first chemo done

Hi Ladies...

Geri...so glad you went and had a great time.  It does surprise people when you tell them you have cancer...and then most go into "I have a best friend, sister, aunt that went through it with flying colors" and then they hug and say they will PRAY for you.   It does get old after a while. 

I am best to say to them after that...'NO ONE IS AMMUNE to this terrible disease of BC...and please support by donating and most importantly be sure to self exam and mammogram annually.

I loved the Commodores...especially Lionel Ritchie....

The new avatar picture you are commenting on is from our cruise last November right after my lumpectomy...when I had hair and before chemo.  I like to remember what it looked like.  I will change it once all the white duck hair is grown in..it is a slow process.  And agree with the dog hair...my yorkie Roxy has beautiful hair...almost human.

Hey ladies!  I DID IT!  I got through my port placement and first chemo all in one very looong day, from 6:30 until 5:30.  My poor husband... 

Anyway, nothing dramatic to report.  I actually stayed lucid through the port placement because I was having such an interesting conversation with the nurse, and I asked her to just dose me minimally so I'd be able to chat through the whole thing.  With the lidocaine it wasn't painful, just a pinch and some pressure; more uncomfortable than painful.  It looks like a blind vampire tried to bite me and missed: there's a round purple mark where the catheter hits my jugular, just under the collabone. 

After the chemo I came home and crashed, a pleasant surprise bcause I thought the dexamethosone would have me up all night.  Today I am sleepy and my port site is a little achey, but other than that, no big deal.  I"m wondering what will happen next.  The nurse said I was already tolerating the drugs and chemo better than most, so I'm crossing my fingers that the pattern holds.

JILL - Metamucil is god's gift to chemo-kind.  I love that stuff and sent my husband out for the mega-supply. I'd have been constipated up the yin-yang had I not loaded up on it yesterday. 

JANET - I am up to my eyeballs in water, thanks to your warning - in fact, I drank so much water during my chemo yesterday that I had to pee six times in five hours.  People were laughing at me as I dragged my IV cart back and forth and back and forth.... One guy came over and disentangled all my cords after a particularly clumsy trip.   I have all kinds of watery drinks at home too - spritzers, low sugar juices, herbal teas, lots of water...   Oddly, I love saltines (Weird, I know) and bought 2 boxes.  Thanks for the advice!  

GERI - I hope to the Goddess of Graceful Chemotherapy that you don't get any more infections.  ICK.  I saw someone getting Andriamycin yesterday and my husband pointed out the heavy gloves the nurse was wearing.  That is some nasty stuff.  You are a brave lady.

Everyone else...   I hope you have a wonderful day!  I'm going to do some work while I feel good.

Cheers, 

Laura  

Laura,  I'm so glad you're doing so well.  Water and saltines...that's that way to go!  Since I was doing so well, I got a little more adventurous this time, and tonight I actually had a salad with a little bit of buffalo (hot sauce) on it.  Hope I don't regret that in that in the middle of the night.  I'm sure your good start is a sign of good things to come. 

Cruise:  Your radiation is zipping by (or should I say, "zapping"?)  How are you feeling other than the "tan"? 

Has anyone heard from Jill lately?  I hope she is okay and just busy. 

My hair is starting to shed, a lot!   I'll be clipping it any day now.  I'm trying to hold off, but it will be soon.  If I ever figure out how to post a picture, I'll do a before and after wig pic.  Guess I should get my 15 year old to help.  ! 

Take care all. 

Janet

PS - I think Jill is just busy with her kids and work.  I saw her post on Facebook - her son, apparently, created a Facebook page for their dog.  Jill is taking this as a sign of dangerous boredom....

Hello everyone !

Sorry it's been a while.  Things have been very busy.  I leave in about an hour for my endoscopy.  

Yes, my son in what I think was a case of boredom created a facebook page for our dog.  Yesterday, the cat caught and ate a bird on our deck - freaking out the kids.   I got yet another call at work from my frantic daughter about this.  This time, I was preparing to give a presentation to about 40 people.  Luckily, the call came in right before I was to go on.   Sheesh...

Anyway, I have been hearing from most of you, so I know things are going well for the most part - about as well as can be expected. 

Janet - Done the hair clipping yet ?   I hated that shedding phase.

Cindy -  They gave me a cream to use "proactively" when I was on radiation called Biafine (it is prescription) - I had to use it three times a day.   That stuff really felt good.  However, when I started getting that rash and/or oozing, they gave me an antibiotic cream called "Silvadene", which would help prevent infection.  Have they mentioned any other types of creams other than baby rash creams (which are largely Zinc oxide)?  Wondering. 

Jill

All of you ladies sound so good. 

