January 2013 chemo group

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  • powermom
    powermom Member Posts: 195
    edited February 2013

    Duckie - I'm about as far south as you are north of Atlanta-proper. McDonough. Yes, I had #4 of TCH yesterday. Taste buds are already failing, and that SE was longer lasting last time, too. I had horrible heartburn last time, too, but am hoping to head it off at the pass this time with increased meds for it.



    I, too, am thankful for relatively mild SE's, and that I was diagnosed so early. My cancer was ILC which is often hard to detect. So much to be thankful for! Wishing you the best as you move toward #6 and beyond! Hope you keep posting so we can keep up with each other.

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  • martha323
    martha323 Member Posts: 79
    edited February 2013

    Soteria, What a miserable experience you had with the MRI. My MO assured me  that if I didn't get into the trial arm that gets Herceptin that I was still getting the best treatment and the same is true for you as well.

    Shannon, Glad to hear that you are doing well ...

    Thanks to all for the support and advice I received this week,

    Martha

    p.s. My memory has been squishy ever since I was diagnosed - someone asked about the 323 in my name - it's our house number. Having trouble with the keyboard as well ... I typed 'out house number' before I corrected it : )

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  • LeeA
    LeeA Member Posts: 1,660
    edited February 2013

    Martha, do you ever find out which arm you're in?  

    My oncologist mentioned that same clinical trial (I think) but my Her2 status was very strong on both tests so it became a moot point following the FISH test. 

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  • SherylB
    SherylB Member Posts: 450
    edited February 2013

    Hey all,

    Check out this website these straps are too cool and support a 3x breast cancer survivor from our local Jacksonville area.

    http://www.survivalstraps.com/thedonna A portion of the proceeds from our pink ribbon collection go to the 26.2 with Donna race to help fund breast cancer research and care. You can read all about it and purchase the bracelets by clicking the link. All of these products are made in America! Thank you for your support!

    http://www.survivalstraps.com/thedonna

    Sheryl

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Well, I haven't been on here in a while and I am trying to do some catching up.   I hope everyone is well.

    Lee- Thank you so much for the compliment. 

    Going to try to finish catching up now.

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Those are super cute Sheryl!!!!

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  • Bryona
    Bryona Member Posts: 214
    edited February 2013

    Martha, I don't know if the not calling is common in other places, but my experience is the opposite -- they draw my blood and then send me straight up to my MO, whose nurse gives me the results about 20 minutes after the draw. I guess it's nice to find out everything so quickly, but I wouldn't mind a simple finger stick (really? You get that? They take a whole test tube from me!) and then being allowed to just head home. It'd sure be less time consuming.

    Lee, I had an interesting conversation with my dad today about Neulasta and E. coli, and I thought of you. (In a good way, I swear!) It was also a pretty cool conversation -- my father knows amazing stuff!

    Hi, everyone else! I hope you're feeling as groovy as can be and enjoying your weekend. :)

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  • LeeA
    LeeA Member Posts: 1,660
    edited February 2013

    Bryona, are you getting the Neulasta shots (my memory is kind of shot but I'm fairly certain you are)?  Re: the e-coli, I'm assuming it stimulates the white blood cells to start reproducing in a reaction of some sort but I have no idea...just wild guessing from beneath my fuzzy blanket in front of the fire (brrrrr, it's cold down here).   

    ColleenKelly, I love the new haircut!  

    SherylB, nice clasps on the bracelets. 

    --

    An observation about chemo - 

    For several years I've had these two little bumps on my legs (one on the right - one on the left) that the dermatologist said were the result of a bug bite of some sort.  Two dermatologists have told me this over the years.  They kind of stick out and I've always been careful when shaving my legs. 

    Suddenly, with two treatments of chemo behind me, they have flattened - one of them almost completely - the other still has a slight lump beneath the skin.  Kind of weird.  

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Lee- you need to join us on facebook!!!

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Lee- Thanks about the haircut.  It feels weird but gotta get used to it because soon there will be no hair.   I got my awesome wig though and am kind of excited to wear it.    

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2013

    LeeA~Yes, Coleen's right! Please come join us on Facebook!



