Starting Chemo in July 2009

Hi Connie, congrats on making it (and working through) your third day after chemo treatment and vry sorry about your sister   ..thanks for the ice chip advise - believe it or not, i even sat on a plastic ice block and inconspicuously put a cold water bottle between my legs.  yes, its true. hair or no hair, im a newlywed so be it!

 Joni 2- I hope that your port heals.  I broke out from the adhesive and had minor skin ripping scales and bumps, washed with etoh and put on bac. Im sure yours is worse tho so hang in there!  Keep us posted.  Joni 1 - how is your port doing?  I hope some info below prepares you for expectations.

I just had my first tx of AC today.  The place was really nice, comfortable and they give you food and a dvd player to watch movies.  

I did ok - it's still early though.  

My first dose was a steroid (decadron) that lasted about 40mins - 10mg in 50ml solution.  Second was an anti nausea (emend) 115mg in 50ml of solution- about 40mins. My third (and fave) was ativan which is an anti-anxiety- 0.5mg in 50ml solution.  Felt pretty darn good.  Of course the above niceties led up to the bittersweet-frienemy, adria.  This just looks like kool aid so thats what it is to me and apparently the red color comes from coral, which probably is the onlything natural in it.  This only took ten minutes to administer 45mls of straight undiluted kool aid.  Note that when you pee for the first time, it looks like a tequila sunrise so dont be alarmed, rather, use the imagery and head to the tiki bar at the sea of cortez, which is beckoning you.  I make no apologies of being weird these days The third, the cytoxan I wasn't a fan of at all.  This again is about 45 mls of undiluted friendly posion and you (I) can taste it.  It was 3q thru and the sinus pain came on.  Like being outside in the cold dry air and breathing in.  This doesn't last though.

All in all, I made it through.  Right now, I only have a stiff neck (from the odd placement of my body during the port surgery). And sl acid reflux - very slight. ..just overall feel like Im getting a cold or so w some achiness.  Came home to gorgeous flowers in the garden from my new mother in law and homeade chix soup.  I am so lucky.

Also, met three new amazing ladies who will take jin jun (sp?) and reike with me- one who was just finishing her 3tx for uterine cancer and looks fantastic! Different meds, same war. She mentioned this catalog to me by ACS and has inexpensive hats, scarves, good turbons (not weird carmen miranda types but cute ones and also plain skull caps.  also has boob stuff, swim suits and some pretty inexpensive wigs (synthetic) even if its not your thing, could be fun to try on a different attitude every now and again - just don't bake cookies in them!  website: www.tlcdirect.org 1-800-850-9445  Im going to rock the bonnie pixie in dark brown - they take all returns too I hear.

Peace Js - jugless'ish bc of my partial mas. 

PS73~ thanks for the play by play. I'm a detail person so that is all so helpful to me. Glad you made it through fairly uneventful and how nice to come home to soup & flowers!! You deserve it!

The port hurt like crazy today. Came home and took a  pain pill...it has settled down somewhat. I thought about you getting yours used today. I know we will be glad we have a port down the road a few weeks. Hope you get a good night's rest...joni(1)

***note - the inconspicuous placement of the cold water bottle between my legs was more of a  'driving in your car with a bottled beverage fashion' and less of a 'im a porn star at the clinic'.  ...just read the kool aid affects your mucuous membranes and the cold constricts the blood vessels and therefore doesn't effect as much.  They toyed w/ using cold on hair (of course I asked) but the results were a numb bald head.

Joni - it didn't hurt at all - keep it in mind.  they numbed the area with a cold spray and stuck it in no pain at all!

shalom

Went to "Chemo Education" at the onc's office today, but they didn't tell me anything I hadn't learned here!  I get my port tomorrow.  

PS73 - You are cracking me up "i'm a porn star at the clinic". LOL I just ordered from the tlc website yesterday.  They do have a lot of reasonably priced stuff.

