Starting chemo Sept 05

AM, sorry about thrombosis. What ELSE do we have to deal with, is not the BC and chemo and surgery enough already???

And Cerri, call today your onc and get an appt with a physical therapist. You need to get that arm thing corrected. They will give you therapy or something for it. Something is wrong,...hang in there, but call them please.

hi susan
I got bowel inflamation with chemo,it affected my tummy as well,all i could do for 24 hours was suck ice and drink water,try not to eat anything heavy just soups no ruffage at all white bread with the soup.
love to all carol

I have been having hot flashes for a couple of months now. I originally had Zoladex 3 monthly injection in August to stop estrogen production (before I had convinced onc I needed chemo, 2.1cm IDC).

Now with chemo they are worse, its a case of bandanna on, bandanna off during the day, and covers on, covers off, during the night. The night sweats are really bad, I wake up absolutely cooking.

Like you ladies, I too am saving on heating bills, haven't put the central heating on once yet this autumn, which is most unlike me.

Take care ladies

Maxine

Hello All,

I have had a rough time rebounding from my last chemo - but I believe I have finally turned the corner! Enjoyed a great Halloween with the kids last night. Had one minor problem in our neighborhood ... a not so bright 14 year old boy decided that a costume of only a jock strap and baseball cleats was a good idea. The local police didn't agree! Believe it or not - his mother saw nothing wrong with it and was upset the the police took him home.

Marg - I am so sorry to hear about your ordeal. I agree with your decision to spend Halloween with your kids. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Susan - sorry about the delay in our cyber-celebration on completion of chemo! I'm happy to see that yours went well on Sunday. I think I'm finally feeling well enough to celebrate. It's been a rough few weeks for me. Keep me posted about your trip to the radiologist. My appointment is scheduled for the 7th. I did find out that I don't qualify for the Mammosite radiation - so I will be doing the traditional schedule as well.

Carol - I have had problems with my tongue and my oncologist said it was a side effect of the chemo. The taste buds are included in the group of quickly reproducing cells that the chemo targets. Sometimes they get irritated and can cause pain and swelling. You might try the Biotene mouthwash - it does help a little. He did tell me it will work itself out - it just may take some time. I do think it is worth a mention to your doctor though.

Bubbles - I love your chemo stories! I met a girl at my first treatment and we found out that we went to the same high school. She was several years ahead of me - but we had a great time talking about teachers and mutual people that we knew. We ended up laughing most of the time - loudly! The nurses put us together for the remainder of our treatments. On our last day - they told us that we were an inspiration because we had such a good time while we were there. They obviously don't get to see too much of that. Keep up the inspirational attitude!

Best of luck to everyone having treatment this week!

Hi to all,

Sorry for the amount of time since my last update but our home phone has not
been working for over a week now. Apparently a huge truck went past and took
the phone line down. Needless to say my worst symptom this week has been
internet withdrawals...lol

I have so missed these boards, loging in here every day makes this so much easier to handle. I don't know what I would do with out you all.

I had treatment 3 on Friday 28th Oct and it went well. I noticed after no 2
that if the nurse does the dosage slower the after effects are greatly
reduced. I asked for a slow push this time and was hardly sick at all, also
I got on to the Dr about the other anti nausea meds and didn't have to go to
the hospital this time either. so all round doing well.


Nicole

hi all
last dose of a/c yesterday and im feeling alot better then i have all the other times,guess they got the meds right this time,got a mouth wash for my tongue and it is feeling alot better now,I can actually eat without pain.
hope everyone is doing good
love to all carol

Hopeful, sorry that you too are having a harder time rebounding from the final chemo. I did the party anyhow since I had sent invitations, but I am not regaining my gastric balance or energy as quickly as I wanted to.

Kris, great to hear an update from you, and how wonderful that you were able to enjoy halloween with the kids.

Nicole, no internet access is like a punishment!!! I can't imagine a week with no contact with the outside world. How did you manage?

Tina, wow! This is wonderful that you are finding the treatments easier to manage. I need to get back to my 2 miles a day walks... good for my mind and body.

Carol, and same for you. Terrific that you are finding this round easier. Pain and eating should never be in the same sentence!

A jock strap and cleats? How funny is this? Thank you so much for the laugh. Almost as good as having Bubbles at chemo with you. :-)

*susan*

Peg, Thanks for updating us on the taxol treatments. I would like to know how your eating is going. I am down 7 pounds from my last E/C treatment and need to desperately put that back on. Do you have the bad taste or the sore mouth? I want to enjoy food again.

Hi all,
hope you continue to do better!!
I am still nauseated most of the time, keep eating, gained 5 pounds by last appointment

Enjoyed Halloween (yes, I was G.I.Jane, wore hubby's old green mil. uniform and smeered brown eye shadow in my face, kids loved it. My husband wore the wig instead, brown long hair, he looked like a hippee leftover from Woodstock.
Made a mistake of eating candy, yuck, didn't agree with me.

Will check on you in a few days again, towards the end of two weeks I feel usually better just to get hammered again with dose # 4 on Tuesday.

Keep your spirits up!!

