Chemo June 2010

Latte-  Good to hear from you !  It must be hard not sleeping when you have a little one at home.  Good luck with work.

Jackie my school distric it off April5 to 13.  It is also off Feb 20 through 24.  You may want to avoid planning a get together in Florida the dates I mentioned because most of  NY state will be vactioning in Florida on those dates.  I can take a long weekend anytime with enough notice.  I work for a very nice Principal and my husband can care for my parents while I am gone. I hope to continue both jobs next year if it is humanly possible.  So, I'll be needing some fun with my pearls !

Jackie,  I like the idea of maybe March or April for Disney if others can get away then.   Those with school children may not be able to go that early but I am flexible because mine are grown.  Latte I have some trouble sleeping also so I have been taking glucosamine chondroitin and melatonin at night and it does help most nights.  You could give it a try.  It is herbal and not presciption and there is some evidence might help with bones and cancer prevention SWTH!!!!!   Love to all!  Ginny in SC

latte (and I believe Mimi asked too)-  I always find it astonishing that medical doctors seem concerned about "dependency" when we ask about supplement use, but don't hesitate for a moment to whip out the prescription pad and prescribe pharmaceutical sleepaids (which are confirmed to be bad when used long term).  I know some women build up a tolerance to Melatonin and increase doseage.  I still only take 3mg. nightly and my DH uses only 1mg.  I know some women taking 20mg because they are convinced it is BC preventive (I'm not into megadosing on anything).  If you put "melatonin and breast cancer prevention" into google, you will find tons of medical studies indicating it is promising for preventing BC.  I believe you are TN, but I think it still indicates that it slows or prevents cancer cells, not just estrogen driven ones.  Here are some links from pubmed.gov.  I say print them off and give them to your doctor.  I think the lack of sleep is riskier than a low dose supplement.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12790777 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10809385 

Hello ladies!  It's been awhile since I have been on here, and I have spent the past hour catching up on all of the posts.  It feels good to realize that we all started this journey (give or take a month or two) a year ago, and that we've all come so far!  I still have moments that I don't feel quite as good as I want to, but it truly is getting better every day!  I kind of have buried myself into work, which is 'okay' really...I took on a second job teaching a few classes at a local community college, and although this was a scary step for me, it really stimulated my brain and kicked me in gear to get on with my life!!!

I had to go for my diagnostic breast exam yesterday, and was surprised that I was so terrified!  I got the feeling from the tech that everything looked good.  I see my radiation oncologist on August 2nd.  After all was over and done with, I got really teary~kind of surprised me that my mind reacted that way.  I'm watching my diet, trying to eat healthier, exercising more, and enjoying the little things a lot more.  Life is truly good.

Love to you all!
Jan

Dmom--thanks for posting that link.  I will look into it!

Janny--so good to hear from you again!  You look and sound great!

My primary doc didn't want me taking melatonin because it doesn't always mix well with other meds.  She was concerned about the Herceptin.  I had asked her about it because the bottle says not to use with endocrine or autoimmune problems, and I have an underactive thyroid, which is both. I told her I was looking for something that I didn't have to worry about getting addicted too, and she gave me Trazadol.  It's an anti-depressant, but is also used for sleeping.  She said I can use it as often as I want.  She started me on a small dose and explained how I can increase it if needed.  I only used it once, and I was a little groggy the next day, but the doc said that would go away as I continued using it.

Had another Herceptin infusion today, and it has made me more tired than usual. And my tummy is kind of yucky too.  I'm so glad I only have 2 left!  Aug. 15th is my last one.  Tomorrow is going to be very hot, and my youngest has the day off, so we are going to stay in out of the heat and watch movies!  Just what the dr. ordered! 

Okay - I haven't fallen off the face of the earth YET!  I am really sorry if I've worried you. My last day at school was June 8 and I was so fatigued.  I just slept for like three or four days.  I had planned out all these projects I was going to get done in the 8 weeks I have off and determined to have a better summer than last year. Three weeks ago my daughter, who LOVES softball, went to play a game.  She plays on an Air Force co-ed competitive team.  She was on second base and was trying to break up a double play and decided to slide into third. Bad idea.  She broke both bones in her lower leg in four places and shattered her ankle. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital where she had surgery to put everything back together again with rods, plates and pins! She cannot bear weight on it for six weeks.  Therefore, she needs a lot of help.  I have been keeping the two granddaughters (ages 6 and 9) at my house, doing their laundry and trying to make supper for them each evening.  I love those two girls to death, but they can sure wear me out. Therefore, I haven't really had any time to get on the computer. I sent the girls home this weekend for a long holiday weekend break. They were not happy but I told them they needed to bond with their parents! Ha!

sherry-  Oh my!  Your poor daughter!  She is lucky to have you to help her with the kids, meals etc...  Hopefully she can enlist some of her friends to help too.  I'm worried that you might get worn out. Remember, you really are still recuperating.  If those blues take hold more, be sure to talk to your doctors.  I know depression can be a SE of Tamoxifen (not that you need a pharmaceutical reason to be depressed sheeesh!).  There are some mild antidepressants that could help you transition.  I would definitely ask about Melatonin.  It's really hard to feel "right" if you are sleep deprived.  Thanks for checking in with us.  We miss you!  Now where IS that cheyenne??

Hi all!  Just saw this on The Today Show on NBC and thought I'd share with all those suffering the hotflashes of chemopause...

Here is the link to something called Hot Girl Pearls.  They go in the freezer or fridge and you wear them when your surging...

http://www.hotgirlspearls.com/

Hope you can find them.  I had trouble with the link at first but they showed up on Facebook and I backtracked.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Hugs to my 'Pearls of June 2010'!  Bon

Sherry-  So good to hear from you !  I am sorry about the blues and fatigue.  Like you and Latte I am having extra sleep troubles right now.  I got some Melatonin today and asked the GP if I could increase my antidepressant.  I take a generic form of effexor.  Not only is it good for depression it is good for hot flashes and night sweats. A couple of weeks after I first started taking it my flashes and sweats improved dramatically.  I am thinking that maybe my flashes are increasing because I am going into "real" menopause instead of just chemopause.  Maybe you and Latte are starting "real" menopause too ?

As Tmarinna said your daughter is lucky to have you.  I hope she is not in too much pain and I hope you get planty of rest this weekend.

I am reading a book called "Your Brain After Chemo"  It had a very interesting section on how the brain uses estrogen to function on certain tasks (verbal skills, memory) and indicates that as our bodies adjust to lack of estrogen it creates memory problems.  The book says eventually our brains will learn to compensate.

Oh Sherry that is great.  You and grneyday should hook up. 

Gin-  I know what you mean about No Brainer.  Ugh I hope my mind sharpens up soon !

Hello, I noticed your post and had a question about the Avastin clinical study. I have been offered this and am trying to decide whehter or not to do it.. There has been so much in the news lately about Avastin that I am quite scared to partake in the study..  If I do not do it I will do dose dense AC x 4 then 12 weeks of T...  Otherwise I would be placed into one of three other groups with the Avastin (only one of the groups actually has you taking the Avastin).. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you very much!  Rebecca

Sherry,   So glad daughter is doing well.   Hope she gets out of the cast soon.  Also I am glad to hear you had such a nice ride and enjoyed your day so much.   It feels good to feel alive again!!!!!!

luvmy2kids,  I just saw where they had taken avastin off the list of treatment for BC just last week.  You might want to check into that.  I know if you are in the trial you can get it but I wonder if they still are planning to do the trial???

Hello to all my wonderful friends in this group. I just had a great weekend. I am starting to feel like I am finding myself again. Let me sum up this July 4th weekend....