Starting Chemo October 2012

CelineFlower

yay!!! what a beautiful family! 

oh what joy to read good news...

* flower runs around handing out flowers to everyone to celebrate the birthday !!*

everything went ok? how long was your labor? what happens with your treatments now?

daddy looks  great, tired but great!! lol

Caitgrace

Marlene -and family congrats on the safe arrival of Chloe! How exciting and joyous and well, amazing! I hope incredible things for you all - as I'm sure you will have. And such strength to go through all of this at once - your darling girl will have started life with all that strength in her as well! May all the blessings of the gods and goddesses reign down upon you both!

Toots

Congrats to all you girls for finishing, whoohoo parties all around!

Catching up fast Day 2 of 5th one last February 7th..............will be celebrating too soon!

Feeling fine at present but it was late Day 2 everything hit me for 6 last time, but I did get quantity reduction from 175 mg to 140 mg this time so hoping for not quite as bad a reaction.........

So good that all are moving on, so glad to have had so many lovely people to share my journey throughout and looking forward to joining you all on rad forums in March.

Love and hugs for all - may you find lots of purple bubbles and silver linings xxxxxx

halfcan

Marlene - Best happy dance ever on this site!!! /\/\/\/\ !!! I'm sooo happy and excited for you and your family!!! So many good wishes coming your way and big, squeeze you hugs!!! I'm wearing a huge grin this morning...oh, and awesome pic!!! They're both pretty cute! ;-)

Toots

Marlene - so many congratulations Chloe is just georgeous........so many things to celebrate ..........give her an extra special hug from all of us...............x

Jalessi92

Marlene:

Congratulations on the birth of baby Chloe! Enjoy every minute with her and take lots of pictures....before you know it, she'll be asking for your car keys! I'm a Mother Baby nurse returning to work next week...I miss the little ones so much and can't wait to get back to my job! I'm on Abraxane and Herceptin now and only having slight tingling in the tips of my fingers...SE are manageable. Sleep when baby Chloe sleeps, trust your motherly instincts, and ask for help when you need it. She is truly a gift from God!



Jen

LouBar

Marlene  - what great news to share, she is beautiful, congratulations!  So nice to have such a wonderful news and I'm really glad you posted a pic of your family - fantastic, truly the most important.  Happy dances all round....enjoy every minute

alcb70

Marlene- CONGRATULATIONS!!!  What a beautiful little one!!! I am so glad all is well! Try and relax and enjoy every minute you can with her through all this!!  I hope you get to the end of this journey soon, and it's nothing but a memory.     ~Andrea

Marlene18

Thanks everyone. I'm glad Chloe is the happy-maker for us right now.

I think my labour was about as "normal" as it would have been even without having some reduced blood counts. I am pretty strong and have continued to work out this whole time so I was able to push her out after four hours. I am really glad I don't have to have a c-section to recover from, because I am scheduled to resume chemo on February 18th. Until then, I truly am enjoying this time of leisure (even with the interrupted sleep!) and making this girl into a nice & fat baby!! 

Anonymous

Congratulations Marlene! Chloe is absolutely precious!

Poke

Andrea are you out there? How has your recovery been from your unexpected exchange? I am getting nervous about mine and I'm not even close to scheduling yet. What was your down time? Are your docs recommending any further monitoring? I just scared the crap out of myself reading the thread about women who had recurrences after BMX. Why do I do this to myself!! 

Out of breath from trying to vacuum! Counts were low but pulse ox, heart rate, bp and all that were ok. I am still going to push for an echo - because of Herceptin I am due for one and no one seems to rememeber this even though I have asked twice. Have a nice weekend ladies!! xoxo

Poke

Confession: This makes me feel like an awful person.

There was a Komen race down here today in Florida and I saw all these "one-year survivors" with cute hairstyles (which were obviously not wigs) on TV and I felt disgruntled about it. I do the same thing when I see Guiliana Rancic on E! with her long hair who "miraculously returned to work just two weeks after mastectomy." I have this horrible resentfulness that those women didn't endure chemo. Maybe they chose not to, I don't know. I almost like I feel like they didn't have the same disease because they didn't want or have to fight it the way we are. I resent them for potentially making cancer seem easy to people who are lucky enough not to know better; like I used to be. The point is, these negative feelings are really making me feel terrible. Need to let them go ... was hoping sharing would help.

xoxo 

Poke

Marlene!! Congrats! I was so absorbed in writing my rant that I totally missed all the posts about your baby!!!! So happy for you!!!!

CelineFlower

Po...

"i have heard women who do radiation everyday can still go to work"

this is what my sis said to me....

and i thought the same thing.... did the do chemo first?

6 months of posoning my body to kill this evil cancer... surgery... then rads..

i doubt id be in a race.. on tv... or barely able to walk to the store (im impressed ypou are vacumming! )

"it depends on your constitution"

i find that demeaning in a sense (tho i recongnize most ppl arent trying to be so)

Toots

Poke - your confession think we all feel a little resentment about it all - for all they say n the adverts - cancer is NOT ALL PRETTY AND PINK - as all of us who have been through the chemo know - anything BUT...........my mother was lucky enough not to lose a lock of her hair while she was on chemo, she took tablet form all the way through every other bit of hair went but her hair on her head staying her 'crowning glory' - my cousin had a double mastetomy as soon as it was discovered and there was no spread so she avoided the rest of it altogether.......some people just luckier and it is just human nature to be resentful or jealous...........remember to look for the silver linings yours will come back and even more beautiful one of these days and you will be so proud of it when it does after knowing what is like to be without honey x

Celine - impressed what I can do on a good day but on a bad day............we can only do what we are capable of nothing more or less and everyone is so different and copes differently!

