March 2012 chemo

KCB- I didn't loose all my hair either, but I do have bald patches that I hope start filling in. Very few foods have taste, but mines not moss more like a rusty nail.  Which would probably taste better and help my iron levels.

TrailGirl-Sorry Taxol 2 was so hard.  I feel for you because I DREAD going for #2 one was hard enough.  I told my DH "I don't want to play this game anymore". I just wanted to be knocked out for 4 days.

Went to DH family reunion today. You would think after 18 years of being married I could remember who all those people are.  I did enjoy a nice walk around the lake with my BIL's girlfriend, made my legs feel much better. 

If you find my house elf..he needs to come home and clean please. I don't want to.

Hi all,

KCB, Lost, kltb04- I'm with you guys, not all my hair fell out.  I still have some eyebrows, arm hair, and eyelashes (although I finally gave up mascara as it seemed I was putting more on my skin and I looked like a racoon).  Anything I shaved just stayed shaved though, it did not grow back which was nice. 

Trailgirl- sorry it is sucking so much but I think this thread helps with the suck.  There were days I felt like I had been hit by a car but it helped to read I was not alone and that others had made it through.  I sure hope you start feeling better.

I am very excited.  I rode my horse for the first time since chemo started today!  I didn't realize how much I missed it (and her).  Also Tuesday I go to the MO JUST FOR A CHECK-UP!  And we (DH and I) are going to ride our motorcycles there!  I do have surgery the 15th and then 6 weeks or rads, but I am trying not to think of that too much.

Hope tomorrow brings SE free days to all,

Corky

Good morning ladies!  Another week!  Where did the weekend go?  Finally have more energy after treatment last week.  I like my Thursday treatment better than Tuesday, glad I am getting back on schedule next time!  Just seems to work out better with working etc.  I spent the weekend going back and forth to the hospital to visit my dad and takomg care of my mother - it is no fun when both of your parents need help.  Oh well, just part of getting older I guess and it does give me something else to focus on!  LOL  Though I would much rather focus on laying on a beach with a hot cabana boy bringing me cold adult beverages!  Someday !  LOL

 Hope everyone has a great day with minimal SE!

My elf probably took one look at my house and quit. Due to last weeks holiday my new chemo day is Tuesday and has totally threw me out of whack. I've been doing Mondays for so long I'm lost. Weird how something that trivial has thrown me. Tx 3 of Taxol tomorrow the I will at least be in the single digits with 9 left.



Trail- sorry #2 sucked so bad. 1 was worse for me. I do notice the weakness building up in me though. Who is your doctor out here?



Good luck to all of us this week. We're all slowly getting to the finish line here. We've come a long way from those scared witless women in march.

tellie- I had one before I started chemo. My MO didn't mention anything to me so I assumed nothing was found. Hoping it's nothing!

Kam: I'm right behind you on the Taxol. My last treatment is next Tuesday, June 12th. You can add me to your list of DD Taxol patients that is also having terrible SE's. I think it's the way that Taxol combines with the Neulasta shot. I never had trouble with Neulasta when getting A/C, but since starting Taxol, I'm having a rough time. My latest treatment was on a Tuesday. Normally I would get my injection the next evening, but instead I went in on Thursday morning and got it. I woke up Thursday, Day #3 and felt good. Usually I would wake up Day #3 and feel like a truck hit me. However, after getting the injection, as the day progressed, I got sore and stiff, and my throat starting swelling...all the things that are usually happening at the beginning of Day # 3. 

So this time because my shot was a day later, my SE's really got going on Day 4...aches, pains, and the bull frog swollen gland throat. Apparently the Neulasta interacts with the Taxol to bring on my severe SE's...at least in my case. Interesting observation. Too bad it is so painful. Oh, and my fingers and toes are numb. My taste buds are shot. Days 4, 5, 6 were the worst. Day 7 not so great, and Day 8 almost normal. I'll be glad to get that last treatment next Tuesday, but I know I have to go through this agony one more time.

After this I head on to 5 weeks of radiation then on to Tamoxifen. Anyone else doing radiation after chemo? Compared to chemo, radiation will be a break! Good luck to all of you in Taxol Hell. This to shall pass! 

Januaryice-praying that this time is not as bad!!  I head for number 2 Friday and to be honest I'm almost scared to go. But I will. I have a feeling they will be sending pain meds home with me this time.  I've been positive with my DR when I go in for my checkups before the tx, but I may break down and cry this time considering just thinking about makes me cry.

