Starting Chemo in July 2009

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited November 2009

    Crystal boob LOLOLOLOL to funny

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  • stef58
    stef58 Member Posts: 288
    edited November 2009

    Hello Triple J's, How is going for all. Not many posts. I think most of us are doen. I started tamoxifin Thursday. Not bad yet. Hair is growing very slowly. just wishing everyone a  good Thanksgiving. We all have alot to be Thankful for. Surviving this stuff, family friends and everyone that we have connected to on this site. Have a great week Dianne

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  • Jayne_in_UK
    Jayne_in_UK Member Posts: 517
    edited November 2009

    Hi Dianne,

    Well I am in between chemo and rads. I go for my simulation this Thursday and start treatments on 30th November. My rads onc will prescribe either Tamoxifen or Arimidex, he is waiting for results of a blood test to decide which would be best for me. It's good to hear that you are doing OK on Tamoxifen. My hair is still growing slowly too, but I'm pleased to see any hair on my head at this point. My DH keeps commenting on how much hair I'm getting, but I'm sure it's only because we are used to seeing my bald head. To anyone else I expect I still look bald! Today I did some Christmas shopping, not finished yet but not too much left to do.

    You are right, we do have a lot to be thankful for. Hope all you Triple J's have a good Thanksgiving.

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  • jacee
    jacee Member Posts: 1,384
    edited November 2009

    Jayne-I'm just a ways behind you...may be the only one still doing chemo. 6 more weeks for me, then rads and Arimidex. I'll be following your progress. Are you on a rads thread?  So nice of you to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving from across the way. I'm with you on the hair. Slow, but sure.

     Hope all you ladies will be enjoying time off and making great memories with family & friends during Thanksgiving. I remember thinking in April when I got my diagnosis...will I make it to the holidays??  My how your mind can just run away with you in those early days.  We traveled a long road to where we are...and I AM THANKFUL the Jedi's have made it.

    Much love....Joni1

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited November 2009

    Hi to all,

    Jaycee I have 5 more weeks of Taxol ( I finish Dec. 22). Pet scan in 4 weeks after chemo. Then radiation. Oh forgot hormone therapy Tamoxifen. Hair is coming in slowly I guess the taxol slowed it down. I was so bald the little fuzz along with some hair helps a little. I don't have to have my hat on when I go to sleep at night anymore (course the hot flashes help keep me warm LOL).

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  • Eph3_12
    Eph3_12 Member Posts: 4,781
    edited November 2009

    Triple Js-what a wild ride we've all been on-Joni1 & quarter, wow-your chemo tx are taking a long time!  But soon, soon you'll be done.

    I'm a week into Femara-so far so good, altho this afternoon I have been experiencing some joint pain in the right knee (the one I fell on back in Oct)

    Happy turkey day everyone!  God Bless Us Everyone, as Tiny Tim was so fond of saying!

    Joni2 

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  • Jayne_in_UK
    Jayne_in_UK Member Posts: 517
    edited November 2009

    Hi Triple J's, just checking in. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.

    Joni1 and quarter I hope your chemo is going OK. You are getting there.

    I was diagnosed in April too and I remember wondering if I would still be around by Christmas. A lot has happened since then, for all of us, but we are still here.

    I have joined the December rads thread, since most of my treatments will be in December. First one is tomorrow. Oh well, another stage to get through.

    Wishing you all a good week.

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  • josybee
    josybee Member Posts: 86
    edited November 2009

    Jayne_in_UK, I see you are starting rads tomorrow,how many?? I have #15 tomorrow, holding up pretty good, putting cream on a couple of times a day and aquafor at night. Dr. said I am doing good so far and I am halfway there. Hope you do well.

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  • LindaSueH
    LindaSueH Member Posts: 70
    edited November 2009

    I have my new boobs....and they look great!!!  Exchange surgery went well.  And I did use a razor tool to get the fuzz off my face...it was just making me too crazy!!!  Next up...the nipple surgery...we'll see what I decide about that when the time comes!!!

    Have a wonderful post-Thanksgiving week!!

    Linda  Wink

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  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 469
    edited November 2009

    Hi Js, its been a while since I posted.  I am done with chemo this tuesday - happy dance!!  I also have GI Jane hair - not sure if it will stay.  No eyebrows except one stray dark hair which I color around.  ..and I am so gonna rock the 70s bush when it comes back (sorry for the visual). lol

    I get my port out Dec 13th and have opted for a bilateral mx with nipple sparing on Jan 8th.  I feel like a surgery pro these days.

