Chemo May 2013

Shimmy, I have been waiting for 2 months to start chemo also, June 5 is my D-Day.  That is very scary for you.  I have just said a prayer that all is okay.  But I have had aches and pains in my cancer breast and each little ache is a worry.  I so hope that all is well for you.

Elkatho, I'm in the Herceptin trial for Her2 negative patients! It's because my initial staining was +2 or indeterminate. Fish test proved me negative but I can be considered Her2 "low". Apparently in the past they have thought patients that were her2 negative were positive and gave them Herceptin, later to find they were negative but they had less recurrance, hence the official study :-)

Good to hear from everyone.  My port is feeling much better and can move my neck without it killing me.  I did use ice packs on my chest and neck the rest of the day after it was placed.  

In chemo class they told us absolutley no suppositories and enemas because the skin gets so thin you are just asking for more problems than constipation.  They suggested Senecot, Miralax and/or Milk of Magnesia.

For nails it was suggested to have some polish on to help keep the nail strong, only use a non acetone polish remover.

I am going with my daughter today to get some shopping done for things I will need.  Lots of hand sanitizer, sensitive skin hand soap, body wash and facial cleanser.  Some moisturizer with sunscreen in it too.  We are also going to get some protein snacks.  Eating every 2-2 1/2 hours isn't going to be easy neither is drinking 2 liters of liquids a day.  But I guess it will all be worth it once all of this over. 

Thanks everyone for your support and advice.

Ipc, before my diagnosis, I had really long curly hair that had just been straightened with expensive brazillian blow out. So much for that. After my surgery, I had my hair cut in a short bob because I couldn't take care of it long. My oncologist told me to cut it even shorter so I got a pixie cut this week. I think I look pretty silly this way. I know I will still be upset when my hair goes but I know I would have been even more upset if I kept it long and lost it.



Day 2 after port placement is much less painful. Yesterday was not very fun.



I have been pouring through this thread for chemo advice. Main point seems to be, drink lots of water, take Claritin for Neulasta, take it easy, and steroids, while helpful make it difficult to sleep. I admire all of you for going through this and still trying to be helpful. Thank you.

Ukate,

My scalp hurt so bad on day 3 I freaked out... I could hardly wash my hair in the shower and it hurt to lay my head on my pillow that night.... It's tender now... I'm at day 10, but I'm only shedding a bit....



I am still achy in my upper body & back and super tired.... And feel really clumsy & stupid (like I'm drunk)... my brain cells are being attacked to? Hahahaha and I'm on day 9..... I thing the energy level is down cuz nothing tastes right and I'm not eating enough. Hubby took me to the beach today to get me out of the house (besides work) and ordered my favorite seafood dish.... Blahhhh! Waste of money! Haha I can't wait till I'm done and my taste comes back to order the biggest lobster & prime rib!



Hang in there everyone! I know that I appreciate this forum because others actually know what we're going thru.... It's hard to explain to family & friends... And I really don't want to sound like a whiner to them anyway....



Happy thoughts and hope all of you find some fun this weekend....

Isn't it great when the hair falls out though? For a while mine didn't do anything and I wondered if I'd be a crazy case that kept my hair. But when it started to fall it made me think that there's the chemo working on rapidly dividing cells, just like the cancer it's killing...a GREAT thing! Go on chemo, work your magic!

JennaJMU- Thanks for the reminder that the hair coming out is also a sign that the chemo is killing those nasty little cancer cells! I am having a pity party for myself this morning due to the fact that I now have one large completely bald patch on the right side on the back of my head! The buzz cut, I can deal with; but am having trouble with the "patchy" bald thing! My DH said you knew it was going to happen....blah blah...he did not help. Thanks for listening and thank God for this board!

Sounds like round 2 SE are a bit rougher. I hope everyone is feeling better soon!

Not looking forward to my round two on Thursday.

