April 2010 starting chemo

 Welcome Sandcat,

My kids are 13, 10, 9 and 7.  My hair has not started to fall out yet, but I am sure it will in a week or so.  They have seen my wig and even named it.  I am not sure how they, and I, will deal with the hair loss when it  actually happens.  My 13 year old son has made it clear that at this point he does not want to be seen with me without hair around his friends..  My fear is that so far I have appeared "normal" to the the kids and being bald will make me appear "sick" and they may be worried. I don't know if they will still believe me when I say I am OK.

 Welcome Sandcat,

My kids are 13, 10, 9 and 7.  My hair has not started to fall out yet, but I am sure it will in a week or so.  They have seen my wig and even named it.  I am not sure how they, and I, will deal with the hair loss when it  actually happens.  My 13 year old son has made it clear that at this point he does not want to be seen with me without hair around his friends..  My fear is that so far I have appeared "normal" to the the kids and being bald will make me appear "sick" and they may be worried. I don't know if they will still believe me when I say I am OK.

Hi Ladies,

I just finished my TCH x6 on 1 April and wanted to pop in here to say hi and wish you all good luck.  I was lucky to have chemo be totally doable, and really the time in treatment went pretty fast.  Already my hair is starting to grow back and I'm getting my energy back.  Hang in there, before you know it this will be in the rear-view!

Sue

marcy4,

I am in trial E5103.....although I am stage 1 with no lymph nodes, I am triple negative/high risk which made me eligible for the trial.  I talked to my oncologist, surgeon and regular physician before deciding to take part (felt it would be a good additional step and that my health would be monitored even closer than normal).  I also have high blood pressure but it is controlled by meds.  During my first treatment with the Avastin (or placebo) my bp was monitored every 15 minutes, and it stayed completely normal.  If I do have issues, I may make the choice to leave the trial.

susiesue

I realized after I asked about the trial that it would not be the BETH Trial. I am triple positive and they were testing to see it Avastin would stop the HER2 from recurring.  It is a hard decision to make, but one benefit is being closely monitored and I was told by my radiologist that people in trials often do tend to do better.  Best of luck. 

saralmom-I understand the desperate attempt to be positive.  I'm getting to the point that I almost feel proud that I am strong enought to fight this and not just curl up in a corner, but I hate to have anyone feel sorry for me and I hate to be the center of attention so this is quite an adjustment for me.  I've been wearing hats since last Thursday and I feel like it just screams "cancer patient".  I think losing my hair was so painful because I can't hide the "cancer patient" title anymore-everyone knows.  But I am trying to hold my head high and ignore the knowing stares from strangers (probably my imagination, I know.) What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?  We should all be the strongest women in the world after this...

Hope all treatments today went smooth and hugs to everyone!

Dutchgirl6

I think you are getting the same drugs as I did FEC D.  I had my treatment on the 19th and other than being tired have done well so far. Today was my first real "Normal" energy day and that felt great! I just noticed a white spot in my throat this evening and will call the doctor in the morning.  It is not sore, just there, so I think she can give me something for it. Will continue to do the salt water rinse.  My drugs only took about 90 mins and I was given ice chips to munch on for some of it.  You may want to ask about that too.  I was worried about the first treatment and once it was over I waited for the worst to hit and it wasn't bad. Not at all what my husband and I expected. In some ways I am looking forward to #2 to just to get one more out of the way.  I keep thinking that by August the chemo part will be over and that isn't that far away!  Best wishes for tomorrow and I hope you have the success I have had so far.

 dutchgirl6

 The port is awesome. It was great to know that the blood work and IV could all be done without numerous needle pokes.  I agree I think it is a Canadian combinatin of chemo drugs.  I am sure you will do fine.  Like I said, I was sure I would be nauseated and sick, but it didn't happen. Just take the drugs like they tell you and they can prevent a lot of problems. 

If you are a London girl, you may know where Seaforth is.  I went to UWO many years ago. The weather here has been great. We got my oldest son a golf membership and he is at the course whenever he can and my other boys have already started baseball and soccer. The eldest also has Spring AAA hockey and has a tournament in Toronto this weekend so he and his dad will be gone for most of the weekend.  My daughter only has soccer and that is still a month away.  I am hoping to feel well enough to attend a lot of games.

Try to get some sleep.  Like you I waited since early January to get started and was just happy to finally begin.  Once you start, you are one step closer to the finish line.  I also have radiation to go after this, but not thinking that far ahead at the moment. 

