Chemo in July 2015

Twnkltoz

i don't have cancer anymore! Saw the surgeon today and got one drain out and an awesome path report. NED and only 4 lymph nodes removed, all clear. Woot!

Bliss58

Wow, Twnkltoz! That is fabulous news and I'm so glad for you!

Bliss58

@SVGSurvive, I'll be a surgery sister in January. Thanks for starting the thread!

@Mary, so sorry to hear you are still going through so much. Do you still have 3 Taxol to go? You are such a trooper. Wishing you lesser SEs. (((Hugs)))

RuthElizabeth

hi everyone.... Mary, love the elf.... I finally got some answers at my last doctors appointment. My surgeon is easier to talk to.... He told me to enjoy my year. I will be good. Then he said at one year they will be watching for liver, lung and bone cancers. I will get a chat X-ray, blood work and I think he called it a tumor marker test. He said to watch for bone pain, not joint pain. My arthritis has gotten so bad.... I feel better after we talked. I go to my gyno second week of Jan. To ask if he thinks I need to get my overies removed, too. I know it's all out of hands. My husband died at age 40 of a rare cancer. I don't want to put my kids thru that again. I want to be here and grow old. We all want that more than ever now.

Anyway, have a wonderful weekend everyone. Oh, got the ok from insurance for the tactile lymphedema pump. It went thru really smooth. I will get it next month and then a rep will come and show me how to use it. I hope it helps, the sleeves suck....

Love, peace, prayers for all my special friends on this site. Thank you all for helping each other thru this journey called cancer. I know I couldn't have gotten thru it without all of you. Love you all !!!! Rut

SVGsurvive

Twnkltoz - congratulations, this is what it's all about! So happy for you.

Bjsmiller - glad to have you on board the January surgery train (not glad that the train exists for any of us though!). Ping me w/ your scheduled date & surgery type when you have a sec.

RuthElizabeth - have a wonderful weekend too. Boy do all of us deserve it.

Batesburg

Hello All,

My last chemo is this coming Tuesday!!! YAY!!! Cannot believe it. Long six months. For many of us. I am having surgery sometime in early Feb. Where do I find where many of you have also gone in posting for surgery subject??

Wishing you all a wonderful pre-holiday weekend. I saw that 75% of us in the USA were to experience warmer temps than normal. Today, here in the midwest (Columbus, OH) it is in the low 60s!!! I'll take it! What about all of you?

Love and peace

Peabrain

@Batesburg - woo hoo

It's cooled down a lot here. I'm all bundled up for the mid 60s weather and we are ready with firewood!

mdoc524

WooHoo Great news Twnkltoz - so happy for you!!

Ruth - glad it seems you finally got some answers and great news on the lymphedema machine..

Batesburg - WooHoo for your last chemo on Tuesday - ring that bell loud!!! Here in SE PA (about 50 miles North of Philadelphia) it will be in the 70's today - so not the norm less than 2 weeks before Christmas but with the horrendous snowy/icy winter we had last year - will take it... my boys were outside playing yesterday in T-shirts and Shorts - see pic - normal weather here at this time would be 30's with snow

For all heading to Surgery in the coming weeks - good luck - keep us posted on how you are doing and if we can help...

Thanks BJSMiller - Yep 3 more to go and just can't wait til it is over .. as of now as long as no changes my last day of chemo is Jan 2nd - will ring the chemo bell with the New Year!! Met with MO Friday before chemo and she is concerned chemo toxicity level high in my body and she may end my treatments early - still a go for now and will just be monitored each week... and to top it off my poor husband has pneumonia!!! We all had that nasty upper respiratory cold virus and his lingered & went into chest and now bacterial pneumonia - feel so bad for him!! All stinks now but just glad the end is near!!

Happy Sunday & Hugs to all

Mary

RuthElizabeth

Morning everyone. Yes Mary, the weather is wonderful. So different from last year. Your boys are adorable. So glad they are enjoying the outdoors. I hope your husband gets better fast. Sorry to say, but keep away from him, haha. Here's hoping you hang in there till finished.... Do you do Facebook? If you do, send me a message so we can friend each other.....

I took the grandkids to have breakfast with Santa yesterday. I wore my wig, and my grandson told me he likes my fluffy hair better.... Had to laugh.

I go tomorrow for a visit to plastic surgeon, for a consult. After reading up, I'm a bit put off on all the horror stories. Any suggestions on questions to ask? Thanks

I'm pretty much back to working about 30 hours a week in the shop. So nice t see most of my customers come back. They keep telling me my hair is growing fast. I don't see it. All I see is the gray. I'm so ready to color it. Husband says no, but just might Christmas Eve.....

Love and peace to you all. Ruth

Batesburg

Question....for those of you done with chemo...is your port removed? And, if so, when did you get it removed?? I'm wondering if they will remove mine during surgery??!!

Peabrain

@Batesburg - my MO and nurses all say to keep my port in for 6 months, just in case.

Does anyone know just in case what? What aren't they saying

6feetover

Batesburg and Pea: I'm having my port removed during my surgery on Wednesday...

Peabrain

Joy of joys! My mustache is growing back

mdoc524

Ha Peabrain - to add to your mustache - the hair on my legs while light & very fine is longer than the fuzz on my head... Same with armpits - long fine white hair - fun & not easy to shave.

Good ?? About port removal - I met with MO Friday before Taxol #9 - did not think to ask about port & won't see her again until March which was alarming.

Mary

Batesburg

Last chemo starts in a few hours and finishes in 4!!!

