September 2013 Chemo Group

SpecialK

Ekaterina - I was so swollen that I could not wear any of my shoes and they were shocked that my blood pressure was not through the roof. I had intermittent rash but my swelling and rash were not necessarily connected. My onc did increase my steroids when I had the first rash so that I could keep on schedule with chemo but I am fairly sure that the rash was actually from an antibiotic that was prescribed for a UTI, and then prescribed the diuretic to combat the swelling. I did not have any long-lasting issues that stemmed from the rash or swelling. I would definitely discuss this with your onc and see what she thinks - possibly a steroid increase and short term diuretic since this is your last one. Good luck!

mercedes60

specialk, thanks for the info, you're extremely informed on this subject.

Btw love florida, we vacation in madeira beach sometimes 2 a year, matter of fact last april, my sister and i were looking at some real estate to invest in. Well thats on hold for awhile! Dreaming of watching the dolphins play hopefully next year.

SpecialK

Mercedes - thank you. I am one of those people who is comforted by knowledge, I find the more I understand the less scared I am - and sadly I have gained a lot of firsthand knowledge, through my own treatment and complications, and through the loss of both my dad and brother to stage IV cancer. I also took care of my mom, who had a degenerative muscle disease, for the last 25 years of her life - she had numerous long-term hospitalizations and required at-home 'round the clock nursing care for the last several years she was alive. I had a number of friends who were diagnosed with breast cancer prior to my own diagnosis, and a surprising number of friends who have been since. Prior to my diagnosis I also worked in health care, and my in-laws are all doctors and nurses. I am sure you would love to be in Madeira Beach over the winter! It is not far from where I am.

KBeee

Betterday, Happy Birthday! I hope you start feeling better soon, and that your scan has favorable results this week.

Mercedes 60, I have one more "fill" on my tissue expanders, and then should be able to replace these cantaloupes on my chest for more appropriate sized foobs at the end of December sometime. So I won't be be getting my 2 front teeth for Christmas, I'll be getting 2 of something else for my front!

Mamastewart, I have those lines on my fingers too. When I was little, I called them "old lady fingers" when I got out of the tub. I am hoping the lines go away here eventually. It sounds like you had asuccessful birthday party! Wow! Good for you! That had to have been huge undertaking and a lot of effort to host.

Viji

KBeee, so happy for you.

SpecialK, it is so good of you to impart your knowledge and experience on us, and i agree with you that the more you know the less there is to be afraid of. I have always wanted to know what to expect ahead of any experience. This thread and the very special people who share everything has been invaluable to me.

Somewhere I read someone describe their experience as being hit by a mac truck. Now i understand that expression! Finally able to breathe a little easier. Tomorrow my final TC! Then on to H only for 14 sessions. I am just hoping for a reprieve from all this cancer madness for just a while....

Happy birthdays to those celebrating. A good day to the rest.

SpecialK

viji - yay for the last one!

70charger

Finally was able to eat real solid food, as in an actual meal. Food still tastes like crap. I am feeling better but am finding that I have to REALLY keep hydrated to stay that way. I seem to be de-hydrating during the night & wake up feeling yuky. After drinking a lot & with time over the day I begin to feel better. My itchy rash has also calmed down, thank the big guy upstairs.

Congrats to all that have finished, something, anything. You made it! High Five!!

Ekaterina

KBee so happy for you!!! K

Ekaterina

Thanks so much SpecialK I so appreciate all your experience and advice. I will talk with my ONC tomorrow and let you know.

So glad this will be the last one!!. I have hated chemo and would never had made it through without all you amazing women. Thank you thank you thank you K

simplelife4real

Peacock Girl, Good to know I'm not the only one that goes on these horrible crashes from the steroids. I hadn't thought of asking for Xanax (or anything else) to help with it. I'll see what can be done before I start AC because I think the steroid levels will be higher on that. Those crashes are truly a nightmare.

positivenegative

happy thanksgiving sept sisters.  still here. spirits up.  tumor  marker doubled.  brain mri  clean again...doesn't pick  up chemo brain.   santa i want a clean pet scan for  christmas.

simplelife4real

Postivenegative....here's to a clean PET scan for you for Christmas. I think I will ask Santa for the AC to completely obliterate what's left of my tumor. I'll have two doses of it between now and Christmas. That should do it (IMHO).

