January 2013 chemo group

Cancernoway,



I'm on the same steroid high. Cleaned all day and now cooking chicken and scalloped potatoes for dinner. I think my DH likes it because so much get done in such a short amount of time. I feel much better this go around than the last one so I'm hoping it stays that way! Fingers crossed for all of us visiting the bar this week!

cancernoway, it's not for neuropathy but to save your nails from nail bed damage.  Apparently it has something to do with UV light.  

Glad to hear you're having such a productive day!  

This one (number four) has hit me a day earlier.  

This, too, shall pass... 

Skigirl - I also had my A/C #4, and you definitely took it a lot better than me!   I was sobbing uncontrolably.  I do think the extra couple of days made me stronger overall and will probably help me over the coming weeks,  but the delay was still devastating.   Soon, you will be done with A/C! It is a major milestone on this journey.

Hi all! We went to the child counselor this morning. I don't know what happened as they were alone. He told me he'd rather not tell me what he said. I told his that's perfectly fine; he can keep it private. I know she'll come talk to me when I'm in the chemo lounge in Monday. He did say that he felt less scared after speaking to her.



Hope you're all well.. Shannon - how is A/C #3 treating you so far - any different?

I just had #4 TC. Oh I hope it's better than #3. I have had sucha rough few weeks! I have been in so much pain & can't keep my eyes open & absolutlely no energy. Then the day before #4 infusion my whol body swells like a pumpkin. OMG! I hurt so bad! Dr gave me lasix & said see you in 3 weeks. So far with this round my hips hurt so bad that it's hard to walk. The swelling has gone down a lot though! I really wonder how I am going to make it through the next 2.

Sorry for the whining... just having a hard night

LeeA Can I get the facebook group inormation? Would love to be part of it

ywheels22, good on you for having a relatively trouble free #3.  I am coming out the other side but the brain-fog is really bad this time.  I feel like I had a lobotomy at the same time as chemo.  This one was tough.  FEC is all done and dusted now!!!!  On to Taxotere next.  Half way there.

I’ve decided there is no rhyme or reason with chemo.  Last treatment – no bone or muscle pain. This time, bad bone and muscle pain that started the day of the Neulasta shot despite taking Claratin.  I also have trouble swallowing for the first couple of days after chemo. Does anyone else have that?  And this frigging bowel pain is my undoing.  The dexamethasone is my Achilles’ heel.  I know we need to take steroids for the nausea and neuropathy but it’s such a double edged sword.   I HATE THEM!

Is constipation better on Taxotere?  I am hoping so.

Will have to check out the recipe thread Skimommi.  My healthy eating has gone down the toilet more progressively with each round for the 5 days post treatment. My new motto is “if I feel like it, I’ll eat it”!

Bryona, you are a seriously tough cookie – don’t doubt it. 

LeeA, sounds like you’ve had a rough round.  Hang in there.  Kimmeam, ditto. Whinge away – we get it.

We are having a heatwave here.  10 consecutive days over 32 degrees (89).  It’s a shocker.  I went swimming twice this weekend in the ocean pre beachgoers in the early morning and it was bliss but the rest of the time I have been slothing around inside like a beached whale.  My youngest is sick with an ear infection. My kids are destined to be sick every treatment week!

Mandy, we are thinking about some counselling for our son who has been really tricky these past few weeks.  Glad it went well for your little man.

Good luck to those fronting up to the bar this week.  Skigirl, you’ll blitz it!

J xo 

Bryona, if only I could sleep during the day, i.e. nap...

It's just not something I do easily - or at least not for any longer than 30 minutes or so. 

I hope you're feeling okay!

Bryona ~

Indeed it was Kimberly Allison!   She really is quite exceptional.  She wrote a book about her breast cancer experience, which she entitled "Red Sunshine" because she decided she needed a more productive way to relate to Adriamycin than Red Devil.  Here is a link to the book  http://redsunshine.org/

Lee - Aww, got cha.  Was confused (I know, what doesn't confuse me right now, I carry a sticky pad in my pocket so I don't forget that I was going to the bathroom to freakin' pee) about the nail polish.  Sorry your number 4 isn't treating you so well.  You are one ahead of me, so I like to watch what happens with you.  My number 3 so far has been very good.  My lips are weird (normal), but rearend is sore (normal) and my mouth is like a cotton field.  A little tired today, but that's okay.  I will take it.  Not sick to my stomach and as long as that isn't happening, the rest is just details. 

Bryona - I lost the be strong, don't buy the shoe battle.  I found a pair of teal blue Nike Winter Trail Trainers and I couldn't leave them at the store.  They literally begged me to bring them home with me.  So I did.  I will say, they are probably the most comfortable shoes I've had in awhile, so I'm still happy about it and have no regrets.  So, I'm just gonna have to fall back on that being strong during treatment part, lol. 