Joni (1) - I go back to work on August 3rd which will also be my 2nd tx.  I'm a school media specialist and I'm just going to play it by ear and work as much as I can without overdoing it.  My boss is very understanding and I have a fabulous assistant who will pick up the slack.  I told them that I had no idea how much time I would miss.  I was hoping to be further along before school started but all the testing really dragged on.  Oh well - Monday will be chemo #1 - anybody else starting next week?

Hello All,

Hope everyone is doing well and staying upbeat.  Today is my day 4 and I slept really well after taking a benadryl last night.  I'm still feeling really good.  I hope it lasts.  I'm still drinking lots of water and fluids and taking all meds as prescribed. One of my sisters will pick up my wig prescription today from my Oncologist office for me since I will probably loose my hair within the next 14 days. My hair was long, is now cut short as of last Saturday so I can donate it to Locks of Love.  I wanted something good to come out of this not so good situation.

I wish everyone beautiful day!

Connie

PS73~ you are cracking me up.....i'm wondering if they tell everyone about the condoms or just those who have water bottles between their legs??? So funny!!!!

Connie~ you have been great encouragement so far, don't feel bad to let us know when there are bad days as well. I'll be following in your steps soon.

joni(2)- thinking of you and knowing you will do great. Let us know how you are when you feel up to  it.

backagain(Nancy)~ the port will be a blessing....yes, i've had some pain with mine the past 2 days, but it's getting better. My goal is no more pain pills today.

Guzzling coffee till 7:30, then can't have anything but water all day till PET/CT scans.

Have a great day ladies....you're all heroes to me..

Joni(1)

Hi July Girls...I just had my second tx of Taxotere and Cytoxan three days ago so I'm only three weeks ahead of you.  My first round went really well except for headaches.  I was drinking tons of water but losing lots of electrolytes, so learned to add Gatorade or added sugarfree elcectrolytes to my water beginning day one and have not had one headache....hooray!  This second round on day two felt very light headed and had nausea issues so took additional anti-nausea med over and above the Emend.  Really helped and woke up this morning feeling good so far.  Last time days four and five were my low energy and very headachey days, hoping to bypass it this time around.  BTW for any of you who want to question receiving the Neulasta shot, I asked my  onc on the first round if I could by pass it and he said we could see how I do.  My white blood count was not too bad on day 10 (lowest Nadir) and then bounced right back for tx two, so again I was able to get by without it.  After hearing about the side effects and the cost from the June Chemo ladies, I decided to ask and the doc agreed to let me try without....it worked!  However, I've been on supplements from the naturopath and also receiving acupuncture so thay may be contributing to my overall health.  Acupuncture is also really good for any side effects from chemo if any of you wonderful ladies are interested.  I have also heard if you get any neuropathy in your hands or feet to take B6 supplement along with a B complex.  Astralagus is an herb to help rebuild the white blood cells....so far haven't needed it, but might give it a try in an effort to avoid the Neulasta.  Patti

Hi Paulding mom,

It's so overwhelming that in addition to going through cancer treatments, you have to worry about how to pay for your care. I know it was extremely stressful for my family - I'm a cancer survivor and went through chemotherapy and radiation and so did my father who went  through treatments for colon cancer, and navigating insurance, co-pays and coverage was awful for all of us. I did a recent post on my blog (www.Cincovidas.com)  about managing the costs of treatments that may be helpful for you - http://blog.cincovidas.com/managing-the-costs-of-treatment .

Also, if you decide to purchase a wig here is a post I wrote on how to get your insurance to cover most to all of the cost http://blog.cincovidas.com/i%e2%80%99m-going-through-chemo-and-i-need-a-wig-will-my-insurance-cover-it .

Lastly, saw that you are starting on Neulasta. I just did a post on what to expect from this drug http://blog.cincovidas.com/what-is-the-drug-neulasta-what-does-it-do-will-it-make-my-hair-fall-out

I hope this helps.

Love, strength and survival, Britta

PS73: thank you for the play by play...port goes in on the 15th and I am starting to get nervous...knowing what to expect helps.

Joni1: how about July Jedi's Jugs-or-nots??

Joni2: thinking of you and sending positive thoughts for a stress free tx

Britta: thank you for the links...

