Starting Chemo February 2013

Nancy sorry to hear about your UTI. I had some issues down there about a week after my last Chemo. Was not a infection just very tender. MO said use A&D ointment and it worked.

ywheels I am planning on asking tomorrow when I go for #3 why I have pain with this shot for 2 weeks instead of 3 days like they said. Just curious if they will have an answer. Last two treatments I got a thrush in my mouth and had to go on diflucan. I also lost all taste buds for 2 weeks. They seem to come back just in time before next treatment. Hoping for less tummy upset this time. I know I will be tired but hate feeling sick to my stomach too. Last treatment it lasted 4 solid days so hoping for less. I had slight tummy upset the entire 3 weeks but hard upset for the 4 days. I have been trying to get laundry and house stuff done this week. Its like knowing your going to have the flu and getting ready for it. YUK!! Hoping my counts are OK tomorrow so I can get #3 behind me!!!

I was hoping for chemo induced menopause, thought it would be one of the better SE's. Instead, I've had my period for 16 days now. I just realized how long it's been. Has anyone else experienced this?

LW, I was having very long periods before I started chemo, lasting 2-3 weeks. Once chemo started I got a period the next day that lasted about 17 days, luckily I haven't had a period since the last one in jan. It is one SE I am liking, that and not having to shave! Hope this is the last one for you.

Hey ladies... I have spent the morning reading your posts. I was diagnosed in feb and had my first round of chemo last Friday. I had the nuelasta shot Saturday. Sunday I had the worst bone pain! I saw my oncologist yesterday, I had the worst headache, so I don't remember exactly what she said. ( we discovered the headache was from my nausea meds). I am thinking that she said on day 7 ( today) I would probably feel pain in my lower back from the nuelasta shot. I was thinking that shot hit me the day after I had it. Can one of you ladies explain that for me? Thank you!

Thanks for replying Melissa! Right now I am scheduled for 4 rounds of chemo, 1 round every two weeks. After than I will have another PET scan to see if that helped. At this point that is all I know. This has all happened so fast for me! I am still learning, I don't even know what taxane is. Just reading everyone's posts is teaching me so much!

Will be off to my fourth and final AC later today.. then in start the taxol x4 in two weeks.

Is anyone having problems with low blood pressure first thing in the morning. Everyone morning I wake up, no matter how slow I  go and I even sit up in bed for a bit before getting out.. my blood pressure drops and I have to lie down again. It goes on like this for about 1hr before I can be up and functioning. I am not dehydrated or anything like that and my heart sounds fine. While it is happening I am also going sweating and going from hot to freezing cold and shivering. I do have a history of orthostatic low bp in the mornings and its normall low anyway but I have never had anything like this 

Tangles: do you have a pain killer? I have vicadin and it helps. Also, the thrush med may being causing upset stomach. It did for me so I stopped taking the pill and am still drinking the liquid medicine to make sure it doesn't come back. My pain lasts about a day and a half or so, with Friday being the worse. Maybe some Prilosec or something like that would help as others have suggested. Good luck!

SO good to say I am half way done today. Very tired as I was not able to sleep until 4:30am last night with the darn steroids. I am sure tonight wont be any better. Thank god it is temporary. I go for my shot tomorrow. I asked the MO about smaller dose. She said it only comes in one and giving a half shot is not an option. She did mention the other shot that you do several days in a row, but she said this one last longer and I dont want to go back in the hospital for ten days again so I will just take it. I may try some tramadol as I have some here. She said she has not heard of the clariton but cant hurt if I want to try it. I did it last time so not sure if it would have been worse without it or not. She told me to take my antacid two times a day instead of once. I had a social worker come into my chemo room today and she suggested taking a low grad antidepressant. She said it may help with sleep, worry, and just plain emotion as I cry at the drop of a hat. I dont think I am a depressed person in general, but the last few months have been pretty depressing.  I was telling her I do have allot of anxiety and worry so I am thinking about trying it just for a few months. Anyone trying anything like this? I sure dont want to be one of those people hooked on that stuff for life. I know so maybe people like that, but I sure could use better sleep and less worry. Not looking forward to my shot tomorrow and the week ahead of being sick. Both the Chemo nurse and MO said the fatigue gets worse each time as it builds up in the system. UGH......... not what I wanted to hear. Oh well 9 more weeks of this poison to go!!!!!!!!!!

I had the same problem,  I was on an emotional roller coaster.  Crying one minute feeling tough the next then worried and anxious.  I got to a point I couldn't take it anymore and my doctor put me on paxil to get me through chemo.  I will probably take it for a while until I'm done with rads and then get off.  It is helping me feel more level at least the sporadic crying and fear has lessened.

