Taxotere/Cytoxan starting February 2012.

Hi Ladies,



I finished round #4 today! I am so excited for each of you to reach your final TC! It is a great feeling. Thanks for cheering me on Bonnie. You are amazing at keeping up. I am so sorry about all you are dealing with with your mom's well as yourself. Sending prayers your way.



Welcome to all of the new ladies. Going through chemo with others is very comforting. You can do this.



Kelly, I am sorry about your hands. Crazy! I agree about the hormone therapy. I am 48, but they say I went through menopause. I was on the pill, so still had light periods. As soon as I was diagnosed, I had one period and nothing since (early Nov) so I guess they are right. I am very concerned about AI's. I took my MO the article that i posted here about 2-3 years on Tamoxifin a d 2-3 years AI's. I also keep thinking about Neli. I messages her, too. No posts from her for a very long time.



Uprightup, happy you are halfway! So sorry about your scar. Hope your SE's are mild.



Shera, I'd love to hear if you find anything interesting about other ways to cut estrogen. I've switched to all organic dairy, no hormones fed to cows in those. I've gone to organic cleaning products, etc. any fruits and veggies, too.



Ruthie, Couldn't agree more about the easy part. I was told by my BS that I had "nice" cancer. I am very thankful that I didn't have overly aggressive cancer, but I had BMX, chemo, reconstruction 2nd surgery in June and 5+ years coming. Nothing easy about it!



Woodburns, wow. 2nd diagnosis in a year. God bless you. Did you have chemo last year? An oncotype test?



I think and pray for you all every day. Thanks for sharing so openly.







Imlola, I agree. We have to help to find information and not blindly make decisions. It is overwhelming.

Love your work story!



Slak, thanks for sharing info.
Kim

Kim48   Congrats.  Here is to hoping your SE's are mild.

Gayle

Ulightup and Kim48 hope you are both feeling well today and Kim48 congrats you have made it.  

When I was diagnosed my MO made it seem like ER and PR positive was a good thing,now I am confused.Any one have any info on how the difference of neg versus pos effects us? I do know that soy is not my friend and that we would respond better to the Tamoxifin I think but that is about it..I have been so consumed with researching the chemo aspect of this whole ordeal I have just begun to dig into the rest of it.

Morning Ladies,

AEM47, firstcall, & mthrdee: Good luck today!

Thank you ladies for all the well wishes for my mother  She will be going home today or tomorrow. She will be staying with Jason & I for a bit. She was up walking and practicing on stairs yesterday. She hasn't had any more pain!

lmlola59: I've been feeling pretty good overall! Yesterday I was fatigued more than usual so I wasn't able to make it to the hospital. Mom & I talked on the phone & text.

Ulightup: Yes, you are half-way done! Keep cherishing those memories!

It is now three days post-treatment #3. I'm still sweating on & off in the middle of the night. My mouth is losing it's taste. I find I'm wanting to eat cold stuff. I recevied Liver test back and I'm back at normal. I feel much better as far as the fatigue from yesterday. I took two Advil PM last night to be sure I slept. It was a GREAT night's sleep! 

 What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog ~ General Dwight Eisenhower

Firstcall totally agree with you here and have already decided that I am going to try it and see how it goes.I have so far done very well with  limited Chemo side effects so I have in my head that this will be the same.But I am not one to take medications even hate how much Tylenol and Claritn I have been taking so I just like to know what I am putting into my own body. I think what I worry more about is the long term effects after say 20 years since I still plan on being here and cancer free and the data is still not know on this.

Bonnie So glad you are feeling OK except the fatigue and of course the taste buds,I have noticed that this also has lasted longer for me on round 2 compared to round 1 so I am expecting it will be worse on #3.But if that is the worst of it for me I will take it. I really like this quote 

Gtreat day to all 

Firstcall, like the other ladies I agree with you too.  If you read the side-effects on the insert of any drug they often look horrendous, but in actual fact many occur rarely.  Based on benefit of Tam for my situation, I will willingly take it and hope for the best.  The good new is that there are a lot of ongoing trials of new drugs/strategies that may benefit us in the future.  In the meantime, we do the best we can!  Good luck on #3 today!

