September 2013 Chemo Group

Lav

Good luck Everyone. Ive just fibished surgery 5 weeks ago and still waiting for my Oncotype test results for my Oncologist to tell me if I will need Chemo or not. Though reading all your posts makes me feel that I might be on it by early October too. Just trying to get a heads on on Chemo and what to expect. Seem to have similar symptons and reports like some of you.... Id just like to wish all of you all the very best of luck.

4sewwhat

MamaStewart--Sally's beauty supply has satin sleep caps and they are very inexpensive. I bet any beauty supply would have them and seems to me I saw something at Bed, Bath and Beyond when I was packing my chemo bag.



Good luck and best wishes for everyone having treatments this week!

Lynne

JellyK

I just literally wiped away with a washcloth most of the rest of my hair-down-under, lol.  It was like I had put cream hair remover on it or something.  Here's the crazy part - so I can literally pull out without resistance the hair on my head, but the hairs on my chin?  Rock solid.  I shouldn't complain though, since that same phenomenon is what's keeping my eyebrows in :-P

Better today, not 100% and I still have the nausea biting at my heels, but better.

Good luck to everyone getting treatments today!

lighthouselady

JellyK - I'm right there with you.  A few stragglers "down under", but mostly gone.  But I'm still having to shave my legs!!!!  What's up with that?  

I'm feeling good today.  5 days post tx #2 and just a little more tired.  Mom is here visiting for a week and we went to Target - you'd have thought I had run a marathon!  I was out of breath by the time I got to the car.  LOL  Had a nice lunch with her and a friend, and now back home to rest before the kids get home from school.  The guys have football practice three nights this week (hubby is coaching son's team) and my daughter has softball those same three nights... so no rest for the weary!  I did make it to Dallas yesterday to see my son play in Cowboys Stadium.  It was a LONG day (we left at 7am and got home at 8pm), but I felt pretty good all day and am SO glad I was healthy to go.

Hope everyone is feeling good and good luck to those who are starting or have another treatment this week.

KBeee

JellyK -  Glad you're feeling better.

Michelle - chin hairs hang around for a while???  I plucked 2 today and thought to myself that it would be the last time I'd be doing that.  So my toe hair will probably hang around just long enough for me to still be in flip flops too, won't it?!!!

2 days until the head shaving gig...4 days until chemo.  It should be an eventful week.  I really should be cleaning my house........

lovewins

hello ladies...it's good to read about you all.  I actually LOL when I read about the chin hairs...guess that true about the eyebrows and chin hair.  I am on day 13 and my hair has not started to fall out yet.  I am getting prepared, my Mom bought me a cute hat and we went to the store to buy a pattern for a du-rag.  I am feeling very good except my face and tounge are numb...thinking this is neropathy?  Annoying but not painful.  Enjoying being at my folks and building mysef up for my 2nd treatment.  I miss the time I was spending here but think it is good to also spend time away.  I think of you here at the site daily and pray for your healing and peace of mind.  God Bless...M

JellyK

Kbee, sorry to say you'll be plucking the chin hairs a while longer, lol.  My leg hair isn't growing much, so I don't really shave anymore, but the toe hairs are still there :-)

I have a theory that your head hair and your down-under hair grows faster than the other hair on your body, so that's why the chemo affects it first?  I dunno, I'm just grateful to still have my eyebrows because my sister's wedding is this weekend and I did NOT want to have to figure out how to draw them in.  I know I probably will have to figure it out eventually, but not for pictures that will be looked at for years to come, lol.  The wig will be bad enough.

Lovewins, my tongue has gone numb from around day 3 post tx and stays that way for a while.  It's like I drank hot cocoa that burned my tongue.  It's also a weird white, and then goes a weird pink.  o

Michelle & lovewins, so glad to hear you're feeling good! 

JellyK

I took the clippers down to zero today and basically shaved my head - pulling clumps of little tiny hairs out was literally making me gag.  First of course I made a mohawk and took a picture for my son, lol, but it's officially totally gone, and I no longer look like a punk rocker.  I really and truly look like a cancer patient.

My awesome 3 year old daughter looked at my newly shaved head and said very sweetly, "Mommy, I love your new haircut."  I hugged her through my tears...

AnnFM

Stay strong JellyK. The hair will grow back! What a touching story about your daughter, kids are very truthful, so you must be rocking the new look!

I start my chemo tomorrow. I feel like I am heading to the hanging post. I've read all the posts for the September group. I've got my bag of goodies from the chemo check list. I ate some of my favorite foods today. Went for a pedicure with my daughter, bought some hats and now I'm drinking probably my last cup of Starbucks coffee for a while. I am so ready to get on with this.

