August 2011 chemo, anyone w/ me?!

I like the cruise idea!!!  I'm in!!!  

I am so in on a celebration cruise! Go Team August 2011!! We are gonna kick butt!!! :-)

Robyn - glad you're doing ok! Yeah, the actual infusion didn't seem like a biggie to me. It's when I got sick that sucked! I think you'll be happy with the Port. I asked for one and I am glad I did. I didn't want to deal with all the needle sticks in my arm. I've had my port for three weeks and I don't even notice it now and it doesn't bother me sleeping or anything.

Capinva - That's so great that you had no nausea!! 

Michaela - Keep kicking ass, girl! I love it!

Justina - How did work go today? I agree about the zombie feeling; the steroids didn't really pep me up either.

vtEllen - Just reading your comments about the things your doc said. I agree, I need honesty but not brutal honesty. And that's so cool that you had a store! Do you think you wil reopen at some point?

eekwine - Glad it went so well for you and hope you are still feeling good! I'm no longer scared to go and get the chemo, just scared of being sick after :-(

Amelie - who knows if what I read is true about the Neulasta. It was on a different board somewhere. :-) I still havent had any specific pain from it and I had it a week ago. I also take Claritin for allergies every day anyway, so maybe that had something to do with it?? This is also my last weekend with hair, sister! Think I'll curl it with hot rollers this weekend...

Summergirl - Don't stress too much about your first treatment. Easier said than done, obviously. But it should all go really smoothly for you. You can totally do this!

Hugs to you all, have a fabulous weekend, friends! 

Madismommy i laughed when you said you were'nt giving your hair up sooner than you had to.I am day 18 1st infusion I finally give in today and had my hair cut real short boys haircut.I did cry in the chair however it was falling out like crazy and my scalp is still very sore I am sure when I go for chemo # 2 on Monday it will all come out but @ least now I am getting used to it being short.I did go shopping this evening and wore a baseball cap on my head feels so weird I've never had short hair in  my life.Funny how my underarm hair and hair on my legs are not falling out there the ones I need to fall out.I hope everyone has a S/E free day tommorow and a cruise sounds good to me too love it.

Hey - there's a weekend cruise out of Portland ME to Nova Scotia that I went on years ago. It wasn't horribly expensive, and they gave our Activity Committee a group rate for it. I'll have to check it out and find the name of the company again. It was pretty fun, and there are so many of us in the northeast. I'm hoping that's just a weird phenomena and we aren't suffering from some kind of environmental fluke???? But wherever...maybe someplace warm and tropical would be nicer than Nova Scotia! 

VtEllen - When I first talked to my GP about my diagnosis, I tried to laugh it off by saying I'd get nice perky new breasts out of this, and he cut me off quick and said "this is no laughing matter. You could die from this." Duh! That's what I was afraid of, and why I was trying to make it a little lighter! Ah well, I really do love him, he's just so male...sometimes even good guys don't say the right thing, despite good intentions. My husband had his own biopsy this morning, he's had melanoma, (and colon cancer), and in his own anxiety my first chemo treatment actually slipped his mind. I couldn't decided whether to be hurt or sympathetic. 

Kasi - thanks for easing my mind about the port. Not crazy about it, but they really have been struggling with my veins, three tries for the surgery, twice today...I'm pretty tough, and the sticks don't bother me too bad, but they don't like to mess around that much. 

Sandi - I got a pixie cut yesterday, they took about 10" off. It's the shortest my hair has been since I was 7! And I love it! I'm sad that this will fall out too, but at least I know I can live with the short style when it starts to grow back! I'm adjusting in stages....

Hi all, I'm on day 3 after my first AC tx, but had a quick question that hoping some of you ladies could help clarify for me.   

If the AC drugs are supposedly flushed out of our system within 2-3 (i believe?), then what is physically going on within our bodies, our cells over the next few days? 

I'm doing the dose dense treatment, so I'll have my next tx in 11 days.  Just curious if this extra time is solely given for our healthy cells to regenerate (and are cancer cells also regenerating?) 

or are the cells within our bodies continually dying throughout the 14 days, even though the chemicals have left our system?  

Sorry if this is a stupid question, just not really sure what's going inside our bodies day to day, and havent been able to find much more info online. Thanks! 

I was nervous about giving myself the shot so had a friend who is a nurse come to my house to administer. She showed me how to do it and it was easy. Just grabbed some of my belly - plenty to grab there, unfortunately - swabbed itban alcohol wipe and stuck it in. Really, it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I took some Tylenol before. Hope this helps.

roxessence -  so far not many side effects, aside from what i'm guessing is heartburn (never experienced heartburn before), but after having chicken for lunch one day, i guess this is it. I've been taking pepcid though, and drinking lots of liquids.  

