Chemo June 2010

So I made it in to work this morning.  So far so good.  The dizzyness is not quite as bad today, thank God.  Thanks to all of you for the encouraging words, I needed them so much.

I have to take the zofran for 3 days after chemo so yesterday was the last.  I also have compazine and lorazapam for nausea as needed.  I found that avoiding the compazine was best for me because it gives me the worst heartburn ever.  However, the lorazapam makes me very tired so I only take it at night, mostly for anxiety and to help me sleep.  It hasn't really helped the past 2 nights because I was up every 30 minutes going to the bathroom due to drinking so much water to stay hydrated.  Oh well, maybe tonight I will sleep.

That was my last AC, next I have 4 rounds every two weeks of Taxol, which starts next Friday.  I really think the shot is what affects me so badly.

Have a good day.

Good morning, Ladies.  Danielle321...Congratulations on making it through AC! It's an accomplishment that all of us can cheer, even if our chemo regimens are different. Being on this side of the aisle is so incredibly humbling. I will never look at anyone dealing with cancer and it's treatments and aftermaths the same way as I did before. Used to be that I 'felt sorry' and then pretty much forgot about it. No more. My heart goes out and my hats off to anyone facing these challenges. AND...you made it to work.  Hope your day goes well.

There are some days I can't work at all, others when I'm good for about 4 hours. More than that and I'm a zombie.I have never been one to sleep much. Although I'm known to be in bed pretty early every night, I've never slept past 6ish, even on weekends. And I never was one to nap. Now it's totally different. I can nap anytime and do. And I'm in bed by 10 and sleep straight through until the dogs can't wait any longer and rouse me by 7. And if they didn't bark or nudge me, I'd keep sleeping.

RE, dizziness, my onc nurse said that one of the signs of anemia and low red cell production is a sort of dizziness. So I think that's why I have trouble driving. The dizziness coupled with the motion of the car gives me a bobble-head doll feeling and I really am DUIC...driving under the influence of chemo. She says that will get better when my red counts are back up...someday. The dizziness is either that or the meds for indigestion/reflux. I couldn't take Prilosec because it made me incredible dizzy and Zantac had me shaking like a leaf and almost unable to walk because it messed with my BP. I am highly sensitive to those types of meds and it could be my Protinix and not the anemia that's making me wobbly. Well, I'm staying on the Protonix so I'll have to learn to deal with the 'moving' sidewalks and all the rest of it.

Yesterdays posts had much to do with 'regularity'. When I went to get a script filled,  I asked the pharmacist for a recommendation. She suggested a stool softener if I was going to take any of the oxycodone prescribed (which, thankfully, I never did need) and then a daily fiber prep. I got Miralax, which I haven't had to use, and then Metamucil capsules. I've been taking two of those every day and it's seems to help. The probiotic prep I use is DigestiveAdvantage for Irritable Bowel. I take that, too. The combo seems to have everything just right.  Aren't you glad you now know my bathroom secrets. The level of personal info we share on this site amazes me...but I'm always grateful to learn from others how to control or deal with every SE that might come along.

And Janny99,,, thanks for the laugh! I can imagine the look on your face when it dawned on you that a urinal and a guy using it meant OOPS!

Hope everyone conquers another day with style! I'm off to meet a client. She is aware fo my diagnosis and treatment so will understand if I'm unable to last the whole day.

Wow!  I'm so happy for you guys that are nearing or at the end of your tx.  That must be such a good feeling.  I go for tx #4 tomorrow with 11 more  to go!  Seems like it will take forever.

I work as a secretary to assistant principal at a secondary school and had not planned to return to work this first semester.  Since I was having so much trouble with my SE's, I didn't see how I could. However, I have learned this week that if I do not return at least part-time, my insurance will end at the end of September and I'll have to go on COBRA.  So, I will be talking to onc tomorrow to see if he will okay me to work on my good days which right now are "usually" Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Thursday. In a way I'm not sad I will have to return to work sooner because I am going stir crazy here in my house.  Because of my SE's I have not been able to get out of my house much.  Now that the SE's are better (at least this week they have been), If I could work 4-6 hours on my good days that will keep my insurance in effect (the school pays my premium) and give me a change of pace.  It's always something, isn't it?

