Starting Chemo in October 2015

homeschool4us

A recurrence of cancer in the same breast and same site is a recurrence, not mets. And, yes, I have heard of some people having a recurrence even after a mastectomy. Cancer in the other breast would be a new cancer. Neither a recurrence or metastisis.

I am hoping my liver spots haven't changed a bit because if they are gone, even though it would be a good thing that chemo took care of them, it would man I did have mets and was stage 4 from the start. That would mean continous monitoring and treatment and most likely not very many years to live.

Jedrik

Good morning ladies,

you are a great bunch of people, I can't imagine anyone better suited as virtual company and support through all of this.

MDW: Yes, lots of support and cuddles from family and close friends which I am very grateful for. Most of the time I know I'm one of those 5% coping very well with chemo, doctors and medical personal have even been telling me so. It's just when I realize that stamina and strength are seriously decreased I get scared as I can't envision a future without lots of riding at this moment. I would need to become a different person if I stay "athletically impaired". That should happen step by step as I grow older and not all at once. It's probably a bit like for those of you with hormone troubles: Within weeks chemo put us in a place we were supposed to grow into gradually and that is pretty hard to cope with.

I do understand your insecurity about reconstruction procedures as I did lots of research online in order to make up my own mind. Being scientifically minded I sorted them by difficulty and length of procdures neccessary (including temporary impairment), rate of success, and most pleasing outcome and then thought about the price I am willing to pay. You might be wise to have a look at your surgeon's favorite procedure first as good execution is a great pointer to a pleasing outcome with less complications, too. All else is said by Andra.

Andra: It might reassure you a bit that my legs are getting increasingly heavy and tight with water, too, and I never even touched an AB while doing chemo. It's just that much easier to ride than to run with heavy legs, so it does not impair me as drastically as it does you. And this is not just because of unwilling legs, but also because riding can be done at a much lower intensity unless you need to go uphill - which I avoid atm.

homeschool4us: I'd be afraid, too, and I'm sorry you can't have a definite diagnosis of these spots right away to reassure you. I would assume, though, that doctors would not talk about hemangiomas when they'd see a reasonable chance of those spots being cancerous.

Kimmer: Yes, chemo might sort out other cancerous tissue, too. And then again it might not if it were a different type of cells. But then having cancer in both sides at the same time is pretty rare, while benign abnormalities that afflict both breast likewise are pretty common. About surgery: It's not possible to remove 100% of ductous breast tissue during surgery however skilled the surgeon. That is why there might be a recurrence even with BMX even if it is not as likely as without. BTW: Thanks for reassuring words about surgery being relatively easy, I'm starting to get scared about that.

DurhamGirl and MDW: Hope you're sailing through this last cycle of SEs with a smile

Have a good day, all.

Andraxo

Yes, I know very well that breast cancer can recur even with mastectomy. Usually in the chest wall, along scars etc. There also isn't any difference in mortality with mastectomy vs lumpectomy with radiation. Outcomes are the same. I chose mastectomy because cancer in my actual dense breast tissue did not/does not show up on mammo, making early detection a challenge. It was hiding in a fibroadenoma (likely for years) ...and I had a few of them in each breast.

Andraxo

Thanks for sharing that Jedrik - it gives me a little more hope that some of this debilitating muscle symptoms and edema may resolve once I'm a month past the last chemo...which would be early March, right when radiation starts. It's really all my muscles throughout my body (though oddly I don't notice it in my back), but it is more severe in my legs than my arms or neck or abs likely because I abuse my legs the most with exercise, and dependent positioning (standing, sitting etc).

BellaV

Today was my last chemo infusion.  "Celebrated" with a pink wig my daughter gave me to wear.  These two ladies were the sweet nurses that took care of me for the last four months. 

I also met with the RO today.  We went through the general expectations and possible side effects.  I was impressed by the great statistics.  Without radiation, recurrence for my stage is about 50% but with radiation it is reduced to 3 to 5%.  !!!

Looking forward!

Jclc83

Awesome BellaV! Congrats on finishing chemo.

Andraxo

Hooray BellaV!! woohoo!!!

I meet with my oncologist this coming Tuesday, right before my last chemo. I'm going to ask about my stats. I'm sure we discussed them many months ago before I started chemo, but everything is a blur from back then. Would be so nice to be reminded of the good stats associated with completing my comprehensive tx plan.

xo

TinaB71

Nice picture BellaV. Congcrats on finish chemo

BellaV

I got a lot of comments on the pink wig.  Haven't felt too much like celebrating though.  Darn side effects...

