Starting Chemo Aug 09

Hi ladies, thanks for welcoming me to the site. You wanted to know more about me so here goes. Im 43 years old and was diagnosed 5years ago. After my surgery I had 4 chemo treatments. I was given tamoxifen for 2years and am now on arimadex. I am feeling great and pray that it continues so. I am married with 2children and they have kept me going through all my worries. Breastcancer runs in my family and i only found this out when my sister was diagnosed first. She had found a small lump and attended the doctor who sent her home and said it was nothing. The lump got larger so she went back to the doctor who still insisted ti was nothing. After a few more months she went back and that was when she was sent for a test which proved to be cancer. It was a really hard time back then. Im so happy to be able to chat to other peop[le like myself.  x

Gill, my hair was a light brown colour and when it grew back after the chemo it was curly jet black. I dyed it back to my normal colour cos i didnt look like me anymore. Like you say it is just nice to have hair again

Hey ladies,

Can you believe it, this Thursday is my last chemo.  I can hardly believe it.  But I have been sick with a cold for over a week and I can barely think about going in and getting whacked again.  Tomorrow I go in for a fill too and the last one was so painful I am dreading it.  I know I shouold be excited about being at the end but in actiual fact I can hardly bare the thought.  Oh well, it will be over soon.

Work is going OK but slow as i am on progressive return.  I wonder when it will ever feel normal.  As you can tell, I am in a bit of a funk.

Hope you are all doing well!

Yo

Glad to hear from you Yo Yo.  And congratulations on Thursday being your last chemo.  Ya Hoo for you!  Don't be afraid to postpone your fill appointment.  There is no harm in waiting a few weeks when you are feeling stronger and have more energy just knowing that chemo is over.  Sometimes we just have to know that we can only put ourselves through so much at one time.  I am sure your cold has you feeling run down.  Give yourself the OK to take one day at a time.  The funk will get better.  Hugs to you

Navy

Anyone else  still with messed up bloodwork?  My blood work is still all over the board. WBC's are kind of staying in the 2's and 3's with an occasional bump into the 5's.  Platelets are in low 200's and still dropping after an initial surge to 420 right after chemo.  I'm curious if anyone else is having these problems. I'm starting to get nervous. . .

Hi Ladies,

Thanks for the support!  The cold and the funk are lifting.  And I went to see the PS and he said no more fills, I am inflated enough!!!  Yay!  So I stressed for nothing.  Oh well.  I have a good friend and her family stopping by unexpectedly tonight which is a nice surprise and then tomorrow is the final chemo day!  I can face it now.  Maybe I'll even be excited by the end of the day.  It's just so hard to believe it is finally here.

All I can say about the taste buds is it will be nice when they come back!  Looks like that will be awhile too.  Oh well.

 Have a nice day everyone!

Yo

Sorry you are in a funk Yoyo!  Hang in there!  

Weety -- my WBC has been normal (though of course MUCH lower now that I'm no longer getting the boost from the Neulasta)... and my hemoglobin remains just under the low range of normal (so low)... I'm told low red blood count CAN be from surgery.  Mine isn't sufficiently low to cause concern.  I would discuss the numbers with your doctor.  I'm guessing it's normal to still have some fluctuation but I'm sure it would make you feel better to get some reassurance from an expert.

Patty -- if I remember right my taste buds did not get normal all that quickly (and now that they ARE I'm paying for it, having gained back most of what I lose during chemo).... hang in there, it will get better soon.

Lilah

YoYo - Glad to hear things are looking up.  Good luck and congrats on your LAST chemo!

Jenn - Wahoo...rads done for you.  I don't think it is rare to go through "treatment withdrawal".   After nine months or more of surgeons and chemo and radiation it becomes a part of your life...then nothing.  Pretty scarey.  

Bananas are my post-chemo yuck food.   Don't care if I never have one again!

