Starting Chemo in June 2005

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  • saleboat
    saleboat Member Posts: 71
    edited August 2005

    Mindy-- you are not alone in feeling freaked out by that post. I've read a couple today that have put me over the edge. HOWEVER-- we have no idea if it is true; PLUS we have Herceptin to prevent the dreaded mets from happening in the first place. Jen

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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    Ok girls... this is your official "kick in the pants!!!" for reading that. I already had to kick myself because I read that too... and also another that deeply saddened me. Enough is enough. Don't even read any other threads but ours!

    Focus on what is happening right now... don't look too far ahead and most of all... don't try to "guess" about the future. There's NO WAY you can predict it. We are all SNOWFLAKES... remember????

    Cheer up.... we'll get through this and have many more happy days ahead. Start fresh right now and wipe away those scary thoughts from your minds! You are all here now and very much a part of life... don't waste it by feeling blue about something that you may never have to face. OK???

    Love and hugs to all!!!
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  • JoMac
    JoMac Member Posts: 192
    edited August 2005

    I'm not reading no scary posts!

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  • LizFL
    LizFL Member Posts: 377
    edited August 2005
    I'm with you Jo...last time I read scary posts I was freaked out for weeks. I do not go there anymore! This is a "safe" neighborhood right here!

    Mindy...I can sympathize with you...but Dana's post says it all. Hope you can get that fear out of your mind soon.

    I've got thrush again...yuck. Got some diflucan again...clears up the thrush fast, but has it's own side effects!

    Start my Taxotere Thursday and was given a script for Decadron to take the day before, the day of and the day after...2 pills 2 times a day. I hate decadron.

    I have taken way more drugs since starting diagnosis than I have during my whole 58 years! But I'm with Brenda...if it makes me feel better...I'll take it!

    Liz
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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    Where's Nancy????? Yoohoo, Nancy? I'm kind of worried here. You haven't posted in a while.

    Please let us know how you are doing!
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  • Analemma
    Analemma Member Posts: 1,622
    edited August 2005

    I saw the title of that one and knew I wasn't reading it, even though I'm her2- . I did read the one about the man whose fiance is sleeping too much and he wants her to get moving. Couldn't think of any advice to give him, though. I just hope his patience lasts, she's gonna need him.

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  • Jenster
    Jenster Member Posts: 267
    edited August 2005
    I start Taxotere on Friday instead of Thursday this week due to a scheduling conflict at the clinic. Just one more day of fun while I feel good so I'm okay with it.

    My oncologist told me I'll only be getting the steroid in the premeds before my chemo. I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining.

    I have an appointment with my endocrinologist coming up (long time thyroid problem) and it's been a while since I've been there. So they sent me all the forms to fill out beforehand, just like I was a new patient. OMG! I can't believe how much more crap I have to write down now. I'm still working on it. lol.

    My MIL is causing problems for my husband and I called her on the carpet yesterday. She told me she didn't mean for me to get in the middle of all their problems. I just need to worry about me getting better, blah, blah, blah. What she fails to understand is if she messes with him, she messes with me. Besides, it's kind of nice to be focused on something that has nothing to do with cancer. And my usual nice, even-tempered nature is benefitting from the chemo-induced kick-a** attitude!! LOL!! I'll whip that dysfunctional relationship into shape in no time!! Or else alienate her altogether. Hm... Now there's a thought... Oh! Did I write that out loud??
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  • Scout
    Scout Member Posts: 76
    edited August 2005
    I'm taking the Decadron tomorrow too. I have to take one pill twice a day...tomorrow and then the day after the taxotere. I will get the second dose in the IV. What does Decadron do? Will it keep me up at night? I sure hope not..have enough problems doing that without taking other meds!
    DS left for college on Saturday and DD leaves tomorrow. I will miss them..and their help! DH has to go out of town on Sunday (after my Thurs taxotere) and I hope I will be ok by then. I have to terrier's that think that I'm god and personal playmate.....yikes! I am going to buy some tv dinners for the few days he is gone incase I feel terrible.
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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    I thought I was going to get away with NOT having any Neuropathy from the Taxol.... but I think that it's starting. It's not bad.... but my hands and feet feel a little tingly. They feel strange... not right. It's an odd sensation... can't quite put my finger on it... so to speak!

    I also have a bit of a sore throat... only it's my neck, glands and muscles that seem sore... not the inside of my mouth. In addition... I think I have a sinus headache and am a bit nauseous. I have to get used to the idea that it still is possible for me to get a "normal" kind of sickness that has nothing to do with cancer. LOL! However, it still makes me nervous to feel icky!

