April 2010 starting chemo

Getting my drains out was the best day ever!!!

Shelley - Glad you got the port out.  Feels nice not to have the bump hu:)  Hope you are healing well. 

Happy Halloween everyone:)

Hi Ladies.

I'm just chiming in. It has been a while since I have checked in. I will be moving next week and finally have the internet back full time!  I had my exchange surgery and my port out three weeks ago...they glued the incision together and it looks bumpy (my port).  I hope it flattens out a bit.

How are all of you feeling?  I am having herceptin tx every three weeks still...and I am so tired.  Are any of you feeling this way too?  it is discouraging.

I hope all of you are feeling well....

Em

Hey Jen and Emme,

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with port site problems. I got mine out the end of October and still get some shooting pains that make me want to rub it some. No infection or anything, but I wasn't expecting the twinges. Most of the time it is fine, and I feel a ridge underneath, I guess of scar tissue? Otherwise I'm feeling pretty good, I am happy to report.

Sorry for your blistering Jen, we fair girls have a rough time with rads. Lots of air and aloe will help.

Hi all!

It's been months since I've checked in...my laptop died and I haven't invested in a new one yet!

Started reading again on my first road trip since the diagnosis...starting to get back to "normal"!

Finished TC in August but continuing with Herceptin through April...OYE!



EMME- I'm exhausted still too! I do have SE's from the herceptin. Feel like I have the flu for the first three days after TX. It has helped to have them slow down thedrip. It takes me an hour instead of the usual 1/2 hour.

I am tired most of the time but have recently been okayed by my PS to get back on my treadmill. Feels great to have even a little more energy!

My exchange went Great! But had a large soroma they had to "scrape" away, which meant re-opening my back scar (I had a lat dorsi flap recon) and inserting a drain again!! No fun but sooo worth it! I love my new foob!!! And I can finally start working off those Chemo pounds!

Treatment tomorrow...and a snow storm on the way, thank GOD I live 12 blocks from my Oncologists!

Wishing you all a Fabulous New year!

Hi JoyKK.  You heard right, this is an awesome group!  Although, we haven't been very active lately, I think that everyone is starting to pick up the pieces of their lives and since we all have put chemo behind us, some of us have been going on different discussion boards. 

I'm sorry that I don't have anything to offer as far as your swelling issue is concerned, I didn't have anything like that from my chemo.  I did have a bit of a chemo belly, but that seems to be disappearing.  I finished chemo in August, so it's been a few months.  I hope that your medical team can help you with this, it doesn't sound very comfortable.  

Hello to all of my April sisters.  Emme, it sounds like things are starting to fall into place for you, I hope that once you get settled your fatigue lessens.  I'm sure that stress has something to do with how you are feeling.  JenC, I hope that your break from rads helps with your skin issues.  You must be thrilled to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, you certainly had a time of it!  Pickles, you are in good spirits!  Happy New Year to you too!

Hi Emme.  Well, I can only speak for myself, but I am doing fine .  I have a head full of hair, my energy level is good, my fingernails have grown back and look normal again.  I have some aches, I think from Tamoxifen, but on the whole I feel good.  This board has been pretty quiet, I guess that we are all just getting on with things. How are you doing?  Thanks for posting, wouldn't it be nice if everyone checked in to say hi?

Ohhh Curly is the hair!  I can't get used to it. I am trying to embrace it..and I am so thankful I am not bald anymore.  I am still having herceptin infusions every three weeks.  I am tired..but working a few days a week.

I started my period Sunday evening.  I am stunned.  I called to ask the nurse how common that was...evidently they were surprised because my ONC called me this morning.  He was surprised to say the least. I will see him on friday and he will do a hormonal panel.  I also have to see the gyn next week..to "make sure there is nothing else going on". Why can't they just say they are worried I have more cancer?  The dr. uses those words and what does he think my interpretation of that would be?  One thing I have learned, is that I haven't responded to any of this treatment as the medical staff predicted...so after 7 months i have my period. and time will tell what it is!

I will keep you all posted

Mel, it sounds like you are busy.  Is that you in your avatar?  Beautiful.  You were smart to transition back to work the way that you did, I'm sure that once you get back with your kids, you will be fine.  I know what you mean about having down days, and wondering if you will have to go through this again, it is on my mind a lot. 

Emme, I think your hair looks great!  Boy is it ever curly (like you needed to hear that ).  A friend of mine went through the same issue this summer, she started spotting and had a couple of periods, about a year after chemo.  She was tested for endometrial cancer, but her results came back negative.  Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled about having her period back, but was quite relieved that was all it was.  I am hoping for the same for you.

Arubajan, your hair looks a lot like mine, but mine is much grayer.  Did you colour yours, or is that your natural colour?  It suits you, really makes your eyes look huge.  You certainly had an eventful December, but it sounds like you are fully recovered.  Do you have any idea where your husband might be transferred?  There is something exciting about a move, and a new home, don't you think. 

Hey all!!!

Happy post Chemo-a-go-go! You all look fabulous with your new "dos"!



I still go in for my tri-weekly hook up for Herceptin. The nurses all know me pretty well...I'm always the chatty forty-three year old with a corner chair (the view is better)knitting away during treatment. I've made a ton of socks for my relatives who are all appreciative as it's been -18 degrees the last few nights!



Did I mention I'm flying out on Tuesday for a few weeks in Naples Florida? Yea,I need to get out of the COLD and SNOW! My cats stand in the doorway, turn their noses up and hi-tail it back inside. The bird population is under no threat from my cats this winter...



