STEAM ROOM FOR ANGER

Egads007

bcincolorado - if we don’t get some sun soon we’re all shouting ‘road trip!’ ...you might want to get extra blankets ready. I hear the weather there is agreeable.

marley2

I have had the usual comments, which i ignored, about people who have died from this. Lately, I have had people say " well you had chemo light" What???

Egads007

Chemo light?!?!?!?! Like Bud Lite...or a Diet Pepsi?!?? Holy crow that takes the cake. Was the person that said that to you implying you had it easy in any way??

A neighbor said to me “ya know there’s a lot of kids that die if cancer” and then gave me a strange look, kind of angry. I assume she was actually saying ‘ you don’t deserve survival... think of the kids’ no matter she was mad as a hatter and an A$&hole to boot

Micmel

...... covered cars in the back! I’ve had enough!

Micmel

...... covered cars in the back! I’ve had enough!

TaRenee

It snowed all day here. Nothing stuck. Except me and the kids. We were stuck in school all day watching it snow and not stick and just wanting to go home. But no. It was rather aggravating.

This evening after dinner I went to pick up my favorite bottle of meds (Tamoxifen and bp meds has to be refilled) and on the way home I see this streak in the windshield. Every time I hit a bump in the road it grew longer. WTF? By the time I got home it was close to 10” long and headed up the driver side of the windshield. It was crazy to watch. When I got home I inspected the windshield and sure enough, way down below the wiper, there is a tiny ding spot from a rock or something. I have no idea how long it has been there, but it grew so quickly! I’ve never seen a windshield do that before. I called my insurance and tomorrow I have to call the glass people to see about getting it replaced. Ugh!!! (That crap isn’t cheap either. The estimate is $350)

holliewood

and this morning I am angry. Last night I didn't feel like eating but I knew I had to take my diabetic meds so I forced myself to eat as they would take me too low without food. Within just minutes, I was upchucking into my hands. No warning, no nausea, no nothing, just up it all came. So fast I could not make it to the bathroom. After that, I was worried about eating or drinking anything bc there was no warning. There was no way I was going to put Compazine down there in that volcano too, especially since it was after 8pm. So I eventually fell asleep on the couch and went to bed later.

This morning, I called my nurse navigator at the cancer center to ask advice on what to do today, if it happened again. Her response? A hesitant "Well I don't know....try and sip some fluids?" Really?! That's all you got? I already KNEW that. I was so angry...this is her job. It's her job to be the go between between patients and the doctors if there are complications. I'm not worried about the glucose, we'll get that back under control at some point, but to not know what to tell me to try? FFS, you are a professional, a nurse who only deals with cancer patients, and you don't know what to tell me?

So ladies, if I take the Compazine, and it comes back up, do I take another one? Do any of you know a time frame to see if I should take another one or wait?

Micmel

I'd wait at least four hours to be extremely safe. My magic bullet for me was popsicles. I would start with those and the flavors helped with my texture issue! Maybe ginger pills and or ginger ale.slowly crackers in between and my jackpot was plain white rice with a little flavored butter. Keep it simple but bland. Feel better darling ! Nurses and doctors can be frustrating ! ~M~

Lula73

how about rapidly disintegrating zofran? Taking pills often makes me gag in the first place so popping a pill while nauseated is a recipe for disaster. In the meantime the BRAT diet (Bananas, rice, apples, toast) with water, ginger ale or hot tea.

holliewood

Micmel: I have popsicles, have not opened them due to the high sugar content but that may be in the works for this afternoon. I've been sitting here, trying desperately to make myself go take a pill and have not found the fortitude to try it. I have ginger ale, and pretzels which mostly stay down. I cannot stand the taste of sugar free stuff, so the ones I have are high octane.

Lula73: I have been doing as much of the brat diet as allowed by my diabetes. Till yesterday, I was good.

Lula73

holliewood- are you taking any injectablesfor your diabetes?

holliewood

lula73 wrote:holliewood- are you taking any injectablesfor your diabetes?

No, just oral. Janumet and glipizide. Had a 3 mo A1c check on Monday and we discussed possibly going to insulin temporarily during chemo, but he thinks extra glip will probably hold me. That said, if I can't keep the orals down, I'll go to insulin in a heart beat if it will help.

Also, I seem to be doing much better today, so yesterday might have been a fluke.......

Lula73

holliewood- insulin or a glp-1 receptor agonist would likely help you out quite a bit as it puts you in more control of your blood sugar vs having to eat based on your meds. When you go thru chemo especially you’ll find that sometimes you can eat and sometimes you can’t. With the glipzide you HAVE to eat. Feel too nauseated to eat or just not hungry? Too bad you have to eat. This is not necessarily the case with the other 2 (depends on the protocol they put you on). Do you see an endocrinologist? If not, you may want to see about a consult so an expert in diabetes care can evaluate where you’re at now and help put things in order for what’s coming down the pike. Hope you feel better soon!

M0mmyof3

Finally got sun today, hope we have seen the last of the snow! Think Mother Nature finally got back on her meds as it looks like by next week we will be having spring like weather!!!!!!!

holliewood

Lula73 I have been considering that. I started out on insulin but responded so well and had such tight control, my PCP took me off it. On Monday we discussed going back on it, temporarily, just during chemo. He has me scheduled for another visit in 6 weeks and will re evaluate then. I am super good about testing so if my #s are consistently high, I will call the office and see if he wants to change things up.It may be easier for me to not force food due to meds.