    Glad most are done or into the home stretch.  We've come so far ladies, can you believe it?

    xo

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  • Eph3_12
    Eph3_12 Member Posts: 4,781
    edited November 2009

    PS73, Congrats on almost being done with chemo!!!!  Your 2nd paragraph sounds like dialog from a medical drama--we are all so well versed these days. 

    Hope all had a great holiday.

    Jayne-good luck with rads.  Linda congrats on the new boobs!

    Joni2

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  • stef58
    stef58 Member Posts: 288
    edited November 2009

    Hello Triple J's, hope  everyone had a great holiday. I was calloed everyone  that really helped through this journey this year and thanked them. i was very thankful for all my special friends and family. Getting hair, ditched the hat inside on Wednesday. Hair came back on  chemo. It is really starting to grow, head is almost covered. The chin hairs came back also. Everyone needs to read some of the hair thread. They have helped me and will help you. Plus it is sometimes very funny. Dianne

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  • BlessedOne2
    BlessedOne2 Member Posts: 106
    edited December 2009

    Hi Triple Js,  I am so glad that everyone had a good Thanksgiving holidaySmile.  Jayne_n_UK, I have 6 more Taxol treatments to take also.  Started Herceptin two weeks ago also.  My hair is taking the slow route of return also.....but in time.  The tingling in my hands and feet with the sensitive sensations in my shoulders, back and legs is happening more frequently starting 2-3 days after each treatment for a couple of days then back to chemo. I'm not complaining yet (lol). I was also diagnosed with adult onset asthma about two weeks ago after having four moderate to severe episodes of shortness of breath.  Has anyone else gotten this diagnosis while in treatment?    After chemo, its rads, endocrine therapy and maybe a bisphosphonate trial for osteoporsis.   Some preventative regimen, huh. 

    PS73 - rock that bush and post your picSmile.

     Hugs,

    Wanda

      

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  • BlessedOne2
    BlessedOne2 Member Posts: 106
    edited December 2009

    PS73,  May I ask, are you taking Herceptin injections?  Why get the port out?

    Wanda

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  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 469
    edited December 2009

    lol - I would imagine that it may be the first pic of that kind on these forums!

    Im getting my port out because I had some bad clotting issues so the sooner the better.  Ill do herceptin iv style.  sorry about your asthma. 

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  • PauldingMom
    PauldingMom Member Posts: 927
    edited December 2009

    I'm afraid to ask or Google it, but I have no clue what a 70's bush is. I can only guess.

    My scalp is just about all covered and not visible now. Just about there to go with out the wig. I wear hearing aids and would like to keep them covered. So vain. Should be receiving new ones by the first of the year that will be less visible.

    So how soon can we color our hair. I'm thinking of picking up a non permanant dye. Any suggestions? My hair came back a multitude of colors, from gray, to dark brown to light blonde. It looks like a crazy mess. My poor Mom, Sally Mae, has very little hair coming back, but it is coming back. 

    Finding it hard to get back in the exercise routine but doing great on the diet. 

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  • gillyone
    gillyone Member Posts: 1,727
    edited December 2009

    Lisa = how much hair do you have to be thinking about coloring it? How many weeks PFC are you? I believe the 70s bush is just what you think it is!!!

    Are you done with rads too? I am 10/33 rads so far and am posting on the November rads thread. I have also started reading the hair hair hair thread. At 5 weeks PFC I have no new hair - I know how Sally Mae feels!

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  • Jayne_in_UK
    Jayne_in_UK Member Posts: 517
    edited December 2009

    Josybee I will only have 15 sessions of rads altogether. Yesterday was a bit scary being the first one, today was easier for me because I am getting used to it and I haven't had time to burn yet. They gave me some aqueous cream today to put on.

    Linda congratulations on your new boobs! It's great that you're pleased with them.

    Ps73 congrats on being done with chemo. I haven't got many eyebrow hairs back yet either. If I have a wig on I pull the fringe/bangs down over where my eyebrows should be.

    Wanda it's good that your hair is coming back too. With any luck it will speed up once you finish Taxol. Sorry to hear about your asthma.

