taxol--nail issues? Does the hard as nails work? Or turning dark regardless?

hugs and Hershey kisses to all 

Melrosemelrose

virginiab- CONGRATS ON BEING PFC!!!  Hope your side effects are minimal!!!!

PaEaglesFan

Welcome to the PFC side Virginiab! May this last round of SE's be the easiest for you.

PaEaglesFan

Welcome to the PFC side Virginiab! May this last round of SE's be the easiest for you.

Itsalltemporary

thanks Melrosemelrose for the hair info. Its helpful to know what to expect!

SusanHG123

And congratulations to the "Starting Chemo in July" strong, wonderful women who are moving out of the chair! 

mssunshine71

Lifeonitsside- u can get glutamine tabs through bodybuilding.com  they are much easier to take

Virginia - Congrats to u!!!

My day started out with a bang!  I seem to be a little behind the group as I had my 4th and last AC trtmnt today. (yay!)  It started out that for some reason my MO only ordered 3 rounds of Emend so yesterday and today was spent trying to get the rx before chemo. (I finally convinced pharmacy to extend as I refuse to do chemo without it and they will track down the order later.)  I got it EXACTLY 1 hour before treatment!  Last night my 4 year old started scratching her head like crazy so I checked thoroughly for lice before and after her shower (with my reading glasses on as my eyesight hasnt been great)  and found nothing.  I spent all morning getting her dolled up for picture day which she was so excited!  Got to the bus stop and had my sister do a double check.  She immediately found lice!! Ran to the drug store to get a treatment and balled my eyes out in front of the Pharmacist. (first he asked if it was for me as I stood there with a bald head)  Had to get my sister to do her treatment as I was dealing with the doctor trying to get my script for emend. and make it to treatment on time.  Had to call my ex and make sure he knew how to go through his house as she spent 3 days there over the weekend and was going back for my first week of treatment.  I am still getting my period and find it is heavier and pms is WAY worse then before so I am so emotional with the slightest little thing now.  3 out of 4 treatments I got it just before chemo.  Glad this is my las AC and hoping the next 4 Taxol and Herceptin are better than this!  I still have a long way to go as after taxol is done I have a bmx to come and 14 more Hrcetin treatments at 3wk intervals

Thanks for letting me vent and hope everyone tolerates their upcoming round well!  Hugs to all  xo 

mamabr

Oh mssunshine, what a day!! And now the recovery from your last AC treatment. Anyone with children has been through the lice ordeal and it's not even the the hair that is so bad, but having to wash everything in the house is just a pain, even when not dealing with chemo. You are bombarded with everything! Remember though that you need to make sure that your body can heal. Let your dear sister and family take care of everything else. This is one time when we have to get the rest we need for our bodies to heal, otherwise things can go downhill. You have a lot ahead of you. Hope you can take care over the weekend. 

I had my 3rd Taxol and starting to feel a little tired. The tingly toes and fingers have started. Hope everyone has a restful weekend! 

_Ann_

virginab, huge congratulations!  You made it!

SusanHG, wow you've been through the ringer lately.  Hugs to you.

mssunshine, so sorry you have to deal with lice during all this.  I second mamabr's advice-- let someone take care of it for you.

Well I haven't been doing so great.  Lots of aches and pains but mostly mental/emotional struggle.  I've fallen off on eating, fluids, and mouth and hand hygeine because I'm just tired of it all.   I've been crying a lot and feeling very, very bleak as I face an MRI then the switch over to 12 weekly taxol first week of October.  I hope I crawl out of this hole next week.

FeelingtheMagic

Good to see some of the July girls are finishing chemo and talking hair regrowth! I do miss my hair. My granddaughter commented on the bit of fluff that tries to grow, "Nana, your hair is white!" "No, I think it's summer blonde" I answered. ha!

Just did # 5, one more to go of the full protocol, then nine more months herceptin. But energy and hair should come back during that.  Ann, I'm tired of it all, too. I think I could use a good cry but haven't.  I'd say the chemo has actually gone quite well, but now am dealing with swelling and pretty extreme leg/hip weakness.  I am amazed that some of you have worked through this. Not sure if I'd have been able but as it happens I had my own business, and that I couldn't keep up.  Our community hosted a wonderful fundraiser... artists I work with donated works and it was a joyful wildly fun silent auction. I must say it is the people around me who keep my spirits lifted.

I had no allergic reactions to the last two chemo's... and we even reduced the extreme steroids and antihistimines a bit. I like to think my visualizations have helped. A doctor is sharing my techniques with other doctors and patients. If you are interested ... you can peek at my blog. This is Part I. There are two posts that follow.. Part 2 is worth the read for sure.  Our strange bodies with minds of their own. ~smile~  http://musingalong.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/instead-of-full-sail-ahead-today-the-masts-and-sails-do-nothing/

Now I just have to come up with the visualization for weak legs. Ha!

Hugs to all!

Madelyn

VirginiaB- so happy for you that you are done!! PFC!!!

mssunshine71-And I thought Strep throat runing through the house was bad...WOW!

SusanHG -I started Taxol (just finished my 3rd) I use Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" and everything is good so far! No discoloration.  

Peace to all and Happy Friday! 

stride

Thought for the day: chemo treatments require a career switch for a few days. I have to master the art of food processing.

SusanHG and Ann, hang in there. Sorry to hear it hasn't been going as smoothly as hoped, but you WILL get through all of this.

