March 2012 chemo

I logged on and saw there was a new post and thought "I bet its Kim" lol. We can always count on you to start off our day!



Here too heat, humidity, and bugs. We have had so many spiders already. My fat lazy cats just stare at bugs and then look at us like "um are you gonna kill that?". We may get some rain mid week. I really really hope so. It is awfully dry.



Lost I know you are ready to get "on the road again". And Indigo, those tacos sound awesome! We went through that area in one of our family vacays out west when I was a teen but I don't remember stopping there. But those trips went something along these lines "Mt Rushmore, check! Take a picture. Moving on."



Still struggling with tummy troubles, general bleh, and some nausea. Guess the old it is cumulative theory at work. BS this Wednesday to check how the chemo is working. I am going to get her input on my side problem. Not worried about it like I was but it is very much a nuisance!



Ok I planned to make a big breakfast because I really do want to eat but it probably won't taste like anything. Have a good Memorial day everyone.

The heat hasn't bothered me yet because I have yet to venture outdoors. I haven't left the house since Wednesday! Inside with the air going full blast. I was gonna say "the a/c" going but that has a whole other meaning now.

Ok folks: starting Taxotere tomorrow. The plan is to check my right arm ("good arm"), see how the inflammation is doing, talk with my surgeon who will be right there as well, and make a decision about whether it would be ok to use good arm or need to use the surgery side. Options would be... I don't know. Delay. Again. Or find a vein somewhere else not on bad arm. I keel finding things that say the most recent thinking is that punctures don't cause lymphedema but can exacerbate it if it's already present.

Anyway the whole arm thing distracts me from my anxiety over strartkng ... Feel like back at the beginning all over again, not knowing how my body will react to new drug.

But the good news is I am halfway done! Woohoo!!

Got two great cancer cookbooks out of the patient library; full of really yum sounding recipes appropriate for every side effect, and easy! Hoping I will have some interest in trying them after tomorrow!

Have a great day ladies!

KCB - best of luck tomorrow!  Let us know how things go.   Hope you find successful recipes in those cookbooks.

Alice - I read the same article when I kept hearing everyone talk about Taxol and I knew I was to be getting Taxotere.

I start on June 11th, but that is "PV" - post vacation - so I am not thinking of it now!

Had quite the success today cleaning out and organzing my file box, putting the kids school things up that I want to save and purging some while youngest DD wasn't looking.  Then went through a few closets and cabinets trying to gather some donations for a family who is having a yard sale to fund their adoption - don't know them personally but they live in the area.  I would work for 5-10 minutes and then rest for 15-20.

I have to share - I have been lying on a heating pad off and on all day on my "troublesome" side of the non-rib/non-pain yet bothersome area - even though it doesn't really hurt, makes me feel like I am doing something about it.  Tonight after my bath, I was just examining things in the mirror and noticed my left breast was all pink on the side and I freaked a bit til I realized that it was likely just irritated and maybe a bit inflamed from being on this heating pad all day!  I didn't freak as much I usually would though which makes me think just maybe the Celexa is working.

KCB-good luck tomorrow!

ktlb-congrats on getting thing done, I had to laugh because I still have to purge when my DS isn't looking.  The bad thing is he has a great memory and will ask for something I got rid of about 6 months later.

Wishing everyone a great tuesday. 

Onvacation: me too, #4 today, then two to go!! We're arm in arm! Thinking of you and your dad. How's he doing?

Good morning ladies. I'm way behind - been out of town for a few days and there were something like 29 new posts when I finally logged on this morning.

Kim - I hope your dad is better.

kltb - Sorry to hear about your bad days after treatment. Hope you are feeling better now.

Sissydi - Glad to hear no bad SEs from Taxol #2.

