Chemo May 2011

Good luck tomorrow Laureen! And anyone else in the chair this week. You will all be in my thoughts and prayers!

I'm joining the hot flash club. They aren't too bad, but bad enough to wake me up at night and keep me awake. Ugh the gift that keeps giving!



Good luck tomorrow laureen!

Did anyone have horrible sinus headaches on Taxol? I am experiencing them on days 3-4 after treatment. They last ALL day! Ibuprofen doesn't seem to budge them.



Twisted steel: totally get it. This site is a wealth of info. And, it's so easy. Imagine back in the days of no Internet? Talk about isolating!

Patriotic:  I didn't have headaches with Taxol, but have them with AC.  My doc said that they are probably for the nulestra shot.  Nothing OTC worked for me, so he said to take viciodin.  I hate the idea of taking a narcotic for "just" a headache...but with nothing else working, I gave in.  The onco-physiatrist talked to me about pain management last week and said that it is really important to keep it under control because pain is toxic to the body.  My doctors have been trying to drill into my head that all of my previous thoughts about medications and what is "good", etc., are not necessarily applicable right now because I'm doing chemo.  So...I'm trying to listen to my body and respond appropriately.  

Having cancer is a full-time job! 

I know what you mean, Cyborg.  In a strange way, I am not looking forward to treatments ending because I feel safe while I am on them.  I guess I will have to get used to never really feeling safe again.  Thank goodness for all the friends we have here who truly understand our fears.

Cyborg. I do that in between treatments I start to worry that my cancer is growing and I want my next treatment pronto. but of course have to wait. I am doing neoadjuvent, so after each treatment I worry that chemo isn't working anymore, even though I had great response after the first 3,treatments.

Hi Everyone - I am home now from my #4A/C.  As usual, sinus headache and nausea present.

Cyborg - I am glad you are having a good time with your mom.  We will miss you, so visit us here every once and a while.  I would like to get tips from you about radiation tx as I will be doing mine in September, 3 weeks after chemo.

Twistedsteel - How are you doing today?

Laureen

This has to be chemopause, I am miserably hot and my temp continues to be 97.4

How long does this go on? Yikes, I guess I knew it was coming but it just creeped up on me.!

I'm sorry you have bad pain from nuelasta, claritin didn't work for me either unfortunately. I am trying it this time to, cause you never know...



Appt at 8 am for my last AC tomorrow! On to 12 taxol...

My headaches came in the second week.  My doc said that he thought that they were from the nulestra.  

Had chemo today--man was it a  LONG day.  First, for the good news.  My oncologist was VERY happy with how my tumor felt and looked today.  I had noticed that my breast was less swollen and red in general, but wasn't sure if I felt a reduction or not, but he thinks that there was definite reduction.  He said that today he was the happiest he has been since he met me  I really do love my oncologist.

I got my MRI report from that last MRI that showed that the Taxol wasn't working and holy cow, my tumor was over 8 cm (8.7 cm transverse to be exact)!  The first MRI had it around 5 cm, the second around 6 cm, and now the third at nearly nine.  That was over a 2 month period, with 3 rounds of Taxol.  Wow, all I can say is that my tumor is one aggressive biotch

Infunsion today was good until the very end when I had some sort of allergic reaction--got hives and flushed.  Gave me more steroids (I can't remember the time) and watched me for awhile and they went away.  The nurse said that they will probably do more pre-medication next time because of this.  I didn't have any problems the first go round, so who knows.  

The oncologist said that it will be time to talk to surgeons after my next treatment, so I am going to try not to think about surgery issues for the next two weeks--wish me luck

I had a good weekend in Portland, but I'm glad to be home.

Hope everyone has a good week! 

A final read of all the great notesand tips before chemo tomorrow. Feel very fine just ready for next tsp. For me a shocking process to get here;



First ever mammo nov - find small calcification say watch it / 0.7cm

Feb - follow up with mammo /ultrasound , they say biopsy it

April - biopsy say it looks fine - turns out DCIS /0.7

April - second opinion different centre - they do tests again and MRI / find new areas / biopsy on spot and find invasive cancer

May - skin saving mastectomy / first pathology says 13.9cm invasive cancer!!!!! 2nd path that week says only now 3.5cm invasive rest is DCIS



So with all these tests andat different places things get missed - does this happen often?



No lymph nodes thank god. Her neg. Estro ps.

Onctype 48



4 chemo doses and 7 wks radiation as giant tumor had small margins!



Good time!!

Beaglesgirl - I can't say how long the hot flashes go on.  I've been having them since I about the 2nd A/C treatment (going for Taxol #11 on Thursday).  For me, at least, they come and go quickly but not before my head (only my head) breaks out into a sweat.  At work, I go into the bathroom and wipe off under my wig - pretty ridiculous actually.  As soon as I leave work, the eye lashes and wig come off and I just wear a cotton bandana to absorb the sweat.  I've always had a lower body temp (97.5) so when I go up to only 99, I feel like I'm in a sauna.  STUPID, STUPID CANCER!

So glad you are done with A/C after today!  TAXOL IS SOOOOO MUCH easier - especially weekly.  The hardest part is emotionally gearing up for weekly trips and 12 weeks seems like a long time.  I'm done next week so I will be here to support you through it!  Except for mild joint pain (last week after #10 was the first time I had to take Aleve and Ibuprofin - so far this week doing better). 

 Rondajean - see above - weekly Taxol is so much easier on your body!  Some times I forget I had chemo - of course there is no forgetting the damn cancer, but sometimes I don't feel bad.  Been back to walking every day and am not bed ridden like with A/C. 

Blondelawyer - you switched from Taxol right - now A/C?  I forget sorry.

dlcw - Are you doing DD Taxol?  I heard SE are worse with DD than weekly.  Hope that's not the case for you.  Good luck on Thursday.  I'm in the Taxol chair thursday too.  I will think of you.

Catmak - I found a lump 3 weeks after my very first mamo that showed nothing.  Had another mammo and usound same day - mamo showed nothing again but you couldn't miss that sucker on the usound.  Messed up.  Welcome to the roller coaster of BS that you just can't get off! 

Trying to take this one day at a time - b/c no matter how much I feel sorry for myself, this day will end and tomorrow will be a new one!  I can't wait for the new one that doesn't involve BS treatment!

Hugs to all,

Vicky

Catmak21: my mammo missed my cancer. Nice! I had the mammo 6 months prior and they said it was negative. Of course, I did not know that dense breasts have a higher incidence of BC and the density makes it difficult for the radiologists to read. Knowing what I know now, if anyone tells you to "watch" something and come back in 6 months, RUN, don't walk to another provider, preferably a top cancer center or teaching hospital. Unfortunately, there are oodles of missed and delayed diagnosis stories here, particularly in younger women who were thought to be "too young" for BC. It's disgusting, really.

Patriotic you are right behind me!  I can't wait to be done - only 1 more after Thursday!  What the heck good are these dumb mammos if they miss our cancers - ERG!

 Sue53 - I wear my wig to work, otherwise it's off