Starting Chemo May 2008

Options
1…7475777980…247

Comments

  • MsKarin
    MsKarin Member Posts: 647
    edited August 2008

    Sue,

    If I remember right I believe the simulation only took about 30 minutes once I was on the table. The thing that made it so rough on me for this and my run through with x-rays was that both times my arm feel asleep after about five minutes. You can not move. The pain from it became unbearable. Now that treatments have started it is a breeze and once on the table less then 5 minutes. It takes longer to park car and change into gown.

    As for how I'm feeling, great except for missing Rock. How can we not?

    Enjoy the day, Karin

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ellenoire
    ellenoire Member Posts: 674
    edited August 2008

    Sue, you are a bonescan head! You know you can tell us anything! I am soooo glad you have your answers though. 

     I was told the occasional soy in food was no big deal, but no supplementing or vag creams etc. 

    Eddie, I learned the Lutkin version in the college choir and sang it ( badly, through tears) at a close friends funeral last year. 

     Night to everyone, I had a short but pleasant run this afternoon and I feel pretty good. My ds is home from camp for 12 hours and is out again to someones cottage for a few days.

     RanD, I still have numb fingertips after 5 weeks post chemo, if you can avoid it I would.

    Cheers!

     N 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited August 2008

    Sue, that's OK for not telling us about the bone scan.  I know what you mean about "saying it out loud makes it real."  We understand.  You told us your CT scan was clear, and that was true!

    Sometimes we just need time to get our heads around something and figure out how we're going to deal with it, before we tell anybody else.  I waited quite awhile before I told my mom about my BC dx, because I knew she wouldn't handle the news very well.  Mostly I waited because I wasn't handling it so well myself.

    I have no opinion on soy or plant estrogens.  I can't help thinking that phytoestrogens will turn out to pose the same risk as animal-source estrogens.  If they behave like estrogens, they must be binding to estrogen receptors, and that could be bad...  But I have to admit that I neither go out of my way to eat soy stuff, nor bother to read the ingredient labels looking for soy.

    Roxi, that's a great pic!  I'm kind of glad I didn't do a pole dance, 'cause on the day of my last TC tx, there was a guy I know really well from my "other" (work) life, getting chemo in a chair about 5 down from mine.  We had a nice, long talk as I was leaving.  I almost didn't recognize him (funny how that happens with people who've had chemo), plus we were both 110 miles from home.

    So many of us are finishing, or have finished, chemo, and moving on.  I like that this group is hanging together, even though we're doing rads or AI's or whatever.  And, even though we'll need to keep an eye out for some strays that have wandered off, I am pretty sure we'll see them again.  :) 

    otter 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • sueper13
    sueper13 Member Posts: 1,224
    edited August 2008

    Otter, thanks for your strength and understanding.  I think you and I are a lot alike (well, except for the fact that you are so smart, and such a great teacher). Noelle, I know it was a boneheaded move to keep that news to myself, that is why I confessed and apologized.  I do know I can tell you anything. Karin, thanks for your answers about rads.  Now that it is approaching so rapidly, I am finding myself with lots of questions.  I know I can go over to the rads boards, but I don't know those people.....Nancy! Congrats on your last TAC!!!!! I am two weeks ahead of you and still feeling a bit chemo-ish in the mornings, but I think the problem is I unconsciously "expected" to be well as soon as my last TAC was over! And I'm NOT!!!  BUT I WILL BE!!!!

    And to any strays out there tonight, know that you are loved and missed.  And that we await your reincarnation. Kisses and hugs.

    Love,

    Sue 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • drcrisc
    drcrisc Member Posts: 836
    edited August 2008

    Roxi - Marvelous pictures! 

    Eddie - I have to agree with Sue - I love it when you post.  Very down to earth and practical and I love Fiddler on the Roof and I sang that song outloud with the lyrics you posted and could I have any more ands in this sentence! 

    Sue - Glad you're still clear.  You tell us whatever you want in your own way.

    Rock - I'm at a loss for words.  But still, I managed to PM you.

    Karin - Hang in there with those rads and with us!  Like Sue said, we don't know those people...unless we moved and took over the rads boards! 

    I will start asking for roll call over the weekend - 'fess up!!  And pick a good spot - I'm on to my first Taxotere on Thursday!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • sueper13
    sueper13 Member Posts: 1,224
    edited August 2008

    Cris,

    I know I'm done with chemo, but has anyone been to a caribbean beach recently?

    Just a suggestion...

    Love you guys,.

