Chemo in July 2015

mdoc524

Thanks everyone - we just found out - positive for Lymphoma for my sweet Quinny... soo hard - trying not to think of it as a sign or something. I usually don't believe in that kind of stuff but this is just too freaky...

There is a Vet Clinic about an hour from us that specializes in Dog cancer and actually has a Clinical trial now going on for dogs with certain types of Lymphoma - our Vet has already called this clinic and made arrangements for an emergency transfer for her to go there tonight. They will assess her to see if she qualifies for their trial so prayers and fingers crossed.. she has to have a certain type of lymphoma and may be too sick for treatment ... thanks for listening - just sooo crushed.

Here is her picture .

Gretagirl

She is so pretty! I am sorry to here she has cancer. Hopefully she can be treated!

downdog

mdoc, so, so sorry to hear about your sweetie rescue Quinny. My best wishes for her and hope that she is accepted for their trial and that it is successful in treating her lymphoma. You and your family don't need this added stress. Hugs

gargengirl09

I'm so sorry Mary. She's awfully cute. Hoping that the vet doing the clinical trial will be helpful. Fingers crossed. Hang in there!

Thunder7

Garderngirl,

Lady is so pretty! I showed her picture to Boomer (Thunder's father) he is 12 and would like to meet her. He likes toys, tug of war and walking on the beach :-)

The picture was taken after I hiked 3 miles around our property looking for them. They discovered that our neighbors 1/2 mile down the road had free range chicken and spent a glorious 30 minutes chasing them. Thankfully all the chickens were unharmed and all came home by night fall.

Boomer is on the left. They are pretending they are sorry. Personally I think they had the time of their lives. Cannot say the same for the chickens.

Had my second TC today. Half way through!!!

DH and I honeymooned in Sanibel. Congrats on finishing your AC.

Thunder7

Mary,

Thanks for posting the picture of Quinny she is gorgeous. Praying that she qualifies for the clinical trial and that all goes well.

Hugs,

Thunder7

Want2Bcamping

Here is an old picture of our labs from a camping trip. Sadly they have since passed. (Black lab lived to 16 yrs and chocolate to just shy of 15 yrs). Holly (the chocolate ended up with bladder cancer) but we had 2 more glorious years with her before it spread. Love the fur babies and the pictures!

inkster

mdoc524, I'm so sorry about your pup. My heart is with you. Crossing my fingers and toes the vets can do something to help your baby.

Ooo! Dog pictures! I have to add. Like all families, at least one has to be making a face. Piper is the dark red golden retriever, Brohdi is the blonde, and Dixon the Dachshund is, well, the obvious.The picture's a few years old and Brohdi and Dixon are no longer puppies. Not that you could tell by how they act...

This week is supposed to be my good week before the next chemo session, but apparently no one told my body. I've been super itchy for no apparent reason (Benadryl helps, so it's not related to the neuropathy making my fingers tingle like crazy), ended up in a walk-in clinic for a bladder infection on Saturday, and have had heartburn to the point of nausea even after taking Pepcid daily. Also, does anyone else have sleep issues? I can only seem to sleep for about 4-5 hours at night, which makes the days loooooong.

On the upside, I can wear lipgloss without worrying about the wind whipping my hair into my face and it sticking to my mouth.

Want2Bcamping

Inkster that is so true about the lip gloss!!! Funny how fast I have gotten used to no hair for lots of those types of reasons.

Cheesequake

Mary, Quinny is beautiful. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this on top of everything else.

I love that everyone is posting dog pictures. I LOVE them but don't have one - I've seriously considered it especially since diagnosis but I can't juggle the extra responsibility and don't want to leave a dog home alone as often as I'd need to - so I look at lots of pictures of big cute dogs. So glad ya'll have wonderful companions to share with us.

MissBee123

Mary I am so sorry to hear about your beloved Quinny. I hope the vet is able to work some magic and heal her. I will be thinking of you.