    Blessings

    Paula

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  • Bryona
    Bryona Member Posts: 214
    edited February 2013

    Lee, the cool thing is that e. coli isn't in the Neulasta; Neulasta is grown in e. coli. It's like a petri dish, but on a cellular level. Crazy, right? He explained it in far more detail than that (I get my talking gene from him!), but that's basically it. Wild... and it makes me feel better that we aren't actuallybeing injected with e. coli!

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  • forest
    forest Member Posts: 25
    edited February 2013

    HELLO LADIES.  I JUST HAVE TO SHARE WITH YOU WHY I COULD NOT START MY CHEMO IN JANUARY 2013.  THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE.  AFTER MY RE-EXCISION SURGERY I GOT A HUGE BREAST ABCESS OF MRSA.  THE SURGEON PUT IN A DRAIN AND IN 20 HOURS 1000CC (1 QUART) OF ...... PUS DRAINED.  I WAS A BIT FREAKED!.  GOT A PICC LINE REAL QUICK AND AM DOING VANCOMYCIN INFUSION AT HOME TWICE A DAY FOR THREE WEEKS. I STILL HAVE THE DRAIN IN AND LOOKS LIKE INFECTION IS RESOLVING.  NO CHEMO FOR AWHILE.  MY DOCS ARE GREAT AND I AM GETTING GREAT CARE. SO I GUESS I WILL JOIN MARCH 2013 CHEMO GROUP.

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  • honeybair
    honeybair Member Posts: 746
    edited February 2013

    It's port placement for me tomorrow morning so I can continue the rest of the AC cycles before going to Taxol.  I am in pre-treatment before surgery.  Very rough two days.  Unable to do anything except sleep or doze. Nausea even with Zofran and Compazine.  Today is better.

    Love reading all your posts.  So much humor out there.  You ladies should write for tv and the movies.  There is a serious shortage of talent when it comes to writing anything funny.  Maybe that is just my opinion.

    Blessings,

    Carol

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  • VirginiaJ
    VirginiaJ Member Posts: 13
    edited February 2013

    Haven't been on for a few days because I've been enjoying feeling good.  It was so nice to get dressed up and go to work this past week after having to stay home the week before because of SEs and very low WBC.  In addition to working, I got to visit with friends and family including my two year old grandson.  We had really missed each other.

    My second chemo is Valentine's Day.  At my first treatment, there were only old folks like me in the infusion room.  If there is a young person, I'll probably scare the hell out him or her by trying to be friendly.  I feel the need to make old farts seem nicer than the ones that you younger ladies are encountering.  But I have to tell you, those old farts are probably feeling really sad that someone young has to be going through cancer hell.  

    My hair starting falling out on Thursday.  No warning signs at all -- that morning I combed my hair and it seemed fine -- that evening I was shedding like crazy.  My husband and I went to his barber the next day.  I asked to have my head shaved, but the barber said no.  He said that it would be too hard on my scalp so he buzzed it very close.  My husband of 47 years surprised me by having his hair and beard buzzed too.  

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  • smethot
    smethot Member Posts: 161
    edited February 2013

    'Morning Ladies.  9:30 am here in Southern Ontario on a feathery-frost coated Sunday morning.  I slept for 11 hrs last night...tired much??? and feel pretty decent.  Bod is a bit achey...i assume from sleeping so long and the Neulasta? but overall pretty good.  Too weird is the fact that its day 4 and my nasty-ass skin has almost 100% cleared up...and i mean totally.  No new breakouts and everything old is clearing quickly...and this running into the week before my period...normally a major disaster skin-wise.  I'll take it...always look on the bright side of life and all that, eh?  However, with no nasty-ass skin to obsess over nightly and no hair to wash and no hair to pluck or shave...what the hell am i going to do with all of this spare time over the next 4 months???

    Manda- wanted to throw out a BIG GOOD LUCK to you tomorrow...here's hoping your #1 is as uneventful as mine has been so far (and knock-on-wood, here's hoping it remains uneventful!).  I know we can do this...and we will come out on the other side egg headed and tired and FREE!!!  Fill us in on your day when you get a chance...and remember it all about KILLING those cellualr insurgents...kick ass!!!  xoxoxo

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  • Nicole503
    Nicole503 Member Posts: 295
    edited February 2013

    VirginiaJ ~ I love your husband's solidarity!  I can see why you've been married for 47 years!  I hope that you don't experience too much discomfort when the buzzed bits start to fly.

