November 2009-Starting Chemo

Alicia:  Enjoy your vacation, you have deserved it!

Nette: congrats om being done with chemo! Woo hoo, another monkey over the wall.

Suepen: Good luck today, I notice you are Her2+ also, have they discussed your Herceptin schedule?

BrendaSharon: Just to clarify my smilie schedule, 12 weekly TX then once every three weeks to finish out a year from now. Shit, that sounds depressing when I type it. No, I did need smilies for the next year. Hopefully the rest of you will be gone and chemo will be a distant memory for you.

Side effects from Herceptin:

1. Nausea and/or vomiting

2. Rash, itching (rare)

3. Mild to moderate chills, fever, pain, nausea, vomiting and headache.

4. Occasional diarrhea

Cardiac dysfunction can occur.

Saw the onc today and actually got my treatment. I had to skip the Taxol last week, but did get the Herceptin. Apparently, my stomach issues was a Norovirus. Knowing my luck I picked it up from someone in the chemo room. All the nurses have been sick at some point. But things are back to normal and I'm not hitting the bathroom several times an hour. The poo fairy has moved on!

I really don't have any side effects from the Herceptin. Just the joint pain from the Taxol. I pretty much hibernate on Saturdays, and feel better by Sunday. The part that depresses me is that I have to keep my port for at least 2 more years. I'll probably be on the Herceptin for years (maintenance) and when I asked how long I had to do the Zometa, the onc told me I'd be on it from now on. FUN! I take it 1x a month, then I'll go to 2x a month, then 6 from then on.

I do have a little good news. My 11 cm tumor is now a little over 4 cm. I'll take whatever blessings I can get! Now if we can just pulverize that one little crummy tumor on my liver!!!

Nette! HOT DAMN!!! Congratulations. I am so incredibly happy for you and sending cyber High5s. You are a warrior!

Yah Linda...keep shrinking that sucker..

Hello All!
I went to see breast surgeon today.  My pathology report was in and he says that, after surgery to remove my tumor, I am now 99.999% cancer free!  He says they would never say 100% because, well, it is cancer and could always come back.  I see my oncologist next Wednesday and hopefully will firm up the final course of treatment, which I expect to be radiology.
Feels weird!
Incision from hysterectomy still hurts but I'm glad it's done, less chance of recurrence!

Thank you for the well wishes

Sherri - Great news! 

Linda - Awesome news on the shrinkage, keep up the good fight!

 I completed #16 out of 33 rad tx today.  I must say that I have no major SE's as of yet but going daily is a definite pain in the ass.  I was seriously considering stopping treatment and was all set to tell my onc the news until I met a lady today and we started chatting in the waiting room.  She had Stage 1 IDC in 2005 and now she is getting radiation for bone mets.  Needless to say, I will be continuing with my rads.  On a positive note, I have lost 12 of 20 pounds I gained during chemo!     

Toyah:  Almost halfway done with rads! You can do it! Are you working hard to lose the weight or is it just falling off since you are off the steroids? (Of course, I am hoping you say it is just dissapearing without any effort!).

Melinda - The first 12 pounds just fell off.  I retained a lot of water after my last chemo so I think that was most of it.  I have been trying (notice I said "trying") to eat better in order to lose another 10 pounds but not sure if that is going to happen since I can't seem to get off the couch when I get home 

I hate-love those after holiday chocolate sales....but just think it might be a great deal to buy them, but is it a great deal if you have to get a gym membership to get rid of the fat...I did Weight Watchers 4 years ago and have been able to maintain my weight ever since...

Speaking of weight, I still feel like  puffy sausage leg freak...I puffed out for my last two chemo treatments and am waiting for it to go away..anybody else have this..My legs also feel like lead.

Good morning Warriors - I wish you all a good SE free day!

Michele - I experience the same thing during chemo.  Entire legs and feet were puffy and I had a hard time standing after sitting and walking up stairs was difficult.  It just recently went away and I've been done with chemo for almost 2 months.  It does get better!!

I met with my onc surgeon yesterday to discuss my MRI results.  She said everything looked good and I could stop with the breast MRI's and go back to mammograms every 6 months.  She also said she would see me for the next 5 years at least and be the one scheduling/reading my mammograms which I wasn't aware of.  Oh well, one more doctor checking me out is not a bad thing!  I get my port out today and I'm so excited.  I feel like that is one more step towards kicking cancer's ass!!

Hugs to all ~ Toyah 

Toyah, good to hear that nasty port is a gonner....

Pam, what do you know about the boosts...do they take longer, does it hurt?  I started rads yesterday..already it feels like groundhog day.

Great to hear updates from so many of you great girls !!!  Sherri loving the 99.9 woo HOO.  So glad to hear that Toyah and Pam are getting done with the rads soon.    GREAT news TOYAH on that weight loss.  I am hoping for some myself.  Michele I feel like someone blew me up with AIR ~ so puffy.  NO eyebrows here.  I looks awful, also bottom eyelashes have been gone for quite sometime and I have about 3 top lashes on each eye that I try to put mascara on sometimes!!!  SOOO Not a good look. 

