March 2012 chemo

Tellie Savalis, that is nice thing to say! thanks!

Kltb04, whew! what a relief!

KCB, hugs hugs

Myleftboob thanks for info about photobuckets! i am photo crazy i take tons of pics and play with them in photo arts, i use my ipad, but this forum doesnt work to add photo in my ipad so i had to use laptop to get this one up.

Some people talking about periods. my period stopped in October 2010 when I was 47, that was it! i guess I was young and then BAM i have BC.. so I wonder if  all the chemo thing will bring my period back? or that is it I am done? it will be 2 years this october. 

 I am still thankful for my effexor that I take everyday for 7 years, i think it had big to do with no hot flashes, and minimal SE, i could be wrong, but would like to believe that.Plus my outlook in life is full, of course I have crash moments few days after chemo! anyways My MO said a lot of BC going through chemo are given effexor due to hot flashes.  

Hope all is well! xoxox

++++moderator, can you remove one photo each instead of double? if not, show me how!++++ 

kltb: Wonderful news!

KCB: So sorry you're still in hospital. Hope you get home soon.

Everyone else, I'm thinking of you and sending prayers your way. I've been crazy swamped at work today so haven't been able to get back to the board until now. I am doing much better. Only SE left today seems to be sleeplessness. I was awake until 4:00 this morning, then had to be up at 6:00 to come to work. Yuck! But I'm eating now and that horrible taste is slowly diminishing.

(((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))) to everyone!

Lady fighter you look gorgeous! I still look like I have mange lol!

LadyFighter, you look beautiful...love, love, love your dragonfly necklace and you can totally rock the bald head....not so sure about me!  :-)

God bless,

Caitlin 

Ok, got the laptop out, let's see how long the battery lasts.

Caitlin - thinking about you - I am sure the Red Devil/Warrior/Etc...will knock it clean out!

Lana - omg, cannot imagine not sleeping then having to go into work - hope you get some rest tonight.

ladyfighter - LOVE your pics - I bet you are a hoot to be friends with!!  As far as I know my Taxol is 4X every 3 like A/C has been. My MO told me that Herceptin will be started with Tax (iv, like chemo) but once you are on just Herceptin, there aren't the other chemo side effects. (of course, I am sure it has it's own).   And I am under the impression that it isn't every week, but every 2 or 3. But then again, not sure!  The main SE I have heard that is worse with Taxol is the finger/toe nail damage and or neuropathy.

RE: Appetite - I had to drink those Boost shakes last time when I totally lost my appetite...that hasn't happened yet this time.  I am not really hungry or craving anything but I can still eat.

Karon - boooo on the house arrest again.  Maybe if you do weekly, at least it will be over with and you can get on with your life.

Sissy - the sleepiness really hit me this time too - I have never just slept like that.

 Michelle - glad you got the shave over with.  Ever since I went totally bald, I keep a hat, cap, or bandana on, but it is so much better than the itchy, shedding.

January - hope the eye issue gets better...

KCB - still thinking about you!!  

Headachy a bit tonight just from lying around.  Plan to dope up to sleep tonight and maybe get up and do a few things tomorrow.  Soreness continues...various places, various types of pain, I am blaming it all on Nuelasta.

ktlb04- yeah!!! So happy for you.

So, I went into the dojo today.  What a colossal mistake!!!!  I went in last night to set up for a private lesson with my husband, explained my situation, and that I couldn't work with a partner yet.  We specifically asked for a time when it would be just us.  Got there and they had added 2 more people to the lesson.  Since I am not comfortable working with a partner yet the instructor group my husband and the other two people together and had me work by myself doing kempos.  Then basically ignored me.  I felt like a pariah. It was hard enough for me to work up the courage to go in, this was my first real outing with people I knew.  Halfway through the lesson I felt like crying, afterward I was crying.  It just hurt.  I have been with this dojo for 7 years.  They go on about the dojo family, etc.  I don't know, I guess I just needed to vent. I hate crying. 

Ladyfighter you look so great!!! Any which way!

Sorry to pop in, but I'm trying to track down Amy to let her know I posted a PM to her some time ago. Was trying to help with her rash. I was worried because she didn't answer.

Amy - I see you've stopped chemo.  I wish I could have been more help then.  Please PM me if you want.

Hope all of you are doing well.  Hang in there.  I finished TC in January and rads in March.  Really glad this is all done.  I feel for all of you.

Tellie - what a rotten experience! I felt so bad for you reading that



Doxie - I just talked to Amy yesterday...she is find but not on much; if she doesn't pop on here today I will let her know to check her messages.



Alice - enjoy that quality tv . Yesterday I finally gave up on a lifetime movie I was trying to watch. It got too ridiculous! I am about to run out of things in my DVR.



Lazy day here. The kiddos finished up with their standardized tests at school yesterday and were getting out early today so I just said forget it and let them stay home. Nice and cloudy out and I hope it rains . Oh and period is here right on schedule. Where is my chemo pause???

Tellie I'm so sorry they made you feel like that.  If I could I'd go give them a peice of my mind for you.

KCB I hope your feeling better.

Kltb hope the aches go away.  I had pain in my neck and shoulders a few days after 1st tx the nurse told me it was probably stress.

Yesterday morning I made a comment about my hair still here, well little did I realize when I went to take my shower guess what. yep by the handfulls. So went and got my Mom and we went shopping for head coverings.  Found chocolate on sale too!

