Starting chemo August 2017 - would love some moral support!

Blair2

Cherry - yeah - that’s good. I meant drugs ending in “cin” rather than with the “my”. My head is so confused looking at all the drugs that cause harm to the heart. It’s fine for those of you without heart conditions. I talked briefly with the oncologist nurse today and I will not be given neulasta either. I was told my treatment is considered mild - I wonder if they mean less amounts of taxotere/cytoxan- ha - I wish, but will find out later this week.

I’m such a mess - Talked to my hairdresser today to let her know she will most likely have to give me a buzz cut. She said depending on the amount of loss, she recommended just a pixie to start, then if it was really falling out, she would buzz it off for free. That was nice - even coming to my house.

I’ve pretty much decided to go with this - I don’t want to die of cancer - would rather have a heart attack. However, we could all end up with some other unrelated cancer. I pray we all conquer this evil devil and live many more years.

PauletteK

Blair - don’t think about it too much, follow your MO instructions and you will be fine. I didn’t buzz my hair until second round of AC, you can have a pixie style now and play wait and see.

Blair2

Thanks Paulette, I’ll try to be brave. Part of my problem is I don’t trust my body anymore at this age

Are you going to have radiation next?

KByTheLake

Blair2, I just finished a similar chemo to whatyou are about to start. It wasn't nearly as hard as I expected. The fear of the unknown is so awful—I was expecting a nightmare but the actual experience wasn't even close. It wasn't fun but it was tolerable. I'm sure you'll get through it just fine!

Karen

PauletteK

yes Blair, my next step is radiation, how old are you? Maybe we are about the same age.

Cherry-sw

Blair2, I have been reading a lot about chemo during past two months, even talking to my doctors, reading national guidelines and the research results the guidelines are based on. I thought you were getting DD Taxol but now see that it is TC, which is a baseline treatment for your tumor since you have no node involvement. It is not any chemo light though, you are getting an aggressive treatment and your doctors aim at getting rid of bc. You are receiving a taxan and a cyclophosphamide combined, it is more aggressive than a taxan alone. An anthracycline is even more aggressive but in your case may be an overkill. As they say, your tumor is gone and there is a possibility that you do not nee any further treatment. Seven of ten women may not need anything more than a surgery and anti-hormonals, one of ten will relapse in spite of treatment and for the remaining two the treatments will make the difference. They just do not know who of those women will/will not need treatment and therefore treat everyone aggressively. Your Grade 3 and high Ki67 making you an absolute candidate for chemo even though the Ki67 is not considered to be very significant, there is no so much research on the field. You are doing everything to prevent it from coming back.

sweetp6217

PauletteK - So thrilling that you had your last chemo! I hope your bad days get better. Thanks for the encouragement. It's really hard to avoid sugars. At least the power salads greens are good, boiled eggs, kiwi.

Blair2: Best wishes for your upcoming treatments. I recently had my echo/stress test and mine was better this time than before I began Chemo including Herceptin. I'll be getting Herceptin for an entire year ending in July 2018, every 3 weeks, I believe. When I mentioned to my Och that my heart likes to palpatate and rarely experiences bradycardia, he got me hooked up with a cardiologist who also went through BC treatment a couple of years ago. Also, the day after chemo, I go in for a Neulasta shot for WBC boost. Day of chemo, I begin taking one Claritin daily for a few days...said to help prevent pain in the legs/feet. The BC team didn't knock down that idea, some even recommended it. I did ask my doctor before starting that.

P.S. Thanks for the info on rads. I'll be asking about True Beam for sure!

willow2: thanks for the kind words. If I can just get this last one done, that'd be something!-

Cherry - Great looking cake. Numm Numm!

Blair2

Karen - did you have 4 rounds?

Good luck with radiation Paulette- I’m 68. I’ll be following your progress with that too.

Cherry - sorry if I confused the drugs, the appreviations throw me off too - not as savvy as you young things! I will soon list my chemo at the bottom of my posts, so you all know where I stand. It took me a while to figure out why the treatments and diagnosis info wasn’t showing. I wasn’t clicking on the public world icon in the settings. Well dah.

I just got back from my dentist. Thought it would be a simple cleaning. Nooooooo - she warned me I had two small cavities forming at the baseline of my bottom side crowns. So she filled those (to save them also - crowns are a $1000 each) and to protect them from becoming worse during treatments. So I reluctantly had them filled - at a half crown price - ugh! She also gave me a sample of the Biotin mouth rinse for dry mouth syndrome, and a gel to put around my gums called Clinpro 5000 that will keep the bacteria down and protect my teeth during treatments. Geese - I’ll be broke in no time at this rate.

