Starting Chemo March 2015

Italychick

Katy, 1-2 mg of k2, mk4 form.

Leigh, how are your electrolyte levels? Chemo severely depletes magnesium and potassium, so get those checked if possible. No surprise I would say magnesium, it is a wonder mineral. My potassium was really low from chemo, and it aids with reducing swelling. I second what Kbeee says. I went to my primary doctor for most things outside of chemo drugs.

Pboi, I take my magnesium early evening because sometimes it can stimulate the poop shoot, if you know what I mean. But I take a lot of it, maybe 3-4 times what the bottle says to take. Most times it is right, but occasionally it will cause a short term poop dump, like an hour or two.

And here I am back to talking about poop lol.

eheinrich

Searching for fuckty fuck mug yielded this:

https://wanelo.com/p/9635035/fucking-fuck-fuck-fuc...

and

https://society6.com/product/5-scb_mug#27=199

Jackbirdie

E- thx!Success with the second link! I'm getting one! You ?

T- thank you. I've done some research this morning and found out a lot. Your advice confirms and the K is on its way!

I will not. I WILL NOT give up a kitchen cabinet to supplements.

Trvler

I am with you on that one, Katy. I keep thinking about my neighbor who had BC. She takes something like 23 supplements. Dare I say I would rather be dead? She also refused rads and Tamoxifen.

But I do take 2000 IU of D3 a day now.

DavisD

Hello March ladies! Even though I was in a tremendous amount of pain, I left for the beach with some friends last Friday and just got back yesterday. Sometimes I have to make myself just push through physically, and it got me out of rads for 5 days! Gave me a chance to heal some. The skin peeled and now is bright pink and sore but not as bad. I had a boost today and one more tomorrow and then I never want to go through those doors again.

I started reading from posts on the 10th and figured if I waited until I caught up, I'd never post. You all are such an inspiration to me. I've been circling the drain some days but I'm really trying to be positive. This pain won't be forever!

Hugs to all!

Jackbirdie

🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋 Diane! Good to see you!

Trvler

Hi Diane,

I am sorry you are having so much pain. I am glad you got to spend time with your friends.

DavisD

Allison and Katy-Thanks. I missed you guys and it touches me that you bother to respond when I'm so erratic in my posts.

Italychick

Diane, glad to hear from you!

Katy and Allison, for some of us, supplements are all the after treatments we have available with negative receptors. So I only have supplements and Herceptin which is why I research them so much. No Tamoxifen or AIs or anything available to me. I don't have ten years of protective drugs available.

Katy, on the issue of d levels, the nurse practitioner freaked out when I got mine high. Then I talked to MO who was happy with my levels, said studies have been done up to 150 and they have been unable to determine any adverse effects, even at that high of a level. I'm just trying to stay between 70-100 which is what I think is optimal with breast cancer. But everybody is different in their approaches

Jackbirdie

T- please do not misunderstand me. I ask for your input because I value your opinion and the research you and your husband have done. I was joking about not devoting a kitchen cabinet. Mostly because I need room for the cookies that you so wisely refrain from.

I have never for one minute forgotten that you (and others here) are TN and have more risk with less available ammunition. You are too good a friend and have set too EFFECTIVE an example (your health and fitness during chemo) to ever challenge either what you do or what you so tactfully and gently suggest to others.

You are a class act, smart, and put your ass in a bicycle seat instead of opening your mouth most of the time. I bow in forgiveness for my insensitive glibness.

Meme117

How much Vit D should we take? I have one shelf in a kitchen cabinet but I'll do whatever it takes. Why do some people keep their supplements in the fridge?

Katy I love the mug! Can't get one still have a kid at home. Tutti looks so comfy.

Leigh the answer you received is ridiculous. I agree you should call back or call your primary doc. What causes the swelling?

Sorry E about your pain and hope it won't get worse. Are you looking for another job?

Hi Diane! What nice friends to take you to the beach for a mini vaca, I'm jealous. Virginia beach?

