Is there a July 2011 group?

Rabbit, it's amazing that you are as much as have been and are keeping track of our progress. No need to apologize for missing a day or so. We'll both be in the chair on wednesday, you for the first time on taxotere only. Hope this goes much better for you than the first half of your regimen. Good luck!

francesc - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Congratulations!

rossileo - good luck tomorrow.  Last one, right????????  Love to see you crossing the finish line. 

rabbit - thinking of you.  Chemo is a mind twister.  turns us all around.  I'm pretty sure I couldn't have given myself one injection, so I admire all you've done.  Good luck tomorrow. 

jbug - glad you had a relaxing weekend and are feeling better

have a good day everyone

Greetings all,  I hope your weeks are going smoothly.

Congratulations to everyone who has already finished and those who finish up this week. I'm jealous!! I've got 11 more Taxol to go! 

I almost had a major meltdown yesterday. My husband has been in pain for 7 months now due to a herniated disc. This last few weeks it has been such that he really can't do anything but lie there, and being the sole doer of everything has kicked my a$$ mentally and physically.  I'm so grateful for you all and my other friends to get me through this and to keep me sane.  He goes to surgery tomorrow and his brother (who is THE best housekeeper) is arriving this evening to help out--hopefully I can make through the next two days without a major freakout.

I also have to film a TV segment tomorrow and have been told no black, no white, no green, no patterns, and no turtlenecks as far as fashion choices--what the heck do I wear then? That pretty well eliminates most of my wardrobe!!!   Suggestions appreciated!

Kristien--I finish chemo Dec. 1 if I counted the weeks correctly.

On a completely unrelated note, I have decided to try and figure out the things I've gained since being diagnosed.  What have you gained? Here is the start of my list:

1. Patience.

2. The ability to do nothing without getting antsy.

3. The ability to tell people no.

4. Perspective--small things are a lot easier to see now.

5. A big bag of makeup--LGFB is great!

6. A collection of scarves.

7. A renewed sense of appreciation for nurses, food, coffee, and other things I used to take for granted.

8. A new knowledge of medical terminology!

9. Great friends

10. More great friends

Hi Everyone,

Anyone got tremendously gassy during their chemo journey?  Sorry to be so blunt but this is ridiculous.  It has been going on for the last 3 weeks with no sign of stopping. 

Still trying to catch up and know I probably won't so I want to give everyone a shout out and send good vibes to those who are coping with SE's

I finish up chemo tomorrow.  Yaay!!!  I know others are finishing up too (Phillybird, Rossileo, KHS113, Frances, etc)   Congratulations.  It seemed like this time would never come.  Now its onto Radiation. 

Mavinbook:  Don't worry, You will get there soon. 

 I am anxious that the appts are so drawn out.  The RO said it might not be for another 3-4 weeks before I begin radiation.  Does that seem long to anyone? 

Hope everyone have a great day!!!

Anne

Hi Everyone--

Ellenquilt --- Read your earlier post and hope that you're feeling better by now. Chemo seems to bring on migraines for me too. Hope you can fit in a nice nap today.

Misswim--Hope the transfusion helps. I've read other posts where it gives you that energy you've been missing. We also did the steak dinner over the weekend. I don't know if it helped physically but it sure tasted good. Haven't done red meat since I got the diagnosis.

Rabbit---Sorry you're going through this rough patch. It's just not fair. A couple of weeks ago I was crying just about every evening and then a nurse friend told me that it's the body's way of getting rid of toxins. Indulging in pity must be healthy. I've finished with chemo and get my port out tomorrow. For some reason that seems like even more reason to celebrate. Let everyone take care of you when you're in the chair tomorrow.

FrancesC---Congrats on finishing chemo. You'll be a week or two ahead of me with radiation. Any helpful hints would be appreciated. I've heard they give you a special cream to put on the affected area that really helps.

Mavinbook---Loved the list. One thing I've gained is an appreciation for those bad hair days. I will never complain about how bad my hair looks again. Looking forward to running my hands through my hair instead of stubble.