 Everyone have a good Friday off for tx2! 

myleftboob, i feel like you saying all that out of my mouth! i am in same situation, people run away! I am like ? I am not dead! or ghost?? screw them, it shows you their "true colors" unless anyone stays with you keep you in touch, etc. my dear best friend is in NY, we constantly kept in touch via texts, and video chats. Thanks for the compliments! all my life, i never step out of house without eyeliner in eyes! (ever since I was 14! bahahah) even just to run to store :-| 

Tellie, that is all too familiar to me, you know I am deaf, I always get pushed in back boiler in the crowd of hearing people (who doesnt care about me), sometimes I brush my shoulder, and step in and talk loudly or write on papers, let them know I am not piece of sh*t. (mind you, i am sicilian from my grandparents, wink). But I am sorry you have to go through that, dont let them get to you, if you have to, walk out. (because they are worthless & snobs),  cry out, its okay. I love you. I was brought up to treat everyone equally, and I taught that to my sons and thankfully they are like that too as they are 23 and 26 now   

kltb04, hello! so taxol is not as bad as A/C?? only numbs on feet/hands? what about other SE such as nausea, etc? I am trying to get info about mix my effexor with L-Glatumine (have to wait next thurs to ask MO). I am gonna ask him about herceptin as i dont want to figure out way ahead of time when I have to worry to finish my AC and then taxol. is your AC is adriamycin and cytoxan?

going for my 6th neupogen this morning, and 7th on monday, they upper to 7 times from 5 times because of low of WBC. hopefully this time it will bring it up. it is pain in the a** to drive to hospital everyday just for 2 min of injection! sometimes I have to wait an hour for nurse to get approval of my neupogen and waiting for her to finish other business in the infusion room. Hopefully when I get insurance approval, i can be in my doctor clinic more quiet! at the hospital i had to park car far away, feels like half mile away but i am glad it did because it gives me walk with no option

hope everyone will have a good day I may have to remove photos and redo because it is too BIG lol

XOXOXO 

MLB - rant away!  Luckily, I don't have many close friends to start with that would pull away, lol!  Don't you just wish we all lived close so we could be friends and hang out on the good days/weeks?  Ah, the only disadvantage of meeting in cyberspace!  

ladyfighter - I am sure there are still SE (our luck, lol) but the nails things was just something that was specifically mentioned to me by my chemo nurse. I have heard icing them during tx helps - but I cannot see me doing that at my center - all the people would look at me like I was a freak And my nurse also advised tea tree oil.  What a PITA to have to go in for those injections - ugh!  And you are deaf?  Seriously?  I didn't know that!

slak - I know what you mean on being washed out - I wear makeup as a rule but even more so when I go out now (and by "out" I mean the drs lol!) Especially on my eyes...

lost - chocolate...mmm....poor DH has to go to the store in a bit for "time of the month" supplies (me and oldest DD, poor man) so he might as well pick up some chocolate too!

My main issue with people is the ones that keep saying "if you need anything..." or "let me know whatever you need" - if I had one piece of advice to give the world at large it would be don't ask what you can do.  If you want to do something, just DO IT!  I am not going to ask people for anything.  I do have a good support system and am fortunate in that aspect.  But it has meant the world when people just did bring by food, or a gift card, or sent an email but said "you don't have to answer if you don't feel like it."  Ok, that is all I have for now...can you tell I have the laptop charged up today?

ladyfighter - You are BEAUTIFUL! I only wish I looked like that without my hair. Unfortunately, I don't. And I hate my wig and the caps hurt my ears. So I'm going tomorrow to try to find something more comfortable to cover my ill-shapen head.

ktb - I am sooo hoping the SEs with Taxol are not as bad. I can't see me doing the icing thing at my cancer center either. They'd think I was crazy. So I'll probably just do the tea tree oil thing and hope for the best.

Tellie - That's awful how they treated you at the dojo. I'd be looking for another place to train. There is no excuse for that.

I'm finally feeling better from the last treatment (it was last Wednesday). The only lingering side effect is sleeplessness, and it's driving me crazy. But I'm buried in research for work, so at least I have something interested to do while I'm lying there not sleeping - ugh. I feel like I have this cabinet full of medication that is supposed to help me sleep, but none of it works. And I really hated to ask for something else because I'm beginning to feel like a drug addict who goes begging their doctor for medication all the time. But the thing is, everything he's given me so far is pretty much useless.

Today is Day 3 of TC treatment #3 ... first signs of bone pain today.

Would like to share how I'm managing bone pain from Neulasta.

geogriamom -- half a Neulasta seemed to help me a lot... though other changes i took were to start c
claritin the day before treatment (rather then day of) and add in ibuprofen 400mg as a pre-treatment too. I continue the calritin and ibuprofen for about 5 days. Bone pain went from "fierce" in my 1st tx --docs notes description --- to mild/moderate for 2nd tx and much easier to tolerate with percocet. So far 3rd tx is following the milder pain track. I take percocet at first sign of bone pain... do not wait until it actually hurts. I had to learn to " stay ahead of it" to quote doc.

Neulasta...my MO told me, comes in one dose only... as in " one size fits all". He explained that the previous generation for WBC med, Nuepogen (sp) is dosed by a persons weight. So the best he can do is give a half dose when the full dose is too much. I wonder if there's a connection between body size and Neulasta pain. I am pretty average 5'4" @ 145 lbs...but I'm a lightweight with all meds.... so I don't appreciatec the "one dose fits all" approach. At $9000 at shot..some customization ought to be expected. (end rant)