Starting Chemo February 2009?

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009

    I agree, Beverly! I gave up trying to keep up a long time ago! But it IS an awesome group and I feel lucky to be a part of it. It has saved my life, my sanity, my marriage...ME too many times to count. I hate that we've all got the 7th inning blues at the moment, but I also know victory is just over the horizon. We only have to hang on a little longer...and then the NEXT adventures begin, haha!

    Speaking of which, Susan?! How about those rads?

    I'm off to go be Easter Bunny. We're doing it this weekend b/c we know full well next weekend it will be impossible. Her basket is going to be SOOOOOO cute! ;)

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited April 2009

    Ohh, I stuffed all the plastic eggs with little eggs last night! The "Easter Bunny" leaves a trail of little plastic eggs from their bedroom, through the house, to their baskets. We have got them too much stuff for their baskets, it is my guilt working here. My husband keeps saying - "it is only Easter", but I want them to be happy. I hope I am up for it next Sunday - well, I will make myself be OK, at least when they first get up and find their baskets. My Inlaws will be here to help over Chemo, and for the weekend, so my husband is thrilled as he has asked his Mum to make Roast Beef for Easter dinner!

    Fabulous day yesterday - went to see the Dinosaurs at the Museum. We hadn't taken the kids before, and they were thrilled! I felt really good all day, and it was so nice to get out and just forget about this whole Cancer Mess for a while. 

    Hope everyone is feeling OK today. I am so sorry for anyone else going through Taxane Hell. I felt like I had been beaten up, it was awful. It is funny - last week when I was "in the hole" so to speak, I felt so overwhelmed by the fact that I had to go through it all twice again before I was done. Now I am "out", I feel the next two treatment are doable, and I feel hope again. So, hang in everyone, just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and the end will come. Sometime!!

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited April 2009

    P.S.

    Michelle - hope you are still sailing through this! 

    Bev - I am pretty sure the weight is water - it is impossible to put this amount of weight on otherwise. Every Chemo I am higher.  I have  "ChemoBabe" T-shirt from CafePress that I wear for every chemo - makes me feel better too!

    Kristine - hope the tiredness passes. I have low Hemoglobin too, I am trying to eat more meat, not sure if that works or not.

    OK, my daughter is yelling at me to get her out of bed. Talk later! 

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  • Terri42
    Terri42 Member Posts: 56
    edited April 2009

    Thanks guys for the support - I actually slept 12 hours last night and have pain in my ankles today but not so much I can't get past it.  I will definitely be asking for Percoset though for the next round so I can at least sleep although I'm hoping like Apple said - maybe next time will be different and I won't have as much pain at all - Kerry I hope that's true for you too - and thanks for the reminder that I will feel better and will be able to get through the next treatment.  Do you guys ever just think you can't possibly go to the next one?  I only have three more but I sometimes think there is no way I'm going to make it - I just want to give up - that's where you guys come in - it helps having all of you to chat with and read stories...I couldn't have done this without you!

    Well I've gone from depressed to downright sappy!  Thanks guys!

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  • jrgolomb
    jrgolomb Member Posts: 1,236
    edited April 2009

    I am about five days away from my next tx of taxotere.  I experienced the horrible pain-mainly a horrible flu like ache.  I took vicodin and had nasty stomach ache reaction so I am going to ask for a different pain med during post tx.  I wish I had realized the pain would be so bad.  Tylenol pm didn't even touch the pain. 

    My daughter is 16 years old and I still am planning on having an easter basket for her.  She won't trouble herself to hunt for easter eggs anymore but she still colors them with me.  I so loved watching her hunt for easter eggs when she was 2, 3 and 4 years old.  I also love digging out her pictures of Easter outfits with the cute hat, matching gloves and Easter shoes.  She so loved to dress up.  Now her idea of dressing up is finding a good find at a second hand store.  She is a hoot!