Allanan--Yes to the gassy. I take 2 Citrucels twice a day and Prilosec almost every day. The worst for me is the week after chemo and then it seems like Irritable Bowel all over again.

Hope the path to recovery gets a little bit better each day for all of us. We've come such a long way together.

mavinbook, what kind of tv segment are you doing? Very cool! And, I am going to have to steal your idea of the things you have gained and put it into my blog on caringbridge, it's awesome and very touching!

Allenan, gas is my middle name for months now!! Seriously, I think that's a huge part of the GERD, I get gas pains in my chest, so bad it literally takes my breath away. And I have gas come out the other end constantly..I was always pretty gassy because I love veggies, but it's much worse now. I burp and fart like crazy I hate to say! I did take a gasx pill a few times and it helps, but I'm so sick of taking so many darn pills I just keep farting and burping (not in public of course LOL)

Izzy325, yep...it gets old! I guess we're only human, we may be so strong and appear to handle it all, but sometimes it gets to us all.

khs113, wooohooo on getting the port out, I think I'm just as excited to get mine out in Dec as I am to finish chemo in Nov.!

Anyone here on Docetaxel that can tell me more? I just got some B6, Lglutamine and something else (don't remember now) Acetyl Carnetine I think.. I was told in another thread that I started about FEC compared to Docetaxel, that to help avoid neoropathy (spelling?) and the nails falling off, it would help. I had asked the PA and she said sure, take it so I started it today. 

Getting mixed comments on it, some say I will breeze through it if I did pretty well with FEC and some say it's a nightmare, that the aches and pains, and tiredness will definitely be bad. 

also wondering if  taxol is the same family as taxatore (docetaxel is the generic).

Here's to tomorrow for me, getting 5 under the belt, 4 to go!!

xoxo 

mavinbook, here's my list:

1. Patience, it's such a waiting game and you MUST have patience. Being a poker player for most of my life, I already had some patience, but this is insane patience!!

2. More makeup, from the Look Good Feel Good class. I now wear a bit more makeup to take away from the extremely fading eyebrows and eyelashes!!

3. A beautiful collection of scarves, knitted caps, do-rags and bandanas!

4. Some incredible newly found friends that I cherish with all my heart. These wonderful ladies are going through the same journey as I am and I gained some true friends!

5. Strength, for instance, being able to give myself shots daily, not something I really thought I could do...

6. A bigger picture and appreciation of life, taking life one day at a time, not taking anything for granted. And realizing life is too short for the petty crap!

7. A huge bag of medications (no one said it had to be good things I gained!) that I carry around with me everywhere!

8. The knowledge to figure out who my true friends are, the ones that are there for me, even from the other side of the world.

9. I gained a brita filter at Rod's from Theresa and one at mom's courtesy of dad!

10. Oh I gained 10 pounds since the start of chemo, does that count!

Love ya too, Rabbit!!! Let me know how it goes!

Yooper.... I am with you! (and my name is Wendy and I am 41 LOL) I keep hearing "but you look so good". Not that I want to look bad but I sometimes want to hear " man you look like you feel terrible" instead. I have two big tx left....And Herceptin every Wednesday until early November then it switches to every third week until July 2012. Radiation until or beyond Christmas... Hard to feel like I have made progress with all of that ahead even though I am sure TC is the roughest part of my planned journey.

With that said, I make my gratitude list to keep me grounded most days: I am grateful I caught it early/ successful surgery, I am grateful I have my family near, I am grateful my kids accept the process gracefully,I am grateful for all of the BC research before me to make my tx options stronger.... This list is quite long, but fatigue and the blues make it hard some days to feel the positive power of gratitude... Wishing all of you the best possible days ahead.

My hemoglobin has also been dropping since my first infusion. It went from 10.5 to 8.8 and I still have 10 more Taxol infusions left. Has anybody ended Taxol without having to have blood transfusions? In some point the hemoglobin stops dropping during chemo? My WBC after first Taxol went from 5.83 to 2.19, does anybody knows at what point they decided to give you Neulasta again?

