April/May 2012 Chemo hang out

Dancetrancer - your hiatus hernia will make your heartburn ten times worse than normal.  When you first start eating your meal the hiatus hernia rockets up and down and causes the heartburn.  If you take small mouthfulls for the first few and chew it very well it can stop it rocketing up and down.  After the first few mouthfuls you can eat as normal but not big mouthfuls.  We tend to have bigger mouthfuls when we are hungry.  Keep food bland if you can ie no spicy foods.  If you can,  keep your posture upright as slouching can make heartburn bad and if you lay on your back in bed it will help better than lying on your side.  Elevating your head is good just as you have been doing.  Also if you have a cough it can make heartburn worse. Also drinking water can make heartburn worse as it goes into your tummy and hits the acid so keeping upright makes it a bit better but we really don't have a choice with drinking it.  Have you tried LOSEC that can be very effective.    Also bending over is bad for heartburn so bend with your knees and not your tummy.

Hope this helps you. Annie      

cockerspaniel - thank you so much for those tips!  I just recently (aka last night) decided I needed to try and eat slower (hard to do...this is gonna take practice!), so it really helps to hear your details listed about the hiatal hernia (this is the first time they've added that to my diagnosis - so it's new to me).  

That's interesting about the water.  Why does it make the reflux worse exactly?  Here I was thinking I was "pushing" the food through better.  I'd like to know more about the mechanism/thought process behind that.  

I hear ya on the posture and the bending.  In the past, I found that riding my recumbent bike definitely brought on symptoms  - realized the continual "knee up towards tummy" was actually pushing my stomach contents upward.  Crazy.  

Why is laying on your back in bed better than laying on your side? Interesting!

What is LOSEC?  Never heard of it.

Thank you so much for the tips - all new stuff to me, and I thought I had read everything about reflux!   

Hi Rose....I just finished AC one week ago today. Soooo glad to have it behind me...now I have 4 treatments of T. Followed by 33 treatments of radiation. To be honest after chemo, I'm not at all concerned about radiation. I hear you get tired...but big deal, who can't deal with that after all this right?



I feel for you on your last treatment...it was rough but I just stayed way ahead on meds...I suggest you do the same. I was more tired this time too and for the first time spent a lot of time in bed, but I got through it and so will you!

Best of luck to you on minimal SE.

Rose_d - UGH.  That sounds like a rough night indeed.   Hope you are past the worst of the SE now!

I've already been through radiation.  My treatment was done backwards.  (see my bio, it's complicated)  I've been in treatment since July 2011, so I full well understand the "OMG, can't believe I'm going to be in treament this long" agony and exhaustion.  You will do it, b/c you have to, to give yourself the best odds.  Somewhere, somehow, you will find the strength to push on.  

So, back to rads.  I was petrified of it, and I hated it...but it was ALL IN MY HEAD.  Mentally, I had to force myself to go every day.  But, I did GREAT physically.  Only minimal burning by the end, and since I had a BMX, I didn't feel much pain, if any, at all.  My RO said I had a fantastic result.  The burn I did have was gone within a few weeks time, now I just still have a slight tan.  

Calendula cream is my biggest recommendation. There is minimal data for any product showing true benefit, but I did find a few small studies that showed benefit from Calendula cream.   I slathered it on 3 to 4 times a day.  And I started moisturizing a few weeks BEFORE rads started, to give my skin a heads up.   