Honeybair - Congrats on your new grandbaby!  You will meet her soon and smooch her whole face!  Thank goodness for Skype!!!!!  So sorry for your back issues.  Hope you are feeling better soon.

Jubby - I hope you feel better soon.  I have to say, the heatwave sounds delicious!  I'm a warm weather fan and that sounds great! 

Mandy - Sounds like the session for your son went well.  I hope it all continues to improve.  He sounds like an amazing kid who is super worried about his mommy. 

Nicole - I'm so glad you had such a wonderful experience at the conference.  Sounds like a very cool thing.

Kim - Keep your chin up girl, you will come out on top!

Jules - Hang in there, the end is in sight.  This does suck for us all.  I'm on the 3 week schedule.  My biggest thing is making sure I'm hydrated and my protein is up.  I also make sure I do some sort of exercise everyday.  I can tell on the days that I've not done something, that it is time to get up.  I start to feel crappy.  Even when I don't feel like doing anything, after I do, I feel so much better.  Some days, it's no even exercise, we live on 5 acres and if I'm not having a great day, just getting out and walking out to the barn or into the field makes me feel like I've done something but hasn't worn me completely out.  Day 3 after treatment has always been my "drop ass" day (today).  I slept until 11 and got up and did some laundry and just puttering around a little bit.  It's nice here today so will get outside here in a bit and breath some fresh air.  Remember, we are all in this together and you can do this!

Duckie - I've only had my baseline Echo before I started treatment.  Not sure when my next one will be.  No one has said. 

Best wishes to everyone today.  Thanks for being here!!!

I'm feeling happy this morning about the change to DST despite losing an hour. More daylight hours at the end of the day (!!!!) which has been a 'challenging' time (i.e. it sucks) for the past several months. My sleep pattern is still not back to normal so losing an hour (or more) of sleep is not unusual. I confused myself for a few hours this morning by looking at clocks that were set differently and I'm so slow in the a.m. that I didn't notice for a while. The foooooog.

Nicole, The conference sounds like it was great - thanks for posting the websites. How encouraging it must have felt to spend a day with so many inspiring women. I searched the site, but didn't find any information about a conference here on the East Coast - I'll keep looking. I used the Komen website as a guide for questions to ask at all of the appointments during my diagnosis. You've mentioned that you're on Taxol now - wow! - it's encouraging to hear that you had the energy for the conference.

kimmeam, This is the place to reach out and tell it like it is at any given moment and receive lots and lots of support! I hope that the SEs this time around are more tolerable. And Lee, I hope you feel like you're coming out the other side very soon!

Bryona, Uh, oh, no quick rebound for me. I must confess that I tried to ignore the fatigue and overall body weirdness all week - not just the other morning. So yesterday I was on the couch all day trying to ignore the very unpleasant fatigue hangover in various ways, including tuning in to my trusty standby Netflix. I'm giving in to the call of the couch today as well even though I feel a bit better. Might wander around outside for a few minutes because the warmer temps are inviting.

Jubby, I've occasionally had a sensation of swallowing over 'something' way down in my esophagus on and off since starting AC. I keep forgetting to mention it to MO. I'm trying to eat well, but I'm with you on the days re: if I feel like it, etc.   honeybair, I hope you recover very soon from dehydration and other SEs. ywheels, Happy to hear you're doing well on AC#3! I hope that cancernoway and Rhonda are relaxing a bit after all that cooking and cleaning. I have plans to paint a blanket chest the day after my AC#4 this week.

I met my RO for the first time on Thursday and I like her very much. What I didn't like was having to once again review some parts of my pathology report. The tumor was very close to the chest wall, I knew that, but I didn't know, or remember, that fascia from the chest wall was removed. She has to pull together a lot of information and images before a plan is finalized, but she explained a probable scenario and was very reassuring about side effects. I felt relieved that I like her, but it took a while for my chest wall with some missing fascia to stop projecting itself onto the movie screen in my head.

Hugs and prayers for all, Martha

p.s. Is anyone going to be on Herceptin for a year? My hands are beginning to look slightly discolored, brownish, yellow-brownish, and my fingertips are very sensitive. Anyone else thinking of wearing little white gloves this spring?

Thanks, everyone, for the advice about the echocardiogram schedule. I can't decide if my doctors are just super careful or if perhaps it is a scheduling error. It's almost like someone counted two months instead of three. My first two echos were completely normal, and I haven't had any side effects with heart function. My worst side effects are with my bowels - not my heart! haha...

I'm heading to the bar tomorrow morning for treatment #5. Yeehaw! (We like to say that in the South. haha...) I am dreading it, of course, but I keep trying to remember that it will just get me closer to finishing this crap. After tomorrow, just one more to go before I'm done. (Is that a light I see at the end of that tunnel???)