Cruise4life, I also used Miaderm (free samples from the doctors office)  but during the last week the doctor switched me to a prescription cream.  I wish I could remember the name of the stuff.  It worked really well, but I still got black and blistery.  By two weeks after the last treatment most of the blisters had pealed off and brand new, baby like skin appeared, it still is here 5 weeks later.  Good luck.

Jill, looking forward to seeing how the endoscope was, hopefully you took a nice little nap during the whole thing and can't remember a thing.  Hope it went well.

Keep your spirits high!  Kristi

Hi, Everyone -

Still feeling a little crunchy from the endoscopy this morning.  I don't bounce back as fast from those as I used to.

Bottom line - esophagus is fine, some inflammation in the stomach.  Biopsy results in a week or so.   Taking Prilosec in the interim.   I will write more tomorrow when I am feeling a bit better.

Jill

JILL!

Hi guys,

I just came back to this post after being gone for a while and low and behold I need you all again.  I have a question:  My doctor called this afternoon (Saturday) and told me that my bone scan shows osteoporosis....just great something else I get to worry about.  I am not over weight, I exercise a ton, why me??  And now they have me on Tamoxifen, which is suppose to make it even worse.  My doctor wants to put me on fosomax, which I know gives some gastro problems and other stuff (I am still researching this.  Anybody have this problem??  Thanks for the help  Kristi

Hi Kristi...glad Jill was able to help with your question.  I had a bone scan and blood work to see if I could handle the 5 year pill and my doc prescribed Femara which has less side effects than Tamoxifen.  He hasn't called me back yet with my bone scan results...so I think I am okay... Although reading the symptoms from the prescription Femara - it causes hair loss, weight gain and bone pain.  jeeze...more side effects to deal with...great...

Jill,

First of all I am glad to see you seemed to have bounced back nicely and are feeling good.

My situation is different.  I was not on herceptin and have not had chest or stomach issues for that matter.   What I did have was what they thought was ongoing mouth thrush.  No matter how long we treated it we just couldn't seem to get it under control.  It started with chemo, and did seem to be okay by the time I started rads, but..................just after finishing 35 rads, it reared it's ugly head, or should I say tongue, about a week later.

I went to an ENT and he said it was NOT  thrush, but something called burning tongue syndrome which is an auto immune disease.  It might even have come from an inbalance created from all the anit fungal meds I took for the thrush.   He treated that and so far I am much better, but he thought from his exam I had acid reflux.  I did the prilosec thing for awhile but then stopped because I thought he was wrong.  I had never really had heartburn issues.

Well a couple of weeks later I got this pain in the back of my throat when I tried to breathe deeply and when I bent over.  Each day it seemed to move a little further down the esophogus, so I restarted Prilosec (which has definitely helped) and I have an appt with my gastro guy on Tuesday.  I am just assuming he will order an endoscopy based on my cancer dx.  But who knows.  I will keep you posted.

Thanks for your response.

Caren

Janet, hello!  Even though I wear a wig every day for work, it never feels natural - feels like a scratchy hair hat!  People say they look very natural, and most of them are the exact color of my hair (I have 4 that I interchange, to keep them in rotation so I can help prevent the folliculitis from coming back -let them reallly air out between wearings), and those who don't know I'm wearing a wig are surprised when I tell them I am.  I personally don't see how they can't not know, but maybe it's just super obvious to me!   It does allow me to feel normal during work, so people can focus on me and not look at my head, like they do if I wear a scarf or bandana.  At home, it's bald city (well, okay, I have fuzzy hairs now), or bandanas when running errands. I get looks in the bandana, but so what, let them look!  It's more important that I fill in my brows - that really helps me look "normal".

Chelev:  Do you have four wigs in different styles but same color?  Wow!    I'm impressed!  I know what you mean about the brows.  I don't have a thick brow to begin with, but when they go, I figure I'll spend what time I no longer need fixing my hair, fixing my face and putting on accessories. 

Deb:  I have a ball cap with hair that I like for errands and just hanging around the house.  Guess you can't lay on the couch in a wig so I pull the hair back in a low ponytail and lay around like that.

I see both of your posts on the Hair, Hair, Hair thread.  (which is the busiest thread out there!)  I love seeing your progress.  How long did it take to get your "fuzzy" hair? 

Janet

CHELEV:  I am so sorry that you are feeling bummed out.  I understand that the lashes and brows are the last to go, but also the first to come back.  So maybe they are falling out now, but new lashes are just right below the surface and ready to spring out!  By the way, I think your smile is your best feature and even chemo can't take that from you!    I find that I lay around in the cap with hair as it's more comfortable than a wig and if it's in a ponytail, I'm not damaging the fibers too much.  Do you exercise at all?  What do you wear for that? 

Janet

I have the patchy eyebrow and eyelash thing going on... I really look wild in the morning...... afternoon , and evening. I now stay away from small children....and old ladies, don't want to  frighten them.