Hope everyone is doing well today. We went out of town for a couple of days for a mini-vacation just to get away. Memphis is always fun. We went to Spaghetti Warehouse Friday night, then for a trolley ride down by the river and a late night carriage ride downtown followed by an ice cream stop at Maggie Moo's. On to the Pink Palace on Saturday, just played around in the pool afterward and ordered dinner. Incredible Pizza Company for Sunday followed by The Avengers in 3D - FUN. I'm so sore this morning from bumper cars, go-karts, lazer tag and mini bowling, but it was a blast. It was so good to get away for a few days and think about something besides cancer.

lana -that sounds like such fun.  Crazy that I've never been to Memphis and only live about 3 hours from it.  Someday I guess I should check it out.

Kim- hope your Dad is getting better!

Everyone- we are getting closer to the end!  Have a great day. 

Memphis was lots of fun. My boys want to be doing something active constantly when we're out of town. The Pink Palace itself is a Victorian mansion in one part with a big contemporary museum added onto it. Parts of it focus on Memphis history with a huge collection of exhibits and artifacts. The bottom floor houses natural history exhibits with fossils and dinosaurs and minerals and all kinds of geological exhibits. We also saw "Tornado Alley" in the IMAX theater, which is a 45 minute film about storm chasers ending with footage shot from inside the vortex of an actual tornado. They have a new film about life in the Arctic coming next month - I'm excited to see that one. The Sharpe Planetarium is also inside the Pink Palace. We saw "Mars Quest" in the Planetarium - it was cool too, lots of footage of what the surface and atmosphere of Mars is like.

Lostinmo- I feel you're pain. I have the exact same pains in feet right up to my hips. Started on Sat and still have them today ( Tues) !!!! Hoping they get better by tomorrow!

I agree that it doesn't feel like the shot pains. I can't believe I still need to do three more of these. Hopefully they're not as bad !!!!

O-M-Gosh it is hot out there - 93 with a heat index of I don't know what.  I felt ok through most of it but we only went to 3 stores and the library and I was done for.  Just still have that not quite nauseous but ugh kind of icky feeling.  True to my word, there was no licking but I didn't have a wipe to wipe down my Target cart so heaven's knows what was on there...I did germ-x after.

lana - Pink Palace sounds really cool - I am going to definitely have to check that out for a weekend trip.

January, lost -  sorry you are feeling so badly but keep the updates coming so we all know what to expect for Chemo:Phase Two. 

Kim - I imagine you are exhausted!  Take some downtime and try not to run yourself too ragged.

The good news is they found a good vein on my good arm, so never had to try the left, unusable arm. Yay.

KCB - great news!

Wahoo for me - just got a great deal on a condo in Florida! $500/4 nights.  We were going to do 3 nights at a rate of $495 and I asked her for a quote if we added one more night while explaining our situation and why it was so last minute.  So she added another night and said "how about a flat $500?"

I haven't posted here much, but I thought I'd describe what nearing the end of Taxol DD is like!  Finished my 3rd infusion last Wednesday.  I'm one of the unlucky ones to get the muscle aches (per my MO it is muscle, not bone, pain).  I described the first tx as "excruitiating."   After the second tx, I decided to manage the pain with hydrocodone every 4 hours round the clock.  This helped immensely but I tolerate hydrocodone well and know for some that is a problem.  Third tx was slightly different...it felt more like the flu.  More achy than painful, though still painful.  I took less hydrocone, but in some ways it felt worse.  Like when you have the flu and you just don't want to move or things just hurt more, including my head and face.  The symptoms seem to come earlier each tx.  Day4, then Day 3, then Day 2.

As far as neuropathy, my hands and feet have this odd sort of numb feeling. I didn't experience it until after tx #2.  It came sooner after tx#3, but last time seemed to lesson as I approached the end of the 2 week period.  No nail issues, yet.  I usually walk an hour a day, 4-5 times a week.  Today I was cajoled out but only wanted to go for 25 minutes....my legs seemed less stable...like I would occassionaly step and one of my legs would give out....though much better today.

My latest thought is to be transplanted to some tropical beach to suffer through the next and final taxol. Anything to reframe my attitude about this experience.  One more to go!!  Then I will have 6 weekly carboplatins....I think I will have started before most and will be finished last of this group..July 25.

Good luck to all on DD Taxol.  Some "prefer" to A/C.  Not me!!