    Lisa I'm getting hair envy hearing about your scalp being covered. Mine still shows through especially on the top. My hair does seem to be a mix of colours at the moment, so once it thickens up a bit I will think about colouring it. I have read somewhere on here that you can use an all natural product that has no peroxide, ammonia or bleaching agents in it within a couple of months of finishing chemo. I have also read that the colour may turn out brassy if you colour it too soon because of the chemo chemicals still being in it. I might not let that stop me if I feel ready to colour mine. I have been wondering how Sally Mae is getting on, so I'm pleased that she has some hair coming back, even if it isn't growing fast enough.

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  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 469
    edited December 2009

    haha, i just googled it, seems like there are lots of seventies bushes out there.  ..not just my future bush.  ;p  Ill stop now, prob making you ladies uncomfortable.

    Happy to hear of the growing hair, mine is looking good and brown/gray/blond too. I went commando today in Brooklyn.  Felt liberated.  ..by commando I mean w/o a wig or a hat.  I got a few looks from people, mostly kids but I had to get my wig cleaned and just said the heck with it.  I finsihed chemo yesterday and deserve to do whatever I like. 

    SallyMae, hang in there.  Your hair will grow too. 

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  • oldstudent
    oldstudent Member Posts: 61
    edited December 2009

    Hi, everyone! Haven't visited lately. Four more T/H to go, than surgery and finish herceptin. Wanda, I have the same neck and shoulder sensitivity and have had asthma problems. Sometimes that bothers me more than the chemo. Have had restless legs, blurry vision and chemo brain. BUT, had a wonderful 25th anniversary and a fabulous Thanksgiving and looking forward to having kids home from college.

    I'm doing mastectomy & DIEP reconstruction after finishing the chemo.

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  • josybee
    josybee Member Posts: 86
    edited December 2009

    PS73,Congrats on finishing chemo!!!!!!!!

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  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 469
    edited December 2009

    Thanks!  Im happy to be done with it.  :) hope everyone is doing great.  We are having a beautiful snow storm.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2009

    Hi everyone!!

    Just checking in. Chemo tomorrow and then next Tues. will be my last one!! I wish the steroids did'nt bother me so much seems I only have one or two days when I dont feel so jittery. Last weeks Taxol has taken my eyebrows and most of my bottom eye lashes (What a sight LOL). My hair is so white with very little black in it. I am ready to color it. HUGS TO ALL

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  • jacee
    jacee Member Posts: 1,384
    edited December 2009

    Quarter...I know you will be glad to be finished. And before Christmas!! My last weekly taxol is Jan 4th.  Like you, the steroid s/e's are getting worse with each week. I have very few eyebrows and lashes, but the hair on my head is about 1/4-1/2" long and mostly white and getting some black. Just happy to have it as my head is much warmer now. Glad you are doing well. Know you are not alone. We may be the last of the jedi's still doing chemo. Mine was 6 months and it's been a long haul...hopefully worth it.

    Joni1

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  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 469
    edited December 2009

    Joni, glad to see you are hanging in there and taxol is much better than the AC.  Have you asked to cut the steroids in half,?  If you do and then the next round do another half, then you may even be able to stop taking the steroids.. I got to thepoint where I didn't need to take the steroid as long as I had the benedryl (it had to be one or the other or both).  Im two weeks post taxol and I have eyelash dirt specs (they look like that) coming in.

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  • jacee
    jacee Member Posts: 1,384
    edited December 2009

    They did try to cut the steroids in half on two occasions, but both times I started having allergic reactions. Not sure I could talk then in to trying again, and just doing benadryl. I think I can make it 3 more weeks at this point. I wish they had tried that. So good to read the lashes are returning quickly for you. I've read so many different things about hair. Like...2-3- weeks after finishing taxol, hair that's been growing  on head falls out again...PLEASE say that wasn't true for you??

    Did you get neuropathy, and if so has it subsided?  I started having some weird tingling, numbing in my nose and mouth last Thurs, so onc ordered a brain MRI to rule out a brain tumor..FREEAK OUT....immediately called with results that were normal. He hadn't heard of too many who had had facial numbness with taxol, but low and behold I looked on this board and found a thread about taxol and facial numbness...10 or so women had had it. Anyway mine went away within 24 hours. Nice to know my brain's ok, but geeeeesh, what a shock.  Then I got a slight rash on my arm from the gadolinium contrast they used for the MRI. Don't know if any of you have researched that...there are so many lawsuits because of the use of gadolinium. I think any of us who choose to use MRI's in the future for monitoring our bc will have to use it. Please look into it.....kinda scary, but I'm wondering what choice we have....apparenty it's the only contrast that can be used for MRI.