Patty

I know a few of you on this thread have seen some of my other posts.  To make a long story short, I had a pelvic ultrasound done (just routine to help with the decision of doing tamox when done with radiation or going to lupron shots or removal of ovaries) and they found a "suspicious" complex cyst on my right ovary.  Three possibilities are going on #1 Nothing, just a weird cyst #2 ovarian cancer #3 breast cancer mets.  I'm scared to death.  The gyn-oncologist doesn't seem to think it is too indicative of ovarian cancer.  Plus, I just finished chemo 2 months before this was found (and I think ovarian cancer uses the same chemo) BUT he was concerned enough to schedule me for surgery to remove everything (uterus, cervix, ovaries) for both preventative reasons (estrogen removal) and for this cyst reason.  I'm scared to death at what they might find.  My surgery isn't till April 20th, but I have a follow-up ultrasound this Tuesday to see what this cyst has been doing over the last 6 weeks.  I need all the prayers I can get!  The waiting is always pure agony.

Jenn and Karen, congrats on your rads completion! 

On the hair note, I went out for dinner with my family and friends and then went to see a movie without my head coverings last night!  I'm pretty lucky in that at least it's coming back the same dark brown color I had before.  It's really, really short, and as my 9 yr old son says, I look like a boy (doesn't help that I have no boobs and can't wear a bra due to radiation)  but I ran in to my sister-in-law and niece there and they all said that I look "artsy."  Not exactly how I want to look, but I guess I'll take that over "boy!"

Hey Ladies! Sorry I've been out of touch but I was away on vacation!  I had thought I would check posts but found I was having too much fun to stop and crack open the netbook   (This is a good thing). 

Weety -- I know I would be very anxious with the waiting!  I wish they could do the surgery sooner (if for no other reason than to make you feel better).  In the meantime, I am sending prayers and blessings your way.

Jenn -- sorry you had a tough day on your final rad day... but glad that your spirits are improving!   My hair is looking better every day!  I probably could go topless at this point but I am not keen on the idea of having to go through (again) a lot of "wow your hair is so different" comments.   I have told very few people about my BC and the wig looks like my real hair (albeit if my real hair were straightened and the style were cut to include banks   On at least 3 occasions in the last 6 months I've gotten together with an old friend intending to tell them what is happening, only to get "wow your hair looks fantastic" -- at which point I didn't have the heart to say I have BC.  So I've decided to keep wearing the wig until school ends in May, by which time I'm hoping I'll have enough hair to actually get it cut and shaped!  I do look very Jean Seberg at the moment   (Albeit with dark hair).  Yeah, ladies, I look like a boy (so did Jean Seberg with that short short hair  -- well, a boy with big boobs lol.

Lilah

Congrats Jenn and Karen on finishing rads!  Today is my last treatment, so YAY for me too.  I have some blistering and my skin looks like rare roast beef, but IT"S OVER!  Looking back over the last year, we August Amazons thought we'd never be DONE and it looked like such a long and scary road ahead.  But the time flew as we compared what was happening to us, gave support to each other in the bad times, shared the hope of the good times and now we move on to another road in this fight.  It will always be another road - 1 year.....3 years....5 years....10 years.  But we're all still here and we're much stronger than we ever thought we could be at the beginning.  We truly embody the spirit of the Amazon warrior - overcoming the odds to win the fight, always united, always having our sisters' backs.

I'm marking today as my Emancipation Day.  I wish you all recovery, peace of mind, laughter, friendship, and most of all.......JOY!  I'm with you, my pink sisters, as we move forward from the darkness of cancer into the light of the rest of our lives.

Be strong, have faith, you WILL win this fight.

Weety - good vibes for you. Congrats to all who have achieved some milestone - rads done, or going topless etc. My hair is definitely boyish. I have just got back from a 2 week trip to England visiting family and friends who have not seen me since bc began. I went topless the whole time, for the first time. Now I have to "run the gauntlet" of all those who seen me with hats and scarves etc for months, and now with actual hair, albeit very short. Not that I'm complaining, I'm glad to have hair. I am planning to stop by preschool this morning (my business) and wonder if kids will comment. Very few paid attention when I went from hair to hats and a wig every now and then.