Misswim...hope you are feeling bette

To all..hope you are doing well. Congrats Frances.

AHve been feeling very sad as another friend on the Triple negative board is stage 4 and one dear sweet client of mine for 10 years asked if I was Ok, if I had a wig and she then said she was so worried for me and I completely welled up and the tears were flowing and wow it has been very hard. I think getting ready to sell our house is making me so sad too..thinking of raising our children here and all our good memories. I am not liking change...feeling sad....

Ellenquilt...great news..hope the estimate is good from FEMA

And i have had heart palps after chemo that can stop me in my tracks and cause breathlessness and i have to hang on to something...but they pass after about 5 days.....

Rabbit,

Another take on neuropathy.  I'm probably the best case scenario -- hopefully it will be the same for you.  Like Phillybird, I've had fairly minor issues.  I've never used nail polish and thought it would be too weird to start using it now.  I've noticed a purple color gradually creeping up my fingernails even since about week 4. It's now about half-way up, so maybe by the time this all wears off they will all be purple.  But it's really not very noticeble. When I cut them, they do seem slightly more brittle, but nothing that bothers me.  What does bother me is a slight tingling in my fingers and for a while, the bed under the nails were slighty inflamed, so that it was somewhat painful typing and playing the piano, but that has subsided --- probably to resume after #4 today.  My oncologist said there was really nothing that could be done.  I suppose I should be happy that's all I have to deal with.  And of course -- hair loss.  I've still got some.  Hoping that 5% will make it all the way through the chemo.

Good luck in the chair today!  I'm not going until the afternoon.   I had this crazy fantasy that I would actually try to go to work before chemo and scheduled things late.  Instead, here i am at home still in my jammies.  Hahahaha!  

Trying to catch up on posts - so many are already done or about to be done with chemo - congratulations! I'm almost 2 weeks PFC and feeling better all the time. My mood still fluctuates, but seeing signs of improvement. My energy has definitely picked up, so I'm glad about that. I still have an odd feeling about essentially being done with treatment. Even though there is a surgery left to do, that is not actually treating the cancer. The only thing that remains is that fun five years of Tamoxifen.

Anyway, wanted to chime in about my fingernails. I've got some sensitivity and these white lines across them. I think I won't really know the effects for a few more weeks when they grow out to the places where the lines are. But none of that has been particularly bad so far. As far as neuropathy, I didn't really notice anything until this last time. Just a little weakness and stiffness in my fingers. And this odd feeling like my hands might be on the verge of falling asleep - you know? Really subtle but a little annoying. That is improving, too, though.

Oh - and gas! My goodness, I had terrible gas for a while. I think it is all part of the GI issues that chemo causes. 

You know, losing my hair was not so bad for me - I've enjoyed the wigs and scarves. I think the growing back is going to be the traumatic part ;-). I always hated growing out my hair. I may have to keep the wigs and scarves around for a long time to come.

Love the lists that Mavinbrook and rabbit put together. I might have to borrow that idea and do something similar for my CaringBridge site.

Ok - I'm not going to tell anyone to "hang in there" because that is what you/we are all doing, right? That's the name of the game.

Painting, my onc is going to give me my flu shot.  Just as well as he is the point guy for all my meds these days.

Just home from work.  Totally pooped.  Plumber coming for estimate.  I'll try to catch up later or tomorrow with everyone.  All of you be good to yourselves.  We all deserve that. 

I meant to tell you ladies that my hgb was a whoppin' 9.5 yesterday after 3 days in a row of having red meat and a large spinach salad each day and lots of extra rest. I don't know if that is what made the difference, but I wanted to give it my best shot. The doctor said that even though Taxol doesn't hit rbc and wbc's as hard as A/C, at this point my body is tired and each treatment now will probably continue to hit it hard. #3 is Friday! As much as I hate Taxol, I am very excited to be this close to the end of chemo!