Deborahanne

Hello everyone, I've not posted for several days but have read through several of the posts. Here's an update on what's going on.

I'm now on Day 11. I had been having trouble sleeping well at night, waking almost every hour. Day 9 was the worst, I woke in the middle of the night with heartburn took a Tums, went back to sleep woke an hour later with an empty stomach feeling - gnawing type pain which required getting up and eating something. Then the next night (last night) I tried ZANTAC. And it made a huge difference!!! I actually slept better and had no heartburn or gnawing pain! I'm going to use Zantac every night.

ALSO - yesterday evening my temperture rose to 100.2 and I was achy. I had previously felt great all day. The temp went down after taking ibuprofen.

Today I felt great all day until 6pm when I started feeling achy again. By 8pm my temp was 100.6. I called MO and he told me to take ibuprofen and if the temp is still up tomorrow or if I have any other symptoms of infection he plans to call in an antibiotic.

One other item. My upper teeth have hurt this evening when I chew. Has anyone else had this issue?

batcatlady1 - THANK YOU so much for the info about hair loss. I hope my situation is the same as yours.

lovewins - I'm so glad you are feeling better while spending time with your parents.

I'm so glad some of you who've been having a hard time are doing better. Prayers to all of you for minimal side effects and complications!

BetterDay

Hi, all. Had my first Taxol infusion today. It went pretty well though I did start crying a bunch of times. I felt like a wimpy newbie but happy to get one under my belt. 11 more to go before I start AC.



Thank you all for your posts and updates. They are inspirational and make me laugh. Two very good things. Though I have to say the chin hair thing is disappointing! I was hoping for some upside in all this. Guess I won't be retiring my tweezers anytime soon.



Good luck, ladies. I'll be sending positive thoughts all around this group!

lovewins

(((((JellyK))))) I hear you...I think that is what bothers me the most about losing my hair because everyone will know what I am going through.  I am hoping as with everything else I have faced these past couple of months this will be another hurdle to my healing.  I pray this for you JellyK as well as myself to keep my chin up, hope you are doing well. 

Thanks for sharing the tongue thing...it's weird.  Also I really morned the loss of my taste buds more so than I thought I would...when water started to taste like oil I became truely angry...it took me a few days to deal and cope with that whole ordeal.  I think so things made me sicker than I need to be next go around I have learned some things to do differently, like on my sickest days I will drink Ensure I think that will help alot.  I am going to take Deb's advice and take Zantac right away because I think the Malox made me more constipated than I needed to be.  I need advice on the time the constipation ends and goes to diarrhea...That was really bad for me.  It may have been the stool softener Doclax I took...I drank more water than I ever had in my life, maybe it wasn't enough?

Ann...sound like you really have everything in order to have a first treatment run smooth...wishing you the best.  Today is day 13 for me and I drank a half of a cup of coffee and it tasted wonderful!

(((Vanessa)))  I have cried a lot of tears these past two months and yes I have realized I am more fragile than I thought...but tears are ok, actually they are good for you to release stress.  I read somewhere here about not having to be brave but just having to show up and I tell myself that sometimes and it helps when I am scared.  Sending healing thoughts your way...M

alfranco

Deborahanne. My teeth don't hurt but I did get a sore. Hurts a bit.

JellyK - I am also looking hair down under. My head I pretty much went with a zero. It doesn't mean I won't cry when I start losing it.

Round 2 done. Wishing all no se. God Bless.

Deborahanne

Has anyone here received a free scarf from goodwishesscarves.org  ? I got mine today and it's really nice but the best part was the card that came with it - 12 people who I don't even know wrote little notes to encourage me - IT was WONDERFUL!

AND - my mom who lives far away, went through her scarves and sent me 6 beautiful scarves!

I'm not planning on wearing a wig but instead I'm going to wear the free head scarf with additional scarves tied over it and when not wearing that one I'm going to wear soft caps that I ordered with scarves around them when I go out. I really need some added "height" for my head covering so I got lots of great scarf tying techniques when looking at Israeli Tichels and the fb page Wrapunzel. The style is not for everyone but I think I can pull it off. There are lots of youtube videos on scarf wrapping - I'm actually pretty excited yet a little timid at the same time.

The HAIR LOSS part is hard, lovewins, you are right, it seems everyone will know we are or will think we are sick. I've noticed people responded better to my surgery than they have with the chemotherapy.

alfranco

VanessaJ- don't feel bad. I cry every time I go there. It makes me sad and angry that we have to go thru all this. But we are here. I cry, but I show up for the treatment and do what is needed. Some people may not consider me strong. I am strong, but I am also human.

