Starting Chemo May 2008

K, we all had some odd things happend emotionally in the first days/ weeks after chemo ended. It is a little PTS, a little melancholy, a little lack of knowledge as to what it next.

 This phase.. post chemo.. up to "normal" has very little written about it, but I am still feeling a little "put out to pasture". I certainly do not want to go back to chemo.. but being "normal" again is scary too. 

I read a book called "After Breast Cancer" by Hester Hill Schnipper and it helped. 

  N

was supposed to go home yesterday, but today the whole family was gone for softball, so since there was no one to take care of me at home, I get to stay until monday morning.....and it has been pretty restful here, so no worries about having to be in for 4 days, since the food is good, i can convince myself that i am at a special spa........lol

Randie - So glad to see you are doing well! 

Kristy ~ yes ma'am I can.. I'll make you peek out somehow lol

Okay, I remembered a couple of things...

Rock - EYE?!  What do you mean, you poked your EYE?  A leetle more information, please...

Jen - Adore the photo - mahvelous, dahlunk!!

And this - has anyone had restless legs from all the meds?  I get it sometimes if I take too much Benadryl (too much for me is more than 50 mg., btw).  But I haven't done that lately yet this weekend, I have felt like I can't keep my legs still.  It's this feeling like their twitching or I feel like I have to move them every 3 seconds.  My Belladonna (stomach/IBS meds) will help, but I really hate taking something for the side effects of my side effect medication.  Feck!  I'm in a real feck of a mood!!  It's such a good thing this is the last time for this crap!!!

Cris-I had  restless leg syndrome before this cancer crap invaded my life and have noticed that since being on chemo, it is back.  I have been taking Mirapex at night for a couple of years and thought that I was going to have to increase my dosage.  Glad that I didn't because I'ved  had no side effects from the Mirapex.. 

Which leads me to a funny story.  We have all seen the commercials for Mirapex and it's side effects.  (you know-uncontrollable urges to gamble, have sex etc.)  DH had a fishing guide trip and somehow their conversation turned to Mirapex.  DH told them that I was taking it and that it really made a difference.  Then the guy asked (jokingly) if I had any of the side effects.  My brilliant DH responded with "Not really, but she did have an overwhelming desire to make love to a slot machine."  Gotta love 'em. 

Randie-hoping that you get to  come home today!

Kerry-hope that your visit with the urologist is uneventful!  I sometimes wonder if my body will ever be the same.  (Had a dream that I had started my period again-nightmare)

Happy Monday ladies!

Rock - glad your eye is better.  I missed your original mention on that.

Randie - I hope you get to go home today.  Make sure you stay rested and rely on that family of yours to take care of you!

Gracie - your DH story had me laughing out loud.  Too funny!

Kerry - well crap.  Just crap!  It does seem like it never ends sometimes.

Noelle - thanks for the info on Biotin.  What are your opinions on Biotin in shampoo, such as Nioxin?  I had contemplated getting a bottle to help with hair growth but decided I didn't want to put my hair through anything more than its already had to go through.  No harsh treatments.  I'm currently using baby shampoo....as I did all through chemo.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Hmmm asked onc about what I should avoid while on herceptin/tamox.... he said I could pretty much take anything I want with no adverse effects. He didn't mention vitamins or anything. I wonder if I should call and ask about the biotin......

Kristy, I sent everyone in our group the suggestion to add you.

Or you can hunt through my friends list for them. 

 N

Hey all, well kind of mixed news.  Seems Sam, my 6 yo, has a fever and the dh is not feeling well either.  The early morning drs. said to go home, but stay away from the little one.

My surgeon is supposed to be here in the late a.m., so I will check with him about the home situation,

Last night, got some more sleep, but then there was this huge bus crash and since UC Davis is a trauma center, the helicopters started coming in at 8ish and kept it up for a couple of hours.  Poor people on the bus, most were Laotians and there was a language barrier with the ER staff.

Other than that, my shrunken apples look better, a little more pain today, but that means healing is taking place, right?

