Anyone Starting Chemo in June 2016

boobsBgone

I am so inspired to see so many of us toward the finish line.

my radiologist consult is Oct 10 - so we will see what he says about my tx moving forward.

my last drains came out yesterday and I slept the rest of the day - not in the chair, but in a bed on my side. IT WAS AWESOME!

may today be bright and simple!

ClarkBlue

bbbb - I started a fall radiation thread if you want to join in... there are a lot of women that are just starting or have recently started. Would love to see you (and anyone else too!!) over there. :-)

Here's the thread.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/70/topics...

-Keely

Anonymous

I've joined it Keely!

Anonymous

Boobsbgone,

I am so glad that you were able to sleep in a proper bed the other night I hope you enjoyed this very much. When are you due to finish chemotherapy ? I bet you can't wait to be finished. I hope your wins heal very quickly and you have little or no pain . I start my radiotherapy on 10 October. Oh gosh I cannot wait to be done with all of this stuff. Despite me being worried about the stress levels at work just the other day I was starting to actually look forward to going back to work . I think work will make me feel more normal again

damaxx

I was scheduled for my last treatment on Friday. The lab work came back with my white blood cell counts being way too low. Now I have to try again next Friday. I was really looking forward to getting the Chemo part over and done. Maybe next Friday!

boobsBgone

Dolly..chemo ended abruptly for me 2 months ago due to my hospital stays. the only thing i have left is radiation and my consult is Oct 10, so it looks like we start about the same time. I am so afraid of my skin burning. everything has been tough on my body - weak system thanks to my family genes - so hoping this would be easier than the last rounds.

damaxx...hang in there, almost done! you can do it.

Keely - had trouble with the link, will try again (most likely my computer, since it hates me)

I did several new things today since after DMX on the 13th. I did some light laundry, folded some clothes, played with my cats, showered and dressed on my own. A little more of myself each day. I moved back into our master bedroom with my cats, and no one beat on my chest (yeah) - it felt good to have my purring kitties around me .

May everyone feel better every day!

Anonymous

Boobs,

Rads will be fine. It's just like getting sunburn. You will also be given a cream to rub in and soothe yourself. I'm not sure there will be too many SEs from it. Maybe a teeny bit tired have t won't last long!

d

bbbb

Rads going good. Only a 15 minute drive from work and it only takes 15 minutes flat to get the treatment including changing into gown and back into my clothes. Only 23 more to go! I am anxious for my hair to start growing back. Has anyone else's hair started coming back. I am only 5 weeks past chemo but I am impatient!

boobsBgone

bbbb: glad your rads are going good. I have not started yet, a bit nervous. I had my hair start growing back 2 months after chemo ended.

I love hearing we are all almost out of chemo!

bbbb

BBG - Thank you for the information! I was a bit nervous about Rads too but my fear quickly faded this week as I am realizing that it is going to be ok!. I was assured by RO that I would burn in a few weeks so I went shopping this weekend to find a new bra to help with that. I am so glad we are all finishing chemo in this forum. I feel so much like my old self again! I guess that's why I want my hair to grow back! It seems that now that I am feeling normal again, the wig is irritating me! Crazy! But this is a crazy ride - poison in our bodies, tons of meds, massive radiation, everyone looking at your breast, surgeries, but I KNOW that the end is in sight! I am scheduled have hysterectomy in December and that will be the last chapter of this saga. If only I have enough hair to toss the wig by Jan 1 - I can leave this cancer behind!!!

Blessings to all - you all are wonderful warriors!

ClarkBlue

I finished my first week of radiation this week. I agree, it's going to be okay!! 😊

I'm 10 weeks out from chemo and my hair is coming in very thick now. Not very long yet but very thick. Yay!!

-Keely

labscientistmom

Thanks Keely and bbg for the encouragement on how fast your hair is coming back. My last chemo is Tuesday, looking forward to my hair growing back in, it is very sparse. Been busy with stuff, my son's karate, flag football and art class. We had a big branch come down from our backyard tree, so had to cut it up, filled two green cans twice now, almost got it all cleaned up. Hang in there ya'll, we are almost thru this. blessings to all, A

lilyp6

Labs, so good to see you pop up here again! I've been thinking about you. I hope you haven't been struggling too much physically, with everything else you have going on. I have 2 more AC's to go, with the nadir coming up during this work week. I'm happy to hear about your last, and very ready to be done myself.

Anonymous

Hello Everyone,

First of all Labscientist, you must be done with chemo now. Was it not just Tuesday that you had last one? I hope you are doing well and don;t have any horrible SEs on this last one. It amazes me how quickly you start to pick up after that last one. I was a week on the sofa and then off for a weekend break with family.

I start RADS on Monday. I am not looking forward to all the burning that might come but according to my radiologist, if you are quite dark skinned and take a good tan, then you most likely will not have too much burning. I have got my tshirt bras bought for comfort and just cannot wait to have this done with.