I am so happy to read that the majority of our July Jedi's (Jugs-or-nots) are having minimal SE's with their tx's...thank you to all for sharing their tips...here is to continuing the trend...

<<<HUGS>>>

 I've had a busy morning at the hospital. I was scheduled for a C/T scan at 9am to be followed by an MRI. When I checked in I was asked had I taken my "prep". What prep, I was just told no food or drink after midnight -easy peasy. So the tech mixed up almost a liter of artificial lemon flavored stuff and said it takes a couple of hours to work so we'll do your MRI first. I worked really hard at not moving and not being freaked out in the tube. I sang songs in my head and recited multiplication tables (!) and then she pulled me out. She was having computer problems and needed to reboot. Of course this meant she had to start over with me.

After a break on to the C/T scan. The tech had trouble getting the IV in and sent for the nurse. Told me I might want to burp with the crystal stuff, but try not to. When he injected the contrast he said you might feel a warm flush and some people feel like they need to pee, but you won't. Well I did feel like that and had to check to make sure I hadn't pee-ed.

Back home and I'm sitting with my laptop checking out the posts and I'm passing gas (those burps?) and I think oh sh$t - literally. I dash to the bathroom with new undies. Sheesh. It's a long time since I pooped my pants. Anybody have loose bowel reactions to C/T fluids? Nobody warned me about it. I'm glad I was home!!

otobehealthy - I get my port on the 15th too. Do you have a start date for chemo? I don't yet as I still have scans to do next week.

I'll keep thinking good thoughts for all you ladies about to get/just had/recovering from chemo.

I am a June girl, but I was in the bathroom at the hospital, so worried I was gonna have an accident...ugh.

Gilly:I am so happy yo have a port buddy...Just got off the phone with Onc's office - they hope to get me started between 22nd - 29th. I am on a clinical trial for HER2+ so they have to cross t's and dot i's and do a bunch of yada yada before starting. I told them to geter done cause I was staying with my July support group...I still have to get MUGA/Echo and labs but when I called they said no MRI or CT for me, confusing huh...

Joni1:  I was pre-warned that the only ones who will use the port would be the chemo nurses - I think it is mainly to avoid infection, sorry you had to learn the hard way...

CT contrast reactions...my son had a CT a couple of yrs ago in ER (had to get his appendix out)...they admitted him but did not bother to warn us about the explosive diarrah that can come with the contrast...needless to say , it was a very long night of changing bedsheets and a very embarrassed 12 yr boy...geesh you would like they could warn us about this stuff ahead of time...

Joni2: Thanks for checking in, hope you able to take a nice long nap and nice easy day tomorrow.

Have a GREAT night everyone, wishing peaceful and uninterrupted to sleep to all...

Hi girls - just home from port surgery.  I had a general and it all went well, about 45 minutes in the OR.  Surgeon was a little concerned that my past radiation might cause some issues, but all was good.  Sitting here with a bag of frozen peas over the site and my trusty laptop.  Not much pain yet, but just sent hubby out for the meds which I will take.  It took 4 tries to get a vein for my IV so I guess I'll be glad to have the port come Monday.

Joni (2): Cross one off the calendar!

Gilly: Hated the MRI's Especially the abdominal ones when I had to hold my breath.  I was sure I was going to run out of air and that just added to the anxiety.

Anybody else starting chemo on Monday? 

lorijo - fmla is an organization out there to help you if you need time off.  you get 12 weeks (unpaid unfortunately) but it guarantees your job.  you don't need to tell your supervisors anything just that you need the time off.  if you can't find info pm me and ill dig it up, i know i have it somewhere.  it stands for family leave act.

joni2 - woohoo.  one down!!

 uggh the CT/Bone scan was the worst!!  i had the worst gas and we had two apts after.  it was nasty, i was in and out of the bathroom.

im one day post first tx.  just have some mild acid reflux. got a little tired and took a three hour nap.  used my anti nauseas twice and had my neulasta.  nothing different pre-cancer save all the drugs.  still tired.  ciao js. 

Oh sorry, my treatment is Taxotere & Cytoxan, followed up by the injection of Neulasta tomorrow.