Starting Chemo April 2009

Oh, Titan - I wish I could give you a big hug!!  You hang in there and you will find out on Thursday that it is all nothing!!  I find that hard to believe to especially after all of your chemo - it's got to be something weird either with the machine or their interpretation.  We are holding you up and here with you - and it will all be good.  Breathe . . . ahhh . .  better!

Stephanie - good for you!!! 

I have some good news to share - I am SO excited - I just received a call from the American Cancer Society - their Look Good Feel Better program coordinator - I am one of 5 winners who entered their "Women of Hope Is Beautiful" contest earlier this summer!  They are flying me to NYC in late September for a professional makeover (YES!!!!) and publicity and we will attend their ball at the Waldorf Astoria.  Plus, my sister lives in NY and I haven't seen her since before dx, so I was able to get them to extend my flight by a few days so I can stay with her and have some fun in the city.  The hair should be in a more style-able length then, and it is just so cool.  I didn't think my entry was anything super special, and there were hundreds of winners, but yay!!  A makeover.  I really really wanted one!!

Titan, I'll be checking in on Thursday afternoon or evening to see how you made out.  You are going to be just fine!!!

Thanks so much for your support!  I really do feel your hugs and good wishes via cyberspace.  I talked to one of the onc. nurses today..told her about things..she said I needed to focus on the fact that there is NO mass.  I think that if I was a "normal" person and not a "special" person that actually this would be no big deal.  There are no words like "suspicious" or anything on the report....so I will just go from there.                                                        O....

Hi Stephanie,

Congratulations on finishing! I have one more week to go (2 infusions, though). I'm so happy for you. I won't be completely done either, but will have Herceptin every 3 weeks and also Zometa.  I am feeling close to being done, however. It won't be the same as the tough chemo we've been through!

I will start rads on 9/10. Maybe we can go through this together too!  I'm glad you are feeling better on the Taxol, so am I! I'm even planning a bit of a getaway once the chemo is done. I'm taking my two 7 year olds with an old dear friend to Maine for a few days! My husband has to work, he hasn't taken any vacation time, he's saving it "just in case," and can't take off last minute anyway, so it's a girls trip!  I am so exciteed, I haven't even told the kids yet!

Titan, I'm thinking of you and hoping it's nothing. 

Have a good day tomorrow, everyone. I'll be at chemo! The last holdout here, I think!

Pam

Pam- O'happy happy day..chemo is done today!!!

Hope everyone is feeling ok today.

Congrats to all who have finished or are nearly there! Titan, how are you doing?

Thinking of you all, Judy x

Pam- I thought you were done today but I just re-read your post, what is your final infusion date?

Hair, hair...something to dream about! Chelev...I'm living vicariously through you and your make over. To the rest of you with hair (even a little)...I'M JUST PLAIN JEALOUS!!

Betsy  

I have hair! Not a lot, but in the back, I have a good amount growing in. On the top, I have just fuzz that is very thin and sticking straight up. I'm going without a hat most of the time now, unless it's outside and I wear it to protect my very fair head from the sun. I'm just so tired of covering my head. I still look pretty bald, but I really don't care, it's just so hot with a hat on at this point.

I finish in 6 days, I had chemo #11 today and next Tuesday, 8/25 is the day. Group cartwheel anyone?  Am I really the last one finishing? Any lurkers want to come out?

Thanks for waiting for me, and I'll be looking for the Sept. rads group on the rad board too.  I will also go to the hormone board, I will be on Femara and Lupron starting in September. 

Pam

Titan--i am going to start rads on 8/31 too--right now i have been on the August rads thread--think I will do both--I think Betsy is a week before us --I dont know how to start the thread or Iwould do it --do you know how? Laura

Betsy--I just had labs done today--done know what they are yet --but have to go into surgery to have my port out next week so hope they will be ok--I too have had times of feeling great and then times where I just crash--just not consistent yet--probably just in time for rads to start!! hope all goes well for you on monday--I think you said you were starting your rads and having your port out--keep us posted --you are a week ahead of me--feel well!!Laura

Tonya and Geri,

I'm sorry I'm not the last to finish, but I know how long the treatment feels. I think many here finished earlier becuase they did the dense dose Taxol (every 2 weeks), while you all and I did the weekly Taxol for 12 weeks.  I feel the drudgery of the treatment. It seems to last forever, doesn't it? Even though, for me, the AC was much worse in terms of side effects, the T/H is tough because it is every week and seems to last forever! I know you are both right in the thick of it, but soon you will be much closer to the end and will be able to think about what is next. For you Geri, I don't know if you need rads or not. I am assuming that Tonya doesnt because she had the bilat mast. prior to surgey.  Anyway, whatever it is that is next for you, it has to get easier, right?