I have recently been getting a little down about the time that this cancer thing has cut out of my precious life. I have had 6 months our of work and feel I will take time now to find my feet again. I also am fearful about returning and the effect it could have on health.

I have been thinking long and hard too about Tamoxifen. I was told last week that it would have a 30% benefit!!! I did not think that it was such a big benefit? I was also told that if I had done the chemo bit, it would be silly not to do that final bit. But I am really really not liking the idea of taking these pills.

Anyone else been looking into the results of the SOFT study? I know Keely has done a lot of reading on it. I had taken this study to my docs but they were still keen to put me Tamoxifen rather than anything else.

Dolly

smilethrupain

dollydimples, my MO @ DFCI said that tamoxifen cut the recurrence by half. That is 50% benefit, chemo by another 1/3, ovarian suppression by another 1/3. My concern has been OS /Lupron because I heard that Soft study found OS benefited women under 35 most. In my case OS would be so that I can take AI as opposed tamoxifen, as MO suggests it is more effective

Anonymous

Smile,

I am not sure what to do. I have had a blood test done to find out whether I am premenopausal or menopausal. I think I am premenopausal. So would that mean OS and AI? I am also 46. I guess that's why my onco thinks Tamoxifen is the tablet for me. He said that OS and AIs were seeing best results in women 35 or below. I have an appointment next week to go and see my family doctor to get result of blood test back, but I am going to ask to speak with onc again.

D

smilethrupain

I need to revisit the issue with my MO, as she said, first get through chemo. She just said start on tamoxifen until I makeup my mind about OS, then we would do a test about menopausal status and switch to AI. Talk to you MO.

Anonymous

I have an appointment next week concerning my menopausal status. So I will discuss the issue there.

Heathet

Dolly - my MO said I will most likely take tamoxifen and then some type of OS. She wants to test my hormonal status in a month to see where I'm at with all the chemo out of my system . she said will be monitoring my estrogen levels for the next five years.

On the HER2 board I asked about the SOFT study and this is what one of the members said "SOFT does show about 4% survival difference between Tam + OS vs AI +OS (this being more effective)."

There is so much info my head spins! Once my chemo brain passes I'll be able to keep things straight !

Anonymous

Thanks for that Heather,

I am like you, confused with all the different things I am being told. My doc had said that considering the status of my BC and the fact that I had had chemo and rad, that it might not be worth doing OS and AI as the increase in effectiveness would be small. He said the OS and AI was really for women much younger than me. I am finding out my hormonal status on Wed. So will get reading before that. Doc also said nthing wrong with doing Tamoxifen for first few years and then changing to AI.

Moondust

Hi everyone. I am done with everything except taking arimidex. I have been taking that for a few weeks now, after I stopped taking it for chemo. So far I'm doing okay on it. I switched to the name brand product which supposedly has fewer SE's.

I took a nine day road trip to see some fellow BCO forum sisters in Spokane. The weather was good and I saw the lovely coastal redwoods and the Oregon coast, as well as the Columbia River Gorge. All the scenery was fabulous and it was wonderful to meet the other women! I traveled with my cousin. I learned several life lessons even at my ripe old age of almost 62. The first was, never go on a road trip with someone unless you give it a test run of one night. The second was how not to act if you don't want to be extremely annoying (she drove me nuts!) The third was that it's best to keep the lips zipped and not take the bait when constantly challenged and chided. I was proud of myself for doing that for almost the entire trip, with just a few slips. It is great to be home again where I get to peacefully enjoy the lovely fall weather we are having.

Glad to see that everyone has held on through this whole ordeal and that most of us are on the mend and doing well! Go sisters!!

boobsBgone

Moondust: so glad you are at the end. I feel the same way. with chemo done, sx done and rads starting in a week. i see the silver lining!

SthrnYankee

hello yall! I have spent more time over on Facebook than here, I'm sorry for that! I completed my AC treatments a while back & started on weekly Taxol. I just had #6 of 12 Taxols on Friday. Taxol is not nearly as bad as AC! Although I am more tired, a nap here or there usually helps alot. For some reason I can't sleep good on chemo days...I am deliriously tired after chemo but can't nap well or sleep well at night & often don't get more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep total from Friday evening until Sunday. Sunday nights it is on though...I'm always in bed early & sleep through the night. & my hair is growing back! It looks blonde or white but its hair! So exciting!

I was under the impression that I didn't have to have radiation, recently my surgeon told me I do. That won't be until sometime in January. I will finish chemo Dec 2, then have tissue expander exchange surgery the week after Christmas & then starthe radiation in January. After radiation I will go on Tamoxifen. It sucks to find out that your treatment will take longer to be finished! I was so looking forward to Dec & thinking I could move on in 2017....oh well at least radiation won't take 6 months to complete! I hope every one is doing well!