January 2013 chemo group

Thanks, once again, ladies, for brightening my day with your wonderful posts.

My port placement went well this morning.  Now all I need is to sleep.

I am one week past my first infusion and just got a blood test suggesting that my counts are low. Need to watch out for high temperature. Anyone had similar problem? Hope my counts will bounce back so that I can have my second infusion next week.

Just think of all the booze we could have smuggled in out hats and wigs into concerts when we were younger!!!

Fighter, I had pain from the catheter placement (way above the port and into the neck) for a few weeks after I got my port. It was like a really sharp pinching, and I couldn't sleep on that side. It eventually cleared up; I don't even think about it now. But you know me -- I always want people to check with the doc.

LeeA, thank you for the information. I am on a dose dense a/c chemo w/ naulesta shot. But my counts are still low... Sigh.... It doesn't seem that I can do anything. Just need to make sure I don't have a fever.

Oliverhog, I totally 100% agree with you, everything you wrote. You are especially in my heart and prayers.

lol @ autocorrect and iPad. Autocorrect wanted to call you watts and then on the second attempt - wattage!



I'm sitting in the lobby of an eye doctor's office in Beverly Hills killing time (waiting for DH) -- trying to lay low in this &$@% wig.



I'm so glad I didn't go with Cedars Sinai or UCLA for treatment. The drive alone would have done me in.

shawkins - lol @ hurt someone.



It seems like I've been shaving my legs forever and I'm still shaving them during chemo! I remember my mom saying "you don't want to start shaving them because you'll always have to do it from then on."



I just looked at my arms - still some hair there, too.

2nd AC under my belt. Came home and fell asleep. Feeling pretty blah. Anyway I wanted to talk to u guys about the Neulasta. My MO only gives me 4 mg and its suppose to be 6. I hope mg's is the right measurement. Anyway he told me today that he has found in younger cancer patients that 3 to 4 does the trick and avoids undernecessary pain. It has to do with the fact that our bodies don't need as much as older people and if given to much something like the bone marrow builds up too much causing the bone pain. Also he recommends claritin once a day and aleve twice a day for 3or 4 days. I am almost 44 and he considers me as a young one. Throwing that out there for reference. Also he says the drug is so expensive so why pay for more that you don't need.

Hi everyone. Let me tell you about the drama at my first infusion. First, there was an elephant wearing a tutu while riding a unicycle... Nah, I'm just kidding.



My first procedure was COMPLETELY UNEVENTFUL!!!



I was lubed up with emla cream so I didn't even feel the needle. Nothing to speak of at all. I have to say now though, I feel rather funny. I recognize that I'm pretty exhausted just from the day - about 5 hours or so plus the stress of starting. But I just feel...odd.



They told me to wait and see about taking anti naseau meds but I said eff that. I do not handle nausea well. I took the zofran. Wasn't sure which to take but I took the zofran in the hospital and that worked so it won the coin toss.



My darling husband is trying to put my two year old down in her new "big girl bed" and I'm trying to keep my control freak ass in bed to rest because I think right now counts as not listening to my body.



I've been drinking water but definitely need to up it for tomorrow.



Thanks SO MUCH for being there. I will catch up on your posts tomorrow but I hope you're all well.



Sheryl - thought of you for some odd reason when the nurse asked me what my stress level was on a scale of 1-10. I asked her if she knew I had cancer. :-). But honestly, I think my answers skew those things. I hate picking a number for stress and pain. I said it was a 3 because today was a walk in the park relatively speaking.

Day 4: Had a mouth sore on my lips this morning. Did my standard morning walk and went for the Neulasta shot. By mid afternoon, my knees are sore. I took the Claritin today, hopefully tomorrow won't be this sore.

Mandy, I can definitely understand your fears with the port surgery after what you had been through.  Unbelievable.  You are one tough cookie to have faced that fear and I’m so glad you came through the other fiasco and the second port.  Let us know how things are going with your son.  Again, here comes that old trite saying, my heart breaks for you and your family.  My son seems to be doing O.K. with my cancer.  He’s 7.  We talk about it.  But, he knows I’ve had cancer before and survived for years. I caught myself up and see that your little man is doing better and that you handled round 1 just fine.  Good for you.

LeeA, once again, you are a fountain of knowledge.   I’m going to take advantage of that meditation link.  I’m not one to be able to quiet my mind, but I started trying meditation a few years ago and was successful for a few minutes at a time.  Once I actually made it to about 15 or 20 minutes without any thoughts (that I was aware of) in my head and it was almost better than sex.  It felt like my whole body had an orgasm.   (Hopefully not TMI.)  I was tingling from head to toe and got so excited about it that I almost lost it, literally and figuratively.  Also, I’m all over that info about the extra protein.  Today I had 58 grams so far.  Before bed, I'm adding at least another 30! somehow.

Also, LeeA, before I was dx with the Hodgkin’s, I had some type of dream or hallucination.  I was in bed, lying on my back.  I thought I was actually awake.  I turned my head and saw this huge muscle bound man on all fours.  He was slowly crawling toward my bed and gnashing his yellow, jagged teeth, which left me with the impression that when he finally reached me he was going to tear me to pieces with his teeth until I died.  I tried to call out, but couldn’t make a sound louder than a whisper.  I tried to get up, but could only move my head.  I finally was able to lift my head and shake it.  Then I was able to move my body.  I sat up and the monster was gone.  A few months later, I again thought I was awake when I had this dream.  I heard a rustling sound in the wall across the room.  I was again on my back and I was looking towards the direction of the sound.  Suddenly, this huge black snake comes slowly slithering out from under the bed across the room winding its way towards my bed.  Its head was raised and I could see this brilliant red tongue darting in and out of its mouth.  Occasionally it would open its mouth to hiss.  There were drops of venom dripping from its gleaming white fangs.  I couldn’t yell.  I couldn’t move.  I was able to shake my head, which seemed to wake up the rest of my body.  Night terrors?  Ugh.