Oh, and I am going for a bone density scan tomorrow.  Anyone else had to do that yet?

DurhamGirl

hi everyone! Well I got myself into a bad place this weekend emotionally and mentally. I read a bad statistic on Friday and combined with the emotional roller coaster of the chemo, hormones, and exhaustion, I spent all weekend weepy and angry. Reading everyone's posts and positive attitudes here and on the winter 2015-16 rads board has helped, but I'm still not feeling so sure that any of this will ever be over. I don't mean to be such a downer, but I've been in this place all weekend and I'm surrounded by people who want to celebrate me being done with chemo and it's a strange place to be. So when this fog of exhaustion lifts, I'm sure I will get to a better place, but I just had to vent a bit. Thanks for listening/reading!

ncsue927

Durhamgirl....sometimes I think it's better if I don't read too much. Or listen to others who are not going through this. Sometimes I just have to live one day at a time. Take the next step and not concentrate on anything else. All I have to get through is the next step. You may have read a bad statistic, but that doesn't mean that is what is going to happen to you. Just take the next step and congratulate yourself for that accomplishment.

My family and friends are doing the countdown until my last chemo. Only 7 more to go. Even now, I can't get real excited about it because I know that I still will have weeks of recovery before I feel "normal", whatever that may be. I feel sometimes that this will never be "over". I will move to a new place, a new "normal". But will it ever be "over"? I don't think so. And others don't understand that.

I'm kind of having a bad weekend, too. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I want to eat something and it taste like it's supposed to. I want to go somewhere and not have to worry about where the nearest bathroom is located. I want to put in a days work and not be totally exhausted before it's time to go home.

But, on the plus side....this could be so much worse. I have friends and family that care about me. I have a job that pays me well. I am able to work, maybe not full speed, but I can work. There are people, even on this thread, that feel much worse than me. So I suck it up and do the next thing. Which right now is the laundry. So, down to the basement I go. Here's hoping for successful treatments and few side effects for all this week.

DurhamGirl

Thanks, ncsue927...I know I was just wallowing a little this weekend. I do know things could be a lot worse...I really do. I think I put on such a good face most of the time that people just assume I'm doing fantastic on the inside all of the time.

Anyway, back to laundry, dinner for the kids, and all the other stuff. Onward and upward! Hope everyone has a good week!

Kimmer33

durham girl, i also had a bad weekend. It's amazing how the littlest "stat" can set us off right? That did happen this weekend and i just cried and cried myself to sleep last night. So scared it's going to come back.

Think of me this week ladies, I head back to work tomorrow, 4 hrs per day to start.. Hopefully i can manage! Very excited to get back to a routine and get out into the world again!

Kim

MDW1967

Hi everyone,

It seems like it's been a particularly rough time this weekend for lots of people in here--DurhamGirl, BellaV, ncsue, Kimmer. I'm really sorry that that's the case, but I have to admit that it's a relief to know I'm not alone. It's nice to know we can all come in here and admit how much things really suck sometimes. I think there's a weird pressure associated with coming to the end of chemo--it *feels* like you're supposed to be ecstatic and celebratory. People around us are like, "Yay you! It's over now! You made it!" But of course, doesn't feel really over. It doesn't feel anything like over for me--at least not yet. Aside from the fact that we're all going to be physically (and perhaps mentally) recovering from the chemo for some time, there are all the scary unknowns we have to go on living with--e.g., will the cancer come back? Am I really going to be okay after going through this chemo madness?

The whole week, I was down in the chemo hell-hole, and it was only today that I started to feel like I'm starting to crawl out. The Neulasta was worse than usual this round--I hurt all over and could barely move around the house doing even simple things without feeling winded. And emotionally, I couldn't shake feeling discouraged and bewildered about my surgical prospects. I prematurely assumed I'd be able to choose lumpectomy, so I never really thought through the alternative, and all the related decisions I'd have to make in that case. But I think I've finally made peace with that part. I meet with the onc surgeon tomorrow to discuss my MRI/mammo results and surgery, and I think I have a general sense of what I want to do if lumpectomy is not a good option for me. But I'm also going to try to go in tomorrow in a positive frame of mind and not assume anything until I talk to my surgeon. One thing I'm really grateful for is that I have great trust in her. She's brilliant and an extremely straight shooter.