Had my head shave party tonight! It was a bit jarring but all my friends came armed with pizza, beer, cookies, flowers, and "Team Brenna" t-shirts! My parents flew in from Colorado to be with me for my next chemo treatment so it was a great way to kick off their visit. My father shaved his head, one of my students, and my husband (the photo is him mid-shave with a mohawk). I think I can handle being bald for now, but I won't be sorry when it grows back!

RuthElizabeth

Mary, many prayers for quinny. I hope the trials will help her if she qualifies for them. Best wishes for your family. I wish you all the best. Love to your family... Rut

RuthElizabeth

inkster, I only seem to sleep in 2 hour intervals. Up two and sleep two. I don't nap during the day either. So, at least one night a week, I take 2 Benadryl. Then I can usually sleep with only one interruption. Good luck.

Here is a pic of my Diamond, who passed over the rainbow bridge. I miss her so much.

mdoc524

All - thanks so much for all the well wishes and love all the Pet Pics - made me smile. Unfortunately the Vet Oncologist called this morning she does not qualify or the trial she is in Stage 4 Lymphoma with spots on her liver, lung and spleen. The reality of this disease sets in again. They will give her a round of steroids and we are bringing her home - she only has a few weeks. Can a heart break anymore...

MissBee - you are beautiful!

All - side note question and I know this has been discussed - I just don't have the energy right now to go thru all the posts .. I am 13 days out since 1st AC - tomorrow is my 2nd one .. yesterday my scalp starting hurting - not tingling but out right hurting and got worse and woke me up over night. I had cut my hair really short but is this a sign to shave it off now? I still have a full head of hair... this morning the shower hurt and it is giving me a headache.. just curious if this when you all shaved it and is there a cream or something for your scalp to stop hurting ??

Mary

Thunder7

MissBee you look so beautiful! What a fun way to shave the head.

If everyone does not mind I think we should start a list of bald pros:

!. You never have a bad hair day.

2. You can be more spontaneous - last minute invitation? No problem jump in the shower after working outside in the dirt all day and ready in 5 minutes!!

3. No more stinging hair in eyes in the wind, can leave the windows down in the car!

4. Don't have to clean the drain after a shower.

5. Can confidently blame the dogs for stray hairs on my clothes, counter, food (ugh) (we are/were the same color)

6. Saving $120 every 5 weeks for cut and color.

7. It is summer here, not sure I have ever been so cool.

8. Via Inkster no more hair in the lip gloss (love the pups, does the doxy run the show?)

9. I was able to help a young mother who was mortified when her 5 year old son said loudly "look Mommy the lady is bald!" Explained I had been sick and the medicine made me hair come out BUT if feel really good now and it will grow back "would you like to touch my head?" Little boy - okay mommy/, she said yes. He rubbed my head and said that is really cool you look great! Mom said wow, thank you. You are beautiful inside and out.

10. Having people you do not know at social club you just joined a year ago come up, introduce themselves and share their own inspiring stories. On Sunday at the banquet 4 ladies came up to me an 8 year ovarian survivor, 24 year BC, 28 year BC, 32 year BC! All said the same thing. They wished they had had the courage to go out in public bald. Especially the longer survivors - it was not socially acceptable. But they all said is now and that I looked great!

Would love to here your pros Chemo in July 2015 ladies!

Marta (Thunder7 unmasked)

Thunder7

Mary my heart weeps for you and your family. We have gone through this 6 times (never with one that young). One Racer, was my heart, she passed after our walk at age 9 from a pulmonary embolism. It never gets easier. Eventually the heartache and pain will fade and only the good memories will shine through. Your family has given her an awesome loving home by inviting her into your "pack". There is no great way to show them your love.

I feel pretty sure I speak for the ladies here, we totally understand your going dark on the board for as long as you need. I myself have disappeared when I get overwhelmed.

As for the hair, my scalp was sore and the hair was strongly shedding. The day DH clipped it and then I shaved it the head had moved from sore to hurt. It has not hurt since the shave. I had fairly long hair and I wonder if the weight pulled on the struggling follicles. In your case just being short might irritated the follicles when the hair is touched. Just my 2 cents.