Amrdbit, that sounds exactly like me.  I love food, but don’t eat much of it.  I take my thyroid pill in the a.m., feed my son his organic oatmeal and get him ready for school.  One of the other moms picks him up for me, for which I am extremely grateful.  Then I usually don’t eat until maybe lunch, often times not ‘til dinner.  Then I might have a snack before I go to bed.  You look thin.  I’m 5’9” and weigh about 116 lbs right now.  When I went in for my first treatment, I was weighed in the MO’s office at 117.2.  I go across the hall for chemo and the checker-inner wants to weigh me again.  I kind of sort of gave her a hard time.  That is, until I got on their scale that weighed me in kgs instead of pounds.  Then I figured, oh, someone must have thought I weighed close to 260.  I’m really glad the pharmacy caught that discrepancy.

Chgogemini, where are you being treated?  I’ve been looking for a sister near me.  I’m being treated at University of Chicago.  I had the dildo ultrasounds while going through three unsuccessful rounds of infertility treatments. 

Bryona, sorry about your husband’s birthday.  You know he gets it, though.  Have a wonderful celebration as soon as you feel well enough after your last treatment.  I’m working my way through the pages and I’m praying and hoping that by the time I get to the end I’ll see that you’ve recovered from your chest congestion and asthma.  You are one of the rocks on this board.  We need you, girl.  I see  you were right it wasn't pneumonia.  Yay!  YOU are the best gift you can give your husband.

SherylB, you’re right about the Zofran and headaches.  I take the the Zofran, though, 'cause I need and  I can’t take compazine.  I had my head flip over backwards like the old Reach toothbrush commercials.  I was taking it while going through the radiation for the Hodgkin’s in ’85.  I noticed my neck felt stiff and like my head wanted to sit really straight upright.  A friend of mine in college had set up this double date with her boyfriend and this gorgeous football player.  She cooked dinner for us all at my place.  After dinner, she and her boyfriend left, but I couldn’t find a way to get romantic or let this young man romance me when I felt like my head kept trying to back itself off my neck.  He left.  : (  I went to bed and had to sleep curled up in a ball to keep my head from doing what it was doing.  I woke up the next morning and was fine.  Popped my Compazine, walked to the hospital for treatment, came back, had lunch, popped another compazine, went to proctor a freshman biology lab test and had to sit on the counter against a brick wall to keep from head from pushing backward.  It didn’t work.  My head kept pushing against the wall and forcing my body to slide toward the edge of the counter.  Made it through the exam and went over to the track to get a work out in.  Still couldn’t get relief, so I went to see the trainer.  Of course, the training room was filled with football players.  The head trainer had one of his guys massage my neck and try hydroculators.  None of it worked.  I got off the table and walked into Lonnie’s office.  While I’m standing there, my head flipped backward and I couldn’t do anything to pull it up.  I ended up having to go the ER for a shot of Benadryl.  Of course, I had to walk through the training room in front of all the football players bent 90 degrees at my waist so that I could see in front of me. 

Ziffy, I didn’t bother with wigs.  I've been seen bald by quite a few people who have come to the house.  It is what it is.  However, I don't have to leave the house for anything other than treatment and don't have to worry about how it affects a job.

JulesDenver, I didn’t get a rash over my entire body, just two bright red patches beneath my eyes across my cheek bones that itch and slightly burn.  They started out in a crescent shape about an inch wide at the widest point and ran from beneath the center of my eyes up and outward towards the ends of my eyebrows.  Called the MO and the pharmacist and the consensus was Taxotere.  I tried a Benadryl.  It did jack.

Jubby, the chemo doesn’t really select cells in patterns of patches on your head.  It sort of just happens all over the head and it’s fairly quick, a matter of a few days.  You may not lose all of it, though.  I’m 12 days after my second TC treatment and I have about 10 to 20% of my head hair left still.  I'm hoping I keep it, though I don't know why because I still look bald.

Hope49, you’re a Chicago girl too?

Shawkins64, let us know if you start growing leg hair, LOL.  Name the place and time for that hurtin' and I'll be there.

julesDenver and ColleenKelly, they definitely DO reduce the Neulasta.  My MO gave me 6 mg the first time.  WBCs were 22,000 and caused me a lot of problems.  By TC # 2, WBCs were over 10,000.  After TC #2, I received 3 mg.  I looked at the box and syringe.  Definitely was 3 mg.

Skimommi, Peyton is in a permanent cast at the moment.  I think he’s supposed to get some films taken on Thursday to see how well the bones are still aligned.  We’ll know then if he’s still O.K. or if he’ll need open reduction to reset the bones.  The kid is handling this like a trooper.  Wish I was a bit more like him.

O.K.  I’m caught up.  Yay!

Chemo sucks!!

Hair is coming out now. Not really worried about that so much anymore. I cried at cost cutters the other day when I cut it short. I would take being bald if I could feel good all the time. Lee- they must be able to order it in smaller doses.

I know, Colleen.  It truly does suck.  And you're doing it every two weeks, right?  I'm coming up on the third one this week and dreading it.  

Almost every single day I think of what Nicole said:  the only way out of the chemo valley is through the chemo valley.  

Big hugs from west of you.