February 2011 chemo pals

Hi girls.  So I didnt get online last night, it was a bumpy evening.  I had nausea so bad.  I took the fiest stuff and it did do a darn thing.  I finally called the telenurse and she hooked me up.  Thanks telenurse.  I'm normaly a tough  chic, but man I am a huge baby when it came to that.  When I took the secnd anti-nausea med, it was like night and day.  So if this happens to you dont wait 2.5 hrs like I did.  But other then that I was fine.  I didn't have any other issues, other then the nausea.  Thank goodness.  I had myself worked up pretty good.  I watched my sister do chemo 2 different times when she had BC and it was awful for her.  I almost feel guilty that I dont have to suffer the way she did.

Cindy I so glad things came out ok, lol.  Omg I remember the first time after surgery, I thought I was gonna die. I hear ya on doing what your body tells you to do.  Yea I think you can put on your warrior side on but there is also a time when ya just gotta pamper yourself also.  I hope the Neaulasta shot works for you.

I talked with the doctor about the Claritin taking with the Neulasta shot and she never heard of doing that.  She does'nt think it will hurt anything and she said its ok to try it. 

Love the new do Michelle.  It looks good.  When its said and done, and if ya like it keep it.    Look out hot momma in the city!

Jean I hope your doing good today.  Its good to see ya got some good rest on the steriods.    How are you after your Neulasta shot?

Im sorry I forget whats its like to have young ones thru this.  Mine are late teens and early twentys.  Sorry about the bad advice.  I remember when my sissy went thru this my nephew was very young and he stayed with me alot.  But we did let him know that mommy was sick and that was gonna get better.  He was a young guy, but he did do good.  I do know with the older ones, maybe look into some type of counseling.  Logan had a rough time the 2nd time around.  But its because he was old and would hear more. 

Im gonna wear a mixture of scraves, wraps and hats.  I just cant bring myself to wear a wig.  

 Hi summer!  I didnt hear about the timeline issue.  I hope thats not the case.  Cause Im almost 3 months post biopsy and 6wks post BMX.  I do know if you are sick they will postpone until your better.  Also if your white blood cells arent at a good level they will postpone that also. 

Well ladies you take care and I will see ya all later!

joystars... I am on my 8th day post FEC ( January 28th was day 1) Day 4 and 5 I felt quite ill but not doing too bad now. Sorry round 3 is going harder for you..:(

Regarding neulasta fears mentioned earlier..I was waiting for the bone pain and other symptoms after my shot last Saturday but noticed nothing at all. Maybe it contributed to my feeling ill day 4 and 5 but how to tell? No bone pain at all here. Again everyone seems to react so differently. I was on decadron the first 3 days, maybe that helped?

Paula, missed your post on top of page, sorry you had a bad night...that is good advice, don't let the nausea build up take break through meds as soon as needed. Glad you are doing better.



I am not having problems with Neulasta as of yet. MO said the bone pain is a SE for 10-15% of patients and is usually helped by anvil, motrin but no harm with Claritan. Nurses had heard of the Claritan but not sure how well it worked could be the people it worked for never would have had the side effect in the first place.. I did take it, nurse said if would also help with the stuffiness one of the chemo meds gives you. Which it did.



Later my fellow warriors, but let's rememeber to pamper our selves too, I am not a napper but becoming quite fond of them and fuzzy socks and cozy blankets.....



Jean

Dear SKhartley,

 I saw my doctor today, and I asked him how long can we wait till I fully healed from my BMX/with implants before we start the chemo treatmeant and he said since I had a mastuctomy, I have 12 weeks from operation date... So I got that from a professional... double check it with your doctor...but I asked him twice to make sure I got it right... So I hope this helps with your situation...

One of my wounds is still healing (3 weeks post operation) so I am not sure when I will be starting my chemo..but I have to say... I can;t wait to start because I just want to get it over with!

Have a nice day ladies, and Good night from Jordan

Love

Salma

Hi Feb friends - Just want to answer Salma's post with my own 2 cents, that the amount of recovery time is probably different for everyone, depending on your healing and complications, etc.  For instance Jean started around 8 weeks after surgery at Sloan Kettering; my onc is at Sloan Kettering too and told me 5 weeks is fine even for dense dose.   Anyway everyone, stay healthy.

Laura 

Hi Laura!  I have Ondansetron.  Thats what worked on the nausea like a charm, I'm sorry but the other I dont know what thats for.  Good luck.  When do you start your chemo? 

Michelle, hang in there.  You are in my thoughts.  You can do it.  I dont know if ya drink or not.  If ya do, just sit back with a glass of wine and put your feet up.

Laura I have the Dexamethasone the steroid that is supposed to be an anti Nausea med on its own and seems to bump up the effect of the Emend.  The Chemo nurses said the the meds in the bag for breakthrough naseau did not help call - they had more in the arsenal. 

I read somewhere there is a correlation between morning sickness, car sickness and Chemo Nausea, so if you suffer with any you shoudl let the MO and nurses know so they medicate accordingly.

Crog234 I am with you since I don't feel pain with Nuelasta keeping up with the claritan, I would have probably needed sudafed anyway but as they say if is ain't broke don't fix it.

Michelle, hang in there, relax and enjoy your glass of wine, I am glad you have your Mom to give you a break. Impressed you are making butter, have not done sinces kids were little.

