Has anyone started a forum for Chemo in Dec 2008?

Hey Bonnie...you will kick this...as others have said, lots of fluids!

 Bold...I'm staying with my decision on the Tamoxifen.  I meet with my Onc on Tuesday.  I had my three month check up with my breast surgeon yesterday...she said everything looks great!  Showed me how to do my breast exam...pretty much same as before.  I go back to her in six months.  She will follow-up with me for two years. 

Well, need to get in gear.  Taught Zumba this morning and am hosting an Arbonne champagne, fruit and fun party at my home today!  Busy, busy, busy!

Make it a great day ladies!

Good morning Divas.  Bonnie, I hope you are feeling a little better today.  UTI's are the worst but I can't imagine having to suffer through one on top of everything else. 

Today is Day 3 since Taxol #3 and I can feel the freight train slowly starting to move over me...yikes.  I felt the slight aches in my shoulders yesterday afternoon so I popped the Advil and I am taking them continuously.  I hope it will control things.  I would love a full body massage rightnow!  I am meeting a good friend for lunch today so I need to get myself moving.

Bold, I hope you have an awesome time at the beach!  I'm SOOO jealous.

Have a great day everyone. Love, Elaine

Great news!

Thanks Divas. I went away this weekend to visit a dear friend I hadn't seen since tx started (she has 3 little ones, 1 in school and they're ALWAYS sick!) so it was great to see her and we met with a high school friend we hadn't seen in 15 years! It was a nice distraction, especially since the kiddos stayed behind with daddy I'm feeling so much better now, even if onc would say that 4 is enough, I would keep wondering if I did the right thing stopping here, so I'll be though and keep kicking this thing out.

When will you all consider a cancer survivor? Which date do you plan on using to celebrate your 1 year anniversary? My MIL got mad at me the other night when I said that I have cancer, she said "no, you HAD cancer!" I kow most people think along her ways, but like I told her, if I HAD cancer than why am I doing chemo & rads? it's to get rid of all the tiniest cancer cells that are/might still be in my body therefore, even though the main tumor is gone, I STILL have cancer otherwise there is NO way I would be putting myself through this knowing that I HAD cancer. So I'm thinking that my 1 year anniversary should be at some time in June when I done with rads and not Oct. 24th when I had the tumor removed only 6 months out of tx. I don't know, what do you all think?

It has been almost 4 weeks since #4 of TC and still noticing SEs from chemo - taste buds are coming back though sweet and salty are still off a bit; and some of the niggling issues that chemo gives us. No hair growing yet. Eyebrows/eyelashes are getting even thinner - but probably not noticeable to others; but if they thin much more - I'll have to enhance with make-up.

I am halfway through the shorter, but increased dosage of radiation and am finding that radiation is not giving me any problems (in fact my sense of overall health/energy is improving...... so if radiation is affecting my energy it is less than the improvement I feel from chemo side effects disappearing.

For me, I am delighted that I am finishing up the "daily battle" of fighting cancer. I don't feel that I am abandoning the fight - just going to a new battlefield where monitoring is the strategy. My onc has already scheduled future mammogram and follow-up appointments; therefore I feel a sense of closure with this stage of the fight.

Mary L 

Hi ladies.  Day 5 since TX and I'm having some pretty intense pains.  Stupid Taxol SE's.  I started on the ibuprofen early like my Onc suggested and it didn't help much.  I'm so over it.... all I keep hearing from everyone is "Just one more to go.... you can do it".  Well that isn't much consolation when you're still suffering through the SE's of the last TX.  I don't want to scare you ladies that are starting Taxol TXs, because everyone is different.  I guess I should be thankful this is the only SE I am having. 

Bah...I noticed yesterday that my right eyebrow is thinning signficantly.  That had me a bit depressed.  I'm wearing my wig with bangs today so I don't have to think about or see it. 

 Bonnie, Hope you kick that UTI to the curb! 

I considered myself a day 1 survivor the day after my diagnosis.  I think every day we get through with the knowledge that we have/had breast cancer is a survivor day in my opinion.  So I will celebrate 1 year on September 15th, 2009. 

 Agh, my eyebrows are thin, thin, thin. I have been so gentle washing my face for fear that I may rub more away!  I have shaved twice since chemo started and I agree...it's a wonderful feeling, haha!  Do not miss the bikini waxes though!  No hair regrowth yet.  I'm not even 3 weeks out from my last chemo treatment and the time is going by soooo slow.

Those of you who are ER+...are you watching the lotions you use as well??  I didn't think there was any issue until I read a thread on the hormone therapy board.  So now I'm worried about everything I've been using on my skin.  I need an all-inclusive list of things/ingredients I should avoid.  What about all the food products that say they contain soy?  I'm not talking about the obvious, like soy milk, but for example a granola bar or something.  I'm just not sure how paranoid I need to be about all this stuff. 

