Starting Chemo March 2015

DavisD

Wow you guys are terrific! Thanks so much for validating what I've been feeling, this crushing fatigue. I still am wiped out but I don't feel so alone anymore. I might be able to take off some more time but I tend to start getting depressed when I'm home alone and not being "useful" so I'm going to try to make it. I can always go to plan b, right?

Tomorrow I meet with the RO to see what the recommendation will be. I'm hoping no rads but I'll do as I'm told on this one. Don't want too ever  regret not doing everything I can.

 

 

DavisD

Thanks for looking out for us Theresa and Ninjamary! Despicable...

Italychick

Diana, we are all with you. I have been taking naps whenever I can, and I haven't napped in 5 years. Hang in there, we are almost done with the chemo part!

We all need to have a big party at some destination resort when this crap is over, I swear.

ninjamary

BB - yes I take the false eyelashes off when I get home. I do/did wear contacts, pre-breast cancer, but now I just wear glasses. I always felt that eyelashes kept a lot of the dirt out of my eyes and with them dissapearing that wearing contacts wouldn't be advisable.

I also feel my eyesight has become worse but who knows. I think I feel phantom things anymore. I was laying down in bed and I swore I felt a lump in my left breast, but the "lump" was on the same spot on my right breast. Yes, it was a bone.

ninjamary

Diane and Italy, I was just emailing my husband about what a slug I feel like anymore. I just lay around and do nothing. He was so cool about it. I so want to be the old "mary". Always on the move, rarely sitting down before 8pm. I thought with Taxol that was all possible. It's not. Sure I feel better than I did on AC, but obviously not with my WBC score. My body is telling me to take it easy and rest.

molly1976

I'm positive my eyesight is worse, especially close up. I'm trying to give it time to see if it gets better again once this stuff is truly out of my system.

SpecialK

Reduced WBC is less likely to cause fatigue - that is more likely a function of reduced RBC/hemoglobin.  Try to eat protein rich foods - particularly if you are recently done with chemo in an effort to build your RBC and hemoglobin back up.  I ate a lot of steak, burgers, leafy greens, fortified cereal, eggs, etc.  It will take quite a while for the lab values to rebuild - mine did not normalize for about six months.  In the short term, rest, eat well, try to exercise, and try to be patient - I know you all want to feel good NOW!

Trvler

Sizzle, so interesting that you posted that. I have been feeling lightheaded today and I was noticing it a lot when doing Jazzercise today. I KNOW it's my blood pressure which is normally on the low side anyway. I noticed it was low last time I went in. I don't take any meds for it. I am trying to drink a lot today to increase my blood volume. I struggle with the fluid thing anyway.

Trvler

I went to a stress reduction class at the Cancer Wellness Center today. It was awesome. It is almost like a hypnosis thing. It was visualizing healing energy which I have been admittedly somewhat skeptical about. But I really liked it.

wpmoon

home from final chemo!

Jackbirdie

Yay Whitney!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Enjoy this moment.

Bells are ringing for you here.

🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🔔🔔🔔🎈🎈🎈🎈🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔

slothabouttown

Final chemo congrats WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

ThePrincess

Whitney! CONGRATULATIONS!!

SC_Coqui

WPMoon, congrats on your final chemo!

I've got a month and a half of taxol to go I was telling a co-worker that though the taxol doesn't lay me flat on my ass like the AC, the side effects are more annoying. I've got blisters all over my fingers, like you would get from a burn, my nose is always itchy and runny (with some blood), I'm super gassy and my bowels aren't quite right. Plus my legs are always tired and I've been steadily gaining a pound a week!

I've changed my eating habits and I want to start going to the gym though I worry how much I can do. They have yoga and zumba classes at a time I can take, I'm guessing it would be OK to start? I've always been thin and have started having major body image issues the past two weeks.

slothabouttown

I am five weeks PFC, but you wouldn't know it from my lack of hair. My last round was the most fatigue producing of all of them even though I was excited to have that part of the sandwich in the bag. I have worked full time through chemo and now radiation but during chemo I would hit the recliner as soon as I got in the door at the end of the day and asleep by 9 every night. Finally.... Just this weekend I felt almost (almost) normal. I cut the grass all in one go instead of a few laps each day, did all my laundry, shopping, some misc. chores then out to dinner with friends. During chemo I had to prioritize my chores and activities because I couldn't do it all in one day or weekend. It feels great to be heading back to normal and I think it's a subtle progression. My body still feels weak, like I have trouble opening a jar lid or digging a hole in the garden but 4 weeks ago I was in much worse shape! I've also noticed I'm sleeping through the night occasionally, I think waking up every three hours may have been a side effect of chemo ( I thought it was stress.) The point of my post is that it takes a while to feel better but it does come and it does feel good to get pieces of normal back over time! Of course there's still the worries of recurrence, I have that too almost constantly. I think ill try to find some support group....sounds like those of you who've been to one have found them really helpful.

Jackbirdie

Sloth- thank you so much for that update from the front, oh wait. I'm at the front still, aren't I?