Are mouth sores like canquer sores, and anyone have tooth problems caused from treatments? Being 68 - I’m preCrest and flourish generation with lots of fillings and crowns.

I soappreciate any and all info!

Cherry-sw

Willow, ok if some food is still allowed to bring to US then ask your husband to buy some candy, especially those mixed candies that are sold per weight, he can find it at any grocery store. He can mix whatever he wants in the same bag. Sweden has good chocolate brands, a candy box by Marabou is really good, make sure he would pick the red one called Alladin. For any cured meat or or smoke fish this flight is too long but I hope he will enjoy it while staying here. If he would have been in Stockholm I would have meet him and send some of those things I mentioned to you. He is about two hours drive from here though Cherry

Cherry-sw

Willow, ok if some food is still allowed to bring to US then ask your husband to buy dome candy, especially those mixed candies that are sold per weight, he can find it at any grocery store. He can mix whatever he wants in the same bag. Sweden has good chocolate brands, a candy box by Marabou is really good, make sure he would pick the red one called Alladin. For any cured meat or or smoke fish this flight is too long but I hope he will enjoy it while staying here. If he would have been in Stockholm I would have meet him and send some of those things I mentioned to you. He is about two hours drive from here though. Cherry

Cherry-sw

Are you all eating healthy during the treatment? Because I am not, my taste was not affected by Taxol, but I assume it will be by EC.I could eat everything and I did which gained me a lot of weight. I plan to eat healthy after the treatments but during chemo my nurse told me that we have to eat a lot of proteins so the cells will be able to rebuild themselves otherwise they will be taking protein from the muscles. I even eat a lot of sugar because it gives quick energy and also sense of satisfsction. With other words I do indulge myself, a lot.Cherry

PauletteK

Cherry - I was more healthy when I was with AC, somehow taxol changed my taste buds I like sweet so I ate a lot of sweet breads. Now I’m going to change it back slowly. Trying to cut the bread out. Also learning to eat more vegetables less meat.

Blair - I have been using Biotene mouth wash and toothpaste because of dry mouth problem, and I dental floss at night, I’m keeping my figures crossed hope my teeth are okay I haven’t have cleaning since March. I had some gums issues back in AC. I’m only few years younger than you so we are atgolden age.

Blair2

Oh dear - I wonder what I will want to eat. I think if the taste buds are effected, youjust have to eat whatever appeals to you. I’m use to balancing my meals because of my heart disease, but I’m sure I will slip on a few non-heart healthy foods due to the influence of these drugs.

Paulette, Yes - I turned 68 last month. I can’t believe how fast the last 10 years have gone. Now with two life threatening diseases, you count your blessings more than your problems. I’ve got so much I want to do - no time for being sick

PauletteK

Blair - one day at a time, I’m not going to rush through life. Each day is a new day for me. It means more to me now then before.

KByTheLake

Blair2, I did have four rounds. My last one was three weeks ago. I didn’t have many side effects—mostly fatigue, diarrhea, and trouble sleeping. OTC stuff took care of the diarrhea, lorazepam took care of the sleeplessness, and the fatigue only lasted five days after rounds 1-3. Round 4 really did me in and I’m still feeling pretty tired. I’m getting better, just not as fast as I’d like!

Cherry, I am not eating very healthy during treatment. My taste wasn’t affected but my appetite has been awful. I eat whatever appeals to me. I eat out a lot, which isn’t very healthy, either. But cooking has seemed too difficult.

Blair2

Kbythelake - I'm glad you didn't suffer too much and I'm sure you are so relieved the treatments are over. Yey-hallelujah! I'm going to be on exact same cocktail, so I hope that I react similarly. I still wonder if there are different amounts administered to each person according to their case. How soon did your hair fall out? Also, did your white cell blood count stay stable

toughcookie_21

Cherry, I had been eating really healthy before surgery; mostly vegetarian with as many meatless days as possible and no sugar or white carbs. Then after surgery, I didn't have much of an appetite and I had several people who cooked for us, and I ended up eating a lot of pasta. Then when chemo started, everything went by the wayside and I'm eating terribly. I've been craving sweets and of all things, hoagies (you might know them as heros or submarines- they're made from lunch meats and usually have lettuce and tomato as well as oil and vinegar. I could eat one every day!) I need to get back on track. Although I haven't gained weight, I have lost muscle. It is going to be a long road to recovery. I will start running on the treadmill and plan to go back to eating clean in January after chemo is done. I think I may hop over to the what's for dinner thread. I never know what to make for dinner!

Willow22

Hi ladies - I hope everyone is having a good week!