    Wishing you a long "feeling good" window!

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  • Skigirl72
    Skigirl72 Member Posts: 478
    edited February 2013

    honeybair- Good luck with the port placement tomorrow. For me, it was no big deal. I was sore (baseball bat to the shoulder sore) for a few days. The only way I know its there now is the bump just below my collarbone.

    Colleen- LOVE the hair. Brings out your pretty face. I liked mine when I cut it short the first time. Although I felt like I looked like my mom...

    smethot, LeeA... and all others... Join us on our Facebook Group. Friend me (Debbie Inzana) or Nancy (Nancy Prior Phillips) and we will add ya!

    (Begin Rant)-I love this board, but, I found out a relative was reading all our stuff on here... and I did not like what she thought of our little tangents we take sometimes. She 'felt' that we were not taking this 'cancer thing' seriously.!!! WHAT???  NOT TAKING IT SERIOUSLY??? LOL I was speechless... which doesn't happen very often. I did manage to give her the big F..... U..... ! Boy did she piss me off. (and BTW I hope she sees this too) (End rant)

    I went out last night and had a nice normal evening (except for all my friends wanted to see and touch my head). I had a few beers and laughed a lot! It was nice to feel normal for a change. Now its back to reality... continue to hydrate, take my vitamins, go shopping for TX#3. Preparing for battle on Friday!!

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  • chgogemini
    chgogemini Member Posts: 73
    edited February 2013

    Colleenkelly supercute haircut!!!



    The neulesta kicked my Ass.



    Hope everyone is doing well.

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  • Lolalou
    Lolalou Member Posts: 30
    edited February 2013

    Your attitude is so fantastic. I hope to continue feeling the same way. I meet with my onc on Tuesday and BS told me he is recommending chemo.



    Keep on fighting. I will keep coming back to check on your posts as they make me smile.

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  • InspiredbyDolce
    InspiredbyDolce Member Posts: 1,181
    edited February 2013

    Colleen - Your haircut is super cute!  I can't believe you still have your hair.  I lost mine on Day 12, which was also right on Valentine's Day last year!  You look so healthy and great.  We can't wait to see the wig, and now I must try to upload a photo.  You all look so fun!

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  • martha323
    martha323 Member Posts: 79
    edited February 2013

    Wow! Another bright sunny morning! Good thing, I felt like an emotional time-bomb last night.

    I try to stay on top of how I'm feeling, but I still get blindsided every once in a while by a very dark angry mood or a really really sad mood. Seems like a 'small' event triggered this one, an appointment with yet another health care provider - a nutritionist. (My idea even!) It was a big deal, although I didn't feel that way at the time. I know that I'm really tired right now of having to meet new health-care providers. I must have forgotten. It was a very helpful visit - I learned how much protein I need to eat each day, how many calories, etc.  However, all through the visit I kept looking at the young woman's hair. Yeah, extraordinarily thick, curly, blond, hair. (I may have even mentally tried it on as she used her calculator.) I then became ultra-aware of what seemed to me (in my rapidly deteriorating state that I was unaware of miss stay on top of everything) her very chirpy tone of voice .."when you have cancer (I heard the echo echo echo) chirp chirp you need ... chirp chirp". Oh, how I resented her health, her beauty, her youth, and her cheerfulness, but not immediately, of course.  Scene I: So that's who I talked to in the bathroom, in front of the mirror - mimicking what she said and making faces, etc. Scene II: I was ridiculously cranky with my husband. Scene III: And then I moved to the bedroom and sat on the bed for a long time realizing that fueling my irritable behavior is a wish that I really really want someone to appear (who, Glenda?) and take my cancer away, to shake my shoulder and tell me to wake up. And it isn't going to happen. It isn't going to happen. I breathed that fact in for a while. I cried and then the mood slowly diffused. I'm happy to report that the bathroom mirror was completely objective - it didn't crack! Thanks for the vent time.