Kay

hockeymommy

lhl and peacock- side effects haven't been bad at all this weekend. A little ache here and there but so far so good.

Betterday- happy birthday!!!!! Hope you had a great day!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

audra67

70charger-

Glad you are feeling better, I am too SLOWLY and I agree as the day goes and more liquids go in I feel better too...hard to get it in when feeling awful and the no taste/nausea with drinking doesn't help at all..

Hope you have a good day

70charger

Audra67 Thanks. I have found now that I have to drink lots of water before going to bed in order to feel not too bad in the morning. Of course that means getting up during the night to use washroom, but small price to pay. I'm just glad I found something to work for me. I don't think I could have standed another week of feeling like that.

Anonymous

thank you all for your counsel re: swelling: apples and diuretic it is. V

Miss_Mama_Bear

SpecialK: thank you. I have zero knowledge of anything involving radiation. Guess it is time to start...right after I get caught up on this homework I am constantly behind on!

KBee: In Palmistry (yes I used to study lol) lines on the fingers are called "fatigue lines". the lower sections of my fingers are full of lines so I guess my increased fatigue caused the need for the tips to get lined. I am glad I am not the only one who has them. I want to know why in the world chemo would do that though. Cursed scientific brain; always have to know why about everything.

70shcarger: Taxotere sucks every drop of water out of my body. I have to keep a glass of water by my bed and drink throughout the night and I STILL feel like a raisin.

PositiveNegative: good news on the clean brain MRI! I will be praying for good news for your PET scan too.

Simplelife: That is what I am asking Santa for, too. After 4 treatments my tumor went from 2cm to 0.78cm so it isn't likely that it will get the rest of it in 2 more, but I can hope!

I am thinking I should get my kids' blood levels checked lol. Here it is chemo week again and they are sick...again. This is getting ridiculous. Every single time. I am starting to get it too, I think. I just can't catch a break; I have been sick all through chemo and have had to have antibiotics nearly every round to fight something else off. I guess that is what you get with having three different kids going to three different schools. They have access to every bug in most of the city lol.

Miss_Mama_Bear

Oh! I also wanted to plug the SmartBrow product. I got one and it works really well. I have about 20 eyebrow hairs on each brow. There are more hairs but they are short fine ones like what is on my face. The SmartBrow makes a huge difference and it is waterproof so it doesn't rub off after an hour. They call it semipermanent but I wouldn't call it that since I can wash it off with regular soap in the shower. It takes a bit of practice to get it right and you will likely end up with great big brows the first couple of time lol. As for eyelashes, I haven't lost mine yet but I did use the SmartLash product before all this fun stuff and it made a difference in my eyelashes too. I also used it on my brows to help fill in thin spots and it worked on them too. They didn't all go right back to what they were after I quit using it, either. Luckily I had an auto-refill order and their monthly supply lasted me two months or more so I ended up with quite a surplus of them and I won't have to order any more. Dermstore.com usually has good deals on both these products.

alfranco

70charger-glad you are doing better. 

Getting ready to go to chemo bar. Emotionally always a wreck, but I want to survive this.

mercedes60

hi everyone, still very tired from ac#4 that was almost 3 weeks ago, went to the mall today with my sis thank god she is slso retired shes accompanies me there if i need to go. Tadte is still off.

Question i start my 12 treatments of taxol next week, i was told to use vitamin E drops on my nails as they will probably turn black. Has this happened to any of you and what did you do. My treats are once a week.