Hugs to everyone from Vermont we are going home tomorrow. 

Michele, I don't know anything about the boosts yet, other than they are focused right on where the tumor was and a little bit surrounding it.  They showed me a special metal frame today that was built just for me, that I think the radiation boost is focused through. It shouldn't hurt any more than a regular zap, I don't think....The main thing that has bothered me about rads is having to go every fricken' day. At least I get weekends off, but my every lunch hour has been driving to rads, getting rads, driving back to work from rads. Repeat.You're right about feeling like Groundhog's Day.

Alicia -- I still have SOME of my eyelashes, but they are mighty sparse.  I never wear mascara anyway since it bugs my contacts, so I've been substituting eyeliner.

 Hugs to all!

Glad to announce that #3 treatment of Taxol/Herceptin is done ! Went this morning at 9, when I walked into the ROC there was a woman I met at the Feel Good/Look Good Program 2 weeks back...she has two more taxol tx and then is done ....Tina who taught the class works there also, so we chit chatted with her for a bit...everyone around me seemed to be in a good mood,  alot of smiles , and the sun wasnt shining in Syracuse today ! It was in there though.

All counts were good to go ! Keeping weight the same for two weeks...Intially lost 17 lbs on A.C...Met with Onco , had a good chat about a few questions I had regarding the aspirin announcement earlier this week......She said that study was not conclusive, the way the study started was 24,000 women being watched taking aspirin for heart,  then 4,700 nurses got Breast cancer....that were already taking aspirin for study of heart...She said you cant make  treatment decisions on this (low dose aspirin helps with recurrance) because it hasnt really been PROVEN ...BUT she did tell me she doesnt have a problem with me taking a low dose asprin 3 times a week even while on chemo as my blood levels have been normal....so guess what Im starting today !!!   She said alot of other thoughts on this study which my husband and I found interesting.....

Infusion went fine,  took a 1 1/2 nap....just in time to fall asleep for Tiger woods Press Release !  I think I dreamt of a Pina Colada !! You know why ?  THere was a woman having her LAST treatment today and her girlfriends dressed up as if they were having a luau.....they decorated her infusion room, with paper lanterns, had a blow up palm tree ,  big wall photos of the beach, sand pails filled with sand, aweome cookies,  and the prettiest lei's......and they said they had Pina Coladas !! See that is why I dreamt that ! Now thats what I want to do for my last Chemo treatment !!

Im feeling good, slept again on our way home from Syr to Groton...My appetite is good ....Hope everyone else had a great Friday !!!

I used to think of my chemo drugs as a Toxic Cocktail but I have changed that thought to "Cocktail of HOpe".......

To all the Cheerleaders here:  Thanks so much for the "Congrats" on me finishing chemo.  Through this whole ordeal, I've kept a notebook of encouraging emails from family and friends and inspiring quotes and articles, and I'll be copying and pasting each encouraging posting to me from here and adding it to my book.  They've all meant so much to me.

 Toyah:  how was the port removal?  Mine isn't until Mar. 3rd and I've been spun-up about it since I made the appt. a month ago!...the needle-thing, incision...HATE IT!!!!  But I am trying to see it as a very good thing:  the absolute end of chemo!!!

Shel:  Hurray!!!!  No more chem for you!!!!  So glad the WBC was up, so no Neulasta. Have a ton of fun in FL!  Warm weather!

Michele:  My rad. said the first 5 weeks of rads for me will be the entire breast area, the last week will be a "boost" that is just more focused on where the tumor was.  Boosts might be mentioned on this home site in the drop-down menu of "Radiation." (I'm jealous you got off with only 5 weeks of rads!)

Pam:  can't believe you're losing the eyelashes now.  I've kept 50% of the top ones (bottom ones have been long gone), but now, not sure the rest will "stick around," pardon the pun. Alicia:  I gave up on mascara on the top.  Looked too skimpy on only a few scattered lashes.

Rad. drive for me is 30 mins. one way, but at least it's only for 6 weeks and not 16, with life approaching some kind of normalcy in there, maybe?

My daughter's home for the weekend!  Happy, happy, happy!  Back to college on Sunday, then home the next weekend for a week for Spring Break.  Happier, happier, happier! 

Have a great SE-free weekend, where ever you are!  Nette

Nette- Actually, I did not get my port removed yet.   I've gotten the run around from the surgeon and they had previously rescheduled my appointment 3 different times.  They called Tuesday and tried to reschedule but I told them no I couldn't so they said to come on in.  I got there yesterday at 1:45.  At 2:30, they told me that the dr had called and had an emergency at the hospital and would be delayed 2-3 hours but I could wait if I wanted to.  I suspect this was planned all along since they tried to get me to reschedule.  I promptly told them to go f**k themselves and I would have my breast surgeon take it out instead.  The only reason I went to another dr for my port was because my surgeon couldn't fit me in her schedule in time for me to start chemo.  So, the good news is that MY surgeon will be taking out the port.  The bad news is that she does it at the hospital as an outpatient procedure when the other dr did it in his office. 

Sorry for the long rant...hope you all have a great weekend!

Toyah