February 2011 chemo pals

Yay for braveheart and divine!!!

First, CONGRATS to Special K, DivineMrsM, Mamaoftwo, LisaGH and Braveheart for finishing up your chemo!!!!! I hope I didn't miss anyone.  What a journey but you've made it!

Special K, just like LisaGH, I plan to shave my head again after my last TCH next week.  Much of the hair that grew back in can be pulled right out so I know it's not healthy.  I never tried the pea thing or putting my hands and feet in anything cold.  I guess I was too lazy or didn't totally believe it would do any good.  Too late now! 

 I am looking forward to being done next week.  My hubby has been with me for all of them but unfortunately I think he is going to miss my last one because my son who is the actor is shooting all day so by hubby will need to be with him.  I will have a friend take me and it's only 5 minutes from my house.

Has anyone delayed their rads for a couple months after chemo?  I don't even know if it's possible but I am going to ask.  The first week in August is the only week we could take a family vacation, so I would love to wait until after that to start.

Have a great weekend everyone!  Hoping you all have minimal SEs!

 Alison

Yay for mamaoftwo and a future yay for alison and pejkug!  So happy for us all!

It is heartwarming that so many of us who began in February are beginning to end the chemo treatments.  Sending healing thoughts and prayers to everyone, wherever you are at in your chemo treatment. 

marie, I'm scheduled for an MRI June 14 and if all goes well, then the surgery date will be July 8 for a lumpectomy.  I also have a PET scan scheduled for June 24 and am hoping for good results with that.  I have been discussing lymph node removal with the onc and bs, I am hoping not to have any.  The onc wants to see what the results of the new PET scan are before making her recommendations. Then after surgery, the onc will make her recommendations for rads.  I will also be on the Tamoxofin pill and getting Zometa (thru IV) every 3 weeks for bone strenghtening. 

Altho I still have a ways to go, it does seems somewhat freeing to finally be at this point in the treatment phase! 

Hi Michelle,

There was a discussion begun on what to do with the pain from Taxol, it started on May 21st, page 51, CoffeeGirl posted about her pain, and for a couple pages the tips are there (so you are not alone!).  I have very bad pain in the pelvis and upper legs, but I can take Oxycodone for it, and by afternoon I don't feel it anymore.  The main advice seems to be heat pad will help, as will very warm baths, and I guessed about an herb and a new aspirin-type medicine, and others still swear by Claritin with a variety of ways of taking it to get better effect.  If you'll check out those couple pages, you might find some info. 

One good thing about this pain part is it's like the side effects with the other chemo, it goes away after the two or three bad days.  I do take just a half pain killer most of the time so I won't get too loose, so you could try that on a day when someone else is around and see what it's like.  I USUALLY only get sleepy and wobbly when I take a whole one, and indeed the Taxol makes me quite tired for those "bad days," so I agree with you being wary.  Oh, and I sleep too, right through most of my chemos becuz of the benadryl, and I also sometimes wake up too early for a couple days.

GG

Divine, I will be having surgery towards the end of July, just a couple weeks after you, and doc said he would probably just remove a few of my lymph nodes (but we'll see).  Then after about a month, they'll do my radiations, I just don't know HOW I am going to be able to go over there EVERY DAY for so many weeks of rads!?!  The hospital that does this is not all that far away, but farther than my Cancer Clinic, and since I have a bad back and am disabled from it, going ANYwhere, much less over and over, is difficult.  I did read some people get bigger doses of rads and thus only have to go in maybe three weeks instead of six, so I'll try to remember to ask my breast surgeon about it.  But if I know him, he'll have his own way of wanting to do it.  I told him even tho I was only 60, I was really 80 in dog years, when I first brought it up weeks ago.  Let us know when you find out what your radiation situation will be, I'd like to compare notes, altho August is a long ways away! GG

Fuzzy, I hope you are still reading our posts, I'm sure the others share my concerns about yourself.  I sent you a little message last week, cheering you on, whatever your circumstance.  I'm just glad you got a hubby to help you out.  If I lived in the Yukon like you do (smile), I'd come see you if you were stuck in a hospital room, but then again, that's a comforting place to be when stuff gets off-kilter.  And I hope your job situation is still in the okay zone.  Love you, girl. GG

Everyone Else, yesterday the pain was more than usual, and I felt some of that early-on Taxol sadness, just wandering the wilderness I am in is almost a no-win situation, on account of none of us knows the outcome.  And yet if I just concentrate on how fortunate I am to have a pleasant home, nice yard, two great dogs, husband that is comforting, I can kinda pull myself out of my blues.  I also get pretty happy about how cancer changed my negative side that I got from effects of disability and I will soon have at least some time to REALLY live.  But who knew breast cancer was such an all-consuming and profoundly fearsome disease?  How can anyone know until they've gone through ANY unfortunate life experience?  Ah, well, I am indeed a philosopher, and I hope one day to add an eleventh short story to the ten I got to do a book of them, and it will somehow put together this experience so folks WILL gain awareness in a tangible way what this sort of thing is all about.  Bye for now, GG 

I hope everyone is doing well.  I am struggling at work today - I felt good Friday and ate at a buffet (bad idea) and must have picked up something because I had a fever on Saturday that got to 100.1 before I called the doctor - plus I had pain all over. I was really frightened.  They called in a super strong antibiotic which did the trick.

One more on Monday - lots of work this week that I took when I felt better and now regret. Oh well, enough whining - we all get through this somehow.

