Starting Chemo July 2012

Aw Nat, so sorry about the new concern this close to the end of treatment.  Wishing you benign results.

Hi emilybrooke - good luck with your exchange surgery!! Please let us know how it goes, so we can be prepared when we go in for the same thing.

boobzilla - the worst thing you can do after surgery is not use that arm. It encourages LE and cording. The Macmillan cancer site encourages you to exercise as soon as you can - the day of surgery if possible, although not many people are able to do this. They have a regime of very gentle exercises for the first few weeks.  I was so terrified of cording, as I need my right arm for my work, I tried to do some exercises as soon as I came around. The lymph node mapping is done so they can remove the least number of nodes possible. They try and ascertain which lymph nodes your tumour will drain into first, and only remove those. Good luck - hope all goes well.

My LE Therapist said walking is very good exercise to get the lymph system moving BUT.... when you walk, don't let your arms hang down at your sides because the fluid will collect in your hands. 

Itsalltemporary - I was referred for more testing; they offered to test me for the Li-Fraumeni syndrome, but I declined. 

Thanks for the tip PA Eagles-any idea of when you are supposed to start moving the arm at all? I don't want to induce fluid build up, and have been reading mixed things about when to actually use it-everything from 'as soon as you come out of recovery', to 'don't move it if it hurts'. Well of course it will hurt. I am not sure how many nodes they'll need to remove, but I am just trying to do what I can. Any advice/other resources are appreciated. Lump surgery this Friday if all goes well.

Waiting on Friday Nov. 30 to hear if the lump was benign. Finally called at 4 pm...the pathologist hadn't got to it yet and so I wouldn't know until Monday. (Long weekend full of worry.)  Waited Monday until noon, called...the pathologist hadn't got to it yet, Might know on Tuesday@@#$@#$!#@!!

Had a verbal temper tantrum.  Got a call back in about an hour...the surgeon got out of surgery, called the pathologist, and got results!

It was benign. 

Sent a report to family and friends, most of whom don't care, but wanted to let them know.  And I started readiation today. Yea, hooray!

I think my husband is the only one who cares and understands anything (except these good friends on this board.)  I appreciate every hug and good thought you send me.

Congrats Nat on the results!!!!



Pa fan haha, your post made me laugh about being lucky or dumb. Sometimes I think it would be better if I didn't try to investigate so much....but I just started on a rower a few days ago and would not think anything of attempting to row after surgery. Clearly not a smart thing but my competitive nature would want to show myself I could. I think I will need to feel this one out-here is to hoping not too many nodes need to come out!

Natl12 - woohoo!! Congrats on the great news

Roadwarrior28 and Melanieb - thanks for the genetic counseling info.

Hi, boobzilla--

Lumpectomy is a pretty easy procedure for most poeple. Even when you add in a sentinel node biopsy, the recovery is neither long nor particularly painful. I was tired and dopey for almost 48 hours, but that was because of the anesthesia (I tend to over-respond to drugs). I never used the prescribed painkiller, just managed with ice, tylenol, and ibuprofen.

I know we all worry about lymphoma, and it took me several months to settle down and decide that I will take some precuations against it but will not live my life never using that arm for much of anything! If I have trouble with it, I'll have to deal with it at that time, but I'm doing weight-bearing exercise in modest amounts (which I hoope to increase).

I am just finishing radiation. It is much much much easier than chemo. Obviously, everyone has her own experience, but for me the main side effect was fatigue, especially after the first few weeks. I had less than a week of any real skin problems; the area below my breast (right where the band of a bra goes) was peeling and open for several days. They gave me some nice silicone dressings to calm and cushion the area. That has settled down now and it is still peeling, but like a sunburn with no open, moist areas. Now that my radiation is just "boosts" to the lumpectomy & SNB area, we won't be provoking that area of skin any more, so it should heal up pretty easily.

Just got over bronchitis, 7 days of Levaquin, yikes!

I start radiation on Monday, thanks Virginiab for the encouraging words on your rad experience.

emilybrooke-let us know how the exchange surgery goes!

teeballmom-xoxo

Thanks to each for the well wishes. Having a bit of a panic today thinking about the big event. Not the surgery. As a nurse I know the technicalities of the procedure.... But today it actually hit that on Wednesday I would awaken with two breasts and the next day have one. Despite the knowledge that my right is trying so darn hard to kill me--today has been hard. I actually stood in my closet and cried trying to decide what one wears to have a mastectomy and leave with drains and hopefully a medicine ball of morphine. Then I cried thinking about starting chemo again in January and still dealing with the side-effects of Taxol. My nails are horrid-what is growing is soft and more like thick skin than nail. No eyebrows or lashes or hair. Tears are still Taxol sticky. The bone pain has not quit. Enough whining. 

I have gone back almost to the beginning of our group posts and re-read of each of your amazing strength and faith and love for one another. I have gained from each.

Still want to have a gathering in July of the July group someplace with hot and cold running maid service. Where we can laugh and cry together.

Hello strong women!

Just checking back in. Completed 15 of 35 radiation treatments. So far, radiation is a walk in the park compared to chemo. No side effects except for some tiredness. Although I do understand that the side effects are more likely to hit in weeks 2-3 of treatment.

The hardest part for me is not realizing that my body is still not back to normal. For the most part, I feel like myself during the day; I just get tired at night....until I push a bit too hard. The two times I went away for the weekend, I got sick. It's like my body can't fight things off when it is under stress (too little sleep, too many martini's, or raw fish). Oh well, I know it will come back to normal little by little.

Anyone, by any chance, doing the 2 day Avon walk in Santa Barbara next Sept? I am planning to walk with a few women I work with.

And now for a post-chemo hair report...I am 7 weeks out. I have hair growth all over, but it is still very fine. Not yet long enough to tell if it is coming in curly or straight. I HATE my wig more and more each day. Getting very close to gaining the nerve to go without (I am not as brave as some of you!).

Hang in there Ladies - we are making progress every day!

Hi Susan - God bless you - cry and whine as much as you like!!!! Of all us you seem to have had the harshest treatment plan. I can't even imagine thinking about another round of chemo in January. 

emilybrooke - thanks so much for reporting back about the exchange surgery. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it doesn't sound nearly as bad as the mastectomy and TE.

Itsalltempo - I am now 9 weeks post chemo - go for another herceptin infusion tomorrow- but my hair does not seem as advanced as yours. I couldn't possibly go without a scarf or wig yet, although I would love to. I have dark hair growing in a fringe at the crown of my head, but am still fairly bald at the front and around the ears. If I look with the light behind me, I can see the faintest bit of fuzz. In fact I look a bit like a shaved "Woodie Woodpecker"! My leg hairs, armpit hairs , and nether regions are starting to grow a bit, but my eyelashes and eyebrows are still falling out which is irritating!! I know what you mean about the energy levels. I start off fairly chipper, but if I do too much, the weakness comes over me like a wave. These waves are getting farther and farther apart though, so I am getting stronger bit by bit.

Madelyn - I do hope you are over your bronchitis. Good luck with the radiation treatment.

Have any of you noticed that your body's temperature control seems completely out of whack. The smallest drop in temperature, and I am shivering like a kitten. If the temperature comes up at all I start sweating. I have developed a strong bladder at night. If I get up to go to the toilet which is really close, my teeth start chattering so much I am scared of breaking a tooth!