Roomie situation is better, no family members showed up at 7, so who hooo.....lol,,,instead, I had a nice chat with her.  Amazingly resilient for 84, but she says its because she's from Minnesota.

Okay, here's the TMI, no bowel movements yet, I keep asking for extra fruit and fiber, but it gets me no where.....maybe I just need home toilet advantage, eh?????

As far as the drains go, I have decided to be lazy, the maintantence will be dh's responsibility, lol. The nurses here are all fine with that.  The left side is barely draining, I was hoping they would pull that side, but the interns first said yes, then no.  Another ? for my surgeon, right?

As far as aftercare, it is truly weird.  The floor nurses are all giving me the deer in head light look when I ask for a surgi-cami, they had no idea what I was talking about. Any suggestions?

the nurses wanted to know who I was writing to, told them about all of you and how important this site is to those of us going thru this crap....I laugh at the fact that all of us together are much more knowledgable then all of our oncologists put together. My student nurse came in and now he's going to go back to class and tell them how far short of the bar UCD is for BC patients.  He keeps coming in with print-outs he gets from the computer so I can read more.

Anyway, still on a waiting game to see if the surgeon comes in or not.  DH is on his way, but he is complaining about how he feels crappy...way to go, eh?  I just told the staff that if he has anything, I am not going home with him.  They said that I just need to have everyone put masks on, at which point I asked them, who provides the actual touching care if he can't touch me??????Jeez, gotta love the insurance companies max stay times....oh well, must be feelingbetter since I am bitching!

Ran,

   Don't worry about the cami too much. I could not even get mine on and off over my head without help so i wore a button up pj top most of the time with drains pinned to it near my waist.Although it did have a really stupid looking velcro foob that came with it. For the constipation ask the doc about something like lactolose. It is a heavy laxative, and I had to take it along with the stool softeners. Fibre got me nowhere, nor did drinking lots of fluid. 

Randie, glad you're headed home (just checked when you posted, and figure you must be there by now).  Jen, yippeee!!! on that quarter inch of hair. 

My news: got the port yanked today.  It was a non-event.  The interventional radiology intake woman who set up my appointment a few weeks ago told me I'd likely have a sedative (and basically encouraged to ask for one), but the interventional radiology people who actually do the procedure told me they'd stopped using sedation, most people don't need it.  And they were right, at least for me.  The procedure was a big nothing.  They numbed me thoroughly, opened up the incision, I felt a small tug, then nothing, and then they irrigated the "pockets" (whatever those are, I really don't care to picture them) and sutured me up, and sent me on my way with a shiny new coating of surgical glue. 

I just hope I don't get that socked-in-the-chest feeling after the lidocaine wears off, the way I did following the insertion.

Linda

RanD, you crack me up! I will use the 'home toilet advantage' line in future..it has actually been a factor in my life always..   And don't we all know heaps about bowels?? Actually, there should be a thread on this site for such.  My grandmother would be SO impressed..she was obsessed by bran and wholemeal bread, the whole kaboodle. And that was in the days when you got the bran from the bag of chook's bran, and the bread was made from the same stuff!  You are right about the collective info and how little 'real' stuff the experts know. I find it a really interesting phenomenon..and one I am grateful for because the info goes way past 'facts'..it's even past 'knowledge'..it's wisdom and it's incredibly reassuring (even during 'roid-rage and h'roid-rage!)  I laughed out loud about the old girl..from Minnesota. I don't know anything about Minnesota..fill me in. Is it harsh or something?

Noelle, thanks for ramping up the FB biz. It's great!   I'm sure eventually we will all be able to put cancer in its place and wean ourselves off this thread. We will have to make it an EVENT when the time comes!  I am also thinking that YOU are on the brink of becoming a mega-player in the hair/commerce area. I am thinking that you have a MEGA opportunity to trample all over cancer and make a VERY tidy income because of it..especially because of your commitment to natural products.....god, now I'm sounding like a clairvoyant and I'm not even on Dex...

A last word on the colon, girls. Slippery elm bark powder. (one teaspoon only, y'hear.)

XXX