Is There A September 2011 Chemo Group?

sarah, i know how you feel, it's a relief to be almost done with chemo but that panicky fear is lurking right behind. i think all we can do is try to remember most of us diagnosed with bc do not get reoccurances or mets. it's hard i know. glad to hear the tats didn't hurt, i go for my rad consult on jan 9th. last chemo on 10th, yeah baby!!!!

For the mucositis, I've been taking a probiotic and eating yogurt. I'm not sure if it helps, but I figure it can't hurt . I also use biotene gel and have a mouth rinse called reBalance that I use several times a day. The one thing that seems to give me the most pain relief is liquid Maalox. I swish it around and hold it in my mouth for a little bit, then swallow. with the last two chemos, I've gotten thrush along with the mucositis. 

Does the mucositis seem to be somewhat systemic for y'all too? I have stomach issues and major diarrhea (sorry TMI) when it's at its worse. I can't wait until this is over!!!

rjbaby- I have to tell you that you are one amazing woman.  I cannot even imagine working the hours that you work while going through all this.  The fact that you have taken in your daughter during her time of need makes you even more incredible.  I think we never give up our mom role, no matter how old our kids get.  I am sorry that your daughter has not held up her end of the bargain.  I don't blame you for needing to vent.  We can love them enormously but that doesn't make it easy to live with them.

I'm so sorry that you continue to have that stupid itchy rash.  That is just plain not fair.

Hang in there - you have come so far.  I know you are miserable but you are a wonderful person and I truly admire how you are handling all this.  You are way ahead of me and I am not even working.  Hang in there.

rj, you have been amazing through this continuing to work as hard as you do.  2011 is almost over, our "year of cancer" is drawing to a close.  Let's just look forward to 2012 as the "year of recovery" and celebrate!

Belle and anyone else with lovely mucusitis....my MO also wrote a script for an anti-diarrheal.  Way better than Imodium.  I took it each round before the diarrhea set in.  Worked really well, and the beauty of it was that it worked differently than Imodium so that I was 'regular' again once I stopped taking it instead of all constipated like Imodium does.  Hang in there because luckily it is one SE that stops as soon as chemo stops. 

HUGS to all!

rj, ((((HUGS)))) to you!!!

can this year get any worse, yes it can!! my best friend/cousin,my confident,the person who i could tell or do anything with, who never judged me,accepted me for who i am,who wasn't afraid to tell me like it was,who made me laugh,who loved me,who supported me thru my trials and troubles is gone. my heart is broken!!!!!!!

SPCMadi and Maggie: Congrats on your last treatment.  I cannot wait.  My last one is next Wednesday and I am already having anxiety over it.  Like... what's next? It almost feels weird and I am nervous that I will be having a month of no treatment until my surgery on February 8th.  Don't get me wrong... I am so ready to be done with chemo, just a little nervous at the same time. 

Belleeast: So so sorry to hear about your friend.  Unreal that something like that happens on top of what you are already dealing with. May you find some comfort and peace while you mourn. 

RJ: Wow you have so much going on.  You are a rockstar!! I have a year and a half year old and that is tough but I have been fortunate enough to go on short term disability so I don't have that to stress about.  Power to you sister and may your daughter step up and help you out some more. 

What I need to do is stop reading some of the other threads on this site. Every now and then one of the stage IV Metastatic threads catches my eye and I read into them and freak myself out.  My goodness those women are brave but I am hoping, like we all are, that I get to be and remain cancer free.  I need to get my mind out of the gutter and onto more positive things.  I am so looking forward to 2012 and I hope it is a year of good news for all of us!!

Hi all, and Happy New Year!  Did any of you glance at the Dec chemo thread?  Apparently they  have changed the scale for the oncotype dx.  Now an 11 is the top of the low risk.  Phew, makes me glad that at an 18 I chose to do chemo!!!!

Happy New Years everyone!!! here's to a better year for all of us!!!!

Congrats Maggie and Sarah.  You survived the chemo and I hope the worst is over for you.