Also, I called the pharmacy today to ask the same ? about the anti nausea meds and got a clear answer. Much more helpful!

bcincolorado

Even stress can affect diabetes and your sugars. My DH has diabetes and is a transplant patient and also in renal failure. We deal with those issues constantly. We have learned that juice can bring up the lows quickly as well. SMALL juice glass is usually enough to do it.

holliewood

thanks bcicolorado, before my treatments, I was pretty stable on the oral meds. The dex really jerked my numbers around and I've found the only things that have appeal (limited at that) to me are the high carb foods. I'm probably going to end up back on insulin temporarily through treatment. I'm ok with that, if it needs to be.

Lula73

holliewood-it sounds like your pancreas is still able to produce plenty of insulin. I’d ask about the glp-1 injectables. They work far different than the Janumet and the glipizide. They only increase insulin release when your sugar is elevated (similar to what your body is supposed to do naturally). Low risk of having a low blood sugar because of that too. So if you weren’t hungry or you were nauseated and couldn’t eat it wouldn’t drop you low. By the same token, it would help your body release the right amount of insulin to cover any high carb foods you consume.You’d likely be able to come off the glipizide and the januvia part of the janumet.

holliewood

Lula73, thank you so much! I will head off to look into this, wonder why my PCP didn't suggest that.

Lula73

not saying it’s necessarily the case with your PCP but a lot of them don’t realize the difference between januvia and GLP-1 receptor agonists. Another important thing they often overlook is that the once daily GLP-1 meds get to steady state within just a few days where it takes 5-10 weeks with the once weekly versions depending on which brand it is.

holliewood

thank you Lula73, I'll be bringing it up with him soon.

bcincolorado

I know trying to coordinate docs who are treating you is difficult. Make sure you have a printout of all your meds and doses and they all have it on file. It is amazing how many times they don't necessarily even look at your chart. You have to make sure they know the other issues besides cancer going on.

VLH

Oh, Holliewood, the vomiting episode sounds awful! I'm sorry that happened to you. Zofram was a big help to me and, as noted earlier, it dissolves under your tongue so doesn't have to be swallowed like Compazine. Zofram can cause constipation. With apologies for the gross-out factor, in my case, that meant large stools, which can be difficult to pass. Also, when I had uncontrolled vomiting, I learned that Compazine is available as a suppository. It works great if you're not having "output" issues.

Regarding the "chemo light" remark, that generally refers to not having the adriamycin (aka 'the Red Devil')/ cytoxan regimen, considered by many in the oncology field to be the most challenging chemo treatment plan for breast cancer. Chemo side effects vary widely from person to person and ain't none of it fun so calling any chemo treatment "light" isn't appropriate. 😖

leftduetostupidmods

Ok need to vent and rage. I'm not going to go much into the background story, suffice to say I'm in Court with my family overseas for the Probate after my late father.

My attorney there is a nice lady, otherwise, but she knows my health issues, disability, chronic pain, neuropathy, etc etc etc.

It happened many times that we were talking on the phone and I was telling her how my hands are functioning less and less (just an example) and I'm afraid soon I might not be able to take care of myself. She pipes up "oh I understand, I am always so tired I had so much to work". Usually a long silence on my part brings her to reason but...

I had last week a paroxistical bruxism episode and it's not known if I fractured my jaw or what the heck is going on. She emailed that she needs to call me.

I emailed back that I don't know if I can talk, as my jaw might be broken, yadda yadda.

She replies "oh I understand, I'm so tired too"

Arrrrgggggg

M0mmyof3

Fuming again! This time it’s about the place where I was going for PT for my back issues scheduled me for a session on Friday when they knew that my insurance is only covering the sessions until this Thursday! They didn't check the date on the clearance from the insurance very well!

Egads007

M0mmyoftwo...my dentist’s office did this to me once (I stress once lol) to the tune of $1100 for root canal work. SO frustrating as they have the policy anniversary dates right in their system! Two freaking days just about killed me as a single mother. I take responsibility for not checking myself, but geeze, they had reminded me and scheduled around it for years. I ended up having to go on a payment plan...for which they wanted to charge interest...that’s when I went wild on them. Reminded them I’d been a patient with them since age 10, sent friends and family their way over the years AND Ialways flossed! Geeze. Did you call them to reschedule?

M0mmyof3

Nope. Their policy is that the don’t reschedule unless it is at their convenience.

Lula73

you could always say to them, ‘ since rescheduling is at YOUR convenience, would it be more convenient for you to do my PT on Tues, Wed or Thurs and get paid by the insurance company; or is it more convenient for you to keep the Fri appointment and not get paid since YOU didn’t check the insurance approval dates before YOU scheduled it?’

Dianarose

So the hospital gave me the names of two places to get my naphostomy bags. Called both and neither one takes insurance. Cash only. They are 13.00 each plus shipping so would cost me 30.00 a week. Don’t know why the hospital can’t sell them to me. I’m irritated now.

M0mmyof3

They don’t care if it’s their snafu. Thinking about what to do about it. May just call them and tell them I am cancelling Friday’s session since it will be past when the insurance will pay for it and then consider yesterday as the official end of my PT.