God Bless

Hi All, I've been following along on the boards and hope everyone is feeling okay today. I had my first treatment of Taxol, followed by a shot of Neulasta. Feeling a bit achy from the shot, or maybe the Taxol. The Onc. said that day 4-5 would bring some bone pain. The good news is that I didn't feel at all nausesous and that I have only 3 more chemo treatments to go. My last treatment is scheduled for the day before my birthday. I have an appointment with my surgeon the next day, which is on my birthday. Hopefully I'll feel like celebrating. Wishing everyone well....

Well even though I am feeling ok....my blood work came back...at white cell count 300....full precautions...they think the neulasta shot will kick in but the main thing is to watch for fever.

Its kind of frustraiting...just when I thought this round would allow me to at least go to the office some...

Tina

Susan
I hope you have a lovely trip....Just what the doctor ordered, a good time with ladies who know how you feel and what you are going through.

Tina
So sorry your blood count is so low...hopefully the neulasta shot will do its job..

I had my flu jab yesterday, without any side effects....YIPPEE

I still have some prickly hair on my head, about 10% of normal growth...and its white...hope it doesnt all come back that colour. Pubic hair is about 40% still there and my leg hair is still growing, slowly, but still growing none the less!

Sandra
Yes onc was reading my pathology wrong, he was looking at results of mastectomy without adding the lumpectomy to the results, the cancer was cut in half with lumpectomy so the two cancers needed to be added together...I had to argue with him and get him to check with pathology before he believed me. Just as well the surgeon knew what he was doing and told me the cancer was 2.1cm in total otherwise I wouldn't be having chemo.

I hope everyone has a good weekend

Maxine

Here's a report from another MIA. I've been feeling so low, but reading all your reports whether of valiant victories or fighting the monster (which is still valiant victory, right?), I continue to feel inspired and supported.

I fought undescribable, horribly painful constipation from my 3rd treatment. Luckily another sufferer had asked for support and I used that info for some relief. First though I had to go see my nurse so she could do unmentionable things. It just seemed to add insult to injury: all I felt or cried is how I could lose more dignity than this?

Anyway, this weeek I had my 4th and final ac, and it's the first time I've experienced bigtime nausea. That was on Wed and today, I'm feeling a little better. The good news is my red blood cell count and something else was way down, so for the first time, I received a procrit shot. WOW, did that make an improvement in my energy. I've been taking the nuelasta since the beginning, but the procrit really helped. I feel good once more, even a little energetic sometimes.

I told my onc all my fears about Taxol. She wants to put me on a regimen of 5 days of decaudron and benadryl after I take the taxol and of course the dec the day before. She said body pain is the body's allergic reaction and those drugs will alleviate it. I don't know. I'm scared both of the decaudron and the pain.
Peg, since you've been our first to do Taxol, would you tell me again exactly what meds you're taking with it? And any other taxol takers? So much decaudron worries me.
Susan, I understand you're not taking taxol and the reasons why. I'm just curious. Are you stage 1 with no lymph node involvement?
Maxine, you look way too young for white hair to be growing in, but I know it's beautiful whatever it is. Mine is still in the falling out stage.
Bubbles, I love all your stories. They make me feel better, too. We each have our own little cubicle where I do chemo, but I don't think I'd be much good at spreading cheer. Anyway about the hot, cold thing. I read somewhere that it's a result of the steroids, specifically decaudron. I experience them as well, and I'm almost 52 yet I'm still having light periods every 28 days. I don't really want to have the abrupt menopause that I'm likely to experience, but the funny thing is I'm cold, very cold, most of the time.

And Leanne, congratulations and best wishes for your wedding. What a happy story for our September Sisters! Your children are adorable.

Speaking of children, how are everyone's taking this whole thing? I have a wide age range from 4 to 24, so I have varied experiences. One thing is it's brought us all closer together , especially the 13 year old daughter who actually helps a little. I homeschool her so she's often around anyway, but before she was a little distant. My 4 yr old is rolling with the punches, but to say she understands anything is an understatement. Luckily, I haven't been too sick. My college age and older children give me the hope to go on. I love the stories they tell me. We don't spend too much time talking about the trenches of chemo life,and my one son attends college too far away to have been home since the summer. I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving: I just hope and pray I won't be suffering with too much bone pain from Taxol.
Good luck to all,
CD

TX, hang in there, did they give you neupogen shots?

CD. I understand the constipation. I feel i may need anal surgery after all this chemo is over. Every morning i feel like giving birth at each BM. 8 stool softeners and 8 glasses of water often is not enough so i have tried to change my diet to include baked beans every day and lots of veggies and fruits. I go overboard the other way sometimes and get painful diareah. Last night i took a chance and had tacos for dinner. This morning i might be SORRY I did that.

Our bowels are all messed up from the chemo and other drugs and i cant WAIT until they get a little back to normal. I am 8 days past my 4th AC and they are still messed up. I have like 10 hemmoroid relief things and many laxatives, etc. Nothing helps alot....yet. I feel that until my poor body is able to start healing (once the chemo is outta my system killing the fast growing cells) that i will just have to put up with the pain and bleeding every morning. I am literally afraid to go to the bathroom! It is too painful.