JellyK

AnnFM good luck tomorrow, it sounds like you're as prepared as you can be - now you just have to show up.  And drink water :-)  Oh and I've been drinking my coffee all the way through - I drink half decaf though so maybe that's why I still can.

Deborahanne, congrats on finding a solution in Zantac, it's amazing when you find something that works, it's like suddenly you have hope.  My upper teeth tend to hurt when my sinuses are acting up - when they're too full or infected.  If you've got a temp AND your teeth hurt you might look into whether you have a sinus infection?

((Vanessa)) Congrats on getting through your first tx!  I'll be interested to hear how Taxol goes for you - I have 12 Taxol tx after I'm done with AC.  Sorry about the chin hair, lol.  If it helps I haven't had to shave under my arms since like day 12 after my 1st infusion...

Thank you lovewins, I'm really surprised how hard the hair thing has turned out to be.  As for the taste thing, I'm with you, it's so frustrating.  At least this time I knew it would come back so that helped.  And I was able to come back to sweets sooner this time too, not sure why.  If you figure out ANYTHING in regards to how to manage your colon, please let me know, that has been beyond what I can handle - it literally puts me over the edge from 'handling things' to 'crazy woman', lol.

Lots of courage and hugs to everyone this week, whether you're heading to treatment or managing those SE's.  You've got this.

millsy1

Hi jellyk. I told the children at preschool today about the cancer. I explained it as our bodies have cells that do good things but sometimes they can do bad things. If they do we need to have special medicine to make them be good again. I told them that my hair was going to fall out and there biggest concern was that my head would get sunburned. It was hard not to cry.

4sewwhat

Good luck and best wishes, prayers and big hugs for those in the trenches today and the rest of the week!

May SEs be few and far between for all!

Miss_Mama_Bear

This hair loss thing is so weird. I was waiting for the down under hair to start to fall out and give me some kind of warning as to when my head hair was going to go, but nooooo. Bastard pubes are rock solid, haven't lost one (sorry to destroy your theory Jelly lol) but I started to lose my hair last night. Probably 5-7 strands per tug. It is so very weird that you can't even feel them letting go. As much as I am anti-looks ... I mean I have been walking around with a mohawk for the last 5 days ... I did cry and get upset. I think, for me, it is the fact that it isn't my choice. I mean, I could shave my head (and I even actually do like the mohawk!!) and be okay with it, but when it is taken away from me it is a different story. That, and I think I have kind of had myself wrapped up in a warm cacccon of denial: this really isn't happening to me. It's weird, even through chemo and everything. This is just one more thing to pop that bubble, I guess. 

Hair loss, weight gain, and my skin is HORRIBLY broke out in not so much pimples but more like little water blisters (but when they're all over your face who cares about technicalities?) and soon to be boob-less! Good thing I'm single!!!  Guys, the line forms to the right! Le sigh. 

batcatlady19

Hey JellyK - I shaved my head this weekend too! Ok, my sweet husband did it. I couldn't reach everywhere, plus I'd have had to do it w/out my glasses & I think that might have been too dangerous, LOL. He was brave & did it all really well. It feels better now, actually, bec. the shedding was super annoying. Now it's just velvety stubble -- my cat loves to rub his face on my head

I wore my wig out to S'bux & the fabric store on Sunday & I think it looked cute. I'm on disability now (whew, got it approved fast), so not going into the office. Mostly wearing a little cap or going 'topless' around the house, depending on the weather. I really feel the tiniest temperature changes w/out hair. My big vanity is that I feel like wearing earrings & a touch of lipstick more often so I look more like a girl -- otherwise, bald me looks too much like a boy, hah.

posnegher2

alfranco - i have been very similar - everything tastes bad - i have had some luck with popscycles - cherry tasted best so far, grape usually my favorite - yuk! banana okay too. I also tried flavor drops for water - citrus flavors tasted real bad - fruit flavors better. Gatorade fruit punch and if too strong of a flavor water it down. It is so hard to keep up the fluids when you feel so sick but it is very important to stay hydrated and also the faster to flush the meds and dead cells out. The pressure of drink drink when your insides are screaming hell no. If you have been unable to take in fluids then I would go in to get fluids by IV  it helps to keep you from getting worse and also to back on track as you will be more accepting of drinking fluids too.

TFPMurphy

Hi all.  I start chemo tomorrow, the 18th.  I have 4 treatments of AC then taxol/herceptin for 12 weeks - and then surgery.  I don't know about radiation.  All of you are so helpful and funny that although I am not "looking forward to tomorrow,"  I am ready for tomorrow.  That helps a great deal.

