November 2009-Starting Chemo

Cindy, thank goodness you are ok...we were all worried about you.

Mabelle, sorry you didn't get to escape rads, but you have a great group of rad-sistas..we can all get zapped together..

Brenda Sharon: just curious, did you have CT scans or PET scans? I am trying to learn the difference. I think it is the PET scans that show the cancer well. You have to drink crap and get injected with radioactive stuff they carry in a can so it can't hurt anybody (but it goes into your veins!). That is what shows the metabolic activity of stuff, little hungry cancer cells eating up the dye and glowing.

At least that is my uneducated interpretation!

One crappy thing, I had a CT scan in May for a kidney stone, no one bothered to point out my cancer to me then. They were just looking for kidney stones. I saw the old CT post diagnoses, you can see the cancer, you would think some nice radiologist could have given me a heads up.

Melinda: Yes PET is the more sensitive one. You are injected with radio active glucose and any tumours attract glucose and then light up. Sorry the pricks didn't say anything when you had your scan. That happened to my hubby where an xray showed something 6 months before he was diagnosed with lung mets from his bowel cancer and the doctor didn't say anything nor the radiologist. I do not trust radiologist's reports. Our onc actually reads the scans himself.

Brenda: Glad you got the article OK. I'll probably start rads late March/early April, but don't want to even think about yet. Tx No 4 today - only 2 to go!!!

Sue

Melinda ~ hoping your lymph node is looking 'normal'......... 

Mabelle ~ sorry you have to have rads but it is worth the 10%!  My PS actually prefers to do the exchange prior to radiation.  But, after many meetings they have decided I do not need rads.  Clear margins, double mast. no nodes.  So not needed in my case.

Brenda ~ my mri showed an enlarged lymph node.  It also showed up on ultrasound.  They were convinced it was cancer.  So they took them out and low and behold they weren't.  So the tests can be wrong and at the same time they can be a blessing.

I asked my oncologist about having a pet scan after I am done with chemo. She said not necessary.  Being I was an stage 2 with no nodes.  They don't like to go looking for something that is highly unlikely to be there.  She said and then they get stuff that glows and is nothing, causes anxiety and biopsies.  She will be checking me closely for a few weeks after chemo is done and then every 3 months blood work and stuff.  I feel comfortable with that.  I start tamoxifen in April which is 2 weeks after my reconstruction surgery.  UGH !!!

In steroid rage today.  Fighting with hubby and gutted the home of two garbage bags full of I am not sure.  Whatever wasn't appealing to me and looked like clutter.  I so can't wait to be done with all of this crap !!!!!!!!!!!  I hate pills, chemo, my bald egg head, my bloated self.... and the fatigue........  BUT, this too shall pass right?!

HUGS girls... Hope everyone is feeling good! 

Alicia

I had to meet with the dr. who will be doing the removal of my ovaries and possibly my uterus earlier today.  This is soooo STUPID, there are so many other things to get me down but I sat and cried on her examining table because I was embarrassed that chemo made my hair "down there" fall out.  Silly, I know, but I felt so humiliated.

I should have a schedule for the lumpectomy & hysterectomy by the end of the week...then hopefully on to rads!

Brenda: Tick me off for No4  - all done. Went quite well, they got the needle in my port first go, so that was good. This feels so much better than being half way!!!

Next one 17th Feb, last one 10th March

Sue

We are getting there , its been two weeks from my surgery.  Just got a call from my oncologist , I will be starting weekly Taxol / Herceptin  on Friday Feb 5th for 12 weeks....I have enjoyed the past two week and will the rest of this week and next , of no chemo !!!  Feel great and having a bit of anxiety about starting the next round.  It is so overwhelming...

I got a call yesterday from Surgeons office,  they are setting me up for a lympdema class soon..I dont have it (I know you can get it anytime after surgery) but she said it gives you alot of info, sleeve to wear while flying (even if you dont have it, while flying it CAN cause it sometimes)...so another trip to Syracuse ,  The american Cancer Society will pay $100 for travel reimbursement to Drs appt...One time reimbursement ..