Apfuentes, from what I've been reading, the soy in food products may actually be protective. I'm not going to seek soy products but I'm not going to obsess about them either.

As for the skin products, I'll be a little more careful.

I wish the post-treatment advice was more concrete. I read books with all kinds of evidence on the benefits of dietary changes ... then jump over to the Komen site where they say there's no evidence that increasing intake of fruits and vegetables has any impact on long term survival.

Ultimately, I've decided that being even more aware of what I eat certainly won't hurt me. And if it helps? Well that will be wonderful. But I doubt I'll ever know for sure.

Cat, that sounds about right.  Today is day 5 for me and  the pain was still pretty bad earlier today.  I am feeling like it might be starting to fade a bit (or maybe just hoping!).  Last TX it lasted until around day 6 or 7.  I am also on dose dense every 2 weeks so that probably has a lot to do with it.  You're right though - the Advil barely touches it.  I've been taking two ibuprofen every 4 hrs and that barely takes the edge off.   My oncologist told me that it was OK to take something stronger but I hate narcotic painkillers and am trying to stay away from them.  The Lorazepam helps me sleep at night too.  That's good stuff!!

Caroline, I've been getting the Nuelasta shot with all TXs and I didn't notice too much pain with the A/C.  What pain I did get was easily remedied with some Tylenol.  I hope you can avoid getting it though!

I can skip the Neulasta! WOOHOO!!!! I just called my onc office to check if I can redo lab, because I did chemo yesterday, she said no, too late, but she re-checked everything, talked to a few people and she said I'm ok to skip since I haven't needed it so far and lab was done 4 days prior. She said we'll try it this time and next round, I'll get my lab done on that Monday morning. I'm so glad since it looks like this round will be a rougher one. Woke up to nausea this morning Trying the compazine right now, I seem a little better.

Well I met with my onc today for my one month follow-up from my final chemo.  I'm "slightly" anemic thanks to the chemo.  No wonder I've been more tired than usual.  Of course there is nothing you can do to remedy that...just hope it gets better in time. 

I will see him again in three months for bloodwork. 

Surgery is in three weeks!!!  Yipppeee......no more turtle shells!

Have a great day everybody!

Just got treatment #5 of taxotere, with 4 more to go. My white cell count was down, so I need 2 neuprin shots this week. Still feeling good except for the annoying side effects like dry mouth (food sticks where it lands in my mouth), red and peeling hands, spontaneous nosebleeds and the very sore nail beds.

I'm so anxious to get finished. The other women I've met who took taxotere had about 1-1/2" of hair by the time they finished their treatments. I, on the other hand, have just 1/4" of stubble still. I'm disappointed. I find myself rubbing my head every morning when I wake up, hoping it's miraculously grown overnight!

CONGRATS Snowbird!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Gayle (Snowbird),

Congrats on reaching the finish line.....................it is an awesome feeling.

I sent you an email the other day (although I was really late in emailing back to you) to give you an idea of what might happen just following the chemo and a head's up (no pun intended) about the hair regrowth so you don't get anxious.

Following my chemo, I actually had a few tough weeks after feeling so good that I had tolerated the chemo so well.  I know everyone is different, but this did surprise me so I wanted to share it with you.   I was actually fatigued (didn't seem to be a problem during chemo) and my bones ached................all the long bones, arms and legs.  This lasted about 4 weeks and then I felt great.  I hope you do not go through this, but just wanted you to be prepared if it does happen so you are not caught off guard as I was.   I just thought I would start to feel better and better from the day I finished, but for me I got hit with some of what they call the cumulative effect.  Maybe this info will be helpful to others here also.

Now the hair.  I am eight weeks out of chemo and I finally saw something maybe two weeks ago.............nothing for the first six weeks.  It does show growth every day now, but I would say maybe I have a sixteenth of an inch.  It seems to be getting fuller too.   I think maybe in a month to six weeks I might have a half inch.................hope so.   But the lesson is, be patient.  You know you are done chemo, but your body doesn't get the message so quickly.............still waiting for the next punch.   Eventually it will realize it is not being attacked any more.

Email when you get a chance.    Are you doing the Susan Komen Race for the Cure on the 14th, and are you going to the survivor's brunch at the Coconut Hyatt on the 8th.   If you are, maybe we can finally meet.

Keep feeling well,

Caren

I'm guessing I have about 1/8" of hair, but lots of bald spots. Those will probably fill in once I finish chemo.

Another timeline question: If 5 years is a big 'survivor year', when do you start counting for that. They say "5 years cancer-free" so I would imagine when you are first declared NED?