Starting Chemo February 2013

McKatherine I had the cording and after lots of massaging and stretching most of it went away! Good luck with it! THe TE are HORRIBLE. The implants are much softer but mine seem to really pull and give me pain everyday. Someways I wish I would have just chosen no reconstruction:-(

Pathology came back from MD Anderson and it was Metaplastic Breast Cancer with chondroid and some squamous features. It also noted that this type would respond well to platinum based chemo which I had some of (the carboplatin in the TCH).  Better diagnosis than chondrosarcoma as the MBC is a breast carcinoma not a bone sarcoma in the breast.  Overall all, good news.  Now if I can only get the insurance to sign off on the IMRT radiation so my irradiated fake boobies will look nice...

Glad you got some good news Heidi

Johnete, For me I wondered if they gave me a triple dose of chemo on the last round. Seriously!!! Your chemo was different then mine so someone that had your same drugs might be able to answer better. I am probably not the best one to answer as I had surgery 4 weeks after chemo so that knocked me back down. I complained to my MO at 4 wks PFC that I was still feeling crappy and she said it can take 8 to 12 weeks to get out of your system. For me she is right. It has now been 9 weeks PFC and I feel pretty good until the evenings, then that chemo headache comes on and I start to crash!! My toes did not go numb until I was a few weeks PFC so I am dealing with the foot pain also. I also have a lot of pain from the surgery, back and chest and arm pain. I was so discouraged because I was reading on this board how much better everyone else was doing, and felt something must be wrong with me! My Dr said get off the computer and heal at your own pace. Still discouraging. I refused any meds for anxiety and depression my entire chemo as I knew it would get better after I was done. Well it didn't. My hubby could not take my daily tears so we talked about it and I started a med for it this past Monday. I still have 33 Rads to go and I have not worked since Jan 1st due to how hard chemo and surgeries were on me. Don't expect too much too soon. Chemo/poison really takes a toll on your body and I think for some of us we don't bounce right back. Everyone is different.

After my last chemo I literaly shuffled and staggered when I walked.  I just muscled my way through the day and would be wiped out and in pain from head to toe by the end of the day.  It was week 4 before I began to notice an improvement.  I then had a double mastectomy with reconstruction and that set me back some but even then I could tell my body was recovering.  One thing I did that helped a lot was I began exercising again after the chemo.  It wasn't much.  Just a very slow, short walk on the treadmill - sometimes only 10 or 15 minutes, whatever I could do without falling over - but I always felt better afterwards.  I could see my body improving as each day I could walk a little longer and faster.  I'm about 8 weeks post chemo now and I'm nowhere near "normal" but I definitely feel better and am more functional.  I was seriously dragging by the time I finished grocery shopping yesterday but before I would have been dragging when I got there.

Heidi I have only been taking them a few days so no big difference yet. It was huge for me to give in and take something like that I swore I would never. I think my poor hubby was going to go crazy if I didnt get my emotions in gear so I think I am doing it for him as much as me. I went to an exercises session for cancer patients today and am thinking tomorrow maybe I will go to the gym and try and ride the bike. Even if its just for 15 min. Walking is no good for me as I have pretty painful feet. I have been really trying harder to do all my stretches for my sore chest and I think that is helping too. ONE DAY AT A TIME!!! 

Oh and I am finally starting to see fuzz on my head. IT ABOUT TIME!!

Thank you ladies. I think I have been expecting too much of myself too soon. You all are great. It is so wonderful to have a "support group" of people who actually "get it"

Johnetta,

My last chemo was rough also.  On my last chemo, I developed a weird type of neuropothy on the bottom of my feet and the tips of my fingers which still has not gone away.  On the bottom of my feet, just past my toes, my feet are completely numb - and it has been that way since around May 15 (my last chemo was May 22).  During the prior chemos, the numbness would always go away before the next chemo.  My last chemo was also the most tiring, but knowing I was finished helped. 

Tangles,

I have not had any problems with Herciptin, but like your doctor said, everybody is different with their healing.  When I was on my last couple of chemos, there was a girl there who was taking chemo every week.  On her next to last chemo, her hair started growing back, even though she was taking a strong regimen of chemo.  I remember thinking why can't my hair grow back??  Now I after a good 8 weeks after chemo, my hair is just starting to come in - fuzzy fuzzy hair. 

I take Effexor XR and have been for a long time.  I started out taking it for insomia and hot flashes years ago.  Since January, I have been taking it religiously - I think it is the best stuff ever.  It does take about 3 weeks to begin to feel the effects of Effexor. 

Heidi - What fantastic news!!!! That is good good news.  I am almost finished with my radiation - I had my first "boost" treatment of today.  I am having 8 of them and it is where they shoot "photons" into the exact area where my tumor was.  I swear I feel like I am radioactive.  But I finish next Friday, August 2 - can't wait.

I hope we all stay on this board till we get our lives back to some sense of normal.  It is a tremendous support. 

Tangles,

My feet and hands are just very numb.  It is like I have no feeling at all on the soles of my feet,  not pain.    After every chemo treatment, the numbness would go away before the next one.  Except for the last chemo, it stayed.  I also have some of the numbness on my face and neck, but it has gotten better. 

My neuropathy was actually worse after chemo was over. I have it in both hands/arms. Most nights I wake up with my hands and arms completely numb all the way up almost to my arm pit. Some nights it's over and over. Once in a while, I have it in my feet. I wish it would go away, it's frustrating.



I'm also having more muscle stiffness and soreness now too. Maybe it's because I'm doing more? It was so painful to walk after painting my living room. It was almost 2 weeks before it stopped feeling like I had been hit by a truck and even still it takes a while for everything to loosen up when I'm getting up to walk. I'm only 41...it has to be an SE from the chemo.

I would just like to go through a day without taking advil. Im sure part of my soreness is from laying around for a good part of 6 months after being a very active person. I will continue with the advil for a few more weeks then I may try and go off it and see what happens. I start Rads Monday. Praying for no side effects as I have been though ENOUGH!!!

lalady even though I am not happy with my exchange I have come to terms with them and just plain DO NOT want anymore surgeries. I guess I need to realize I had cancer I was not just going in for a perky set of new boobs like some of my friends have in the past! I envisioned they would turn out like theirs but they didnt and I am at peace with that. If Rads ruins the implant then I will have no choice and will cross that bridge when I come to it. I pray everyday Rads wont knock me down like the chemo and exchange surgery did!! Start tomorrow:-(

Hello All,

I have a "health coach" through the Piper Breast Center in Minneapolis.  She has told me that L-Glutamine is very good for neuropathy.  I've just had one chemo so far and no neuropathy so can't say it works but thought I'd put it out there for all of you who seem to be really struggling.

jbsmom- tell me about side effects from tamoxifen, I believe I will be put on it as soon as rads are over. how much do you take a day?

Tangles= how did rads go for you so far? At 17/28 down....Im starting to get little red bumps within a rashy area. They itch but so far I can handle it.

Gina I feel like when I get home from Rads the area looks red. Even my hubby said yes it does. By the time I go the next day its gone. I told the tec and she said oh you wont get red for a few weeks. Well OK?? I hope this is not a bad sign. I was thinking about jumping over to the summer Rads board but I am worried I will read some negative stuff that will worry me.........