Love and Hugs,

Marta (Thunder7)

Gretagirl

Good morning everyone. Day after treatment and all is well so far in the bowel movement department. For those of you who do not know this is a BIg deal for due to last treatments fiasco with a bottle of Mag Citrate!

Really enjoyed seeing the pet pictures! Made me smile. My three are eating breakfast now.

Mdoc524 I was sorry your sweetie didn't qualify for treatment. I have a friend who went the same thing with her Westie. The things you listed with your head itchy and hurting that's what I went through and decided to shave my head then and boy did my head feel better after. It quit hurting. I kept trying to explain to hubby why I kept scratching an d almost pulling at it. Couldn't explain how it felt.

Missbe 123 great picture! Y'all look so cute together! I am adjusting to this style too!

Thunder7 the list is great! I too will probably go bald. I have hats and scarves but I stay soooo hot and have hot flashes so I really don't know if I can wear them without burning up. I am kind of leery of what others may say but I also told hubby that I was the one taking meds to kill a disease so it doesn't kill me and if others didnt like my head they could turn their head away. Really this is not like me to say but it came out my mouth before I realized so I figure somewhere down in me it must be how I felt lol.

I am getting ready to go get Neulasta y'all have a wonderful smiley kind a day!

gargengirl09

MDOC-I'm sorry about your sweet Quinny. Prayers for you and your family. I had hair cut all off shortly after treatment #2. I couldn't take the hair coming out. It was alarming and unsettling. Finally, it got to the point where I was just ready to have it off. So my hairstylist opened her shop on a Monday and cut it short, then buzzed it. My hair also hurt. I think it was the weight of the hair pulling. It took some time to get used to it.

Another perk of a bald head….glitter. My cousin told me to try it. Her daughter had Ewing's Sarcoma, and she'd sometimes put glitter on her head. Fancy!

madrew

Hello everyone! Love the dog posts...don't dogs always make a person happy? I LOVE seeing everyone's bald-ish heads. Your beautiful heads seem to make me happy and help me feel like I'm not alone. You can see right through my thinning mohawk to my bare head. I am still gelling it up when I go out though. I have found I don't care anymore what people think. In the past I have always cared way too much what people think. I am not at the point where I am ready to admit that cancer has brought me any blessings. But if I ever get there, I will start with being more confident in who I am.

I am 10 days out from my 2nd CT round. This time I received a Neulasta shot the day after. (last time, counts went to zero, insurance only approved Granix shots) This time, my white blood cell counts have again tanked to nearly zero. I'll find out Monday if they recovered more quickly by having the Neulasta. Until then, probably no family reunion for a mostly quarantined me. I have taken Claritin however still have some pain from the Neulasta. As long as I take a pain pill though I strongly resemble a functioning adult. I also had my first bout of nausea. Doc says the antibiotic I'm taking is likely to contribute to a unsettled stomach. The nausea was completely debilitating for about two hours until I listened to my super smart, junior in college, daughter who yelled, "MOM! Take your nausea medicine!" And so I did. And then I felt better. GO FIGURE. Fortunately, that has been my only experience with nausea.

My biggest side effect has been body aches. Either from the chemo or the Neulasta. It has been manageable though if I take pain pills. My other side effect is that food tastes either awful, or like nothing. I pay close attention to all of your tips, for sure. I did get chastised by the nurse the other day for losing too much weight. (It's only been a few pounds...) NEVER in my life did I think someone would say that to me. HAHA. I've always carried a few more pounds than your average Victoria's Secret model..and still do! I've actually been keeping a detailed food log, trying to get the most out of my food choices-(fiber, protein, etc)-since everything tastes yucky. I told the nurse I had lentil soup over brown rice for dinner the night before. She laughed and said that would taste yucky whether you had chemo taste buds or not!

Thank you all for your honest postings. Hang in there. I am off to try and walk a bit on the treadmill while watching something on TV that does not require my mildly chemo affected brain to concentrate.

Cheesequake

MissBee you look awesome - and happy! So cool that you had such support for that. It was a pretty traumatic event in my house, my husband has a very hard time seeing me without hair. He seems to be adjusting much better in the past couple days. Yesterday I finally posted a couple bald photos on Facebook (I haven't even left my house bald yet but now it's on FB!) and got so many comments of fierce, beautiful, sexy, nice head, etc that it was a huge ego boost. Wish I didn't actually need it!!