Had second to last tx yesterday hard to believe only 1 more left. I have bittersweet feelings because I want to feel normal again but want to keep meds to kill cancer. I have been really down since I started my taxol tx. just tired and crying all the time. Went to see reg. dr. for follow up blood pressure meds and I lost it in her office when she asked how I was. Now she wants to put me on anti depressants I think I will hold off till tx is done and wait to see if this too shall pass. I just want to feel and look normal again but I know this will take some time. I return to work March1st so hopefully time will start flying by and hair will grow and fatigue will pass and things will return to normal but I know that cancer bug will always be on my mind.

Melinda, you made me laugh so much I almost peed straight out the front...I too noticed that my gitch sticks to my girl bits..glad to see I am not alone.  I have to make sure that it isn't stuck when I go out in pubic...ooops i ment public.  Don't want to end up on youtube picking my gitch out..I have no info regarding the farts, and I use super-duper-extra-thick charmen so I have no problem there either.  Thanks for the best laugh this week..gotta love this place..

Let me just say that I was sitting at my desk at work crying because I am just so fed up with everything.  I am getting collection notices from medical crap that can't seen to bill the insurance properly.  And we are changing insurance here at work so my cost will go from $188 a month to $448.  So I am going to be working to pay the insurance, and i got a very large persuasion talk to drop the insurance here because it will make everyones price go up.  This fucking sucks.  And then I read Melinda's post and a laughed so hard I could almost not breath.  That was great.  Thanks I really needed that.  Not if only I could get the magic bill fairy to come fix this mess I would be perfect.  So I am going to go back to work now.  Talk soon.  Love and ((((HUGS)))) to all.  Kimmy

Melinda: I agree - good laugh. But I didn't lose all of mine - just the lower parts. Still fuzzy at the top. I'd noticed the loo paper doesn't wipe so nicely too but I hadn't noticed farts and wees changing direction - something to watch out for .

Brenda: We are hopefully going to get some relief from the heat in the next few days if you can believe these crazy forecasters. They never get it right. Rain supposed to be coming and lower temps.

Hot flushes are driving me crazy too - my hair fuzz sweats like mad. Having one right now. Not being able to take the HRT anymore has brought it all back, but it seems worse. I must have just forgotten what they were like.

I've seen a couple of postings from SharaD recently just not on this thread - so she's still out there. I replied to one and told her we miss her.

Sue

Melinda --I just laughed out loud at my desk!!  I have noticed the same thing -- except that my pee always veers to the right!  What is up with that? Personally I do NOT miss my pubes.  They can just stay away, especially the way they used to try to launch a sneak attack down my inner thighs.My bikini wax lady probably misses all the money I used to spend keeping them at bay. As far as the farts are concerned, I am wondering whether the bit of hair that used to be, well, around the back, is gone, too?   That little tidbit of info will just have to remain a mystery, since I am not about to look and check!

 Sherri - I had a hyst and ooph almost a year to the day before I was diagnosed with BC (due to major tube blockage, twisted ovaries, cysts, you name it.  There is a website called Hyster Sisters with a lot of good info on hysts and the recovery process.  The main thing that drove me crazy was that I couldn't drive for a month afterward....they don't let you drive until you can stomp your foot and not feel pain in your abdomen. Get a good support belt to wrap around your incision and 'hold you in' while you heal.. Good pain meds, though!

Major hugs to everyone from Rads land...10 down, 23 to go!

For the sake of scientific research... I checked. I am bare "back there". So, this would lead me to believe that there are two kinds of farts. Those with enough velocity to blow clear out of your panties. And then those little pfft, pfft, old lady farts that roll around until they meet resistance. My pubes and those "back there" did indeed provide the necessary resistance to pop those little pfft, pffts and send them into the ozone.

Maybe I could hang a mud flap of sorts, like you see on the tires of 18 wheelers.

Edited to add additional research: Chemo does slow intestinal peristalsis which is why we get constipated. So is stands to reason that my fart velocity has decreased, more little pfft, pffts.

Anal mud flaps, hmmm

I met with the oncologist today and they took blood to send in for the BRAC analysis.  I don't have birth children but I thought it was a good thing to do for my sister and nieces.

My surgeries were scheduled today.  They will both be on Monday, February 8th.  I have a lumpectomy first, followed by a hysterectomy.  They will do the hysterectomy through my abdomen instead of laproscopically due to a nationwide shortage on laproscopic supplies (?!).

I won't know if I have to have more chemo until after my tumor goes through pathology.  However, dr. said I will be on Armidex instead of Tamoxifen.  I'm 43 and premenopausal.  Does that sound right to y'all?