    Sue 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MsKarin
    MsKarin Member Posts: 647
    edited August 2008

    A Tribute to my pal

    I raise a new pink flag

    Enjoy the day, Karin

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MsKarin
    MsKarin Member Posts: 647
    edited August 2008

    Otter,

    Since you finished chemo before we started the pole dancing I found the perfect stand in for you. It also honors our Oink 101 pal and friend. Here's to the both of you.

    Enjoy the day, Karin

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ellenoire
    ellenoire Member Posts: 674
    edited August 2008

    Hey sue, I did not mean to make you feel bad about not telling us. I truly meant that you did not owe us an apology for not telling us. You can tell us anything anytime anyhow .... with no explanations or apologies needed.

     I have a bad habit of dashing things off, not reading them and submitting them.

    Took me a minute... but I get it now.

     OINK.

     Chemooo and all that jazz!

     N 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sable
    Sable Member Posts: 738
    edited August 2008

    Sue~ i'm so glad your scan turned out great. And I can also understand not saying it out loud so it is not real. I think I have said the "c" word out loud maybe 3 times since this has started. I'm not sure if I am not saying it because I don't want it to be a part of my 7 yr olds vocabulary or that I am still in denial myself after all this mess. You think I'd get it by now LOL.

    I miss rock. I was afraid something like this was going to happen and the group would break up early and here I would sit. So with that in mind I'm going around supergluing your butts to your seats to you can't go anywhere lol.

    I can see you guys on the other shore waiting. Are eddie and I the last 2 to dive and swim? It's so close yet so far away. And I'm blowing up my floaties as fast as I can get air into them! I even have a turtle ring to wear as I swim across.

    Spent last nite achy and hot/cold/hot/cold. Damn hotflashes. Most I have going on at this point is my fingernails hurt like they are bruised. And across my shoulders ache pretty good. I'm hoping for the best this time around.

    I hope everyone is having a great weekend! mucho besos! Jen

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • angelsaboveus
    angelsaboveus Member Posts: 298
    edited August 2008

    Sue congrats on clean scans and you can move on. Those of us going on to rads, we don't have to leave this sight we can just pave the way for the others behind us , and help each other through and hang on to friendships that bond us here !  Karin glad to hear your last few rads have gone well, this is good to hear with it looming ahead!

    sable, Eddie and any one else coming over,... I have a water trampoline that will be set up in the river for you so you can just jump to the other side Cool

    Enjoy your weekend !Innocent

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • drcrisc
    drcrisc Member Posts: 836
    edited August 2008

    Jen - You and Eddie are definitely NOT the last ones.  I think I may be the last-last for chemo (Oct. 30).  I know Eddie and Kristy and a few others will have herceptin for a while, but I don't know if anyone else is with me on the chemo that late.  Anyone?!  I know we lost a few other members early on to delays that pushed them into June.  You guys better hang in there with me!!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited August 2008

    Hey, Sable, Eddie, Randie, Gracie, Angels, Cris, Hood (part-time from the August group), anyone else? [Edited to add Cristine]:

    Otters love to swim, so I'll come over and help you across when it's time.  I'll swim right beside you, maybe doing some back flips and spirals just to make it more fun, and you'll be across in no time!

    Karin, thanks--that's my kind of pole dance!  Not too sure about the lace petticoat, but the bald head looks soooo familiar--plus, she's wearing a cap, like I do!

    Sue, I'm not too sure about the Caribbean beach right now.  Fay is swirling around just south of me (right along the coast of the Florida panhandle):  http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200806.html

    There are also two other suspicious low-pressure areas out there, headed for the islands:  http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200894_model.html

    http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200895_model.html 

    (That website--www.wunderground.com/tropical--is one of my favorite sites for monitoring things during hurricane season.)

    ......  Oops.  Our power just went out for a minute. .... Back on again--all is fine.

    Y'all have a great weekend.  I'll probably be watching Olympics, wall-to-wall.  [Edited:  Maybe not.  All NBC is showing right now is boxing, which I hate.  Their other "Olympics" networks are not showing Olympics this morning.  Drat.]

    Hugs to all, especially our beloved "stray"--

    otter 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gracie713
    Gracie713 Member Posts: 302
    edited August 2008

    I'm going to be around for awhile-chemo until Dec.3 (if everything stays on schedule), then on to rads!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MsKarin
    MsKarin Member Posts: 647
    edited August 2008

    Otter,

    Didn't even pay attention to the bald head but now that you mention it did you also see NO EYEBROWS and only top lashes? Too funny and more fitting to the tribute then I had hoped for. Can't see the bottoms of her feet, wonder if shes wearing Crocs.

    Enjoy the day, Karin

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SherriM
    SherriM Member Posts: 179
    edited August 2008

    Well, as a committed lurker on this thread, I hope ya'll stay around forever.  I haven't posted here before cause I didn't start Chemo in May (hey! I was dx in May, does that count?) but I have been following here cause so many of you post on other threads as well, and I have to come here sometimes to see what everyone is talking about. 

