Starting Chemo February 2009?

O.K  rat poison.  If this is a fair fight, why don't we see achy, hairless rats? 

Score:  Rats 1   Chemo Babes 0  (But we WILL win).

Webbie:  Wonderful pics--are you close to Gulf Shores?  Love those white sand beaches.

Apple:  Great drawing.  Don't know if your schools participate in Artsonia.com, but you might check it out.  Art teachers can submit kids' artwork and, you can "conveniently" purchase items with your child's pictures on them (your Mary picture would be great on a totebag).  Plus the school gets a percentage of the purchase. At any rate, the kids get a kick of having their art projects displayed on the Internet.

Have a good evening, all.  Helen

Michele ~ That's funny about your DD and Dorrie, lol!

apple ~ my hair is growing, too!  It's so wierd that not only did it not all fall out, it's actually growing.  I never did buzz it, just used the 1.5 inch setting on the clippers.  I start Taxol on Monday; I wonder if that may take the rest of my hair even though onc says he doesn't think it will.

That's a cute picture your daughter did, and it does look like your avatar!

KerryMac ~ I have no help to offer but thought I'd let you know that I haven't been able to see any of your pictures.

kat4pink ~ I'm on Compazine as needed.  I'm not sure it's really doing anything but my nausea isn't all that terrible so I'm not complaining.  I find that Xanax (anti-anxiety) makes my stomach feel better, so I'm guessing my problem is more nerves than nausea.

gcpommom ~ Hurrah, hurrah!!  Your blood clot is gone!!  I'm soooooooooo happy for you!  I will start Taxol on Monday the 23rd.  My onc talks as if the SE's aren't as bad as AC.

Thanks, Furies, for your sympathy on the loss of my aunt.  You're all so sweet.

Hugs to all,
Artemis

Don't know if you ran across think or not Sue, but it seems to explain the test somewhat..

http://poptop.hypermart.net/brcatest1.html

Sue - that is a bummer to get news like that. Sorry. And just when you want to start putting this behind you and moving forward you get hit by this.

I don't know much about Tumor markers other than what I have read by other people posting. BUT, I do know that not all Onc's do them as they are considered really unreliable, so try not to panic too much yet. One woman I read who is 4 or 5 years out Stage 3 stopped having them as they flucuated so much, caused unnecessary stress and scans, and nothing ever has come up.

I do think other things can cause them to rise other than cancer. If it started rising when you were on the Taxatore I would say that is the reason. Also, if you do a quick Google of "Reliability Of Tumor Marker Test", you will see they are not really that reliable. In fact I was just reading that chemo can cause the markers to rise as large amounts of Cancer Cells are dying, releasing the marker. So it may be good news!

What has your Onc recommended? I really feel for you, this is the last thing you need to be worried about when you should be celebrating finishing Chemo.

Kristine - have a great time in Arizona! Relax, have fun with your kids and Sisiter-In-law, and try to forget about cnacer for a couple of days at least.  Will you get time to watch the grand finale of BSG tonight???? Think we will tape it and watch it on Saturday - I will be too pooped tonight.

So, I am off to my first Taxatore in a couple of hours. IF my WBC is high enough of course.....

A little nervous as the what to expect...But, I am grateful that -

1) I will not be getting the Red Devil today. No more pink pee! 

2) I'll only be getting one infusion rather than four.

3) I will hopefully not be puking tonight.

4) I will get to spend the afternoon in bed and NOT feel like puking ! 

5) After today, I will only have to go into that Chemo Room two more times....

OK, guys, have a wonderful day, and enjoy your weekend. 

I can see it, Kerry!  Your husband (?) looks a lot  like my husband before he shaved off his goatee!

I actually liked the goatee on my husband, and was very upset when he shaved everything off.  He's had a beard/mustache of some sort since we met 26 years ago, so this clean-shaved look is weird to me.  Some guys just look better with facial hair than without!  But I can understand how men could get bored with their look, since what they can do with their short hair is so limited.

