Starting Chemo May 2008

Yeah, Karin!  Congrats!  Pick yourself out a celebratory cake, though hopefully not one of these!

http://www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ 

Off to the lake.  See you guys there! You are my lodestone, my good luck charm.  Couldn't go to chemo this morning without checking in.  (I have 9 minutes to shower, get out of my pajama, and create the illusion of health for my onco!)

Cristine,

 I am not until next week, the 7th for my LAST TAC!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!  My only complaint (possible) is that my Aunt Charlotte AND my SIL want to come for the last one and they have both given me so much support I don't feel like I can say it might be too much company.......

Rock, I'm sending (BACK TO DD) vibes to your onc, RIGHT NOW.....

Love,

Sue

Sending good vibes out to the chemoooooo ladies today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <squish>

woooohoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (weird thing to say congrats about) but woohoo congrats rock!!!!!!!!! Let's hope this time is MUCH easier for you! *wiggles her blue crocs for rock*

YAY Rock!!!!!!!!!!  Totally awesome!!

Roxi.. you are so cute !

Karin, congrats on this being the last!!  Love the pics!

Had an interesting experience at treatment today--was very crowded, so they put me in one of the large exam rooms.  Then they brought back a lady and a man with long hair, pulled back in a pony tail.  They  took the lady to the treatment room as soon as a chair opened.  The man & I started talking, and low & behold, to make a long story short, I actually knew this man when I was growing up in Indiana, he lived a couple of houses behind us and his daughter was my best friend all through grade school & Jr. High.  (She moved to FL)  She moved back a few years later and we worked together in a retail store.  She is coming down to visit him this weekend, so I gave him my number so she could call me.  We had a good conversation, talking about the old neighborhood, brought back a lot of memories.  

Rock--glad you get to go back to your DD!

Hope that everyone is having a great day!  

That is halarious karin! Lovin it! Makes me wonder... should we all do a pole dance on the last day and have pics??? that'd be a hoot.

Yay, ROCK.....YoU rOcK!!!! JET AWAY!!!!!!!

I'll be pole dancing next week---thinking of renting a princess gown, tiara and magic wand for my last chemoooo!!!!!

Hope everyone is feeling well..just another quick pop-in...working every day sucks!!!!!

Love,

Sue 

Yay for all the Wednesday group -- with special shout-outs to Karin, for being DONE, and Rock, for being back on DD.  (I think the weirdness of that last part has already been mentioned - we're celebrating because someone is going to be getting a more intense chemo regimen?? - but as the Mastercard ads might say . . . IV bag of Taxol: $8,600.  Neulasta shot: $3,000.  Bottle of Biotene mouthwash: $7.99.  Being done with chemo: priceless.)

Even as I write that, I get what Noelle is saying about the difficulty of the period immediately after chemo is finished.  I got a little taste of that, from a different perspective, when a friend of mine finished his chemo a number of years back.  After that last treatment, I felt just lost.  Chemo was like a kind of bubble - as long as it was going on, I had this magical faith that nothing bad was going to happen.  The whole routine - blood tests, treatments, checkups - was reassuring.  Being forced to move outside of that bubble was scary.  But of course, I wasn't the one getting methotrexate injected into my spinal canal every 3 weeks. 

He, of course, was absolutely elated when his treatments ended.  Which made me feel both weird and guilty . . . weird for having such a strange reaction (not actually so strange, I realize now, but didn't at the time) and guilty for effectively wishing more chemo on someone I cared about.

But I tell you what - while I know mixed-up, unexpected emotions are a possibility down the road, I'm SO looking forward to that last treatment.  In a totally expected, totally unmixed way.

Sable, on your hair question - I'm betting it IS growing.  I've read on other threads that hair growth (on the head, at least . . . eyebrows and eyelashes seem to be another story) is pretty common while on the taxanes following AC or FEC.  While the casual observer would still describe me as bald as a bowling ball, I personally KNOW that I'm feeling stubble in areas that used to be stubble-less (the nape of my neck is almost fuzzy!).  And there's no way I'm just imagining those wispy hairs sticking straight up on top of my head.  (It's too bad they seem to be coming in white.)

Psyching myself up for the lake tomorrow; prosecco in my IV would sure be nice.

Linda 

Lets try this again.

Treatment went well today.  It was the busiest its every been in the chemo room.  Crazy busy.  My HGB is up to 11.1 (YAY!), Onc still elected to do the Aranesp just to keep it going.  My WBC is down to 2.8 .  He had said last time that he didn't think it would drop enough to do Neulasta.  However, just to cover my bases, I refilled my Neulasta prescription because my pharmacy doesn't carry it as a standard stock.  So today when I told him that I had ordered it, he still felt that I wasn't going to need it...then he looked at my numbers and said Yep, Neulasta.  I so wanted to stick my tongue out at him and say "I told you so".  But I love my Onc and he just hasn't learned, as my DH has, that I'm always right!

