Starting Chemo in December 2013

J4DC

Jodi and jbokland, love the video! Jodi, congrats of being done with chemo!!

Djj and robin, happy to hear the surgery went well for you, wish you both speedy recovery. 

Catching up and glad to see everybody is making progress. Lisa, I was laughing at your kiwi comment. My head does feel like a kiwi, especially at the back. Not much hair on the top and my brows are almost non exist. At least I am getting better at drawing with powder and pencil. Hope they come back......quickly! Took a short post chemo trip with dh, got a short wig for summer, so far happy about it. I am having diagnostic mammogram next Monday, starting radiation next Tuesday and port removal on wed. Hopefully don't pushing too  much. Just want it done and I am tired of going to appointments all the time. Have a nice weekend!

keepthefaith

Thinking of you ladies. I am happy for those of you who are finishing up and moving on to the next step. Hang in there. You'll get through it! 

Have a great week-end~

RHGSR

jbokland- I loved your video so much I had to make one myself. That app is so cool. I copied the link so I hope it works

New link

You've got a Flipagram: http://fgr.am/f/ADTxtyFisr

J4DC

beautiful family, holli! Thanks for sharing!

kjfromca

Love the videos ladies - Jodi, you got some moves girl.... jbokland & Holli - your videos were moving.

DJJ - Glad to hear that your cleared for rads.  

Kim

RHGSR

here is a slower version. I deleted the first one so the previous link won't work anymore... Here is the new one

You've got a Flipagram: http://fgr.am/f/ADTxtyFisr

Crazywabbit

Holli and jbokland  great slide shows. 

Jodi just watched your dance video amazed that you had enough energy after AC to do that. Must above been the steroid high. 

Woke up this morning to very achy legs? A 3 Advil morning.  I must get out this afternoon and walk some more to get the habit going. Just going to do 1.5 to 2 miles today, hopefully. 

Barbara

kjfromca

Barbara - I forgot to post last night that I think that it is great that you participated in the Relay for Life event.  That must of taken a lot of courage to walk topless.  I like your pic.   Keep up the walking.  I used to be pretty much in tears just walking a mile.  Then my legs hurt so much after walking.  Now I can walk 3 miles or more and just get a little sore.  My legs are much better, I am 9 weeks PFC.  How are rads going?

Kim

Crazywabbit

Kim

Have not started yet. Went for mapping ct scan and tats last Thurs but do not start until 5/30 (dry run 5/29) 

He wanted extra time for planning since he is doing IMRT.  Are you done with it yet?

Still planning on wearing my wigs and scarves most of the time I am out. At relay most have gone thought cancer or have loved ones who did, so I felt secure doing  it.  I have taken to driving around with my scarf off  but put it on when I get pt the store etc.  

just realized yesterday that my 3 remaining eyebrow hairs are gone. So sad. 

Barbara

RobinLK

Loving all the news and vids! 

DJJ - awesome results!!

Burned myself out visiting so hard....lol...need to pace myself a little better! Like taking my naps and going to bed at a decent time. Oh....and remembering I just had surgery. You would think I was just starting out...rofl....

kimie06

Macintx -  the taxol I did find was a little accumulative... I had alot of aches and pains with it.

Sounds like pretty good news all around from everyone and their latest posts. 

I am still in Toronto... Getting familiar with my surroundings.. Going from a city of 50,000 to almost 3 million is a significant change... Hehe 

Is anyone else experiencing after Chemo pain  I have pain getting up first thing in the morning... And if I sit for a long time and get up... And I have been doing a lot of walking in this big city... So my legs are super sore... I seriously feel like I'm 110 years old...  anyone else experiencing this.... Joint pain too 

Hugs

Jodi040812

kimie- after taxol I complained of my sore legs a lot!  Not having much aches finishing AC.  Sometimes my ribs hurt.  Well the muscle not ribs.  TE are so large they cause some ache in the mornings from sleeping in strange positions.  They are getting reduced next week for rads and I can not wait;). 