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions!  

sgtgee_69- Glad to hear things are on the upswing for you.  I know what you mean about the fever.  Mine spiked over 101 but I didn't have to make a trip to the ER.  My onco called in the some heavy duty anitibotics for me to take and the fever immediately came down.  I'm hoping my blood count numbers rebound so I can have my #3chemo next Tuesday.  I'll be getting a Neulasta shot on the day after to help prevent the fever/infection thing after this next round.  Good luck in the big girl chair on Wednesday!!!  Congrats to you and your daughter on her high school graduation!!!! I know you must be very proud of her.   My son just graduated from high school a few weekends ago.  I didn't attend the graduation ceremony because it was outside in the heat and humidity plus too many people.   

sgtgee_69, wow, that is a really high fever - you must have been feeling miserable!  <Hugs!>  So glad to hear you are on the mend now.  Yes, stand tall and proud at your daughter's graduation.  We are all beautiful women hair or no hair.  We are stronger together, and we WILL make it through our treatments.  I'm saying this just as much for you as for myself!  Best wishes for your tx next week. 

Dancetrace sorry to hear what you have been going through, you are a strong support to so many on this page. Happy to hear you got a good night sleep and feeling better.



Rose d sorry to hear you got sick last night. Hope you are feeling better soon.



I had A/C #2 yesterday. I am eating well (protein each time I eat, water or deluted, cranberry juice and keeping up on my meds. So far not as nauseous as my first round. Hope my last two treatments of A/C run smooth too. I have a pre planned vacation, with one of my friends, to Glacier National Park in July after my A/C treatments. Talked to my doctor again yesterday. Even though it is not protocol he is allowing me to wait on starting the Taxol when I return so I will be able to enjoy my vacation with so hiking. After Taxol, I too will be going though 33 treatments of radiation. I did have two lymph nodes removed and a small spot of cancer was detected, my lump was 2.5 cm, and I just turned 40 means radiation is a definite. Was sick on my 21st b-day (not from drinking) and went for my physical a week prior to my 40th b-day to have the lump discovered by my doctor. These milestone b-days are not working out very well for me, but they are such a small detail in life as a whole.



Fierro happy to hear you had a good first day back to work. Sounds like your co- workers are very supportive like mine are. I have also told some of our regular customers- they are also supportive.



Vballmom continued prayers to you up in the Hartford area. I am on the shoreline, about 20 minute east of New Haven.



Hope for minimal SE's to all.

I have weekly infusions of CMF which is called chemo-lite by my MO. I take daily Cytoxin pills. They aren't infused. I won't lose my hair and the SE's are supposedly better. I have just had a little nausea after one treatment week. I could have had heavier doses less often but I would rather feel better. Either way, CMF is six months around here.



I fear rads but have to have it. 3 nodes with sizable cancer in them put me over the edge. Since there were 36 nodes in my axcillary "packet," my risk of lymphedema is already higher. Rads ups that risk. I'm seeing a lymph. specialist who ordered a compression sleeve as a precaution. She says to wear it every day during rads and for a week afterwards (not during the actual rads!). So, yes, I fear rads because I fear lymphedema.

Kjiberty, thanks for the tip...gotta get that cleared with my OBG 1st as I m 35 weeks pregnant.

Good morning everyone,

I hope all is well.

I had my first FEC treatment yesterday.  I was given four anti-nausea meds to take for the rest of the week twice a day and I can't even imagine how bad I would feel without the meds because I am feeling pretty bad.  I have to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning for a Neupogen injection and then for six days I have to have the same injection.  A home care nurse will come starting on Friday but if I think that I or my SO can do it ourselves we will. I've been sneezing alot this morning so am not sure if I am coming down with a cold and will watch my temp.  The only thing I can manage to eat is crackers.  I find it funny that the meds have to be taken with food when the last thing I want is food.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Misty

Hi all - I have a whole buh-hunch (Indigospeak for ****load) of work to power through today - trying to meet a grant review deadline and not sure if I'll be working at all tomorrow (tx#3 in the morning) or Friday (or Monday which will probably be "crash day") - so I'm checking in for now. 

Stacie, may I just say, thank you for your service!!  I'm not a vet but admire and respect those in the military.  I just wish there were better services for vets and their families although I think things have improved over the last while, but IMO, it all has a way to go.  

sgt_gee69, I have a sneaking suspicion you're a vet too, or maybe still on duty?  I am so glad to hear from you and that you are doing better.  And may I add my congrats on your daughter's graduation. 