Hi everyone, well I've 2 more days of 'freedom' before my first chemo begins. I've been frantically running around getting as much done as I can before then so that I don't have to worry when the side effects hit. :-)  One thing my oncologist said to me at my last appointment was that I was to make sure to ring them if nausea was a problem as in her opinion 'noone in this day and age should have to put up with it'.  I'm hoping that means that there's some way of controlling at least the worst of it (well here's hoping anyway!).  Had my hair cut into a shorter style today - just couldn't face having to look at my longish hair in my hands when it starts to fall out, so hopefully it won't be so bad.  Must say it's different - was a nice excuse to experiment as I said to my hairdresser it's going to fall out anyway so if I don't like the style it's not goign to matter too much at this stage.  She was really good though and I'm lucky that her salon is at her home so when I need to shave it, it can be done privately. 

Hope everyone's feeling ok or at least got some support through the bad days, your posts and updates have really helped me get ready for Friday so thank you.

Hi Everyone -

So I have a funny story for you all about hair! So I got my wig last Friday and went to work, I work at the elementary school as the librarian so I see PK through 4th graders. All of the students were great with my hair - most had already heard that I was getting a wig. Some funny comments from them - "Is it glued on?" , "Can you take it off and show us your bald head?", and probably the best one that made me laugh was "WOW Mrs. Kelly you look even better than before!" The kids are so good about it all and very curious. I just love them all and it helps to go there to take my mind off of everything!

Well I do not want Friday to come but hopefully I will get different meds so round 2 is not so bad as the 1st. I have to let these rounds come so that I can get to the end of this and start growing my hair out to look like my wig!!

Take care to those who have had treatments in the past couple of days and to those that are getting them this week yet! Let's hear it for no SE's!!!

So glad I found this thread. First chemo (TAC) on 4.22 every three weeks x 6. Still figuring out all the abbreviations.Day 5 today...sigh. Hoping each day is better. Such great advice. Will be reading more soon. Good luck to everyone!!

Hi All.  Well, I made it through Day 1, and it didn't go too badly.  I feel ok, a bit lethargic, but not nauseous, those drugs are doing their job.  My veins weren't cooperating, so it looks like I will have to be getting a PICC line put in for the rest of the treatment.  I wasn't happy about that, but I guess that it is the best solution for me.  The poor nurse who was administering the IV push sat there for over an hour altogether just to make sure that the chemo went in a the right speed.  I'm sure that her hands must have been sore after she was done.  There was a lovely older lady in the chair next to me who also had a PICC and she said that it was no big deal to have one inserted, and that after a few days I would get used to it.

I registered for the Look Good Feel Better workshop next week, that should be fun.  I also found out that they have clippers and will shave my head at the Cancer Lodge, so I will definitely go there when the time comes.  My hairdresser had offered to come to my house to do it when the time came, but she doesn't have much experience with chemo hair loss, and I think that I would feel more comfortable with the woman at the Lodge.

Marcy4, thanks for your interest.  You're right, I was probably still in bed.  I slept pretty good last night, hopefully I will tonight too.

Shygal, you were right too, the anticipation, and the waiting, were harder than the Tx.

Here's hoping that all goes well for everyone.

Hi everyone - I'm a March 15 start, but wanted to give some advice to new starters.  I had a lumpectomy with lymph node removal.  I went to the Physical Therapist early on to get the range of motion back in my arm and the learn about lymphedema.  I progressed very well - then stopped doing my exercise and stopped going to PT. About 8 weeks after surgery I developed AWS (auxiliary web syndrome or cording)  So I am back to PT and exercise.

If you had the lymph nodes removed - keep up with your exercise through out your treatment.  And at the first sign of tightness (it runs from the arm pit, under the arm across the inside of the elbow, to the wrist) see a PT for massage and exercise.

 Good luck everyone.  I'm half way through my chemo, and while it is now picnic, the predictable nature of the next cycle is comforting.

Thanks for the good thoughts everyone. I hope Dutchgirl 6 had an easy time of it too. The anticipation was deffinately worse than the actual treatment. My first treatment (TC) took 6 hours yesterday because they did the wrong blood draw the day before so had to do it in the chemo place. Then my liver enzymes came back really high (even though first chemo), so they had to call my onco for advise. He proceeded as planned since I'm healthy and 48, and will follow up with another liver test next week. My DH was with me for the first 2 hours, then my two older sons (29 & 21), came and we played cards and laughed so much. No side effects so far, only thing is trouble sleeping because of the steroids, also a little headache, but they said I can't talke anything for the headache because of elevated liver enzymes. Any suggestions?