And for those of you finishing chemo CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

natL12

Virginiab - Congratulations are in order, even though we all know you still have the SEs to contend with for awhile.

 mssunshine = did you know that September is National Pediculosis Month?  And for a good reason, it is/was the month all the kids went back to school and picked up head lice!  Just a bit of arcane knowledge from my teaching days.  Sorry you've had to deal with it.

Headlines on my CNN home page about Cancer Research...targeting lung, melanoma, a blood cancer whose spelling I haven't mastered, and Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which they said is related to ovarian cancer. Glad they have a war on these, but I didn't need to read about a relationship of my kind of BC to ovarian.  Now I have a new thing to stay awake and worry over.

DH says I'd be better off if I didn't get on the internet.  He's probably right.  Nat

emilybrooke

Congratulations Virginiab!

Maddie57

Hi Ladies - sorry I have been out of it for a few days. Not sure if it was the Neulasta injection that floored me this time on the 2 and 3rd day. I couldn't touch my skin, and even my jaws hurt. 

Ann - am thrilled the heating pad worked

Virginialab - congratulations - it's so nice to hear about somone who's finished the chemo. Go girl!!

Sunshine - sorry you had a day from hell. Did you say to your pharmacist - "Does it look like I've got nits!!"

Road warrior - how are your hands now? Hope they are a little better. I was just chopping vegetables for soup - great for when you are too tired to cook, and it hurt to chop the vegetables - hope it doesn't get any worse with the 4th treatment.

SusanHG - I have been told the Herceptin side effects are worse with the first treatment, and lessen with each subsequent one. I hope that holds true for you. I used to have to stay 2 hours after the herceptin to check for SE's but now they only wait half an hour which is great. Speeds the process up greatly.

Re the hair. I met a lady in town the other day. She is 6 months post chemo, and her hair was 2inches/ 4.5cms long. It looked good, thick and shiny and was a proper hair style. She did say it had come out slightly curly whereas she had straight hair before, and had come out grey when it grew again. Does anyone know when you can colour your hair once it starts growing?

My nails are still a normal colour, and I have not had to use nail polish as yet. I am not sure if all the oil I put on my TE is keeping them in good condition. 

For those of you who have sold paintings, and had commissions. Well done!! 

Melrose - thanks for the tip on the bras. Guess I will have to try some more on!! 

mamabr

Hang in there Ann. Just watch movies and cry away. This is all really hard. I am so tired of cranberry, yogurt, miralax, mashed potatoes, water, juice, blueberries, soup.....but mostly as much as I try to keep things normal, it seems like everything is trumped by the cancer. As much as I don't want to be tired, I am tired. I want to eat something I really enjoy, and it tastes like cardboard. I want to excercise and I am reduced to a tiny walk that makes me feel worse because I know what I used to do. There is so much more to cancer then just the diagnosis. So there is my violin for the day, I hope Ann gets her rest, as well as everyone else out there. I'm going to try and keep it really simple this weekend. xo

_Ann_

mamabr and stride, yes isn't it weird that eating is such a problem?  Chocolate Boost was the one halfway nutritious thing I could tolerate when I couldn't tolerate other food... now I can't tolerate chocolate Boost.  Yesterday the only foods that had any appeal were cheetos, cookies, and ice cream.  I was even grossed out by my former fav liquid, orange gatorade.  If I try to push through and make myself eat/drink something, then it quickly ends up on the 'never again no way am I eating that' list.  

It does feel like a huge job to answer the question: what is edible today?  I really have to wonder what the heck is happening in our bodies that makes food unappealing.  Even if we've just been poisoned, shouldn't our body realize we need nutrition?  Oh well, I guess if the body actually had any wisdom it wouldn't have grown cancer in the first place.

To whoever said it, yes I'm amazed/impressed by women that work through this.  I worked for the first six weeks, barely half time, and had to leave in the middle of one day to cry uncontrollably and nap for a couple hours.  That was when I realized I'm not one of the women that can work through chemo.  :-/

Hope I'm not too negative for y'all today. 

stride

No Ann, not too negative. I don't know about everyone else, but I kind of need to hear that things are not all going perfectly for other people, too. I'm on three-week cycles, so I know I'll be able to eat normally in about a week-and-a-half, and I'll be back at work. But right now it's just protein, fluids, electrolytes and just enough fiber and laxatives to keep things moving through, but without going overboard. Add to that Prilosec, anti-nausea pills, steroid pill, Gas-X and fluids, followed by more fluids. It's like walking a tightrope. 

Here are some things that worked for me the last three days: peanut butter crackers; banana; prune juice; Smooth Move Tea; peach-ginger tea; Greek yogurt with a sprinkle of ground flaxseed for fiber; chicken broth with brown rice; rice cake with tuna and a few dried cranberries for fiber; quesadilla made with whole wheat tortilla, chicken pieces, avocado and a little cheese; applesauce sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

Gas-X three or four times per day, Senakot tablets once a day and either prune juice or Smooth Move tea at some other point in the day. A little bit of Metamucil or a fiber bar if I think I'm not getting enough fiber. 

Actually, writing this made me feel a whole lot better. I have managed pretty well! 

But I'm with you, Ann. I feel like going through chemo is a job in itself, and I'm not having half the problems you have had. And mamabr, I think you're on the right track just keeping things simple for the weekend.