Italychick

Katy, it's fine. I threw my sensitive chip in the garbage. I just see so many people suffering from side effects and I don't know if I have been lucky or what, but I don't feel like I even had surgery or chemo right now. I have so little scarring even I can't believe it. My MO asks me every time who did my surgery because she says I have the best cosmetic outcome she has ever seen. Life feels normal for me, I guess until my first scan haha! Which is October 2nd, eek! So occasionally I try to reach out with more natural alternatives, because I see so many women posting about frustrations created by having to take drugs for side effects from other drugs for side effects. Having said that I would never only do supplements and not surgery, chemo, etc. everything has its place.

I would probably be lazy about supplements, but I have a research king here who does most of it for me. We do argue, and occasionally he wants me to do something (like coffee enemas for liver detox) and I tell him no way am I doing that! I try to be cautious with what I suggest, and most of my suggestions are things my MO tests me for, like the vitamin d level, so if she tests me for something, I pay attention. It was the first blood test she ordered for me.

Anyway, all is good! Love you!

Trvler

Theresa: Don't get me wrong. I respect your efforts. I am lazy which is why I don't want to take them all. I guess I am a little freaked about some of them. I was sure taking Glutamine was right because everyone said to do it and then lo and behold, I was told it causes cancer to grow. I guess I am scared of making a mistake.

eheinrich

Maryellen: I am still job searching. I'm trying though to decide what really makes me happy. I'm exploring different options. Not sure I want to go back to a cancer job...or a lab job. Been doing a lot of thinking.

Hang in there Diane.

Italychick

Allison, totally agree. I never took l-glutamine, I researched it and said no way.

Italychick

Eileen, I can't remember what your degree is in, but I work in intellectual property (patents, trademarks, etc.) and have for 28 years and love it! I just thought I'd mention that field because of your recent work on a litigation case. People with the right technical degree can become a patent agent and write patent applications, and that is a good job within biotech/pharmaceutical companies. Law firms also hire people they call something like technical advisors or technical analysts who do a lot of the preliminary document drafting, which then gets finalized by a patent agent or patent attorney. For me, patent and trademark work has been very intellectually stimulating because I am constantly exposed to the inventor mind and get to see the creative process first hand. And have been involved in patent work for some very hilarious things, which I won't mention.

However, I told my husband if I ever need a second job I'm going to work at a grocery store for the discount lol. When my step daughter worked at one we got a 20% discount on all our groceries.

Jackbirdie

Hey T- did anyone ever try to patent an anal waxing device? You know, one that won't burn in the hot tub

eheinrich

Theresa: the part time thing I currently do (very sporadic) is for a company that law firms hire to help do scientific literature and patent research to support or help invalidate patents being disputed. I'm a "life sciences analyst". My husband is an intellectual property litigator.

I just need to figure so much stuff out - which is ok. Moving forward.

IndyGal35

Glad to hear from you, Diane. Sorry rads haven't been kind. I'm glad you are close to being done!

Happy to see our Tutti doing so well!

Eileen, I'm sorry you're so miserable. I'm still struggling with my TE after over 2 months if it makes you feel any better. (It's not normal, but at least you're not alone!) They're sending me to a pain specialist, but I feel like that's just a bandaid for a bigger problem that needs to be addressed. It also makes me feel like a wimp. I have 14 rads left, then I see the PS. There's no way I can wait until April for the permaboobs swap. He can either swap me soonor take these TE's TFO.

Jackbirdie

This: For E, Lee, Diane, and the rest getting closer to......

eheinrich

Thanks Lee. I hope it's worth it in the end and I get relatively normal looking.

Love that song Katy

IndyGal35

I love that song!!! That has been part of my life's soundtrack for many years now!

littleblueflowers

Thanks for the song Katy....I was just lurking, but it really resonated tonight...

shaz101

Diane, so good to hear from you. I'm glad you had a break. I was thinking about you today. I was going on email you.

I've survived week one at work. YAY I can feel that the end of the crap is coming.

ThePrincess

Theresa - if you are sending out your supplement list, I'd love to have a copy.

