Is There A September 2011 Chemo Group?

Mags, congrats on the award!!  Hope you have a great weekend with your friends.

Well, today was supposed to be my 3rd tx.  Drove an hour to the cancer center closer to my house, waited 2 hours...talked to the doc.  When they found out I still have tingling in my fingertips they decided to call my onc.  He said he wanted to postpone me a week & then drop my taxol to 75%.  I was really angry when they first told me...but I haven't been hydrating, so I'm kind of happy I'll have some more time to pump myself full of water before the next one.  Unfortunately that pushes my last tx into January.  I was so hoping to be done with the chemo before the new year...oh well, I'll be able to celebrate New Years without SE's. 

Hope you all have relatively minor SE's this weekend! Hugs.

Jerseylicious, congratulations on #3!  My #3 wll be Monday and I too will only have 1 more to go.  I haven't had water gain, but I've bounced up and down about 7 pounds during all this.  I'm only 5' 2" so 7 pounds is at least one size up or down for me.  I've just kept active though all this chemo crap.  I walk everyday and sometimes will do some heavy gardening like mowing, talking branches off of trees, etc.  Most of my neighbors know my health status and it's kinda funny for them to see "chemo girl" climbing a tree and working.  P.S.  I think this is why I healed fast and continue to have minimal SEs.  

I did stop my multi-vits and my fish oil during all this.  I don't want anything to interfere with the chemo.  When all is said and done, I'll start my health regime again.  Until then... I have 3 more days to actually taste food so I'm off to enjoy some stashed Halloween candy!

mags, praying it is just scar tissue for your bil.

Hello everyone, just checking in to say I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Kimberly hope your Neulasta SE's are minimal. I was a Neulasta virgin until last infusion and now I see what the fuss is about. That bone pain was no joke! Yay for narcotics...I had the pain in my lower back and hips really bad and my legs would involuntarily jerk without perc...maybe I should write cancer rhymes?ok maybe not. Anyway, hope you have smooth sailing. 

Kelli  if you are out there i am really wondering how you are doing with the whole lymphedema thing? Are you getting good tx and feeling better about things? 

Have a good weekend everyone!

Anne 

Rae, I have been praying for you and your family.  May God hold you in His arms and provide peace.

I am officially done with chemo!!!  Round 4 this morning. Hugs all around the chemo room. 

So here's where I am at, if it is helpful to everyone else.  Got edema 2 weeks after round 3, just at ankles.  MO said can happen after any treatment, up to 4 weeks after the infusion.  No big deal, just need to keep my feet up when I can. Taxotere is the culprit there.  MO gave me script for Diflucan this time to try to help with the weird white coating I get on my tongue that may or may not be thrush and may or may not be related to the diarrhea.  My skin is dry dry dry.  I put hand lotion on to handle papers and in 30 seconds my fingers can't separate one paper from another.  I will be upping the ante on lotion and super creaming my hands at night. Noticed some skin peeling around my toenails too.  No itches or anything, just peeling skin, so will be upping the attention to the feet also.  Prob all related to chemo pause. The little facial twitches continue.  Especially later in the day and around or on my eyelids.  Looking forward to those going away as they are rather annoying. 

Fatigue....I had forgotten that I was warned that it was cumulative so was concerned that I didn't bounce back as well between tx 3 and 4.  MO reminded me that it is cumulative and that I have been exceptional in that I continued to work and live my life and even go on vacation. He said I did better than 99% of his patients and he attributes it to my attitude.  So, I plan on taking it pretty easy and finally using my sick time these next few weeks, and get strong for rads.  And, I plan on approaching rads the way I approached chemo -  I will listen to all the advice from the pros and from this site, and will begin with the idea that my SE's will be minimal. My MO's mom just finished her rads (with a very similar diagnosis to mine) 3 months ago and told him that the fatigue is nothing compared to the chemo fatigue.  I also ran into a gal today that I met during Look Good, Feel Better class.  She just finished her rads and said the same thing.  That is great news to me as I was dreading the holidays feeling like I couldn't walk from one room to another!

Hair status= still have stubbies all over my head, but in patches.  Had to have my DS razor it again as it was bugging me sticking thru my scarves.  He noticed that my scalp is dry so I need to pick up some dandruff shampoo and have been using my facial moisturizer all over my head.  Still have a few straggly pubes, mostly the ones on the upper inside thigh.  Still have some blonde facial hairs, mostly on upper lip.  (on a normal day I would wax them off, but gotta live with them now).  Still have arm hair, just less.  Lost a few eyelashes so hoping that is done, eyebrows are a little thinner so I just use pencil to fill them in a little.

Plan for now is get my rad simulation/CT done in maybe 2 weeks and start 30 rads in 4 weeks.  MO first said to start Tamoxifin (but we are not using it, using another aromatase inhibitor due to post menopausal status) after rads, but when I pushed about being ER/PR+ he agreed to start me earlier.  They like to start after rads so they can separate the SE's.  He said the worst I can expect is some pretty joint pain and to call him immediately as there are 3 different meds other than Tamoxifin and each has its own problem set.  Also gave me a tip that spending money on Caltrate or the like is unnecessary. Tums or generic has as much calcium as Caltrate. So one Tums a day and make sure I have 400 units of Vitamin D in my multi-vitamin.

