Sept 2012 chemo

Amy, that is awesome

Amy, very touching. I have had my dinner bought a few times, was so overwhelmed.



Cherioo, almost rad time!



Went to MO appt, wont start tamoxifen till rads finished. Metformin trial closed so wont be in that. She reminded me I have gained some weight ( surprise). I got the clearance to diet so I am ready too! Officially 12 lbs to lose,,,ugh.



Went before MO visit for port flush. Was so like preparing for chemo. She used same port needle, 2 saline syringes, 1 heparin. After MO visit needed blood work done to check my liver enzymes, so back to get another port needle and blood draw. More saline and heparin. Quite the day.



Doing a heating pad on breast/arm swelling and my "walk the wall"exercises.

{{big huggs to you all}}  I'm loopy from the chemo......weird thing though, I fell asleep when I got home(?) Is this normal for weekly infusions?  Usually the steroids have me cleaning house.

AMY- I got a cami from Nordstrom's. Prescription from BS. Its www.Softeeusa.com but they don't show mine on their site.  Mine zips up the front.

Aww, Faith, my mom's anniversary of her passing was yesterday (11 yrs gone). ovarian and uterine cancer. She was 61. Love to our moms.

Amy..that is so cool! Very touching!



JoJo..I've got my Smooth move tea. Chocolate flavored!



Timbek...you are almost done! Pretty soon this will all be behind you and you can focus on your shopping trips with your new niece.



Faith..Feel better soon. I had two days this week that I felt I was going to throw up. Feel much better now.



Today was my last day of work for about three weeks until after surgery. I was overwhelmed by gifts, hugs and tears. Very touching!

Thanks for the well wishes Hope.  Take these three weeks to get yourself prepared, in the home, physically and mentally.  Also, take out some time just before to get plenty of rest.  Don't over do it!  I'm heading off to bed.  Still not feeling too well.

Hugs : )))

Florbo, I was able to exercise throughout chemo, but I had weekly taxol which is a much easier chemo than most. I did not do that much - just walking on the treadmill and some weight machines for arms, mostly. Part of it was that I didnt want to sweat too much because I did cold caps and was limited in how often I could wash my hair. I need to begin to ramp up the level of effort pretty soon!

Hi Everyone,

   I am still feeling pretty crappy- but trying to get out of bed.  I find that the more I lay there, the worse I feel.  I hate it.  Everything smells bad, tastes bad, I hate being touched, I am cranky... not fun at all.  I had a bought a "special" cookie when I went to the dispensary the other day.  I ate half of it yesterday.   It made me soooo sick.  I laid in bed feeling paralyzed for six hours.  Awful  Awful.  I am sticking to lollipops and my foot cream from now on! 

  So sad to hear about everyone's moms.  I think they would all be so proud of you to see how you are all fighting.  My mom had Hodgkins Lymphoma three years ago.  She just went in for her checkup yesterday and is still in remission.  She has given me lots of chemo pointers on this journey- and has knitted me some pretty sweet hats too.  My heart goes out to everyone who misses their mother.  I remember telling my mom that my having cancer could be worse... my daughter could have cancer.  She started crying, and said, "But that is what is happening to me.  My daughter has cancer."  

 I didn't have my daughter until I was 39 - my son when I was 42.  I have always been so worried about being an older mom.  I remember this crazy woman at my office (another therapist of course) told me that it would be nice when my daughter got older because she could help everyone else when their mother's die because she would have already been through it.  For some reason, lately, that has been stuck in my head.  Irritating.  And not very helpful.

Amy:  That is so awesome about the gift!!! I have to say that I don't think it was so random though.  You must be someone pretty incredible to make people want to give to you in that way.  I keep thinking about how I want to pay forward all of the nice things that people have done for me when I am all healed up.  I can't wait.

Timbek2:  Congratulations on the new neice coming in June!  I love buying cute clothes for little girls!!!  Check out crazy8.com   They have no shipping this weekend. 

Jojo:  Did you ask your oncologist if he might give you the metformin anyway?  I have been wondering about that.  My MO hasn't said I don't qualify as of yet.. but who knows.  I want the drug!  Plus it would help with weight loss and my crazy sugar cravings.  All good.

Hopex:  Is surgery next week?  It sounds like your workplace was wonderful to you:-)  I am glad!  You deserve it.  Did the doctors say that 3 weeks was enough time for BMX?  I am just wondering for myself.  I was hoping to go back to work in early March, but now surgery has't been scheduled until February 20th... so who knows.  Although, I really don't want to go back to work.  I just need to financially.  Yuck.

Okay ladies.  I am feeling crampy so I better go to bed. 

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Congrats to everyone finishing chemo, we sure have come a long way since Sept.



I find every time I think about my last rad day, on thursday(4) left, I get this emotional feeling overcome me and I just want to have a good cry. I hope I can hold it together but I have a feeling I will cry driving home in the car. It has been 8 months since I went for my original mammogram on May 25th...I can hardly believe the worst is over, and that I actually did it.....I still have to do herceptin till Nov. but that just feels like nothing compared.



Neta yes I am ready to get this 14 lbs. off. I will post how things are going and my workout.