Blair - sounds like you have the same chemo as I finished - 4 rounds of taxotere/cytoxan, 3 weeks apart. I agree with Karen - it was much easier than I expected it to be! Doctors use a formula to estimate your body surface area, and give a certain amount of medicine per meter squared. From what I read, it is a more accurate way to calculate the best therapeutic dose for chemo drugs compared to just basing it on weight. I think mouth sores are more common with adriamycin, but some ladies have gotten sore areas on gums and inside of cheeks with TC. My MO highly recommends swishing baking soda & salt water after eating, and I did that very religiously for the first couple treatments. I didn't have any problem with mouth sores and became a little lax about rinsing, and ended up with a tiny sore spot after treatment #3. went back to swishing after eating and it cleared up quickly and no further problems. I used 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking soda in 1 cup of water - mixed it up daily in a glass bottle - rinsed with about 1 oz. I also really liked the biotene sensitive formula toothpaste, because my regular brand and even the sensodyne gentle formula were just too bitingly strong flavored during chemo. My white counts dropped significantly after each round, and I received neupogan shots to help bring them back up more quickly (short acting white blood cell growth stimulating shots). I had chemo on Friday, and would get shots on weds, thurs & fri of the next week. Similiar to the fatigue, the low WBC counts were kind of cumulative for me.... by the 3rd and 4th treatment, my WBC weren't returning to as good of a level as they did after treatments #1 and #2.

what to eat - I agree with everyone else - right after chemo, eat what sounds good and you can tolerate, hopefully working in as much protein as possible and also making sure to stay hydrated. That is really important - dehydration can cause nausea and fatigue, and it can quickly become a spiral of not feeling good so you take in even less fluids, especially if you have diarrhea! Water tasted funny to me (how is that even possible?), but for some reason lemon tasted great even when my taste buds were at their worst, so adding lemon juice or great tasting crystallized lemon packets my friend gave me was wonderful (will look them up and post a link later - have other flavors too, but lemon was my favorite!). When my appetite was at it's lowest, having a roasted chicken that I could nibble off of was great, broth soups without a ton of vegies, trader joe frozen mashed potatoes or cooked rice with salt & butter was good too. For me, it was the same kind of simple comfort foods as if I had the flu.

don't know if you'll have steroid pills for a few days around your chemo or through the IV on the day of chemo as a premed, but they give you an energy boost, can make it more difficult to relax and fall asleep, and also can increase your appetite. I felt so great coming home after my first chemo, that I ate a big hamburger patty with mushrooms and a huge slice of watermelon.... big mistake (I think mostly the quantity I ate, and the fiber in the watermelon). I ended up with some cramping and diarrhea later that night. I was more careful about eating a sensible amount of food and kind of low key fiber after the next 3 treatments, and no problem with diarrhea, so just be aware that the steroids can kind of mask how your stomach really feels and what it can tolerate.

I know this sounds like a lot to deal with, but you really can do this! You won't get every side effect, and certainly not all at once, so just let yourself rest, listen to your body and ask questions here and with your MO's office to get help for side effects.

do you know when your first treatment is?

Willow

Willow22

cherry - thank you for such a kind offer! with the time difference and my hubby's work schedule, I'm not even sure he made it to a grocery store for the lingonberry jam, but I'm thrilled because he is coming home today! It's been a long trip (he was in the UK for a week before Sweden) so it'll be wonderful to have him home again. BTW, I'm wondering if your Christmas wine spices are similar to Gluhwein in Germany.... my uncle is Bavarian, so they often served red wine simmered with cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices, clove and I think allspice berries at Christmas time.

Willow

Blair2

Willow- I’m scheduled for the 21st. That’s next Tuesday. See oncologist this Friday to discuss drugs, but nothing has been said about port yet. Lorazepam and prochlorper are waiting for me to pick up from pharmacy, but not in a rush for that. However, my nerves could probably use the anti anxiety pills.

Thanks so much for the soda/salt info. I’m writing notes in my little notebook that my friend gave me. Cooking will be a pain. When I’m sick, I might just eat toast and soup, I will remember to keep drinking lots of water. I’m sure I’ll have stomach problems. At my age, the digestive system is easily messed up.

I do not like steroid drugs. My mother’s health was effected by too many steroids in her system for other medical problems, and vowed myself never to take them. However, if that’s all they can use for WBC levels, then I may not have any choice.

I do appreciate your positive attitude and help! Now I will attempt to post a cheer up photo of my silly notebook! Study it closely

Willow22

blair, I LOVE your notebook!!! Where did your friend find it?

