Is there a July 2011 group?

Hi everyone Ive been catching up to on all the post's I am 1 week from 2nd chemo and it really did me in.The pains in my head and scull were the worst I also had low bp Rabbit.I think the worst for me is the sadness I hav'nt been able to concentrate or do anything in the past week.I hope theses feelings go away I can handle the pains and S/E from chemo but not my mind.Coming on the site and hearing all your positive attitude does help.I hope tommorow is a better day.

Just chiming in for the first time. I am 11 days past my 2nd chemo. I have had minimal problems so far. I have done my chemos on Thursday, and gone back to work on Monday after resting all weekend. I have continued to work out at the gymn (modified, of course), work full-time, and maintain my house. Of course I have lost my hair, but as long as I feel halfway decent - I don't care. I only have 4 TC treatments total, then rad. Hope it continues to go well.       

hi kk11! So glad you are feeling good enough to update us and catch up! What is AF? Sorry, chemo fog or brain fart, I just can't figure out what you mean by that. 

As for the speaking at the BIL's school...I did contact every cancer society I could think of and the local advocate here in Ky. I am so far getting tshirts (left overs from another campaign or something all XLs but cool idea!) laminated book marks with the ABCs of breast cancer and some literature to pass out. I am still looking for the pink rubber bracelets, hoping someone will donate 50 of them. Not everyone has gotten back to me, but I am going to make this a day those kids don't forget!

Now for the posting of tx..the mods said that the starter of the thread hasn't been on the boards for over a month, so that won't work, they said they would like to get her permission to edit it.  Snoopy is the next one to post, so that may be our best bet, get Snoopy to edit her first post with our tx plans and go from there, if anything, we can just go to page 1 to check on the dates.

What does everything think?

lovetorun, what chemo are you on? I want some LOLOL oh,and send me your tx dates/drug so I can update our list and get it posted soon.

mary208, do you do tx every 3 weeks? I will update your tx plan once I know for sure. So glad you finally got to the dr. Sounds like you are in good hands, any questions or if you just want to bitch, (we all do that often LOL) post here, please

Ana, please PM me your site, I would LOVE to read yours, thanks for the compliments on it, I appreciate it, sometimes I feel like I'm rambling away on there, but I guess people want to know what's going on so I try to keep them informed. So glad you have a man in your life that is very understanding and just knows how to "hang out" I love that.

CathyC and Ralston, really hope you all get over the SEs soon, thinking of you both. 

ellenquilt, same thing happend to me today, out of nowhwhere day 13, must be my bp and bloodcounts bottoming out. I have felt GREAT for several days, walking every day, lots of energy, then boom, driving ot mom's today I felt like a truck ran over me, the minute I got here, I had to get in bed, weird, hope you are feeling better now.

sandy115, I hope you're doing better too. It seems the last few weeks has been the pits for most of us!

FrancesC I had no idea that it can change, how is that possible? I mean if it's the same tumor they are testing does that mean it was a combination of 2 or more tumors? Let us know if you get answers,it makes no sense to me.

ladyboss1997, welcome to our July group so glad you have had minimal SEs, that is awesome! If you send me your tx dates I will get you listed in our group!

hugs and kisses to all! 

Hi everyone,

I was busy on Friday and away in Annapolis for the weekend, and I see that there have been so many posts.  I buzzed through them to get the gist of what's been going on.  Sorry that some are having a tough time.  I hope that all the fun pictures that several of you have posted are bringing cheer - they sure make me laugh, especially the eyebrow shot of Joan Crawford!  You guys are all an inspiration to me, because you are tough and keep on rolling with everything that BC throws at you.

I am feeling pretty good - this is going to be my really good week, since chemo # 3 in THE CHAIR is Tuesday, Aug. 30.  Only had some minor gas pains on Saturday - chewable Maalox.  Otherwise, I eat like there is no tomorrow and seem to be getting thinner!  When my heart races, I do deep breathing and work on my mindfulness meditation techniques.  Went to the gym today, did all my lifting, my stretching (my BS says it is very good for my SLNB scar), and 30 minutes on the elliptical.  Got friends coming by tomorrow and need to finish cleaning.  Oh - I also got my pasta roller attachment for my kitchen aide and am going to try to make tagliatelle at home.  I find the movements of rolling the pasta and catching it with your hands is very zen-like and calming.

