Starting Chemo February 2009?

Tricia - what is the prize for being the last post?  I so need to get some sleep but once again it is midnight and I am here at the computer while my dh is snoozing so very nicely.  Ticks me off that he can sleep and I can't.

I went to my face on face support group meeting monday night.  There are two other ladies there on A/C and then Taxol.  We are all going for our 3rd A/C this week which is cool because we can trade stories.

NONE of us are getting sleep.  We are happy if we get 4 hours of sleep per night - that is a good night instead of 2-3 hours of sleep.

I am so going to talk to my onc tomorrow about this issue.  I can't keep up at this rate.  Here I am supposed to exercise every day - hey.......how can I when I haven't had any sleep?  It takes everything I have to get on a horse and ride for 20 to 30 min. and then I am exhausted for the rest of the evening.

My whining is over - wouldn't have even whined but someone (and we know who) didn't want to be the last poster so I am here trying to do "her" a favor.

webbie, you're making me HUNGRY!! I SO need to get a food processor....and a juicer too for that matter. Oh man, I could go for some chips & salsa right now. Dang it all! Must.not.eat.  Must.not.eat.

jancie, yep. I hear you. If I have to get on that dang scale at my Onc office this week I'm going to hurt someone. I don't want to know!!!!

Tricia, I like the idea of the survivor buff. Inspirational words! Sorry you have the blues...could also be a chemo SE you know! Do you have Ativan or the like? I have come to the point where I'm just not afraid to take the medication if I need it, you know?

Hey....is anyone else besides me (and I'll freely admit I'm a geek when it comes to movies & books I like) excited about Twilight coming out on DVD this weekend??  Do I DARE tell you all how many times I saw it in the theatre?! lol

Hey, page 39 is cool!!

I always think it is funny how you West Coast guys are just going to sleep, and I am getting up. 

Starting high dose of dexasone tomorrow before my Taxatore on Friday, so I will see if it makes me wide awake. I always fall asleep really early at night, I wouldn't mind being a bit more awake - until maybe 9:00pm!

So, who else watches Survivor? It, and The Amazing Race, are the only Reality Shows I am still following. My husband and I would love to go on The Amazing Race! Gotta be from the US though....

Onc also said yesterday they have reduced the number of people getting neuropathy (finger numbness) to only 10% with the ice baths while getting the Taxatore. It will be interesting to see how uncomfortable it will be! 

So, we took the kids to NZ in 2007, it was the middle of winter here, and of course Summer there! So, there we were walking along the beach, having this lovely time, and wondering ourselves what we were doing in Canada!! It is really a beautiful country. But very far away from anywhere, and very insular. I think I would find it really difficult to live there now, after being here for so long. And things are really expensive too. 

For you LOTR fans, we visited a few sites they use in the movie when we were there previously in 2003 (before kids!) - most memorable was Hobbitton (sp?).  Also all the Mordor scenes were on an extinct Volcano were I used to go skiing as a kid. It was really cool to visit - I will see if I can find any photos...

Anyhow, another warm day forecast here. Well, warm for us Northern folks! I am sure the sunshine is doing wonders for my morale. Trying to enjoy today and tomorrow before i go under again on Friday.

Sorry about the rabbitting on about nothing.....

BUT, we are ALL getting there!!!!

And the whole village....

Kerry mac, I also enjoy waking up to your posts.  I too am a early riser.  Please keep me posted on the texatere  I start soon.  I had my first AC yesterday.  3 more of them before I start the Taxetere.

Suzanne~ Wanted to tell you that I meant to reply to your post (many, many pages back) about feeling down... with the weekends being long w/out your kids (that was you right?).  At the time I got side-tracked (aka forgot that I meant to do something) and just now remembered when I saw your post... Uggghhh... now I'm confused again.  Anywhoo, I feel really, really down a lot too and am trying my best to have a positive outlook.  It is so HARD sometimes and I just kind of sink back into that black hole... What I *will* tell you has actually helped me at those times is to remind myself that all of this (having cancer and being more aware of my own mortality) will be easier to deal with once chemo is over.  It is unreasonable to expect to be able to be "little miss sunshine" when I continously feel like shit and am killing off brain cells too boot.  Plus, if you are on anti-emetics like zofran, kytril, etc... those block serotonin, the feel-good chemical in your brain. For me... *knowing* why I feel so hopeless gives me hope.  Make sense?  (And if it wasn't Suzanne who posted about long weekends without kids and depression... then just ignore my inane ramblings.)

As for raw diets:  I've considered that too and do feel that raw food (esp raw food that has been food processed and/or blended) is a real powerhouse.  The book Crazy Sexy Cancer has a whole chapter regarding food and exercise: aptly named "Eat your veggies and shake your ass".  The author is a raw foody.  The end of the book has a bunch of raw recipes.  I haven't tried any of them.  I read the book after chemo started so again... if it doesn't have cheese or PB on it (or doesn't come from Chick-fil-A... how strange is that??); then I can't keep it down.

I go in tomorrow for my LAST AC!!!!!! I'm already sporting my kytril patch and have my various perscriptions filled: emend, anzemet, zofran, marinol, ativan.  I'm anxious as hell about it but am also soooo glad that I'll never have to face the "red devil" again.

Hope everyone is feeling well today.