I think you are all brave, strong, and beautiful women. With God's grace and power, we will defeat this and come through this as survivors. I will dance at my son's wedding in October. I will enjoy my retirement. I will travel to fun places with my sweet husband. I will be a grandmother someday and kiss the faces of precious little grandbabies. I will live a life that pleases God as I strive to serve others. I will live.... and so will all of you. Love you, ladies! Let's do this...

Jubby - I noticed trouble swallowing after my first Taxol. It's hard to explain to someone else, so I haven't tried. It is real, though!

Taxol really attacked my body the second day after treatment.  Still, the day prior was glorious, and day three is much better.  (I'll take Taxol over A/C any day!) 

I had a lot of joint and leg pain yesterday--mostly in my knees and legs. A couple of times it felt like my legs may buckle under me.  My mistake was in not taking anything for it until late in the day.  Then I took advil, but it gives me acid reflux, so I also had to take prilosec.  The thing that really helped was a long soak in a hot tub yesterday evening.  Between that and the advil (and despite a load party next door) I generally slept through the night. 

Day three is better. Pain has lessened, and I no longer feel like my legs may buckle underneath me. 

Despite the list of taxol woes,  I will take taxol over A/C any day!   My mind is clear, I don't feel like a zombie,  steroids have left my system quickly, no nausea, tongue is only slightly dulled, I can enjoy time with my family, look outside and enjoy the sunshine and look forward to tomorrow.  Plus, DH will draw me a nice hot bath again tonight.  He lights candles and turns on soothing meditational music.  It's the most amazing spa treatment!

p.s. For the gals in Canada:  If you have pain, try some Voltaren cream in the department with bengay-type stuff. It's a gel with an active ingredient in the ibuprofen family.  My Dr. prescribed it for my arthritis, but it is only sold by prescription in the U.S. where it is also absurdly expensive.  In Canada, it is OTC and almost as cheap as a bottle of advil.  Glad I bought two tubes of it when I was in Canada last fall.  I cannot believe how much it has helped. I just rub some of it on my shins and thighs and the pain is diminished to a very tolerable level.  Hopefully, you gals down under can find it easily and cheaply too. 

Hello, bellas! I'm heading back to work full-time tomorrow, which has me freaking out a bit. I'm looking forward to it, but I don't know how to do my job in under 55 hours a week, and I still have 12 weeks of Taxol. Holy cow! So, if I fall off the boards during the week and only show up on weekends, don't panic, and try not to miss me too much. I'll be thinking about you all.

honeybair, congratulations on your new granddaughter! I hope your back is starting to feel better and you're able to enjoy these extra days before AC.

ywheels, I love the pic! Great to hear that you're already on the upswing from AC#3. I hope that's the worst you feel from now until... well, forever!

Nicole, I read _Red Sunshine_, too; it's fantastic. One of my colleagues was neighbors with Dr. Allison until she moved to Stanford (that just happened!), and the book "mysteriously" appeared on my desk the day after I told everyone about my dx. The sad thing is that I'm the sixth woman at my school to be diagnosed with bc in the past six years (out of 45 women on staff), so that book has made the rounds. I'm hoping I have it for a good, long time, because I hate the idea of yet another of the amazing women I work with needing it...

Skigirl, I've been praying (or whatever it is that I do, which isn't really praying but is as close as I get) for your WBC all weekend. You can tell your doc that if your numbers aren't up enough for tx, I'm flying out there and kicking some ass! (Theirs, not yours! )

cancernoway, I won't tell anyone about the shoes. It'll be our little secret.  I'm glad to hear #3 is treating you well.

Martha, good girl! You stay on that couch. Some things are best not ignored, and I've found AC fatigue to be one of them. Rest on the bad days. You're worth it. BTW, I'll be on Herceptin for a year, too. You haven't started it already, have you? I thought they NEVER gave it at the same time as Adriamycin...

ablydec, you ARE past the halfway mark! You are! Herceptin alone is going to be a piece of cake after this, so it doesn't count. If your red cells are low, can they give you something to help bring them back up? Iron? Drugs? A transfusion? I'm against you suffering, so I want your docs to be able to help.

Zorina, thanks for the Taxol update. It's so helpful to hear specifics about what the new SEs are like, since I'm following you into Taxol-land next week.  I'm glad to hear it's going so well so far for you... and I hope it's like that for me, too!

duckiedee, I think you will keep your fingernails. You're already more than halfway there, and you're only feeling a tiny little bit of sensitivity MAYBE, so I say you will keep them. (I'm not a doctor, but I played one on TV...)

duckiedee, Skigirl, and anyone else headed to the bar tomorrow (and everyone who's heading in this week, in case I'm not around): Bottoms up! Here's to good WBC counts, successful treatments, and being one step closer to DONE!