Momofsam I just finished ranting at hubby how much I hate day 3 and 4! If history repeats itself I should be feeling better tomorrow and hope you will feel same. Such a rollercoaster we are on

MomofSam,

I had read the compazine is not the most effective for the nausea. (These were opinions of fellow chemo patients). Almost all recommended the Zofran and there was one other, that I did not note.



I was prescribed the Zofran and the Compazine. I asked the chemo nurses as I was leaving the session which they thought I should start with.

"Definitely the Zofran".

They also told me it says every 8 hours on the bottle, but could go to 6 hours if needed, and if the nausea was so awful to go to every 4 hours BUT I MUST call AND I would probably get a bad headache. Please! Consider that this advice came from nurses, not a doctor. With that said my doctor prescribed the two antinausea meds but never went over them as far as which is better than the other etc!



the nurses also said to take the meds at the first sign of feeling "off". In my case I get a bad taste in my mouth when I think I might puke, so when that happened I tried waiting, and then decided it was not "worth it" to experiment and took the .zofran, it worked pretty quickly! I took it that way for about 3 days. Would pop one at bedtime, just to be safe. Never had to take closer than 8hours either. We are all different though.



Oh, and I am an eater by nature if I don't feel well....I gained A LOT of weight with each pregnancy, because each time I felt nauseous I would eat to make the feeling go away! Well, I gained weight my first week warding off nausea before I turned to the pills! if eating didn't work I turned to the meds.



I think I started the Zofran about day 4 and only took for 3 days? (Memory starting to blur! Lol)



Hope that makes sense. I'm sure some other people will have some insight too.

Pat

Thanks Pattysmiles!  Definitely called my doctor as that's who changed my Rx to Zofran.  Appreciate the information.  Feeling better today - still a bit nauseated, but not like Days 1-3 after Chemo so the Zofran must be working

For nausea I was told to take the steroid day before of and after chemo, zofran day of and next two days after chemo and if no nausea to stop, compazine for me was to be added as an "emergency" if the zofran didnt work.  I never felt nauseas (spelt wrong I know) and by day 4 was off all meds.

Unfortunately for me I didnt get Neulasta and on day 9 my white blood count dropped and I was hospitalized with neutropenic fever, which was not fun.  If that didnt happen I would have faired pretty well.  Just that hazy head, achy body feeling for the first 6 days.

Hope everyone is feeling good and able to get past the side effects.

Momofthreeswimmers...



My first treatment sounds similar to what you're going thru... Treatment day was 5/9 and today is the first day that I'm feeling like I will be able to endure the next one. Seriously, the pain in my joints and muscles were so bad that the leftover oxycodone from my surgery didn't touch it.... I felt like throwing in the towel and saying "no more! I'll just take my chances!"

Of course that's not an option! Haha

I'm fortunate that I have had NO nausea... A little queezy here and there, but it's usually because I'm hungry....



I have my first apt with the onc tomorrow since my treatment & hearing some of you talk about blood counts has me a little nervous.. We'll see!



I don't have a port and my vein from the first infusion is still biting me, but I only have 5 more to go & there is an end to it and I'll be able to say that I did all I could do to prevent a return of the nasty little "dweller" that took residence in my boob! LOL



Good luck to everyone this week & stay strong! Happy thoughts!



Lorrie

Regarding zofran and compazine, my Onc said to take the zofran for nausea but if I started vomitting to switch to the compazine.

I'm on day 10 now, and mostly feeling better. Taste is still a bit off, but the dry, sensitive, raw feeling in my mouth is getting better. New annoying thing is that Ive started to have some pain when I urinate. Went in to urgent care and they don't think it's an infection, but are doing a culture to be on the safe side.

And to offset that safe side, I'm going to be naughty and go to Disneyland tomorrow

Ukkate - Hang in there. It will get better. My first round kicked my butt and landed me in the E.R. twice. I realized it was the Neulasta injection so I opted to try Neupogen instead and haven't had any real see effects from it. Your MO will do everything possible so you're not miserable next round. Everyone reacts differently so they need to adjust accordingly. You can do. Kick cancers ass to the curb.