February 2011 chemo pals

charlottesmamma...also I am on FEC treatment so decadron could be dosed differently for different chemos...no idea really...

Michelle  Hope by now they have fixed your port and you are having your treatment with no problems... 

I went and had my blood counts done today.  As expected very low WBC.   She is putting me on an antibiotic as a precautionary becaue I have zero defense right now. 

 She told me to rest, rest and rest some more....  So that is what I will do.

Cindy

I am trying to read all the back posts.  I have decided that I must be oldest one posting on this thread at 64.  My oncologist told me about Claritin and he also gave me prescriptions of the nausa.  I had chemo on Thursday my shot on Friday and then during the night after the shot the bottome fell out. Stayed in the bed until Monday.  Cold and flu like synthoms.  I did have a cold so don't know if my feeling bad was from the chemo or a cold.  No cold now and I have chemo Thursday, Feb. 10.  I guess I will find out if the chemo is the problem.  I have one more of the these in two weeks and then start chemo once a week for 12 weeks.

 Reading all the posts have helped me so much. It is so good to know others are going through what I am going through.

Just wondering if I am the the grandmother here.

Hey ladies glad to hear things are going relatively well.



Welcome to all our new buddies, sorry you qualify but stay around for the journey so we can get each other through it.



I am also doing the decratron 4mg. 3 tabs just before infusion 3 Friday 3 Saturday and then my doc doe likemto ease out so 2 Sunday and 1 Monday. He thinks it helps lessen the after fatigue...I was ok Monday and tuesday, most tired Sunday day 4 for me.



Ney Ney I also had the headache for the first 2 days, next time tylenol right away...I thought
maybe food would help. I have become quite fond of a furry blanket to curl up in, after dealing with hot flashes earlier this year still stance to want a blanket when in a chair.



I also am finding even now smaller lighter more frequent meals are helping.



Worked almost all day today. Tired now...afternoons are good for me takes me a while in the morning. I actually had to go back to rest this morning after driving my son to school...



Mimidi, I am in the same category as special k. 52, could be a grandma but kids in 30's so at 15 and 19 I think there is some time yet.



Cindy hope you feel better.



Michelle hope you have a good night.

Hi girls!  Sounds like we are all doing pretty good, considering.   I finally am getting back on track.  I just know what to look for the next time.  I do know that Im having headaches from hell.  Worse the last couple of days.  I wanted to see about the Claritin pills and how they were gonna work, so I didnt take them.  I havent had a single pain yet.  As far as the bones that is.

Michelle, I hope you have a good night tonite.

Take care all and good luck.

Melanie   I know what you are saying.  I thought I felt pretty good yesterday morning but went downhill yesterday afternoon.  My doctor said that it is perfectly normal for the white blood counts to be very low.  It was my defense ones that were at 0 and that concerned her.  That's why she put me on an antibiotic for precaution...  Have to take the antibitotic twice a day for 7 days.  Then it will be time for #2 A/C.... 

 Cindy

Good moring everyone  I have not joined a local support group yet and finding this forum has opened a new world for me.  I have my third chemo treatment tomorrow.  One more of the every two week ones then on to the one every week for 12 weeks.  Other than losing my hair and feeling tired from time to time I have done well.  Not wanting to eat too much but it won't hurt me to drop a few pounds.  Looking forward to a good day tomorrow. 

 I had immediate reconstrucion because it was recommened by all my doctors.  I thought I had made a big mistake the the first several weeks but now could not be more pleased,  I have to have a little touch up work but plan to have that when my port is removed. 

Looking so forward to spring.  We have had the worst winter ever. 

Hi, Crog234,

 I am starting the same TX this Monday, Valentine's Day , followed by Neulasta the next day.  SOOO great to have a crew to go thru this with.  I've entered my Hx on another thread, so let me be really quick about it here:

Dx Oct. 1, Lt Mast at Sloan-Kettering in NYC (I'm in Bergen County, NJ) on Nov. 4, had TE placed during surgery.  SNB + for BC but its was the only one, and the BC itself was a tad over 2 cm, so I was told I am Stage 1, a little into Stage 2.

Had bone and tissue scans.  Bone is fine, but had funny transparent smear on Lt lung lower lobe.  No one at S-K could figure it out.  AC-T TX scheduled for Dec. 6th, and lung biopsy done Dec. 3rd.  Dec. 4th have my hair chopped off into a sort of mohawk for ladies.

I show up in Basking Ridge, S-K's beautiful sattelite office, and I geet all hooked up with IVs for TX.  Just as I am led into the infusion room, ONC flies in w/ resluts of biopsy--"Stop the chemo---she has lung cancer!"