    Let's see, had a small conjunctival cyst drained from my eye yesterday. Had it for a couple weeks and was driving me crazy...right on the white of my eye, a big blob of clear jelly looking stuff. Feels much better this a.m.

    Other than that...all is well. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

    Joni1

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  • LovingLifeToday
    LovingLifeToday Member Posts: 39
    edited December 2009

    Wishing everyone a beautiful Christmas!!!

     My last Taxol is Dec. 28th.. Yippee!!!  I will start rads in late January.... it's going to be nice to get some recovery from chemo before rads start Smile

    Taxol & Neuropathy~I've been getting numb in the face, lips, tongue ever since the third Taxol. It is rare... I don't fully recover from it before the next round of chemo... but it does subside somewhat. On my bad day of the week (Wed.) it is it's worse and Thurs. is a runner up. I am taking meds for it. Sometimes it's bad enough to cause me to not pronounce my words correctly and sometimes it makes typing hard.... I also loose my thought process as I'm trying to talk... I get into the middle of a sentence and forget what I am saying... that might be all the meds I'm on too.  My fingers are a bit numb with tingling and my feet are numb up to my knees also with tingling. Finger and toenails hurt, they are still normal in color, but still hurt. I've also had nose bleeds for about 7 weeks now... every morning and some later in the day.... onc said to try using saline spray 4 times a day to see if that will help.

     Hair~It's coming back... I can pinch it have some between my fingers!!! Mostly gray.. but getting quite a bit of brown too..... I still see some scalp on some places the top of my head. Disappointed some are reporting that hair is falling out two weeks after chemo stops... I treasure what I have... I'm always petting it... lol   It's sooo soft!!!  They have a product out called Fanci-full and it's been out forever.... it's like a one day coloring that you put on after your shower and it washes right out the next shower... some times I put that on with a paper towel.. just to make me look like I have more hair... kind of hard to see the gray ones...lol   Sometimes after I've laid down for a bit, I find one side of my hair looks a bit messy.... I go around and show everyone that my hair is long enough to be messy.... heheWink

     Best wishes for no SEs this holiday season!!!  God Bless!!!

     Elizabeth~ LovingLifeToday

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  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 469
    edited December 2009

    Danm Joni, I was hoping taxol would have been easier for you (much easier and that you would get a break)!  The eye thing stinks!!  And that is unbelievable that you had to do an MRI for the facial numbness.  I don't know much about the ink so Ill need to look into that prior to any future MRIs.  I have not had facial numbness.  I did and still do have nose bleeds.  The neuropathy started around taxol 6 or so and comes and goes two weeks out post tx.  Its manageable.  After the last tx, I was wiped out though.  I haven't been that tired in a long time.  Also, I got sick with a cold and am stil fighting it.  I really don't want to take antibiotics and so far its been getting much better - all sinus stuff is clear so I think Ill be ok.  I just worry about all the nasty things going around right now.

    - My hair is about a half an inch all around my head.  It started growing on tx taxol 7 and hasn't stopped.  I read about hair loss after taxol as well but I think it is different for each person. Im starting to get a wave in it - look out!

    Have a great holiday to everyone!!

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  • PauldingMom
    PauldingMom Member Posts: 927
    edited December 2009

    Kinda scared again...need support. I haven't been feeling myself and think that the chemo. aged me. I wake up sore from head to toe like I have arthritis or something.I go back for a post chemo/rad. mamo. next week and I am terrified they are gonna tell me something is wrong. Has anyone else gone back for there post therapy mamo? 

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  • Jayne_in_UK
    Jayne_in_UK Member Posts: 517
    edited December 2009

    Lisa I haven't had a mammo since I was diagnosed, I just wanted to wish you good luck with yours next week. I am still doing rads so my turn will come and I'll be terrified too.

    I'm sorry you are not feeling well, have you asked a doctor about your symptoms? I hope you find out what it is and can get something to stop it quickly. I'm keeping everything crossed for you, so please come back and let us know how you get on.

    (((((Hugs)))))

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