@Peabrain- so so funny!! You know this damn triple negative and its ability to "come back" (although I know many women who licked it) - the main reason they call it "aggressive" according to another NP I spoke with- they just haven't figured out a targeted therapy yet- I say, how about carboplatin??

@adark- how did you decide on the lumpectomy vs. mastectomy? I am still trying to decide- surgery in early Feb.

Anyone chime in on the port removal timing!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.

Batesburg

@ adark- GOOD LUCK on Wednesday!!!

6feetover

Batesburg: Thank you!!! I'm stressed as all hell, but my DH will be there (he's as anxious about all of this as I am, if not more!). We're heading to my dad's gf's place tonight to stay with them, as they live about 20 min. away from Yale Smilow and I'm due in tomorrow at 7 am. Urff! I think I'm more worried about the pre-op crap (mammogram with needle localization; nuclear meds, etc.) than I am about the actual surgery. Hoping the caffeine withdrawal tomorrow morning won't hand me a massive migraine like it's done in the past when I've had to fast for other procedures.

Regarding my selection of lumpo vs. bilateral mastectomy: having discussed with my onco team and my breast surgeon the surgical options and their rates of survival and recurrence, I opted for the least-invasive measure that I could (at least at this time). I have to have rads anyway, owing to the lymph node involvement. My aunt's recurrence in her scar tissue following radical mastectomy many years ago weighs very heavily on me. I was also recently perusing the harrowing yet wonderful blog of a woman whose breast cancer was caught early (she and her onco team went whole-hog with heavy chemo, bilateral mastectomy, rads, and prophylactic ovary removal); sadly, her cancer recurred at Stage IV in spite of their massive efforts. And, quite simply, I just can't psychologically handle anything more than lumpo right now. I've been advised (in no uncertain terms) that if my cancer recurs locally, bilateral mastectomy will be mandatory. I may have to come to terms with that down the road, but I'm not ready for it right now. It's probably stupid to view it this way, but I'm also thinking that having lumpo allows the cancer somewhere local to recur if it wants to...maybe mere superstition (stupidstition?) on my part, though...

RuthElizabeth

adark, your decision is your decision. There is NO wrong decision. If we knew what would happen in the future, we could make better decisions. But we don't. The only thing I would say, is make your decision and stick with it. Don't second guess it. We all need to wish for the best... And hope we are the lucky ones.... I wish you all the luck.

I had the double before chemo. Now struggling with how I look dressed. Saw plastic surgeon yesterday. Still not happy. I did decide if I do something, will probably be implant. But, I still think I will try to wait out my three years because of the triple negative.

Love and peace to everyone. I'm working 8 hours every day this week. Everything above my waiste thumps and it's only Tuesday, haha. Can't wait for the week to be over. Ruth

Peabrain

Good luck, Erica!!

Twnkltoz

my port was removed during my surgery, thankfully!

mdoc524

Good Luck Erica - thinking of you tomorrow ..

Congrats on last chemo Batesburg - WooHoo!

Ruth - will send you pm ..

Hugs to all

Mary

6feetover

Pea and Mary: Thank you!!!

Sharazhad707

Hello ladies

I just came out of hospital after doing my mastectomy. I made up a poster because I also wanted a last day of chemo poster, but after hearing that I'm chemo-resitant, I decided to change it a little bit.

Here's the pic of my poster and me in hospital, the day before my mastectomy. I'm currently in bed, slightly sedated for the pain, but I'm glad the tumour is out.

Gretagirl

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is doing well! When I finished chemo I got heavily involved in a campaign for a friend of mine and got out the habit of checking the boards. I hope everyone is doing well. I started radiation last week and so far I am doing ok. I have residual effects from chemo still some neuropathy in my hands. My MO tells me to give it time but his time and mine are not the same!

Twnkltoz

@Sharazhad707 love the poster! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Bliss58

@Mdoc, such a cute photo of your boys. Oh that is such bad news about your DH's pneumonia! What a shame, but hope he recovers quickly. The chemo end is thankfully near, but you are strong and you can do this! Hugs.

@Sharazhad707, nice poster! Best wishes to you for a speedy recovery. Hugs.

@adarkadaptedi, hope all went well with your surgery and wishing you a speedy recovery, too!. Hugs.

Hugs and best wishes to you all.

Batesburg

Peabrain

@Batesburg - I love your photo!! We made it through the waves!

@adarkadept - Hoping your surgery went fine and you are enjoying your painkillers.

@Sharazhad - excellent photo as well! You did it!

Hugs all round!!

6feetover

Pea: Heya! The generic Vicodin I was prescribed doesn't seem to do a heck of a lot for the pain, so I'm toughing it out. The surgery went well, apparently. I've got a drain because of the axillary lymph node dissection. I thought I was going to need a visiting nurse for this (disgusting) aspect of the surgery/aftermath, but I was kind of forced to look at and deal with the drain in the recovery room, with the assistance of one of the nurses. Realizing that it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd anticipated, I opted to deal with the drain and the fluid measurements with DH's help.

The worst part of the entire process (thus far, anyway) was actually the needle localization prior to the surgery; I had to have 5 wires placed, which was just about the max that any of the nurses/radiologists had ever had to place at once, supposedly. To say that it was a brutal process would be an understatement. The pain was enough to send my body into its fun little shock spiral (ringing in the ears, flushing/full-body "hot flashes", severe nausea with dry heaves, etc.). The team felt so bad for me that I was embarrassed! The process took nearly an hour; I was so exhausted afterward that I was almost looking forward to the surgery, knowing that I'd be knocked out and could sleep!

My post-op visit's on Tuesday; I'm nervous about the path results...

6feetover

*BIG (gentle) HUGS* for Batesburg and Sharazhad!!!