ONC tells me it is  probably Mets and I maybe have 5 yrs left.  I freak out, and develop 101 deg. fever with chills. I figure out I am just falling apart until I notice Wed. that Lt breast has swollen and is getting bright red.  I call ONC who tells me to pack a bag for 3 days and get to S-K's  ER--I have cellulitis in the TE.  Get on heavy IV antibiotics for 4 days, gets worse.  By then I have to have emergency surgery to take out TE where the infection started, Dr. removes a qt. of pus, and I spend 4 more days at S-K recouperating.

While there, the lung cancer Dr. introduces  himself, and he tells me that I am one of the 20% of women who are NEVER-SMOKERS who get lung cancer a year.  It is asymptomatic, and he will take it out and I will be done with it.  HAD I NOT HAD THE TISSUE SCAN AS A RESULT OF HAVING BC, NO ONE WOULD EVER HAVE FOUND THE LUNG CANCER SINCE IT WON'T SHOW UP ON X-RAYS!

Jan. 10, 2011 I have the lung surgery, full thoracotomy, the most painful of all cancer surgeries, BUT he got it all out, Stage 1a, no further treatment, and 90+% total cure outlook.

So when my ONC told me to prepare myself for chemo, I lost it and began crying which I NEVER DO.  I just feel that 3 major surgeries in 2 months is all I could handle with grace and grit, and now 4 mos. of chemo is asking too much of me, mind and body.  But the 17% chance of recurrence as opposed to 26% with Femara and 40% with nothing convinces me that I gotta gear up for more unpleasantness.

SO GLAD TOI HAVE A GROUP TO GO THRU THIS WITH!

Deep bow,

Lynne

Lynne,

Welcome to the group and so sorry to hear everything you have gone through.  No wonder you were reduced to tears at the thought of chemotherapy after all those surgeries.  I can just imagine hearing that last minute "stop the IV" call!  That would have been enough to push me over the edge.  But it sounds like you're in good hands, and caught the lung issue early, so there is a silver lining.  Keep us posted on how you do with the chemotherapy.  Hopefully some day - sooner rather than later! - we will all have this behind us. 

 I'm at MSKCC too, at the Sleepy Hollow branch.

Laura

ah Lynne, so sorry to hear about everything you are going through.  Please tell me how you get through it?  I sit hear and just cry and I don't want to give cancer that power. I want to be stronger than that. I'm 47 and had a bmx with permanent implants on January 27.  I need spiritual encouragement.

I am meeting with my onc for the first time this friday.  I was told it's a two hour meeting, 1 hour is for consultation, and I was much too afraid to ask what the second hour was for.  I keep reading about these chemo cycles and I swear I don't understand them.

Michelle thank you for posting and I've even gone onto your blog and you did bring a smile to my face.

thank you ladies

Mignon

Melanie - the Matt Damon one is Body of Lies.  If you haven't seen it yet The Proposal was really funny.

Jean, who was your BS at Sloan?  Mine was Dr. Sacchini, a soft-spoken sweetie.  My DH and I fell in love with him.

Kathie, thanx for the Netflix rec for DH who will drive me the hour+ to Basking Ridge Mon. and then stay with me that first time.  How long does the AC TX last?  And YES, they took the TE out since the infection started ON it!

I have to laugh at our same Dx date and those pink ribbons everywhere!  At first I thought it was something they did everyday at S-K...DUH!  BTW-- a book that made me see RED is Pink Ribbon Blues, about how many market BC as the province of she-ros, sexy, stylish "girls" who are ultra-sexual and just can't wait to run 3K and who never shed a tear or have SEs.  Sorry, that ain't me.  I LOVE this forum, ladies, for its reality, the humor, terror, tears, aches, pains, uncertainty, and the everyday face of us women.  No wonder Melanie_Ann's ONC thinks she is fabulous.  Every one of us is!

Mignon, how did I get through all of this?  (And BTW, the lung cancer was NOT a Mets, but a totally separate primary stupid LC that no one can explain to us Never-smokers except maybe that I live in northern NJ??)  I have a wonderful spiritual practice that I have begun presenting in NYC as the first-ever such seminary program in Integral spirituality.  It is based on philosopher Ken Wilber's book of that name, and I work for him.  His beloved wife Treya died of BC in 1984 at 38, and he wrote a best-seller titled Grace and Grit about their journey.  She was DX 5 days before their wedding day and lived 5 years.  His idea of Integral spirituality is to balance body/mind/spirit with the best that all of the wisdom traditions offer + the best cutting-edged science, and that is what I have been doing.  i created the program 3 years before I had ever gotten this BC DX, but as fate will have it, our first class in Oct. was the week I got my DX--figure that one out!

Now my 25 students, both in person and on webinar, hear about my experiences and how I have managed them from both spiritual and scientific perspectives.  I have a blog on the whole journey thusfar: Integral Experience With Breast Cancer on Blogspot.

I am still on oxycodine and Motrin from the surgery asnd have to ask my ONC if I can stay on the pain meds during TX.

I feel so welcomed by y'all and asm sorry/glad that we can share this together!

Lynne