Starting Chemo February 2009?

I don't know why he is doing it that way.  It seems that every oncologist has their own idea of how to treat their patients and there is no magic formula so to speak.  Sometimes you have a cancer that can be treated by for example 6 different type of chemo drugs and the oncologist will pick and choose out of the 6 which one he wants you to use.

He is reducing you to 6 treatments and 3 weeks apart.  The "norm" is when you are doing AC and then Taxol/Taxotere that you do 4 treatments of the A/C every two weeks and then 4 treatments of Taxol/Taxotere for 4 treatments.  You might want to ask your oncologist how he arrived at his decision.

Also it can depend on what he is trying to achieve wit the chemo drugs.  Your cancer and mine are both IDC but the big differences are (1) your tumor is much small (2) you are Grade 2 while I am Grade 1 and you had positive lymph nodes whereas I had negative lymph nodes.  So maybe he opted to do this particular combination to hit your cancer hard and heavy being that you are Grade 2 and you have positive lymph nodes.

My oncologist is in a way hitting it hard and heavy for the cancer more so than would be typical because our goal is to shrink my tumor small enough to do a lumpectomy.  He said yesterday that he could put me on an easier chemo drug because of my negative lymph nodes but wanted to go ahead with AC to shrink the tumor.  I totally agree with him on this even though I will lose my hair in about 14 days after my first treatment.

Isn't Panama City about 45 minutes east of Destin?

You are driving west to Alabama for treatment? Don't take the beach road (forget the number) - take the interstate that is north of the main beach road or you will sit in traffic for HOURS once you get closer to summer.  I couldn't imagine making that drive.  It was hard on us driving from Santa Rosa Beach to Pensacola daily for 2 weeks because one of my BIL's was very seriously ill and was in the hospital - I think the name was Sacred Heart or something like that.  It was pretty much run by the catholic diocese (no sure how to spell that one)

I am getting my hair cut this Saturday to 2" in length and then will buzz it once it starts coming out but I am ready and set with 3 wigs and scarves. 

Suzmarks - What is TAC?  What is the long version name of it?  I am so very confused.

Hi All:  I've been away from these boards for awhile having reconstruction complications.  After bilat mast. expanders put in wrong twice and finally a 3rd surgery to get them both out during the holidays.  I started chemo on wed feb 11 doing 4x CT.  I was told I'd feel flu-ish for 72 hours.  I just feel so spacey and shakey.  Does anyone know if these things can wear off after the initial first 3 days?  I have 2 very active little girls 7 and 9 years old.  They wonder when momma's not going to be a zombie anymore.

Sue, thanks so much for the encouragement about the hair loss. looking at your beautful pictures on your blog definitely helped. Thank you!

Judy, I meant to say that I'm thinking all good thoughts for your mama. I hope she's on the road to recovery soon.

Grace, kudos for doing locks of love. i wish i had enough, i'd do it tomorrow. and it's ok to cry, sweetie. i had a couple this week. no sense keeping it in. as shrek says, better in than out.

(((kerry))) & (((stillme))) I don't know how you women with little ones make it thru. Mine is 16 and I'm still having trouble being there for him. Although I did make it thru 99% of his school show last night. A serious hot flash/anxiety attack was my undoing, but I only missed the finale. He was so appreciative that I was there.

I kinda thought my oncologist said my AC/T was standard protocol for my diagnosis. But I'm going to ask for more "why" specifics when I see him on weds. Not that I'm questioning prevailing wisdom, just so it makes more sense to me. i also don't even know if I had a sentinel node biopsy or not. Gotta find out my remaining pathology holes, too.

FYI: I went to college at SUNY Albany. back in the stone ages, lol!

nancy, i feel ya on the mini pharmacy! i write down everything i take now, even my zocor and multi, and what time i take them. 

jess ... have a wonderful visit with your sistas!

not to belabor the hair thing, but i've just spent 2 hrs online window shopping, and even tho i have a gorgeous "Lisa" wig ready and waiting, i think i'm gonna buy this fun wig right now:

http://www.tlcdirect.org/products/sku-8047__dept-25.html 

a short 'do in strawberry blonde. something i've never had the nerve to do.

i'm beginning to understand why you guys have chopped and buzzed. i sort of want to do it, like, right now and get it over with. i just wish i could take the plunge. i wish i didn't feel so scared and sad. maybe because so much of my body has changed in the past 6 weeks, maybe i'm just loathe to give up yet another part of me. i still have a few weeks, why am i obsessing about this so much? somebody holler at me to get over myself.