Karin - LOVE the pics!  Did anybody tip ya? LOL And congrats on your last T/C.  Celebration time!

Another patient completed her final tx today.  The staff presented her with a non-alcoholic bottle of champagne in celebration.  As she left, we all clapped and congratulated her on her graduation.  MY last tx is 8/13...WOOHOOHOO!!  I can't wait!

For those on the fence/gray area regarding radiation.  Talked to my Onc about it today.  He explained it this way (I also had DCIS).  If you look at an apple and it has a large brown bruise...that is the IDC.  Then you see that it has brown spots around the rest of the apple...that is the DCIS.  The DCIS is separate from the IDC, isn't formed from, or related to, the IDC.  They are their own little buttheads hoping  to make their own IDC party.  This just put a bit more perspective on the situation, especially since I hadn't put any thought into the DCIS and assumed that it was part of the IDC.  I was focused on the lymph nodes and the fact that only one had the tiniest spec of invasion.  So at this point, I'm leaning more towards doing the radiation.  DH and I will discuss it a bit more.  I hope this makes sense and helps those of you that are in my same gray situation.

Linda - good luck tomorrow at the lake!  I HAVE to ask and pray...did you make up an arbitrary dollar figure on the Taxol???  Please say that you did.  I haven't seen any paperwork on it yet as they haven't submitted the charges to insurance yet.  I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the A/C charges.

Sable - My leg hair has been inconsistant.  Through A/C I had to shave twice a week but had no armpit hair at all (YAY).  Then right after A/C, my leg hair was gone.  About 2 weeks later, I felt some stubble and looked real close and saw light colored hair coming in (I have dark hair).  I shaved it and hasn't come back yet.  I never did lose all of my head hair.  I have some new growth and some older tough ones that refused to go.  I do lose some of that off and on, but again its inconsistant.  I'm a baby chia pet or maybe a brillo pad.

Gracie - What a small world!  How cool is that?  You get to meet up with an old friend (a best one to boot) all because you were in tx.  Good things can happen during chemo!

Jean and Rock - how are you doing this evening?  Hope all is well.

Rock - Congrats on moving back to the bi-weekly Taxol treatments!  Glad to know that the day went well for you.  I loved the two cents that you have added & plan to use it as an example. 

Karin - Congrats on the last tx - pole dance pictures were awesome and I plan to bring a camera to my last treatment now as well.  I think a scrapbook is in order (as previously suggested). 

Sable - My onc indicated that hair on my head may grow back during taxol.  I can tell I also have a bit more on the nap of the neck (just as Linda mentioned).  Eyebrows have thinned a bunch, but did not lose them completely.  May happen yet, maybe not. 

I also would like to extend a big thanks to Noelle and Otter for continuing to provide laughs (lots of laughs) and words of wisdom to the rest of the group, despite having completed treatments.

Taxol #2 is now complete - yeah!  Lots of steroids in the system (since I received all via IV this morning only) and typing like crazy.  Oddly enough, my WBC was at 14 today.  They are thinking that it is possible that I have a viral infection (TMI alert), had squirts and stomach pains last couple of days - but still allowed me to take treatment today.  Just had another episode tonight and stomach pains, so calling again tomorrow.   Have my first meeting with my onc rad tomorrow.

Sending positive thoughts to all of the Thursday folks!  Jean

Rock: great news...rock on join the DD train with the rest of us.

Bloodtest today, one stick,who hoo.  3 more blood draws and I will be done. maybe? Put on the timer for my 11 pm steroid booster, then I have to set my alarm clock for the 5 am boost.

Dh will be taking me this is his first CHEMOOOOO and he gets the 5 hour trip.  I plan on sleeping and listerning to me mp3, he will probably head over to the cafeteria and wi-fi.

Wish I could bring the vino and cheese for all of you.  I hope after there will be enough enrgy for me to go shopping for crocs.

CHEMOOOOOO

randie

My dh sent me this and I thought I'd share it with you - it preempts the "Be positive" statement!

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One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck." He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... "Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't."

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Author Unknown

To All

I may be done with my T/C treatments but I'm not done with this thread. I like Otter and Noelle plan on hanging around.

To those going to the lake today hope it is smooth sailing.

Adrienne -  <<<they installed filters that aren't working and won't allow more than 5 posts a day>>> Is it because they aren't working right or is that a new thing where we can only post 5 a day?

Enjoy the day, Karin