Thanks 4sewwhat for telling me about this forum.  You are a wealth of information.  JellyK, thanks for the info on the tongue and teeth.  I never even thought about that.  Deborahanne, thanks for the Zantac tip.  I have some and would never have even thought to use it.  AnnFn, it looks like we both start treatment tomorrow, sending prayers out to you.  Vanessa, congrats on getting through your first treatment.

Sending out well wishes and prayers to everyone.

Murphy

4sewwhat

Murphy and Ann--you are both going to blaze through tomorrow!



The taste thing for me got better with each treatment. It was bad the first cycle and all I wanted to eat was baked potatoes! Drinking enough was tough too. Very few things worked, but Gatorade was one of them. I wasn't sick, just nothing tasted right and I just didn't want to drink.



With the next treatments the tase was just dulled, but not off if that makes sense? And I didn't want paked pots anymore, each treatment was something different, but always steak! I am not a huge meat eater so maybe it was about the protein and iron. Potatoes fit the grocery budget much better though! and I still crave the steak!



Also that white tongue can be Thrush (oral yeast infection, yeah!). My GP gave me the liquid you swish and spit. Treatment 2-4 I did it the day after chemo and for 2 more days morning and night just in case so maybe that helped the taste. It is the same anti-fungal that is in the magic mouthwash they give you. I didn't want my lips, mouth and throat numb and I couldn't be loopy from Benadryl and still drive my kids around so I didn't use the mouthwash. It is Benadryl, Maalox, and Lidocaine. Sometimes they add the anti fungal.



Just keep swimming ladies!

JellyK

Millsy, you are so brave.  And you explained it perfectly - that's so sweet that they're worried about sunburns.  This might be a good time to teach them about spreading germs too :-)

Mamastewart you busted my theory lol!!!  And you nailed it, it's that last (??) bubble of denial.  Facing myself in the mirror is different now, I don't get to dodge reality.

Batcatlady what a sweet kitty and husband you have :-)  I've been rocking the big earings too, it seems to make the difference between being a victim and taking control of what I look like.

Posnegher2 thank you for saying out loud how hard it is to stay hydrated!!!  I know I'm getting enough to not be DEhydrated, but that 2 liters of water a day thing...not happening.  I sip on juice, drink milk with every meal, but that's about all my tummy can handle.  The thought of even a tiny bit of plain water makes me gag, lol.  

BabyRuth

The lack of taste thing drives me crazy!  I so enjoy eating good food and  have taste buds that are off is so frurstrating.  One of my favorite things to eat is turkey meatballs with marina sauce.  I put that on anything or as the Texas Pete commercial says" I put that shi$$ on everything" . 

4sewwhat-it looks like you live near me...I am right outside of Atlanta.

Vannessa-I did my first taxol last Thursday so you are just a few days behind me.  How are you feeling today?

Good luck to everyone starting this week.   

Northing is impossible. The word itself says " I'm Possible!"

4sewwhat

Baby Ruth,  I am up near Town Center Mall in Marietta and not too far from the Big Chicken!  We should go for coffee of something!

VintageGal1111

We're doing this at the same time Pam!

BabyRuth

4sewwhat-we are so close it is not even funny.  I work at KSU and live out in Acworth.  Where are you doing your treatments?  I know you have radiation coming up? 

soccermomof4

Hi everyone - I haven't been on for awhile as I had my chemo moved back due to a sore area not healing. But I am to start next tues. now, the 24th.  I'm getting  AC 4X & then Taxol 4X. Very nervous about the whole thing & how I will feel, but trying to not think of it much yet, trying to have a normal week.

Millsy - I am a preschool teacher too. A few of the parents know about it, but I have not announced it. I bought a wig & have been wearing it since the beginning of school so it won't be a big change for them.  How are your families taking it?

      Thanks everyone for sharing as it helps us that are getting ready to start!! Blessings to all, Nicole

AnnFM

mamaStewart, looks are just that , looks. Your really beauty comes from within along with your strength, kind heart and sense of humor. You are in your cocoon stage, you will emerge a beautiful butterfly. The lucky person will see your inner beauty and love you for everything you are inside as well as outside.

My chemo went well. Aloxi and emend, Ativan, steroids. I felt fine, ate soup at Panera. Then went home and put together a pot so chicken soup, cooking now. A bit tired now, sitting and taking a rest. Back tomorrow for neulasta. I did eat ice throughout the adriamycin injection. Center also recommends rinsing mouth 2-5x day with mix of 1/2 tsp salt with 1/2 tsp baking soda in 16oz of water.

Good luck to all having treatment and recovering from treatment.