    Anyway, maybe its the extra steroids I'm on this weekend, but I'm feeling pretty mushy...everybody stay!!!

    the lurker,

    Sherri 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MsKarin
    MsKarin Member Posts: 647
    edited August 2008

    Sherri,

    Welcome to our group. Speaking for myself, I wouldn't have come this far with a positive attitude without the help of everyone here.

    Enjoy the day, Karin

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • familyroks
    familyroks Member Posts: 575
    edited August 2008

    Ditto what Karin said!  I can't imagine what my experience through chemo would've been without this group of awesome women.

    Welcome Sherri...no need to lurk.  Jump right in!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sable
    Sable Member Posts: 738
    edited August 2008

    Cris~ I thought you were done already. Will it ever get here? I have the herceptin for a year after all this mess. But I am not considering it chemo. If there are no se's... that I can handle. Right now I am coming down off steroids and feel like I can cry at anything at the moment. yuck!

    Angels~ water tramp???? dude I'm all over that one!

    Welcome newbies and lurkers!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sable
    Sable Member Posts: 738
    edited August 2008

    I know this may be alot late for most of us but I discovered bath and body works carries a hand sanitizer and lotion all in one that is marvelous! The regular hand stuff was drying me out so bad that I have horrible hangnails now. This other stuff is helping and is keeping me germie free.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • KristyAnn
    KristyAnn Member Posts: 793
    edited August 2008

    Im still arounf- I have just been enjoying "normal" life for a few days- done with chemo, PICC line gone so I could swim and play more like a normal person.

    I have two weekly Herceptins left and then I transition to every 3 weeks- that will last until May 2009. I have an appointment to see the rads doc on Sept 3 - my dx is kind of controversial so they dont know whether I will do rads or not and they will probably make me decide (since I have so much more medical school than they do).

    We spent 3 days in Hot Springs, Arkansas taking my oldest daughter off to college and then spent one day at a local timeshare resort this week - it was  so nice to do activities and play and ALMOST forget about BC. My energy level is still quite all the way back after the staph infection and final chemo but it seems to be improvintg rapidly. My hair is covered in fuzz and I dont seem to bruise as easily- I looked bad for a while after that hospital stay and all the needle pokes.

    School starts Monday for the 3 kids still at home- Im starting to feel as though my life doesnt completely revolve around my treatment schedule!!!!!!!

    I will be on the boards a while- hope we keep together and Rock finds a way to come back and be anonymous to her stalkers.

    Kristy 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • sueper13
    sueper13 Member Posts: 1,224
    edited August 2008

    I, also, am not going anywhere.  I love this thread. Sherri, I started chemo in April so technically I don't belong here, and they let me stay....

    Noelle,  knew what you meant, wasn't offended, love everything about you. I especially love it when you call me Siouxsie, it makes me feel like a powerful woman.  Sort of like you.

    Sable, daulink, how could you think we would leave you and Eddie and Cristine and Gracie--and rock, in her new incarnation, and otter, swimming beside whoever needs it---it's all about ALL of us getting to the other side.  And then I hope it continues--we could all be posting here ten years from now, would probably have actually managed a get-together or two..who knows?  I am in this for the long haul!!! Who's with me?

    Love ALL YOU GUYS!!!!!!

    Love,

    Sue 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited August 2008

    Me, me!  I'm here for the long haul!

    Shhh...don't tell anybody, but I started chemo in April, too.  Don't know why I wandered over here, but it stuck.  Some of the monthly chemo threads last, and some disassemble when everybody moves on.

    Karin, what an astute observation--not only bald, but no eyebrows or lower lashes--exactly like me!  Of course she's wearing Crocs!  Actually, I don't have real Crocs.  Mine are "AirWalks", which fit my feet better than Crocs do.  Unfortunately, Crocs are a lot easier to find.  I want some more AirWalks.

    Hair update:  My eyelashes and eyebrows are growing back, as is the hair on my arms (ack!).  My scalp hair is coming along slowly, but is definitely getting darker.  There is still no sign of hair re-growth in the netherlands--what's up with that?  Another humorous SE from Arimidex? 

    Be sure to post updates about rads.  Since I'm not getting them, I have to experience them vicariously through y'all.

    otter 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • KristyAnn
    KristyAnn Member Posts: 793
    edited August 2008

    I ended up starting chemo the end of April and I started this thread lol - thought I was gonna be a May after a second surgery, declined the second surgery and started chemo April 25. It seemed like people there were wrapping up and I was just starting so I stuck with the May thread!!