Thanks Kathi and Kerry- I looked and looked last nite on the net and found so many conflicting things on the tumor marker test.  Got so stressed out, had to take 2 ativans!  I find it really conincidental that the # started going up with the start of the Taxotere... so I am not going to think anything bad right now, or at least try to.  Onc. says he'll repeat the test next week, then go from there. He mentioned scans to get restaged... I don't like the sound of that either!  I need a drink... it's 12 o'oclock somewhere, damn it!

Kerry-Hope your treatment was uneventful, let us know how you feel! I think u r going to do great on the Taxotere!  and love the photo!!

Jaimieh-I've had an eye twitch since my 2nd Taxotere treatment and same issue with ecky dry stucked together eyes when I woke up in the morning, but it's finally getting better.

Happy Spring..... even know we woke up to an inch of snow here in NJ!

Wow - I miss out on so much in a couple of days!

I am done AC#4 - yippeeeeeeeeeeeee! HALFWAY! Start Taxol (X4) on the 31st so I'm eager to hear how you do on Taxotere Kerry.  Jancie, Michele, Judy, Tricia (anyone else?) - I think all of you are scheduled for Taxol too?  When do you guys go in?  I'm like Tricia - I think I faired OK with AC although I am exhausted but I can't compete (luckily) in the nausea contest- I never threw up but did feel queasy!  I'm nervous about the Taxol - my onc says I should feel better - no more Emend and my RBC's should start going up again which would help with the tiredness - I hope so!

Apple - love your daughters picture - I wonder if "Mary" has cancer and Mom doesn't?  I'm always trying to analyze my kids writings and drawings but usually when I ask them what they had in mind I'm way too deep!

Webwriter - I wish I was sitting on the beach with your daughter - my daughter is 11 now not as innocent looking anymore but I love every stage...

Artemis - I appreciate your Aunt's mantra - how strong she was!  Thanks for sharing.

Hope everyone is having a good day!  It's nice and sunny here - that always helps!

Just called my onco nurse to see if she had my lab results yet, and she didn't.. so I thought I would ask her a few questions about my s/e and what could be done next time to make them better. She stated there was nothing you could do to avoid the s/e, there was no getting around them. I said, well I know there are different kind of medications that can be tried if something is not working. Then I asked her if the first treatment is usually the worst or the best for the patients, and she said oh it's the best it will get worse from here.. the 2nd one will be worse for you and so on since the medicines keep accumulating in your body.  She was NOT positive at all, and said all of this so abruptly.  I have never felt really good about her.. she never returns my phone calls.. I always have to call 2 or 3 times.. I just don't trust her to take care of me.. but she is my only connection to my onco nurse practitioner and onco, so I don't want to piss her off. I asked her the other day kind of jokingly if I had done something to offend her and that I was concerned with being so far away that if I ran into trouble and it took 3 or 4 hours to get in touch with someone and then I had a 3 hour drive to get there that it wouldn't be a good situation.  And she said, oh bless your heart I'm sorry you felt that way.. I have nothing against you honey. I don't want to cause any trouble but  she makes me feel uneasy about being so far away!

Kathie,

I am so sorry you are having to be challenged with a less than sensitive nurse...it is okay to freak out and worry...we are human.  I have had to be put in the hospital after AC 1 and AC 2 for low wbc...below 1...the things I was told to watch out for was chills, fever 100.5 or above or some new pain.  With my last admission, I had actually worked all day, felt some weak, but when I got home I had chills that I couldn't get rid of, so took my temp and it was 100.5, also had heart racing 140-150.  I went to ER and was admitted for IV abx.  (yes, I had neulesta shot with every chemo.)  After this round (#3) AC, I was started on oral abx 5 days post chemo....so far soo good...I can tell my counts are real low today, as I am real tired.  But no other sxs!  yeah!  Also for some really strange reason whem my counts start to drop, the bottom of my feet are real tender??  My doc won't do blood counts between treatments unless I show symptoms, she states "we know they are going to be low and unless you are having a fever, chills, etc...we aren't going to do anything"....You will do fine, just be cautious and continue to post if you have more questions.  Here's to counts a climbing!

