Starting Chemo February 2009?

Kristine.. that was a beautiful post.  my cancer diagnosis was no where near as devastating as my miscarriages.  I had my children between the ages of 38 and 44.   I never thought i'd be blest with three.  i remember crying for weeks and weeks and weeks when i miscarried.  

(the surprise and joy at getting pregnant at 43 was the most wonderful gift.... somehow cancer just isn't so important)

 I am looking forward to your photo.

Prayers for all who need them.. i mentioned Karen and Judy at my choir's prayer session last nite.  quite a few women cried with me.  we offered a special prayer. 

off to chemo soon.. i'm going to see my friend there.. hmm

Ok, trying to copy/paste from Picasa! Let's see if this works.

It works1 Oh, kristine, you are gorgeous. Even MORE so bald!! What a great smile.

Gals - I am here but still in major chemo fog so I don't feel quite right and am not up to posting yet.  I am reading all of the responses, saw the cute pictures of the kids, and KMN you look great bald.

It is day 15 and my hair is not coming out yet.  If I yank the hairs down south they will come out here and there.  That is the test I am using because my friend's pubbie hairs came out first before her head.

It snowed 3" last night and so I am going to hibernate inside today.  I tried to watch a movie during chemo but after 30 minutes I lost all of my focus so maybe I can finish it today.  Right now I just want to lie down and close my eyes and not do a darn thing other than drink a lot of water to get this chemo crap out of me.

Question - the oncology nurse told me that if I didn't get mouth sores/ulcers after the first treatment it was highly unlikely that I would get them going forward.  Is this true?

The mid level doctor told me that the syptoms I had the first go around indicates how my AC will go from here on out and the only thing that would change would be for me to get more fatigued.

If slight nausea for 8 hours and major chemo fog and hair loss is the only SE I am going to have for 8 weeks - I can do this. 

I did take my steriods down from 4 mg to 2 mg per the doctor, that might cause more nausea - we will see.  The anti-nausea med she gave me now I only take every 8 hours before I was taking the compazine every 4 to 6 hours.  The tramadoze that I got for sleeping helped me last night until the stepson had a temper tantrum this morning and woke me up at 7:16 am.

I will check in later on today when I am feeling more like myself.  Love ya'll!

Quick check-in from me after AC#3 yesterday.  I am thankfully still skating along relatively s/e free - doc said the hospital should hire me as chemo ambassador.  In cycle 2, I had the coated tongue and some mouth sores that came and went relatively quickly and a couple of more fatigued days, but really no queasiness, nausea, brain fog, loss of appetite.  Blood work was good with maybe slight bit of anemia - but I have had three periods in the last six weeks - anemia just might be related to that.  I was having my sinuses plug up overnight, making me breathe through my mouth thus drying it even more - but that has seemed better last couple of days.   

I was able to go out of town over the week-end to my daughter's first high school equestrian team meet - even helped dh change a trailer tire on the side of the interstate - that was fun NOT - sure glad dh was with us as daughter and I usually do most horse stuff on our own. 

My hair started coming out on day 15 - I made it to day 20 before I put on a hat - wore hats days 20-25 and then braved the wig on Monday.  Got compliments on new do from those not "in the know" (and even one genuine one from someone who is) so it's doing it's job.  I don't find it too horrible to wear - when I take it off, my patchy baldness and what's left of my chin length bob remind me of the mad scientist guy in the Back to the Future movies -- not a pretty sight! 

My heart goes out to all who are dealing with huge life challenges and changes on top of breast cancer - Judy, Karen, Kristine especially.  Hugs to all.   

 Well - it's off to Neulasta time.  I'm not a frequent poster, but I am reading along everyday - maybe one of these days I will attempt some pictures. 

Tricia in the NW

Karen,  ....I am just so sorry about your husband. 

Kristine, that is tough what you have been through. In some ways, I think infertility issues can be even harder than cancer (been there too). 

I will add you ladies to the prayer list....I came across a verse the other day I hadn't noticed before; may it help all the Feb Furies.

 For each day He carries us in His arms. Psalm 68:19 (NLT)

Finally, for some more Levity: 

Hair loss and More pictures: I finally found a way to cover my head that I can tolerate.  I posted some pix and info how to make yourself a simple cotton head scarf. Check it out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suesmall50/sets/72157614776000915/ 

 I made some extra scarves,  if anybody wants one, send me a PM with your address!

Karen - It is just unfathomable to think of what you are going through. Your words just broke my heart. How can it be that you are suddenly without your husband at this moment? Though we don't know one another, I am sending you love, prayers and strength. 

The women and the stories on this board are truly incredible. (If one of us were really industrious or well-connected, I bet we could sell the rights to Spielberg!)  Judy, Karen, Kristine, and each of us in her own way. I read these posts and I'm just in awe of what troopers you all are.