    Oh well... just thought I'd share my whining with you all... nobody understands like you guys!

    HUGS!
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  • nosurrender
    nosurrender Member Posts: 2,019
    edited August 2005
    Quote:

    I thought I was going to get away with NOT having any Neuropathy from the Taxol.... but I think that it's starting. It's not bad.... but my hands and feet feel a little tingly. They feel strange... not right. It's an odd sensation... can't quite put my finger on it... so to speak! I also have a bit of a sore throat... only it's my neck, glands and muscles that seem sore... not the inside of my mouth. In addition... I think I have a sinus headache and am a bit nauseous.



    Other than that Mr. Lincoln, how did you like the show?

    Good grief you poor thing!
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  • nosurrender
    nosurrender Member Posts: 2,019
    edited August 2005
    NOW HEAR THIS YE OF THE WANDERING EYES......

    I READ THAT POST- I AM HER-2/NUE NEGATIVE AND IT FREAKED ME OUT! AS DR. PHIL WOULD SAY- WHAT ARE YOU THINKING????

    PLEASE NOTE: NIX' DOCTOR IS A TURD. HE IS OBVIOUSLY CLUELESS ABOUT THE GREAT NEW DISCOVERIES THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE USE OF HERCEPTIN IN EARLY STAGE HER-2/NUE POSITIVE WOMEN...

    REMEMBER THAT SHE IS FROM THE UK- THEY ARE NOT VERY GOOD TO THEIR PATIENTS OVER THERE. THE WOMEN HAD TO FIGHT LIKE BLAZES TO EVEN BE PERMITTED TO ASK FOR HERCEPTIN. AND IN SCOTTLAND IT IS NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL!

    THE LATEST AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CANCER ONCOLOGISTS MEETING HELD IN MAY HAD NOTHING- I REPEAT- NOTHING BUT JAW DROPPING RESULTS FROM THEIR TRIALS OF HERCEPTIN ON WOMEN WHO GET IT AS THEIR PRIMARY CANCER TREATMENT. BEFORE NOW THEY COULD ONLY GET IT ONCE THEY HAD METS.

    BUT THEY DISCOVERED THAT IF GIVEN WITH YOUR A/C AND T REGIMINE YOUR ODDS ARE THE SAME AS HER-2/NUE NEGATIVE WOMEN.
    MEANING- IT ERADICATES IT.

    SO- THE ONLY THING SCARY ABOUT THAT POST IS SWEET NIX'S DOC-

    YOU ARE ALL ON THE CUTTING EDGE- GETTING THE TREATMENT YOU NEED AND WHAT HE SAID WAS COMPLETE HOGWASH. MAYBE BACK IN THE DAY WHEN THEY GAVE HERCEPTIN AS A LAST DITCH EFFORT IN STAGE 4 WOMEN- WHO PROBABLY HAD BRAIN METS ANYWAY- BUT NOT NOW.

    TOWANDA MONITORS YOUR READING HABITS HERE..... WATCH YOUR BACKS.
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  • sassyone
    sassyone Member Posts: 26
    edited August 2005
    Dana,
    I had the sore throat, neck muscle, gland soreness thing too. Onc feels it just another strange side effect. Have last taxol this week--can't wait. Onc said I would be back to normal soon--never been normal before so it will be nice to see what normal is like!

    Sassy
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  • 2frogs1princess
    2frogs1princess Member Posts: 120
    edited August 2005
    Thank you so much for the pep talk ladies. I do feel better already and No Surrender your info makes it alot better! No more scary posts for me, I promise.

    Today I feel pretty good, no neuropathy yet, just a tiny bit of bone discomfort left. I went to bed at 9:20 last night, boy I needed that sleep.

    Tomorrow I get labs drawn and then Friday I see my plastic surgeon for tissue expander expansion. I have some discomfort under my armpit on mastectomy side and some slight soft tissue swelling there too. Lymphedema? Don't know yet. I mentioned the discomfort to onc last week and she said to keep an eye on it. It's not red or bruised. Funny how every little ache or pain makes you wonder. Before the big diagnoses I would have blown it off. Not now.

    Have a great day everyone. Keep swimming!

    ~Mindy~
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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    LOL... No Surrender... I'm feeling a bit better today! (At least so far! )

    Sassyone... Welcome to our thread! I like the confirmation that my symptoms are not that STRANGE. Thanks for sharing. I hope you feel better very soon! Taxol is so much easier than AC... but still no fun!

