November 2009-Starting Chemo

HI girls.

Just checking in from across the pond. Had a read through where you are all up to and it is so good to see so many lipstick smiley faces on Brenda's list. I must change my pic to a more up to date one, I will try in a minute.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now re chemo- one lot this Wednesday then one more on the 17th Feb. I am getting a bit excited about the last one.

I wasn't going to be given an radiotherapy as intense radiotherapy 20years ago for lymphoma is what caused my breast cancer- but as they didn't get a clear margin when they did the mastectomy they have decided a small, weaker course of radiotherapy might be a good idea after all. I am going skiing in Austria first. I get tired for about 10 days post chemo- seems to be a day longer each time- so not skiing till 21 days after last chemo.

Those hot flashes are an experience aren't they- it's like someone has just turned on a radiator inside your body.

I am just reading Bernie Siegel's latest book- faith, hope and medicine- it's quite good if you're looking for an extra bit of encouragement. i find his meditations quite good to listen to when I am having my chemo.

Love to you all as we keep making progress on this unexpected journey. xx

LindaJ:  My RBC is low... so I'm anemic, too.  Also low hemoglobin, hence out of breath doing anything as simple as walking up stairs.  My chemo nurse said there are 2 kinds of anemia: the one caused by lack of iron and the other caused by chemo, so extra iron wouldn't help.  Sorry.  ( I specifically asked about that and iron supplements.) 

Now my butt hurts from all the sitting I'm doing, but no energy to anything else. Nette

Shelley,to get more molasses, i like it on a piece of bread with butter and then molasses.., make ginger cookies, I like molasses on pancakes in place of syrup, or toast with peanut butter and molasses swirled together on top...and I think there is iron in liver, if you can handle that...no me.

well crap. I had a huge post all typed up and lost it.

I've been reading each of your posts but haven't posted myself in a while. 

I'm swollen - very bad edema in my legs - yesterday it was my eye, face, arms and legs. 

Eyelashes are thinning, brows are thinning and as a result I feel fat and ugly. I want my self esteem back!

Last chemo on Tuesday coming up. I'm dreading it and excited for it. 

Meeting with my oncologist three weeks later. I may have to have reexcision though I don't know if that will be before radiation or after...Anyone else been through that? He said even though I was told "clear margines" that the chestwall side didn't have clear margines. 

I guess thats all for now. I am sending warm thoughts to each of you. Sharing your journey has been so comforting.. 

HI girls ~ had my second to last chemo today !!! woo HOO.  Took a bit longer as dummy me forgot to take my pre-chemo decadron last night so I had to get extra this am.  Now I am full of steroids hot and clammy.  OH yea ~ and hungry.  I was there for 6 freaking hours.  Feeling ok just tired.  Hope everyone else is good today !  My last chemo is 2/8.  I asked about Zometa. She said right now no for me.  They are doing trials for people that had node involvement.  I have my final fill of my tissue expanders on 2/1.  And my exchange to implants on 3/16.  I start Tamoxifen 2 weeks after surgery.  So it is all going to be winding down soon.  Together girls we can get to the finish line. 

Hugs to all !!!

Alicia

I stayed home from work today because when I woke up my legs and feet were still swollen. The swelling usually goes down over night. I saw my regular doctor and he's running blood tests to rule out heart failure and kidney failure...which he says he's seen happen before with certain chemo treatments. WTF! He changed my diuretic I normally take (high blood pressure) to Lasix. He is going to call and talk with my oncologist - so it looks like I may not be receiving my last chemo treatment tomorrow afterall. I'm just waiting for my phone to ring and find out what the hell is going on.

I guess its my "bad" for not doing more research going into these treatments. The information is there, but I just trusted my first oncologist (the one I fired) knew what he was prescribing and would tell me anything I needed to know. My mistake. I had no idea such severe effects could potentially happen.  As always in my optimistic mind I'm hoping for an "all clear" and that the swelling will just "go away"and "be nothing". It just frustrating that I just blindly said yes to something without really looking into it. Frustrating that even if I had I would have seen "severe" and "rare" side effects and thought "well that won't be me..." anyway. 