Sorry about the loss of so many moms, my mom died in 1998 from lung cancer, at 65, she was a heavy smoker. My dad died in 2007 from lung cancer and he was a non-smoker. I hate cancer....

I have seen so many very sick people at the cancer clinic, it just breaks my heart.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend

Good morning ladies! Been feeling pretty good the last few days I'm jusy ao thankful chemo is done... Def feels so strange.though like I am forgetting to do something.



Wednesday is my baby boys 8 th birthday so today we are taking him to craigs cruisers with a friends they have gocarts, lazertag, pizza and video games plus more! Should be lots of fun.. I still cant believe hes 8



We live in a very small town 1 stop light and a pop of 1700 people this.community has overwhelmed me with support! It has been amazing..... They already gave me a benefit and raised a great amount of money. So the surprise in my bank account yesterday was def unexpected since they have already done so much. But at the same time it could not of come at a better time, since I am going shopping for a recliner next week for surgery...



Did anyone else have more headaches than usual after chemo? Maybe its the build up of taxol but in the last week Ive gotten two migrains.



Hopex.... I too had a couple days where I felt nauseous... Not sure if its chemo related or what but not liking it..

Happy Weekend!

Mariposa - I am going back to see my MO in 6 weeks and will ask then.  With her saying yesterday she didn't want to do anything till rads was complete, it didn't seem like the right time.

I need all the support you guys can give (exercise, foods, etc) for this weight loss.  The irony of my story is I had just spent a year and a half "cleaning up" my body before my diagnosis.  Lost 38 lbs, exercised routinely (weights/walking), changed my diet to a low carb/high protein/no processed foods, eliminated alcohol except for a glass of wine weekly, added vitamins/herbals - was looking and feeling the best ever.  Then on 7/27/12 - got the "you have cancer" kick in the butt.  So I am in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" mood.

However, I must say my MO looking at me and saying "Well you have gained some weight" has me motivated (for now).

Thanks Amy, that's what I needed to hear!

JoJo & amy, I am with you on the weight gain, I was at my ideal weight and in great shape when I got my diagnosis. Now I need to drop my 15 steroid weight and feel totally unmotivated to do it.

Seattlemama - I was very tired with the adriamycin, could sleep for long extended periods.

Melrose - Thanks again for the Rimmel lash serum suggestion, I seem to be getting some of my lower lashes back, and I am holding onto my brows and top lashes. I bought it last Sunday and it seems to be working great!

Need to get motivated today, I hope everyone has a great Saturday!!

I like the sharing exercise idea too. I haven't done anything while on chemo. Working was enough. Too tired. I'm just amazed at how most of you continued with the exercise. I didn't gain any weight but was 30 pounds over to begin with. I have to get through surgery this week and then I'm ready to pound the pavement. But it's been so bitter cold here. Ahh...see there I go with the excuses.



Neta..I get what you mean. People have been saying to me your done with chemo and now you will be having surgery and then it's all behind you. You will be back to normal. But is it really?? I've got the dreaded TN BC which comes with major fear of it metasisizing. People don't understand that nor do I tell them.



Mariposa...Bummer, your feeling so crappy! My BS and PS said I could go back to work in two weeks but I'm choosing three weeks. I may even just take half days when I go back.

I'm not going back with drains in, that's for sure. Take care of yourself...take a Advil and Tylenol together. It really works well.



English and Bearcub...my last chemo was bittersweet. Many emotions ran through me, good and bad. I was proud of myself for getting through chemo as well as I did and being able to work through it. I showed my cancer that its not going to get me as I am strong and Im going to get you!! But at the same, now that it has ended, I felt wait a minute, maybe I need a little more. Are you sure I'm done? Cause that's it for me besides surgery. Being TN, I just get Chemo.

English..yes, you deserve that bag too.



Faith..Sorry your still feeling bad.



Amy..Happy. Birthday to your boy. I would love to go back to those days again when my kids were little. So much fun!



Ok...I may go on a walk later today. I will let you know my outcome. But it has to be at least 35 degrees out before I go!

Hope - from what I know about TN you get a very good response from chemo! Us ER+ gals usually never get a complete response to chemo, thus bring on the hormone therapy.



You name the score, I got every indicator high for mets (grade 3, tumor invaded my lymph and blood system, nottingham at 9, pet scan tumor suv at 12, blah blah blah). I understand the fear, but together with the other women here we will live and thrive! Enjoy life each day!

I never thought I would miss my nose hairs.  I mean REALLY miss my nose hairs.  But I do.  They were a really underappreciated part of the pre-chemo me.  It's cold, and my nose is running ALL THE TIME.  And by running I mean like a faucet that turns on and off of its own accord.  The time between knowing my nose is running and the enormous snot drip falling off my nose is sometimes only a second.  I sat in a meeting not too long ago and watched in horror as giant drip fell from my nose right onto the conference room table in front of everyone.  Gross.

I can wear a wig on my head, and I can fix my asymetrical brows (sorta), but I'm stumped about how to replace my nose hair short of shoving Kleenex into each nostril.  And trust me I'd be tempted if I didn't think it would be too much for my poor husband - bald headed, looking like death and with Kleenex hanging from each nostril.  

ARGH.