I feel a little better knowing that the fatigue from chemo (AC for me) is pretty universal. I'm only between treatments 1 and 2 (dose dense), so I expect it will get worse. Now I seem to be having all kinds of upset stomach symptoms, and, as my daughters were kind enough to point out, my skin is turning a lovely shade of orangish-green. How come everyone else (Kristine, Kerry, Apple) seems to look so gorgeous without hair?

AAAAAHHHHHHH! I LOST MY FRICKIN, FRAKIN HUGE POST THAT TOOK ME LIKE 20 MINUTES TO WRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited to remove language. Sorry....I was frustrated.

Here's a picture we got in our photo session last Sunday:

And our big girl....who's in Kindergarten this year!

Scroll up webbie....I posted a b/w one above the picture of my little one.

I was just eating boiled peanuts. Yum. So sorry about your hard drive. We just got an external hard drive for storing pictures. I guess you can't count on anything these days. I think I'm going to copy all our photos onto CD's too. Do you think you can take it somewhere & try to have them save the data on the drive??

Oh Kristine, I love the photos! Your girls are gorgeous - they must be about the same ages as mine. I forecast a fun time in your household around puberty!! I always joked that my daughter would be hitting puberty around the same time I hit menopause, which would make for an interesting combination, but I guess now mine is going to happen much sooner. It is hard thinking that you may not be able to have another baby, especially when you really want one. I have heard of other people here who have gone through treatment and then had more babies. We thought long and hard about #3, I was quite tempted, but we decided against it. I was 39 though when I had my son, got pregnant just by thinking about it (well, not literally, you know what I mean!) so you never know.

webbie - I am sooo sorry about your photos. I would be so upset if we lost ours. I think there are people who can retrieve things like that from hard drives. My husband is the geek in the family - he's a Software Developer, so our systems are far, far more complicated than they need to be. I always make sure he backs stuff up, I wouldn't have a clue how to do it.

Speaking of Geeks, is anyone else a Battlestar Gallactica fan? Exposing my inner geek here...! It is coming up to the finale, and very exciting!  It is on tonight....of course there is no way I will be able to stay up to 10:00 to watch it, last night I was asleep in front of the TV before 8:00! And I had done nothing all day....!

apple - glad the car didn't take off your foot! I really have to watch myself crossing streets, etc, it is like my brain is on delay or something.  Still, I am impressed you were out shopping after treatment, I come home and go to bed for 2 days!!

Sue - love the photos, your son looks delighted.  You look great in the scarf, I am useless at tying things artfully, they keep falling down! I have a couple of pre-tied things which I like. I think now it is winter I am wearing a wig a lot (my head gets so cold too!) and a hat on top of that when I am outside. Not sure what I will be doing in summer. I imagine I will still be pretty bald in July/August (my goal is to have hair again by my birthday in September) I will have to see if I am brave enough to go topless....!

jancie - hope you are feeling OK today. I find I am really emotional the week after treatment. Everything sets me off. And we are just "in the middle" of it all right now - no adrenaline rush getting us through like at the beginning, no looming end in sight.  Hang in there, in a few weeks there will be more under your belt than ahead of you, the sun will be shining, the birds singing, la, la, la, la, la....

Anyhow, I have rabbited on long enough.  Enjoy the day

Kerry...yes! I'm a big BSG fan (sci fi fan in general actually)! I have to say I'm looking forward to the series being over ONLY for the fact that it means I'll have one less TV show to watch. lol We always joke in our house that when DH is "in control" of the TV it's on ESPN, when I'm in control it's on Sci-Fi.

Cheryl....LOVE the pictures!!!! You're such a rebel rocker chick at heart aren't you?!  

I have to say it ladies....we look pretty damn good bald!! Who'd have ever thought it?!

I hate these steriods....I've been up since 4:00am!!! It doesn't help that my little one is sick with a cough & fever (has been for three days now). DH is going to have to call in sick to work & take her to the doctor. I need to make sure it's not anything more than a virus. I hate it when my babies don't feel well. My WBC count has still be normal so I'm hoping my body is going to play nice & help me to keep from getting it because I can't just walk away from my girls when they NEED me, you know? And my baby is such a Mommy's girl, when she's not feeling well she just wants me.

Isn't it a great show! I think we are down to the last few episodes, they are starting to wrap things up a bit. Needless to say it is getting exciting, we have a few theories on how it is going to end!

Cheryl, I saw your photos on Facebook - very cool! Looks like a fun evening! As Kristine says,  who knew being bald would suit us! I had said i was going o grow it really long once it grew back, but maybe I will keep it shorter.

Kristine - hope your daughter gets better soon.  I have been standing on my hesd to try and not get sick, my WBC is low and falling, I am a bit worried about next treatment, to tell you the truth. Hopefully my body will rally. I don't even think there is anything I can do to help it. Thankfully i am onto the Taxatore next round, I am hping it doesn't hit me as hard...

xpectmiracles

i love the mohawk.. it's awesome.. you look so stupendous

may I?  you need to click the photo icon (tree) and insert the ADDRESS of the hosted photo and hit insert.