    Kerry Mac-- I love your idea of the egg trail up to the easter basket.  Now that is cute!!!!!  We used to go to church and when we got back, we would discover the spring bunny would have hidden the eggs in the house and the yard and our dd would find them.  A good and hilarious memory. 

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009

    My child is an alien. Shortly after this picture she said, "Mom, that's enough candy. Can I play now?" She's not mine. She can't be!

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  • jancie
    jancie Member Posts: 2,631
    edited April 2009

    I am down for the count.  Sorry I haven't been around but on top of getting that chemo on Wednesday I got a nasty cold that my dh had for 4 weeks.  I have been in bed since Wednesday.  4 treatments down 4 to go and wonder if I can do this.  Sure chemo is doable but it is a biatch and yes we live through it but dangit I don't need to feel this bad!

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  • jrgolomb
    jrgolomb Member Posts: 1,236
    edited April 2009

    Webwriter---Lovely pics. 

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  • buddy1
    buddy1 Member Posts: 750
    edited April 2009

    Webbie  Thanks for the pics.  It sure did pick up my day.

    Janice  I am so sorry,  How are your shingles?

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009

    AWWW! Jancie! Hang in there. I'm so sorry you have to deal with a cold on top of everything else. If Michelle is Puke Princess, you're rapidly becoming SE Savant! What is UP with your poor body? Take some good drugs and sleep through as much as you can. It will get better soon. It HAS to!

    Off to the yard for the big Easter Egg hunt! If you all are liking them, I'll post some more (actually dressed even) after nap.

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  • Denali
    Denali Member Posts: 347
    edited April 2009

    Webwriter:  LOVE the photos!  They put smiles on all of our little chemo'd faces.  You are hilarious.  As she ages, I'm sure her sweet tooth will grow.  Give her time.

    Speaking of Easter, I gave my kids baskets until they were 30.  Sad, huh?  Oh well, I had fun.  I used to tell them to make breakfast on Easter morning and they'd find their eggs.  Eggs would be in the cupboard and in the cereal box (resealed!).  When they were older, I'd even hide them under our dog, laying in the middle of the floor. 

    Unfortunately, I have no grandkids.  (And I'd be such a good grandma!)  My first 'grandchild' was a dog.  So this year I announced, "Making due with canines instead of grandchildren, we will have a dog treat hunt in the yard. "  sigh. 

    Sometimes, I think I'm such a chemo wuss.  I'm so sorry you have a cold on top of chemo crash, Jancie!  I wonder why we can't just take Ambian during the day as well as at night during the bad days.  I figure that's either a brilliant idea, or I still have chemo brain and it's a really, really bad idea.  But wouldn't it be nice to just spend it in la-la land??   

    Speaking of la-la land, wouldn't it be nice if there was such a thing as a chemo spa, where you could go and they'd take care of you, waiting on you hand and foot?  There'd be a menu that you could order anything you craved.  You wouldn't have to change the sheets or do the laundry.  And each night they'd serve you a 'cocktail' of personalized meds for your particular side effects, that tasted surprisingly like margaritas. 

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  • Terri42
    Terri42 Member Posts: 56
    edited April 2009

    Love the pictures Webbie!

    I am thankfully having my good week for Easter so I am looking forward to the baskets that I still make for my 11 and 14 year old!  I make them search for them with clues - my son still likes it - or at least he pretends for me!

    Enjoy!

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  • Terri42
    Terri42 Member Posts: 56
    edited April 2009

    Oh Denali - what a great idea - I'm imagining the spa and margaritas....

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  • Jaimieh
    Jaimieh Member Posts: 2,373
    edited April 2009

    Terri~ I go thru the depressed mode with every Chemo and I can almost time my watch to it so next  weekend day 5-10 I will be in the "I can't do anymore", "I am done" and then when I come out of my funk I begin the bring on the next round mode.  It's horrible I cry, act like a baby, and I just want to curl up in a ball and then I get my fight back and think I am down one more and I can do this....  Sadly this has happened every treatment but after tomorrow I have 2 more to go and I know that I can do it. 