......having a bad time Day 5 of 5th Tax but 'crossing fingers' not the awful trips to the bathroom I had last time, noise ear back in one side, chronic heartburn, hands and feet red and peeling all over the place..........but it can only get better............

Hope everyone has minimum SEs, lifts up out of any 'blues', we are all seeing the end of it all, blessings for Chloe.

Lots of hugs and silver linings xxxx

LouBar

poke - don't feel awful for your feelings, this has been a tough journey and I think what is difficult is that everyone groups breast cancer as one diagnosis while our surgeries, treatments and the prescriptions etc. can be so different and some are much more difficult.  I can't tell you the number of people who share those good news stories with me and all the progress made with breast cancer.  When for me at stage 3 the statistics aren't quite as promising but I have to remind myself to be grateful that it still could be much worse and that I will defy the statistics as will you and I do believe that this horrible experience has in some ways transformed my life for the better....

would it be cheesy ladies as we wrap up our respective treatments to reflect on those "silver linings" as per toots?

Hugz to you Poke - you have struck me from one of your first posts as a strong formidable woman xx

LouBar

oh, I do have a question for the ladies on taxotere may be applicable to taxol too - does anyone have hair starting to grow back? I seem to have what can only be described as "tennis ball fuzz' on my head that doesn't come out if I pull on it...could this be the start? 

CelineFlower

yup yup yup... im fuzzy too..

no more velcro stuble

Poke

Hello ladies ! Why did I take a two-hour nap at 4:30 and then have coffee at dinner!? I have an expansion tomorrow (today). I'm daydreaming about squishy boobs. I think I'm delirious.

Thanks for making me feel better yesterday about chemo patients versus non-chemo patients. I was really having a bad day. I'm SO HOT. I'm sitting naked at the kitchen table typing this and I'm boiling hot. Gaaaaahhhhh.

I am so scared about the thought of going back to work!! It's still a few months away.

Marlene, how is it going with the little one!? I am so happy for you. Since I have never had kids I have no idea how hard what you are going through is with chemo and an infant but I can only imagine it's a whole lot.

Good night all, xoxo

Toots

Lou Bar /Celine - I have a little soft fuzz everywhere on the head too - quite soft and cute (so hubby tells me).........x

Poke - Good luck with the surgery hope you cool down girl and glad that apart from that you are feeling better in yourself x

We are all stronger and will remain so after what we have all been through - survivors!

Take care all and lots of hugs xxxx

Caitgrace

Had some sushi on Friday night and a drink! Trying to get back into exercising and trying to lose weight but the house full of holiday treats is too tempting.... The night sweats are waking me up 6-10 times a night...I've started the tamoxifen so maybe it's starting to increase them?



I've got the head fuzz-- my hunny calls me a baby chicken. Hair too growing back all other places but legs (seems my mom never got her leg hair back if I remember correctly).



I'm exhausted by days end -working regular days and doing all my regular chores. Trying to give myself a break but it's hard as I'm driven to be normal again.



Exciting to hear everyone wrapping up... I need to find a new home in a tamoxifen group but its cozy here and there's a baby and flowers and purple bubbles...



Happy happy to all of you!

halfcan

Nope, no " tennis ball fuzz" here. Lol. It's more like rough velcro nubs. Guess it's going to be awhile for me. Day 6 and all downhill starting yesterday morning. It's the usual SE's though and knowing it will only get better now that chemo is done helps. Still, it will be a long week or so ahead.

Poke - good luck with the surgery hon...keep your eye on the squishies! :-)

Marlene - I love your profile pic!!! What a fantastic picture of you and Chloe.

Caitgrace - I'm with you... It is like home here with all you ladies.

We have been together through nasty chemo and horrible fears and had each other to lean on through it all. I need to find a rad. group to get some answers, but not for the emotional support...this is my happy place, great group, purple bubbles, lots of love, flowers and now a baby!!! I can't begin to thank you all enough for how this helps me. It's the first thing I read with my morning coffee so I can see how you all are doing. Makes me feel not alone. :-) Ok, enough emotional babble. Love you ladies

Poke

I have been worried about my heart for the last two weeks and what did I do today - forget my doctor's appointment. Brilliant! Hope you guys are all having a great day!

LouBar

I've been quite interested in trying dragon boating for some time and a "silver lining" for is auto membership to one of the breast cancer teams....I've found a local team that seems just great and the first kickoff meeting is this weekend...I can't wait   Looks like the next big international regatta is in Sarasota 2014, the following is the link to all the teams worldwide, not sure if anyone else is interested, but wouldn't it be great to meet up for some real hugs in 2014?! http://www.ibcpc.com/members/index.htm 

On another note - I'm just realizing based on caitgrace's/po-kes posts that my temperature fluctuations (some night sweats) are possibly "hot flashes"? can that be as I'm pre-menopausal? is this a SE? they are so bizarre not sure if this will continue then on tamoxifan? 

It is freezing here today, -20C with wind chill, despite above hot flashes I'm heading for my daily walk and doubling up on my hat to protect my new fuzz!  xoxo

Poke

That regatta is across the street from my house  

Poke

P.S. I have been having hot flashes like every 20 minutes since I started chemo, if you're not having cycles then that's probably your issue. I haven't have a menstrual cycle since October when I started. They may continue, stop, or worsen on tamoxifen. In a few weeks I guess I'll know!!

Poke

(I had to convince my doc not to give me a blood transfusion today, my hemoglobin is down to 8 which explains why I'm exhausted ... I can't wait for chemo to be OVER!)

CelineFlower

*flower blows some purple bubbles all around poke *

Poke

Thanks! I needed that! xoxo

301724

Congrats, Marlene! She is precious and you are amazing!