Steroids - from what i remember of my chemo teach, i think they are given to prevent or minimize your body reacting to the chemo meds. I dont think they have any impact on protecting blood cells or helping them rebound quicker. My sister-in-law also has issues after higher dose, long term steroid therapy for IBS and another fam member for COPD, but my dose was fairly small during each of the 4 chemo sessions, so not the same dose or duration. Ask during your med discussion - i think they will be able to put your mind at ease about the steroids.

Willow

KByTheLake

Blair2, I am thrilled to be finished! My WBC actually stayed pretty high throughout but I got the Neulasta shot each time. My hair started falling out about Day 13 or 14. I went to my hairdresser and had her give me a buzz cut right away. I just didn't think I could handle it falling out on it's own. I ended up buying eight wigs in different colors and styles—kind of became an obsession! Lately I've been sticking with caps because it's so cold lately and the wigs aren't as warm.

My MO told me the steroids keep the SE under control those first few days. I’m diabetic so I was concerned about my blood sugar getting out of control. But he said the first few days after chemo would be pretty awful without the steroids so I took them. My blood sugars did go up but now they’re getting back to normal again.

I love your notebook

Blair2

Willow - hopefully so about the steroids. Plus - they have probably much better medicine now compared to what my mother took back when.

The notebook came from CafePress. My friend is an old college roommate, she had a precancerous condition at age 42. Breast cancer ran in her family, so she decided 26 years ago to choose a mastectomy to nip it once and for all. So - she understands what I’m going through except she had no preventative treatments - just breast reconstruction. Conservative breast surgery I guess wasn’t done much then. Her grandmother and mother had breast cancer, so I’m sure it scared her

How is radiation going for you? Please keep us abreast (no pun intended) of your progress.

Blair2

Kbythelake - no telling what anyone’s white blood count will do. Just something I’ll have to face, but with my heart condition- not wanting neulasta if it effects heart. I’ll be doing the same like you with a buzz cut and at least one wig. Broke with medical bills to afford much else! Ugh

PauletteK

Blair- now you have all the info, are you feeling better? Willow gave good info, I think she covered all of them. Listen to your body and pay attention for details.

Prayers and hugs to everyone.

Blair2

Yes, Paulette- you and everyone have been wonderful. My nerves and fear are just hard to handle. Tomorrow and next day will be big preparation days.

I guess I better load up on some crazy foods. I will even buy some cola - I never drink soda, but it might make my stomach feel better or throat, if I need to clear it out. Sugar fix might give me energy. I know we all need to eat healthy, but I may need some junk food now and then to get through it.

I’ve been trying to avoid soy - they say that’s bad in that it’s “food” for cancer, but it’s in everything. I can’t figure out why they have to put it into foods if it’s that harmful.

Went to a store today to look for cotton scarves and they were playing Christmas music - it depressed me thinking how awful I would be by then. I couldn’t shop long. Spending it alone this year too doesn’t help. Can’t travel, and my family lives elsewhere - they can’t come. Not good, but that’s life. If I won’t feel good, doesn’t matter anyways

Willow22

blair, if you get soda, i would suggest ginger ale or 7-up if you are founf to buy soda... even for me being an ex-diet coke junkie who loves the taste (quit 3 years ago), there is no way my stomach couldve handled coke during chemo! Herbal tea is great too.

Check out the link for breast cancer freebies posted on the breastcancer.org resource page... i emailed the xompany who makes queasy drops and received a free box of the raspbwrry antinausea candies (they were really good and effective!). Kritti rexeived free house cleaning sessions. I think cherry received a beautiful head scarf (she paid shipping since she is in sweden) and someone else a free wig. My cancer resource center offers 1 free new or gently used wig and hat/scarf, and i think the american cancer society does too. There were also links for free ymca classes for cancer survivers either during or after treatment, so check it out! I loves ths goodie bag from my "look good, feel better" class, and it was also nice to connect with other women dealing with all this.

Willow

PauletteK

Get yourself some lemons, I put Nuun in my water on chemo day so I can have some taste in my water. Herbal green tea decaf would be a good one. Trader Joe got some good frozen food, I used them. Also I made beef and vegetables soup big pot so I can drink it for few days. You can add noodles in your soup. Get some crackers because I found myself eating cracker in middle of the night. This steroid can make you super hungry.

Blair2

Lemons and 7-up it is! Thanks for the scoop on freebies. I did hear that some society is suppose to give out wigs. I’m not a huge fan of just plain water, so lemon sounds good. Is thecaffeine in regular ice tea bad to drink? I never cared for green tea much, but I know it’s supposed be better for you.

PauletteK

When you do chemo, caffeine drink won’t count as fluid you take in, so I usually drink decaf tea.