    Did I mention how much I do not like decadron (I call it dreadadron) ??  It starts my mouth taste going down the tubes and it continues from there. 

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009

    Jaimieh, yeah. I know that place. Ug.

    Terrie, I love the clues idea! AWESOME! So stealing that in a couple of years.

    Denali, sign me up and pass ANYTHING but Dreadadron! 

    Here's the no more candy face...

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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • webwriter
    webwriter Member Posts: 535
    edited April 2009
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  • Bethie1
    Bethie1 Member Posts: 393
    edited April 2009

    Kristine, I'm on Facebook.  Bhanosfan is my username on Facebook, and email is Bhanosfan@aol.com. That goes for anyone else as well, feel free to contact me on Facebook as well

    Webbie, nice pics!!  I agree about your child; what chld says they've had too much candy?? LOLOL Too hilarious!!!

    Jancie, hope you feel better!!!

    Got some new symptoms but nothing major.  Felt a canker sore in my mouth (now gone), and also bottom of feet (the heels) feel like they're raw and blistered when I walk.  All in all, I'm feeling OK.  I start Taxol injection this Wed., and it's chemo #5.  We're getting there girls!!!

    Dx 12/18/2008, IDC, 2cm, Stage IIIa, Grade 3, 5/24 nodes, ER+/PR-, HER2+

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  • Jaimieh
    Jaimieh Member Posts: 2,373
    edited April 2009

    Webbie~ what a cutie :)  My 3yr old son is like that when it comes to candy I get the "No Thankts"

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  • buddy1
    buddy1 Member Posts: 750
    edited April 2009

    Oh Webbie.  Thank you so much for those pics.  It reminds me of the days when mine were young.  She is breathtaking.    I know how much you must enjoy her.

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  • Beverly11
    Beverly11 Member Posts: 443
    edited April 2009

    Kerry - My daughters are 17 & 20 and they still get Easter treats.  I have always done the chocolate trail to the basket.  (thought I was being so original)  Now, my 20 year old is in school in Montreal and I mailed her a basket of treats.  She won't be expecting one this year but I know they are special to her. (I had my kids qwhen I was quite young)

    Webwriter - your daughter is so so cute.  She reminds me of mine when she was much younger.

    Denali - lol chemo spa.  Great idea.   You are very funny.  I hope one day you will get your wish to be a grandma.  I know my mother in law had to wait forever.

    Janice - How are you doing?  I was diagnosed with shingles in February but I am not confident that they were correct based on what my symptoms were.  I only knew of a couple people that had it and they were very sick.  I just had a disgusting rash on my chest.  No pain.  

    Jaimieh, Terri & Kerry - Yeah, the depressed thing is something else.  Combined with the fatigue, it is a challenge to get yourself through it.  But, it does seem to pass.  This time I was feeling really bad one night, & started to mourn the passing of my mom and finally understood what she meant when she said she wasn't feeling well and wasn't up to doing 'anything'.  She didn't have cancer.  But, when you go through something like chemo; you truly understand things differently.  I cried for hours and woke up the next morning and my mood had dramatically changed for the better.  Thank God.  

    Bethie - I have had some canker sores & have been controling them with perscription cream called Zovirax. (for external use)

     Good luck to everyone this week.  May all of our appointments go as planned.  

    Bev

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  • MicheleS
    MicheleS Member Posts: 937
    edited April 2009

    Good morning ladies!  I've had that "run over by a bus" feeling all weekend so I haven't posted much... Still beats AC by a long-shot though.

    Web~ Love the pictures! 

    Jaimieh, Terri, and Kerry~ I'm feeling down too.  I got a script for wellbutrin from my MD but haven't filled it yet.

