Sept 2012 chemo

Jojo:  Love your picture- you are beautiful.

Ashley:  So sorry you are joining us here, and at the same time welcome.  There are lots of knowledgable women in this group who have already helped me tons!  My port surgery itself didn't hurt, but it took about a week for the general pain to go away.  It was super swollen, itchy, and just yucky.  But it has been 10 days since placement and feels a great deal better.  Definitely was easy for them to access during Chemo - so that was a plus.  The stitches they put in are the kind that just dissolved.  As for how long you chemo infusions wll be all depends on your chemotherapy.  My first one, I had an hour on Taxotere, a half hour on Carboplatin, and then 1.5 hours on Herceptin.  They dd each individually- and there was prep time before they started.   I was there from 9:30 - 4:00.  I went back the next day for my neulasta shot.  Check out the beginning of the thread where there is lots of information on what to buy etc.  It helped me a lot.

Amy :  Thanks for the melatonin link!  I will look into it as well.

 Cheerio:  glad you are feeling better:) 

Another question for everyone- how long did you take the Zofran after chemo?  I kind of stopped today because I am afraid that it was the major constipating instigator.  Now, I am slightly nauseous.  

Thanks for the advice! I am glad I found this discussion board! The worst part about the past week is finding support. My friends and family are all trying to be supportive but none of them have ever been through this. Since I would not take advice on swimming from someone who can not swim, it is hard to listen to people give me advice about breast cancer when I know they have never had this experience.

Waiting: I'm sorry that you feel sad and anxious. As lots of others have said, the anticipation of the chemo is often worse than the treatment itself.  It's that fear of the unknown. As you will see, many of us have quite minimal or at least manageable side effects, so I'm sure you'll be fine. Let us know how you do on Tuesday.

In terms of how you know whether you're getting the "right" chemotherapy, this is obviously a question for your doctors, and the regimen that you will be having will I am sure be based on research on the most successful outcomes for women with a similar diagnosis to you. If your chemo is adjuvant as opposed to neoadjuvant, as mine is, the question of whether it's "working" is obviously more difficult to answer.  This plays on my mind alot too, especially since my cancer is triple negative and therefore there's nothing more that I can do after chemo and radiation is done (other than obvious and sensible lifestyle modifications).  It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that you just need to have faith when we're desperate for some more definite guarantees.

Regarding sadness, anxiety and so on, I'm sure that everyone here feels that way at certain times, and we each have our own way of coping with things. I wouldn't presume to tell anyone else how to handle this but as a professional worrier and life-long control freak, I've now developed an arsenal of strategies to talk myself through these funky periods. When I was diagnosed, I was like a junkie searching for information on my type of breast cancer and I bookmarked all the web pages from reputable sources that gave me information that gave me hope (such as the long-term survivor threads on this site) so I have a library of information to remind me that actually, my odds aren't that bad and there are many, many women who get through this and go on to lead happy healthy lives.  I also try to look at every statistic in a glass half full as opposed to half empty way. I've always been an obsessive forward planner and I've had to really work hard at telling myself to take things in smaller chunks because there really is no point about driving yourself crazy about what may or may not happen in the future. This has been very difficult for me and I haven't quite mastered it yet! I also "allow" myself time to feel sad or worried or whatever and to not beat myself up over it. It's normal, and certianly not a sign of weakness. For me too, trying to stick to as normal a routine as possible during the chemo has helped to keep me busy without too much time to get depressed!

As I said, this is just what works for me and everyone is different, but I'd advise you to think about the things that you can do to help you feel better when you're down so that when you feel a bout of sadness coming on, you have a few strategies at hand to help lift you back up.

Bearcub,
I sometimes think that is the hardest part for me through all of this. I have no family history of cancer on either side of my family and I don't have the gene. So I really thought the odds were in my favor originally before I was diagnosed. Now I have learned that you can't predict anything and that BC is pretty much a crapshoot. And thank you, I am glad it was caught early!

JoJo,
You look gorgeous

Amy,
Thanks for the article with regards to melatonin....important to know especially since I haven't been sleeping well and chemo hasn't even started!

So stressed and ready for this to start...but can you actually ever be ready? =/

Englishrose,  You said it so well.  I am a lot like you.  Prepare for the worst and  hope for the best.  Today,  11 days after first A/C, I feel alive again.  There will be a bright tomorrow.  We will, all together, get through this.  It is managable.  Hope you all have a good Sunday with no SE.

Cheerio,

I'm glad to hear you are doing better. I am feeling better too; I just have to watch what I eat so the nausea doesn't come back. I plan to call the doctor and see if they can give me advise as to how to make round 2 better. I hope you have a great Sunday! 

Amy should i asked for melotonin...cause i wasent prescribe that!!! hope you are feeling good

Cindi:  Glad you've rebounded from the last treatment, and thank you for compiling what's become a long list of us Sept girls.  When you next update you can add the following for me:  46, married, no kids, diagnosed by mammogram.

Justegan:  Loved the music video, powerful lyrics.   

Ashley,

I am so sorry to hear of your diagnosis. It is scary, but you WILL get through it! I can tell you that the port placement was a simple procedure for me. My surgeon had me meet her at the day surgery center and I was completely knocked out by general anesthesia. The entire procedure was less than 30 minutes and I was at the surgery center for about 3 hours total (surgery prep and recovery). I was sore afterward, but that is all. Five days after the port placement, I started chemo. I was afraid it would hurt to start chemo so soon, but it did not. You will do great! 

My incision is still covered by the surgical tape, so I don't even know if I have stitches or if it is glued like my breast surgery incisions. The incision is about an inch wide.

You will do great, Ashley.

i love my port .....it did hurt like a small bruise nothing tyneold couldnt hang.....and just finding the right spot to sleep i use to sleepupside down but with port now i sleep upside....and some days side ways....the sit  belt dosent bother any more.......

Just out of cariosity is everyone having sex????? .......

I believe the herceptin doesn't cause many side effects by itself exception acheyness.

As for sex- yes! After my mastectomy, I bought a bra that is my `sexy` bra, because I dont want to be naked during sex right now. Since losing my hair my hubby has really been wanting something but I am not ready for bald sex yet. Lol! It sounds ridiculous, I know! But I am just not comfortable with myself yet.

You know- i look at myself in the mirror and I am okay with what I see.  I still have a bunch of stubble and really I kind of have that Sinead OConner look- which really is kind of sexy, but I am still freaked out at the idea of bald sex.  I so do not understand myself sometimes! LOL!  I will get there   

As for the mastectomy- it was just my right side, and I am in the middle of reconstruction with a tissue expander.  It does NOT look bad at all.  I am not nearly as horrified with it as I thought I would be.  It has been interesting finding clothing right now though because I have a bit of a boob but it is pretty high up, and my real boob is much larger and saggy- so I am very lopsided right now.  It feels hard and I guess sort of like a rock with bubble wrap around it- that will get better though as I get expanded more and even softer once I get my final implant put in.  I think the whole chemo thing is much more of an ordeal than surgery was, and now- chemo seems to maybe not be nearly as terrible as I thought it would be either. 

Good jobjo!  topless looks good!