    Lee, in the B-47 trial you know which arm you're in because your oncologist recommends the chemo regimen best for you - there are two regimens. Then you're randomly chosen to get the Herceptin or not. There isn't a placebo.

    Bryona, I wish that the 'off week' lab results were available. The stick is deep, but not painful - the tech gets about half a teaspoon of blood after squeezing your finger quite a few times. A little weird .. I didn't even know his name. I'll ask my oncologist about the protocol when I see him on Thursday before AC #2. They'll draw blood from my port that day.

    Nicole - Thanks for posting what you wrote on Caring Bridge. I'm lately watching BBC series - mostly period stuff. The more sub-plots the better.

    Sunshine for everyone today!

    Martha

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Thank you for the nice comments about my hair. Chemo #2 tomorrow. At least I hope. I came down with a cold. Had my husband get me some stuff to shorten the life of a cold. Zicam or something? No fever so I am hoping I can still get the chemo. Hope you are all having a great day!!!!

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Hugs Martha!

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  • ablydec
    ablydec Member Posts: 124
    edited February 2013

    My hair started coming out on day #21, and every shower I was sure "this has got to be all of it", but then would timidly look in the mirror and see there's more.  It's about almost gone now (a week later), and I stopped looking - I just keep it covered.  I did hear that many insurance companies cover wigs; I'm going to check into it.  (As I mentioned, I have wigs anyway for religious reasons, but hey - why not get another one out of this ordeal?  Again, if you're in the NYC (or Chicago or Toronto, any place there are a lot of Orthodox Jews) area, they are a good souirce for nicer wigs, that look very natural.  (Some are ridiculously expensive but not all.)

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  • Colleenkelly
    Colleenkelly Member Posts: 99
    edited February 2013

    Deb, why the f*** is anyone reading our comments unless they are going through or have been through this. Total BS for her to judge. That pisses me off too. How can we not take it seriously? Just because we try to make light of the situation sometimes. Which by the way is a very healthy way of coping. Did you start back to work? I wish you could be my bartender tomorrow. I have a feeling we would be laughing our asses off the whole time. Enjoy your day!

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  • kingboo
    kingboo Member Posts: 28
    edited February 2013

    Sheryl, the bracelets are cute.

    On my third day, so far so good. Walked to the drug store to get colace. Still bracing for the onslaught of the SE.

    Happy Chinese New Year, may the new year bring us all good health and rid of this demon.

    Jean

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  • hope49
    hope49 Member Posts: 370
    edited February 2013

    Colleen, I agree with you...it's a ridiculous situation we're in and if we can't laugh, the alternative is to cry...and we do enough of that. I feel so lucky that our group has a sense of humor, it's lifted me up and allowed me to feel a sense of normalcy within the madness. Thanks for sticking up for us, Deb! (btw...love the hair!)



    Martha...((hugs))



    Virginia, you look beautiful, and what a nice show of solidarity from your DH! Glad you are feeling well.



    Shannon, glad its going well...those SEs wouldn't dare mess with you :)



    Mandy, good luck tomorrow!



    I would like to be with the cool kids on FB but am not interested in FB in general...can I sign up and just be in the smaller group without having a public page?



    Hope you all head into a great week!

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  • Skigirl72
    Skigirl72 Member Posts: 478
    edited February 2013

    Hope49- You can create a page and change all your security preferences to 'hide' and we would be able to see you in the group. Just have to 'friend' one of us first...

    Colleen- this is a cousin who no one really associates with because she does shit like this all the time. She found out I have BC through one of her sisters. I must have said to the sister how much fun and great all of you are on this site and she went searching here. She is a book smart human... zero people skills. It was just a matter of time. That's ok though, she can say what she wants... I have thicker skin than she thinks. I just hate when people say stupid things.

    I start back to work this week. Everyone is excited for me to bartend next weekend. I am too, I miss it a lot! Lets just hope I can overcome my new germaphobia... I am bringing a gallon of Purel and Lysol antibacterial spray...

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  • honeybair
    honeybair Member Posts: 746
    edited February 2013

    I'm with VirgniaJ in that I hate to see so many young women experiencing this cancer hell.  Your posts are so helpful and encouraging.

    Where I go for chemo, there are no young patients, and I am glad. 

    Hugs to all of you

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