Kam and fedfan congrats on being almost done.

kltb hope your still enjoying vacation

I decided my house elf must have blown away in the last storm..he's probably in IL somewhere. 

fedfan - interesting theory.  Could be the Neulasta with the Taxol. We can have a virtual end of Taxol party next week (late). 

lostinmo - my last Taxol is Wednesday - yeah! - but then I have 6 weeks of Carboplatin.  Supposedly, BRCA tumors are 20 times more sensitive to this chemo than wild-type BC - they usually use Carboplatin for ovarian and lung cancer (but I've also seen it used with Herceptin?).   My MO is "going off the reservation" on this one--hope he's right, but it seems to be the consensus among the 3 MOs I've seen.  I won't be done until July 25th.  (No Neulasta with Carboplatin).  Anybody going to do chemo into July, here?

Telle - hugs for you.  Let us know what happens Thursday.

Trailgirl & Januaryice - if it's any consolation, my 3rd Taxol wasn't as painful (as in throbbing)...more like achey. I definitely took less pain killer, though I wouldn't necessarily say better (for me), maybe different.  If it happens for you like that, you might prefer the difference.

Good Tuesday everyone!

Kam- I think my last chemo is scheduled for July 6th.  At least I should feel ok for the 4th of July.

I learned something today, I read over the papers that the nurse gave me about Taxol.  It seems part of it comes from the May Apple plant.  I could have saved myself a lot of driving time and just walked out to the woods and had a salad. LOL I wouldn't really do that, but I wonder if the drug company would like to buy the ones I have.... 

lostinmo - nice to have company in July! Ok, had to look up the May Apple tree.... I was confused as nearly 30 years ago one of my jobs was to inventory the Pacific Yew trees in my geographic area (I'm a forester) as Taxol is dervied from the bark of this tree - Taxus brevifolia.  Little did I know, at the time, I would be taking this s***!!  This was way before Bristol-Meyer Squibb synthetically reproduced Taxol into what we are getting as Paclitaxel.  In my area, Pacific Yew grows as a bush, the government wanted to know where every single one was!!!  I think, originally, plants samples were regularly tested to see if they had any affect on cellular division.  just like microbiologists are always collecting soil samples from exotic places to see if they can find any anit-bacterial agents (like streptomycin was discovered). 

I do see on chemocare (I had to look this up) that the May Apple tree? (where do you live??) that Pacitaxel and Docataxel (the Taxanes) are a derivation of the Pacific Yew, but the plant alkaloids called  podophyllotoxins are derived from the May Apple tree - (chemo: Etoposide and Tensopide)....I cannot figure out what the latter two are though!!!

Did anyone have any kind of skin problem after starting Taxol. Over a week after treatment, I have little lumps under my skin and slightly itchy. The strange thing is I would have thought that if a reaction it would have been on the skin surface. Maybe it has nothing to do with my treatments at all.



Also the hair that I do have growing is peach fuzz that could be a beard!!!! What I slap in the face. Bad enough to be bald and now I have a beard coming in!! I guess I can always join the circus;)))

Yeah TripleM!!!

Kam chemocare is the paper the nurse gave me, I have no clue what most of that stuff is. But I live in Missouri and when the May Apple come up in the spring everyone around here knows it is time to start looking for morel mushrooms. I never thought about them inventorying the trees, that actually sounds like fun.

KCB hang in there!  someday we will taste again.  I plan on being bad at least a week and eating everything when it comes back.

Januaryice not another SE! hope it goes away quickly.

baldeagle good luck with #3!

I am suprised my DH gets any sleep with me throwing all the blankets on him, then turning around and yanking them back all night.  

Corky-you are so right about waking up in the morning. That really hit home with me. It's so nice to have that time that does not involve cancer. I don't think I've ever cried as much as I have with this crap.



My family has so many plans this summer that I won't be able to make. My DHs kids are coming in a week and I won't be able to do much with them. My MO has vetoed a lot of plans. I told DHto go ahead, no reason for us all to be miserable.



I want so much for a life with no doc visits every week, pills to take, and able to walk upstairs without losing my breath and pulse racing. Well, enough pouting. On the upside, I've had 3 taxols and my hair is starting to come back! Woo hop for small blessings. I'll take very single one.