Anyway, I'm grateful to know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, even though I can't see it yet

wpmoon

SC, I've had a lot of body image issues with this too. Ive gained about 20 pounds, and I tried to keep exercising but I just couldn't find the energy. Or the few times I did go back to the gym I was angry because how badly I regressed. Just do what you can. Start slow. Listen to your body. Progress, not perfection! I just finally decided to stop putting extra stress and worry on my self during this already difficult time. But once my energy increases I plan on getting back in the saddle again. Before my diagnosis, I was about to start prep for a figure competition. Clearly that didn't happen, but it's a goal to look forward to for me next year.

Italychick

Ladies, exercise didn't stop me from putting on 15 pounds either, and some weeks I burned 4500 calories or more doing exercise. Like the ride I just did was 950 calories, 1600 feet of climbing, and it won't make a dent In this weight I have gained. I think in part we have to trust that some of it is related to the treatment, steroids, etc. so don't beat yourselves up about the exercise.

MO's office and said no steroid for carboplatin and herceptin infusion this week, so that is one positive because they make me manic, swell, and then drop me on the floor like I went on a 3 day drunk and then got the flu on top of it.

Sloth, some of the fatigue could be radiation related too. I have seen women on forums post that it is kind of like getting a mild dose of radiation sickness.

Whitney, woohoo, done with the evil chemo! Now you just have to heal, and hopefully in about a week you will cast off some of the side effects of this last chemo. I heard it takes awhile after six rounds, because six rounds are pretty brutal.

Happy evening to all!

pboi

Congrats Whitney on your final chemo!

Sloth, thank you so much for your post. It helps me so much to see what's ahead, and that I am going to feel better after chemo, it's been such a long road so far. Especially about the sleep, I wake up a lot during the night...so there is hope I will sleep through the night again!!!

PB

ksusan

I drop about 4 pounds after chemo/steroid, then put on 8 the next week, then go back down 4.

shaz101

hello. Just checking in!migraines are keeping me off of the Internet.

My last chemo is going in now!

I've put on 10kg now. I saw a dietician and she told me that I need to up my protein. Ive done that for the last 1.5 weeks and my weight has stablised and I've had more energy.

My eyesight is poor too but they told me it will return to how it was once the chemo is done.

Thinking of you all.

Congratulations Whitney 🎉🎊🎁🎂

shaz101

ksusan

Congrats, Whitney! Sharon, looking good!

greenae

Yay, Whitney!!

Congratulations, you'll be feeling better, soon!

Love, arlene

slothabouttown

sharon it's so good to see your smile and knowing it's your last time in that chair feels like a victory for the whole group. You put the stake in the ground and started this March team and you've certainly had all of us cheering for you from the other side of the globe through all the pain you suffered with the migraines. And always when we get the very tip or our worries for you, you'd pop in with an update, letting us know you'd been through rough days, but always ready with a smile for the next one. Thanks for being our founder and my inspiration through these long and scary six months. Ring that bell!

Italychick

Sharon, congratulations on last round today! Hoping for minimal side effects.

As you have told all of us, you got this! I hope one day we all get to meet, and laugh and cry together!

Oh, and fuck cancer! It can't take away the core of us.

SizzleStitch

Tryler, I also I ate something salty and that would help bring up my blood pressure. I have one of those cuff monitors and checked mine often during the time I had the problem.

Lovlilynne, if forgot to thank you for trying to help me with being able to remember what was said on previous pages by opening another window. I use my iPad mini or my iPhone and it is really hard to go back and forth in Safari. I do sometimes try to open the page on my iPhone while writing on my iPad :-/

I lost a lot of weigh during chemo. It scared me at first especially after reading here that everyone else seemed to have the opposite problem. I then realized it was because I couldn't eat any carbs most of the time. The steroids especially made my blood sugar go very high. I am type 2 diabetic. I am now eating some carbs as I used to and have put on 6 pounds! Eating all that protein might also have helped me since I had minimal other side effects.

Sharon, congrates on your last Chemo. I too, wish you very minimal SE.

Whitney, I congratulated you on our FB page but wanted to here also...yahoo!!

..

Trvler

Sharon and Whitney!! Congratulations, Ladies. Praying that both of you feel better FAST!

Joanna: I would do yoga or if you can find one, Jazzercise over Zumba. I am guessing you have done it before? It is an intense hour of cardio which might be really hard. Jazz is only 1/2 hour usually and the other part is weights and stretching. I have worked out the whole time and I don't even know if I could do Zumba now.

I am losing my lower lashes now. I am kind of mad because I met this woman at Jazzercise the other day who told me she had been through treatment and she knew of a Lancome product that saved her (and many others) lashes and brows. It's too late for my lashes I think but my brows could be saved and I gave her my number because both of us had to leave in a hurry and she hasn't contacted me so I guess I will lose my brows unless I can figure out the product myself.

SC_Coqui

They have Yoga 2X a week and Zumba 2X a week. I've never done Yoga, but have done Zumba and spin. I wish they offered a spin class because with that you can go as hard or as easy as you want, Zumba can kick your butt. I'll have to take with the instructor and let them know that I'll be standing in the back and doing what I can. I have no clue about Yoga and what will be done in class other than the little bit I did when I used the Yoga Booty Ballet DVDs about 7 years ago! Maybe I should dust those off!

ninjamary

Congratulations Sharon and Whitney. So happy for both of you!