Sending out a wish that everyone has a better week ahead, after this seemingly universally crappy weekend. And side effects: scram!!!

xoxo

Andraxo

Durhamgirl - so sorry you've been 'at the bottom of the pool' - how I describe when I spiral down into that bad place mentally and emotionally. It is hard to push back up from pool's bottom. Sending extra hugs your way!

I agree with NCsue - better to not read so much. Also not giving weight to things people say who don't know what it's like to go through this. Soooo many people think and say 'last chemo, oh great..you are now done'. I'm doing my best to let people know that February is going to be very hard to 'recover' from last chemo - often the hardest round for the dose dense type, and especially when labs are marginal going into it....and then there is upcoming rads right when maybe we start to feel human again. We are far from done. I think I get more freaked out hearing about what other problems and illnesses we are now susceptible to from having had chemo, than being worried about any recurrence of breast cancer.

My last chemo is hopefully in a few hours, if blood work OK. I am going to celebrate tonight, but that just means a nice dinner out with my love, which I did last round too since food will taste the best before my taste buds go downhill in a couple of days and stay crappy for weeks. I will need to get through radiation and recover from that too before I really feel like celebrating more. Reconstruction is another road.

Sorry Kim and MDW for your rough days. Extra hugs your way too!

Hooray Kim though, for back to work this week - hope it goes well!!

MDW - I hope some mental/emotional weight was lifted after meeting with the surgeon.

I'm off to take the dogs for a lame run before my appts today. My muscles are still bad and the steroids don't seem to be helping as much as they did last round, but I will run a bit anyway, because F*&$! cancer!

love to you all! xoxox

Kimmer33

go Andra!!!

MDW1967

So, mastectomy it is.

The meeting w/my onc surgeon yesterday went about the way I expected. We reviewed the results from my mammo and MRI and discussed the problematic nature of my cancer. The biggest issue is that the DCIS calcifications, per the MRI, appear to extend over a larger area than was indicated in the early tests. Accounting for that, plus getting good margins...well, the amount of tissue removal would be pretty significant. Not to mention that there is the IDC lesion to address as well.

Ultimately, she said that based on the results, she estimated a 30-40% likelihood that we could try lumpectomy--which she was supportive of if I wanted to try--and then still ultimately end up having to go back in and do a mastectomy once the final pathology was in. I really don't want to risk going through that. I decided that, given my situation, with multiple cancers in various places in the breast, the safest route is mastectomy.

It was a hard decision to make, and emotionally a bit gutting. Especially when she confirmed that it's extremely likely I'll need to do rads, so reconstruction will have to wait for a number of months. But she did confirm that, at Stanford, plastic surgeons at least *will* perform reconstruction on irradiated breasts--which I understand is not something all surgeons will do. While I was there yesterday, I made an appointment to meet with the plastic surgeon again--later today, actually...the only opening he had for the next couple of weeks. I'm glad I won't have to wait to discuss reconstruction. I'm just at the point where I want to have a general idea of what will happen and when. Now that I've made my decision, I'm ready to move forward.

Kimmer: I really hope going back to work went all right for you. I hope it wasn't too exhausting, and that it felt good to be back.

Andra: I hope the run with your dogs felt good--or at least not bad! And I hope that your blood work was okay, and that you're now getting your last chemo! Enjoy dinner tonight with your sweetheart.

Kimmer33

MDW I am happy you made the decision to go with a mastectomy. I had one, and didn't have as many issues as you do in your one breast. Now you won't need to worry as much. And especially, if you had a lumpectomy, having to go back in after pathology and take the rest of the breast, just too much. The decision for me was easy, I don't want the worry, and I have never loved my boobs anyways. Off to radiation I go, all my doctors are saying it will be a walk in the park - I don't know what park they are talking about, I wish they would let me know!

Hope your day went well and chemo happened Andra! All the best for your recovery if it did happen!

I got a call from the breast clinic saying my mammogram on my right breast came back all good, so now to find a surgery date. This can't happen soon enough for me.

Hope you are doing better Durhamgirl and ncsue!

homeschool4us

Hey everyone! I was thinking I posted here over the weekend, but I must have started writing and never actually submitted it. Last week I had my every 3 week appt with my mo. I told her I was beginning to get very depressed and anxious about upcoming scans. I told her I was scared that they will find cancer everywhere. She assured me that if I had had a huge spread of cancer when I was first diagnosed, I would have been symptomatic and I wasn't. She said if there was anything it was likely small and could very well be gone completely after all of this treatment. She also said IF they find anything now, it will be small and treatable. She did say that it would shorten my life though. She said if I was stage 4 I probably wouldn't live to be 80, but who knows. Perjeta wasn't available 2 years ago and here I am getting it now. She said she fully expects my scans to be clear though. I felt much better after talking with her. Se does want to wait on a rads consult until after my scans, will be after our trip, so March 28th.

