October 2011 Chemo group

Terry.. To me, recovery was alot easier to me then chemo also. The worst part was the node removal but I'm guessing they don't have to do it this time. I just took pain meds for first couple days. Then Tylenol. Drains are a pain though. I hope they are out for Christmas!! I will be thinking of you on Wednesday. Hope your feeling better today.

Terry - I will be in your shoes in February after I finish my chemo. I'm sure you are overwhelmed as the day approaches.  I just said a prayer for you!!!   I'm so glad to hear you ladies say that surgery should be a breeze after going thru chemo.....I will trust what you all say (LOL).  This will be my first major surgery my life, so I have no idea what that kind of "pain" is.  Funny thing, I was rarely sick in my life.  I thought I had such a powerful immune system and often bragged about my fortune.  Oh well......genetics, nothing you can do about that.  My mom's side is full of cancer.....I'm just the youngest ever to be diagnosed....go figure!   

 Last night, I went to a Christmas ornament party with a bunch of  girlfriends...room full of 30+ women......as soon as I got home, I cried and cried.  It hit me hard last night....the fact that my life has changed so drastically.   I wanted to shout "shut the *#ck up" so many times......quit talking about your husbands, your kids, your minor aches and pains, your houses, your cars, your vacations, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah......that's all I could hear.  I have 'effin cancer......shove it all up your ass!! (LOL)

Anyway, that's my story......day #8 after treatment #4......feel like I turned a corner yesterday.....food is starting to taste semi-good again.  SEs pretty much the same, just stronger and lasting longer. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend my fellow warriors!!! 

Wild - I know what you mean.  I have a low tolerance for whiners right now and when I hear people complaining about minor issues I have to just walk away.   I so much want to say be thankful for your normal life.

Teri...I cant speak for every one.....Surgery was easy for me for me....I had a double max at 3 pm one day and was sent home the next day by noon. I did not take the pain meds...had some nas after the surgey but they fixed that fast........it was hard to sleep on my back and my back was achy...so I slept in the recliner the first week.    I was just really tired.  We will be thinking of you Terri.....if you made it thru chemo, then you will do fine in surgery...just keep telling yourself that.

Well so much for thinking I was home free. . . .  got my ass handed to me by Round #4.  Woke up Friday  morning (day 5) after such a bad night's sleep I immediately went back to bed and slept the entire day!  It didn't dawn on me to check my temp until 4:30 that afternoon -- turned out to be 101.7.   I was told to call for anything over 100.5, so I did and ended up going to the ER for 6 hours Friday night, where they pumped me full of fluids and tylenol.  Also gave me a script for Levaquin for my diagnosis of "Fever of Indeterminate Origin".  At least it wasn't the flu.  Still felt pretty crappy yesteday with a fever off and on, but today I woke up to 98.6.  Yeah!  Really draggy still, but it's 10 a.m. and I haven't had a nap yet, so that's progress.  I'm supposed to go on a little 2 day trip tomorrow and if I can't  go, I am going to be so bummed.  It was supposed to be a little "end of chemo" celebration, so I've got to rally here!

wilrumara - we all know our lives are forever changed, so when those crying moments sneak up on you, you just let 'em out!  You'll feel better for it (but you probably already know that). 

@Moonflower....I like that..."Sitting here in my breast cancer world".......so true.  And when your in the depths of chemo illness, its sooo bad.   I have a friend who has Stage IV......I need to get together with her soon for her to put things into perspective for me.....

Boy I was pissed after I left that party the other night (LOL).  Guess it doesn't help that when I tried to have a glass of white wine, it tasted like crap.....and actually burned when I took a few sips!   You know who I'm really pissed at right now.....some of my closest friends actually.  I am not looking for sympathy, believe me, but sometimes I can't believe how insensitive they really are.......shut up already, is all I want to say to them.  I have learned a very important lesson since my diagnosis.......shut up and listen to people....ask them how they are doing/feeling, send cards out often to those who need encouragement for whatever reason.  I think I've always been a pretty good listener and encourager but I've never been much of a card sender......will definitely be doing that in the future.  We all have our crosses we have to bear in life......I kept waiting for the "ax to fall"  so to say, as God has been very good to me.....I know He still is and will continue to walk beside me through this.  Enjoy your Sunday!!  It's beautiful here in PA

Carla- I totally had that impulse too about Santa! Family keeps asking me what I want for Christmas and I say to myself-hair, boobs, strength,taste, emotional control, a normal pet scan- you know the basics- but I quietly tell them nothing- I'm just thankful to be here. Life has changed so much so fast.



So my insurance denied my pet/ct scan that I had done back in August. The letter said a physicians review board deemed it " not necessary towards breast cancer treatment". Boy- you know I'd like to have a word with those docs. You damn sure know if they were told they had a stage 3 cancer growing in them they would want to know if that fucker had mets'd to another organ. FYI it did reveal metastatic disease which did alter my treatment plan. Guess I'll have to appeal it and educate these brain surgeons. I am thankful I have some type if insurance though.

fredntan- Ive had a lumpectomy and nodes out back in June but before rads he wants the boob GONE so now I have to have a mast  as he says it was .5 from the coterized margin and its gotta go before he will start rads, Chemo is all done 18 weeks of it and DONE, I dont have big boobs anyway but still its MINE and I kinda like it... Sort of...... Still freaks me out 

Terry I will be thinking about you!