As far as the neulasta shot, it wasnt so bad. Just iced my thigh before taking the shot and it was over quickly, no pain.  Havent felt any bone pain from that yet either.

Just really curious about the whole cell death specifics. I havent been able to find any information on this! any biology majors out there? 

The nurse injected my Neulasta shot really slowly in my arm and I was surprsied that it really didn't hurt, I have skinny arms and I was worreid about it going in there.  I hope my daughter is going to be able to give it me after this, I'll see how good she is!

I had a headache that night and next morning after the C infusion too.  I do tend to headaches and figured it was just that, I have good meds for those and it helped.

None of my oncology nurses have ever heard of taking Claritin for the Neulasta SE's!  Are you all on the East Coast or a different country maybe!!   I can't decide whether to try it or not, so far so good, but I only got it yesterday afternoon.  I'm more concerned with nausea right now, but then realised I'd not eatent yet today so that has helped some, I'm not a good breakfast person, well not a good food person really.

Cupcakies - From what I understand, and I am by no means a doctor or good at biology, different types of chemos do different things. Some chemos physically go right to the cancer cells and kill them. Other chemo drugs mess with the DNA directly so that mutated (cancer cells) cannot grow and reproduce and make them kill themselves. Different chemos attack cells in different phases of their life cycles (all cells are programmed to be born, reproduce, and die. Cancer cells are mutated and do not follow this programmed death, which is why tumors form and the cancer spreads. They don't f*cking die and they reproduce too fast for the immune system to kill them). Time between each treatment allows the healthy cells to regenerate (with the help of the Neulasta or Neupogen shot for the bone marrow) and if the chemo is doing its job, the cancer cells will not regenerate. My guess is that in the first few days of each chemo is when all the "damage" is done to the good and bad cells and then comes the aftermath of that damage days later (i.e., hair falling out, low white blood cell count). Here's what the different types of chemos do (taken from various sources):

Alkylating agents directly damage DNA to prevent the cancer cell from reproducing. So this is the Cytoxan portion for those of us getting it.

Anthracyclines are anti-tumor antibiotics that interfere with enzymes involved in DNA replication. These agents work in all phases of the cell cycle. Thus, they are widely used for a variety of cancers. This group includes the Adriamycin (red devil) for those of us getting it . Carboplatin is also grouped here due to how it functions, although it is a metal salt.

Mitotic inhibitors are often plant alkaloids and other compounds derived from natural products. They can stop mitosis or inhibit enzymes from making proteins needed for cell reproduction. These drugs work during the M phase of the cell cycle (the Mitosis phase, when the cell divides and makes more), but can damage cells in all phases. This group includes the taxanes, for those of us getting Taxotere or Taxol.

Monoclonal antibodies are a relatively new type of "targeted" cancer therapy (and not technically a “chemo”). Antibodies are part of the immune system. Normally, the body creates antibodies in response to an antigen (such as a protein in a germ) entering the body. The antibodies attach to the antigen in order to mark the antigen for destruction by the body's immune system. This is for those of us who are HER2 positive and getting Herceptin; it's helping us get more antibodies to those overexpressing oncogenes (the HER2) and kill them.

Hope that helps...??? 

Yes - Kasi, it was the Scotia Prince! It was fun, but I agree, warm tropical oceans would be very nice right now! Anytime actually!

We try to get to Camden Maine each summer for a while, and were planning on it this year, but we're in kind of a holding pattern financially, so not sure we'll make it this year. Afraid to spend much, as I've got about 107 hours of sick time left, so I'm saving the vacation time and the cash just in case...Hubby's putting in all the overtime he can. 

Day 2, and I'm feeling pretty well overall. VERY flushed in the face and chest...and a little headache. Stomach ok, not quite normal, but nothing to really complain about. I've done some laundry, ironing, groceries...now I'm going for my walk! 

Kasi, thanks SO much for the helpful information!  I really appreciate your research & response.  

I agree VTellen about the wig thing I had picked out several on the web site but when I went in to try them on in the store they looked completly different on me, I ended up getting one close to my own but only after trying on about 20 first. I have very thick hair but when I tryed the thick wigs on they looked so fake. maybe you should go to a wig shop and try some on. dont give up just yet

I dont know why tonight but am in extreme discomfort with my TE , think I did too much today , just popped some painkillers. hope they work soon.

Thanks Kasi for the info very informative,