She also said almost every single person feels anxious and scared at the end of treatment. She said we focus so much on just getting through treatment and it's SE'S while we are going through chemo, that when we are done we don't have that anymore to concentrate on and we start to panic about what we have just been through and what the future holds. Couple that with not being under the constant care of our MO anymore and it's all too much.

DurhamGirl

Hi everyone! Many thanks for everyone's kind wishes and help lifting me out of my hole this weekend. I think my mental state matched my energy level--low, low, low! But since Sunday, I've been on an upswing in terms of energy and emotional state. I think I emerged from the "chemo fog," hopefully for the last time. I still have tinnitus, upset tummy, awful looking skin, a weird fuzzy head, etc...but I'm done with chemo! I still have Herceptin and Perjeta until mid-October and rads starting mid-February, but I think I'm getting my energy back to keep pushing onward. Thanks to you all for your support!

Good luck to everyone this week and beyond...

Kimmer33

Good to hear Durhamgirl! I too have a fuzzy head - it's growing I think, from what was stubble, but it's really soft and WHITE!!! LOL!!!! I feel like an old man...

MDW1967

Kimmer: Thanks for the supportive thoughts about my decision. Now that I've come to terms with having a mastectomy, I feel a sense of relief. Partly it's just finally knowing what's going to happen, and not having that decision over my head anymore. I've never been incredibly attached to my boobs, either. They frankly were always these things that got in my way when it came to running and other sports, or trying to find clothes that fit right. I appreciated them when I was nursing my son, but other than that, meh. I'm glad your right breast mammo came back all clear and I hope your doctors are right--that radiation *is* a walk in the park--a really pretty park with nice walking paths and no dog poop in the grass.

Homeschool: I'm SO glad your MO predicted such positive things about your upcoming scans. Everything she told you makes sense, and I hope that news helps you to be able to relax and enjoy your upcoming trip. As far as what she says about heightened anxieties as people come to the end of treatment...that all makes perfect sense, too. I'm not really near the end of my treatment overall, but I know that as I'm coming out of the last chemo round fog, I finding myself brooding a lot over the future.

DurhamGirl: Very glad to hear you're on an upswing and getting your energy back! I'm in the same place. Still battling some side effects, but they're starting to subside; it began to sink in today: wow, I really don't have to go back in a week and a half for another infusion!!!

Onward and upward.

Kimmer33

Good evening ladies!

Just checking in to see how everyone is doing!

Hoping the fact that Andra hasnt posted means she had her final chemo yesterday! Hope side effects arent too bad Andra!

Hope everyone is having a good week

Jedrik

Hi there,

it is getting rather quiet in here with everyone winding up chemo treatment and putting their minds to whatever is to follow.

I already miss you a bit, even if I haven't been here long.

Since monday I'm in my last chemo cycle. So far business as usual except for being more tired, but unfortunately I don't sleep any longer. I am starting to feel some neuropathy in fingers and feet, but nothing really painful or stoping me from needlework (mostly knitting and bobbing lace making) or moving about as usual. With circulation nearly back to normal I'll try a bike ride today, see how that goes. There is this hope that I can now regain some of my strength and stamina, even if there's still surgery and likely radiation to go through. So there, all good on this side of the Atlantic.

Andra, when I read you comment, I thought about my very very tight neck and shoulder muscles, and calves, too. I don't notice most of the time, high pain threshold, lot's of distraction, and an automatic set of movements to relieve the worst of it, but it's there and I suppose it's a bit of a mental thing, I suspect prolonged fight mode, maybe even caused be steroids? Which, incidentally, make the body store excess fluid. If that makes any sense to you? My plan is to look into progressive muscle relaxation. I might benefit from that in the long term, too, if I can get into it. How are you doing with chemo this last cycle?

BellaV: Congrats. What a cool way to make last chemo treatment into a little celebration. You are getting through this cycle allright, I hope?

ncsue: So true about wanting to be finally through with this bit of treatment - and the reat of the world not getting it that it's not done with the infusion. Can you imagine Mr. Jedrik telling me that there's no reason for me to sleep in the guest room just because he has a cough since I'm now done with chemo and now it won't matter if I catch his cold? I suppose I never made it cleat enough what this stuff does to me. Not enough whining maybe, if you get my drift? Anyway, it's good to have you and see I'm not alone in this.

