Sept 2012 chemo

Love the fritos info!  You have given new hope for treatment #3.

Allurbad/Cindy - good luck, keep the positive attitude and great songs going! 

Melrose - thanks for the NY Times link, that is the best one I have read so far.  I would fall into the Luminal group not sure if A or B.  I hope A cause the article states B's do not do well.

Question to all - is there anyone else here who is ER+/HER- and grade 3?  My MO said ER+'s are usually not grade 3 so something else is "driving my cancer" which is unknown. 

Melrose and damiana--thanks for the beauty tips.  I asked my oncology nurse this morning again about the icing and Taxotere and she said there are absolutley no safety issues (I must admit, I've never heard of cancer of the fingers!) and since they've been doing this, they've never had anyone lose their nails. 

Patricia- your hair is awesome!  I love it!

I absolutely love my wig--it's very similar to my real hair, but much nicer, and I love not having to faf around with a blowdryer and straighteners in the mornings. I shaved all my hair off as soon as it started falling out but I still have quite alot of stubble after three rounds and in some places it looks like it might even be growing a bit.

Had a really bad come down off the steroids this time.  Ended up SCREAMING at my husband for something totally insignificant and not his fault (I apologised profusely afterwards!) Must put myself in solitary confinement next time!

Good luck to everyone starting chemo today or tomorrow.  Try not to worry too much. You'll be fine.  Hope everyone else is doing OK too.

I had my last round of FEC last Wednesday and I feel pretty much normal now, aside from some mouth problems which have happened every time and I'm now used to.

Welcome all the newbies...so sorry you're here but here is so helpful.

 @patricia and jojo: your hair photos are so great! You look beautiful.

 I like hearing all these good things about the Look Good Feel Better programs! I'm registered to go to one tomorrow. I am getting a wig sometime this week. It's going to be short like my hair now. I haven't lost much yet but now that I've said that I'm probably pushing my luck!!

 Treatment number 3 yesterday. On my first treatment I had an allergic reaction to the Taxol. That was the reason I got a prescription to take steroids the night before. And it worked for Treatment 2 however yesterday, I started feeling the same reaction coming on and the nurse stopped the infusion and then looked closer and asked me if the symptoms were stopping. I said yes. Hmm, she said. Is it possible I was having an anxiety attack? She explained that before the Taxol the iv is flushed with 10cc's of saline. At the point that she stopped it, only 6.8cc's had passed. The Taxol hadn't hit my system yet!! So, anxiety...yeah, how should I be dealing with that? She gave me an Ativan and then started up the Taxol again and I fell asleep and there were no problems.  I am going to start looking into taking a meditation class or something to learn to do before they start the Taxol. Obviously I'm subconsciously anxious still about that allergic reaction I had so I'm going to have learn something to calm myself down.

 I was having sleep issues, too, because of the amount of steroids I have been given. Yesterday my doctor prescribed Zopiclone. Wow. What a difference a full night's rest makes!! I imagine I'm still feeling a high from the steroids but I feel fantastic after having a full 8 hours sleep!

Okay - thanks to your encouraging words, i called MO's "nurse navigator".  She added a note to my file that my blood draws are to be taken from my port.  I will just remember to stay well-hydrated!!

Thanks,Sherrie

Right, that's it.  I'm sick of all this healthy living, superfoods, exercise, alcoholic abstinence.  I'm ordering myself a huge pizza, with lots of red meat and extra grease.  And I might even have a glass of red wine too.  Sod it!

YIPPEE English Rose!!!

English rose:  I'd be happy to send you a box of Twinkies so you can cross that off your list.  Their shelf life is well beyond yours and mine so freshness isn't a shipping factor.

I realized through all of this, after sifting through all those breast cancer risk factors I didn't have, wondering how this could possibly happen, that the most important risk factor for breast cancer is.... (ready?)  HAVING BREASTS. 

Whenlife: Great! And I'd also like some A1 steak sauce, some corn bread mix, a crate of spaghetti squash and some proper ziploc bags, none of which I can get over here.  I'll send you some marmite and a statue of William and Kate as trade?

Englishrose, On my bucket list has been a visit to the beautiful local of Dr. Martin.  It's down north of Landsend, I think.  Have you been  there?  I want to take the train from Dover, stopping at historical sites along the way.  I don't think you are near that route, but maybe I can bring you a bottle of A1 and some baggies.

