Is there a July 2011 group?

BCisnofun:  temporary and forward. I like it! Thanks!

Snoopy I have the itch too. Feels like mosquito bites but I can't possibly be having so many bites;). Onco thinks I have an allergic reaction to something I ate but I don't think so as I have been eating pretty much same stuff since start of chemo. I started having the itches after chemo#3. They went away after I took dexa for chemo#4. Now 1 week after chemo#4 they are slowly creeping back. Put calamine lotion on them to relieve the itch.

Snoopy, Frances,

This is so weird-- I just started itching too a couple of days ago at day 15 after #2. My back and scalp mostly. Ithought it was some kind of allergic reaction to some eye drops that I used since felt my eyes were getting sort of dry. But i stopped using the dropos and still itch. Haven't tried anything for the itch but "self control" which isn't working very well. Maybe I'll try calamine as france suggested.

Re: itches

My doc has me hanging onto Benedryl in case of itch.  I would call if it was a rash just to put yourself on the radar with your doc.  Sounds like mild allergy to whatever is in the cocktail. I usually call and let them know for the chart.

Re: eye drops.  Dry using the Refresh Optiva without preservatives.  Much less chance of allergic stuff with those and you can use them as often as you like without worrying.  My opthalmologist suggested for my bad dry eye (worse with chemo).

Shinypop: Sorry you were under the weather and so sick.  Hope all is improving.  Caffeine withdrawl is a bitch.  

And speaking of bitches, that Bitch Irene is trying to get into my house -- I'm not at my house of course, but I can sense her bitchy self trying to sneak in with the ocean or maybe puffing down my spruce tree onto my roof.  I threw her into the Bonfire, but will have to go back and  get her sloppy seconds into the flames.  Grrrrrrrr!

Weather on the North Shore of Long Island, where I am hunkered down with my crew, is miserable.  Some light flooding of basement beginning.  Horizontal rain and bad squall winds.  Sucky weather all around.  Waiting for local news to cover Freeport, where I live (swim? float?)

Hope all in Irene's path are dry and safe.  And everyone have an SE free day! 

Argghhh! Just found out from my neighbors that my house took in about two feet of yucky bay water but the tree didn't fall.  So not as bad as it could have been, and about what I predicted when we evacuated.  Flood insurance should cover the damage and I guess this is one way to get my garage cleaned out as well as the living area where my son and his girlfriend live (sloppily) LOL. Glad everyone is okay, which is the most important thing.  Time to start looking for cleanup companies to do the work.

 Keep safe everyone!

Ellen, Yuck! Literally. Just what you wanted to deal with in the midst of chemo. Glad to see that you are taking this with your usual sense of humor.

ellenquilt - glad everyone is okay.  Love your outlook on it.  wishing you as hassle free a cleanup as possible.  You deserve a break!  I've got dry eyes too and will try your suggestion. 

rabbit - glad you're feeling great.  Have fun at the casino.  What a great trip.   

Shinypop - sorry you had such a tough time and glad you are on the mend.  Hoping it keeps going in the right direction for you. 

For everyone itching/scratching...I had some before and after my surgery, and a little since chemo. For the after surgery stuff they gave me a couple of prescription creams, but the chemo one doesn't seem like a rash I don't think.  I have used an anti-itch OTC medicine and it has helped.  I'm sure I should call my Dr. but it seems like it's improving now. 

I did practically nothing but lay around yesterday and today with a couple stints of walking the dog (whoopee!).  Feeling a little down from lack of energy but as I go through the week, I hope to come out of it with increased motivation and energy. 

Have a great SE free day everyone

I just want to say that Taxol sucks! I hate the bone pain. The pain from the Neulasta hasn't even kicked in yet, usually that's on Wednesday following tx. This is kicking my butt and I have too much to do. Nuff said! Thanks for listening! : )

J-bug---Right there with you. Couldn't even get out of bed today. Plus I'm on vicodin for the Nulasta pain and pretty much a space cadet. Hope we feel better tomorrow. I'm trying ice packs right now. Seems to help. Take care. Krista

Ellenquilt --- You just sit back and let everyone take care of you. That's quite a picture! At least, everyone is safe.

Hi ladies - it's Sunday night and I thought I'd check in to see how the rest of you are doing.

J-bug -I was in the chair 6 hours too, plus 2 hours of bloodwork and dr. appointments before that. I hope it goes a little faster for us the next time. They do tend to go extra slow the first time on Taxol. 