DurhamGirl, Kimmer33: I wish both of you strength to ease back into normal life without fear taking the joy out of it. We all fought for life, so we might as well enjoy it now that we got an encore. This may sound really weird to you, but I take example in the stage IV sisters group whenever I seem to be sliding. To see these strong ladies handle themselves and read how there's always one more thing that can be done helps me relax a little. Even if I hope I never have to go there.

And, Kimmer33, great to hear you got an all clear. Please report about that walk in the park as I'll be likely facing that, too.

MDW: I'm glad to hear you made a decission and are confident to go with it. The situation in my left breast is much the same as your's. On diagnosis there wasn't just the IDC and the DCIS, but the MRI showed a fireworks of tiny cancer clusters. The one difference: There was never any doubt that breast had to go entirely and rads are pretty likely, too, even though I hope, rather irrationally, that I'll be spared this further delay and risk. My attitude towards my breasts is much like your's: After I nursed my boys which made them sort of melt downwards they were mostly a nuisance, especially since wearing a bra for a prolonged time drives me nuts and pretty clothes don't fit without. So I think I can let them go, even if some sadness about loosing a part of me might creep in every now and then.

homeschool4us: You've got a great mo. So good to read she could help you out of this hole of incecurity, doubt and fear. Looks like you might be enjoying that long planned trip to the full. My best wishes will accompagny you.

Andraxo

I posted yesterday and somehow it seems to have vanished. I saw it multiple times. Baffled because I even edited a typo right after posting. I'll post again later. Just sucks to re-type.

Andraxo

So Tuesday morning my truck wouldn't start and I had to bum a ride to the lab and appts since my partner was at work and meeting me there a little later just for the chemo. Labs were good so chemo went off as planned (yay!), though a bit late since oncology was backed up. It was so anticlimactic. By the time chemo was done around 4pm there seriously wasn't even another patient in the infusion clinic - it was an oddly empty day for them.

Before they started the infusion I was looking through some pictures with my partner on his iphone. Pics I asked him to take in the surgeon's office during my first post-op visiting after bilateral mastectomies, topless, with drains in. I'm smiling in most of them, but for a few I was not and you could really see emotional pain on my face. I started crying just looking at those pictures. I felt so bad for my partner...who has had to watch my body change, my thoughts get muddled, and see this cancer keep taking from me. I do recognize though that is has also given to me. We are closer because of all of it. I am also more grateful for my wonderful life, even coming from a gratitude perspective to begin with. I became sad and started crying again when I typed this out yesterday and now it is it happening again. Better move on...

I typed more yesterday, but I'm just not motivated to write much more now. Side effects kicking in, mostly taste bud and mouth/throat crap and headache thus far. Trying to work from home, but it is boring...wish I was on-site at work. It is a beautiful day though and I spent about an hour outside walking with the dogs in the arroyo!

Really happy to see everyone getting good and reassuring answers from oncologists and surgeons, peace of mind, and making decisions to move forward in so many areas. It really will all be OK for us in the long run! We all have great lives to live!

love and hugs to all! Hope you are feeling well!

- Andra xo

MDW1967

Hi everyone,

This has been a weird day. I didn't have any issues with the Big D yesterday and I've started to eat a little more "normal" food. I was feeling so optimistic that I even took most of the go-to side effect meds I've been keeping on the kitchen counter and put them away in the closet where we keep most of our meds and personal care stuff. Today, I had to go haul out the Immodium and Pepcid again.

Also, I'm curious as to whether anyone else has this particular side effect: does anyone get a kind of zero-taste thing happening in their mouth after eating? This has been pretty consistent for me through the rounds. Post-infusion, I get the metallic taste, and the thing where most things tastes all wrong, and that goes on for a week or so. Then mid-cycle, as my ability to taste food is beginning to come back, I have this awful, blank, absence-of-taste thing in my mouth that goes away only when I'm actually eating something. You wouldn't think that having no taste in your mouth would be a big deal, but it's weird and somehow disgusting. It's also often combined with seeming to overproduce saliva--saliva which also has that no-taste quality. Bleagh. Anywhere, that's the stage I'm in now.

