Starting Chemo October 2012

Glad to hear folks are doing well. My oozing blister is healing so am confident I'll be able to start chemo on Thursday. Went into work today for the first time since 8/16 surgery. Stayed only 4 hours - needed food and a nap! - but was great to engage my brain and see all my colleagues.

 Will be glad to be underway with chemo. The sooner I start, the sooner I'll be finished with it!

Michelle, alcb70, Goldfinch, Poked: thank you so much for your thoughts and wishes



I am still in the infusion room, we have been here for almost 8hrs, had to see the Oncologies first, and patient navigator to go over medications, port care, and other precautions, they sent me to the infusion room, put me in a very comfy reclainer and started the chemo, accessing the port was a breez! Amazing! Actually the navigator applied Emla cream 45min before infusion so I basically didn't feel anything when the nurse accessed the port.



They started with Herciptin, waited for 1hr, then the trial Aphiniti, waited for 30 min, the pre med, then Taxotere - and the nurse insisted on keeping the curtain open so nurses can keep me under monitoring from their station for the first 10min of Taxotere- and now started Carboplatin.



I had light headach few hrs ago but kept drinking water and it is gone now



I can almost say that I am done with session #1



Will keep you posted



good luck to all ladies who are having their infusion soon

Hi all just found out today i will be starting AC x 4 or 6 Oct 4 so i only have two days to get used to the whole idea. The hair loss part im still not sure i can handle sorry im whining but for some reason that ones huge!! for me. Anyway good luck to all and may we all have smooth and safe journeys thru this.

I started at the beginning of this thread with halfcan's first post. There has been a lot of activity since September 21. 

My first appointment at the Vancouver Cancer Agency and with my MO was yesterday and as expected it was busy and my first "hurry up and wait" started. However we liked the MO and since we already knew a fair bit a lot of it went quickly. halfcan, I thank you for the heads up on Neulasta/Neupogen and FairPharmacare which as you know, my husband signed us up for last week. That was one of her first questions, whether or not we have extended care. No, but at least our financial exposure is manageable for us before Pharmacare kicks in. Also, our good friend who is an oncologist had told me on the weekend that Neupogen is just as effective as Neulasta and my MO agrees. I think every province is different in eligibilty and I think where he practises in NS it is fully covered. Anyway the main difference is the mode; Neulasta is one injection day 2 or 3 after the chemo and Neupogen is subcutaneous and for me will be every other day starting day 2 or 3. I will have to do it myself or go to a drop in. As an old nurse I am sure I can manage it. The first s/c injection is done at the cancer agency.

At this point I have to say that yesterday was information overload and especially as my appt. was a lot later than planned and the MO had to go off for an "emergency" at one point. Still, we did not feel like we were rushed out the door. I will be having 8 cycles, 4 of AC and 4 of Paclitaxel (TAXOL) and this will be every two weeks so 16 weeks in all. I will have the Neupogen every cycle too.

There was discussion too of surgery and radiation and reconstruction. I will see a radiation oncologist half way through the chemo to start the discussion of whether it will be rad first or after surgery and of course this will involve my BS and at some point, a PS.

I will get a call by the end of next week for the port insertion appt. which is done by vascular surgery at VGH. I have 6 nasty bruises on my left arm from the tries for the bone scan and abdominal CT injections and yesterday I was lucky tha they managed to get an ER nurse to try after the first poke. He "blew" his first attempt but thankfully got the next one. Today I had to go to a regular lab for bloodwork and after explaining and showing, the tech warmed my hand and got a butterfly in first try. It had not been used since my surgery and the scan ones could not use the wrist and hand ones as I was told they could cause nerve damage. Oh all that we get to know!

I have an appt. for chemo teach next week and am on a waitlist for chemo with my first "scheduled" chemo Oct. 24. Another "hurry and wait" since my case has been expedited due to the aggressive cancer. Only a week from pathology to MO but over 3 weeks until chemo! The MO wrote on the waitlist request that there is a mitigating situation in that I had to wait 6 weeks for surgery as no surgeons or OR time this summer. Now the chemo room is full which is quite sad really, so many people needing it. Oh well lots of time to cook, clean and garden!  

I have been trying to follow all your schedules and goldfinch, see that you got your port yesterday? mrscich, are you still doing OK from last week's chemo? Lou4of7, let us know when they find out the kind of cancer and also hope your chemo start today went OK. mumofthree, here we are together on another thread! 

Now stuck on hold with Pharmacare re the Neupogena Victory program. I hope the rest of you are all managing OK this week so far.

MARIAN 

 

It is good to hear that everyone is managing to make it through this tough process. I was in for my neulasta injection today and will be doing the rest of them at home.  I am one of the people that will be having my pic line put in prior to my second chemo session. I too like the idea of saving another trip to the hospital when ever possible.

Having a bit of nausea today but it reminds me of morning sickness, never know what is going to trigger it. I am making sure that I am drinking lots of water, eating small meals and taking the meds religiously.

Thanks melissa119 for the tip on taking aleve and claritin prior to the injection. I am definitely going to give that a try for next time.

