Has anyone started a forum for Chemo in Dec 2008?

Happy Easter everyone!   I hope you all have a wonderful day and no SE's!

Yuck - I started back with the weepy/twitchy eyes again today.  I give up for this day.  Good night.

Hey Texas - Just got up and all the top lashes are now gone!  Aaaargh......just when I thought things were going to start growing back.  Eyes are itchy and watery this morning - I thought it was allergy but now realize it was those lashes letting go.  I just want to crawl back into bed but alas - off to work in a few with drops and tissues and hope no one notices how ghoulish I look.

Happy Monday - hope everyone is feeling better...

bobcat my eyelash & brows are leaving as well Worst than it ever did! I ended buzzing my head for Easter so that at least it would look somewhat clean. Tried mascara, my MIL thought I didn't put any on, I assured her I did or it would look worse. LOL! Then Monday morning, ended up smooth shaving my head, I didn't get any sleep the night before, my hair were so brittle that everytime I moved on my pillow it kept poking me and hurting my head.

The good news is I GO MY PORT OUT!!!! It was very quick and so far the least painful procedure I had. Still a little sensitive today but I'll be ok. I had my rads simulation yesterday and start the real deal in an hour. 7 weeks and I'm done tx

I'm having my port taken out next Wednesday at an outpatient surgery center, under local anesthetic.

The rash on my face from the Taxotere caused the skin to really dry out! As a result, the skin pulled my lower eyelids down so that my eyes wouldn't close -- and now I've got conjunctivitis. Next phone call is to the opthalmologist.

It was taken out at the surgery center, local anesthesia as well with the help of a very strong Xanax I slept for 3 hours after I go home! LOL! One of the nurse tried to take my blood pressure during the procedure, my port was on my opposite site of tumor so she was going to take BP on cancer side, she didn't know any better so I had to tell no that side and she waited until the port was out. Be prepare to speak up if the same situation happens. It's still sensitive today but no nearly as bad as getting the port in was. Although, the port bump is gone, now I have a port dent! I'm expecting this should fix itself over the next few months. A tiny dent is a lot better than a HUGE bump with 3 3D dots

Hi Divas.  I hope everyone is doing well today.  Of all things, I had to have a root canal done today.  Give me a break!  I had a total meltdown after I left the dentist's office.  I get my port out on Friday. 

Caroline, thank you for the description on the port removal.  I'm a little nervous about it.

Almost all of my right eyebrow is gone now and the left is slowly disappearing.  I have a few lashes left.  Makeup is getting harder and harder.  They don't seem to be growing back very quickly either. I look like Groucho Marx when I try to draw them on.  I've given up with mascara. 

Love, Elaine

Caroline - I've thought about taking a Xanax but I have a radiation appointment later that afternoon.  I guess I could go home and sleep it off before rads.  They told me I could eat a light breakfast that morning but nothing too heavy.  My appointment is at 10:30 so that's not too bad.  I so ready to get this bump out of my chest!

My oncs office called today and wants me to go in tomorrow for some blood work for the Tamoxafen.  It's a gene test to see if it will work for me.  I'm not supposed to start it until the blood work comes back. He had told me to start taking it 2 weeks after my last chemo but I haven't yet.  Good thing.  Anyway, I don't know what I'll do if it won't work for me.  I can't afford to take the AIs.

When I was waiting for rads today there was a woman there that had perfectly drawn on eyebrows.  She said she is good at it.  I was so jealous! 

Bobcat - I'm so jealous, I wish I could draw my brows on without looking like a clown.  My hair is growing in really soft too.  I haven't shaved it again and don't plan to because it's all pretty even.  I love being able to see the dark hairs through the hole in the back of my ballcap.  It's not just scalp anymore!

Ok, so now I'm almost 5 wks since my last chemo and the crud taste in my mouth has been replaced by the guck the endontist used to seal my root canal.  What a PITA!  I'm sooooo sick and tired of this.  I will try a smiley face... maybe it will perk me up. 

Simvog, June 12th isn't all that far away! It's great to have a solid date on your calendar isn't it?

What do you want me to bring to the party in 16 years?

Sounds like fun! Count me in. BTW, thanks for keeping up this thread on the forum.

Enjoying the hair discussion - My head hair was starting to grow; now it seems to have stopped! Hope that is not a SE of Femara. My eyelashes/brows have continued to thin but I still have enough that I don't have to draw them in - good thing, my drawing skills are pathetic.

My fingernails are breaking along the horizontal ridges and one toenail has darkened. Still find it amazing that I am still recovering from chemo! I also still have dry skin and my energy is still not up to par. Good weather should help my fitness motivation!  Radiation effects are gone.

Femara SEs are my concern now. For those on Femara let us know how you are doing?

Mary L 

June 12 sounds good to me, however, if I am still here, I will probably be  on a walker. 16+53=69 years old!!!!  Linda

Hello everybody.  I know I haven't posted very much at all, but I'm still around.  I read here often to see how everybody is doing and you are all often in my thoughts and prayers.  Its nice to see that we all are doing fairly well considering what we've been through ~ and are still going through.

I was supposed to do 12 weeks of Taxol after my A/C, but my plan changed because I decided to go off the clinical trial I was participating in.  So my oncologist reviewed all of my records and we came to the conclusion that 4 rounds of A/C was "sufficient and reasonable."  So I am almost 8 weeks out from my last chemo.  I'm feeling a little better almost daily, although I still am exhausted most of the time and I have some sinus issues.  But my fingers are losing their purple tinge and my hair is growing back ~ my daughter says it looks like a fuzzy baby chicken!  {an appropriate springlike hairstyle....}  My eyelashes starting falling out just as my hair really started growing ~ what's up with that?  I got my port taken out a few weeks ago, and it was similar to Caroline's experience, not a big deal at all and quite a relief.  I was supposed to start the reconstruction process on June 9th, but will have to delay for a while because I got a job offer to go back to the city bus company on May 4th.  I'm supposed to start taking Tamoxifin, but I have seriously mixed feelings about it, and I just wanted feel like I was actually getting better for a while before I start taking something else that does weird things to my body.  .

I hope that all of you are filled with hope and optimism as spring comes upon us.  I feel like we've made it through a dark winter together, and even though many are still going through treatments, that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter.