Is there a July 2011 group?

Hoping this week finds you all feeling well, and/or getting through the SE's.  All of you that started taxol.  I did 4 rounds of TC, and had lots of muscle pain.  Almost felt like growing pains and my feet! oh my feet.  From what i understand and I can attest to is that this come from our livers not being able to detoxify the poison fast enough.  We all know our livers have been working over time and those of you that just finished AC you're livers are just tired.  So here's what has worked for and I hope it can help you all for future treatments.  Water, Water, Water.  Especially those 3 days after treatment.  I know it tastes bad, I add splash of 100% pure blueberry juice, ( blueberries are great detoxifiers).  No greasy foods, soups with veggies work well.  Walk, Walk, Walk.  If you can get one day of 40 minutes where you break a bit of sweat, it really helps get it out of your system.  Last, baths.  Here's the key, 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 baking soda, 1 cup of salt.  Add to bath water, before you get it, I know this sound weird, using a loofah, washcloth, whatever works, brush over skin towards the heart for a minute.  Then get in and soak for 20-30 minutes.  You can do this everyday if you have time.  Trust me, it helps a ton!  For sure the day after treatment. 

I'm here for you guys waiting for  you on the other side of the finish line.  #3 was the worst, #4 mush easier.  Chin up girls we are going to kill this disease

Paulamati, I'm so sorry to hear about your Chilean friend passing.  So hard for her little girl. This disease sucks rocks.  I hope you bounce back from the bad SEs quickly.

dexxy: Water is the answer you are  right.  I like your bath tip.  Now I have to figure out if I want to take a bath as I'm a lifetime shower girl. Any fixes for showers?

Welcome Yooper!  The allergic reactions to the premeds and the  chemo can be nasty.  I was allergic to Taxol and  had a similar reaction to yours from that -- high blood pressure, palpitations, bad back pain,  nausea, etc.  I'm off Taxol and on Abraxane (another Taxene that uses a human protein to bind instead of Cremaphor, which is what I seem to react to)  Also, we do a really slow infustion now.  You might want to ask about slowing it down as well as reducing the premeds if you can tolerate the chemo with less.

Always worth a dialogue with the docs.

I'm dragging my ass at work today since I was up in the middle of the night  again for two hours.  Up between 2 and 4 and then able to sleep from 4 until  5:15 when my alarm goes off. Ugh.  I'm trying to hand on until 4 pm so I can put in a full day.  At least it's all in the office so I'm not having to run around driving and parking all over the city.  I'm not looking forward to those days at all.  I may have to Skype more and put in less face time at my schools for a while.

Going to buy me some melatonin today and give it whirl to see if it helps me sustain some decent sleep during the night.  I can fall asleep but once I wake up it's hard to fall back asleep again.  I never had that problem before.

Izzy 325 what is your immune thing?

I have rheumatoid arthritis and think tht has played havock with a bit of my treatment mouth sore wise. I wish I had been in a better place to self advocate from the start because I beleive my symptoms  could have been reduced. Oh well.

I am not messing around with rad centers. Thank you 

Ellenquilt and Izzy for your comments and anyone else. Going to MGH tomorrow and just steeling myself for the regular drive. I too hope the center is open late becuase of my work. Plus I hope we can get our house ready for sale in the right time line....feel there is a lot on my plate. And my spouses.

kk11...hating the neulasta shot effects right now...in the long bones. I feel liek taking a percoset and going to bed.  Yeah to you that your last treatment is comingup. I haven't done the psot chemo dnace yet...no energy!!!! Stick to your convictions with work. You have rights and I think those need to be pointed out. Would your human resources be of help? Sometimes they can be really good at intervening.

Frances...here here...yes you have fought the fight and are a warrior and know everything to do to keep yourself healthy for a long time to come. I am so impressed by your and everyone's heres strength and  knowledge. We are moving ourselves through this and we are doing a good job andrelying on one another has been great.

 bcisnofun, ANA, Snoopy, Dexxy...glad to be in such good company with allof us finishing chemo....will feel better once the neulasta SE's slow down.

Cathy C...know you can do it...days go by and you jsut find you do what you need to. When will you be finished? I hope the taxatere SE's won't be too diffiuclt for you.

ellenquilt....yes, September 11 is so sobering and it sounds as though you had a very traumatic experience while teaching. So sorry you are still flood cleaning but love love love your story about the car and who was going to be in the drivers seat.  When we move we are thinking of getting a prius to save on gas on our 70 mile one way trips up to Boston...sounds nuts but we need to own only one house and need to do that soon.

Hoping everyone has wonderful weather today.

Thank you for the welcome.

khs--Yes, I am from the great U.P. of Michigan and am in the Triple Negative ranks.  So excited for you having your last tx this week!  I have 3 more to go.

Had chemo last Weds. and still in the throes of the Taxol pain--mostly in the legs and today more in the feet.  Neulasta had previously given me mild muscle aches for a couple days but this is much worse so I'm assuming it's the Taxol.  Plus this time I had only half my usual dose of Neulasta.  If my blood counts stay good we may do half dose again next time and nix it altogether for the last two.

Made my appt. today to meet with the genetic counselor to discuss testing.  Not sure I'm looking forward to that but my onc recommended it.

A/C vs. Taxol (so far): traded the nausea for the pain.  Would rather have the pain so I guess that's a good trade.  Worst treatment day experience with the A/C was pain in my arm during premeds (had vein issues...eventually got a port), but the Taxol day was absolutely horrid.  On a lighter note...the nurses were absolutely hopping this last time as infusion room was packed.  At one point though during one of my "episodes" I had all four in front of me.  I told them I just wanted some attention.

Hives.  Yes, that's the newest thing to add to my list.  Called the onc on call...of course I have not once gotten my regular doc...she thought it was odd to have an allergic reaction to the Taxol now since it's been 5 days since tx, but I can't imagine what else it could be.  So now I take some Benadryl and see what happens.

ellenquilt: I just added a post that you especially will appreciate!

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/67/topic/755825?page=97#idx_2900

FrancesC: I am sorry to hear that the cold caps did not work out as planned.

That is very interesting to hear how the education works in Singapore. I tried to start my children out learning two languages in an immersion program of English and Spanish, but it just turned out that they had too many other learning difficulties going on that we had to get them into a different school. I just think it is so important that we learn more about other cultures and languages. It opens our minds so much more. 

Allright, I have been at work all afternoon, and brought a lot home with me. I have to go through the details and make sure I have everything I need, then I can get back to some pain pills for this wonderful Taxol pain! Good night all! 

Hi ladies, just stopped to say hello and send in some positive vibes to all that are getting chemo this week. I am 7 days post my last chemo, mouth still feels sour and funky and tasteless uuurrgghhh energy is so so, worked full day yday and am at work today. Actually, by the end of the day my energy decreases dramatically and i get soo agitated and anxious:-( i just want to be left alone!!

Paulamati - I'm sorry about your friend, i can imagine how difficult it is for you. May God rest her soul in peace!

I did not sleep well at all last nite, i kept getting scary dreams and thoughts etc... i have a friend who is very sick in MD she's young and was diagnosed abt 8yrs ago, she's basically dying now and has 2 small kids, her story really bothers me more than i thought, coz last nite i kept seeing her face and her kids face and i started imagining myself sick, etc...God help us to fight and get rid if this disease!!

Other than that, i have an appt with my RO next week for planning etc.. any of you ladies that completed chemo doing RADS? 

Shinypop, I'm in for the long haul as well.  Another 4 sessions with Abraxane and Herceptin, then radiation then continued Herceptin for the rest of the year every three weeks.  I'll be done next July some time. 

JBug -- the link didn't work, Can you repost now that you've got me curious?

Snoopy, so sorry to hear about your friend.  It's never easy when someone loses the battle, but we do have to forge on ahead and focus on getting rid of this awful BC for good.  And I will be doing RADS probably starting sometime in November (tricky because I have to go out of town to present at a conference right before Thanksgiving.  I'll have to see how that works out. I'll miss three days.)

At work today. The SE of the week is achy joints and fatigue.  I am dragging my ass around (not an easy task if you've seen my ass, LOL) and really begin to fade around 2 (now).  Better today, but still not able to be overly focused.  I'm at my best early in the morning and it's all downhill from there. What makes it worse is my grant partner has been suffering from terrible insomnia and he's not able to focus either.  So we're writing the program and curriculum for the year by basically pulling it out of our, you guessed it....asses.  And hoping it will all fall into place.  LOL  I'm looking forward to Spa Day on Friday just so I don't have to work and get up so damned early in the morning for a few days.

On the other hand, we just got new iPad 2's at work to play with, so I have a new toy to occupy me. That might keep my eyes open for the rest of this afternoon.

Sorry ellenquilt! You've been there before. Try this:

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/67/topic/755825?page=97#idx_2910

Look for my posting yesterday, 9-13-11. 

J-Bug- That is just absolutley great. I laughed right out loud. Good for you for showing those punk kids. Great posting.

I felt bad for the kids after I did it. They just looked so shocked! The drive thru girl looked like she was going to drop her change and her jaw.

misswim: I am right with you on this Taxol stuff. It's terrible. I shopped online for a walking cane today because I have such a hard time walking for several days each time, but I feel so silly actually getting one. I just really felt like I needed it walking around work on Tuesday with my knees buckling from the pain. On days like the one you are describing, I have to search my mind for things that bring me joy and see if I can incorporate some of that into my day. It doesn't just happen - it is a regular practice. I wish you the best with it! 

Met my radiologist today and was offered a chance to participate in a clinical trial for accelerated radiation with an extra boost. This is three weeks instead of the usual six. And i would be randomly assigned to one of the groups. Anybody else being given this option? Guess I probably should post in the radiation topic but I figure many of us will be moving on to this in the next weeks.

Have lots of fun Dexxy. Can pack me along? LOL!

Good Morning Ladies,

Good thoughts and best wishes to all for a pleasant day. I don't say much, but I treasure this group.  Thanks for being there with me (although it stinks that we have to do this!)

Paulamati, I am sorry for the loss of your friend. I will keep her family and friends in my prayers to be strong. xoxo