 I actually went out for a ride today, a bit of walking inside- the weather if cold wet and foggy but better that the ice storm predicted.  Day 3 not as bad as expected...

Hang in there ladies,

 Jean

Hey there! My name is Mary - 37 yrs old and recently diagnosed with Stage IIa breast cancer.  The devastation has been overwhelming and now that I have completed 3 grueling surgeries, I just began chemo this past Thurs. First of 4 treatments of TC every 3 weeks.  I have to say that my fear and anxiety got the best of me! I am the BIGGEST baby in the world!! NO needles, blood, etc!!! Well, ladies, after crying my eyes out in the car, elevator and hallway, it really wasn't too bad! I had them pump me with Ativan to help me sleep through most of it and currently just feel blahhhh.  Just a little nausea and crampy - really tired.  I am desperately trying to change my attitude as I know this is key! I have been feeling so depressed that it is not healthy to be this hopeless. This site has helped tremendously! Thank you!!

I did want to chime in about the wig thing! I guess I am more into my looks than I ever imagined! I paid WAY to much for a beautiful real hair wig that looks exactly like my hair but 100X more beautiful.  I came to realize that you cannot even put a price tag on feeling comfortable leaving your home and feeling like 'yourself'.  I am going to submit to my insurance as I am told they will hopefully cover most of it! I also just ordered the most beautiful scarves at this site :        http://www.4women.com/fabrics/silk/1#  

A cool site for baseball caps with hair is:

http://www.hatsforyou.net/servlet/the-Baseball-Cap-with-Hair/Categories

I even went yesterday to buy ANOTHER fake hair wig this time that is shorter to wear around the house and to the beach.  I am still absolutely dreading THE day that it will begin to come off and don't know how I will deal but at least I am as prepared as possible!

Well, I doubt anyone is still reading my overly-lengthy note. Just wanted to join and say hey now that the tears have subsided a bit!   Keep smiling ladies - that is all we can do - one day at a time!  Peace to all and please feel free to ask any questions regarding TC effects or wigs! Oh - also didn't mention that I did the partial mastectomy and so pleased!!  After 4x chemo, onto radiation for 6 1/2 wks then tamoxifin for 5 years Thanks for letting me join you all!

Mary

Hi guys,

Forgot to mention before that when I told my 19yo the surgery results were good, that's when he emailed from college to say how happy he was to hear that and how worried he was about me after hearing about Elizabeth Edwards...I wish he had told me earlier or I had thought to tell the kids I was in a much better position than she was. She had not had a mammogram for a while and her tumor Was 9 cm when it was found...I guess I just wanted to remind us all that our kids, especially the older ones are very news savvy and get information from many places.



welcome Kymm, hang with us as you wait it's good to be able to share and we are all going through the journey together. Sorry you have to go back I'm for more surgery, take each step one at
a time and then we go on to the next one.



I just started chemo this week, when my hairdresser found out I had cancer she suggested I go a bit shorter and added bangs. Kind of a pre wig haircut, which I actually love. Hair loss will depend on the chemo you get, some have a higher percentage of people losing hair, my regimen seems to be a pretty sure bet for losing it, timing according to the MO is just after my second treatment, so about 2 weeks in for me. I have a prescription for a "cranial prothesis" you need this if you get any reimbursement from insurance and ordered a wig. Judging by the January girls many
start going shorter as the hair starts to go out, less messy and you feel more in control of the situation. I am debating whether to follow michelle's example to go shorter go back a few pages to see her great cut or wait till wig is in hand, I think the final decision will be based on how I decide to get the wig cut my current length or the shorter doo. Wig shop said you can go either way, they can cut shorter in the end as you are getting ready to unveil new hair to make transition easier....of course this is

assuming the wig does not make me crazy! I have scarves and head wraps at the ready as
well.

Mary I admit I did the same thing about the wig,went in and purchased the real hair one cause it felt better and I thought I would use it more, have not yet picked it up so I hope I like as much as you doing, we are on the same schedule I started Thursday as well....different drugs but doing ok...welcome to the group.

A good evening to all,

Jean

Jean - good to know we are on the same schedule! I do LOVE my real wig but as I tried it on more and more, I realized that it is A LOT! I live in south Florida and couldn't see gardening or going to the beach with all that hair! My fake one with a short doo is so cute and I love it just as much! I think the really expensive long one was a knee jerk reaction to the thought of losing my hair! Whatever makes you comfortable will be the key I guess.  I am told that I have about 2 weeks till it all begins to fall out.  Dreading it so I'll see if I can figure out how to post a pix with my real wig! Take care all and keep in touch!

Michelle - kudos to you - you look fabulous!!

Mary

Mary, just wanted to say Hi, from a South FL neighbor. Where did you go wig shopping? Planning to do that this week. I was thinking the same thing about wearing long hair in the heat, plus I teach swimming so that will be a major inconvenience :-) Glad to hear some of you are already through with your first round. YAY

 ?? Anyone on Neupogen instead of Neulasta, I don't think my insurance is going to cover Neulasta (BCBS-FL).

Gayle

Hi girls hows it going today.  Not bad here.  I am so muh better today.  No Nausea like yesterday.  I'm abit wore out though.  I sure its just from all the junk leftoer from friday. 

Welcome Kymn and Mary.  I'm sorry we had to meet this way, but we have a great group of gals here to help ya get thru it.   Mary I know what ya mean about the crying.  This is a journey that is one that full of emotions.