For those who were wondering, ER, PR, and HER2/Neu status are all specific to the cells of the tumor.  If you get a new malignancy (let's hope not), those cells could be entirely different in expression pattern.  A recurrence of the original tumor (growth of a new tumor elsewhere in the body from cells derived from the original tumor) would be expected to have the same expression pattern of ER, PR and HER2.

I sure do hope that these nasty compounds are zapping all those errant cells that went wandering off from the original tumor!!!!  I'm not going bald for nothing!!!

Still haven't shaved it off.  It is sparse but looks great sticking out from under my bandanas.

Some of my nail beds are a bit tender; expect that some of my nails may fall off at some point.  Got a touch of neuropathy in my hands, which is more annoying when I type.  I have been keeping them polished - do it myself - finally plowing through this huge collection of wild colors that I never used before.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week, hang in there!

KK11 - good luck with your first taxol tx tomorrow.  Thanks for the tip on preparation H - what a bummer of a SE!  Also thanks for your tip that the no fruit/veggies is an older recommendation from the ACA.  That makes sense.  I enjoyed my first fruit smoothie last night and loved it!  People say they don't do it when their counts are low but dumb question - how do you know when your counts are low?  I only know my counts when I go in for chemo. 

love to run, ladyboss and phillybird - glad you're feeling well and limited side effects.  that's wonderful.  I read somewhere that 10% of people have virtually no side effects. 

Rabbit - you go girl living life large.  Have fun on your casino trip.  How great it is to have an involved little sister looking out for you.  I don't know about you, but any friend of mine who goes through this in the future is going to have a great friend by her side! 

Mary208 - sorry you're joining us.  Please keep us posted.  We'll be thinking of you as you go through this journey and we'll be here for you. 

Ana424 - I'm with you trying to save your days off.  BC sure takes a hit on it with surgery.  Fortunately my boss is good about letting me go home early if I'm miserable from chemo but I really try to hold out.  I've still got to take a day for my port removal, how long for the exchange surgery???, and since we missed our summer vacation, we're taking one in Dec.  So PTO is flying out the window!  I love that you have a wonderful, relaxing boyfriend.  We all deserve some strength and comfort through this crazy time. 

Cathy C, khs113, ralston and Sandy 115 - I sure agree with you about sadness and wanting to quit.  I said I wanted to quit after the 2nd one and my husband looked at me the same way.  I've definitely been through a lot of days with sadness/fear and depression.  when I asked my doc about it, he said "you know...we are messing with your hormones here".  I'm seeing a counselor this week and if it doesn't improve after chemo, I'm going to try an anti-depressant.  But this last weekend was the best weekend I've had so far.  I was much more positive and motivated, so hopefully there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Ellenquilt - sorry you're not feeling well.  I'm so glad you don't have to work until Thursday!

FrancesC - how confusing!  I've never heard of that before.  I hope they can figure this thing out for you asap! 

My last treatment is Thursday and I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it.  A friend of mine said to keep two words in mind...temporary and forward.  This is temporary and just keep moving forward.  Trying to make that my motto.  Hope you all have a great night/week. 

Hi all, spoke to my breast surgeon : am more relieved now. He said that he will take the second test as correct simply because TN results can be technically flawed due to failure of testing kits. The method of determining if tumor is positive or negative is through staining and if the cells are stained then the results are more accurate. If cells are not stained, it could mean that the kit is not working. He said there is no need for a third test. He is also happy for the results to turn this way and has recommended to also do a FISH test to confirm HER2 so that herceptin can be added to my regime. He also mentioned that for TN cases, they usually do a retest in another lab..

Don't know if I psoted my schedule:

TC  4 rounds

7/7, 8/1. 8/ 22, 9/9/11

Radiation..tsarting Octber 3, 33 rounds...8 boosts...wondering if I should switch to a radiation oncology 5 minutes form my work instead of 35. I am communicating with my oncologist but I am a big advocate and it is a tough ride and I have no energy for it.

pinkpalette:  We do have to really appreciate the good days when we get them.  This morning I woke up and it was as if someone turned on the "good day " switch from yesterday's death warmed over feeling.  I also had a decent night's sleep - getting up every couple of hours to pee, but I always do that. But I was able to fall back asleep again.  The weather today is gorgeous.  No A/C needed which is a treat!  I walked the dog, enjoyed the lovely weather and am going to figure out how I can best use this really good day to my advantage.