    Anyway... I hope the rest of you Junies have a great Wednesday! It's feeling so Fall-like here in Minnesota. I love Fall.

    HUGS!
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  • rmmom
    rmmom Member Posts: 168
    edited August 2005
    Hi
    I made it through getting #1 DS off to college! Didn't even cry until bed time-he always came in my room to say goodnight and ask about my day-reaaly missed that. Had first Taxol yesterday, sleepy yesterday but feel great today. So good was thinking I could have gone back to teaching preschool but then tried cleaning DD's room-have to finish that tomorrow. Of course her room is in clas by its self but I don't think I could last all day with four years yet. Smart side of brian keeps telling me to just rest this year.
    And I made it through putting #4 on the bus to kindergarten. I have the rest this day planned so I keep busy without him-can't eat lunch until 1:00 so I don't have empty space to deal with-aren't I silly
    I had one of those uncool B/C moments Saturday. You know the kind when someone says something stupid. Only this was a group of clicky women from DD's school. Had on my hat and not wig and when I dropped M off for a sleepover this chatty group all froze-stared and one asked me in a nasty voice how I was doing then turned around before I answered! That made more angry than the people that ask me if they got all the cancer-at least those people care. I steamed all the way home- I mean don't ask if you don't care, that won't bother me.
    Back to positive note my DS's laptop finally came today-SIX weeks after we ordered it so we'll have to visit him very soon to drop it off at college
    Have a great day-going to do some more stuff before anything side effects catch me. Think if I am fast enough I will avoid them?
    Hugs
    Bev
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  • Analemma
    Analemma Member Posts: 1,622
    edited August 2005
    Well, I tried the two dexamethasone tabs this morning to prevent the Taxol pain, and so far it's working! Last treatment I was having the twitchy leg pains by now. I hope it will hold out overnight, because I don't want to take the dex. at night, it won't let me sleep. Feeling draggy today, but so far I don't think it's been as bad as #1 taxol. Knock on wood!

    Bev, where is your son going to college? Mine is coming home from Ohio U this weekend, just called to say he has a lead on a job in Uniontown, past Canton, but that's about an hour and a half commute from here!
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  • 2frogs1princess
    2frogs1princess Member Posts: 120
    edited August 2005
    Is everyone here taking decadron during their Taxol or Taxotere? My onc didn't say anything about it and I have #2 scheduled for Sept. 2nd. Does Taxol get worse as you go along like the A/C did? Just wondering.
    ~Mindy~
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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    I have Decadron via IV when I get Taxol but I'm not taking any pills. For me, the Taxol does seem to have a cummulative effect. I've only had 2 so far... but I felt better after the first than I do now. I don't feel nearly as bad as I did with the AC though. That stuff had me in bed. The Taxol just gives me the pains that last for a few days... but the pain pills WORK!

    Anyway... only 2 to go... can't wait to be done!
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  • Reeny47
    Reeny47 Member Posts: 21
    edited August 2005
    Hello Ladies
    Can't even remember the last time I posted. I have been trying to for a couple of days and everytime I do one of the children call and we end up talking for a while and I never get back to the computer. My time for that is gone. But I made it back for the second time today.
    I have been feeling or acting pretty normal. Cooked a big Sunday dinner for my son and my daughter and their family. Total of eight and my oldest grandson had a friend with him. They are fourteen and Avery the youngest boy is 12. They are getting so big and boy can they eat. Counting me, my husband and my mom, I fed 12 people. I was so proud of myself and I fixed a feast with fresh blueberry cobbler for desert. Need I say I did not have any leftovers but I truly enjoyed every minute of it. Just wish my daughter from Augusta had been here. We really missed them. I have to admit my husband helped me while I was cooking and he and my son did the dishes afterwards and I went outside with my two grandaughters and they got in Cookie Monster's sprinkler. They were so funny. I was tired after they all left but happy.
    I don't have my next taxol until Sept. 1ST. He changed me to three weeks when he put me on taxol. Anyone know why he would do that. He said it would be harder on me than the taxotere. I was real achy for about four days after last treatmemt, do have the gluey eyes and runny nose. It is just every now and then I will just get real tired. Sometimes it last for just a little while and other times longer. Are any of you doing this? It sure makes me uneasy.

    JoMac,pharmacist recommended a eyedrop by Baush&Lomb called Opcon-A. It has really helped. Not healed but helped. My eyes would be clued together when I awoke in the mornings but the drops have stopped that.

    Dana, you go girl. Was so glad to hear you are feeling well enough to go running around and doing stuff. I wish I had more time to do things like that for myself.