Michele

PS. Got my buffs the other day and I can't for the life of me figure out how to wear them...

Hi Kathie~ My onc and I compromised... I get chemo outpatient tomorrow and come in Fri for neulasta + fluids.  I'll check in with him then and if I had a bad night, he's going to admit me (and I promised not to argue).  You shouldn't eat raw veggies and fruits that you can't peel if your counts are low.  The problem is that you don't always know if your counts are low so many onc's recc that you avoid raw stuff (that you can't peel) 'till after chemo.  All of this diet-talk started as a post-chemo thing. Also, I had the white mouth thing after #1 and used salt and baking soda in water as a rinse. It went away by the time I got worried about it so I never was treated for thrush.

The med they prescribed for me is Diflucan.. guess what one of the side effects that showed on the paperwork given to me at the pharmacy is.... hairloss.. lol funny.

I'll keep you all posted as to if it helps.. only suppose to take it for 3 days. (and no bad taste webbie ..lol)

Michelle... Hope and PRAY you stay out of the hospital!! 

XO

Oh, I just got a new perscription for dexasone - side effect - unwanted Hair GROWTH!!!! Ha!

Great news Jancie - will make putting up with the SE's far more bearable!

Good luick Michelle - I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you.Just think this is the last time you willever have to have AC again. Ever.

I have been lucky enough to not get thrush, but I do the Baking Soda Mouth wash about 4 times a day - seems to have worked. 

Enjoy your evenings everyone. I have just had a depressing phone call from my dad - all sighs and worried sounds and "how will you cope" noises.  Idiot.

Janice.  Yeah for you.  I know you will sleep good tonight with that great news.

Michesel S  I thought I had read that before about not eating the peels.  So I guess it must be true.  Guess that goes for apples and potatoes.  I love peanut butter on apple slices  So now I gotta peel them.

Kerry Mac  you crack me up

Susan 13 Hang in there  your rebounding

Hope Im still on the famous page 39.

Michele  That Totally  makes sense.  Guess I will be peeling them  Thanks for sharing that. 

I hope everyone has a relaxing night.  I wish I could give you all hugs. 

Gramof3 -- my brother shaved my head with shaving cream and a razor, marvelous!!  Now the stubble doesn't bother me as much.  Would using Aveeno extra moisturizing lotion work?  Can't hurt to try.

Jancie-  hope you get a good nights sleep!!!  ((sending hugs)))).

talk to everyone later

Hi everyone!  Just finished TC + herceptin #3.  Have been very fortunate on my Herceptin only weeks with no real side effect.  I get the dreaded neulasta shot tomorrow which is the only thing that really bothers me.  I get bone and joint pain for a couple days, then take a pain pill that nocks me out so I can sleep after 3 nights of very little sleep from the steroids.  Jancie I sure hope the new medication works.  I can't imagine so many sleepless nights.  I hope you have sweet dreams tonight.  I am also waiting for my taste buds to die.  For a week after chemo I can't taste anything and tend to overeat because I want to taste something!  I'm going to be more careful this round of chemo.  Best of luck to everyone with treatments this week.

Cheri 

Hi, Furies ~
Remember my aunt who was being treated for lung cancer by the same onc as mine?  We joked about asking for a family discount.  Well, she passed away on Saturday the 14th.  She went quickly, and I am so glad that she did not linger and suffer.  But it is so hard to let her go; she's always been the person to whom I'm closest and thought the most of.  She taught me so much during my 46 years.  I will miss her dreadfully.

Here's a funny story, though.  Ok, one of her mantras has always been, "What I mean, I say.  What I say, I mean."  Well, Monday the 9th we sat side-by-side at the poison lab.  She slept through treatment, and when she woke up at the end, she looked at me and said jokingly, "I'm tired of having cancer.  I think I'm going to quit."

By golly, she was a woman of her word because four days later she got her angel wings and no longer had cancer!  You go, Auntie!!  

I hope this post isn't too much of a downer, but I thought since I'd mentioned her a few times that I should speak of her passing.

Hugs to all,
Artemis

Hey Michelle - you have given me a lovely chuckle for the morning! I find it really amazing though how this cancer life is so normal for my kids now. Like everyone has a bald, boobless Mummy, who goes in for medicine every three weeks....!

Kristine - don't know what I did to make the photos now work, I can see them! Anyhow, I have PM'ed you my email address, send me an email and i will forward them to you. They are pretty cool! I don't know what it is with these depressing parents - I don't know what help they think they are going to be. Ohh, my Dad makes me so mad sometimes.  And he offers nothing constructive that might be of help to us.

Artemis - so sorry about your Aunt. It sounds as though it was a peaceful end. 

So, susan13, sooo sorry you have been feeling so badly. But you sound like you are coming back up for air. I almost hate to ask -  what was your main SE? I am starting Taxatore tomorrow, a little nervous about what to expect, wondered what you found the hardest...? My Onc has given me so many Tylenol 3's, more than they gave me after Surgery, I am just wondering what I am in for!!

Anyhow, both my Monkeys have decided that it is morning time, despite my assurances that it is still the middle of the night!  Time to watch Little Bear....

Have a great day. Not sure it is going to get above freezing here today - no Air Conditioners for us  

So, will I still post on page 39...the suspense...