Happy New Year's ladies.  We all want to leave the cancer diagnosis year behind and go forward to better times and we do the best we can to make that happen. I always thought the term warriors was overdone in describing surviving treatment until I saw all of us have been through,  I thought "in the trenches" was overdone, until I heard your stories.  You make me so proud how much strength women have and what they can get through.

Happy New Year Everyone!  Wow 2012!!  I will be the big 50 this year!

khegidio and ccjj, I have had many feelings like you both (and probably many others). Tomorrow is my last TAC.  People keep saying "yeah, last one woohoo".  I am so ready to be done but at the same time worried about future.  I know I should just be positive but lately find myself feeling down. I too read some of the sad stories on BCO and get really freaked out. I compare people's dx and then get more scared.  I know I could be so much worse off and tell myself worrying gets me nowhere.  I start rads in January and then I guess some hormone tx, which also doesn't sit well.  But, we do what we have to and try to move on. 

Kind of funny how scarred and scared are so similar!!

Sara ♥

Good Morning Ladies,

I am in the middle of my post #6 SE's feeling horrible, yet knowing that I don't have to do it again makes it more tolerable.  Took my first shower sans cuff this morning I am not sure why but this seemed like heaven to me. I am so glad the pick is gone. I hope you are doing well and that if you are not dne your Chemo yet you are almost there. 

Sarah

Hi Cooka...have not "heard" from you i a while...hope you are well.  Things are coming back to normal after the last chemo.  I am trying to get the readiation portion settled with the insurance co so I bet you can guess how that is going.  They have started to pay claims but have held back 10% of everything and so the bills are pouring in.  I am supposed to have a $2500 oop max but not sure what is going on now.  Such fun. 

The taste buds are settling back in.  Could taste a wonderful spaghetti dinner my SIL made 2 nights ago.  First time the sauce tasted good.  Going shopping today to find a fab outfit to wear to my franchise conference  for accepting the award that we will get for the year.

Cording in the left arm is so persistant.  Saving my 25 therapy visits this calander year for after recon--which I hope is done by the end of 2012.  Wanting to start back to working out.  Will do anything I can to prevent recurrence of this nightmare.

To all of you still finishing chemo i wish you well.  Finish strong ladies.  

To all of you who have not posted in a while I pray that all is well with you as well and that you can start to put these SE's behind you and move on to living again.  I feel fortunate to have found support and strength here.  This is way too hard to do alone.  I joined the Jan rads thread so may see some of you over there too.

Here's to a new year full of new hopes and dreams for us all.  2012 is gonna ROCK!

Maggie

Rj: my goodness I hope they fix your port. Sounds painful.



Scpmadi: congrats to you. I am right behind you sista.



I am sitting in mny last chemotherapy as we speak. TAC see you later. I am about 2/3rds of the way done. Should finish up around two thus afternoon then maybe a nice lunch before I go down.



I decided to go back to work next Wednesday so looking forward to that. I will be there right up until my surgery on February 8th which will take me out of work for an estimated 4 weeks. Then more follow up visits to review pathology reports to see if I need radiation. Right now my tumor is not big enough to really qualify me, nor do I have multiple lymph nodes involved (only one from what they can tell). If my surgery Identifiesmore than that or my margins are not clear then I might have to do some radiation. Hoping not but i will do whatever they think I need. Then comes the hormonal treatment. The plan was to have me on tamoxifen for 5 years but with my recent pulmonary embolisms, she doesn't feel like that's a safe medicine for me since it raises the risk of clots. Turns out my other options that are equally if not more effective are ado aromatose inhibitors or something like that. Problem is, they only work if I am postmenopausal. So they will have to also give me shots to put me into menopause. Not what I wanted but my husband and I made a decision a while back that our goal is to have me around as long as possible for our son, and to not jeopardize that for another child. So i am okay with that. Get healthy first. If we want another child, we can adopt.



So a lot going through my mind right now but I am so glad I am inching toward the being done phase.



Congrats to all of us that are.



You ladies give me strength.