A_Fighter - thanks

Hi guys - been kinda preoccupied with dealing with the white count issue since I went without the neulasta shot this last treatment.  I hope everyone who had, or is having treatments this week  get thru it smoothly.

Neutrophils dropped severely without the shot and I was severely neutopenic.  I needed to go on antibiotics since the doc said I was like a person walking around with no skin (yuk!!)  I got pretty ticked off at them since they were watching the count and sent me over the weekend to get another check at a local hospital and then didn't bother to look at the results. So while I thought no phone call meant the count was coming up..it was actually dropping to a very dangerous point.  Of course in the meantime, I'm eating carrots - raw, etc. and should have been on antibiotics.  They had no excuse for what happened, but managed to say they would be more concerned if I was elderly and got pnemonia (sp?)  Sooo does it mean cause I'm in my 40's, that I don't get the same care?  and again they use the term "you're young and healthy" as I'm sitting in front of someone that I'm clearly 15 years old than..lol  I think young, healthy and doing chemo is an oxymoron.

I also addressed with them the watering eyes.  After being refered to the opthamologist, after treatment #1, I found out that the watering eyes are from sores on the corneas or lining of the corneas - I guess you have rapid dividing cells in your eyes.  Since mine were a mess, I took claritan, dayquil anything to be able to see when I had to go somewhere....well, that did more harm than good.  I was pretty aggravated that they can't give me that heads up ??  I basically told the MO, I'm tired of hearing they've never heard of tooth pain, headaches, eye issues, etc.since none exsisted prior to chemo and most are an easy fix. 

On an up note, Treatment #3 went fine and white count was up on it's own and looking fantastic at almost 9000 and over 5000 for the neutrophils.  They also seemed to do a very thorough visit today and actually proposed putting some of these side effects on paper for the pre-chemo patients.  I think that's a great idea - the only way I knew about taking claritan for the neulasta shot was by coming to this board - I'm sure alot have the watering eyes..but it's helpfull if you know why and treat them correctly.  Hopefully they will follow thru with this:-)

silviazarra

My thoughts exactly.  I was just informed today by the MO that I'll be getting Tamoxifen as well.  He wants me to take it for 2 years then Aromisen for 3. I'll worry about any SE's if they crop up.  I figure what could be worse that chemo right?

As for Tamoxifen --  I agree with giving it a shot.  Its been my plan all along to try it and see how my body reacts, but I'm still going to read everything I can to be informed about it and try to be equipped with a plan B if needed -- so I appreciated all the info shared here. 

Coldenmom.... I just received a PM from Neli today! She can't continue chemo, she had such an extreme bad reaction to it. She's moving on to Rads (33 sessions!) and shared that she needed to spend time not thinking about cancer, so I guess thats why she hasn't been back to this thread. 

Catherine22 -- you and I have skepticism in common! I found Dr. Susan Loves book wonderfully up-to-date even with all the fast-changing treatments. At some point, I hope to donate to her reasearch. I just purchased Jane Plants book titled "Your Life in Your Hands".  If you haven't already heard of her -- then her site might interest you:

http://www.cancersupportinternational.com/janeplant.com/

Kim -- I will definitely share as I learn more. So far, much of what I've learned is from the book "What your doctor may not tell you about breast cancer: how hormone balance can help save your life".  

Hi all

I was stumbling last night and came across this E book that I think has a wealth of information.I thought I would share as I find it somewhat interesting 

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1f1a69/:1n2k.J8c_:SEyJbnEm/www.cancer-prevention.net/ 

I put just the www.cancer-prevention.net into the URL and it did come up

It is huge and it is anti Chemo but there is a lot of good info for alternative or maybe to use in conjunction with other treatments They have rated different treatments as effectiveness and they continually update this as stats come in.I have not had the time to read through but at the bottom there is actually a section that somewhat summarizes says What to Do? Where to start? Also can click on the type of cancer you are concerned with the protocol for this particular kind.

Just wanted to share with those that are looking for natural options to keep us healthy 

Hello ladies!  Hope everyone has a good day with little SEs.  I have a question about Neulasta and Claritin.  I had my 1st shot last week and had lots of aches from it. 

My question is - when do you take Claritin and how much?  Is it Claritan or Claritan-D?  I would like to be better prepared next time.   50% done for me!

Thanks Kim.  Not sure I understood - Did you start the day before or 5 days before N shot?