Herceptin has been interesting, so far I've had every annoying SE it lists...but none of the dangerous ones...Thank God I work for my husband in the winter and my brother in the summer! Talk about having an understanding boss! I hope to be back at work some time this summer...I've missed the river!

Here's to a fabulous 2011 to all! Take care...and don't forget to spoil yourselves a little this year!!

Hi everyone.  I love hearing updates from you all!  I think we are all going through so much of the same stuff - physically and emotionally - even now that treatment is mostly over!

I am doing really well.  I finished radiation at the end of October, and started Tamoxifen right after.  I was lucky to have hardly any negative effects from the radiation, and so far the Tamoxifen is just causing hot flashes, which I can manage for now.  I do have Herceptin every 3 weeks until June (I go tomorrow actually) and like Pickles, I am well known to the nurses and actually enjoy seeing them every month - it helps that the Herceptin has no side effects for me, so I just go in, have blood drawn, see my doctor for 5 minutes, get plugged in, sit there for an hour and a half and chat and then go home feeling fine.  Constant runny nose, but I can deal with that.

I have about an inch of hair all over - feels like slow growth - maybe from Herceptin?  Anyhow, mine is curly too.  I just went to Mexico with my husband last week and didn't take my wig at all - first time going completely without my wig.  And my nails are pretty much back to normal, which I though would never happen. 

Arubajan - I'm curious about your hysterectomy because I am having one this Friday.  Why did you have it?  How was your recovery?  I am having a laparoscopic assisted vag hystetrcomy.  My onc suggested that I have my ovaries out as a way to keep me menopausal, and also to decrease estrogen.  I decided to have the full hysterectomy while they are at it because I have a history of uterine polyps.  Kind of nervous about it.

 Happy new year to all!!!  Here's to getting back to normal! 

Thanks for the info arubajan.  I am not having the Davinci, just standard laparoscope.  They will remove my ovaries, tubes, uterus, and cervix.  I will stay over one night like you.  I am counting on having minimal pain - I am planning to work on Tuesday after the surgery on Friday.  I will cancel my clients if I need to, but I literally sit in a chair, so as long as I can walk to my car and then to my office I should be fine.  We'll see...  I will look into the site you mentioned for any helpful recovery aids like that belt for sure.  

Yes, the sex thing - they said at least 6 weeks, which is why I scheduled it for after our Mexico trip!!!  But since my onc wants me to stay menopausal, I have spent the last month and a half waking up every day worried my period will return.  So far so good, so I hope this plan works - I think I mentioned here a while back that she had told me about recent studies suggesting that women who stay ammenhoreic have shown better outcomes regarding less recurrence.  and the Tamoxifen effects on uterine lining played a part in my choice for a complete hys too.  My onc said that I can stay on Tamoxifen after the surgery.  It will still do what it does, and we can keep the other AI's in the arsenal.  I want to follow up with her about that though b/c I read somewhere on these boards that the AI's might be better for her2+.

Forgot to mention before - and commiserate with those who said it - I am kind of obsessed with recurrence fears.  I went through a stage of obsessively reading the Stage !V boards on this site.  I am nervous about every ache and pain.  I really hope this gets easier with time... 

Hey everyone, glad to see that you are all doing well.  I have the curely hair comming in to.  A little darker than my normal color but that can be fixed with a trip to the hair dresser once it grows in more.  I finished radiation December 22nd and am all done.  Tripple neg so no herceptin or any other treatments.  I have my final reconstruction scheduled for April 4th and hopefully they will not have to do any alterations but I can handle that part  Emme.  I also started my period after finishing Chemo in October I have had three now, November, December and January.  My Onc said that it can come back especially since I only did 7 out of the 12 Taxol due to the neuropathy which is still in my feet but slowly getting better.  I hope you all had wonderful holidays and that the new year will be 1000000000 times better for everyone:)

 Jen

Hi Ladies.  Good to hear about everyone and it seems most of us are doing fairly well.  I too have very curly hair that is about 3 inches long and I find it hard to manage since I've had poker straight hair all my life.  I have been colouring this mop since it started to grow and know that it would be pretty grey on its own. 

 I have been having terrible headaches for about 2 months so the Oncologist took me off Tamoxifen to see it was causing a problem and to let me get tested to see if I'm really post-menopausal and maybe to go on Arimidex.  Well I've been off the Tamox one month and I'm still having the headaches so I'm guessing it's not the tamoxifen.  They did a CT on my head this week to see if it's anything else and it's certainly worrying.  Since I didn't have lymph node involvement I'm not too concerned about brain mets, but I have to find a solution to get rid of these darned headaches.

Otherwise, everything else is great and I find life is really getting back to normal.  Even my lumpectomy scar smoothed out and the scar is starting to fade!!.  Cheers to everyone.

Well, yesterday was my one year anniversary from diagnosis.  Kind of a happy day for making it one year, but kind of sad because that was one terrible day.  Feeling pretty good, though, overall and hair about 2.5-3" long.  Hoping after last Herceptin it will start growing faster.  I have CT scans and a brain MRI on 2/15 to make sure chemo did it's job and I'm praying they don't find anything, so I can start to put this nightmare behind me.  Already have surgery scheduled for 3/18 to be deported (last Herceptin 3/10) and I cannot wait!!!!  Hope everyone is recovering and I wish the best of luck to everyone!

Jennifer