March 2012 chemo

Munnybunni- have no fear, you can get up to use the restroom during chemo. You can also just walk around in some centers if you have trouble sitting for that long. You just have to drag your IV pole around with you. I had the same question when they told me how long my infusion would take. I have a tiny tank and there's no way I could make it through a 4 1/2 hour infusion! : )



A PET scan Is a way for your doctors to determine whether your cancer has metastasized. It looks a lot like an MRI. Prior to the scan they give you an injection of radioactive sugar which will be taken up by cells with higher metabolic rates to a greater degree. Those areas then show up on the scan as areas of concern. For many of us, those scans will become routine over the next several years.



Keep us posted on what you find out Thursday!

Yep, you just unplug and go.  Helps if you have a port so you don't have to use your hands...bringing a/b gel next time because even with opening the door with a paper towel, I still feel germy.

Bev - aquaphor can be found at any pharmacy, Wal-Mart, Target, grocery stores, etc...it is just a basic, greasy, yet effective moisturizer.  I used to have to use it for eczema for my youngest.  If that is what ya'll are talking about - is itfor moisture around the nose?

Masserz - I got the cream today - omg it was expensive - 65 dollars on our insurance - it was filed against our HRA but hello (and that 1000 starting balance is long spent, I guess it just depends on who files their bills the fastest).    It better last awhile!  It is just a generic lidocaine/prilocaine cream.  Didn't need it today as I was just getting the antibiotics.

The port is a gift from God.  So much better than those needle sticks.  I didn't even feel the access or taking out and they used it for 2 blood draws and 2 ivs and a bag of fluids...oh and benadryl when I had an itchy reaction.

 Galena - I crave sweets all the time, lol.  I was being proud of myself for losing 5 lbs due to a "stress diet" before I started chemo...I just haven't been hungry but making myself eat so I won't be sick.  Then my friends brought brownies yesterday - not as stressed as I thought not to eat!

munnybunni - some drs order PET scans as part of staging, some don't.  Mine does with any breast cancer.  It is like a CT scan but works differently in science-y ways I don't understand.  They inject you with a small amt of radioactive material, then you have to lie still for 70 minutes (I fell asleep), then they scan you for about 1/2 hr - the material is drawn to the replicating cells and the way they are metabolizing the sugar (I THINK, don't quote me) and blood flow, etc...so you have to do a carb free diet for 12 hours and fast for 5 beforehand..that is the results I was desperately waiting for today.  The only BC that cannot metastasize is DCIS if it is totally and completely contained in a duct and has not grown out (again, not a dr, don't quote me).

All - OMG I am leaking like a faucet from that tiny hole where they aspirated the seroma.  The MO never called back with a u/s time and when I called to ask, the receptionist who books appt says there is no order for that.  A nurse will call me.  A nurse did not call me.  So tomorrow at 8, I am going to be speed dialing them for that and the BS office telling them they are going to have to either drain this or maybe even put in a draining tube like they do post surgery because I am soaking a gauze pad in under an hour.  I will be sleeping with several gauze pads and a towel under my arm tonight.  The bizzaro thing is that this is NOT a direct reaction from the SNB/node removal - it was 2 weeks ago.  It didn't happen til I had the port surgery.  Ok, done complaining.  Expect more tomorrow.

Bev... Aquaphor (I spelled it wrong in previous post) can be purchased in any pharmacy possibly supermarket as well.  I hope I didn't mislead you, you may still get a nosebleed.  It really keeps the area very moist and keeps from drying out and scabbing.  I feel so much better with it. I just pulled it out it is made by Eucerin, its looks like vaseline but comes in a tube.

Munnybunni...I asked my doctor about it and she said there would be no Pet scans.  I believe you have to have positive nodes for them to do this test although I am not positive that I am correct.  I asked the same question at my second opinion as well, and that doctor also said no, he said I'm afraid your going to have to get used to that idea.  He meant no follow up testing-just physical exams. 

Kari...Hoping everything is okay and you will start soon.  I started almost three months late, I know how stressful that time can be.

Thanks y'all and Lisa, I am already feeling like this is normal - like everyone else is weird.  LOL.  Good luck tomorrow.

Brax - thanks and yes, I am thinking '"omg y'all are giving this thing a chance to keep growing and escaping"  Makes me wish that I had gone the more conventional surgery first route!  

My BS/Onco do the scans whether or not nodes are involved - maybe because they are doing the chemo first??  I didn't really ask - I just know BS said after the SNB "we will call you with the results but it will not change our next steps and course of treatment" - which were staging by scans and then the neo chemo.

Ok, y'all I have GOT to get off this board and go watch some crappy DVR'd Lifetime movie or something...after I deal with this mess under my arm.  

Bev... Aquaphor ....i went to the radiology department at my hospital and asked them for some samples ...they gave me quite a few plus a $1.00 off coupon for it

brax,,Masserz, kitb04...thanks so much for your information...helps me learn each day i look at these forums

lisajcj I start at 8 tomorrow morning. 

 Excited to finally get going, but worried too.  I kept thinking nothings happening, it's taking soooo long.  Now it is just here.  Oh well.  Good luck to everyone starting tomorrow and well, basically to everyone going through this experience at anytime. 

Cmclean- sending you the best from NE PDX!

water and bathroom breaks---they want you to drink plenty of water  especially after you go home cuz they don't want the chemo drugs to "settle" in your kidneys--drinking is flushing!

your infusion machine will be plugged into electricity however; it can be unplugged and taken with you to go to the bathroom--it's just like the pole you have in any surgical/hospital room..so don't worry about that!!!!!!!

mt tx #3 went well today and i had time for a nice nap before we went back for monthly support group! my son arrived with a beautiful bouquet of pink roses! we had a good day together! tomorrow is my neulasta shot and i have already taken my claritin tonite.

karri  ...awww honey..i'm laughing WITH you tonite so that neither of us cries!!!!!

try to rest.......hugs!

Karri - I am cracking up reading your post! I can just picture you headed down the hall, beep beep beep beeping.  I really needed the laugh tonight so thanks. Good luck tomorrow.

Kim and Sissydi - I was given Compazine, no Emend. Hopefully, I'll get that and a steroid during pre-chemo infusion. Thanks for the help. I'm getting calmer...

Headed for a Xanax and bed. Good night all.

Lisa and cmcclean, I'm doing my first one tomorrow as well, 8 am. Desperately hoping for some sleep here tonight. Quietly trying not to freak right out.

Good luck tomorrow!

KatyCB- heck if we don't sleep tonight maybe we can nap through the chemo? Good luck tomorrow and sweet dreams tonight.

Those of you going off for your first treatments today...Good Luck! I wish you all minimal side effects! It's kind of like we are all characters in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The chemo takes over our bodies like the body snatchers. Those of you going today will  be "one of us" now. We are definitely all in this together...a journey no one else who hasn't been through it will understand. If you're up to it later, share how you're feeling. It does help to talk about it to people who understand.