On another topic, When I had my second infusion on Friday last week, they got into my port but couldn't get blood return. Flushed it with saline a few times, nothing. Re-placed the needle, nothing. Gave me Alteplase (an anti-coagulant I hadn't heard of) and made me wait an hour, still nothing. Put in a THIRD needle and finally got blood return after almost three hours of trying. The day before, blood return was sluggish when just drawing blood from my port for labs, but they did get it with two saline flushes before and after, and Heparin after too. I can't believe it got so stopped up by the next day, and that this port is sooo difficult.

Yesterday I had a high dose vitamin C infusion through the port and I don't know if the naturopath's nurse got lucky or what, but she was in on the first try and immediately got blood back. 25g of C to make sure I could tolerate it - it was fine and I actually felt like I had a lot more energy and less upset stomach for the rest of the day. I did have two small bouts with diarrhea but I think that was chemo, not C.

I think folks have been talking about Decadron/Dexamethasone in this thread. I was prescribed to take two pills the morning before chemo, two the evening before chemo, two in the morning the day of chemo, two that evening, then two the next morning. After my first chemo infusion, I had a bunch of acne which may have been related to the steroid, though the onc also said it could've been chemo messing with my hormones. This time I decided to gamble and see what happened if I tapered off the Decadron earlier, so I had two the morning before, two the evening before, two the morning of, then only one pill the evening of chemo and one the next morning. So far no acne, and no negative side effects either. I'm considering doing a single pill each time for next infusion to see how that goes.

Thunder7

Cheesequake your FB friends nailed it fierce, beautiful, sexy and nice head! Hope your husband is adjusting. Mine helped with the clipping/shaving and was chief bartender for me :-)

You truly do look great. I have been wandering around town since it was shaved but the banquet last Sunday was oddly difficult for before I went, but I am so glad it did. I have always been one of those people who don't take much stock in other peoples opinions. I think in this medical situation it is serving me well.

Marta

auroaya200882

cheesequake i hace a temperamental port but I've learned a couple of tricks to get blood return on the first three trials: cough while the nurse is drawing 2) deep breath as they draw (3 raise the arm on the side of the port 4) lay all the way back on the recliner chair.

Most times one of the above will be enough sometimes I have to do all four. I hope this helps.

Aurora

courtleboo

PICC was removed yesterday before my 3rd treatment. It was not giving a blood return. Since then my arm has improved immensely. No itch. I think I was allergic to the actual line itself.

The fatigue is the only thing that's getting me today. Super tired. Been parked in my bed.

Trying to steer clear of my youngest daughter who stayed home today with a cold. Of course on the second day of school. Thankfully my husband is home to take care of her as well as me.

Jbandkb1

The exhaustion this round is killer. I can't even get out of bed my husband had to take off fro work to take care of our 2 kids. 3years & 11 months. I can barley focus my eyes too. My husband isn't even allowed to take time off so let's see if he gets fired now. I hope tomorrow is a better day. I've already had enough of chemo and 6 more rounds to go. Ugh

Want2Bcamping

Another "plus" of my bald head is no more closing my hair in the car window when I put it up! (Had long hair before this

Cheesequake

Want2BCamping, I did that all the time too!! No getting it caught in my armpits anymore either - though I do still have both problems with longer wigs

Want2Bcamping

Cheesequake - and no more trying to roll over in sleep and can't cause your hair is under you

Zuwali

adarkadaptedi, I actually got most of my caps at Kohls on clearance. And I had an additional 30% coupon. Love a great bargain!

Zuwali

Cheesecake, the bald head and the tattoo - beautiful and fierce! Love it.

Zuwali

My surgeon that put in my port is awesome. They took 6 vials of blood today all out of my new port with absolutely no problem. Wish I had gotten this back before I started my chemo. It would have saved me a few bruises up and down my arms. And the chemo went very well, also. Now if I can just get through the next few days with no or little SE.