Starting Chemo in June 2005

Hi all. Hope your Saturdays are going well. I'm feeling pretty good being as I haven't been given chemo for three weeks now. Hopefully Thursday will be Taxol #1 for me with herceptin. I just got back from my oldest's football game. So cute to watch 4-5-6 year olds play. He will be 5 this coming Wednesday.
Liz-I give myself my own shots because I'm a nurse and really it's no different than people who have to give themselves insulin, except our shots burn like you know what. Plus I'm an hour away from my treatment center.
Jen- thanks for the encouragement and input about Carbaplatin. I'll be sure to ask. And also, my baby ended up having an ear infection. I have to be away from him until he is fever free for two days. So, just a little withdrawl, but at the same time a little break from hearing mama, mama, mama, mama, over and over........
Brenda-My hemoglobin kept dropping with the A/C so my onc started me on Aranesp. It's an injection just like the Neulasta, it just targets red cells instead of white. Also, I've not had any problems with taste either, just no appetite. So, we'll see after Thursday what happens.

Have a great Sunday all!!!

~Mindy~

My eyes have been wacky since I began this chemo journey. the latest on Taxol is that my eyelashes seem to be diintegrating. so this causes me to blink alot. I also feel like the insides of my eyelids are sticky.
I can read and watch T.V. I just blink frequently. I couldn't even do that on the AC.
I feel run down today but not too achy.
I sure did feel great two days ago. It is hard to fall to quickly.
It is hot and that doesn't help either.
So hopefully today will pass and tomorrow could be better.

Hi
I thought I would be out of the ocean and walking on the beach by now but I guess it takes longer than a week to get this stuff out of your system. Did anyone have withdraw after A/C-I was so grumpy I didn't want to be near me-It may have been the swish and swallow too-I started using it only at night just in case and wasn't as moody.
Brenda-you can drink coke It makes me so sick.
Fi-I understand the staring bit. I had to do some college shopping today and it is the the men! I want to shake them all
I am worried about Taxol. I keep reading how well all of you are doing but still I am chicken I was always the brave one at home now that I am out of the study I feel like a wimp, even though my hands are still full of blisters and I don't have the energy back yet
Oh Brenda-ask if you can take iron to get your levels up. I have to take TWO a day and a mult-vitamin and Procit (I have chronic anemia problem)....maybe doc and trial nurse should look into that instead of leaving feeling like I did something wrong by not continuing on rest of my A/C treatments.

LOOKING FORWARD TO WALKING ON REAL BEACH WHEN THIS IS DONE!!!
Bev

I am ready to empty this ocean. I keep wondering when I will have some energy back. The Taxol wasn't too bad but this FEC is kicking my .... I am on a 3 week cycle so maybe next week will be better.

Thanks Jen, I got up this am early just to see if you repkied! I use Purell now so I just be sure to big a bigger bottle in my purse. MD anderson does not restrict us much either...they say the germs to worry about the most are our own...which when I got neutropenic fever it was from my own mouth sores. So anyway, I am so excited about your email and I will come to NYC during this journey. I will let you know when I am gonna come and maybe we can meet and not lick poles together! One more question...if in the city for a few days and if I had any complications which hospital would I go to? Which is better for chemo pts to "show up" at (besides Bellvue LOL)?
Pam

My insurance has a $1,500 maximum out of pocket per year. The copays for biopsies were $250 each and $500 for my mastectomy (because I stayed overnight...otherwise would have been $250), so I hit my max pretty quickly. I have a $15 copay for Primary Care Doctor and $25 for specialists and tests. No copay for blood work done for pre-op, etc. I have only paid the oncologist $50 to date, because after that I hit my max. I probably will have a copay of $25 for the chemo clinic when my new insurance year starts in October, but it looks like they bill the shot as part of the chemo treatment. I looked up my insurance payments on their website and so far they have been billed over $98,000! This includes a few other things than the BC treatment, but not a lot. They have paid out about $28,000. The Neulasta shots are paid at over $2,800!!!