I looked for you this morning DesignerMom on the Today show.  I thought I saw you waving!  LOL!

Morning Ladies, Can we talk about hair loss?  On around day 17 after tx #1 my hair was coming out in handfuls.  Now i am on Day 16 after tx #2 and my hair just isn't falling out anymore.  I used the lint roller this weekend and it actually hurt, like the hair is still firmly attached.  Being of the temperament type that I am, my first thought is 'chemo's not working'.  I have a thin covering of hair all over my head, I look like a baby bird!  Is this normal for the hair to stop coming out?  Will the rest fall out or not?  If so when?

Cheers, Julia    

TMARINA AND DANIELLE321,  HERE GOES YOUR VICTORY DANCE FOR FINISHING THAT WICKED OLD AC.  I can't wait to do the dance for each of us.  I will dance a little longer today as I feel better but have AC#3 tomorrow so back on the roller coaster.

As far as the lightheaded wooziness.  I,too have that really bad from day 2-5 with a little less after that but not totally gone.  My onc has had me tracking a fasting blood sugar and my BP and pulse daily to see if there is pattern.  I am not diabetic but runs in my family big time.  My fasting sugars before chemo post surg ran from 70-90 which is what it should be.  Since 1st chemo to now they run from 125-180 which is a huge difference.  This could be causing this problem.  I find when the head starts getting that way if I eat a light snack it does seem to help.  I also keep sugar free mints on hand that seem to help if I don't have anything else but must eat soon or all I can do is lay down or lay iin lounger.  Any of you with this problem might want to have your sugar checked and maybe track it.  If mine gets over 200 my onc says we will have to do something about it.

One bit of humor before I go,  YESTERDAY WAS GETTING READY TO GO TO ONC OFFICE AND REALIZED I HAD MY DOUBLE PROSTESTIC BRA ON BACKWARDS.  I NEARLY FELL IN THE FLOOR LAUGHING.  CAN YOU IMAGINE GOING TO THEIR OFFICE THAT WAY.  I BET THAT WOULD GET SOME ATTENTION.  I MAY TRY IT AT IV THERAPY SINCE THE LAST TREATMENT THEY ACTED LIKE I DID NOT EXIST.  JUST THOUGHT YOU GIRLS MIGHT WANT TO HAVE A GOOD LAUGH.  FIRST TIME EVER DOING THAT.  ALSO, I AM DRIVING MYSELF SO WARN ANYONE IN CENTRAL SC THAT THERE MAY BE A CRAZY BACKWARDS WEARING BRA LADY ON THE ROAD..WATCH OUT!!!!!!

Hope everyone is having a good SE FREE day.  Sending hugs and prayers to all from SC,LOL,gin2ca

hi girls, well im wondering has any of you lost weight, i have, i go up and down from all the fluids? what do you think? thanks, this morning im down 6 lb from last night?

Chey

janny-What made me laugh the most was that you got out of the stall, looked at the guy at the urinal and thought "why is HE in MY bathroom"...not processing that there were urinals there!

sherry- I have a feeling you are going to feel stronger and more able now that you have the meds tuned up.  I bet it might feel good to get back to a bit of  "normal" at work.  I'm sure your boss and colleagues miss you and will be supportive.  By the way, you will never see me waving on the TODAY show.  That's midtown at a very early hour full of way too enthusiastic tourists.  I'll be uptown in my rambling apartment looking at the park and sipping my coffee.

As Isla responded to my Tamoxifen question and made the very good point that we probably should not clog up this thread with all THOSE questions, I am headed for the "to tamoxifen or not to tamoxifen" thread for those discussions. See any of you there if you want to talk about Tamox.  I was just on the Dr. Love site (for the first time).  It is a great site with very clear explanations of medical matters and studies, including Tamox.  Worth taking a look. http://www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/content.asp?CATID=19&L2=1&L3=6&L4=0&PID=&sid=132&cid=646

I have to take my 11 year old to get his meningitis vaccination.  Now I am fretting about SE of vaccinations again!  What happened to the happy-go-lucky girl who used to ride on motorcycles with no helmet and hitchike alone to California?  Yeah, I know, God protects children and fools!

Ok I am doing the happy dance.  Last AC TX went off without a hitch this morning.  Although I held my breath onc would pull the TX because of the lymphodema he didn't.  He was pleased the swelling was decreasing and there was no sign of fever.  I am still taking antiobiotics.  I am not as tired this afternoon as I was after #3 so hopefully it will be a good week.

As for the weight question, I am going up and down like a yo you.  I am thinking some of it is my weaning and waning appetite but also my lack of good food choices.  Because my taste has changed so much I am eating stuff that I would normally avoid except in moderation (ice cream as an example).  Onc told me as long as my weight didn't change more than 20% my mixture would stay the same. 

Meliss,

Read this thread Is Anyone Considering Oophorectomy instead of Tamox?.  It talks about tons of side-effects to ovary removal that sound awful and that I would never have thought would be an SE to ovary removal!  When I bought it up to my onc. he just said 'there are lots of potential SEs to ovary removal and once it's done we can't undo it'.  My view is, I'll try Tamox, if I'm miserable i'll stop taking it (I'm only mildly ER+) and  then if I'm truely in menopause from the chemo I'll take that other drug that starts with A.

Julia

Hooray grneyd5600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Designer Mom I hope we all find our happy go luck side again.

TMarina I agree the trick is keeping it off.

I applaud everyone's strength and determination in the face of all this!

grneyd5600... Congratulations on having the last AC treatment! Yippee!  That part is over.

I'm having an allergic reaction to something. Can't figure out what. It started out yesterday with bright red and itchy hands and palms with blotches and 'stripes' running up my arms. It calmed down some and then flared again with stripes and blotches all over..shoulders, back, legs, sides. This morning  they weren't immediately itchy and then they went ballistic. I was out working and scratching...nice look for a professional, hey?  Tonight they are back full force. The blotches are huge and all over my extremities.

I haven't started using any new drugs and am 13 days post chemo so that can't be it. Thought it might have been the mango I moved around the kitchen yesterday before it started...it's not unusual to develop an allergy to their sap, sad to say. But I made sure not to get near that thing today and it's much, much worse.

I'm not freaked because I can breathe OK and going to the ER or an urgent care center doesn't make sense yet. Just took a benadryl and will try to play detective tomorrow.

Bon, your reaction sounds similar to the one I had to TC. It also started two weeks out from treatment, and my onc nurse intially said it wasn't the chemo. I went into full-blown hives over most of my body....it was not fun. Had to take full doses of Atarax (stronger than Benadryl) and prednisone to get things calmed down. Then, when I went in for my next treatment, about 5 minutes into the drip I started to have a reaction, feeling light-headed and tight in my chest. Onc said, no more taxotere, you are allergic. I hope you feel better and you are not reacting to the chemo. Load up on the benadryl!

Meliss, I Googled Taxotere side effects and low and behold, here is the section on rash. You are right! It says that it will usually occur between treatment. WOW, who would have thunk it? Thanks so much for telling me about this. I honesty wouldn't have associated it with the chemo at all. (And here I blamed it on that poor mango!)  Below is the text I found on the subject:

Rash: This chemotherapy side effect is common, but rarely severe in people taking Taxotere^®. You may develop a rash that looks like a blotchy, hive-like reaction. This usually occurs on the hands and feet but also may appear on the arms, face or other areas of the body.

Generally a rash will appear between treatments and will go away before your next Taxotere^® treatment. Inform your doctor or nurse if you experience a rash because he or she may be able to help you get relief.