J-bug & Krista - I'm sorry you're having so much pain with the Taxol. I found day 4 to be the worst and I have only minor aches and pains now on day 6. My onc also told me that the first treatment is the worst when it comes to bone pain and that the subsequent treatments are better. I hope he's right. I haven't taken any meds for the pain because it never got THAT bad. Maybe I have it easier compared to you both? 

Ladyboss - I love the hair/attitude story! It made me smile

Ellenquilt - So sorry to hear about your house! I'm on the west coast, but El Nino brought a huge storm back in '98 that flooded my parents' house. I was just in high school then, so it was traumatic. I remember waking up at 4am with no advance warning and my mom screaming that we had to get everything off the floor because the water was not yet in but coming fast (ended up being about a foot and a half of sewer water - yuck!). It's a one story home, so we had to move out for 10 months during repairs. I still remember being rescued by boat, so yeah, flooding sucks even if you have flood insurance. I'm glad your treatment went better on Friday. I'm happy to see you're taking some time off going forward, at least on treatment days. I don't know how some of you ladies work through all of this. I consider myself one tough cookie, but I definitely couldn't work during AC. I'm only now doing part time (32 hours every 2 weeks vs the 80+ I used to do) since I moved to Taxol.

Ana - It's important to have a good cry every now and then. We try to be strong most of the time and I have moments too where it seems to come out of no where. When that happens, we need to just go with it. It's coming from somewhere and it's important to let our feelings out.

bcisnofun - No idea how long it takes for that taste to go away, but I'd say in about 2 weeks you should start to notice an increase in energy. Instead of another chemo round, you'll have nothing to bring you back down again.

misswim - Yay for being done with AC! I also had it pretty rough after my last one. Taxol has been a much better experience so far for me. I can't say it's "easy", but it's different and better. See below for my full Taxol experience.

Cathy - I was taking the Prilosec daily for about a week during each treatment. They did put some kind of antacid in my iv during Taxol, but they said that it combined with steroids and benadryl are all necessary to prevent an allergic reaction. I haven't needed Prilosec since, so hopefully you won't either.

Dexxy - I just realized you're in San Mateo! I'm in Foster City. We're practically neighbors! I hope treatment #3 isn't treating you too badly.

Snoopy/Frances/Rossileo - I also have a rash and a horrible itch! My butt and my thighs are going to be raw from all the scratching! I didn't have this with AC, so I wonder if it's the Taxol? It didn't start until a few days after my first Taxol treatment though. I'll have to mention it to my doctor when I see him next.

Shiny - I'm sorry you've had such a rough 2 weeks. I hope you're feeling better now and that you don't have to go through that again. 

 Rabbit - Hope you're enjoying yourself with your family and friends. When is your actual b-day? Also, good luck with your last FEC. I think it will feel good to be done with it!

AFM - So here's my Taxol experience. I only had a lack of appetite for a few days and it was not from nausea, but more from my taste being absent. I seem to always get a headache/migraine after my Neulasta shot and this is no different. My doctor didn't think it was the Neulasta but that's been the only constant, so I'm sure that's the culprit. I have had some pain in my fingernails (hope it's not a sign they're coming off) and definite bone/muscle pain all over since the evening of day 2. I think day 4 was the worst of the bone pain (had trouble standing and walking but forced my way through it) and it's gotten better since. I was told I could take Vicodin if necessary, but it was never THAT unbearable and I'm trying my best not to take any additional meds unless I absolutely have to. I'm now on day 6 and it's getting better. Next Taxol will be on September 7th. I would go on the 6th normally, but I have a special work recognition dinner on the 6th and I wanted to feel good for the evening. Of course that means I only have 13 days between cycles 2 and 3, but it's worth it for me. 

khs113 and jbug: You hang in there!  You'll get through this lousy stage soon and feel better.

kk11: The first time our house was flooded we weren't even there a year and my eldest was an infant.  I remember watching the bay pour into my house and standing upstairs looking down at the water coming inside and crying. We were flooded 6 or  7 times more in the next 8 years so it became a flood routine.  The biggest differences this time  are that I can't do the cleanup myself because of the chemo and the contamination of the water and I'm older and in fact, less willing to do the cleanup by myself this time.  I'm  going to be looking for a service to decontaminate first, and then deal with the insurance company. I figure we'll need sheetrock repair, replace some of the baseboards that are going to rust out from the salt water from the bay, replace my back door and all the flooring downstairs.  That's the bulk of it and the rest is going to be me telling everyone else what needs to be tossed into the  dumpster.  It is, in fact, a great way to clean out the accumulated junk in the garage and the downstairs of the house.  I'm lucky that our main living area (except for my son and his girlfriend) is upstairs and was untouched. And it seems that our electric is intact.  Still have to check the boiler motor, but that's for tomorrow.  