I don't feel overly tired... I really thought I was going to have good numbers since I had been feeling pretty good... guess that is because my red count is good,

The reason they did my blood work at day 8 was to see how my body was coping with the chemo..I guess everyone's is down between day 8 - 10 right? You just don't know how low because they usually don't check it until you next treatment, is that right? And you only know if it gets really low if you are exposed to something that makes you run a fever.. is that right also? I guess I am confused because I am thinking if you are down to say a 1.0 and walking around not knowing it, isn't that kind of dangerous? I wonder why they don't keep an eye on the wbc inbetween treatments.

I am confused and probably freaking myself out for no good reason.

kat4pink,

I can understand your confusion and I, too, was freaking out...the way that I understand it is that, yes, a low white count can be serious, however, a lower than normal white count should be expected after a chemo treatment.  So, we do need to take precaution with avoidance of someone recently or currently ill, as we can become ill pretty easy.  When asking my oncologists about restricting activities during nadar (that's what they call this time period), she said that the trouble that I was running into was that when the white counts get so low, your body actually can start to fight the bacteria that lives in you...I guess we all have "normal" bacteria that lives in us...thus leading to an infection.  When going through treatment we just have to really be aware of our body (I know, what is normal anymore?) but if we think we have an infection, etc...need to call oncologists or go in for a lab draw.  Last night I started to get the chills again, took my temp and it was fine, so I have just been monitoring my temp today...I will admit, I was freaking just a bit, esp given the fact that I was at a benefit with over 250 people I had hugged, etc...its the first time I was in a public setting in almost two months.  Let's just say chemo hasn't been too friendly with me and with the low white counts, I have been on "house arrest" alot....what a learning journey we are all on...

Finally posted an avatar...took me long enough.

Webbie -yup, I hold my geek sign high. I have been using datadrudge for years and have never had problems with a unique username --I liked the way datadrudge sounded...kinda merry maids but not! I have held datadrudge.com it seems since the web was born but have been working full-time as a pager-carrying network specialist computer geek so won't likely develop the site until I "retire". I'm on a 6-man team and the guys have been taking my weeks through chemo so I can sleep without servers and routers waking me up. Aren't they awesome!

All --My daughter's blog "My Mom Gave Up her Hair for Lent" with pictures of our Ash Wednesday haircutting, complete with Mohawks! :

http://pointy-elbows.blogspot.com/2009/03/mohawks.html\

Datadrudge -  just checked out your daughter's blog, how sweet. Lovely pictures. Your husband really had that long hair. How nice of him to match your look. Great fam.  Enjoy!

datadrudge - oh, I love the photos! I can't believe your husband cut all that hair off too! My husband offered, but quite frankly, his is falling out quite nicely all my itself....! That probably explains the facial hair fascination.

Kathie - OMG, your nurse sounds NOT HELPFUL AT ALL! My Onc keeps saying to me call me at any time, don't hesitate to call, etc. And the chemo clinic has someone who will talk to me any time as well. To get that sort of attitude from someone who is supposed to be your first line nurse is really unfortunate. I was very concerned about my WBC, last time it was 1.6, and they still did the infusion. Yesterday it was 10! (thanks Steroids!!) I think it was the KFC that did it!!It is normal for it to drop mid cycle, then it swings up again.

Sue - hang in there. I really think and hope that this is nothing.  I hate how one little thing can just throw you over the edge. I had a sore lower back one day last week, had a bit of an attack of canceritis, think I had just slept funny.

 Welcome to the new guys - you will get loads of great support here! We are really very nice (most of us anyway...!)

So, yesterday went really well. I feel so much better than on any of the nasty FEC drugs, Phew. AND, no puking!! I even had dinner last night! This morning I can feel it a little bit, but very mildly. The Pharmacist said the Steroids should keep me going at least until Sunday and then I will find out if I am one of the unlucky ones with the Muscle aches. I got a bit of achyness (sp?) with the FEC, so I might find the same. She said the pain range is huge, from none at all to quite debilitating. So fingers crossed all continues swimmingly for me. BUT, things certainly seem a lot better so far. Good news for everyone heading into Taxane land.

Still minus 5C here this morning, spring hasn't quite sprung. But my daffodils are popping up, they must think warmer times are near.