Auntienance-I am glad your fever has lessened! I hope you can make that trip. You so deserve it.

LoriKristine-I had to fight insurance for ER visits and I won! You will too! 

In the future I will send cards more and not just at the beginning of a crisis. So many people forget about you. I received many cards at the beginning and quite frankly kind of needed them much more during chemo. I really appreciate the cards I have been receiving recently. I have also been amazed at the kindness of some aquaintences and the total silence from people who I thought were friends. Some people just don't know what to say and so they say nothing. 

I receive an email every morning from one of my sisters. It is a quick note to let me know she is thinking of me, asks how I am feeling and what I am going to do that day. When this is all over, we will have a day by day account of this journey. I am so lucky to have her in my life!

I made spritz Christmas cookies today! It felt so good to do some normal Christmas preparation.

Have a great evening everyone!  

BC seems to be the big elephant in the room where our friends and acquaintances are concerned. It appears to me to be one of two things, either people just really don't know what to say so end up babbling about silly stuff to keep from having to deal with an awkward (for them) situation or else by acknowledging it, somehow it makes it too much of a reality that they could "catch it" too. I'm so grateful for the few folks close to me that have helped me through this, just by calling, texting, sending a funny card, offering to take me to an appointment or bringing over a meal. If people would only realize that the very best thing they could say to me is "how are you feeling?" instead of acting like nothing has changed.



Thanks for the good wishes, they worked! I'm feeling 100 percent better tonight and even managed to pack my suitcase. Of course with a serious case of chemo brain I hope I didn't forget anything important! Love ya my sisters!

Tappy - I think most people take claritin the day of the neulasta shot and for several days after. I'm sure it won't hurt to take it the day before, I think some do that too. I take it everyday for allergies. I've always taken the steroids the day before and two days afterwards, but I seem to remember someone here on a reduced dose taking them the day of (Michelle?) I'm not sure if she got it iv though. The only tip I have for that is to take an ativan to try to sleep. I never had much success sleeping the night before infusions. Good luck in the chair. You'll be one step closer to being done.



Lori kristine, love the line about wanting emotional control for Christmas lol, wouldn't that be nice!



Terry, good luck Wednesday, we've got your back!

Congrats to all of you who have made it through AC and are now moving on to Taxol.  You'll find it different if not necessarily easier.  There is definitely less nausea, a bit more joint pain and I found the fatigue continued to build.

I received the following "pre-meds the day of treatment:  50 mg of IV benadryl (which was reduced to 25 after the first Taxol treatment without an allergic reaction); IV Pepcid; IV Aloxi; 1 Emend tablet and 6 mg of Decadron - tablets).  They don't normally give the Emend and Aloxi for nausea, but it had worked well for me with AC and we decided not to change anything.  I took the Emend for the following two days.  I took generic Pepcid every day during Taxol to cut down on reflux.  Occasionally I supplemented with a Tums or two.  I was also taking generic Prilosec so I had all the bases covered.  Taxol irritates a different acid generator than the one affected by AC, so that is why my center administers the IV Pepcid. 

The 6 mg of Decadron is the only steroids that I got each treatment.  I didn't take any the day before or days after.

The IV benadryl made me groggy for an hour or so during treatment.  It knocks out many people and you might just end up napping through the whole thing.  I never slept, just slurred my speech like a drunk person for that hour...lol.  Also, my Taxol IV drip took 3 hours in addition to the time it took for my exam, lab work and pre-meds.  My whole time at the center was at least five hours, so don't be surprised if yours takes a long time.  A slow drip helps prevent allergic reactions.  I was on dose dense, you weekly Taxol gals will be much quicker. 

I took Claritin the day I got Neulasta (the day after treatment) and the next four days. 

My "worst" days with Taxol were days 4 and 5, where I really noticed joint aches and pains.  I already take Meloxicam for arthritis, so I took a couple of Tylenol if it got bad enough to keep me from sleeping.  I had to be careful, though, because Taxol elevated my liver enzymes a bit - I think it was the second treatment that we noticed it.  But at the third one, they had returned to the normal range.  Just be aware that it might happen to you. 

And remember to keep up your hydration.

 My eyelashes and eyebrows held on during AC, but by the last Taxol treatment they were all gone. 

auntinance...sorry to hear about your fever. Hope you continue to feel better and glad it was nothing nasty.

Terry--I imagine a full mastectomy is scarier than a lumpectomy, on many levels. I did have a second surgery, but it was just scraping out a little more margins, so it was even easier than the first. No drains or hospital stay, though. I hope your surgery goes smoothly and is pain-free.

I found that it was most difficult dealing with people right after diagnosis. That's when I got all the pitying looks that I just couldn't stand. Now that I'm in chemo and my diagnosis is old news, they just seem happy to see me whenever I'm out and about and feeling OK.

The one thing that *really* bugs me though are things like a facebook conversation between some of my friends the other day. One was concerned about lowering her salt intake, and another piped in with "Eat all the salt you want! We're all going to die of something someday!" I responded with " 'We're all going to die of something some day' is a fun philosophy until your doctor uses the word 'prognosis' and discusses the statistical probability of your being alive in 5 years. Then, making minor dietary or lifestyle changes doesn't seem so onerous anymore.'"

Does someone here have cough because of chemotherapy? My onc said it´s normal when you get taxotere, but I´m always concerned. My throat is too dry and it feels like the cough is coming from there...but I don´t know what to do about it.