Michelle - I forget - are you doing weekly taxol or DD?  I am weekly and have had very little pain.  I'm an emotional mess, but physically not so bad.  I'm so sorry you are in so much pain.  This whole damn disease sucks!

Michelle, I have awful pain from he Taxol too, it was much worse for me than the AC was. Luckily (I guess) my liver counts were bad and he had to lower my dosage some which made it much more manageable, but I am so so so glad to be done...

Now I just have to lose the 13 lbs I gained from the mixture of steroids and comfort food,deal with the hot flashes, and wait for the eyebrowes, eyelashes and hair on head to grow back... 

and congrats to evryone else that's done too! I agree so much with the statements about what a Godsend this site and particularly this thread have been. It started in the middle of the night when I first found out and needed someone to talk to, I am so glad I stumbled across this place!!!

Next hurdle is surgery June 29, dbl. mastectomy and lymph node removal from under arm...then onto rads!

Sitting here with a wicked backache from that damn Taxol too!  So far Advil has been enough!  I will join you with drug induced sleep tonight too Michelle!

I had Taxotere and I have had more headaches in the past few weeks than I ever had in my entire life. Ugh! I'm 3 weeks post my las treatment so I'm hoping it eventually gets better. I'd also like to lose about 15 pounds...but it's a little difficult now that things taste good again. Anyone have any success with this? I love to exercise but I really think my downfall is the FOOD.

DivenMRs- I'll send up a prayer for clean scans! 

I hope everyone has a good day!

Mrs Divine. What did you decide about lymph node removal? This has come up as a discussion for me today also. The Onc feels it is unnecessary because chemo has worked very well and radiation should be enough. It's undetermined whether there was any involvement or not. The BS feels strongly we shouldn't take any chances. I don't see any point in adding Lymphedema to my list of problems but, I want to do what is the most sensible. My friend here that had BC last year is currently suffering from radiation pneumonia on top of everything else 9 months later. I'm really trying to see my future as BC SE free, but I don't want to be stupid. I know your situation is a little different, I'm just wondering which way you decided to go with it.

I really like and trust my Onc so I guess her opinion is pretty important to me. She feels the chemo has knocked any cancer in the nodes out and radiation as a safety measure would be enough. She already thinks I'm probably being over chemo'ed but that's the protocol that's proven to work best so we aren't changing that. Last week I saw a woman in the waiting room with a nasty case of LE (her arm was the size of my thigh) and I got a little freaked out by that. I hadn't realized that could happen. The next day my friend who had BC last year got radiation pneumonia and I think I'm letting the fear of long term effects get the better of me. I'll do a little more research, I still have 8 weeks until surgery. The surgeon however is just guessing on what nodes to take now also since chemo has worked so well. There really isn't any guarantee she will get them all either, she's counting on radiation to clean up anything she missed also.

I had no choice in the Axillariy Node Dissection and I can't tell any of you what choice to make. I can imagine it being a TOUGH choice. But from someone who has lymphedema, here's my perspective. I HATE it. I'm up late all the time wrapping and rewrapping my arm. I'm up super early just to try and be at work on time from trying to take care of it.

I know it's manageable and I've only had it 9 weeks. I haven't met with a good therpaist yet so I'm hoping my appt next week with a new one will get it under better control. I just know what a big pain it is. 

 However, I would rather have lymphedema than cancer....

I would never recommend someone not have surgery if they need it. I hope you both get a clear answer on what you should do. I'll pray for your decisions. That they will be easy and that you will have peace with the one that you make! 

SpecialK- I've been trying to lose weight for a couple of weeks now. No success. I think I'm still getting over my last chemo though. Plus, I can't stop eating. I wish I had more will power. Sometimes I do...but I don't seem to have any right now. But I do need people to hold me accountable. So I'll do the same for you!

My plan right now is to try and incorporate more protien and less carbs. I have to/should be doing this anways with RADs coming up. And also to include more exercise. I've started walking this week. Whew my legs are tired and fatigued from little to no activity the past few months. It seems as though it's going to be a little more difficult to get back into shape than I thought. But that's ok. I'm grateful for the opportunity.

I hope everyone has a great day! From what I hear it's National BFF day. So call up your BFF and catch up.

Dogeyed. The cancer starts in the breast, usually spreads first through the lymph system and lands somewhere else. If you have surgery first they can do a biopsy on this area to determine how far through your lymph system it has spread and remove the nodes that have cancer cells. I recommend this when you know you have cancer somewhere, I'm all for getting rid of it. Just in case one or two cells made it passed this area chemo is given to treat the rest of your body. Radiation on the surgery area to get rid of any remaining cells from surgery. There is no way of knowing how well chemo worked when you have surgery first.

In my case I had neoadjuvant chemo. The good news is we can tell how well its working and I was clinically clear after 3 of my 8 treatments. This is great news for me. The problem now is there is no way of knowing if any nodes, some nodes or all of the nodes were affected. Chemo has shrunk everything right up and its gone. just like as if I had surgery. I still want the part that we know for sure had cancer diced and sliced. But because we know for sure that chemo worked and the cancer is gone radiation should be just as effective in the node area as for someone who had them removed. There is no guarentee that taking some now would do any more good and it's a bunch of potential side effects that likely isn't necessary. Unfortunatly my Onc and BS currently disagree on this matter and now its up to me to decide.