I am going to try to walk some this week.  Might help my thought process.  So much going on!  Dad is back In hospital with issues that seem to be building.  It seems like a domino effect lately with him.  Long term still not here and they have not sent it:(. Stress is not good I know but what do you do when you can't help it.  I might be dramatic but everytime my phone beeps I am scared it is more bad news about my dad.  Praying I am overacting and not preparing myself.  My mom doesn't sound really worried but she could be in denial.  This is like 6 hospital stays since I got dx. They were going to watch the girls a week this summer and keep our dog.  Making other arrangements now and we leave in 2 weeks.  Breathe.  Just want him to be ok- the rest I can deal with.

missy6758703

Just catching up on all the posts.....I loved the videos!! and the good news all around! I am still waiting to start radiation, thought I would have got a start date by now but haven't.  It's been 10 days since I was mapped and scanned so maybe tomorrow I will hear.  I have spent the weekend trying to get things ready for my daughters open house for graduation.....finding i need to pace myself because everything I do tends to exhaust me!  

Kimie, mornings for me rolling out of bed are the worst.  I also feel about 110 years old heading for the bathroom all stooped over! I try and do some stretching just to get the kinks out.  My legs are always sore and also my lower back area.  

If anybody is looking for some good reading material, I have a series of books to recommend to you.  The author is Richard Paul Evans and the series of books are called The Walk.  There are 5 books in all and the 5th one just came out.  He has released one book a year for the last 5 years and they are SO GOOD!  They are easy reads, somewhat of a spiritual nature and an awesome story.  I have yet to read book 5 but my fiance said to get the kleenex out because I will need them before the book is over.  

My daughter just came in and was rubbing my head.....i feel like a dog getting its belly rubbed and just can't get enough when somebody rubs the soft hair on my head! She was looking at it and says...."its really not all gray mom, i think i see a little bit of blonde in it......oh wait, i think that is just white....sorry"  Oh well! as long as it keeps growing as fast as it is i'll be fine with whatever color it comes in! 

Happy Sunday to all! 

Michelle

J4DC

Barbara, so nice of you doing relay for life, love your pictures too. I still could 't do topless in the public, just around the house and in the car. 

Jodie, I am sorry that you have to worry about your dad's health on top of your own treatment. Sending positive thoughts your way.

Kimie, I am so related to your feeling like a 110 years old woman comment. Every morning after I wake up, my feel hurt so much, I was limping around. It also gets worse if i sit too long. Then it gets a little better after I started moving. Weird, I guess it's a sign to remind me keep walking. :-)

jbokland

Jodi-

I am right there with you on SE.  These TE feel so tender in the morning and generally wake me a few times a night.  Weird...I have the sensation of an itch on them, and cannot feel anything to itch!

Also, I have the leg and rib area aches....nothing unmanageable, but sometimes it wakes me too.

I cannot WAIT to sleep solid through the night.

Best wishes for your Dad.  The stress it not good for us, but it also reminds us there are things out there besides us.  Perspective.

FUNNY- I was at a BC fundraiser and they wanted me to wear a different Tshirt.  There was no place to change in the public park, so I stood behind a large electrical box (that came up to my shoulders) opened  the panel door and pulled my shirt off (of course, no bra).  2 cops walk up to ask what I am doing...I yelled "you got nothing on me...I've got no nipples!!".   They cracked up.  me too!

oranje_mama

I love all the pix and videos! 

Count me in as another 110-year-old . . . I have started walking more, and I can say it does help, really.  It seems counterintuitive but I feel like more walking = less sore in the long run.  I got a fitbit last week and am loving it.  Definitely inspiring me to walk more.  Also started back on the diet that I quit in December, and have lost 3 lbs.  (Unfortunately, that's still 9 lbs above where I was in December when I quit the diet . . . but hey, progress is progress.).

I spent a good portion of yesterday gardening - put in tomatoes, basil, planted some sunflowers and foxglove.  And weeding, weeding, weeding.  I am paying for it today.  C'mon 43-yr-old body, act your age!!  Not 110!

missy6758703

Is there anybody that has started radiation that is doing the IMRT (Intensity modulated radiation therapy) ? This is what my RO is recommending for me.  I just don't know if it's normal or what.....From what read or googled, its common for those with left sided breast cancer which i have, but i just get concerned its different from what everybody else is getting....