I'm done venting for now. I'll let you gals know what I find out. Hopefully they will be calling me soon. The blood draw was five hours ago. 

Cindy,

I hope you're ok, you've had such a bad time. Hugs from all of us.

Sue

Cindy ~ I am so sorry for all you are going through.  Sending up big prayers for you girl...

Hugs ~ xo

Alicia

I have to say - tonight was the first time I've been actually "scared" through this whole experience. The threat of haivng a blood clot in my lungs or near my heart was terrifying. The good news is the CT scan did NOT show a clot. They aren't sure why the blood work was elevated (indiciative of a clot) . D-Tiner or D-something was the name of the blood test. I guess more good news is I was laying there getting ready for the CT scan and I was ok with dying - about the only thing that was bugging me was this stupid fight I'm having with a dear friend of mine...but as far as kids, family, husband - I would be ok going - though I would much rather stick around for another 50 years!!!

The other good thing - is the clot was really the furthest from the Doctors speculation - what he was really thinking was "heart or kidney failure" - which was NOT indicated with the blood tests. So though I had the crap scared out of me - in the end it was all good news!!! Whew. 

p.s. Googled the test (I love Google and Wiki). It's the D-dimer test. 

Whew!!! Thank God! Thanks for letting us know you are OK Cindy.

Cindy - Great news!

Alicia- Hope you are feeling okay today.  Just think, you only have one more tx and you are done!

I finally went for my rads simulation yesterday.  Not really that fun...I was on the table for about 45 mins because they couldn't get me lined up right according to my program.  They had to call the guy in that made my program so he could help them and he got it lined up perfectly.  So today is my official start date.  Its hard to believe that I am more nervous about rads than when I started chemo!  I think a lot of my nervousness is because I still feel exhausted and generally crappy.  My back has been killing me (need new mattress) and my legs and feet have been swelling up during the day.  You should see me teetering around work in heels with swollen ankles and feet...needless to say, its time to purchase some flats!

Kayh- Good luck with your tx today!

((((HUGS))))

Toyah

Hi Warriors! I haven't posted for a while, but have been reading all of your posts daily. Hugs to everyone who has been experiencing bad SEs and I hope you all feel better soon.

Cindy - I'm so happy for you that everything is ok.

Its been a busy week for me. I took a 2 day workshop on complimentary therapies. They covered topics like nutrition, exercise, acupuncture, meditation/relaxation, and naturopathic supplements. It was very interesting. I was worried it would be a bit to "flakey" for me, but everything was presented in a very straightforward manor - and was hugely informative. I'll pick and choose some of the things that hit home for me and see if I can live my life a little more "stress free". My fellow students in the classes were all cancer patients. So many brave and strong souls - it was really inspiring to be in the room with them all.

Yesterday I met with the radiation oncologist, and much to my disappointment, he is recommending that I have radiotherapy. He said that it would increase my chances of survival by up to 10% - which far outweighs the risks of the radiation. He would like my PS to "deflate" my TEs by 100cc each side in order to get the right angles for the beams - this contradicts what my PS had recommended when I told her that I might have to have radiation. She had wanted to fill my left side TE by about 100cc MORE in order to bypass the "shrinkage" that might occur with the radiation. Its all very confusing! Regardless - because I'll have to wait 6 months post radiation before my exchange to implants, it seems I won't get my new boobs until 2011!!

I'm in for my last AC tx tomorrow. I'm excited to see the end of the Red Devil, but have the usual pre-chemo jitters today. I barked at my kids this morning and had a little argument on the phone with my out of town husband. Now I feel bad and can't do anything about it until tonight. 

Good luck to all having treatments this week -  take care!