I will join the rads group and will also be here to provide whatever support I can find. I've been feelign a bit anxious about stopping the chemo. I don't really know why, but I feel nervous about the changes ahead, despite counting the days for it to end. It's an odd process, but I guess it is what I'll be going through.

 I, too, struggle with sleeping. I've found if I give up naps, my nights aren't as bad. I only take a sleeping pill on the day of infusion to combat the steroid high.  It's not working tonight, which is why I'm still up!  The rest of the week, I wake a lot, but am able to fall back asleep within a short amount of time. I think it's the hot flashes from menopause causing this. I used to be such a good sleeper!

Does anyone here have any suggestions for a gift for my chemo nurse? I can't figure out what to get her, I don't mind spending a fair amount of money. I really lucked out with my nurse. She is everything I want in a nurse, kind, gentle, informative, supportive and really helpful. I love her and really she has made the chemo so much easier. I had trouble with my first oncologist and ended up switching to a different one, so I know how great a good fit is for a nurse too.  I am unsure what to get her! I want to do something a bit nicer than a box of chocolate or a gift card to Starbucks. Any suggestions?

Have a good night everyone!

Pam

Hey All,

I saw my oncologist a couple of weeks ago, to talk about Arimidex, but after receiving the results of blood work, it is on hold.  My tumor marker test went up after the chemo.  Hard to understand, even for the dr.  It was 48 in December at diagnosis, went up to 50-something after my mastectomy in Feb. and now is 61!  Has anyone else had this happen to them? So today I had to go for another Pet Scan, and tomorrow it's a CT scan. I had some very small nodules in my lung in Jan., but both the surgeon and the oncologist thought they were nothing.  (Maybe scar tissue). Now they want to take another look at those, but wouldn't the chemo have taken care of it if it was cancer? I asked the onc that question, and he thought it should've too. He said he hates the tumor marker test, and never orders it, but because the surgeon had it done, he feels obligated to follow up on it.  Titan, I can relate to how you are feeling!  Sometimes I feel like just living my life and forgetting all of these tests! 

As far as the pre-menopausal mammograms goes, I have always had very dense, large breasts, and even post-menopausal they always told me it was almost impossible to see anything in the mammogram........it always looked almost solid white.  But.....my cancer was found with a mammogram, so I am grateful for the technology too.  (So much for forgetting about all of these tests!)  My mom died of the exact same breast cancer that I have, and I am so thanful for how much medicine has advanced since then. 

Hey, I do have some good news, my hair is moving right along, ALMOST able to go hat-free, no bald spots left.  My eyelashes are growing in too, though they are short, stubby, and growing in every-which-way!  I decided I had better check my arm pits, since I have gotten so used to not having to shave, and I found ONE super long hair....YIKES, guess I better keep an eye on that.

Hope you are all doing cart-wheels all over the place.      Linda

Ok..just got back from the clinic...Kinda good, kinda bad...there are 4 microcalcifications..3 are b9..one is a little suspicious...he gave me a bi-rad score of 4 which isn't awful...says findings aren't consistent with malignancy but suspicious..so now I have to have a biopsy done..I will let you know when but it won't be for awhile...my appt. with the surgeon is 8/31 so it won't be until early Sept. sometime..I'll know more once I talk to him.  The radiologist said that because of my history that they are doing this..otherwise it would have been 6 months before I had to go back...he preferred to err on the side of caution...which is a good thing! 

Titan, sounds very positive so far ......let's hope once final tests are done that everything will be cleared and declared B9.

Another another thing!  I think I'm starting to rant now....I certainly hope that ALL THOSE CHEMOS could have killed off one freaking microcalification!  All that Ac red stuff that is so powerful should have massacred one little speck...!  Enough with that..I feel so much better now that I know...I'm ready to be "me" again...the one who has you all doing CARTWHEELS even though you think you couldn't do it!....I think I will do one tonight just for the heck of it.

Now I am going to join Betsy on the Sept rad forum..You guys can all come over and talk or we can just stay here..it doesn't matter.

Judy,,my spirits are pretty much back to normal...I'm realizing that...and we have discussed this before that the doctors are going to test us fror anything that may be differntr than it was before.  we have to realize that we will never be "free"...but I guess being tested all the time is better than having someing go out of control,,,so I (we) will have to deal with.  It may be hard to get used to since most us us are probably used to going to the dr only if we have a nasty cold for a month but whatever!  My sis in law has acid reflux also....did you ask your dr. about an antibiotic to take care of the acid in your stomach?  You need to heal...and the drs. should be helpijng you..demand it...if anything I have learned form this experience is to demand answers and re

sults and everything I can..don't let things go,,,,I actually think the drs respect us for doing this.  they have the education and experience but they are not the ones going through the pain!  Don't be trying any cartwheels right now....I dont think that would help your AR.

Is Dawn at the beach showing off her new girls?  and hair..I hope she is having a great time!