Jedrik: I hope you had a good bike ride! Your left breast situation sounds very similar to mine. I almost wish I had just known from the start that lumpectomy was off the table. But no matter; I'm feeling better every day about my decision. I, too, have been hoping almost irrationally that I might be spared rads, because that adds time to the whole process of getting through treatment. That said, given my lymph node involvement, I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the rads. Would that we could all be through this journey more quickly.

Andra: Your description of the pics on your partner's phone brought tears to my eyes, too. I've been imagining what it will be like to look down at my body and see a familiar part gone. I've imagined my husband and 7-year old son seeing my missing breast (we're not habitually super modest in our house, so we see each other though in various states of undress pretty regularly), and how weird it might feel for them...as well as how sad they might feel for me. It's all too much to take in, really. It's overwhelming. But I am held up every day by their love and support, and I know without a doubt that they will love me even at my most broken. There is really so much to be grateful for, even in the midst of this mess.

I hope the side effects will be kind to you, and I'm really glad you were able to get your last chemo over with!

Kimmer33

Andra, good to hear you are finished, as anti-climactic as it was. For me, it's a little too soon to look at photos earlier in my diagnosis. I see things at work, or at home that I haven't touched in 6 months, and I can't believe what i've been through since then, it's very raw still.

I saw my oncologist yesterday about starting tamoxifen and she went through SE's, etc. and so I picked up tamoxifen today at the cancer center pharmacy. Ready for another round of treatment, this one for 5 years. I decided to take it at the same time as rads, upon recommendation by my MO - may as well start, nothing to lose.

I have had a fantastic week back at work, I was missed and it feels very good! I honestly do not feel like I had chemo just 2.5 weeks ago. I have bounced back and so absolutely thankful for that.

Looking forward to rads starting Feb. 15. We've listed our house for sale, and plan to move closer to my husband's work. This was something we started last year, in May, and then my diagnosis happened. We put our move on hold while I got treatment, so now hopefully we'll be looking at a June move closer to the city of Vancouver, so this will be my life - keeping my house clean and "show ready" every single day - hopefully it sells quickly, and we can move on with our empty nest life!

MDW, sorry about the mouth "no taste" thing - that's gross, maybe try sparkling water (San Pellegrino) with lemon & ice? That was my go-to throughout treatment.

Jedrik, all the best as you hit the light at the end of the tunnel with chemo! Yay! And yes, I've fought for this life through treatment, I plan to live it with all I have!

Have a nice evening ladies!

Andraxo

Oh yes MDW - my taste buds issue is similar. I almost snack constantly because while I'm actually eating it is OK (spicy crunchy still best, fruit sometimes good too) but about 10 minutes after I'm done, it is awful again. And the over salivating....bleh. It's been my most consistent and worst side effect every round (except for the muscle thing that started around New years).

Sounds like you have a wonderful family!! As you said, so much to be grateful for! I feel so fortunate that my partner gives me so much love and support and still thinks I am beautiful. I am so loved! I know most of my sadness for what he has gone through in this process is actually my own projection/issue, not his...if that makes sense.

- xo

AmyBeader

Hello everyone. Just popping in for a quick update. I did not have my last round of chemo on Tuesday due to the neuropathy. I did have Herceptin, and despite everyone saying it would be a piece of cake I've still had some side effects. Nausea and flu like symptoms. Not nearly as bad, but still a bit discouraging!

I saw my radiation oncologist last week and we are set for the CT set up on February 22 with radiation to start the following Monday. I am hoping they can approve the Canadian protocol which is a shorter course (21 treatments). I have tamoxifen in my future as well but I'm not sure if my MO will wait until after radiation to start it.

MDW- I definitely had the same taste issues and over-production of saliva every chemo round. Stuff just didn't taste right-ever. It has gotten better, but still lingering. Tomorrow is my birthday and my husband is taking me out to a really nice steak restaurant. Really looking forward to a nice steak and glass of wine!

I've been focusing on catching up on my scrapbooking which I pretty much abandoned when we moved 4 years ago and I started using a digital instead of a film camera. I've decided that I really need to get these albums done, and I've thrown myself into this new task. I think it is helping me to not wallow, which I had been doing after round 5.

I get all your posts by email and have been reading them all. But it's hard to respond, especially if I'm just on my phone. Wish it was as easy as facebook to reply!

It is nice to hear of others finishing up chemo. It feels good to be moving on to the next phase-like we are making progress.

Hoping for a good weekend for you all-peace, rest and minimal side effects!

Amy