Hope everyone has very few side effects, it certainly helps to have such a great support system here and with the encouragement of the ladies that started their treatments ahead of us.

 Thank you and (((hugs))) to you all

poke, i am stage iv but i stay off of the october threads. i get what they are saying, many stage iv dont put themselves into the survivor category cause most likely it will get them. its a way for them to release their anger at the big C. i personally refuse to get mad at this point. i have 2 catch phrases," live and love fully", and" it's all good. "  cancer has taught me more great things about me and my family and my friends, 12 years later , i wouldnt change a thing. not that it is easy, certainly not, and sometimes you want to stay under the covers and sometimes you come out fighting so hard. its life, and its life we fight for, and not take for granted. its a life ive accepted, and one i cherish with those who walk along side of me, not cause they feel sorry for me, but cause they want to have fun with me. so do i hate october, not my fav month, i think they should change the color every year..lol  and i am so happy you are all getting ports, they didnt do that much 12 years ago. i have one now, and its so much easier. hang in ther girls. hope everyone is feeling good today. i remember hearing my husband telling people i wasnt doing so well with chemo, but here's the thing, slept in cause i was tired, put in 1/2 days of work, and was in bed early. the poor guy only saw me in bed..lol he missed that middle part of the day when i was doing pretty darn good. lol do what you can and rest when you need,be good to yourselves..hugs to all

Morning ladies (it's 730am where I live). Hope you all are feeling well.



On another note, ladies my head itches so damn bad. Im 5 days post first TC treatment. Is this the start of hair loss? It's not all over itchiness. It's the back of my head. I've had issues before here this would happen and I kept saying I had dry scalp. I have no idea if that's it. Any ideas?

When I had BC the first time I lost my hair 13 days after my first treatment. I had it cut and donated 13 inches. I felt it was theonly thing I could control. Still, to see the last of it fall out broke my heart. Remember... it will grow back.

Halfcan: In the US some products (for sunburn, for example) contain lidocaine and can be purchased OTC. Ask the nursing staff before applying, just in case they object for some reason. Their concentrations are slightly lower than prescription strength, but they should be helpful as well. I would use it if they don't give me an rx for EMLA, plus it may be cheaper anyways.

Well, it looks like I will be joining this group.  Maybe dragged in kicking and screaming would be more appropriate!  LOL.  It took some time for me to come to terms with the need for chemo, but I finally came to the point where I have peace with the decision.  My doc sent me for an echocardiogram yesterday and I have an appointment with her tomorrow to discuss the test results and I'm sure she will want to set a date for my first treatment at that time.  Scared, scared, scared.  It helps so much having this community.

Jennie93, same sentiments originally but so glad now to have so much helpful and positive sharing.

halfcan- If you just got your port put in, you may not be able to use the EMLA cream since it can't be used on newly sutured areas.  However, if your port has been in for a while and you still can't get the EMLA cream prescription before tomorrow,  you can ask the nurse to spray the port area with a numbing spray (which is a lidocaine spray) or ask her to ice the area first.    Wishing for an easy time in the BGC tomorrow for you and minimal side effects!!! 

TLYM, welcome and sorry you have to be here.



I had my first TC infusion last Friday so I am 5 days post chemo. I'm 33 with 4 kids. I thought about cold caps but decided to just let it go. I don't want to worry about another thing.



All, as I mentioned I'm 5 days post chemo and I have no added side effects. So for me it's been: no taste buds, lack of saliva, fatigue, a yeast infection and oh my an itchy scalp. I've scratched the back of my head so much I have scabs in spots.

It's time for me to join you all. 

It's been a rollercoaster ride for me.  I too was diagnosed while pregnant, but at 34 weeks.  I could not have chemo at this point, because I was too close to my delivery date so plans were made for me to have surgery.  This terrified me because I did not want to go under general anesthesia while pregnant -  it had been determined that I had at least one positive lymph node.  The stress of this diagnosis and the decisions I had to make regarding possible risks to my baby felt unsurmountable.  However, my baby decided to do me a favor and he came a little less than three weeks after my diagnosis, healthy and happy.

Based on this change in my situation, my bs suggested I do chemo before surgery.  She felt the surgery could be more difficult with my post partum milk filled breasts and that an mri would not be very telling as to whether or not I had more tumors due to my post pregnancy state.  I have had no mammograms to compare to (I am too young to have started the typical routine screening) and I have had no scans because I had been pregnant.

My oncologist decided to start me on dose dense ACx4, followed by Tx4.  I have struggled with extreme guilt about not being able to breast feed my baby.  As a first time mom, I had been taking classes at my hospital prior to my diagnosis and there is a lot of emphasis on the importance of breast feeding.  I had planned to breast feed my baby for a year.  The shock of this diagnosis was so emotional for me, because not only was I dealing with the terror of this diagnosis, but I had to deal with the disappointment of not being able to provide for my baby as planned.

Fast forward to today.  I had my first dose of AC yesterday morning and aside from extreme fatigue, a slight headache, and a need to excessively hydrate, I am feeling fine.  Thanks for listening to my story!