Starting Chemo February 2009?

Suzanne:  Having been on these boards back in 2004, I would say that I still see familiar names posting here from back then, so people do stay in touch and help support and guide newbies through their ordeal with bc.  Having said that, there are also many who get back to their 'normal' lives, and eventually stop coming here.  I did.  But I still see active chemo threads from years past (even 2005), and I think that is just awesome that these women have stayed in touch all these years.  I think the radiation boards are equally helpful and supportive, plus you should be joining along with many of our other Feb Furies, so you know you'll all be there for each other!

Michele:  I agree, June 23rd sounds like forever, but on the other hand, it always seems like Tuesdays (chemo days) just keep comin' too soon; going weekly seems to make it go faster, do you think so?

I am actually more nervous to go to tx lately, kind of scared--I just get this feeling that se's are about to take a huge turn for the worse....I hope I'm just being paranoid.  But with the Taxol being cumulative, and a few new se's kicking in, I can't help but worry.

hugs to everyone

Judy

Michele,  My last Taxol infusion will be July 24; won't know about the Avastin until I'm unblinded.  Maybe I can take my beach towel and umbrella to the Cancer Center and pretend I'm on a white sand beach--practice a little imagery! 

I've been very blessed with few side effects, so I really can't complain about that--however, I'll admit that I'm feeling a certain sense of "security" in going in for my tx.  I guess it's the routine, plus I can visibly see that I'm doing something to fight this phantom that invaded my life--I find it scary to think of wondering about every ache and pain after I finish my tx.  Oh wellllllll.  Have a great day.  Helen

Apple:  You're right, we need to hang in there, through all these horrible se's, because it is the right thing to do.  It sounds like you are really getting hit with the se's, though

Helen:  That is how I feel lately....like these tx's are reassuring, I'm actively doing something to fight, and am getting more nervous now that I am at the tail end of tx.  I guess we'll learn to deal with that over time.

Jaimie:  Like I said, LOVE the shirt.  I could read it last time, lol, but your new pic really shows what a good job you did.  I don't think I'd have the patience right now to make a shirt like that.

I looked at the Chemo 2005 thread, and sure enough, the women there are still chatting away...they sound like old friends....how wonderful to have such friendships come from all of this.

My DD's nurse is here, gotta run.

hugs

Judy

Happy Birthday living4today!!! Enjoy!!

gcpommom-- The benadryl is supposed to make you sleepy, so enjoy your catnap!!! I do

Guess what furies???? Tomorrow 5/20 is my LAST CHEMO!!!!!!!  Thank God this is getting near the end!!! The Furies rock!!!  Family is throwing me a party too!!!

Oh Bethie, we were posting at the same time!  I did get a small nap in, the benedryl always knocks me out, I still feel a bit loopy.  AWESOME that you finish chemo tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yea!  Enjoy your party, you deserve it!

hugs

judy

Hi Helen, I will be with you all summer.  I start the first of 12 weekly Taxol and Herceptin every three weeks for one year on May 27.  I just finished 4 dd AC every three weeks.  After the chemo I will have 5 weeks of daily radiation.  I am glad to know you will be here for the summer too.  I am a little jealous of those finishing too, but I am very happy for them too.  Life sure takes some strange turns doesn't it.  God Bless, Kathy

Hi guys - just had a fabulous four days away at a cottage. Lovely to find a bit of normality in the midst of all of this. I feel like I am having a little treatment "holiday"! I have another week and a half before Rads starts, and apart from a baseline bone density next week, it seems quite doctor free......

I can sympathise about the IV nightmares - my hand is still sore and bruised, three weeks after my last IV encounter.....

For everyone starting Rads soon, Bethie has started a Rads thread for June!

Great to see so many of us finishing up Chemo, I should be going in for chemo tomorrow, so I am happy I am not! Physically feeling great, just a bit tired still. Hair growth is being awfully slooooooooow

Enjoy you lack of chemo. today Kerry   I have started yuck mouth but I am determined I am going to drink it away this time (well I am going to try). 

 Bethie~ Congratulations!! 

Judy~ Hang in there I hate getting IV's also and even though I have a port I have a mini so I still have to get some IV's. 

Sue~ Good luck back to work.

Helen~ I'm on the H train also. 

Sue~ thanks for the compliment. 

We're in for a hot one here too today and tomorrow. We have earned it!

Judy - I think you are right about the nurses and IV insertion. Some of them are just terrible at it, and really, that is the biggest part of their job. You think they would be old hands at it. One nurse i had tried twice and failed, the third time her hands were shaking, she had rattled herself so much. She got another nurse to do it, who got it in first time....

Kerry, nothing to make you feel comfortable like a nurse with the shakes!  I had one nurse, and it was the weirdest thing, I never felt a thing when she inserted the needle, not even a poke!  She was amazing, but I had to switch blood draw centers, I was so bummed.  They put my IV in my hand yesterday, which was probably part of the problem, then decided to run the IV to see if it was in right, told me to watch for swelling and pain!  I was nervous when they started the Taxol, but it went ok.

Enjoy your hot weather, I know I will!