I'm still waiting on my stomach to settle so I can go back on my metformin

I ran today, and I was SO THANKFUL for you ladies that posted about exercising during chemo - I am so glad I kept up running and light weights as I know that if I was starting over from a 5 month break I probably wouldn't even bother. So thank you for helping me have kept in some shape (though that shape is wider today than it was, as proven by my jeans that do not close anymore, oops)

Leighrh

Thank you ladies for reassuring me that that nurse is a moron! LOL I have an appointment next week with MO and if this is still going on I will demand a diuretic. Today it's not so much my legs/feet and it is my hands. My fingers are tight and it hurts to bend. Along with these lovely nails it makes for quite a sight! Chemo -- the gift that keeps on giving!

WAIT.. WHAT about L- Glutamine causing cancer to grow???? SHIT... I just took some this morning! In addition to this lovely swell problem I am having some serious muscle soreness. I am working out so a lot of it can be attributed to that but its a different kind of sore. Like when I stretch or flex my leg muscles when I come back to a normal position the muscle seriously hurts for a min or so after. Hard to explain but it's just not a normal thing for me.

Katy .. that is one of my all time favorite songs!! Brings back memories of singing it at the top of my lungs in the car with all the windows rolled down with girlfriends in high school! We went through a serious Indigo Girls phase... LOL!

Trvler

Leigh: One thing I have found during this whole process is that if I have a bad experience with a health care professional, others have had a similar bad experience with that person. In other words, it's not YOU, it's them. And your gut tells you that.

I took one dose a day of glutamine because I would stop every now and then and I did notice an increase in tingling. It could have been in my head. But I have stopped taking it now. I got worried because my left thigh went numb after surgery but my PS says thats from him and feeling will come back. Honestly, as my sister said, if that's the biggest issue I have, I am pretty lucky.

I am not sure about the muscle pain.Maybe take things a little easier. Are you doing cross fit? That's pretty tough on even a person not going through all of this shi$.

Princess: I am so thankful I read that post about 30 minutes a day of exercise helping through chemo. I am not sure if it was Theresa or K but I am convinced it saved my butt from the awful SE's. I am dying to get back to Jazzercise but I can tell I am not ready.

ninjamary

I was getting over my dissatisfaction with my MO's office and today they pissed me off. The said they would fax over a script so I could get physical therapy for my hands and feet. (I can barely walk in the morning and my right hand fingers are constantly sore, stiff etc) I called on Monday or Tuesday (hell it might have been last week, my memory is so bad) and assumed it would be faxed that day or early the next morning. I called today (Fri) and the physical therapy office didn't have anything. BUT the girl who answered said "faxes can get lost, maybe have them send another". What? Are they using thermal paper and it's curled under the fax machine or something? Is it 1980? I call the MO office and she said I have it here I will re-fax it, do you have the fax number. What? It's upstairs from your office, in your cancer center complex, no I don't have the number. I called the therapy place back later today and they still didn't have it. I tried to schedule an appointment without it, so I could at least start the process and they aren't allowed to do that. I told the girl I would call again on Monday.

I plan on writing a letter this weekend to the head of the cancer center. I'm demanding that I get a faxed copy of my script that I can take to the physical therapist of my choosing because I am done with their medical oncology group. Obviously if faxes get lost up in PT things are that organized there either.

Lovemylab

Again following everyone just cannot keep it all straight to respond. Just letting everyone know I had a long talk with my manager today and she was so understanding. She said if a doc wants you off 2 more months, you should be off. I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't working starting when my mom farmed me out as a babysitter at about age 9. So I have decided to look at these two months as a gift. Time to get stronger, do things for me including organizing my house which I moved into one year ago but then quickly started a new job and then BC. No more feeling guilty about taking care of me. Thanks to all of you for your votes of confidence. It is so great to feel like I am not all alone going through this.

Maureen

Trvler

Ugh, Mary. I hate that kind of stuff.

Maureen, I think it's great you are taking some time for yourself.