So we loaded up the family and went to the wig place this evening - got there about a half hour before closing time - were walking out the door with the wig 20 minutes later. The ladies in the shop were very kind and helpful and once I told them I wanted something similar to the style I came in with (minus the gray), they produced the perfect wig in the perfect color - even husband and teen-ager approved.  It reminded me of how in Harry Potter, the wizard didn't choose the wand, the wand chose the wizard.... same sort of deal!  I think if I time it right when I start to wear the wig, most folks will probably just think I got my hair shaped and colored - although I suspect that the wig will overall have fewer bad hair days than my *real* hair.    

Lisa810 I join you in bowing down to those of us who are going through this with really young children - those years were exhausting enough without chemo.  I have two teen-agers (daughter 17, son 14) and at least they can do many things for themselves though this week they have specialized in not doing things (schoolwork) that they should have... oh well, at least it gives me something else to focus on.  I don't miss the slumber party years Grace4me!

As far as the different chemo regimes, my oncologist ran through a few different scenarios on Adjuvant! on-line, and for my profile, the stats showed an improvement of about 3% in long term survival on AC+T vs TC.  He felt I could go either way, but we chose the more agressive regime b/c of having three positive nodes and just not wanting to leave anything on the table.  The part I am wondering about right now is the Taxol following AC (jumping ahead a little) - onc has talked about doing 12 weekly doses which probably wouldn't require Neulasta support, but I like the idea of doing the dose dense route and being done four weeks sooner.  Still have three ACs to get through before then so I've got time on that one. 

Congrats on getting started Nancyb7912 and welcome kat4pink  - sorry you have to be here, but you have a lot of good company. 

Tricia        

Suzmarks - I really don't have anything to say but wanted you to know that you and I are both up at these crazy times in the mornings.  So don't feel lonely!  You just reminded me that I need to get some Clariton D from the store tomorrow.  I think I am pretty well stocked up on all of the times on the chemo list.  Took me two trips but I have everything other than the Clariton D.

I even have my stepson and husband trained to use the hand sanitizer everytime they enter the house.  My DH seems to think that he shouldn't kiss me while I am doing chemo so that he doesn't pass on any germs - I don't agree with him on that one - maybe because I like it now that he is kissing me more since I quit smoking.

My February Friends - I posted this in the HAIR, HAIR, HAIR Another Question forum but I wanted to post this here to so that ya'll wouldn't miss what transpired today so skip over it if you have already read this:

Ladies - I want to share with you a very touching story about what happened to me today regarding my wigs as this story truly shows how generous strangers can be.

I had been trying to find a rack with pegs that you would hang baseball type hats on that mounted on a wall with round pegs on the end for the purpose of hanging up my wigs.  I have 3 cats and the last thing I needed was to put them on wig stands and have my cats nest in them.

I went to Target and couldn't find anything so I headed to Home Depot.  I found an older gentleman (around 60" - grandfather type man) and asked him for assistance.  He showed me a shelf with dowels but the dowels were straight and I was worried about damage to the interior of the wig so I asked him if they had different dowels I could change out.

We went over to that section of the store and they didn't have anything.  I FINALLY told him that I was starting chemo next week and I needed something to hang my wigs so I needed something round on the end.  So he took me to kitchen cabinet hardware and showed me a "round pull" and I said that would be excellent.

He then started asking me if I needed anything fancy, how many wigs, how far apart the spacing, etc. He started writing all of this down.  He then said "go eat breakfast and come back in an hour"

I looked at him and said "are you saying that you are going to make this for me?"  He said "yes"

I started bawling like a baby because I just could not believe this man was going to go out of his way and have this made for me. I gave him a huge hug and said thanks.

I came back an hour later with my stepson and he showed me what they had made and it was PERFECT.  I then started crying again because of his compassion and generousity.  He then said the store manager wanted to meet me so I met him and started crying even harder thanking him for going way above and beyond, etc.

They wouldn't even let me pay for it - they took an hour of their time, their materials and gave it to me free.

I can tell you this.....I have shopped Home Depot for years but from now on I will not be shopping at Lowes - I am giving all of my business to Home Depot.

There are truly wonderful people that you meet in this world that are kind and compassionate.

Kat4pink - I meant to tell you earlier that this 5 post within 24 hours will eventually go away but in the beginning it absolutely DROVE ME CRAZY!  I started sending people private messages because I couldn't keep my mouth shut and I had things to say - LOL

If you get to the point where you need to get something out of your system - send me a PM and tell me what thread to put it in and I will copy and paste it in there for you letting people know that the comment actually came from you.

I think I had to be a member for about 3 weeks before that limit went away and then I got hit one night with a message stating that I had just posted and I was posting too fast.  I was in a totally different thread but since I type 105 wpm I can post things pretty darn quick!  I was thinking "what the H3ll?"