Hugs

Judy

michele! i have hair too! not even peach fuzz yet, but definately a darker look! ironically, i just ordered two more blondey blonde wigs from wilshirewigs.com. i honestly don't know what possessed me. sort of a for-the-helluva-it, i guess. except i won't have the nerve to wear them to work. maybe i'll send them back. i'm going to have my regular wig cut into more of an angled bob next month anyway.

i'm one week out of chemo, and feeling miserable, but it's more psychological. my beloved boss, who's been wonderfully supportive, who's been my best friend & knight in shining armor through this and so much more, is taking early retirement (ie: "being let go" for bullshit political reasons) and i'm devastated. i'm going to be lost without him. i wish i could quit. (i've worked here since nov 2000!) so whereas i'm thrilled to be finally done with chemo, i'm just so sad and depressed and upset and angry, i'm having trouble eating, sleeping, drinking .... eh. i need to lose this chemo weight anyway.

i start tamoxifen next week. and on july 8th i have my exchange surgery (yay!). and then, depending on how quickly i heal, i'll do rads in august or september. my plastic surgeon assures me that if radiation screws up anything, he'll fix it, since we're probably going to wind up doing more than one surgery anyway. and the director of plastic surgery at sloan kettering, whom he studied under, prefers to do exchange and then rads anyway. my oncologist is on board with this plan, so i'm really really relieved. the radiation oncologists, not so much, they'd like to do rads first, but they'll just have to deal. there's really no good reason why i have to live with these damn expanders until december.

to everyone still doing chemo, i send you tons of hugs and perserverance vibes. i thought may 13th would never ever ever come. but it did. hang in there. (((everyone)))

Hey gang!!  I'm done with chemo WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I got slightly nausous at dinner we had pizza, and I had gone without food too long before dinner, so took a kytril for nausea.  Feel good now!! Have too get a blood count next week before being mapped for rads!!

Kerry-- Glad you had a chance to get away!!

Michele- Too bad your husband is being insensitive., but your child getting an award marvelous.

Lisa810-  Awesome-- you have hair!!!!!!!!

Apple-- Thanks for the tip about rads. You're story about your friend is awesome!!!

Michele:  I'm sorry you had to miss your kids' events.  I know how guilty that can make a mom feel, but don't beat yourself up over it...there will be lots more events to attend, for sure.  I totally agree with you about the short fuse....I am getting crabbier each week, can't stand myself sometimes.  YAY for growing hair!  You can join in the hair-growing race with me and Kerry.  Mine isn't thick at all, still at the white fuzzy stage with some dark hairs mixed in.  Thanks for the advice about lidocaine or emla cream, hadn't thought of that.

Lisa:  So sorry that your boss is leaving, you sound very close.  Maybe you can stay in touch with him?  Maybe your new boss will be nice, too.   You're growing hair, too.....you can join in our hair growing race! 

Bethie:  Congratulations on finishing!!! 

I am going through major steroid rage tonight....DD's fiance, who lives with us for years now, tied up my one and only bathroom to take a 2 hour long bath, again.  I got so angry when he told me 'whatever', that I typed up a list of nasty "bathroom rules" and "kitchen rules" just for him and hung them up.  He hasn't seen them yet.  I just get so tired of being everyone's maid and waiting to use my own bathroom.  Now I am so wound up that it is 3 am and I am wide awake.  URRGGHH, I hate steroids.  I only got 3 hours sleep last nite.  I'm tired, but can't sleep.

Ok, I'm done complaining now.

Hugs

Judy

lol, Kerry, but it wasn't that I needed to use the bathroom, it is more that anyone would spend 2 hours taking a bath when there is only 1 bathroom in the house.  Even though we've told him not to a million times, even though he knows how ticked off my DH gets because he is always in the bathroom.  He watches movies in there while he bathes, or reads his books.  He often bathes twice a day, the little priss, or is in there for forever doing who knows what when he isn't bathing.  Sorry to him, but it ain't a library or movie theater, it's a bathroom--, get in, get 'er done, and get the heck out!!!!  

Yeah, I guess I'm still angry, that's what happens when you get 3 hrs of sleep two nights in a row.  *sigh*  Well, going to some garage sales should cheer me up, get me out of the house.  Another gorgeous day today.  Actually, the whole week ahead looks like beautiful weather.

May always makes me nervous, sometimes we get bad storms.....I had a horrible experience back in 2000.  I left my college class in the middle of a tornado warning because my kids were freaking out and I only lived 1/2 mile from school, which was located in my neighborhood.  By the time I got 1/4 of the way home, the rains and wind got so bad I couldn't drive.  I had a friend on this particular street that I stopped on, so I ran toward her house for cover.  I watched HUGE trees toppling over behind houses as I ran.  I was so scared!  Just when I got to her driveway, there was some swirling white mist....I hesitated, but ran through it, and was thrown 6 feet, off my feet, and landed in her garden.  Long story short, she wasn't home, I was cut up and bruised, and got whiplash.  Turns out there were funnel clouds reported throughout the area (the ones that don't touch down, but suck up and drop things like grills and shopping carts and unfortunately, college students), and that is what got me.  Been scared of storms ever since.

Hugs

Judy

Judy, you're a saint!  I'd have thrown DD's fiance out on his bootie years ago.  If he's over 18, he should have a place of his own!

You guys have scary tornado stories.  I remember yrs ago I was at work when we heard there was a tornado around the area of my house.  They let me go home early and I raced home because I knew my kids had a long walk home from their elementary school.  I was soooooo worried about them.  I arrive home and there's my 10-yr old son STANDING ON OUR ROOF.  I was furious and asked what he was doing.  He said, "I'm looking for the tornado, Mom!"  sigh.

Believe it or not, the kid lived to see his 39th birthday this year!