So, emotionally, I feel like I should be doing a non-stop happy dance but am still dreading the next week of SEs.  Hope nothing new shows up as I think I now have a plan to ward off all my known issues.

You all have been wonderful, and I will stick around to follow everyone and continue to update on my status.  Feel free to ask me anything, either here or PM.  What a blessing this site has been!

HUGS!

Thanks to everyone for your comfort and hugs. I have definitely felt them and oh how I love this board of ladies. I am taking one day at a time although now I don't know what are SEs and what is just exhaustion on an already strained system or a combination because everything seemed to get worse after my 3rd infusion just a few days after we got the news that changed my world. I seemed to have gotten a lot worse this last time so my questions are these: my whole body seems to tingle especially hands and feet. I am out of breath walking up a flight of stairs and muscles burn and easily fatigued. My mouth is always over salivating like I could be on the verge of nausea if I gave it much thought. Is anyone else experiencing this from chemo or is this stress or something else I am only 4 days out from my next chemo and SEs haven't gotten better like they have in the past so
does this mean they get worse with number 4 oh Lord help me I have 3 more of these I already have accelerated to age 90 a few more of these and they can study what 150 old woman looks like who is still breathing.

Shelly: I am so happy for you finishing up and please do stick around the boards so you can let us know how fabulous we know you are going to do

Rjbaby: will be praying hard for Colby and mom and Goddaughter. Life is precious and they all have my thoughts and prayers.

Kimberly: hope the black spots stop. Each day I get up I feel like instead of Mr Rogers what's new in the neighborhood it's what's new on the ole bod today, or the chemo edition of let's find Baldo among the various new maladies. Not funny but I think my husband gets tired of hearing I have something new I want to show you (from a new non hairdo to excess pimples) that line used to make

him smile now he just groans:)

Ladies you are all wonderful and we wil beat this and be stronger than before I grieve for my son everyday but I know he would want me to keep a positive outlook. Love to you all!

CJRT: thanks so much that makes me feel better I am not alone although I wish none of us has to go through this. I thought maybe grief was accelerating or bringing this on worse than normal couldn't tell between that and infusion 3. It just seemed to accelerate so fast. I will definitely talk to my Dr I did get extra fluids in infusion last week it didn't seem to help but of course I haven't been eating or drinking right in the last week so I know that isn't helping. Today I woke up with a fighting spirit again

RaeBob, I've lost my brother, my father, my only uncle and my favorite aunt over the last few years.  I have very little family other than my husband and the children we've brought into this world.  I am not a religious person, but believe in many things.  I recently read the book "We are their Heaven" written by a women who helps solve crimes with the police department.

I have found this book enlightening and it helps me feel in touch with the family I have lost, especially during this time in my life.  It is a very fast read.  Hope you are doing as well as you can.

Belleeast: I officially hate Chemo SEs too so I am building a big huge bonfire where I am going to toss the SEs in and watch em burn. Burn baby burn !!! I am starting the fire with heart burn because I could burn a city down with what I have. Ok girls the fall blaze is roaring now anyone else want to join the fun and throw their favorite SEs on there. We should be able to get a huge one going!

BMX Ladies- I am considering my surgical options and what plans I would have to make for extra help with my kids if I go the BMX with immediate reconstruction with tissue expanders route. How long do you think I would need help caring for myself? How long until you felt able to handle your normal daily responsibilities? I will obviously ask the surgeon about lifting the kids and things like that but just trying to get a general idea of what the recovery will be like. For some reason, I have it in my mind that chemo SE's are kicking my butt worse than the BMX recovery will. What do you ladies think?

Rae- I am adding my dry throat, cough and sinus congestion oh and the lack of taste buds. Which MO confirmed was s side effect yesterday. I can now see you fire burning strong here in Canada.

Feeling good today as long as I eat every 20 min. I can't find any liquid that I particularly like this time around water tastes horrible as does my tea, and fruit juice and milk. I have been attempting the watermelon and freezes as the colder the better. Makes it hard to stay hydrated. At least the vomiting has stopped and with the exception of a bit a nausea to warn me when to take the next dose of pills I feel like tomorrow will be a better day. To bad the fatigue will set in on Monday and then sleep for the next three days. My hips are throbbing from laying down for the last two days. Reminds me of my pregnancy days.That can go into he fire too.

Hope you all have a better tomorrow than today. 

Take Care

Sarah

I would like to add to the bonfire....my own dry skin, my edema, my mouth sores, and what seems like the one million bottles of meds that I now own.  Burn, baby, burn!!! 

CJRT, i will take surgery any day over chemo!  I had fairly easy recovery from BMX with TE.  The TAC is much harder and feels never-ending! 

I am soooo dreading tx #3 in the morning....I did have acupuncture on Friday, i was told come back as many times as i need after chemo, it is supposed to really help with nausea.  The place is "donation" only basis (pay what you can) and even free to BC patients if they can't pay,  I am planning to go back after chemo this week and see if it really can help.  I will see how it goes.

Happy Halloween with few SE to everyone!

Sara ♥

robo47--I too cannot complete a thought.  Hoping it goes away after chemo.  Throwing that into the fire along with the bone pain, neck pain back pain, lack of taste buds, discolored fingernails, acne and body hair that will not let go even though my head is as bald as a billiard ball. 

woo--now its war-this is a great fire with lots of fuel to burn!

Maggie