Positivity - TS Beryl didn't come your way, I hope??  It sounds like it's farther north, so hoping no bad weather for you to contend with.  You really are an inspiration (I hope you aren't tired of hearing that yet, because I mean it).

Mistym, sure hope you feel better soon.  Sending purple healing energy your way!  

Dancetrancer, doing the happy dance (gosh, I haven't done that since my drains were out!!) that you had a good night!  

vballmom, hoping you are well enough to go home today and continue to improve there!!

kath99, how are you today?  Thinking about you!!  

Butterflylady, humor is a life (or at least sanity) saver for me.  I'm not really all that clever with sarcastic humor but I like to laugh at it.  Usually my guys (DH and two sons) are great for daily doses of LOL, and on my really bad days, I often resort to funny TV and movies if I just can't think.  I confess that I even laugh at awful stuff like Rob Dyrdek's Ridiculousness and Impractical Jokers.  I discovered Duck Dynasty on A&E; oh, my goodness. I have laughed at those bearded backwoods dudes until I cried - even with my dry eyes.  (DH even bought me Ms. Kay's cooking video for Mother's Day).

So as I was typing this, I got yet another call from a telemarketer!!  (An area code that I don't recognize is a sure tipoff, right?)  OK Ladies, I am whipping out the hot flash tazer gun to fry these cotton-pickin' telemarketers that KEEP CALLING ME!!  I have tried everything else.  My number is on the no-call list.  I have ignored them.  I have taken their calls, gotten through the automated attendant and yelled at them.  I have asked them to take me off their call list and put up with their hanging up on me afterward, called back and got them to say they would put me on their list.  All to no avail!  I heard on the news that talking to them at all -even to tell them to put you on the no-call list, just encourages them to keep calling you!!  So, no other resort but the hot flash tazer gun.  

OK, that's Indigo's little rant for the day, and Butterflylady and anyone else, hope it gave you a little dose of LOL. 

Cross your fingers that my counts are good tomorrow!  I've never had Neulasta or Neupogen after txs 1 and 2, and have been taking a supplement called Marrow Plus, that I heard about from someone on the March thread.  

Hugs and purple energy to us all.  Dancetrancer and Melrose are right - we are stronger together, no matter where we are!

Hi everyone,

 Been a rough week since first treatment last Thursday.  Not able to work, nauseated, constipated, then diarrea, overwhelming fatigue, some chest pains, all foods taste like cardboard........ugh.  Wondering if effects of each chemo treatment will worsen, lessen, or remain about the same.  I'm contemplating taking a four month medical leave of absence until last treatment in September.  The stress of not feeling good enough to even attempt to get up and ready for work is really wearing on my spirit.  I feel I could just do better to hybernate until treatment is complete and side effects diminish.  Feel like such a wimp not able to deal with it.  Would appreciate input from others.  See oncologist tomorrow for blood count draw and will get his opinion too.  Thanks.

Good Morning Everyone - 5th night post 3rd chemo and finally slept!! Feeling better for it and determined to get out for  a walk today.... one step forward. I am feeling very fortunate that I am on a medical leave and supported by my work to be off until I recover from my treatments. I too had radiation prior to chemo and used calendula oil and cream as Dancetrancer described, but did have wicked 'radiation recall' when I started chemo. I admire all of you that are getting out there despite s/e's and ups and downs of this treatment and just sending lots of love and healing energy to everyone on this day. vjm xoxo.

Hi,

I am also very fortunate to be able to be on medical leave until I recover from treatment.  If all goes well and according to schedule, I should be able to return to work in the new year.  I feel very lucky that I can use all of my energy to focus on beating this.

Positive-perhaps I will try some soup for lunch.  I am having difficulty with the "soothing tea" right now but will try soup in a bit.

Hugs to all