It sounds like I go in Wednesday for my first one....yikes, all of a sudden nervous for this!!

Michelle

Crazywabbit

missy.,

I am left sided and positive LNs. My RO is planning IMRT to lessen the heart exposure. I am also getting internal mamm LN radiated 

chicopeach57

I started rads this afternoon, asked my RO about boosts. She said the breast needs to be just right for that. I got the sense that mine were too old, saggy and big for it. Oh well, 29 more to go.

Have seen the lymphedema specialist twice. She compression wrapped the hand and arm, I go back in the morning and she will remove it and measure again. Then I order a sleeve and gauntlet . My arm looks like a mummy's now. Will see her at least one more time after that.

See the MO on Friday, then MRI to check on the cyst on my vertebrae.

DJJ

I guess I'm lucky.  I only feel like I'm 95 years old

I get my mapping on Wednesday.  I'm hoping they have an opening to start radiation Thursday.  Probably asking for to much.  My RO didn't talk to me about IMRT but did talk to me about gaiting because I'm a lefty as well. 

Jodi040812

sending good vibes to all of y'all doing rads!  I have 2 weeks until mapping.  Hoping everyone has energy and little SE's!!

keepthefaith

chico, I don't think the old,  saggy, big breasts  have anything to do with it, but could be wrong!! I feel like they are the perfect description of my girls and I got boosts!:)  My tumor was close to chest wall and not a huge clear margin...actually very small. Right side. That may be a factor. I know the size of tissue they are treating has something to do with the number of full TX's and the probability of having hot spots. I had no hot spots, but took the longer protocol. Good luck with your MRI.

michelle, I am doing IMRT. I  have read that is a good state of the art rads treatment and felt like I should be lucky to be getting it. When first DX'd, I asked my RO what facility I would be treated and he said it depends on what type of treatment I need. I trust that I got the best possible TX. I had redness at about week 4-5, then tenderness, nipple sensitivity, some red bumps on chest and after full TX stopped, in less than one week, I could tell I was healing. I am  less than a week out and I feel great. Never had any fatigue. My skin is light tan and my boost area is a bit red. I hope you do well! Try not to fret. It seemed more trouble working around the drive to and from, than the actual TX. 

I remember the old lady syndrome.....but I told my DD I felt like I was 80...then wondered if that would be right, bc my Mom is 80 and she was doing better than I felt like I was on a few of those days! Hang in there, it will work itself out, but seems like it takes longer than it should. 

You ladies are awesome!

missy6758703

crazywabbit, i am happy to hear you are getting the same thing as i am! He did say this was best to eliminate heart exposure, but i had just never heard of it! I'm thankful after the research that I have done on it that our cancer center has the machine that does it.  I don't know what the nodes are that are in the breast bone area between the breasts, but he wants to target those as well as the ones under the arm and left side area.  I always wonder how many we actually have, cripe sakes....they removed 30 of them, how many more could be left over there??? Guess a lot more than i probably realize.  

Yesterday was an exhausting day....still getting ready for daughters graduation open house, we were outside planting flowers in planters, hooked up the hose and we were just watering away......I went inside to go to the bathroom and thought....boy, the hose running sure is loud in the house....then it dawned on me, that water sound was not the hose but actual water running somewhere INSIDE the house.  I ran downstairs and water was shooting from a pipe that my outside hose was attached to.  My basement was officially filled in my storage room with over a 1/2 inch of water.  I ran back upstairs and had Kelli shut the water off, then the cleanup began.  I was exhausted the way it was, and then to have to move all the totes full of crap to another area and then sweep all the damn water to the drain which was thankfully in that room.....I just wanted to cry.  If its not one thing its a million more.  Life can never just be easy.  

Good night friends.....sleep well.