Liz

hello junesterettes
i am just stopping by to say hi
i have had power problems here due to a tornado on fri night- yes! on long island- a tornado!

for those with eye problems it sounds like the dry eye decadron is famous for...i have a great eye drop called gentear- i think it is rx- my eye doctor gave me samples- just two times a day and i have normal eyes again!

i am diggin you girls using your purell!

as for the subway or plane...did you know that if you breathe through your nose only you filter germs better than if you breathe through your mouth? or maybe someone just told mr that because they thought i had bad breath!

Finally I feel like getting some studio work in today. sunday is my normal housecleaning day, and I didn't do doodly-squat!

someone told me that Taxol isn't as hard on the counts as AC. Has anybody heard that? I just hope my hemoglobin doesn't drop like it did last AC.

I'm getting into the busy end of the season art show time. I have a show this weekend and the following, then skip Labor Day and shows the following two weekends after that. Then nothing for October and November (I didn't schedule anything during rads because of fear of the unknown), then big shows the first and second weekend of December. It's a hard way to make money, especially trying to work around treatments and side effect misery. I'm kind of worried about the shows on the weekends after Monday Taxol, this first one kicked my ass!

Michelle has her last AC today. Michelle, are you doing T next? Let me know the rest of your schedule.

I still need schedules from some of you, if you want to be on the calendar.

Nancy, where are you in treatment? My brows also started thinning over the weekend. Oh, the indignity!

I have finally started feeling better...been thinking chemo really sucks. Even my husband had to remind me that chemo is killing things and it's not supposed to be easy.

My onc gave me a prescription for decadron...and I'm a little worried... he said to take 5 the night before and 5 the morning of treatment. Does this sound like overkill and a recipe for the really late night movies? Plus, I get 'ants in the pants' in the iv.

You know how it's a small world afterall? My husband is in the Air Force. He attended maintenance school in Illinois, and there was only one married couple there. Their son was abou 9 months younger than my daughter. Over the years, we lost track of them. When we moved to UT, we found out they were stationed here, too. Our lives are very different now, and we haven't done anything socially. Come to find out, our kids had PE together. Then, when I was waiting on my Nuelasta shot, she comes out of the onc office. Come to find out, she's going to be working 4 days giving chemo treatments...and they're on MY days! She decided to add a few more hours to her schedule, plus, they needed someone to fill in for some vacation time. Kinda makes me excited...who would have know where the AF would have led us, muchless who'd cross our ways again!

Does anyone else think Zofran is the absolute worse tasting thing on the face of the earth? I better not have nausea on taxol...I don't think I can take anymore of the zofran. Last night it made me gag.

BrendaF...taxol will start 8/23...and every two weeks. Last one is Oct 4th. Can you add it to the calendar?

Looking forward to heading to Jackson Hole this weekend. Looking forward to cooler weather...and something else to occupy mind other than chemo.

Oh, forgot to tell you. My husband and I had to put our cat of 14 years to sleep on Saturday. It really sucked. It was really hard on the chemo body...felt SO nauseated through the whole ordeal. Then, we had to tell our daughter who is visiting her grandmother. A totally wasted day emotionally...

Re: Eyebrows
Girls- use a powder- find an eye shadow that is a shade or two lighter than your old brows. Then- get a brush- very fine brush!- moisten tip and very lightly- VERY LIGHTLY- draw tiny little hairs- meaning don't go in one straight line use a dashing motion.
A light touch- A light Shade- and a Light line of tiny "hairs" will give you the most natural look ---

BEWARE THE PENCIL! BEWARE THE LIQUID BROW LINER!
Groucho Marx and Leonid Breshnev have cornered that market.

Just went out and got the eyebrow powder. My eyes are really blurry today.
I have been getting huge hot flashes. I sit around with my little cap on with an ice pack on top of that.
Quite the look.
My head feels like a chimney.
Anyone else having the flashes?

Rebecca, I too wanted to express sympathy for the loss of your cat. Everything must hit with harder force while going through this difficult time and the comfort of a well loved friend furry or otherwise is even more hurtful now.

The hot flashes, oh boy! I get them during the night and wake with a wet pillow. Yuk! I'm a July chemo girl but always read this thread too.

I'm on Taxotere and have had one dose so far. Got my next one tomorrow. I too take Dexamethozone, four tablets twice a day starting the day before chemo and finishing the day after, and hate the 'buzzing like a hornet' feeling I get on these pills.

Hugs to everyone here,
Taff