**NEW** Starting Chemo March 2009

Travelgal- I am doing the taxol on a weekly basis for 12 weeks.  I have done the first 2 with very few SE;s.  If you were using zofran you should have no problem, the gave me reglan to take every day for 4 days and zofran if I needed it which I never did.(so far).  Day 4-5 seems to be the worst on this for me. Some abdominal pain over night and pain where I have had the surgeries (port and lumpectomy)  By the way 42DD before.  Still can wear same bras just not quite as full now.  Last week crashed then Sat night and slept until noon Sunday.  That seems to have been the worst.  The steroid have put me into diabetes, but the only days I have had to do shots is the day of treatment because of the 5 dex the night before and 5 more before 6 the morning of and then again in the IV.  You will also get tagament and benedryl before your  taxol.  They go really slow the first time.  The second time starts slow,  but can up it faster.  Was out sooner 2nd time. My hair started to itch just days after the 1st round but has not come out yet.  Inside of my ears itch, drives me crazy.  Hope you get thru with little to 0 SE's. Annette

whew ya'll are an active bunch. i can never remember what is written and by who. i hope everyone has agreat weekend.  thanks for all the input on the lump vs mast. i think i just want to get rid of both and get some new ones.

pickle  go for the short do my hair started comeing out pretty good day 14 which was a thursday, i cut it really short on friday, it lasted the weekend, and monday in shower it was falling out like crazy, no way could i go to work like that, shaved it, put on wig, looked great, felt fake, took it off, on with the bandana, and off to work i went, everyone was supportive and told me how beautiful i was, what i thought was going to be a horrible day was a wonderful one instead. Yeah for great friends and co-workers.

gina: i love your new pic  way hotter than your brother LOL

Sessna: i am with you on the animal issue. I absolutely hate it when animals are mistreated. I think animals in need find me. a little beagle dog showed up at my house,very timid, very scared, obviously mistreated in past, and pregnant, (my brother thought she had worms he is so funny), well now she is about ready to pop, i bathed her and let her in the house at night, but she prefers to be outside during the day, she has made a birthing area under the ramp to my toolshed. she is very sweet, but makes no noise at all other than a little yelp or whimper when she is scared, i don't know if someone hurt her vocal cords or what, just very odd for a beagle not to bark and howl often. I took a picture of her, don't know what she is pregnant by, but i live in middle tennessee and already have lots of people that will take the pups when born, big on hunting and fishing around here. and No, Christians are NOT weak. Good for you.

Francine: you look purty purty to me.

ok train of thought is gone now, i usually try to write down notes as i read so i can respond, but spent the night at my sweetie' and his kids never put the pen and paper back in same place(teenagers for you)  oh yeah when i got here last night they were all sitting on their butts, the floor desperately needed to be vacumned, i started vacumning, they hadn't seen my head yet, i whipped off my bandana, man you should have the cleaning frenzy, i guess the bald head guilted them. ha ha another positiveside effect.

Everyone have a great weekend, i am off to work soon.

Linda, I take tagamet 2 x day throughout my whole treatment.....I could probably get by with just the first 2 weeks (I am on TC every 3 weeks) but it has been worth it to just take it the whole time......the slightest heartburn or icky feeling in my stomach would trigger 50 other things so it is best to just nip it in the bud....

gina.......love your picture....looks like you don't even belong in our group.  that wig looks awesome, like the real thing.

everyone else.......please have a SE free weekend on me.....i am day 4 of my 2nd TC and woke up nauseous (I haven't had a problem sleeping) so I missed my anti nausea meds....AND a tongue with white spots all over it.  What the?????

hugs,

diane

the white tongue spots could be thrush , you should probably tell your onc about that one and use the mouth rinse a lot.

Hey MoB;

They fixed me up pretty quickly and I finished the TX -- 50% there! Said that I should change the steroid dose before the next round and they will give me some pre-emptive drips then. They were unflapped. I actually don't even want to say this aloud, but I feel fine! Yesterday I went out for dinner and today took a yoga class. Go figure?!

NYDeb- I like your answer to the onc! sometimes people can just say such things- so good to just throw something back at them! I feel like I always think of the perfect come back too late. After reading of reactions on the second round here I was nervous too- since I had reacted the first time I was worried about a stronger second reaction, but I was fine- first time they had to give benedry AND more steroids, but second time they gave me the benedryl after the Adriamycin and before the Cytoxan and Taxotere and I was just fine. I was asleep from the benedryl, but I was fine. I hope rounds 3-6 go as well. 2 down, 4 to go!

I'm still fighting a slight fever- 99 degrees and some body ache. my friends stopped by our place on their way to go hiking, wish I had felt up to going with them. I sat outside on a  beautiful day for awhile- supervised dh doing some yard work.

I just had my hair cut.  About 12 inches.  Its a short bob.  But it still is coming out.  I predict a buzz with the clippers within the next day.  I had no idea it would come out so fast.

I got a small tattoo of a hummingbird on my ankle when I was 30.  Even at 30, I hid it from my parents for a long time.  One day my mom saw it and - like you said - acted like it was something I had done TO HER.  She said, "but what will people think when you're old and in a nursing home with that on your ankle?"    My dad first said "oh please tell me that's one of those that comes off in the shower" and when I said no...he got all curious about it and how much it hurt and what does the needle look like, etc.  Who knows, when this bc bs is finished, it might just be time for another one!

Since he turned 18, I knew he would get one.  I had always told him his back... between his shoulder blades... those would be places I could accept!  BUT, the inside of his arm???  AND, it's big!  Even with a short sleeved shirt, you can tell it's there. 

Gina are you sure you are not having a allergic reaction

Hi All,

Gina , too bad about your allergic reaction.Have you called the doctor or taken benedryl?

MOB- I guess tattoos are the modern way to go. When I was young, a very long time ago only sailors got tattoos that said Mom. Now so many do. I guess things could be worse. I am sure we all know what things do matter now....

On a lighter note...Just wanted to share a picture of my two cats which I just took. I know many of you are pet fanciers. Enjoy. Murphy is the sweet girl( black and white). She went to where poor Karl, the boy was sleeping to annoy him. Just like a women. I caught them with her arms around him. So cute. Don't worry they are neutered..

Hugs,

Francine

buddy1... Yep, once it starts... it just keeps coming out. 

Francine... Very cute picture.

Gina... I had a similar reaction.  Mine was on the palms and wrists, a couple of places on my buttocks, and on the inside of my legs.  My palms and wrists looked liked a burn whereas the other places kinda looked like insect bites.  My onc said the same thing... probably not an allergic reaction because it was a good week past my tx.  I took some benadryl which I think helped the itching.  What really helped though was using some "Aquaphor".  It helped a lot.  I even used some calamine lotion the first night. 

PattiB... I think the ones on the feet hurt the worse.  OUCH!

Question... Does everyone have their blood tested the day before chemo?  I'm worried, even though I got the Neulasta shot, that something will be too low/too high and I'll be delayed.  Is the day before standard for blood testing?

I get my blood tested one week after chemo.  The same day I see my Onc.  They also check it the day of chemo, right before I get it.  I think the scale is pretty loose.  I was 2200 and still was able to get mine.  I hear it take the shot up to 14 days to kick in.