When my dr gave me the 1/2 dosage of neulastac they had to throw away 1/2. It only comes in one dosage

tangles - I hope you do well this time.

So shasha you think the shot ended you up in the ER? My MO said the shot has saved me from going back into the hospital as it has kept my white count up, I am starting to feel nausea YUK was hoping that wouldn't start until late tomorrow or Monday.....

I am day 5 of AC#4 and I have to honestly say, #4 was hard. More pain and fatigue. The pain has somewhat subsided but the fatigue is hanging on. I came down for breakfast this morning (Sunday) and was exhausted an hour later. Took an hour and a half nap!

I had a rare down day yesterday. Really cried hard about why this is happening to me. I run 5k's and worked hard to get a good time for me (25:37) was my time in my last race in October. Before this crappy BC I was planning on getting that in the 24's by about May or so. Well, obviously I am not running. There was a race on Saturday and a good friend of mine, my workout partner, ran in it and without training at all, got a 24:38. She posted it on FB and said she got first place in her bracket and got that time without training. For some reason, it soooo pissed me off. Like thanks for throwing that in my face. I responded with a nice comment and she just bragged about not training. Not once did she say, hey you'll get there or something encouraging. And that is what set me off on a crying binge, feeling sorry for myself. I feel pathetic admitting to it, because, really, who cares? I should be happy for her, but I wasn't. And I started thinking the dark thoughts about doing chemo, should I bother, will it work, what if if comes back? This chemo is tearing my body apart. The thrush came back so I have to  take a pill for it, which upsets my stomach, I am so exhausted and my body hurts. Is it worth it? God forbid, it does come back, I honestly don't know if I would do this treatment again. I think I would look for some alternatives first.

I normally am positive and really stay focused on the end result, but I just couldn't do it yesterday. I questioned God, my faith, and my abiblity to do this. I felt very alone.

However, with that said, there was a feature article in our local paper about a local Iraqi veteran who was severly burned over 60% of his body and he lost a leg and some fingers. For the rest of his life, he will be disfigured and limited by what he can do. He suffered through a year of grueling pain and rehab. But he made it and his outlook is amazing. My treatment ends in 8 weeks, his never does, but he still goes forth with a postivie attitude. It's funny how God shows you things when you need to see it.

Thanks for letting me vent, for not judging me and for listening.

Ywheels22, you are not alone and this is the perfect place to vent and release those feelings. I think we all go through down days, it's only natural considering what we are facing and unfortunately it can't really be understood by those who aren't facing what we are. Today is the first time I'm watching golf, as I'm pretty sure I won't be playing this summer and considering the extensive rads planned, maybe never again. I love golf and have felt depressed about having to possibly give this up and haven't been able to get excited about watching it. I needed time to process my feelings about this which included quite a bit of sadness, but I think I have accepted the possibility and am actually enjoying watching. I realize my life has changed and I have to rise to the challenge and make changes. It's not fair and I have my moments, but I think I'm dealing with all this pretty good and must continue with a positive outlook while allowing the odd sad/mad day. I am starting to immerse my thoughts on improving my diet and spending time researching. I definitely have room for improvement, and can't wait for chemo to be over so I can incorporate antioxidants and smoothies. Wed. Is # 4 for me, so almost 2/3 done. I am starting docetaxol and am a bit nervous about new SE, but one day at a time.

Allow yourself to feel resentment, but don't let it overtake. Sounds like your doing that, I am thankful for this forum to feel free enough to vent and share knowing there are others who really understand. Enjoy today! Shari

Ywheels - I can so understand your sadness.. and even your anger.... but like you said, we will eventually have our life back - and imagine how strong we will be for tolerating and surviving all we are going through.

I am sad at this point too. This was suppose to be my good week – and up until  Thursday it was.. I started to get another urinary  track infection –so they made me come in to do a urinalysis and culture since I  just had the UTI 2 weeks ago..– they gave me antibiotics and said the culture  might make them give me a different antibiotic but at least I can start this one  for relief..also my 7 week old incision felt tight and hard on Thursday  and my  breast just hurt – felt worse on Friday -also the UTI was still bothering me - I  just felt lousy..took pain pill/sleeping pill and went to bed..when I woke up  this morning my whole pj top and sheet was soaked - incision had a hole in it  and all this brown stuff drained out..I called surgeon and she said chemo  weakens the skin and the brown is old blood and the antibiotic for uti will be  good for this also.. also said, if its still red or draining Monday I have to go  see her and she will tell me if I can have the chemo treatment this week..  crazy... right now it is still draining but looks like red blood to me... but I  also now have no pain and the UTI seems to have cleared up.