For those keeping hydrated try to drink some gatorade also, helps to keep the electrolytes up.

lighthouselady

Mercedes - I had Taxol #3 last week (biweekly). I paint my nails a dark color (blue or purple) the day before chemo and leave it on a few days. Once I remove it I put on a coat of Nutrinail nail strengthener (I put that on under the color too) and leave that until the next time. I haven't had any nail issues other than my one thumbnail turning a little darker than the rest. 

simplelife4real

Alfranco, I hope your chemo went well today.

audra67

Alfranco-

good luck, hope you did well today...I get anxious too...they gave me Ativan before my last and first time...I am going to ask for it again for sure...it helped..

70charger

So it is official, I go to my Rads class Dec 5th & have 1st rad treatment Dec 9th. Movin' on as they say!

KBeee

70charger, glad you are feeling a bit better each day and are moving on to the next chapter.

Alfranco, hoping all went well today. Wishing you comfortable days ahead with minimal side effects.

I am really frustrated. I went in today because i am part of a clinical trial for a vaccine, and I was due for it today. I was feeling feverish and generally crappy, so i was not surprised when the nurse took my temp and it was 100.2. Since I was in the hospital for a neutropenic fever last round, she immediately went to the PA and told her. The PA would not see me or draw counts. She said to call back and come in again if it gets to 100.5. Are you kidding? If they put me on antibiotics last round, I probably could have avoided the hospital. i am hoping Neulasta keeps me out his time, but my temp is higher, sooner than any previous round. I told her it would go up tonight (it always does), and she just told me that it is no problem to go to the ER if that happens. No problem for them! I told her point blank that I was there and not coming back until at least tomorrow. The nurse was all worried, but seriously, if they are not going to take things seriously, then I guess we will all deal with what happens when it goes up (hopefully my counts will be good this time), but I am not playing games over 0.3 degrees. The nurse was very annoyed with the PA, and so am I. My temp is up tonight, predictably, and if it is still up in the morning, I will call them then. The worst is that I have awful pain from both the Taxotere and the Neulasta, and There is nothing I can take for it. Sorry to vent; feeling very frustrated, and wishing there was another oncology group closer than 2 hours away.

SouthernGirl1974

KBee - I hope you feel better soon and boo on your PA really .3 degree and they did not feel compelled to do anything

2nd round of Taxol (dense dose) for me today my blood counts were down so had to get approval from oncologist to get treatment. Also had to get an iron injection along with the regular premeds so I was at the infusion center from 830a-245p I was told now I have anemia so I will juice to get my counts back up. I met with the surgeon last Friday and he could no longer feel the lump so he ordered an ultrasound to make sure AC shrunk it completely and now I meet with the plastic surgeon on 12/24 to discuss reconstruction vs implants as I am having a double mastectomy.

I am also triple negative and my surgeon told me if the tumor has not completely shrunk there is a new med out targeted directly for triple neg but only pts who tumor did not react tho chemo is eligible for it. Unfortunately I dud not ask him the band of the drug because I am praying A/C heir it's job after my 2nd treatment you could barely feel it now surgeon nor oncologist both are not able to feel it. I do have one pos node under left arm so I will have to have rads after surgery.

Also had neulasta injections with the 4rounds of AC minimal pain but did not have injection after 1st a Taxol now mo ordered a neupogen injection tomorrow since my numbers were down

Praying for all of us daily

positivenegative

mercedess...vitamin b12 3xs/day helped with  fingers and toes too.

positivenegative

lociti i get neulasts shot after every infusion.  keeps wbc and platlet counts up.  have a groovy day

Srmill

I had my first bi-weekly taxol today. Benadryl made me sleep through most of my treatment. But felt better by the time i left. It was a long 6 hours. They said the rest would only take about 3 hrs. Normally after A/C I crash on the couch for the rest of the day but I have been cleaning and able to fix dinner for my babies. So far all is good. Go tomorrow for my neulasta shot, dread the effects from that. Hope it will hold off til Friday like the last couple of times. I would really like to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and can enjoy all the good food.

alfranco

Audra,Simplelife, Kbee thank you ladies. So far so good. Hopefully my side effects are not to bad. Go for nulasta tomorrow.

KBEE I hope you don't have to go to the er. They should have just seen you there. So wrong.