Yesterday my a$$ was glued to the recliner. But I did manage to make a red hat for my  red hat movie night for Friday (after chemo). Today I'd like to embellish it with some purple flowers -- have to find a pattern that I like.  I'll post a picture when I wear it. LOL.  Should be quite a sight.

My older son managed to deal with his own crisis in good form, which is progress and he was very conscious of trying to NOT aggravate me when I felt so lousy.  It's hard for him, so I appreciate the effort.

I just started doing manicures for myself and I'm using Burt's Bees lemon cuticle butter which smells lovely and seems to keep my very dry fingers from splintering.  I'm going to look into the Tea Tree oil and Biotin.  I'll discuss with the doc on Friday. Thanks for the tip ladyboss!

I'm half hoping to coerce my younger son into going with me to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria to see the Jim Henson exhibit.  He'll drive and we'll get to eat out.  I think I can convince him. I'd love to do something special while I feel so good and don't have to be at work.

I hope you all have a good SE free day and that your weather is as great as my weather so you can enjoy it!

Ladyboss - thanks for the Tea Tree oil tip.  I willl look for some.  I am already being extremely careful not to mess with the cuticles (not even pushing them back - my podiatrist said it is really important to allow your cuticle to protect the base of the nail - toes and fingers).  I am also using Burt's Bees cuticle cream, plus Udderly Smooth to re-moisturize, everytime I wash my hands. 

Not sure that I don't have SEs, I just think that I ignore a lot of them.

The neuropathy in my hands is more annoying than the hairloss right now.  I look like Friar Tuck with long sparse hair. 

lovetorun: I think it's great that you are posting when you feel good. You are absolutely right. We do need to hear that. 

In spite of my list of side effects, when I have the right med for the right SE, I feel pretty good most of the time. So what if my feet have red welts on them that hurt, it doesn't keep my from taking walks. I keep up with my senna-s every day for constipation, pepcid for heartburn, and always keep immodium in my purse for that day or two it turns the other way. The anti-nausea meds always stay in the purse too, because it only seems to hit when work gets tough. If I do these things, I feel like a regular functioning adult most of the time!

I see my onco this afternoon and I have my list of questions and notes ready, well 7 post-its. I am looking forward to switching to Taxol on Friday's treatment. This is the halfway point!

Off topic, sorry.  I hope everyone affected by the VA earthquake on the East Coast is okay.  My house up here in Long Island shook and rolled a bit for about 15 or 20 seconds.  Very unsettling.

Funny - for me, the coffee stays good, but water is a bit off, so I stick to sparkling water with lemon flavor.  I agree on the super spicy stuff; I just need to chase it with water to prevent it from burning my mouth and tongue.  The same with alcohol for the first 5 - 8 days; I need to sip and enjoy, then chase it with water to rinse the alcohol out of my mouth.  Ginger and tarragon are great too when my taste buds are sleeping.

Catron -I totally feel your pain! I whinned with my handsome PS today because I just can't sleep. Left arm totally numb and right side a sore port! (and you don't want to hear about how my chest feels with the TE). Basically he said "but the good news is next week is your 4th and last AC" (concentrate on the positive things), so I guess being "in pain" is part of the process.

Catron my port area hurt for weeks! It took a month for the swell to go down and it's been 1.5 months now and the area is still tender to touch. I have had 4 chemos so far and nurse had to give a local anesthetia before accessing the port because it still hurts and too embedded.

Hi ladies. Hope everyone on the east is ok from the earthquake & the earthquake in Colorado.



EAST COAST - please keep an eye on HURRICANE IRENE. We're always skiddish here in Florida and have learned our lesson. They are nothing to procrastinate on. They can turn on a dime while you're sleeping. please have a plan! Love y'all sisters and don't want anyone to get hurt!



Night all!



0:-) honey