    Im waiting for the Bluebell from Sues porch!

    Kristy 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ranD
    ranD Member Posts: 373
    edited August 2008

    Hey, I am here for the long haul as well. I am still scheduled for this Thursday and my last Taxol is supposed to be 9/11, we will see. The numbness gone from my feet, but my fingers are still the same, not better, not worse. This morning it was dd Grace that went for a mommy morning. I took her to our diner and we had breakfast and just hung out. Very fun, then off to the library and grocery store. They had fresh peaches for $1/lb and I think they were calling out for me to mix them with blueberries in a pie.  I think that food talking to me is one of the Se's they forgot to mention.  Will it still talk to me after they attach to my fat ass????hmmmmmmmmmmmm

    Anyway, miss you rock, the only lurkers that are allowed are bc ones and then you really aren't a lurker/stalker but family, right?

    randie

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Roxi65229
    Roxi65229 Member Posts: 462
    edited August 2008

    Me, too. Couldn't have faced alot of this stuff without all my friends. And thanks for the kind words about the pole dance. I'll leave it up for a little while to make sure our friend on the other side gets a chance to laugh. 

    Have a second opinion for rads set for Sept. 4th. Personally I don't know anything about soy products, all I know is I need a diet and the doctor said to make sure and get all my calories in.

    Is there any products we can try to boost the hair folicles? I am so tired of my wig. As for SE's from Wednesday, yep bone pain but I'll manage. 

    Roxi 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ewesterman
    ewesterman Member Posts: 417
    edited August 2008

    Rock,

    I miss you. I really, really, really, really miss you.

    Sue, I pay the posting comp right back at you. Women, I am one wiped woman today. Overdid it at a bat mitzvah at a beautiful camp just north of Seattle today. First, I sand in the ensemble. . . not that big a deal. Then, I teared up when the mom spoke as she is stage 4 chronic bc with tumors on lungs, but very, very shrunken tumors. Then hiked only about a mile but mostly up hill. Then walked the rest of the grounds in hot weather...not that big deal. Then participated as my ds (sons) both taught Israeli dance. The taxol hicburps are soooooooooooo weird. Plus, even with fewer steroids...coming off of them is no fun no matter how you slice it. Plus two sleepless or fitful nights. Karin, keep sharing about the radiation...Sue, so glad you are cancer-free may that be today until you turn 99 years old and beyond. Gracie, if your dd wants to chat about kidneys sometime, private email me. That's it. I am too tired to write more. Love to all of you. Noelle, I can't really find a wash cloth, but I'm looking. What about one of those scruchy things...I use those all the time...does that count for exfolliating? 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ewesterman
    ewesterman Member Posts: 417
    edited August 2008

    As usual, I missed a bunch of posts...just caught up. The rumor is herceptin may be given to thous of us who are her2pos for 18 months...not a year. Just a rumor. Still, Sable, I am with you. I am planning on being through with this stage then moving on...as our other herceptin sisters are doing. I will be honored to be escorted by the beautiful and fabulous otter and I will do my duty to escort those who follow. We are going to get through this together, but not unless I sleep. I had to draw my eyebrows on for the first time ever today...they looked pretty good, but my hair on my head IS coming in....good night.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MsKarin
    MsKarin Member Posts: 647
    edited August 2008

    Sue - Count me in for the long haul too!

    Eddie - will do my best to share Rads with all here. Has anyone else started doing Rads besides me? Please some one say yes. I don't like being the leader.

    Otter - astute, new word for me had to look it up, lol

    Enjoy the day, Karin

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • sueper13
    sueper13 Member Posts: 1,224
    edited August 2008

    Karin,

    Sorry, you ARE the leader.  I have my simulation on Tuesday, and will probably start shortly after that.  So, Wednesday, my dh and I are flying to Pittsburgh to get the baby dogs......and flying home Thursday.  That will be our only trip, until rads are over. (We take a lot of short getaway trips because he flies for American and we don't have to pay for airfare.  We do, however, fly "space available" which means we have to choose our flights carefully and occasionally get stranded and have to get a hotel room and try again tomorrow....overall the good outweighs the bad.) I have to go to the vet and get some doggie tranquilizers for them for the trip because the greyhound is a very sensitive dog.   Her name is Lois, and I can't wait for her to be living here again. The other is a miniature husky named Fray, whom I also love, just not as much as the greyhound. (Just being honest)....

    Rock, I miss you.  It's just not the same without your posts. I so enjoyed reading them, every day.  

    Off to bed, going to church tomorrow with my bald, one-boobed self.

    Love you guys and hope everyone has a great night with wonderful sleep,

    Sue 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories