Starting Chemo Feb 2010?

My exchange surgery is tomorrow-yea!  I'm excited to get these rock hard tissue expanders out.  It's like they migrated into my armpits so I bump them constantly.

I'm still bummed about my lack of hair...there's very sparse stubble on the top of my head-like 15 hairs total, so I look like an old guy with a ring around his balding head.  The stuff on the sides is about 1/4 inch long and very soft, so I'm not sure if it's real hair or not.  My previous hair was very course and thick, so it definitely doesn't seem like my former hair.  Sigh.  Maybe I'll have some hair for Christmas!

I hope everyone is feeling well and surviving the summer heat!

Burley - good luck iwth your exchange surgery! I hope it goes well and that you have a great result.

I agree with faithfulc about being patient with your hair. My scalp is covered, don't really know if I can even measure it. It's coming in dark and quite soft. My former hair was coarse and thick, too.

Gina

Hi everyone! It's been along time. I hope that all is well and that we are all recovering. You are in my prayers daily...Does anyone else have to go on Zomadia? How are you doing if you are on it?
Donna

Exchange surgery went well-I'm definitely a C afterwards, and happy with how they look in a t-shirt.  The hubby is happy with them too, which makes me feel better.  I originally had wished I had gone bigger, but they look just right for the size of my rib cage.  Was able to finally take a shower yesterday and get all the tape residue off.  My follow up appointment with the PS is Monday, and I think she'll take the rest of the big tape off--just probably leave the little tape on my incisions.  She also removed my port, and that incision is pretty sore.

I'm so happy to be one step closer to being back to "normal."  I think I will finally feel more normal after I get about an inch of hair.  And yes, still no hair on top for me!  Also no eyebrows or eyelashes.  My last treatment was 7/15, so I was thinking I would have some growth by now.

Well, I hope everyone has a terrific weekend!

Congrats Burley on your exchange surgery, glad that is over with for you. And getting deported too. I had my Port out end of March and my scar is about 1 1/2 inches wide and kind of bumpy. But it doesn't look too bad, I don't even bother trying to cover it up anymore or anything. Figure its a battle scar I earned!

I had some scans done last week, just to make sure everything was OK. I probably should have had them done PRIOR to chemo but oh well. I had a CT of the head, chest, abd, pelvis, a total body bone scan, an ultrasound and mammogram of the left (unaffected) breast because they thought there was something there (went thru this a few mos ago so wasn't as freaked this time around), and all came back good. SO I guess I can be considered NED. (YAY!!!)   Also had a bone density scan that I didn't score so high on (surprisingly to me) so now I can add Caltrate to my growing list of meds. And my lab work came back showing that I have some kind of genetic or enzyme deficiency and I don't utilize the Tamoxifen as well as I should so it may be less effective for me. Feels pretty effective though, since I haven't had a period since Feb, and the hot flashes are brutal. Oncology wants me to come in every 3 mos now and get an injection of Lupron which is an ovarian suppressant. Oh well, guess I can handle it. Wonder how bad my hot flashes will be after that...  Hot flashes and neuropathy are really the only SE's I have left. Does the neuropathy ever get any better?    

Hair is continuing to grow, little longer and thicker, still not curly though. Nice and soft. Have to color it again soon, because its so short the gray is noticeable really rather quickly. I guess its almost 4 mos worth of growth since I finished chemo. Feels great to be "topless" and everybody has been cool about it, I think most people are thinking its a really short style and I've actually received compliments on it. 

Mo how scary that you almost passed out while driving, altho the scenario you mentioned to your onc was kind of funny. Glad you're getting a break from the Herceptin. 

 I can't believe summer is almost over--it went so quickly! I guess because I was sick or getting radiation thru half of it. But I survived so I guess i can consider it the best summer of my life.

Take care all, and have a happy Labor Day weekend!   

Ohhh, grdnslve...so jealous about the eyelash stubble!  Still absolutely nothing for me...and I'm going on 2 months.  Also, still no hair on the top of my head (well, I lie-a few grays), so I'm going to have to shave the sides AGAIN to try and let it catch up.  I wonder how long I'll have to keep doing it.

Went camping for 4 days and the weather was awesome-really helped with my hot flashes.  I was down a little bit when I met some people I didn't know, and the one girl was wearing a bandana as a fashion statement.  And here I am wearing mine because I have no hair.  Sigh...

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day!

Like many of us I finished chemo in the summer ( June) and wonder if anyone else is feeling the fatigue that I am ? The initial post chemo celebration seems to be over . Over the last 2 weeks I have felt spaced out, depressed aching and tired. I wonder if I will ever feel well again. I find gatherings of people wear me out which I accept is probably just the after effects of chemo. I also experience a light headedness  which I find hard to explain. It is as if something is not getting somewhere it needs to in my body, a  lack of energy which makes me want to just close my eyes but not sleep which worries me as of course I think the cancer is back. When I think back to before my diagnosis I had these feelings then and didn't know how to explain them to my doctor. I am also very irritable and sensitive to loud noise just as I was before. I looked into it before cancer and found I had stomach ulcers but even after treatment the light headedness continued and I thought it might be a hormonal imbalance and was told by my doctor that I was just pre menopausal. I was then diagnosed with an oestrogen based BC. The odd feelings went away during chemo as I had far worse to contend with but are now back and I am very down about it. I do wonder whether it is a yeast infection as I do crave very sweet foods. I am on Herceptin and Tamoxifen. Anyone out there got any ideas?

burley--just remember..it is just stubble at this point.  barely there.  but i also cheated and got latisse from my pcp.  not sure if it helps or not,and it is so $$$  won't be able to keep it up, but thought it might give me a head start.

ado--for what it's worth, i'm sharing some of your feelings.  saw my onc yesterday & my labs are still where they were on treatment, some even lower.  he told me some people never completely recover to the levels before chemo.  so i think that is part of it.  some of the symptoms must be hormonal, as they are what i was dealing with before this crap.  also, it is normal for the fatigue to last 6-12 months before you really start to feel like yourself.  i'm trying to build up my strength, but it doesn't take much to wear me out.  with chemo over, you feel like life should just get back to what it was, but we need to be kind to ourselves & not expect too much.  yet all i really want is to look in the mirror and feel normal.

ta ta ladies

Thanks everyone for your fantastic support. I wil follow up on all the suggestions. I am pretty fed up with feeling like this as we all are. I am also exercising but finding that my joints ache and my knees are weak. I also had a very painful arm for most of last night which I know is a result of the chemo and Herceptin going into the veins. It has really helped reading your posts. Thanks again.

leta17 - I'm having the same issues - very achey joints and some fatigue though it's getting better. I finished rads on 8/20 and the aches took me by surprise. My onc told me the same thing - it's the taxotere. When it gets bad I take a Tylenol for Arthritis and that seems to help. 

I'm about a week late starting the Tamoxifen - mail order prescription.., but it should arrive tomorrow, then we'll see what wonderful side effects I can add to aches, hot flashes and night sweats!

Despite all of the above, I'm so happy to be past the worst part and still intact for the most part. My eyebrows are growing like gangbusters and looks like I'll have to start getting them waxed again. I'm seeing stubs where my eyelashes should be. My hair is growing well and since I found a good barber I get loads more compliments on my "daring " short natural hairstyle than I ever did when I spent a lot more bucks on it. I still think that's so ironic all I can do is laugh!

Hang in there ladies! I'm so glad this group hung together even though the chemo is over for all (or almost all) of us. I get such a lift when a post shows up in my inbox even though I'm not always able to post myself. Thanks for being such a great bunch through this journey. 

cbranner   I am laughing right now because as much as I have been complaining about my aches and pains, I didn't even think of taking something for it!  I am still a creature of old habits, I have always hated to take any type of medicine!  But I think after Chemo, Tylenol really isn't a big deal!

I am glad too that others are checking back in on this thread, I may not be on this site as much, but I will check in every so often to see and share where we all are on this journey!

Be well!

I'm not glad to hear about all the aches and pains, but glad to know that I'm not alone! When I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I walk like I'm 110 years old. My neck is still stiff, my hips ache,I've got a terrible sciatica problem.... that said, I've been exercising almost daily (pilates, walking, hiking, elliptical trainer, a little tennis), and I'm getting stronger. 

And I have a new BFF: Aleve. I've always been an ibuprofen (Advil) girl, but it wasn't helping a lot. Aleve (plus a good chiropractor) is really helping. Today was Herceptin/Avastin day, and I asked my oncologist if it was okay to be on it for a week or two at a stretch, and he said yes, if I'm just taking one (two max) every 12 hours. He said they're checking kidney function when I'm in every three weeks anyway, so they'll know if it's a problem. It has really helped-- I'm sleeping better and can turn my head better.

So consider that for the joint/muscle issues. 

Eyebrows came back much faster than everything else-- they're pretty normal. Eyelashes stubby but coming in. As for hair, it's still no more than a half-inch, but I actually have to brush it or it sticks out funny! That's kind of a thrill, to brush my hair. So far appears to be same color (brown, some gray but not a lot) and texture.

Just got my Tamoxifen prescription... kinda dreading it, but on the other hand, it should be nothing like what we've all been through.

And WTF about all this cancer?!?! My landlady at my office (tiny building, just a few of us) was diagnosed with BC a couple of months ago and is in chemo. Her husband was just diagnosed with lung cancer, two friends (50something men) just got prostate cancer diagnoses, another acquaintance, mid-40s, has terrible lung cancer, and last week I had to attend the funeral for a high school friend's son, who died of melanoma that had spread everywhere by the time they caught it. 

I'm afraid to ask anyone, "How are you doing?" Too much cancer out there.

grdnslve & writer - I think it's like seeing the car you want everywhere you look. I'm definitely more aware of it now.

grdnslve - your drumroll had me laughing! I hope this new look is confined to your eyebrows!! The funny thing about eyebrows is that I've gotten so good at drawing them on so perfectly that the eyebrow hairs get in my way now! I will be getting them waxed this weekend!

think i'm in the kiwi stage...LOL