Michelle

Oh.....P.S.....for those of you that have started on Tomixifen, have you found yourself gaining any weight???? OMG.......I hate this! not eating any more than usual, but have gained like 7 pounds!!!

jackieak

Missy, I've been on Tamoxifen for a week now, I have had a few hot flashes, refuse to gain more weight, after AC I weighed the same, Taxol not so kind to me, put on 20 pdsl.  I am over two weeks out from last chemo, down 5 pds, I think allot of fluid, because I don't look like a blowfish, just blimp body.  I take some blame for weight gain but not all...been eating around 1200 calories a day, low carbs and walking 5 times a week, so I'm in for this next fight!  My BS said It's a myth tamoxifen makes you gain, she said chemo put me in menopause first if I wasn't already.  Battle of the bulge for me now.

kjfromca

Jackie - I have been very successful with weight loss going mainly vegan with healthy fats, olive oil, nuts, chicken, etc.  My internal med doc has a list of reading materials and cookbooks for cancer patients.  "The Pink Ribbon Diet" is on her reading list.  Starting reading it today and made one of the recipes in the back.... tasted pretty good.  Glad to hear that you are doing well on Tamoxifen.  

Had my blood work done and my estrogen is at post menopausal level.  I meet with the MO the first week of June to go on Tamoxifen.  I am wondering how far into menopause they change us from Tamoxifen to the other drugs.  Any of you ladies know any info about this.

Michelle - Sorry about the flood in your basement.  Graduation is such a crazy time.   I had 28 tx of rads.  I got pretty pink and some red peeling patches under my arm and around my chest area where I used to get sunburned.  This happened at the end of tx.  It looks worse than it feels.  Rads is nothing like chemo, have no fear.

Kim

jackieak

Kim 

The book looks good, I downloaded the sample and will buy it, looks like good advice on eating healthy and specific to BC.  Thanks

keepthefaith

Kim, Regarding your question on menopause/estrogen. My MO said she wouldn't ck my estrogen level regardless. I guess due to the fact that I am post-meno, she is not going to prescribe Tamoxifen, unless I can't tolerate others.  I guess the other drugs seem to be more effective for post-meno patients. I will see her this week to get mine started. She mentioned Armidex, but I have osteoporosis, so I guess I may get another bone density test done next yr. to see what it's doing to my bones. It feels like a catch 22! She also told me to take Vit D and Calcium, so I am going to ask her to ck my Vit D levels before I start to make sure my body is absorbing it okay. I am not looking forward to any more drugs, but hopefully, I will be luck and not have SE's....

RobinLK

I had a vitamin D deficiency before cancer was known. Tried different brands and at different times of day, with meals, without meals....all to try and curb the nausea I had with taking it. Nothing worked with pill/capsule form. I am know taking liquid vitamin d 5000 mg and there is no nausea. I have only found it sold this way at GNC. Calcium was added when I started chemo. 

My hormone levels have not been checked. MO will not be checking them. BS wanted to know if they had been checked before tamoxifen and asked how we know I am pre-meno...I directed  back to the petscans and vag US x2....polycystic and then no cysts, follicles, now a cyst again. They (ovaries) are still active...

kjfromca

Hi ladies - I posted a question over on the Tamoxifen board.  A lot of the ladies are having periods on the tamoxifen.  I was having periods like clock work every month prior to chemo.  Maybe this is chemopause.  I really don't want those periods back.....I see the MO the first week in June.  Keepthefaith - When will you start taking your estrogen blocker drugs?  

Robin & Keepthefaith - My vitamin A & D levels are too low, I was told to drink a tablespoon of cod liver oil, Carlson's liquid cod liver oil, every day.  I was taking D3 in vita form, but guess I wasn't absorbing it either.  I will ask how much calcium I should be taking

jackie - I have a library of books I need to read.  I am finding "The Pink Ribbon Diet" interesting.  Nothing is easy for us.... I am getting tired of people trying to shove food in my face and having to explain why I am not eating this, or that.  It has become very irritating.  

Kim

missy6758703

When I was at the Mayo Clinic for my follow up after surgery I had to go to the lab to have my hormone levels checked.  I found it interesting that i was still pre-menopausal even though I had had a complete hysterectomy when i was 35 minus one ovary that they left.  I just figured I would be more post menopausal because of that.  I started the Tamoxifen a couple of weeks ago, so far no side effects minus the thought that it may be contributing to my weight gain but i think that is just that i am eating more normally again.  I had dropped a fast 17 pounds in February when i had my butt surgery, couldn't eat for almost a week.....i guess i found what i dropped!!