    Got to go ladies so the best to all of you and to you having treatment this week, I wish you a easy one and to those finishing...HooRay!!!! talk later Maureen
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  • JoMac
    JoMac Member Posts: 192
    edited August 2005
    Thanks Reeney . I'll try those eye drops. I feel like I have clear elmers glue in my eyes all the time. sometimes I have to pry them apart to keep them open.
    I had Taxol nmumber three yesterday. So because of the steroids in my system I feel fine. They will wear off soon but for now I can do everything. I even hopped on my treadmill last night and walked for about forty minutes.
    I thought it would calm me down and help me sleep.
    maybe it did but here I am up at six in the morning. I am finding great comfort in saying "one more to go". I know there is lots more to do after this chemo is through but I never thought I would get this far. The thought of one more has made my mood lighter.
    Or maybe it is just the behvior plan is working better and better.
    What ever it is I am crying and being depressed less and less. I even went out a couple of times this week.
    I will need to do more of that in the future. I can get to stuck in my own head when I am home too long.
    My husband has been gone this week but I programed in some phone calls and a visit from a good friend so I think I took good care of myself by planning ahead this week.
    sometimes I can figure out what I need other times I am "clueless".
    I am starting to be able to eat and taste more each day.
    I am drinking coffee now and boy does it taste good.I know I will have to change my eating habits somewhat for the long ahaul but for now I don't care.
    Also ordered and read a good BC book called spinning gold from straw. It dealt with all the emothional issues. I think I will need to read it several times before it really sinks in but I think it will be a good resource for me.
    Reeeny your family days sounds like heaven. Those are the kind of days I want in my future.
    Dana,
    I thought you only had two taxol to do?
    Does anyone have any plans for what to do when they get to the last one? Many people have asked me that. I don't have an answer.
    because although it is a great milestone in some ways it is a false ending....there is so much more to come.
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  • LizFL
    LizFL Member Posts: 377
    edited August 2005
    Off for Taxotere # 1 this am...hurricane warnings in effect here...hope it doesn't intefere with getting my neulasta shot tomorrow. We had enough of hurricanes last year...was hoping this year would be a quiet one.

    Was up at 3:30 AM thanks to the decadron. Don't know if I'll make it to work this afternoon or not.

    Will report in later.

    Liz
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  • Bancroft
    Bancroft Member Posts: 37
    edited August 2005
    Jo Mac... I am totally with you on the end of chemo feelings. My family is tryiong to be supportive with ;lots of let's go to ut to celebrate, but somehow that is not how I feel...my dh tried to help by saying it is a milestone like graduating from college, but still needeing to pass state exams, and fund a job...

    what are others planning to end chemo?
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  • Analemma
    Analemma Member Posts: 1,622
    edited August 2005
    I will finish chemo on Sept 19, and that weekend we are going on a driving vacation to the Maine coast for a week and a half before rads. We had tentatively planned to do that even before my diagnosis, and, as it happens, we prefer to go at the end of Sept anyway, so it works out.

    I took the Decadron pills too prevent the stabbing leg pains, as onc. recommended, and it has worked! I'm feeling pretty good, and I think I can get some pottery studio time in today. The exhaustion is still the bid issue with me, but I'm sooooo relieved not to have those electric-jabbing leg pains I had last Tx. Yeah, I can do two more of these!

    This is weird, but yesterday I suddenly felt like all the cancer is gone from my body, and that I'm beating it. Maybe it's just that I'm not so depressed and in general feeling more optimistic, but I'm beginning to think that I really might live to be an old lady. I'm finding myself looking at the yard and thinking of projects, that earlier in the summer I just thought, "well, I might not be here to enjoy the yard anyway, why do anything?" Yesterday, I was planning a deck extension, maybe a water garden, and rhododendrons at the edge of the woods. It's a great feeling to be able to imagine a future with me in it again.
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  • Jenster
    Jenster Member Posts: 267
    edited August 2005

    Good luck to Scout, Liz and KimB today!! I'm going tomorrow due to a scheduling conflict so Scout and Liz - you can tell me how #1 went.

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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    JoMac... my Oncologist had said at the beginning that we'll take the Taxols one by one and see how many I can get through... he wanted me to get through 4. Turns out, I just might do that! I'm happy to hear that you are feeling better emotionally. I just know as time goes by it will get easier for you to believe that you're going to be ok.