As for working, I  only work part time during the summer and can be pretty flexible with my schedule once the school year kicks in.  I'm out of the classroom this year since I'm a tech specialist and I work with a  lot of teachers and their kids through a grant.  So I don't have the rigid classroom schedule. If If did, I would be a basket case.  I have a lot of flexibility in  scheduling, so I'm lucky.  I don't think I could work fulltime if I had a job without that flexibility during chemo. 

With the Taxol, when I was taking it, I had steroids, benedryl and antacids in the  premeds. Still got an allergic reaction, so we're using the same premeds for the Abraxane and  gradually ratcheting the doses back to as low a level as we can get away with to minimize the SE of the steroids, etc. etc.  

THe rashy itching I get is from a yeast  thing that my oncologist said is also a SE sometimes.  I'm using nystatin cream and making sure I keep those areas as dry as possible. Mostly under my boobage and inner thighs.  All hot beds of perspiration in the heat.  I turn up the A/C and use a lot of talcum powder. Seems to be helping. 

JBug: On Taxol I took the steroid the night before, the morning of and had some in the IV>  STill do that with the Abraxane.  But unless I have a reaction I don't take it after the IV is done. My last Taxol week I had to take a big dose after,  but I'd had a really bad reaction that day.  Didn't take anything after the Abraxane this time.  Nausea hasn't really been a big problem for me.  I get those crampy ugh times during the afternoons sometimes, but I just take some Zantac and compazine for that and it goes away.  Sometimes I just need to remember to have lunch. Duh.

Can't sleep second night as a refugee at my ex so I'm sitting here on the computer at 4:30 a.m. instead.  The cable TV and Internet are out and I can go online only because I brought my MiFi with me. (Don't leave home without it!)  Watching my two refugee cats and refugee dog explore a strange new place. They crack me up. 

Is anyone doing the 12X schedule for Taxol?  I have my last M/C (essentially the same as A/C, but blue rather than red) on Thursday and then I start on weekly Taxol treatments.  I'm just wondering what to expect as far as hair loss, fatigue, etc.

I've still got about half of my hair though I've taken to wearing a scarf to contain the shedding. The fatigue is minimal this week but really kicked my butt after #3 and I'm starting to dread taking Zofran because I'm pretty sure it is responsible for the wretched headaches the weekend of each treatment.  I guess better a headache than nausea though.

Those of you that have mentioned steroids, are those just for the Taxol or you getting them for A/C or other aspects of your regimen?  I've had Aloxi and dexasomethingorother via IV before treatments, but nothing else as far as steroids go.

 Hope everyone has a terrific week.

H all...... just cehcking in to say hi to everyone..

Ellen..sorry about your house..yuck on clean up. We were in Rhode Island watching our hosue by the shore and it wasn't too bad. the water came up to the top of the beach and there were trees down but otherwise jsut rain and wind.

Phillybird..will be thinking of you tomorrow.Cathy C..I take prilosec too.. the reflux is not nice without it.
Shinypop  I do hope you are feleing much better now...coffee withdrawal wouldn't give you 2 weeks of a headache and flu so you probably had something bigger...

I have had a mouth ulcer since Wendesday and now seem to be sprouting a second one...I hate it...treating it conscientiously but not getting worse or better.

Sorry so many of you are suffering from itches and rashy stuff. I have found benadryl cream very helpful for mosquito bites.

Going to look for some soft mushy food.

Checked with my oncoloigst on why my blood tests were off...says they essentially show I am anemic and am low on protein...probably due to the  mouth ulcers.

Started back to work today... not really up for it but muddled through for 1/2 day. Tomorrow is 7 hours.

Hopong all is well. First day feeling really human since tx #3. Worked a full day and am ok. Fighting Neulasta achiness.....but energy must better!

 Our little state of Vermont was ravaged by the floods. Two deaths in a 30 mile radius of our home. So sad. Hope all are well and safe, and feeling ok.

MissSwimm - so glad you are feeling human again.  Sorry about how Irene hammered Vermont.

Painting - For soft and flavorful - I like baked yams or sweet potatoes with lots of tarragon sprinkled on top.

Good luck Thursday, Luebbsgurl!  I'll be in THE CHAIR (number 3) later today. Yippee!!