    So... lately, I've been OCD about reacting to the taxol next time.  I had a bit of a reaction the 1st time but nothing bad... Please tell me to let that go... I can't stop thinking (worrying) about it. Apple, how many taxols have you had??

    Gotta run and go get the boys up for school... Will post later from work.

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  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited April 2009

    Oh, so funny - my Husband says he can set the clock to my Emotional Meltdowns too. They are awful, but I actually think the Chemo must contribute if we are all going through the same thing. Oh, yeah, and the fact we all have Cancer. Smile I just get very focused on dying, and get so convinced that the Chemo is not working, my children will have to grow up without me, blah, blah. I hate it. Then it just seems to lift, and I feel positive and hopeful again. Guess it isn't called an emotional roller coaster for nothing....

    So, Love the Easter photos. Thought you would like to know it is SNOWING here today. Yep, how springlike is that...?? And not that nice fluffy stuff, but the wet yuckky driving stuff. Ewww.

    Anyway, the kids are up, so i gotta go. Enjoy your day!

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  • gcpommom
    gcpommom Member Posts: 883
    edited April 2009

    Some of you are making me look bad....I haven't even begun to do the Easter shopping yet!  My daughters are 19 and 22, and yes they still get baskets of candy.  They still want to do the egg hunt (with their little brother, of course).  My 19 yr old, who doesn't live with us anymore, asked if she should spend the night here on "easter eve" so that she will be home for the egg hunt!  Too funny!

    Michele:  I am so glad that your Taxol is going better than the AC.  Mine was too.  I think that after the 2nd tx, you can stop worrying about a reaction to the Taxol, my onc wants me to do my 2nd tx at the hospital just in case, but after that I can go to a local infusion place for tx's. 

    I feel like I need to get back to my tx's.  I am not thrilled at the week off, after having a 3 week break between AC and Taxol because of the embolism.  Then I had to miss last week's tx.  So I am ready to get it all going again tomorrow with Taxol #2.

    Web:  your daughter is so cute!  She looks like you in that close-up.  Don't you love the attitude they can get even at such a young age!  Love the face she's making!

    Kerri:  It snowed here in Michigan last night, too.  We woke up to 4" of snow!  Yuck, I am so sick of winter weather.  Even here in Mich., it is not that common to get this much snow this late in the season.

    I had a busy weekend.  Had DD over for dinner on Sat, pulled out the bbq for the first time this year and did some baking.  Then off to my dad's for a family get together and pizza.  I know that was hard for him, it was the first get together at his house since my mom died; it is still so weird to go there and not see my mom bustling around in the kitchen.  Cry

    So, we start another week, here's to hoping it is a good week for us all.

    Hugs

    Judy

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  • apple
    apple Member Posts: 7,799
    edited April 2009

    Webbie - great photos.. know that the 3 year old will grow.. my kids are now 9 11 and 14.. what a difference a decade or so makes.  my daughter now knows everything so i can't tell her much.

    Michelle S - the first time i did chemo i did AC X4 and Taxol X4 - dose dense.  My taxols gave me aches and pains - but the bad aches only lasted for a few hours.. maybe 6.  I had no pain meds the first time.

    Now I am doing taxol X 18.. light doses weekly 3X then 1 week off.  It bothers me so much more this time i think because i am worried about my hands.   I notice that sometimes for a few hours i feel awful.. or awful tired.. but it goes away after a day so.  it's just not too bad.  My onc gave me some hydrocodone this time.. and i tell you i had no idea i was in so much pain.  it's really nice to pass the day without going 'OMG that hurts'.  I slept all Saturday evening, all that nite till 6 the next morning.  (I had to get up and play at church - so i figured i better get up and pump some coffee and meds into my system.. it worked)  i feel great today (my chemo was Thursday). 

    I guess i wish to convey that the side effects just kind of hit you at times.. and then the time passes and i was ok.

    here are my kids about 6 years ago with me and mr. apple

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