    As far as end of chemo celebrations... hhmmm never thought of it really. I have an idea of a nice vacation next Spring to celebrate the end of all my treatments. But hey..... I think it's a great idea to celebrate the milestone. I think I'm going to have to plan a family dinner!

    BevN... some people will NEVER learn how to have empathy for others. They will always be so deeply caught up into their own lives and feel the world revolves around them. It's sad, but so very true. Just shake it off... that woman is the one who missed out on a learning experience by not letting you into her life for even just a moment. I hope she's not the next one to hear those awful words from her doctor.

    Anyway, Happy Thursday Junies!

    HUGS!
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  • nosurrender
    nosurrender Member Posts: 2,019
    edited August 2005
    I will tell you what I did on my last day of chemo-
    I cried like a baby. I never cried before in front of anyone and when they unhooked that last bag of cytoxan it just was like a damn broke.

    All the nurses came running over, the other patients were looking at me like "oh geez now what?"

    The nurses thought I was sad because i was going to miss them.

    The patients thought I had just been given horrible news.

    I was crying because I couldn't believe I made it. I actually did six months straight- never missed a single infusion - and even though I swore after each one I would NEVER go back there I was FINISHED.

    It was like I had been at the bottom of the sea the whole time and I finally came up for air and could breathe again.

    I went home and felt calm, felt relieved, and felt freaked out- like NOW WHAT? I am ER- after Rads WTF?!!!

    So I started rads- getting mapped- that is when they put you in a CT or Xray machine to see where your vital organs are and where your cancer field was and they "map" you with tiny tatooes and sharpie pens so they know exactly which way to point the beam. It takes a long time and your arms have to be up a lot so it is a pain, but once it is done it is done- except you have tattoes and are walking around with pen marks for 8 weeks. But then my luck kicked in and when I sat down to schedule the treatments they realized they had no room for me and I would have to go to another facility in another town- but still the same group.

    I get there and that faciltiy had a major attitude and didn't "accept" the other place's mapping so I had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN WITH MORE TATTOOS!

    SO that was when my mood permanently changed. I was no longer weepy- no longer ready to bolt- but I was CRANKY. And I hated going every day to rads. I just wanted them done and I was actually GLAD I was ER- just because it meant seeing fewer doctors!

    My last day of rads? I said "See ya" and left and said Good bye to this year from hell.

    When you find that you wake up in the morning and you don't have to think about going for an infusion, blood test, nuelasta, radiation or ANYTHING- all you have to do is remember to buy milk you feel GREAT. And those days add up and up and up and it is out of your head. You never forget it- but you are DONE with it and that is a blessing.

    That guy Normal takes over. I love that guy!

    Now Brenda- I know just what feeling you are talking about. And i have had friends who have gotten that feeling and you know what? They must be super intuned with their bodies because they never had a problem again. So you may have had a glimpse into your future- and it is looking good!!!

    Good luck today girls- you are 'rounding the finish line!!!
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  • 2frogs1princess
    2frogs1princess Member Posts: 120
    edited August 2005
    No Surrender- I was just wondering if that guy Normal is any relation to NED that I've seen on another post. LOL
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  • danahollis
    danahollis Member Posts: 161
    edited August 2005
    Normal and NED are cousins of mine... I'm hoping to see a lot more of them!
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  • Jenster
    Jenster Member Posts: 267
    edited August 2005
    I had lunch with Normal today. Grabbed my folks and did a little shopping - Hobby Lobby and Barnes and Noble. After that we went to Chili's and had a wonderful, pleasant time. Talk of cancer or chemo or anything related to those subjects was very limited. I can't stress how pleasant today was.

    It gave me the breath I needed to tackle my first Taxotere tomorrow. I can't wait for my next date with Mr. Normal.
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  • rmmom
    rmmom Member Posts: 168
    edited August 2005
    #4 DS had a great day at kindergarten but boy was he exhausted! He told us he had to go to the office for being bad-turned out it was a tour for the little guys
    Brenda my son is at MSU-it is about 31/2 to 4 hours away. His first choice was OU but the MSU gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. He is small town kid so he has a lot of adjusting right now.
    Reeny I am having the same thing happening with my eyes and nose. It drives my husband crazy when we are talking and my nose starts pouring-No nose hairs I told him. I'll try the eyes drops as the glued shut eyes bother me.
    Has anyone got headaches with taxol? I went all summer without the dreaded headache and now there is this faint one that just lingers. Not bad yet but sort of there.
    The only other posts I read here is the humor. Sometimes they are very funny
    Well this was my break-must go pick up living room before gang gets home to trash it again
    Have a good day.
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