Kidsandlabs and Justine - just had first chemo this morning, much easier than I thought. Met with the MO first, then I went in to infusion room, nurse was very sweet.

So far, just a little nausea, but nothing too bad. I need to go in for the shot tomorrow and my MO told me to take a claratin and an alieve.

 They both siggested cutting hair short, said it will come out in clumps,he estimated that I have 15-21 days for hair to fall out. Any suggestions, as this is my normal hair style. Cut short then shave or just shave it off?

 

Thank you for the advice. I ended up going to the clinic today for I.V. fluids, meds, and steroids. Also saw my MO and he is adjusting my meds and getting a new game plan for the next treatment. He is also sending me back to the clinic tomorrow for more I.V. fluids. Thankfully I am feeling better, just a bit of nausea....much better than this morning when I drove to the clinic with my 3 year old's diaper in my pants and plastic bags on my lap....sorry if that's tmi, but geez it was a rough few days. My doc gave me a standing order to go get fluids anytime I need them. Right now I am just hoping I continue to feel better and the med adjustments do the trick. Maybe because the first treatment was so awful, the next five will seem like a walk in the park...fingers crossed!



Thanks for all the good feedback on the Look Good Feel Better program, i just registered for one in a couple weeks. Looking forward to it.





One more thing....I get all of my blood draws from my port, i love it. My nurses have been really great, but i have only gotten it done at the cancer clinic, i am not sure what will happen when i go to the hospital. I was told to call ahead and make sure there is someone who knows how to access the port. So sorry anyone would be getting a hard time about that.

jojo, My tumor was stage 1 Grade 3. I'm not sure why your MO would say that. I've never heard or read that anywhere and it seems a little bit of a marginal opinion...?
"tumor grade does have prognostic significance and is primarily used to make decisions for lymph node-negative patients with borderline tumor sizes."  http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/content/9/6/606.full     My tumor was barely less then 2cm so with that and grade, I was recommended for chemo.

Cindi, I eat some raw things as long as I can wash them fairly well. Blueberries, cherries, peaches (washed then peeled), apples, cucumber (washed and peeled), melons (thoroughly washed!), red and green peppers.  Blueberries I put in a large bowl and actually do use a drop of dishsoap in there and a splash of vinegar then fill with water and toss them around a bit, let them sit for a few minutes and then, rinse rinse rinse. No guarantees but I did a little research on it before chemo and good washing and some vinegar for a couple minutes takes care of most bacteria. If my white blood cells do start dropping during chemo, then I'll revisit my food safety situation. great article and links here: https://www.caring4cancer.com/go/cancer/nutrition/questions/neutropenic-diet-questions.htm           and when in doubt, I take a basket of fruit (and maybe veggies) to people - I am cautious about giving out sweets myself because people could have allergies, intolerances, diabetes, be dieting, whatever. Fruits and Veggies are usually a good conscientious choice imho, maybe not perfect, but it shows some thinkin'.

Patricia, sweet 'do!

EnglishRose, you're spot on. I'm planning pizza with the works for Friday or Saturday, whichever day my appetite is lowest. Pizza STILL tastes good then. Sod it! is right.

when life gives you lemons, yep, having breasts does seem to be the greatest risk factor. well done! Nobel Prize time!

I think I'm catching a cold.  Aaaargh.  Should I be worried?  Have any of you caught colds?  If this has already been discussed, my apologies; I blame it on chemo-brain.

Tomorrow I see my MO for another blood test.  Hopefully my white blood cell count is back up and they're busy at work fighting off this cold.

Thank allurbad for the info. I see you are same as me. Is it true though that most er/pr+ her- are grade 2or 1? Have you been reading the new genetic info? We are either luminal a or b now.



Butterfly, oh such beautiful hair! For me it was easier to go shorter and shorter gradually. I buzzed after I saw bald spots.

Hello,

I went to the Look Good Feel Better program today. It was very nice. We spent most of the time on the makeup, and only a few minutes on head wraps...I was hoping to see a bunch of ways to do those, but oh well. Back to youtube. Here are a few head wrap tutorials that I've found that I like, in case anyone else is looking:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCHVW-...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sspRAX...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMGsLL...

For the running list, I'm in NYC, self diagnosed, stage 1, and 28 years old.