Good Morning Ladies,

I receive emails from Cancer Network & one came yesterday - below I provided a link to an article about the Gene 2D6.   

www.cancernetwork.com/breast-cancer/content/article/10165/2043130 (Breast Cancer Genotype,CYP2D6 not Predicitive of Tamoxifen Benefit)

I was tested to see if I would metabolize Tamoxifen (Tamoxifen Resistance/CYP2D6 Test - Blood Test) and it showed I would metabolize Tamoxifen. My results came back as Extensive Metabolizer. 

Here are a few more articles about this Gene & Tamoxifen - I tired to provide you with a wide variety of articles...

Susan Love: www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/content.asp?CATID=19&L2=3&L3=7&L4=0&PID=&sid=132&cid=1146 (Should I have the CYP2D6 Tamoxifen Resistance Test)

www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2009/2009-03/2009-03-10041 (Drug Interactions: Beware of CYP2D6 Inhibitors in Patients Taking Tamoxifen) - PLEASE read this if you are and going to be taking other prescriptions such as: antidepressants - There is also a list of other drugs listed on the right hand side.

breast-cancer-research.com/content/7/5/E6 (CYP2D6 genotype and Tamoxifen response)

medicalnewstoday.com/releases/133035.php (Research on Tamoxifen Leads to Recommendation for CYP2D6 Gene Test) Dealing with Tamoxifen and Anastrozole - ABCSG-8 Study also talks about Postmenopausal Women

interactmd./content/tamoxifen-aromatose-inhibitors-and-cyp2d6-testing (Tamoxifen, Aromatose Inhibitors, and CYP2D6 Testing)

discoverysedge.mayo.edu/de08-4-gen-goetz (CYP2D6 and Tamoxifen: Using Pharmacogenomics to Rediscover an Old Drug)

A Thread was started back in 2007: community.breastcancer.org/forum/78/topic/695206?page=1

medicine.iupui.edu/clinpharm/COBRA/Tamoxifen%20and%202D6v7.pdf  (Drugs That Inhibit CYP2D6 That Should Be Avoided While Taking Tamoxifen)

medicine.iupui.edu/clinpharm/ddis/table.aspx (Look under 2D6 - if you click on Tamoxifen Guide it will also give you the above link I posted, the one above this one) 

Enjoy your day,

XOXO

Bonnie 

Onvacation and myleftboob - thanks for the clarification.  I will definitely try it for TX#3.  I got Neutropenia from 1st TX, so started Neulasta for TX#2.  Hopefully last 2 TXs will be less painful with Claritin. 

 THANKS :-)

Hello, brave ladies.

 Wish I'd seen this a month ago. I started TC mid February... about six weeks after my bilateral mastectomy. My breast cancer was found on my 40 year old screening FIRST (and only) mammogram. Although my tumor was small and nodes were negative, I wanted all potentially cancerous breast tissue gone. Also, I used to be a surgeon... and my husband is a plastic surgeon with a practice that is almost exclusively breast reconstruction after mastectomy. For better or worse, this was well covered territory for us.

 I logged on here to see if anyone else is gaining weight. My oncologist prescribed Lasix before Round #3 because I was up 5 lbs. It's so difficult to look at those numbers on the scale and NOT think I should eat more salad. Although, I should probably eat more salad. And exercise. But I'm too pooped (lazy) to exercise. I'll get back to that when I don't have this awesome immunosuppression excuse.

 For the benefit of others: CLARITIN WORKS!! My darling husband, who reads the blogs for me so I don't freak out, found this and it made Rounds #2 and 3 bone-pain-free. My eyes are teary and a bit blurry, and I was attributing that to the generalized edema. I also have achy teeth and my mouth feels rather constantly like I burned it. After Round #3, I can taste almost NOTHING. It's depressing to get zero enjoyment from food. However, that did not prevent me from eating four brownie corners last night.

Because I'm terribly vain, I think being bald is the most difficult part and think anyone who has never been bald and utters the phrase, "bald is beautiful!" should be throttled. But that's just my black, still-have-one-more-Round-to-go mood of late. Unlike anything else, this doesn't get easier. I feel like the side effects are cumulative and I'm kind of scared of Round #4... even though it will be the last. 

 Your input is helping...

xo,

Britt