December 2012 chemo group

Yay Bren!!!! I'm so happy for your excellent results! That is wonderful news and worthy of some celebrating... Champagne... Limo ride... Or even just a restful and comfy night's sleep!

Bren- 

Congratulations!  This is wonderful news.  It has been a long road and your path is now cleared and sunny skies are just ahead.

Sandra60 - Excellent news about finishing up the radiation.  You and I were very close on our schedules and it is awesome that we have all reached or are just about to reach the finish line.  I finished up last week and honestly that was the week that was hardest on my skin.  I strongly recommend that you ask your nurse about Silvadene.  It has made a huge difference in my skins recovery.  The creams were great for a while but in the end this prescription is what has helped most with the healing.  

Wishing you well!!! 

Sandra. LOL Romamtic interlude I think we could all use one of those about now!

Hey Ladies - it's been a while.  How is everyone?? Let's have a check in.

Chemo - done, hysterectomy - done, Radiation - 4 more to go.  Bone scan - clean, Left breast mammo,us,mri - clean.  Lost 10 pounds of chemo weight.  Having to shave legs again yay and boo at the sametime.  Lost my lower eye lashes but they are coming back.  Hair is coming back slow - it looks like i have a 5 o'clock shadow.  Things have been good at work - everyday I can feel myself getting stronger mentally and physically.  I've changed some of my eating habits - this one is taking a little bit longer with the kids and DH

We are getting ready to go on family vacation (Folly Beach, SC - near charleston...ever been?) early july.  When I get back I am having a Left MX and then I am done. 

Hope everyone is well!

Hi, so nice to be reminded to check in. Thanks jenjenl!



I had a very hard time with the first half of chemo (AC) but did better on the taxol. Had my bilateral mastectomy April 2 with direct to implant reconstruction (gummy bear silicone implants). All surgery went very well and (because I've done yoga consistently for years now, I think), I recovered range of motion very quickly according to my PS.



I am now exercising more--added aerobics and some weight training (very modest) and have lost 12 pounds from that and eating a plant-based diet. Miss my cookies, cakes, etc. terribly.



I will have my nipples and aureolas done in September. Wanted the summer off.



Hair growing back in salt and pepper to the point that I'm not wearing wigs or scarves unless a special occasion like a wedding. Feels nice to finally go "topless". The flip side is the hair growing back on legs and now having to have facial waxing again. But that is such small potatoes.



Life is good again, which during chemo, I could never imagine happening. I know I wouldn't have fared nearly so well without the support of women on this board!



Looking forward to others checking in!



Peggy

Hey y'all,

Sounds like everyone is doing well!  It makes my heart happy to read your posts!!!

I am feeling good and have increased my walking to 5 days a week.  Sadly, my chemo weight is sticking. I can feel my body getting firmer and my clothes fitting better but the chemo weight is not dropping off.  I'm envious of you guys!!!  Hair growth up top is super slow but it is coming.  I really want to ditch all my hats but I think I have a week or three of still needing them.

Finished chemo in April and started Tamoxifen. I have found Tamoxifen to be a breeze. I take it at bedtime and while it does cause hot flashes in my sleep, I have learned to just notice them and let them go.  They don't trouble me too much.  I meet with a plastic surgeon on Tuesday to talk about options.  Planning to start reconstruction in the fall, likely with TE's followed by silicone implants.

My best news is that I feel like my husband and I have our sex life back!  It has taken several weeks but we now have a good rhythm and had fun together last night in a way that was reminiscent of life before BC.  I'm lucky to have married a man who is an awesome communicator and perseveres and who helps me let go and have fun!

We are taking the family to Disneyland in a week to celebrate my 10 year old's graduation from elementary school, my 14 year old's graduation from middle school, and my graduation from breast cancer treatment!!!!

Thanks again to all of you for being part of the journey.  You made the dark days much easier!!

I am so glad that it sounds like everyone is doing really well! We weathered the chemo storm and can put those dark days behind us! I hope everyone has a great summer!

I love your attitude Gwen - go for it and never look back ! I am doing a bike ride for cycstic fibrosis this Saturday in half moon bay south of San Francisco - 60 miles with some climbing and rolling hills - I've lost 10 pounds , colored my salt and pepper hair ( it came in that way ) a light brown and eating better . The only problem I have is still popping the Xanax and tried to get off but go vertigo and dizzy spells - need to taper off it .

Ditch the wig...Ditch the wig!

Kslansky, doing a happy dance for you! You've beat the beast and now you can begin to pick up the pieces of your life (probably picked some up during rads) and sew them back together with new parts for a beautiful quilt...



Hugs,

Peggy

Another AWOL Dec Chemo groupie checking in!  I finally finished Taxol on June 7th.  I believe my RBC's made an appearance about 5 days ago, so starting to really run instead of intervals.  This 6 months of Chemo trumps my first bout with Chemo, but it is great now to keep active all day instead of my afternoon/evening horizontal position on the couch.

I still have one TE and not sure what to do about the side where they removed the TE.  I have two balanced forms for that side that I love.  The one I keep in my new sports bra and then use the stick on one for daily wear.  I started all this surgery, etc two days after my cross country season finished in Nov.  I want to have my strength back and feeling good when the ladies return on Aug 25th.  So I am a bit leary of doing any other surgeries now.  If anyone can advise on the exchange process and how that recovery went I would be thankful.  I think it would be nice to get rid of that TE if I could.

I am so glad we all are on the other side.  The vacations, graduations and fitness and health plans sound great.

Today was the best day I have had solo since this whole BC journey started October 2012. A lot of things came together for me emotionally and spiritually on a four hour car trip,alone.



Physically I am feeling better than I did before BC because I am eating healthy and exercising six days a week. No more wigs and scarves. I am comfortable in my short self-styling white hair for now.



Life is good. I hope it is for you to.



Hugs,

Peggy

i only wear the wig if I am going to the DR's  or out to eat other wise i wear a light scarf I had a lady really stare at me at Walmart the other day i almost asked her what was she staring at?  besides she had a bald spot on her head maybe she had cancer too ?

Sandra60,



I am going off Klonopin, a cousin of Ativan. The way my doc is doing it is through a compounding pharmacy where they put it in liquid form and you go down by 10 percent until you adjust to that and then go down 10 percent of what is remaining.



If it makes you feel any better, I've heard the last decreases are the most difficult and then you're done.



I am just beginning the taper. All benzodiazepines are difficult to stop using but no one should do so suddenly and without some kind of medical supervision. If you are on a fairly large dose and go off of it suddenly you could experience some really nasty side effects from the abrupt stop.



Hugs and wish me luck,

Peggy